Hey everybody. We'll call the city council meeting for Monday, March 16th. 2026 to order. Would everybody please rise for the pledge of >> 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. >> Call the role, please. >> Mayor Lean, >> here. Council member Bernance >> here. >> Council member Wilson >> here. >> Council member Cortis >> here.
>> Okay. I would ask if there have been any changes to the agenda requested. >> Seeing none, I'd look for a motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> Uh motion by Steve, second by Jay. All in favor say I. >> I. And we have next item. We'll skip it
right ahead to the consent agenda. Unless there's any uh look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Holly, second by Jake. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Have a consent agenda. Item seven. We have a public hearings.
So this will be one second. Kelly. Good evening. Mayor, city council. At the December 15, 2025 city council meeting, the 2026 fee schedule was approved. Following passage, staff identified several housekeeping
corrections and fees that were inadvertently omitted from the 2026 fee schedule. The first is in the park parks and recreation department. City council at its meeting on February 1st, 2016 approved the purchase of an electric Zamboni for the Schmidz Mack Arena. As
part of the purchase, the Farmington liquor store contributed $10,000 in exchange for sole advertising right rights on the resurfacer. The advertising fee for the ice resurfacer wasn't removed from the 2017 fee schedule and has mistakenly remained in
the following fee schedules. Thus, staff recommends removing the ice resurfacer advertising rate from the 2026 fee schedule. In the building permit section underwater, a backflow assembly test record submitt with a fee of $16.95
per report is being added to the fee schedule. A correction is needed under grading authorization. The $25,000 SS SWPP compliance escrow is currently listed under shity but should be under inspection escrow. A typographical error
in the platting section will be corrected to properly reference gross area. A beekeeping ordinance was passed by city council in August of 2025. The ordinance included updating the 2025 fee schedule to include applicable permit
fees. However, the permit fees were not transferred to the 2026 fee schedule. So, staff has requested they be added to the 2026 fee schedule. The fees are as follows. The in initial permit for beekeeping is $100 and the renewal
permit is $40. A notice was published in the February 27th, 2026 edition of the Dakota County Tribune for a public hearing to be held at the regular city council meeting on March 16th, which is this evening. The action requested tonight is to hold a
public hearing and pass ordinance 2026 TAC 002 amending charges and fees for licenses, permits or other city approvals and services for calendar year 2026. Be happy to answer any questions you have and um John as well and Tony is
here as well. >> Thank you. We'll start with Holly. Any questions? >> Uh no, no questions. So, I appreciate the cleanup and uh fixing a few things uh around some areas. It's important to keep everything uh where it needs to be. I do not have questions.
>> Jake, I have no questions. Similar though, thank you to staff for the clerical um updates and cleanup. Steve >> Kelly, I do have one quick question that and I apologize. Maybe I should have
reached out to you before this. So with the resurfacer of the 10,000 um obviously the liquor store is important for our park and wreck programming etc. Um you know if we had a resident come to us and say well you
know we're passing up opportunities for a private business to put more money into theoretically the park and recck department. Um and then we're kind of taking back that investment. Um what are your thoughts on that or what? Well, kind of walk me through that a little bit.
>> Yep. So, at the Ice Arena, we have a number of other uh advertising opportunities. We have um signs on the walls they can advertise. We have dasher boards ads there. At the Rambling River Center, we have ads in our newsletter. Um here at city hall in our current, we have advertising opportunities as well.
Um so, there are a number of different opportunities throughout uh the department. >> All right. Thank you. Okay. I have no additional questions. Since this is a public hearing, we'll go ahead and open that now for any residents that would like to come up and
speak. Anybody here that wants to speak on the topic? Okay, seeing none, I will close the public hearing and would ask if there's any further discussion then. None. Okay. If that's all in order, then
I would go ahead and look for a motion to approve. Hold on, I got to read the item here. Sorry, still not. We look for a motion to approve uh passing ordinance 2026-002 amending charges and fees for licenses,
permits, and other city approvals and services for calendar year 2026. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Call the roll, please. Council member Bernance. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Council member Cortis. >> Yes.
>> Mayor Lee. >> Yes. Thank you, Kelly. Moving on. Item 81. This is an agreement services with HKGI for the 20150 comprehensive plan update.
>> Tony. >> Thank you, mayor, council members. Uh every 10 years the city is required to update its comprehensive plan. Uh in September of last year, the Met Council uh initiated the imagine 2050
uh which officially kicked off that uh process. At that same time, the Met Council issued what is called a system statement. Uh those are individual documents that inform uh the various cities within the seven county metro on
how uh it is affected by the met council's policies plan policy plans uh for regional systems that includes transportation aviation water resources and regional parks and trails. Uh additionally these system statements
provide individualized forecast for population household and employment. Um and with that issuance again it kicked off the need for us to start the process of updating our 2050 comprehensive plan.
