council meeting. It is Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025, 7:04 p.m. We got a little bit of a late start. We're working in working in work session upstairs on a couple of matters, tree ordinance
and budget related matters. Um before I call the meeting to order, I just want to reiterate what uh Britney told all of you that we're doing these meetings on a hybrid sort of basis. Uh folks can uh watch online and call in and uh join the conversation. We have
one public hearing matter tonight and community comment folks can always call in for that. So there are a couple opportunities tonight to engage with the council. uh and um we'll first visit with people here uh our fellow residents that are here to address the council on matters of concern to them. Uh and
having provided that information, I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask our clerk Sharon Ellison to call the role. Council member Agnu here. Council member Jackson here. Council member Pierce here. Council member Risser here. Mayor Hublin here. Uh next is the pledge of allegiance.
I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thanks everybody.
And uh council members and staff, we've got a form of meeting agenda that's been published for our benefit and the public's benefit. And uh is there anyone that wishes to modify the agenda in any form or fashion on the council or staff? Is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda as published?
So moved. Second. Member Agnu moves member Pierce seconds the adoption of the meeting agenda as published. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the meeting agenda as published say I. I. I. Opposed? Carried. We have a meeting agenda. Uh next is community comment. We
talked about community comment and uh we're going to take folks in the audience first and then we'll move to people that might be calling in online and uh please come up. Nancy Greer, 5225 Grand View Square, unit 216. You know why I'm here. I have
brought a copy of the email on Eden Avenue Cross Safety that I sent the council members on 724. I assume that it ended up in your spam filter because I never received a reply. Although I did get one from representative uim. You
will see in that email we have been in contact with traffic safety coordinator for two years about the crosswalk safety. I hope that you will put an advanced traffic flasher on Eden Avenue as you have done in Valley View Road. Another concern is on Vernon Avenue as
you approach the business district. The speed limit ch sign changing it from 40 m an hour to 30 mph is not visible because of tree leaves. This also applies to the 25 mph sign as you turn onto Eden Avenue. People need to be able
to see the speed limit changes. Approaching Vernon Avenue from Acadia, I have not been able to find one speed limit sign at all. If you spend any time around the Grand View business district, you know that you that not only are senior citizens patronizing the library
and Jerry's as well as other businesses, so are the children who go to Our Lady of Grace and Adina High School. I would think in light of recent events, all safety concerns would be front and center for this council. Would you please make Graham View area safe for
everyone? And if you don't want to see me again, fix the problem. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Greer. And and um please read this. Yeah, I think that we probably all have read it. And our apologies, my apologies
if I didn't respond to you. I think we tend to send those Nobody responded except for her. Yeah, we tend to send them on to the staff right away for them to look at because these all involve things that need to be done that u you've mentioned here. So, we appreciate that input. Yes.
Okay. Two years is a long time to wait. Thank you. Thank you. Goodbye. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Oh, Miss Greer, wait a minute. We We have an update on this item tonight. Yeah, if you'd like, we can give it now. So, we You might as well do that before you leave. Okay. The equipment was ordered in June. Uh,
it that should have been done two years ago. Hold on. Hold on. I'm just I'm very angry about this. Okay. So, it's been ordered in June. You got it now? And you can't make it up. Everything got delivered except for the flashing beacon that's needed for that thing. So, we are reaching out to the vendor. They're in Milwaukee and we may send a staff member
over there just to pick it up because their next delivery date is the end of September and we think that's too long. So, literally, we could have had it installed last Friday. Our electricians were ready to install it. So, it should have been here a long time ago and you know that because of dealing with uh Nick Baller and way back in 20
September of 2023. Please cut the trees so people can see. I had to look really hard for the on Eden Avenue. City can look at the Eden Avenue one. The ones on Vernon is county staff and we'll connect with them and make sure
they're cleared of invisible. All right. Nobody gets hit. Yes, sir. Perfect. Uh, good evening. My name is Alexander Melton. I live at 5617 Yliffe Road, Edina. Thank you for the
opportunity to present an issue before city council. Uh, spring of this year, the city electrical supervisor made my neighbors and I aware of the city's intention to work with Excel to place a transformer in the easement to the west of our residence. We were told by the city and
Excel that the transformer was necessary to provide appropriate three-phase power as a dedicated power source for the city's Hawk Lake lift station which provides water level control for the community adjoining Hawk Lake and the 9M
Creek wershed. We broad we are broadly supportive of this sort of critical infrastructure investment as it benefits the community and the environment. It appears the city of Edina requested power feed enhancement from Excel. Excel
complied with the city's request with the installation of a large transformer of a size that wasn't communicated to the neighbors. It seems possible that the city should have had some knowledge of the size of the transformer, but regrettably did not communicate the
relevant details during coordination with the neighborhood. Information on the height, width, and depth of the transformer was never made available during present pre-installation coordination. Information on the dimensions of the
transformer pad was made available by the city electrical supervisor and a sketch of the location of the transformer relative to the easement was provided during coordination. Because the pad is at ground level, it is effectively a minor visual consideration
compared to the dimensions of the transformer that sits a top the pad. With fill and grading that followed the power feed excavation, the transformer has effectively raised significantly above the grade of the original power
feed hole. The transformer size is significantly larger than anything we've seen placed directly in front of residences. We reached out to Excel to ask about comp comparable installations elsewhere in the city and the
installations that were provided none of them were in front of a residence. Uh so with that uh we have a picture of the transformer here. That's just me pointing at it. This is looking out our front door. That's kind of the vantage point. Uh next please.
This is looking down Ycliffe Road north. You see a residence north of us in a in an adjoining development and you can see the elevation of of the transformer. Next, please. This is uh looking at our
house. Our house is in the background and it it gives you a little bit of a feel for for the sheer size of the transformer. That's your front door there, Mr. Milton. It is. Okay. Thank you for that. previous picture. This picture is looking out our
our dining room window. Oh, okay. Yes, this is our dining room window. Sorry for that. Um, we're we're seeking the city's assistance in design and implementing appropriate grading to lower the visual
perceived height of the transformer and landscaping to address visual impact of the placement of the transformer directly in front of a residence in an area commonly utilized by the neighborhood. Uh, thank you for your attention and the opportunity to bring forth this issue.
Yes. Thanks, Mr. Milton. Thanks for coming and expressing that concern. Anyone else? Good evening, mayor, council. Good evening, mayor, council members. My name is Ralph Sickert. I live at 4311 Cornelia Circle.
Truth matters. Mr. Zicker, we're not suing anything on your on your Correct. What I told her is that I'm going to remove this. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. I thought maybe you wanted it visual now, but you don't. You've got timing. You got a timing issue. Correct.
Okay. I don't, but somebody else does. Okay, let's start over. Mayor, council members, my name is Ralph Sickert. I live at 4311 Cornelia Circle. Truth matters. I like that statement.