Attached for council's consideration is a an approval is an agreement uh for services for updating that 2050 plan with Hoisington Kogler or HKGI. Uh
included with that uh agreement is a scope and work plan uh that identifies seven tasks uh within that uh agreement. The first task is uh what is called take the pulse. Uh this task will include
reviewing the metropolitan council's uh imagine 2050 and how it needs to be incorporated into our plan. uh updating the community's existing context and conduct the initial round of public engagement. The second task is called shape the
plan. This will include changes to the land use based on such things as projections and goals and policies. It also includes the second round of uh public engagement. The third task is prepare the plan. Uh at this time the a full draft of the
2050 plan will be prepared and presented to planning commission and council. The third and final round of public engagement will also take place during this task. Uh and a final draft of the plan will be created based on uh the plan commission and council review and
the community engagement that was previously held. >> The fourth t fourth task is to seek approvals. This is where public hearings will be held at the plan commission. Uh present the plan to the city council and then seek approvals to distribute the
plan to the affected and adjacent jurisdictions and agencies. The fifth task is to distribute the plan for six-month review. Uh assemble uh an electronic version of the plan for distribution to the
affected and adjacent jurisdictions and agencies. uh submit the plan to the Met Council uh for a preliminary review. It summarizes comments received and presents uh the revised plan to city council uh in order for you to authorize
uh the submittal of the plan to the Met Council for formal review. The sixth task is to facilitate Metropolitan Council review. again is to prepare and submit the plan to the Met Council for a formal review and revise the plan as needed to address completeness issues identified by the
Met Council. And then the last task number seven is adopt the plan. This is seeking the final adoption of the plan by the city council following approval by the Met Council. Budget impact. Uh the budget for the work to be completed through those seven
tasks uh is not to exceed $110,000. The work is proposed to be spread over the next three years uh with the following expenditures per year. That would be 70,000 in 2026, so this year
30,000 in 2027 and 10,000 in 2028. Uh, as part of this, staff is also requesting an amendment to the 2026 budget for professional services within the planning department budget. The 2026
budget allocated 50,000 for professional services to the planning department. Uh, as indicated above, uh, the HKGI services has budgeted 70,000 for 2026. Uh this would require adjustment of
20,000 to the 2020 excuse me 2026 budget. The amounts for both 2027 and 2028 will be reflected in the budget process as we move forward. Therefore the action that's requested
this evening is authorize the following actions. one signing of the attached agreement for services with Hoisington Kogler Group Incorporated for 20250 comprehensive plan update. The agreement accounts for work already completed
uh as part of the recent comprehensive plan amendment two amending the 2026 budget to include an additional $20,000 to the professional services line item in the planning department's budget. Any questions? Thank you very much.
We'll start from Steve's side this time. >> So Tony, um I wasn't here for the 2019 adoption at that time. Did we feel like we had a pretty good swath of public engagement, uh business community,
farmers, residents, um neighboring communities that might be interested, for example? uh we did um but with this I think it's still important to do the the updated engagement. >> Yeah, I agree. Um
yeah, so as we walk through it, I mean certainly any opportunity to really expand and have as many opportunities as possible. I would even argue that uh you know if residents have comments online you know >> we'll have an online presence >> put their name and all their relevant
demographics but that might be a good way to do it too. >> Absolutely. >> All right thank you. >> Um really simple question Tony having not gone through this process before in this role. Is it typical for a city of our
size to outsource this type of work to a firm like HKGI? >> It is. Yes sir. Thank you. >> Uh I really don't have any questions. I um have done a lot of work on the
background of comprehensive plans. Um I guess the the biggest thing just reiterating the fact that this is a non-negotiable. We don't have an option to participate or not participate in this. This is a requirement of us. Um I the only question that I have is the
discrepancy between the 50 and 70,000 is that just what we had estimated this to be and HKGI came back being a little bit higher. Correct. >> And then the next followup to that would be is there once we set this in place um
is there any opportunity for 27 or 28 to change or is that part of the agreement and therefore those numbers dollar numbers are also set in stone at this point. Those are the numbers that we anticipate needing to have in the years. >> All right, that's all I have.
>> Well, just to add on to yours, HKI did our last >> um zoning amendment, too. So, it's they are comfortable and familiar with the content of they've been through it a few times now with our with our >> Yeah. And I don't have a problem with HKGI. I just wanted to >> just advertise that out. This is consistent with the same contract we've
used for this in the past as well. Um to kind of piggyback on Steve, I think it's just my only statement. It's not so much a question to you as just you know right from the start it's take the pulse right so now is your time when you want to get involved with our comp plan on what the city looks like in 2050 seek out that
engagement seek out that public input this is where you get to have your voice heard and so I would encourage you to to take advantage of it at every opportunity so um Amy can I do these as one motion or does this have to be two separate actions okay so then I would look for a motion
to uh authorized signing of the attached agreement for services with HKGI for the 2050 comprehensive plan update. Um the agreement accounts for work already completed by HKGI as part of the recent comprehensive plan amendment. >> So second
>> motion by Holly, second by Steve. Um is that a roll call or can we call? >> Call the roll. Do them slowly. >> Council member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Council member. >> Yes. >> Yes.
Yes. >> And then I would look for a motion to amend the 2026 budget to include an additional $20,000 to the professional services line item in the planning department's budget. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Motion by Jake. Second by Holly. Roll call.
>> Council member Cordis. >> Yes. >> Mayor Lean. >> Yes. >> Council member Bernance. >> Yes. >> Council member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Very good. And Tony, looks like you're staying up here for item 91, which is the preliminary plat and preliminary planned unit development approval for
the development known as Sawyer Glenn. >> Thank you, mayor, council members. Yes, before you this evening is the preliminary plat and preliminary PUD along with the reszone and comprehensive plan amendments uh for the Sawyer Glenn development.
Uh Lenar is seeking review of those items uh for the Sawyer Glenn development. Uh the subject property consists of four parcels totaling uh just over 73 acres and is generally located near the northwest intersection of County Road 50 and Flagstaff Avenue.
The properties directly south of the Farmington High School. The development consists of 215 single family lots spread over those uh 73 acres. The gross density for the development is 2.94 dwelling units per acre with a net
density of 4.6. Uh the preliminary plat includes four outlots labeled A throughD. The outlots consists of a combination of storm water facilities, wetland flood plane, trail corridor, and remnant land. This is a copy of the preliminary plat.
Uh directly to the west of the uh Sawyer Glenn development is the Whispering Fields development and Regita Fields. Um, so that's the general layout of the uh development. Uh, the development standards include a
minimum lot width of 42 feet, minimum lot depth of 135 ft, minimum lot area of 5,670 ft, front yard setback of 25 ft, sideyard setback, interior of 6 feet, sideyard setback corner of 20 ft, rear
yard setback of 25 ft. uh lot sizes within the preliminary plat range from that 5,670 up to 23,560 square feet size with an average lot size in the development of 7,237
square ft. Uh three access points are proposed for the development uh including the extension of 208th and 209th Street from uh Whispering Fields development uh along with the extension of 211 Street West on the south side of the Rigita
Fields development. Generally the roadway width uh within the development will be 60 ft wide with a roadway width of 30 ft. Uh 211 street uh does provide for a 70 foot wide right of way and a roadway with the 41 feet.
This roadway does connect down to a 60 foot right excuse me 60 foot wide right ofway and a 30 foot wide roadway near Fairfield Drive which is the first north south road in the development parks trails and sidewalks. Uh the city
will take cash in lie of park dedication with this plat. Uh the park that will service this development is the Flagstaff Meadows Park. Uh the preliminary plat identifies outlot D as parkland to be dedicated. Uh the park and rec commission did review this
preliminary plat and determined not to accept outlaw D for park purposes. Uh in large part being that this outlaw does contain wetland. Section 1149 of the city code does not allow for park dedication credits for wetland areas.
Sidewalks will be constructed on one side of every road uh within the development and trail will be provided from the end of the culde-sac uh which is 209th Street West. Uh and it will run through out lot A and a portion of outlot B and will connect into the
existing trail within the Whispering Field and Regita Fields development. A trail will also be provided on the south side of 211 Street West and will extend north to the existing trail located on the west side of the rigita fields development. And do keep in mind that
Whispering Fields when that was developed, there was a trail that was connected to the north up to the high school. So all of this will be interconnected to allow for access to the high school. Uh Sawyer Glenn is proposed to be uh a planned unit development uh to allow
flexibility with bulk standards uh within the R2 zoning district. The requested changes are reducing the minimum lot area to that 5,670 square ft or a typical minimum is 6,000 square ft. Reducing the minimum lot width to 42
feet instead of the typical 60 ft. increasing the building coverage percentage for lots to 45% which is typically maximum of 35%. And increasing the minimum front yard setback to 25 ft versus the minimum is
typically 20 ft. Reszoning uh the parcels that are current that currently make up the Sawyer Glenn development are zoned A1 agricultural. Uh the developers requesting the parcels be reszoned to R2 low medium density residential. The R2
zone allows for a density range between three and a half and six dwelling units per acre. The net density for for the Sawyer Glenn development is 4.6 dwelling units per acre. So it falls within that requirement.
Comprehensive plan amendment. Uh three amendments to the 2040 comprehensive plan are being sought with this development. Uh the comprehensive plan, as the council is aware, is a guiding document uh for the city and is an expression of the city's vision for the future. Comprehensive plan amendments or
changes do occur on a semi-regular basis and are fairly common and or normal. Uh and these are permitted by state law and are often needed and or requested depending on the type of development that is being proposed.