Truth does matter. And I believe it appropriate for a residents to speak up when the council or staff go astray. Some contend there is no financial slight of hand when it comes to Adina's finances. Yet in June, council approved terminating six employees in the
transfer of $1 million onto Henipin County tax levy. In July, council approved adding an incremental 1.2 million to residents gas and electric bills. And as of tonight, the council has been silent regarding the $4 million for equipment and maintenance deferred
from the 2026 2027 general levies. And the acknowledged purchase of purpose of these actions is all about the optics, not reduce the actual tax burden on residents. Yet, what it does allow is
for the city to claim a 9% levy increase rather than the previously projected 17%. If this isn't slight of hand, I don't know what is. Truth matters. Some contend AAA bond rating is a reflection
of an extremely well-run city. Per Google, bond ratings are a measure of credit worthiness, i.e. how likely it is that a bond will be repaid in full. Adina's AAA rating reflects the extremely
low risk of default. It does not. It is not a measure of how well Adina is run. Adina's incredibly large tax base in relationship to its current debt is what garnishes the AAA bond rating. Adina could borrow and spend money like a
drunken sailor and still have a great bond rating. As long as the credit agencies were confident, Adina had the ability to repay all its debts. Truth matters. Case in point, Adina is spending money like a is spending money like a drunken
sailor. Adina is on track to spend $30 million for a present pedestrian tunnel under France. 21 million for a parking ramp to serve yet an unbuilt commercial building at the US bank site and an additional 10 million for future aquatic
center amenities. Amenities over and above the recent emergency approval of the $9 million tax abatement bond. Meanwhile, Adina has identified over $70 million of unfunded deferred projects, an amount that has doubled in three
years. For all these reasons, Adina is not fiscally well-run. Staff presentations are littered with spurious slides, unlike this one, that would have you believe Adina has one of the lowest tax
burdens in the metro and is therefore well-run. Yet compared against median home values, Adina is the highest tax burden. Truth matters. Open your eyes, council. Look in the mirror. Some of you
can see at some of us can see you have no clothes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ziggard. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wish to address the
council on a matter of concern to them? All right, let's check online. Do we have anybody online that wishes to address the council and public comment? We do not have any callers. Okay, very good. Um turning to our city manager, our process
is that these comments like you've heard tonight. Um let's try to we'll try to address them from a staff level uh online by the end of the week and then we also follow up at the subsequent city council meeting to let folks know on a broader basis uh what the responses were
to issues that were raised at a prior meeting. And I'm going to turn now to manager Neil to see if there's anything he needs to report out on from our prior city council meeting. Thank you, your honor. At the previous city council meeting, we had one uh comment and that came from Miss M Miss Greer and it was about the flashing uh
pedestrian uh warning signals. Uh we didn't have an answer for her at that time, but we did tonight and we've offered her that response earlier earlier in the meeting. Okay, very good. Um we've got a consent agenda, folks. I think uh everybody
wanted to take off 6.11, I think, for council conversation. And um is there anything else that uh council members wish to remove from the consent agenda? Okay. With the exception of 6.11, is
there a motion to adopt the balance of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion? So moved. Member Agen moves. Member Pierce the adoption of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion with the exception of item 6.11. Any further conversation? Any further
discussion? All right. Right. All those in favor of adoption of the items on the consent agenda, the single motion with the exception of 6.11 uh say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. Uh the consent agenda items are adopted and approved.
And uh 6.11 we will now take up for discussion purposes, which was the staff response to the petition for traffic control in the Chowan Park neighborhood. Um, yeah, we got our city engineers back uh in town, which is great. And Mr.
Cypion is here as well, but the staff recommendation uh on traffic control in the Chowen Park neighborhood, and it differs from what the uh neighbors would like to see, and so we're going to have that conversation. Yeah, I know we received some questions
earlier from member Risser um and she provided some pictures and graphics. So, I don't know if she would like to start with the questions or um I I would I'd also um we received a map from a resident and I would like
that shown as well. So, I'm um forwarding that to manager Neil and I apologize. Would it be helpful if uh the staff made their presentation and their recommendation and then you ask questions? That's fine. Yep. I think they're going to show a similar
map to to that one. Yeah, I got him. Why don't you gentlemen go ahead? We This was an issue that came up about a month or so ago, six weeks, and we asked you to take a look at the uh recommendations of the neighbors, and
you've come back with some ideas on that, not a full adoption, but um at least uh your professional opinions on what ought to be done over there. Yep. and we'll let Andrew Scibion kick it off with the recommendation.
Thank you, mayor, members of council. Um, so the graphic here shows the existing traffic control uh that is in the Chow Park neighborhood. Um, the different colors indicate signalized intersections, four-way stop, two-way stop, one-way stop, and uncontrolled are the green. Um, the intersections noted
with the black star are the intersections that are covered in this petition. All four of them are uncontrolled intersections. If you go to the next slide. Um, so when reviewing uh the warrants for stop signs and traffic control devices, one of the
factors we look at is crash history. This graphic here shows all of the reported crashes within the neighborhood within the last 10 years. Um, of the four intersections that were included in this petition, only one intersection had any reported crashes in that time period, and that's the intersection of
Abbott Avenue and 59th Street. Um that intersection specifically had four crashes within that 10-year period. Uh but most importantly, three of those crashes happened within a 12 year 12 month period. Um which is a uh crit which meets one of the warrants in the
MUTCD for a two-way stop. We also looked at sight lines uh at all of these intersections. Again, this map here shows just the four intersections included in this petition. Um the red intersections noted areas or the red
circles here note intersections where there are sight line obstructions. Uh in some cases it's due to trees that are on uh adjacent properties. In some cases it's just because of the topography of the streets and the the adjacent properties. The one intersection in
green there that is Zenith Avenue and 57th Street um did not have any sighteline obstructions. So looking at those two factors uh what we are proposing uh is that two of the intersections uh noted in the in the
orange the orange circles with the yellow uh outline uh would be a two-way yield control. These are intersections that have sight line obstructions um but don't meet the warrants for a a two-way or an all-way stop. Um the blue circle
with the red outline uh is that intersection that has that crash criteria that meets the warrants for a two-way stop. So we are recommending a two-way stop at that intersection. And then the remaining intersection which is uh Zenith Avenue and 57th Street uh does not meet the warrants based on crash
history, traffic volume, or um sighteline obstructions. So we're recommending no change at that intersection. We'd be happy to stand for any questions. Thank you. member. Um if I could get some of the images that I
um sent and specifically, okay, this is a good one to start with. Um when we look going south on Zenith toward 57th Street, it is the topography and it is very challenging to see what is happening um along 57th. you really do
literally have to stop. And so I do appreciate that um in your analysis um item B under 2B- or six said a restricted view exists that requires road users to stop in order to
adequately observe conflicting traffic on the through streets. And uh for that reason, it's concerning that um with Zenith and 59th, we're talking about putting in a yield sign, which doesn't
really let people know they need to come to a full stop. And this was a corner, you know, I drove it, I visited, I walked it, and there's visibility issues going south on Zenith and also going west on
57th. So that for that intersection, that was what I was really concerned about. The other thing is, if we can go to another of my images, I can't remember the order. Um, I did look at the documentation that you cited, the Minnesota MUTCD
guide, and it does say that it's important to sign intersections that are in areas that are signalized and you know where there are signs. And when you look at these, I only and I did
visit and I did look, you've got two additional dots that I did not see um when I did my count. And what I found were the additional ones, like I found
five at three-way stops, but the only um four-way stops that were unmarked were the ones that the residents wanted to have marked. So, it's kind of frustrating to get this information now. And so, I can't I can't go out and look
and see, but it looks like the other dots that are there are all on three-way stops, not four-way stops. So, that is a concern. Um, I do think it makes good policy if you're in an area where there are all of these marked
stops to continue with that. And um residents did send a resident did send a map. If we could get that posted, that would be really helpful. And that was what I sent to manager Neil. Did it get added? Britney
just Yeah, we got these earlier today, but if council member Risser just sent it, maybe there's other questions we could take. um shooting it to her. Could you work off that city map? Um this was just a really a good
illustration about the prevalence of stop signs. I can also say that um residents talk about taking Uber rides and having to make sure that they are saying, "Watch out, it's an unmarked intersection." and caution the driver because the driver is
so used to what's going on in Minneapolis since it's so close by and they mark all of their intersections in the adjacent neighborhood. And so suddenly they're in a spot where they think, "Okay, um okay, so this is what the neighbors provided." And it's those
yellow circles where they would like to see signage and you can see that there's stop signs all around this area. Um there are some places the three-way stops and they they thought, okay, those are a little complicated like um 57th
and York, but the ones that they are looking to have stop signs added to are four-way standard just like the other signs around. Uh there's a lot of kids in this neighborhood. I was told along one of the blocks in Zenith there were
over 40 children. I talked to a kid on a bike who told me that delivery drivers get confused and so he watches out for those delivery drivers because you know when you're approaching an intersection and the ones around it are all signed
you assume as you're approaching it you don't see a stop sign that there's got to be a stop sign going the other way. Um, I really think that this is a basic request and I think it would be in keeping with Minnesota MUTCD guidance.