The first amendment is to the future land use. Uh currently the northern two parcels are guided medium density residential. So they're that orange color. The southern two parcels are guided as low medium density residential. Uh the northern two parcels must be
redesated to low medium density residential on the future land use map. Uh this would be in line with the proposed resoning. So literally just looking at the northern two parcels MUSA staging. The northern two parcels
are currently shown receiving Musa in 2040. The southern two parcels are currently shown receiving Musa in 2030. The anticipated Musa staging map which is shown here uh must be amended to show all four parcels uh with Musa
designation of 2020. And then the last amendment is to the development staging map. The northern two parcels currently have a development time frame of 2030 to 2040. And then the southern two parcels currently have a
development time frame of 2020 to 2030. The anticipated development staging map must be amended to show the northern two parcels in the 2020 to 2030 development time frame. Uh the plan commission did review the preliminary plan preliminary plan unit
development resoning and comprehensive plan amendments at its regular meeting uh held on March 10th and recommended approval of all the items with a 50 vote. Therefore, the action that is requested this evening is approve the following
actions by three separate motions. Number one, adopt resol resolution 2026 TAC 023 approving Sawyer Glenn preliminary plat and preliminary plan unit development subject to the following conditions. A
satisfaction of all engineering comments requirements including plans for grading storm water and utilities. B approval of the resoning of a portion of the Sawyer Glenn development area from R3 medium density residential to R2 lowmedium density residential. and C approval of
the comprehensive plan amendments to land use, use of designation and development staging time frame by the metropolitan council. The sec the second action uh is to pass ordinance 2026 TAC 003 amending title 10
of the Farmington city code the Farmington zoning ordinance reszoning the development known as Sawyer Glenn from A1 agriculture to R2 lowmedium density residential. And then the third item is adopt
resolution 2026 tax 022 approving the 2040 comprehensive plan amendments to the future land use guidance muse staging and development staging for the development known as Sawyer Glenn. >> All right, let's start with Holly
tonight. >> Uh do we have a representative here from We do Lenar. Perfect. Good evening. Steve Trrowsky with LAR out of Plymouth, Minnesota. We're happy to be back in Farmington. Thank you, Tony. That was a a very good summary. I
don't have much to add other than at the planning commission last week, there was some comments about the transition from the existing neighborhood into the new community. And so our preliminary plat tonight shows 215 home sites, but we're
going to reduce that by two in the northeast corner just to give a little bit more space up there by the existing uh neighborhood. So you will see that change come forward on the first final plat. So we've reduced it by two based on feedback from your planning commission. Other than that, thanks
Tony. Happy to answer any questions. >> Perfect. Well, thank you so much for coming. Um I guess the question that I have is what have we noticed in the market? I mean, these are these are tighter lots, right? We're reducing a couple of the um standards that we have as far as lot coverage and um minimum
lot sizes and all of that. So, what are we noticing in the housing market and what is this specifically filling from a gap perspective in in our housing diversity here in Farmington that makes this make sense in this area? >> We are having a lot of success down at
Vermillion Commons on the south side of town. We've got some town homes down there. We've got some smaller, more attainable single family homes. That's really hitting a price point in the market across the metro right now that that's pretty attractive to a lot of families.
So that's the basis for the homesite size and the home size here. They will be twocar garage, slab ongrade homes, all of them. So we feel that we're hitting a price point and a type of home that's attainable for a family. and
that if you don't want to live in a town home, we've got plenty of those in Farmington. We want to offer another product in Farmington because we find it's a it's a very good city. Uh people do want to move here. Vermilion Commons, the latest edition we did had some town
homes, but it also has some single family homes. These will be very similar in size and appearance to those. So, if you want to drive down there, that would be a good representation of what we're offering at Sawyer Glenn. Okay. Um I might have another question at the
end, but I will I will see uh what what's coming up here too. When we're looking at access points, just because of the high school's proximity and the fact that it looks like we've got three access points, does anybody know what we're expecting from a traffic impact sort of situation in this area and what
that looks like coming up to that interesting turn going on to 50 plus now these three points plus the high school? >> Yeah. Mayor and council members. Um after this preliminary plat was submitted, uh the city was approached by
Lakeville and Dakota County. Uh they want to construct a direct connection to County Road 50 along the border. And I don't know if Tony can point that out, but in the southwest portion of the development site. So a lot of that
traffic which would be going on 211th and other access and then taking rights to get to County Road 50 would have a future full access at that location. Um that literally came up after we received the preliminary plat. So that
roadway would not only um the future phase of the plot would be amended to make a a roadway connection, but that roadway would not only serve this new neighborhood, but also would provide an opportunity to have another
connection to the um Armore development, which only has one access currently with all those units in there. and at the same time it would provide access to future commercial development in Lakeville on the north side of County Road 50.
Uh Dakota County strongly supports a new full access roadway connection which meets their access spacing in that location and the two cities in addition to discussing the roadway with the county. We're also um as a result of activities in both Lakeville and
Farmington, we'll have to do a flood plane letter of map amendment, a conditional letter of map amendment or map revision, a cyling a joint powers agreement to have that a joint effort between the two communities. So we're very that was a
very positive development that came up uh after this had been submitted. So all that traffic that goes that would be going south on Flagstaff and making a right or a left would have a direct connection not going through the neighborhoods to the east.
>> Okay. Um so that that update how far into the neighborhood are we expecting that to go? Is that just hitting >> where is that hitting? >> That would extend up to the that lot right there. And then there'd be a
connection to the east uh into Sawyer Glenn and a potential connection to the northwest to that Ardmore and then >> to the south that would serve the the commercial development in Lakeville. >> Okay. And how just for the purpose of
understanding it more easily, I think I can see it on here, but the Uturn that is required now when you're going south on Flagstaff, you can't make a direct left turn. So you've got to make the right and then you've got a U-turn back. That's about halfway in the middle of where this development is. So
that new road actually falls further east than that. Is that accurate? >> West. >> The new road. Yes. Further west. It would be So all the traffic from Sawyer Glenn that wants to get out to County Road 50, whether they're going east or going west would have a direct
connection closer than going east to Flagstaff. >> Okay. And that would be a future full access at that location. And that's why it's there because based on access management guidelines for the county, that's where it lands.