Um, because it is an area where there is all this signage to be consistent and to add these additional four signs. Thank you, member. Member, thank you and thank you for going through and doing this additional
analysis. Um there's clearly a lot to to survey and understand and I I actually really appreciate the the diagram that you had shown um kind of covering all of the different intersections within that area. And I totally understand like how
you got to this recommendation, right? Like based off of the guidelines and based off of the processes that we follow. I will say that I having kind of understood the recommendation and how you got to this, I'm still supportive of
having two-way stops at these intersections. Um, and I think the reason being, and I think this is maybe even what similar to what member Risser was saying, but um, to introduce yield signs into this neighborhood when there
are no other yieldings in in that, I think that almost introduces a a different concept than what drivers are probably going to be expecting. Um, and so I would suggest or my ask um would be
that we put up um the two-way stop at those four requested intersections. Um but again, thank you for the analysis that you did. Thank you for that, member. Member Pierce, um if you could go back to the previous
view with the stop signs on it. Um so thanks again for going through this. How many of these do you do in a year when we get two to 300 requests a year? A year. So that's different levels of requests of course but that's um a lot of volume and so we
definitely appreciate you guys going through it. Um, and so I come at this from a maybe a different perspective, and you've heard me say this before. I It's challenging for me that our
processes lead us to outcomes that are that are not congruent with the lived experience of the resident. And so I and honestly I don't know how to reconcile that but
that is um a big challenge for me. And so when I looked at this it just seemed odd that there are four intersections that are uncontrolled amongst
however many that are on that sheet. And I can't like I I I can't answer why that would be um in have it make sense to me. And
so I thought that we should have at a minimum I thought we'd come back with um two-way stops at those. Um, and then when I to read the report and then we were saying, well, let's do yield signs,
man, that it just didn't make sense to me. And so I try to look for um at least what council member Pierce feels is logical. And I know that is not the way that you guys process through those two to 300
requests. You got to have standards you're trying to apply and reason behind it. I spent time with you to understand some of that. And there are there are some things that totally make sense. Uh but in this case, I thought we should at
a minimum um have two-way twoway stop signs. Um and so I agree with the earlier points. Thank you, Council Member Jackson. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, two things. One is we look at crash history,
but the stories that came to us are of kids on bikes or on foot having near misses. And so um the crash history really seems to me vehicle centric and the worries that people were coming were
non-motorized vehicle centric and so I know we have to look at crash and we have to have standards and everything but it the stories were overwhelming of kids feeling dangerous here. Um and then the second standard that was mentioned when we first opened this up is would it
make it more dangerous? And when you're looking at this is such a stunning graphic that every other intersection has stop signs. And so I don't see how adding stop signs when there are already so many would make it more dangerous.
And um I don't know if if you guys have an opinion about whether adding stop signs would make it more dangerous, but it feels like there's already an expectation that you're going to be stopping. If you're going north south, you're going to be stopping a lot. Um,
and um, I don't know if it's I can't tell by the way that it's oriented if it hits the east, west, or north, south, but to follow the pattern that's there, I think would be logical. But do you have a sense that adding stop signs would make it more dangerous?
We've made our recommendations and if council ch tells us to put in stop signs, we'll do that. I'm hearing that a pretty consensus. I'm not concerned about adding a few more stop signs for safety. We know in this area most people are not stopping at any of these stop signs. There's not enough volume out there.
They're slowing down, but they're not stopping. But so adding eight more stop signs, I'm not concerned with safety. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Um so yeah, I would recommend the the two stop signs um like my colleagues are.
Um, if I may, I just want to point out the petition technically at one of the intersections at Zenith Avenue and 59th asked for an always stop at that intersection. Um, if council is uh would like to direct staff to do uh stop signs in this in a neighborhood instead of
yield, I would suggest doing two-way stop at that intersection instead of four-way. Why is that? Uh it doesn't meet our it doesn't meet MUTCD warrants for an all-way stop. Okay. All right. Yeah. Thanks for that explanation.
So uh I think my colleagues have done a great job of talking about the way you go about your work which is something we really appreciate. This is why it got deferred six weeks ago because we wanted your professional input and and we got some heat for it, you know, and and uh
but when you look at sight lines and speed and crash data and volume, that doesn't necessarily, as member Pierce says, reflect the lived experience of people in the neighborhood who are there every day observing behavior drivers. And I thought uh member Jackson made a
great point too about the the fact if we did did follow the neighborhood recommendation. There is some real element of consistency to that. It reminds me a bit of country club, you know, where we they may not be stopping in country club either at every stop
sign, but it does slow them down and it makes a difference, I think, in uh just the the pace of traffic uh in the narrowness narrowness of the streets over in Country Club 2 really add to the uh safety factor. So um
the um as we all all have uh mentioned and support the professionalism of our engineering staff is really greatly appreciated and uh and we admire the work that you do and you're doing it based on on data. But as member Pierce
said that lived experience has value too. You know data can't necessarily drive everything. So I'm going to support the neighborhood request too. I actually think they've done a good job all the way through. So, here's what they'd like to see. Uh, and I'm going to see if somebody wants to make a motion of this effect. A two-way stop north and
south directions at the intersection of Abbott Avenue and 57th Street. A two-way stop north and south directions at the intersection of Abbott Avenue and 59th Street. Two-way stop east and west directions at the intersection of Zenith Avenue and 57th Street. And an all-way
stop at the intersection of Zenith Avenue and 59th Street. Is there a motion to adopt that uh those stop signs at those locations? So moved. Risser moves. Second. Member Pierce seconds the adoption of
the motion as stated. Discussion. I I would like to maybe have a little bit of discussion based off of the engineering recommendation that we do two-way stops in each of those sites. I also would
prefer to defer to engineering on whether it's north, south, or east, west based on what makes sense. So, I would prefer to see an amendment to just dictate two-way stop controls at each of those four intersections and allow
engineering to make the determination. Um, so should I make a an a motion for an amendment? You can make uh you can make an amendment to see if we get a second to that. I'll second that amendment. Thank you. Okay. So now the motion
second on the amendment. Discussion on the amendment. Member, can we go back to that first slide that I showed? Um that was the street view. That one?
Yeah. Um, this is headed toward where they're requesting a four-way stop. And there is a slope um in the road and then there's also the property on the corner um that northeast corner and there is
slope on that property. So, as you're going down Zenith, it's hard to see who's coming or if anyone's coming from 57th. And if you're headed in a westerly direction along 57th, it's hard to see if anyone's coming down Zenith. And so
that was the motivation. And I did when I was out there, I talked to two people on two different occasions who were touring me around and I said, "Well, if you can only have a two-way stop, what direction do you want?" And neither of them would commit
because they said, "We really think it needs to be a four-way." So, I just I want to share that. Yeah. Well, last fall was election season. I spent a lot of time in this neighborhood and understand it like member Risser does. I
think the rest of you do as well. Um I'm inclined to favor the recommendation of the neighborhood in terms of how they ought to be placed, but understand we have an amendment in place here. Any further discussion on the amendment which would let the staff decide where
those stop signs would go north, south, east, west at those intersections. Okay. All those in favor of adoption of the amended uh motion say I I opposed. I
I I nay. I usually say when I Yeah. Nay. Okay. Okay, the amendment fails on a 3-2 vote. Now, back to the main motion, uh, which was the the neighborhood recommendation.
Um, do anybody want me to reread it? I don't think we have to. Okay. So, those in favor of the uh main motion, which adopts the recommendations of the neighborhood as to all four of those intersections, say I. I.
I. Opposed. Carried. The neighborhood recommendation is adopted. Thank you. Um, thank you gentlemen for your input. Thank you for folks for being here. I think some of you are probably here on
that issue. Um, okay. We're done with the consent portion of the agenda and we're going to take up the only public hearing matter we have tonight which is an appeal on a certificate of appropriateness denial uh over in the
country club area on Edgebook Place and Emily Del Rimple our assistant city planner has this matter and the recommendation folks is tonight we hear the testimony and take any public testimony as well hear from the proponent and the anybody in opposition
and then uh we'll move to close it uh close public input at at noon on Sunday, September 7th, and then take it up for action at our September 16, 2025 city council meeting. I'll turn now back to Miss Del Rimple. Um thank you, mayor, members of the
council. Tonight, council's asked to hold a hearing for a request to appeal a certificate of appropriateness request at 46:30 Edgebrook Place. that a portion portion of which which was denied by the Heritage Preservation Commission. The subject property 4630 Edrook Place is
located within the Country Club District on the west or south side of Edgebrook Place. The existing home on the lot is a two-story colonial revival style home that was built in 1935, which is within the period of significance in the Country Club District. The certificate of appropriateness
application for changes to the street facing facade included proposed changes that included a garage and secondstory addition with a modified roof to realign and center the gable roof. Shorten the hipped e- roof over the garage and add new brackets. Expand the garage door
opening and install a new panled garage door. Enlarge the second floor window openings over the garage to meet egress requirements. raise the front stoop and shorten the existing covered entry columns and remove the fan light transom over the existing front door and install
a new arched front door. The project also includes an addition off of the rear of the property that required a sideyard setback variance from the planning commission which was approved at their meeting on August 13th. The Heritage Preservation Commission approved a portion of the certificate of
appropriateness request at their meeting on August 12th. those um what was approved or the associated with the changes. What was approved were were the changes that were outside of that front entry. Staff outlined a path of approval or denial for the Heritage Preservation
Commission to consider for changes to that front entry. The applicant's request included adding a front step to the exterior of the home without changing the roof line of the existing covered entry. The applicant then proposed to remove the fan light over the existing front door and replace the
existing front door with an arched front door so the door would meet a door door height requirements of the building code. Ultimately the Heritage Preservation Commission denied the request of the for the removal of the historic fan transom panel and the installation of a new front door. The
denial was based on the findings that the arch doors are not typical features of the colonial revival style and that the historic fan transom panel is a character-defining feature of this home. So tonight the request is to close the public input at noon on Sunday September 7th and continue action to September
16th. Angela Windgate from Ray Camp Larson Architects on behalf of the property owner is here and she will give a short presentation. and the city's preservation consultants from Hes Royce and Company are also here to answer questions that the city council might have. With that, I can take any questions.
All right, Mr. Del Rimple, thanks for that presentation. Questions for Miss Del Rimple at this point in time. All right, let's uh ask Miss Windgate to come up and uh write us with her thoughts on
your firm does a lot of work in this neighborhood and your your lead architect was a member of the Heritage Preservation Board. So, I'm eager to hear what you have to say. Yes. Yes. Thank you. And please give us your name and address too, your business address. Sure. Um let's see. I my name is Angela
Wingate and I work with Ray Camplers and Architects and we're 2732 West 43rd Street in Minneapolis. Um the property address I think already had that defined. Um would you like me to state that again? The address
4630 Edge Brick Place. Um so we are here tonight appealing uh the action that was taken by the Heritage Preservation Commission and um we always work as architects to be very thoughtful and of course yes my um Gene Ray Camp Larson
used to be on the HPC um from our firm. She runs, she's one of the principles at our firm. And so we've we're familiar with the HBC and we certainly um appreciate the work that they do to keep country club um historic and maintain uh
the the historic features that are in this neighborhood that make it so wonderful. Um we when we started this application and you know and we I don't know if I can go back to one of those. Can I go back to your presentation? Is it that next one?