>> Okay. All right. I appreciate that. I think I'm good for right now. >> Do you want me to come back to you? >> Maybe. >> Okay. Jake. >> Um Holly actually asked two of the questions I had written down. One of them was uh similar products that we go take a look at. So, thank you for for
letting us know it'd be very similar to Vermillion Commons. And then my question about the traffic uh other question that I just thought of because of the proximity to the high school, there'd be no need to stage or use the high school property for any
reason during the construction timeline. I think that was asked of the planning commission, but I can't remember. >> We have a little bit of grading on the southwest corner of the property. directly north of Sawyer Glenn. Uh
school board has given LAR approval for that. >> Okay. >> Temporary grading. That would be the only impact we'd have. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Nope. None for me. Steve. >> Um Steve, thanks for being here. So, um
how many different housing styles do we expect to see in this area? I mean, is it going to have kind of a diversity of look or is it going to kind of all look about the same? I know you referenced I'd kind of like to hear you kind of
describe that if you could. >> We have a number of exterior packages. I don't know the number off the top of my head as I stand here. Um, so I'm unable to give you a a hard number on that, but you know, it would be 10 or more
different types of exterior styles. >> Okay. >> All the homes would be relatively the same width on the 42 foot wide home sites and then a twocar garage. So, they're all going to have a very similar envelope, but the exterior package that
the resident picks when they purchase the home, I don't know what that number would be, but we do have several options. >> And we do try our best our people who are better at aesthetics than I am try
to put make it so that the same home package isn't, you know, on either side of of a home. So you'll never have more than one of a type in a row. >> Got it. Um, so I'm looking at one particular parcel.
It might be in neighborhood 6 on the 209th Street West Culdeac kind of on the far left. Lot number 40, for examples. So, I mean, one thing about this development is you pretty much have lot sizes between 6,000 and
24,000, which by itself makes it interesting. Um, but obviously those are probably going to be pretty different price points. So, based on your kind of market, you know, what what LAR has built in different communities over time, you got like lot
39 or lot 40. Um, lot 39 backs up to three properties. Lot 40 backs up to four. Um, you know, is that noted by residents who are is is that a tougher self for those
bigger lots when you're backing into, you know, four different properties versus true R1, for example, or if they were all R2, same dimensional, you know, one backing into one. When we market any community, we have a
subdivision map. We have those visual guides for the purchasers of what they're going to be purchasing. So, no one would go into a home in that location blind, so to speak. >> Right. >> Right. >> All of the future home sites would be
listed on the marketing materials. >> So, I I don't know what a purchaser may or may not want. >> Sure. the the homes themselves would range from probably 350 to 500 somewhere in that range based on the exterior package and the lot size.
You know, these ones at the south end of the culde-sac do have a little bit larger size because when we measure our setback, we like to go or when we measure the width, we like to go from the setback line. Because it's a pies-shaped lot, we don't really have a choice other than to make it larger.
>> Sure. Yep. Um Matt, a question for you. So with these smaller neighborhoods and you sit in the development the development of review committee when these are all going through. So I mean you're looking at the
ladder truck and the other trucks and kind of determining even for some of these smaller culdeacs that we're not that you're not going to have an issue with that. Correct. Okay. I think that's all I have. I think I probably want to back up to
the road a little bit. Thank you, John. That's actually very helpful. It's probably one of the things I was worried the most about, but just so I kind of understand, I mean, if you look right on this paper, how this backs up to Ardmore right now, I'm struggling to kind of see how what the connection route would be there to connect into Ardmore without
displacing some homes. Right. >> Uh mayor and council members, that would be correct. Uh they estimate that they would probably have to take two lots out of the Lakeville development to make a road connection there, but my understanding based on Dakota County's
comments is their access to the west on Cedar Avenue may be even more limited in the future. So they're very the city of Lakeville is very intent on providing another way out. >> Right. I would note that with that north south connection directly to County Road
50, we would not require the developer to extend the roadway all the way over to 211th. >> Okay? >> Because that there's a lot of uh roadway and including a significant portion outside of the plat limits >> that right now they're proposing to
construct. Um so we would not require that to be constructed with this County Road 50 roadway connection. >> Okay. That's I'm just kind of curious how they plan to kind of hit in there with them. I mean, I was I'm a little surprised that they want to say a full access for how much debate we've had to
have about the Flagstaff and 50. Is there any conversation there about longerterm plans for what Flag Staff and 50 looks like then? Because the the the right in right out was kind of a five to 10 year um holdover is how I understood
that when we voted on it back in the day. >> Yeah. Mayor and Council, that was really an interim safety improvement. That was not a permanent uh fix for Flag Staff. Uh talking to the county, apparently Lakeville and Dakota County have been planning some changes to their access
just west of our border. Um there's an access to a large business on the south side that once this full access is put in, they'll be required to reroute their driveway over to the full access location. Uh so it all fits in with the big picture of quarter mile spacing on
full access. They haven't talked much about Flag Staff because it's they've got an interim safety improvement and we have nothing developing to the south. We have nothing developing to the northeast at this point. So uh those improvements tend to happen when development occurs.