Okay. Um our our intent of this of this um certificate of appropriateness was to really to make minimal impacts to the front of the house. Um so I think at one point we're like well what's really
different? Can you tell? Um, so this is part of a greater renovation and um, addition to this house. And one of the biggest parts of this addition is to solve kind of a a problem with the front
step. Um, and what's interesting is this is this home is is historic and it doesn't have it doesn't have a front stoop. It's basically like a zero threshold. I think over time it sunk. Um, and what we're hoping to do is bring
back that historic stoop so that we don't have water management issues that have been ongoing since the homeowner has lived here. Um, you know, snow drifts in when when opening the front door, leaves come in. Um, we think the front door is warped and they've had the
homeowner has had to replace it um, in the time that they've lived there. And if I go back to this other image, let's see if I toggle back and forth. So, what you can see some other other parts of this front stoop. Um, you can see that there's this dropped
front. So, when you step into the house on the interior, there's this tripper step that has caused many issues for the homeowner. Um, their child had had to get stitches, had had fallen, hit his head. Um, every time they have people over at their house, they have to let them know if they have been here, please
watch for the step. So, it's it's been a constant headache for the the homeowners. Um, and then just not having this, you know, most houses have a stoop and this house is doesn't have one. So, um, between those features, we've we're
trying to bring back some of these original historic features, but also be practical. Um, we think that we're within the bounds of rehabilitation and the tr the plan of treatment. Um, the the fan light is something we would love to keep. If we were to keep a fan and
raise the stoop, we would have to completely rebuild this. So, we would have to change the slope. You can see in this the photograph that there is a window sill that comes about six inches uh from the top of that that roof line. So, we wouldn't want to impact that that sill that historic sill. Um and we would
probably have to there's there would just be we'd have to completely rebuild it in order to have that fit in that space. So, we thought the easiest way to accomplish our goals is just to sw switch out the door. Um, we did find some other examples within Country Club. Uh, let's see if I can
find it. Okay, sorry. Um, of other colonials that have arch top doors and so and also have historic French stoops. So, we went through the neighborhood and and went through um various different different houses. And
some of these are kind of a mashup of different styles. Um but for the vast majority of these um and maybe the historic consultants could could weigh in as well um that there are there are there is precedent in the neighborhood for an archtop door. So between these various kind of practical needs and also
precedent in the neighborhood we felt like gosh we have to appeal this because this is really just seems like uh not an issue. So, um, with that, uh, I'm I'm available for questions, and Jessica Kelly is also here, the homeowner, to
answer any questions that you might have. Okay. All right. Thank you. Anybody have any questions at this point in time for Miss Windgate? Council member Jackson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I'm not a builder. I'm not an architect. Is there
a way of But I do have a front stoop that has separated from the sidewalk several times because of settling in the earth. Is there a way to determine that it actually has sunk over time or is it just that's the best guess of what's
happened? Yeah, I think I think over time that that's the best guess. Okay. Yeah. And I think there was some discussion at the Heritage Preservation Commission meeting about regrading and it felt like well that we would it's such a flat site that it would be really
arduous to to find a way to regrade. Um and and also just a big project. Yeah. So I I I buy the fact that it it probably have sunk over time, but I just didn't know if there's a technical way of, you know, just driving something in
the ground to see if it's really has sunk down or or if that's I'm sure I'm sure there is a way to to Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Other questions? Um can you go back to There we go. That's good. I think um I really
appreciate member Jackson's question and it would be interesting, you know, to see just if it has sunk how high it was originally intended to be. Um I don't know what would be involved in that. My
concern with changing things is um that arch doorway does visually have a very different impact because you've got that white line and then you've got the fan motif above it and then if you start changing um the height you're
changing you know the proportion of the pillars and all of that you kind of lose the um aesthetic appeal of the entryway. So that is something that I am thinking about and I can understand why the Heritage Preservation Board was
concerned. I guess we'll hear from the folks that were advising the Heritage Preservation Board. While you've got this slide up, let me ask. So if you if this appeal granted and you were able to do what you
intend to do, would you get rid of that tripper staircase then? So that you could level out the floor on the first level and you walk right in. Correct. And then what happens with that space above the existing doorway where it looks like the stairway turns and goes
upstairs. You how do you what do you do there where that where the where the the sheetrocker plaster whatever it is is blocking that fan? Yeah, we we're relocating that stair. So we're shifting it over as part of this bigger renovation project. removing
relocating that stair. The staircase gets relocated. You got it. And so by lifting that, so the main level floor is where you see that step up. So this is where, if you can see my cursor, is that's the main level floor. Um the issue isn't
necessarily the height on the inside. It's that brick arch. all all the detail in the exterior that would have to adjust in order to get the the stoop in with the fan light.
And and the the fan above the door in in the existing home doesn't serve any useful purpose in terms of letting light into the house because it's blocked by that portion of the staircase. That's correct.
So, it's an it's an exterior feature. Okay. Uh, thank you. Stand by. We may have some more questions. I want to bring up the consultants for the Heritage Preservation Board. And I think we got Rachel Peterson, Elizabeth Gails with us. Maybe one or both want to come up
and tell us what their thoughts were and the thoughts were of our heritage preservation commission on this matter. Sure. I'm Rachel Peterson with Hes Royce and Company. I'm one of the um, principles and co-owners there. We don't have a formal presentation for you. We're just here to answer questions. Um, unfortunately, both Elizabeth and I were
unable to attend the HPC meeting when this item was heard. We have listened to it since then to understand what the discussion was, but didn't participate at that time. Our recommendations were based on evaluating this proposed scope of work against the plan of treatment. That's our role as the consultants. Um,
and best practices are to retain historic material and to retain character-defining features on this house. the ornamentation around that front entry as a character defining feature. That was our recommendation. If there are any other questions, we're happy to answer. Well, your your recommendation must have
been compelling. It was a pretty strong vote. We're good writers. Uh questions for Miss Peterson in time. Okay. Thank you, Miss Del Rimpo. What are the what are
the standards for variation from I mean when you look at this at least in my eye you don't see that much difference in the way the front of the house appears but it has the effect of getting rid of that tripper staircase and there's some other positive features. So what's the
standard upon which all of us would have to work uh work against or rely upon when we make a decision as to whether to agree or disagree with the heritage preservation board. The heritage preservation commission
uses the the plan of treatment and they also use the standards of rehabilitation for the secretary of the interior. So those are the standards that the consultants were speaking of. So they use the the plan of treatment document and then they use the standards of rehabilitation to make those decisions.
It's nothing that's very prescriptive. It's all very So what I guess what I'm asking you is uh if we thought this proposed change was consistent with the plan of treatment, why is our opinion worth any more than two consultants who specialize in this?
What's a what's the standard that we have to look at? I mean, is it, you know, if you're if this is a legal matter, you'd have a standard that you would for review. you know, the founding or the findings that were presented to the Heritage Preservation Commission if they were to if they felt
that the changes were appropriate and met the plan of treatment um that were proposed at the meeting was that the proposed changes are an example of rehabilitation and they allow for compatible use while making improvements to the home which is preferred treatment in the country club district. And one of the findings could have been that the
arch doorway mimics the historic fan transom and is appropriate for a colonial style home. So, those could be two findings that you would um use. Council member Jackson. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Can you define rehabilitation and how it's used?
I'm going to defer to our consultants if you probably have the best definition of rehabilitation for us. Yeah. Um, Rachel Peterson again, uh, I would have to look up the National Park Service is kind of the overarching body that has an actual definition for you
that I do not have memorized. Even after 11 years in this field, short and sweet of it is that rehabilitation allows for more change, whereas other standards like preservation or reconstruction are much more regimented and much more prescriptive. Um, rehabilitation allows for some adaptive
reuse, like the warehouses into condos that you might see in the North Loop. Those are examples of rehabilitation. Um, so there is more flexibility, but you're still following the standards, the secretary of interior standards, which have been adapted into the plan of treatment based on overarching
preservation best practices. So if you're fixing something that isn't working, that would be rehabilitation. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Um, and that's fits within both our actual our local plan and the federal
standards. Yes. the secretary of the interior standards for rehabilitation are the the the broader industry framework that the plan of treatment is based on. Okay. And so and this the plan our plan of treatment allows for rehabilitation.
Okay. Thank you. So while you're there um Miss Peterson uh Miss Windgate showed us one photo of a house that looked almost identical. It was a two-story house. Okay. was from the ' 40s
and had it looked to me like the the treatment on the front of that house, the entryway was almost identical to what they were proposing here. Was that not a colonial revival style home or was that a different style home? Good question. We'll pull that up here.