>> Okay. So this wasn't part of like a county 50 discussion more so than just Lakeville development on 50 over there. So two separate kind of discussions. >> That's correct. And in addition to that, uh, Lake, uh, Dakota County, uh, there's a portion of CASA 50 that narrows down
as you head west and get closer to Cedar. Uh, they plan to make that section transition so it looks the same as the portion to the east, so there's not that lane drop uh, before you get to Cedar Avenue heading westbound. >> That's good. Um, I think you already
asked my question about the trail. It's good that that's connected to it. So, I think that's probably every question I would have too. Okay, this is going to be a mouthful. Uh, let's see. Let's do these separate by separate actions here once I get back
up to the top of my list. Thank you for your patience. So, I would look for a motion to adopt resolution 2026-023 approving the Sawyer Glenn Preliminary Plat and preliminary plan due to development subject to the following conditions. The satisfaction of all
engineering comments and requirements including plans for grading storm water utilities. Approval of the reszoning of a portion of the Sawyer Glenn development area from R3 medium density residential to R2 lowmedium density lowmedium density residential and the
approval of the comprehensive plan amendments to land use Musa designation and development staging time frame by the Met Council. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Holly, second by Jake. Call the role, please. >> Council member Cordis, >> yes. >> Mayor Lean, >> yes.
>> Council member Bernance, >> yes. Council member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Okay. And I would look for a motion to pass ordinance 2026-003 amending title 10 of the Farmington City Code, Farmington zoting ordinance reszoning the development known as
Sawyer Glenn from A1 agricultural to R2 lowmedium density residential. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Steve, second by Jake. Call the role. >> Mayor Lean. >> Yes. >> Council member Bernance. >> Yes. >> Council member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Council member Cortis. >> Yes. And I would look for a motion to
adopt resolution 2026-022 approving the 2040 comprehensive plan amendments to the future land use guidance Musa staging and development staging for the development known as Sawyer Glennon. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Jake, second by Holly. Call a roll. >> Council member Bernance. >> Yes.
>> Council member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Council member Cortis. >> Yes. >> Mayor Lean. >> Yes. >> You guys are giving me a reading test tonight. All right. New business. 11-1. >> Thanks, Kelly.
>> Looks like this one's Kelly. >> Thank you, mayor. Staff regularly looks for and is notified of funding sources to complete the project in the in the approved rambling of her park master plan, and we are waiting for the this opportunity as we we applied for it last year. The Legislative Citizen Commission
on Minnesota Resources, also known as the LCCMAR, recently announced funding opportunities for projects of all sizes that address several priorities, including education and outdoor recreation, and that aim to protect, conserve, preserve, and enhance
Minnesota's air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources. The LCCMR reviews applications and makes funding rec recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, the ENRTF.
Approximately $121 million is available from the NRTF for projects beginning July 1st of 2027. There is no minimum or maximum maximum request amount. However, all applicants requesting funds
for pre-esign, design, construction, or renovation of a building or trail are required to provide a match of cash or incind of at of at least 25% of the total cost to complete the project. During the Rambling River Park master planning process, public and stakeholder
engagement showed a strong desire for trails and more facilities to support popular events within the park. Trail improvements were ranked as the highest priority. Improved restrooms were ranked as the second highest priority. Parks and recreation team did make uh some
improvements to the existing rec uh restrooms in 2024. New restrooms were ranked as the fourth highest priority. Additional restrooms are needed to support public popular events at the park. During the stakeholder engagement for the master plan, a meeting was held
with Dakota County Office of Planning. Dakota County was and is still interested in Ramling River Park becoming the trail head for the North Creek Greenway. The county would contribute up to $400,000 towards the new restroom building. 8515 cost for replacement of
the trails, 85% county, 15% city in collaboration on securing funding for natural resource water quality improvements along and beyond the Greenway corridor. The city will be the applicant submitting the proposal to the LCCMR for
funding with Dakota County listed as a collaborator. Carrie Kubichek, the city's regional funding manager, is preparing the funding proposal with assistance from HKGI. Dakota County retained HKGI to collaborate with the city. So, is there no cost to the city for this service? I
want to thank Dakota County and Lil La La Lam um for allowing us to partner with HKG on this and also Carrie for all her work on this uh funding proposal. Selected proposals will be presented before the LCCMR in June, late June or early July of 2026.
This group is made up of 17 members including five senators, five representatives, five citizens appointed by the governor, one citizen appointed by the Senate, and one citizen appointed by the House. M >> by May of 2027, LCCMR recommendations
will be presented to the legislature for consideration via introduction as an appropriations bill and to be considered by and acted upon by the Minnesota House and Senate. Upon passage, the bill will go before the governor to be signed into law. The city's proposal includes the
following. Moving the Rambling River til replacement with 8 ft from 8t greenway trails to 10t wide greenway trails. Construction of a new restroom building, addition of trail head amenities, kiosk, bike fixit station, garbage recycling
containers, um monument, etc. Shoreline restoration and fishing access improvements. HKGI is estimating the total cost of the project with contingency will be 2,793,55. However, the grant funding request is
$2,951 129. The 25% match required for the project proposal is $698,376. Dakota County and the city of Farmington would would pay for the match if the project were funded. If the proposal is
funded, a determination will be need to made regarding the city's share of project costs. The current plan is to utilize funds from the park parks and trails funds. As mentioned earlier, we submitted the project, this project last year as well. Unfortunately, you don't receive feedback on your proposal. Um,
they received over 400 applications last year, so they don't uh provide any feed yet feedback. This year's proposal, we added more information regarding natural resources, restoration, and fish fishing access. The action requested tonight is to adopt
resolution 2026 tact 021 authorizing the submission of a proposal to request funding from the environmental and natural resources trust fund for the North Creek Greenways trails and trail construction project. Be happy to answer any questions you have.
>> Thank you, Kelly. Start from Steve. >> I got to turn the button back on. Um, Kelly, I'm really I'm really happy that we're bringing this back for reconsideration. Um, so when it says selected proposals, so LCCMR
is going well, wait a second. Are they going to select the ones that they're recommending and bring them forward or >> it's it's vetted by staff first and then presentations go before the LCSMR. And um when we met with Dakota County
and uh HKGI, if you make it to in front of the LCMR, it sounds like your proposal will be funded as what's been in the past. >> So, is there anything that we or Dakota County or >> can can do to strengthen our position on this or not?
>> Yep. Dakota County uh wrote a letter of support already and it'll be included with our grant application. >> Okay. Would we theoretically do the same? I mean, you could if you want. It's due uh on Wednesday, so we'd have to act quickly. Um we could put a line
in there also that, you know, the city council um strongly uh encourages this application or we've done that with other proposals. >> I would like to do that and you know, Nick, if you can race down to city hall
and sign it. Um I think showing our support for this too. Um, I just remember my time working at the legislature that when you're talking about any kind of local funding project, um, the the legislature does not want
any local opposition. So, letter of support, I think, goes a long way. >> Any comments, Steve? >> Oh, that's it. Um, just want to extend my thanks to Kelly and Carrie for putting this grant application together and fingers
crossed. >> Nothing more to add. >> I guess to to add on to what you say. I mean, I I do want to I guess maybe add on why I am so heavily supported of the the the greenway in general. Um, it's not really a secret that our trails
don't have enough allocated to them to maintain the amount of trail we have. Um, so I I kind of view this as if you've been through Rambling River Park and ridden your bike across it, you know, your parts of your body might be sore from having to experience the tree ruts through there. And this is kind of just a long overdue maintenance project.
So on, you know, on the on the surface, it looks kind of like a net new project, but I don't really view it that way. This is kind of long overdue maintenance and it's a way to get it at a a heavily discounted price for Farmington. So, I couldn't be more enthusiastic about the project and like I said, I will happily write that letter for for you, Steve,
and sign it and send it on the way. >> I mean, Nick, you actually don't have to. Kelly can write the letter and you can >> We can write it. >> I mean, I'd prefer to write it myself. >> You can write it. >> Okay. With that, this one we want we look for a motion to adopt resolution
2026 uh-21 authorizing approval for the city of Farmington to request funding from the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund for the North Creek Greenway Trails and Trail Head Construction Project. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Steve, second by Jake. Call
the role, please. >> Council member Wilson, >> yes. >> Council member Cortis, >> yes. >> Mayor Lean, >> yes. >> Council member Bonance, >> yes. All right. 112, designation of acting mayor for the remainder of 2026 tonight, I think.
>> Take that item >> of Shirley. >> All right. At um the January 5th, 2026 meeting, city council appointed Nick Lean as acting mayor for the 26 uh 2026. Following the resignation of Mayor Joshua Hoy on February 4th, Nick Lean
stepped into the acting role of mayor. On March 2nd, the city council appointed Nicoline to the office of mayor and to serve until the successor is elected at the special election on November 3rd, 2026 and the election has officially
been certified. The city council is now asked to designate an acting mayor to serve effective immediately for the remainder of the calendar year 26. The city council bylaws state that the acting mayor shall be appointed annually on a rotating basis in the absence of
the mayor. According to the bylaws, the acting mayor is selected as follows. In an even number year, the members serving their fourth year of term who received the second most votes when elected. Nick Lean served as the acting mayor in 26.
an odd in an odd number year. The members serving their third year of term who received the most votes when elected Holly Bernant served as acting mayor in 25. However, the bylaws do not include any information concerning the
appointment of acting mayor after said acting mayor has been appointed to the office of mayor. Um staff recommends based on the rotation schedule above, council member Jay Cordis will be recommended for appointment to the acting mayor 27. Jay Cordis received the
most votes in 2024. Therefore, um staff recommends that the city council appoint council member Jay Cordis as acting mayor effective immediately and through 2027 appointment. If appointment the effective date for acting mayor Jay
Cortis will be March 16, 2026 through December 31, 2027. So the action tonight is requested to make a motion to appoint council member Jake Cordis as acting mayor for the remainder of the calendar year 26 and
through 27 appointment as acting mayor effective March 16th through December 31, 2027. Thank you. Start with Holly for questions. >> Um, I guess my only question has to do
with uh whether or not we feel that an update that actually handles this is something that's worth considering in future. While I would personally not like to go through that step-by-step process uh any more than absolutely
necessary, um I would be absolutely thrilled with a laidout version of that. So that's the only thing that I'd have to add. Otherwise, nothing more. >> Jake, I agree with what Holly says. Um, I think this is the second time in the
last three or four years an instance like this has come up where the acting mayor has either resigned or been elevated to the office of mayor. So, I think having this in writing would be helpful. And I think it's just also important to point out that this is the same process we followed. I think it was
in 2024 when the acting mayor resigned and then that office >> correct >> had to be filled. >> Yes. >> Steve, >> no questions. Okay. Um, I don't have any questions. I just want to tell you, Jake, and more
importantly, your wife, that I have no surgeries planned this year, so should be safe for this year at least. >> Bridget, thanks you. >> I will look for a motion to appoint council member Jake Cordis as acting mayor for the remainder of calendar year 2026 and through his 2027 appointment as