I will say that that several of the examples as was acknowledged that one. Yeah, that one right there. Yep. I would consider that a colonial revival house. Um, part of the the nuance of historic preservation as a practice is that you evaluate historic properties as what they are rather than
comparing them against other examples or against a archetypical example of the style. Um, and that's what we did with this house. This house always historically had a fan transom panel as a historic character defining feature. They fit a general category houses and then you look at unique features of that
particular home. Correct. in the evolution of that specific property and and all of those factors. That was the the fan light that Yes. served no purpose. That is a solid panel on this house. Yep. Okay. Other questions? All right. This
is a public hearing. Stand by. Okay. Uh this is a public hearing. We're going to open it up for public testimony. Anybody in the audience wish to testify? You'd have three minutes to come up and and testify. and um encourage you to use one of the side podiums unless you have
some overhead projections you want to use and we'll give you a handheld microphone. Um anybody wish to come forward? Okay. Uh do we have anybody online? We do not currently, but we just put up the call-in information again. So I do
recommend that we wait one minute just due to the delay in the broadcast. Let's do that. Yep. Okay. It's a great little street you live on over there. Regardless of what your front door looks like, it's a great street.
We're coming up on a minute here and we still have no callers. Okay. All right. Uh council members, the recommendation of staff is that uh uh we close the public input at noon on Sunday, September 7th, 2025 and continue the action to the September 16, 2025
city council meeting. Is there a motion of that effect? So moved. Second. A motion by member was on a roll tonight. Member member Pier seconds uh the adoption of the of the motion as stated which is to close the public input at noon on Sunday September 7,
2025 and continue the action to September 16, 2025 city council meeting uh relative to the U request for certificate of appropriateness and any further discussion. All those in favor of adoption of the motion stated say I.
I opposed carried. Uh we'll take this matter up again on September 16th. Thanks for being here, folks. Thank you, Miss Del Rimple. And now we are on to uh resolution 2025-79
accepting donations. Is there a motion to adopt resolution 2025-79? So moved. Second. Ragna moves. Member Pierce seconds the adoption of resolution 2025-79 which is a donation pro prospective donation to the city of Bina from one of
our residents. Any further discussion? Uh all those in favor of adoption of resolution 2025-79 say I. I opposed. Carried. Resolution 2025-79 is adopted. Uh we have one donor in this particular
reporting period for a memorial bench at Centennial Lakes Park. Terry Hoffer, $3,200 donation for Memorial Bench. That was very, very generous. Terry, thank you. Terry Female. Uh, and now we've got some
information coming our way from our finance director, Ptow, and then also Nick Anhut is with us to talk about the sale of some bonds that cover the uh swimming pool work we needed to do and the Vernon Avenue bridge. Good evening.
Um I have here with me again is Nick An Hut from Ellers, our senior u municipal advisor, which he will now present on what those bid results looks like after they have taken them in and tabulated. Nick,
thank you. Mayor, members of the council, Nick Anut with Ellers. Uh happy to be in front of you and to kind of close out uh this summer and all of our bonding discussions. Uh we did open bids this morning on behalf of the city on the purchase of bonds issued for the
projects that P mentioned. The slide shows uh again Vernon Avenue and uh the Highway 100 overpass project. A small portion of that overall cost being financed and repaid from a dedicated tax levy over the course of 15 years. And
then the remaining portion of the bond uh what was about $8.4 $4 million a project. The council took action to put some cash and set it aside to pay for uh or cover a portion of that project budget. Uh almost 1.4 million. So, we're able to reduce the amount, but that's
funding for the improvements that are underway at the aquatic center facility in the city. Also to be repaid from a tax levy over the course of the next 15 years. Just as a reminder, a public hearing was held on both of these matters on June 17th. continued to
action on July 15th where the council adopt establishing an abatement as well as adopted a street reconstruction plan that authorized the council to determine to issue debt for these specific projects. Uh the council took further action on August 6 after reviewing the
budget for the aquatic center to authorize scheduling a bond sale and we're here tonight at the culmination of that opening the bids on behalf of the project. Um we did open bids earlier this summer on the purchase of another series of bonds. Uh both of these bonds
were rated by uh both Moody's investor service as well as standard impors who assigned a AAA ratings on on both of these transactions as well as the city's overall uh creditworthiness u ratings that the city has maintained and held
since the years 2003 and 2000. Happy to say that we had 11 bids uh this morning on this transaction. We had seven on the last bond sale. Um uh a full variety of various municipal broker dealers and underwriters from across the
country and some of the largest firms in the United States with Hilltop Securities coming in at the winning bid. Uh the total spread between the high and the low was just under a quarter of a percentage point between all of these biders. And I'll I'll actually note that
the top eight biders were all within five thousandth of a percentage point. So very very tight bidding uh amongst the the top few. Uh but Hilltop Securities came in with uh the winning bid. Their indicated rate before making any
adjustments and and the financing costs uh came in at 3.64 or just under 3.65%. Uh, as a result of the bid from Hilltop and all the final issuance costs, that reduction that I mentioned for the city setting aside some fund balance to cover
a portion of the project expense, the final resize principal amount is just under $8.8 million. So, $8,785,000 in total to combine fund both of those projects. Um that size was also reduced
because Hilltop did include some reoffering premium within the structure of their bid and as I mentioned we uh finalized the issuance costs could reduce it for any of the budgeted uh amounts that were set aside or planned. Uh after reductions and revising the
debt structure uh the calculated true interest cost using the pricing from Hilltop was at a 3.67%. Uh this is in comparison to our pre-sale estimates. Uh we're above 3.9%. Uh admittedly intentionally
conservative. Uh but this is in line with where the market is at today. And certainly uh the bidding uh reflects uh some consensus among the market on where the pricing should be because of so many. We're so close at the top of the uh the bidding pool. U it's also more
favorable compared to the bonds that were priced earlier this summer. Although I I will note that those bonds were 30-year repayment and usually we do expect a higher interest expense associated with a longer repayment term. So nothing that you need to be worried about as far as how those were priced,
but just just to note there was a a difference in the calculated interest expense over the life of the bond repayment. So with that said, there is a uh modifi or an updated resolution. There was a draft that was included in the council packets. The bond attorneys for the city
at Dorsey and Whitney did uh update and revise those to input the pricing and the from the winning bid from Hilltop Securities that is presented tonight for the council to take action on. It's resolution 2575 which would authorize the issuance and
award the sale of 8,785,000 in general obligation bonds. Our closing will be scheduled for September 25th pending your action this evening. Very good. Thank you for that report. Always very thorough. Uh nice to have so many
people in companies interested in our our bonding. And um what's the process? You know, when let's say Hilltop Securities, did you know they were interested? Did they call you and talk to you about a diner or what? How does a lot of this activity take place?
Well, Hilltop is a very active uh bidder in the municipal bond marketplace. Uh very large firm out of Dallas. Um, so not the not the guys across the street here. No, Hilltop. Correct. Um, so they do quite frequently
bid on a variety of transactions here in Minnesota, across the across the country and certainly they would have noticed uh the city of Edina AAA credit um and some of those features in the bond marketplace. I think the the majority of the biders are some of the larger pools
they do we expect that they will be considering. can never really guarantee that anyone's going to actually pull the trigger and submit a bid. It really depends on kind of their their day-to-day uh amount of interest, what else they've bought recently in the marketplace, trading activity, and you
know, their customer base that they'll be reoffering these bonds to. So, um but we do see they are quite active. a number of other participants, Piper Sandler, Baird, um I think uh we've seen
them repeatedly on the city's queue. A couple of the biders at the bottom of the list um were also were new. Uh Stone X was one that we haven't seen them necessarily bid on a full transaction before. Sometimes you can partner with
under other uh underwriters. Um but no good questions for Mr. Anthut or comments. All right. So the motion would be to approve resolution 2025-75
awarding the sale of 8,785,000 general oblig general obligation bonds series 2025B to Hilltop Securities of Dallas, Texas. Is that correct? That's correct. All right. Is there someone who cares to make that motion? So moved.
Second. Member Eggnum moves. Member Pierce seconds the adoption of resolution 2025-75 in the form stated. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of resolution 2025-75 as stated
with the sale of 8,785,000 worth of general obligation bonds to Hilltop Securities in Dallas, Texas. Say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. Um, I'm being consistent with the voting that I've done, but I do believe it passed. I was the one no vote.
Four eyes, one no. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you for that. Uh, and then um we got visiting about this our last meeting and we had a vote and I don't think we had a motion or a second. So,
we need to revisit resolution 2025-69, which was the approving a special law for the 70th of France tax increment financing district. I have this vague recollection. I was going to ask who moved that and I didn't ask that. I just assumed we had talked it through. So, we've been through this matter before. I
don't know if Bill Nundorf is in here. I don't know if you want to provide any updated information. I have this tonight. So, this is an this is important. Uh there is a defect in the voting process that happened at the August 19th meeting. Um it's this is uh the voting process for a special law is
is very important to observe. U the state requires us to just be very tight in terms of of our process in in getting you to approve the special law before we turn it back uh to the state. So that's what we're looking for tonight. There's nothing that's changed. Everything that
we talked about on the previous meeting on August 19th is still the same. Yeah. Why screw up? I think it's the first time that uh our clerk hasn't grabbed me by the ear or two and said, "Hey, hey, wanted to." Yeah, you need a motion. All right. Do we have
a motion to that effect to adopt resolution uh 2025-69 approving a special law for the seventh and France Tax Increment Financing District? So moved. Second. Motion by member Agnu, second by member Pierce to adopt resolution 2025-69
which approves a special law for the 70th and France tax increment financing district. Uh any further discussion? Member Risser. Um I want to underscore this was the legislature creating a special law for us to advance or to extend two tiff
districts and with the 70th and France tiff district. Uh, and I I asked whether representatives in the legislature, the tax committee knew that we had been talking about the public assuming the
risk for building the parking ramp for that project. And I was told it was not the purview of the tax committee to know that. But I do think it really was because how do you make a decision if you don't know um that you know our
elected leaders in Edina and this is from the March 27th meeting background on proposed financing structure for public parking at 701 France Avenue site plan approved in 2022 is not financable under current economic conditions even
with existing tiff pledge. So, um, I think that's really relevant and I think that should have been part of the packet that went before the legislature. And so I I really have trouble with the way
that this has advanced. Um, the other thing is that we approved asking the legislature to extend these two diff tiff districts back in January. We didn't have this information. It didn't come to us until March. And so it's it's
all about the sequencing. I did go back. I watched that March 27th H meeting and I think it it was really that's the one where um Commissioner Pierce talked about the boat taking on water, a hole in the boat and there was concern about
the project really being a viable project and I think it was important to have that discussion and I I feel like the way things do get advanced leaves out a lot of the narrative that really would be helpful and so we are going to
be extending this tiff district. Um, it may be a project that is not really viable. It may mean that it lingers as an undeveloped site for quite a while. So, that that weighs on me. Um, but it's interesting to watch and you can watch
it on YouTube, the tax committee from March 12th and the information presented and then u March 27th before the H things change. So, I I can't support this. Um, and thank you for um,
listening to my concerns. Member Jackson. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I have two questions for um, Manager Neil. First of all, um, how many cities got extensions like this approximately? Do you know?
I would estimate a dozen probably, maybe 12 to 15, something like that. And were you at those hearings? I attended a couple of those hearings. It had multiple hearings. How many of those cities were talking about the rapid increase of the interest rates um
delaying projects? Probably all of them. Uh in because we have been through a period of pretty rapid construction um inflation and so that was an issue that was impacting a lot of not only uh tax increment
projects but also a lot of bonding bill projects too. Okay. Thank you. And then my second question is the vote tonight is to acknowledge that the state changed the law. It is not to approve anything regarding our extension of this tiff. It
is simply to acknowledge that the legislature did as we asked them and allow created the possibility that we could extend it. Not we're not making any decision about the actual tiff tonight. That's correct. Right. The way that the
the special law process works is cities or local governments propose that to the legislature. uh it maybe gets approved in some form, then it comes back to the city and that's when the electeds at the city level say yes, we'll we'll take
that and we then communicate that back to state government and then it's then it's law and it and no circumstances obligates us to award any kind of tiff or any particular financing. That's correct. It empowers us but it doesn't uh doesn't
force us to do it. That's correct. it it this only enables you to do this if you wish to later down the line. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of resolution 2025-69 approving the special law for the 70th
and 70th and France tax income and financing district say I. I. I. Opposed. A motion carries. Resolution 2025 is approved. 69 is approved on a 4 to1 vote. uh and
adopted. So, all right, let's move on then to um I don't think we've had any commission correspondents come in tonight. So, uh on to manager comments. Thank you, your honor. I have just one uh for tonight. This this clerk of ours, she had you down making comments at 8:20
and it is 8:19. We've worked together a long time. Yeah, she was a little off her game. um at your at your next council meeting on the 16th of September, uh we're going to have a public hearing that that night
on uh how we wish to uh handle the board of appeal and equalization uh going forward. So, as we've talked many times, we have uh merged or transferred or whatever verb you'd like is to to uh you're most comfortable with our
assessing functions from our city government to county government. that also has an impact on how we do the board of appeal and equalization. So, we will we're putting together uh kind of the background information uh that are on the options that are available to you, but I wanted you to know tonight
that you'll see this public hearing on your next council meeting agenda and that's what it's for. You don't have to take an action that night. We can still keep our our regular action of of sus of of delaying an action to the next council meeting, but we'll have a discussion on it um on September 16th.
Very good. Anything else? That's all I have. Okay. Thanks, Russer. Um, I would like to thank manager Neil because I forwarded an email from a resident who was very concerned about the and rightfully so about the the
shooting at annunciation and she had specific ideas that I think could be advanced at the legislative level and um he did take action and forwarded them on
to u the lobbyists that we work with. And so I just want people to know that there's a lot of dialogue going on and we do get a lot of email. Uh this one I think this individual must be working with a group to help prevent gun
violence. And so it's heartening to know we have so many engaged people in Edina. It's also heartening to know that we, you know, have staff who will move things forward. So, I wanted to say thank you for that. Thank you, Council Member Jackson.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I would like us to h pass something um denouncing gun violence. Um, whether it's and nobody for all the emails we got and they were very passionate and very moving, but they didn't give us a
specific resolution to work on. I'd like some input from the police department on the number of guns on the street and what they're seeing. Um, if we have to draft it ourselves, um, if there's something out there that we can join on to, uh, I would be happy to move and support that, but I'd like us to to make
a formal statement. um especially if there's going to be a special session, I want our city to be on record as um opposing gun violence and to do something about um the just the prevalence of guns that are out there and the easy availability from people
who shouldn't have guns. Thank you, Council Member Jackson. Council member Pierce, I thanks uh Mr. Mayor. One of the things that has been um I've been really
struggling with um because I have had a number of emails, a few phone calls about um the tragedy and people asking for gun violence uh legislation.
Um and I think that definitely uh is a value to the community. Um, but what I've been struggling with is this idea that um I I don't know that
gun violence I I don't know that guns are the core of the issue here. Um, and so I did a bunch of research and I wrote a piece. um wasn't comfortable publishing it, but um kind of the book
ends. I looked, you know, back in the 1940s, people used ropes and they lit fires, right? And so they torched churches sometimes with people present. In the 50s,
um they bomb churches. Um and so in Birmingham, there are four little girls. 1953, right? They're preparing for choir practice and someone bombs a church, kills those four little girls. Um,
and in that case, that really started a push towards civil rights when people looked at that and said, "Oh my goodness, is there no place in America that's sacred anymore?" Um, and so fast forward to 2025.
Um, and there are several times when there have been individuals with guns going into sacred spaces where there are children, uh, whether it's Catholic churches or there's one instance where there's Mormon church as well. Um, and
so I one of the things that just I can't wrap my head around in terms of how you solve the core of the issue. I feel like there's
smoldering hate within our culture and we haven't dealt with it as a nation and so people act out in these ways. Um, and so I definitely will always support gun
legislation, right? Um, getting more guns off the streets, right? That's definitely a step in the right direction. Um, but there's an issue that we have that's core to our part of our culture and I'm
just not sure what to do about that, what I can do about that. Um, but that's kind of that's what I've been thinking about um for the past week and a half. So, other than that, that's it.
Thank you, Council Member Agno. Thank you. Um, I I want to build on what U. Member Jackson was saying. I I think, you know, there's things that we can do as a city and things that we cannot do as a city. and
I want to make sure that we're doing as many of the things that we can do. Um, one of them is absolutely passing some type of resolution. Um, so whether we have something that's drafted or if you want to work on that together, I would be more than happy to do that. We could
collaborate on something. um love that we already have a couple of the bills that were suggested in that same email of like let's double down with our city lobbyists to make sure that these are um on the agenda for the state of Minnesota
um as well as when we go forward and do our federal communications and policy setting. I I love that we're already looking at um and influencing what type of measures can we kind of advocate for as a city. Um but and I know we already
are talking in collaboration with the school board too, right? Like there's things that we can do at a schoolboard level and there's the things that we can do at our our law enforcement level. And so it's just really great to know that there are some things that we can do and we're starting down the path of looking
into those. Um, and then where we cannot pass the legislation or create the policy, we're at least using our voices to try and influence that. So, um, happy to happy to work with you and and potentially see more of that soon.
I also beyond that want to talk a little bit about the ebike usage. Um, I've gotten a couple of emails, I think just in general, of like now that school is back in session, I think I've seen even
an uptick in the number of kids that are driving ebikes to school. And I live right by middle school and I see them all the time and every single time I'm like, you're not 15. I know that. Unless you've been held back a couple times,
you're probably not 15. Um, so it it kind of made me think I don't know if that's an opportunity for us to um I don't know and even manager Neil gave me the little handout and I don't have it right with me now, but I know we created like some some lit and some communication and maybe we go and we
stick them on the bikes that are going to be chained up during the day at the schools, some way to continue getting the the word out and the campaign out. Um, someone emailed in suggesting that we um confiscate all of the bikes and go in with with bolt cutters. And I that
might be a little extreme and I'm not suggesting that. I think we start with a little bit of lit on on each of those. Um, but I I think again it's just that reminder. And then I also got a question about like 50th in France in particular. Um, it sounds like there might be a lot
of use there. So I don't know and I'm looking over at our our officer here tonight. I don't know if you've seen or gotten a lot of complaints about specifically bike uses usage on the sidewalks at 50th in France because I know that's an area where it's prohibited. Um but if you could maybe
speak to if that's been an area of concern and then I don't know if there's anything that we could do um to I don't know more signage in that area or whatnot. But yeah, no, it's definitely been an area of concern. We we've been trying to put resources there to address it. We're
making a lot of phone calls to parents who to try to educate them as well too. Um we developed a system to where we can track the complaints now too. So since we all met and approved um the ordinance we've had close to 70 um complaints and
we track whether or not we've been able to make contact with the folks um or the children make contact with the parents as well too. And um we're trying to make uh we're trying to be um we're trying to enforce it but not heavy-handed. I don't want to hand out a lot of citations to children. I don't think that's the
answer here, but by working with the parents, we're really trying to educate them. Um, on a positive note, hopefully you're seeing a lot of them wear helmets. One thing I have seen this summer is a huge uptick in kids wearing helmets on the bikes as well, too. Doesn't solve the four the under 15
problem. Um, but we're we're continuously working on it. Um, I've talked to the SRO's, they're taking a peek at it. Obviously, last week kind of gave us a little bit of a um you know, derailment there with our efforts or whatnot too, but it's something that we're going to continue to look at, work at, and we've got some key contacts in
the schools that we can try to leverage as well, too. Well, thank you. I think that is those were the two items I had. Yeah. Good. Thank you. Thank you for both those topics. Um I was listening to
my colleagues talk about the u gun violence issue and a note for all of you and um our general population uh that uh I'm working we are working with our uh legislative delegation on having a
community conversation on on gun violence prevention. And so they're trying to find some dates that give people enough advanced notice where they can try to get there because I'm sure there'd be a lot of people in our community interested in having that conversation. And so we need we have to
figure out where to do it, too. I think we've got a couple of sanctuaries that hold about a thousand people, but u that might be or the or the performing arts center at the high school. It probably holds about a thousand. That would be a good spot for it. So we'll keep you
posted on that. uh a lot of political leaders talking about this issue since we had our h meeting and it was down there in Lynhurst Park that night and there was you know the mayor of Minneapolis spoke and he did a wonderful job talking about the situation I thought and our attorney
general was there and a lot of state legislators uh people that had grandkids as victims. So that conversation is going on, but to the point all of you are raising and and in fact the mayors were over at the Capitol today and the governor is
supposed to come out his notions on legislation. Uh and I didn't have a chance to go over because of my schedule, but um I think we're just about at the point where we're done talking and getting to the doing what you're talking about. Let's get to the doing. All of us thinking about it. So
what is that? What can we what can we do as a city? you know, we uh wouldn't take too long for us to hit the courthouse steps, I suppose, if we banned assault weapons in Nina, but there are other things we can do. And so I think we should all be thinking about that and
doing what we can do around this issue. Um that's it for me too. Um cause manager Neil to have anything else you want to add? Okay. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. We got a motion second to adjourn the
meeting of the city council of the city of Adana this Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at 8:32 8:32 p.m. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adjournment say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. We stand adjourned.