acting mayor effective March 16th, 2026 through December 31st, 2027. >> So moved. >> Second. Motion by Holly, second by Steve. Call to roll, please. >> Council member Cortis, >> yes. >> Mayor Lean, >> yes. >> Council member Bernance,
>> yes. >> Council member Wilson, >> yes. >> All right, great. Item 113, I think it's going to be Lyn again, which would be the declaration of vacancy for the city council seat that I held. All right, mayor and councel. Um, I bring to you
tonight the declaration of vacancy for city council seat for Nick Lean. On February 4th, Mayor Hoy submitted his resignation creating a vacancy. And at the March 2nd, 2020 26 city council work session, the city council discussed
options and the direction for filling the mayor vacancy. Later that evening at the March 2nd regular city council meeting, a motion was made to approve and appoint acting mayor Nick Lean as mayor. So with that, um, Mayor Lean has
vacated his city council seat and which leaves an opening. So tonight, um, we are asking you to make a motion to declare the city council seat previously held by Nick Lean vacant and direct staff to open the application process
for interested residents in accordance with the proposed timeline. And I have included the timeline, but I'll just cover that again. >> Um, starting tomorrow on March 17th, there will be an application online that can be printed out and filled out and
brought into city hall. Um, the application period will be from March 17th to March 30th and the application will close at 400 PM on March 30th. Council interviews are tentatively set
prior to the work session on April 6th and our council appointment is planned for April 20th. >> Thank you, Holly. >> No questions. Jake, >> no questions. >> Steve,
>> none. >> All right, I have no questions. Um, I would look for a motion to declare the city council seat previously held by myself vacant and direct staff to open the application process for interested residents in accordance with the proposed timeline. >> Motion to approve.
>> Second. >> Oop, sorry. Sorry, >> Mr. Mayor. If I could interrupt. Um, I would suggest that the motion be amended to adopt resolution 2026-20 so that the resolution is officially adopted. It affects the same thing but just procedurally to officially adopt that
resolution. >> It's a resolution. Okay. I would Can I back that up then and reread that? Okay. I would look for a motion to adopt resolution 2026-020 declaring a vacancy on the city council seat. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Steve, second by Jake. Call
the role, please. >> Mayor Lean, >> yes. >> Council member Bernance, >> yes. >> Council member Wilson, >> yes. >> Council member Cortis, >> yes. >> Thank you. All right. Citizen comments. Comments are a time for anyone to
address the city council on matters not on the agenda. Comments from speakers must be informational in nature and may not exceed 5 minutes. The city council will not engage in discussion or debate in those five minutes, but will take the information and issue a response to those requiring one by the next council meeting. When you come up to the podium,
state the city or township that you live in. As part of the protocol, it is unacceptable for any speaker to slander or engage in character assassination or discuss personnel complaints at a public council meeting. As such, speakers will not be allowed to identify city employees either by name or position or
to identify any other person by name during the public comment period. If one does, their comments will be deemed done. Please address your comments to the council as a whole. If decorum cannot be maintained during a speaker's time, the council will recess to allow decorum to be restored. Upon return from
recess, citizen comments will resume provided order can be maintained. If order cannot be restored, the meeting may be adjourned. Is there anyone who would like to speak tonight? >> Before I start and before the five minutes starts, I'd like to ask the
council while I'm using my five minutes to consider me to ask some questions about an agenda item from both the last meeting and this meeting, which has nothing to do with my my comments for
for citizen comments. Those are agenda things that we couldn't talk about that I now have questions about. One issue from the last meeting and an issue from this meeting that I would have spoken to, but it seems like we can't we can't speak about things that are on the
agenda. So, mayor and council, mayor, like you just said, citizen comments is for things that are not on the agenda. All right. I asked while I was sitting in that chair last week or at the last
meeting to discuss something on the agenda. Just got blown away. When you look at this, it's an agenda not on the agenda. I should have been able to speak about it. When it comes to the actual agenda and the workshops, um, you know,
I've got the last meetings agenda here, and it's really not to me. It might be a tomato tomato type thing to people, but I don't see it that you changed the bylaws. I see what you did by moving citizen comments to the very end of the
meeting. Total disrespect for the taxpayers because they have to sit through a meeting to get their point across at the end like we did tonight, which had several things on it that probably didn't pertain to the to the taxpayers. Um, another thing was I I
wasn't aware and I couldn't even find last workshop meeting online, let alone to find a meeting where you were actually discussing changing citizen comments from 6 to to
12. So there was no no communication on that part. I do understand that what the meeting was held on the uh on changing the citizen comments was held here in the dis or in the council chambers where there are seats but last workshop
meeting. I showed up I was the first citizen to show up. We had to bring a chair in from another room. Three other residents showed up. We had to bring in three more chairs. So, I really don't think that council and and mayor really
want people to be at a meeting workshop to discuss anything. And so, I was trying to get my point across last week or at the last meeting. When does council want transpar transparency to start? When do you want people from this
podium to respect you? When does respect start so that we can we can talk at these meetings? I got I emailed the mayor and I got that you gave me time to speak. Well, at a workshop, that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to
talk and I had questions, legitimate questions. When it comes to to the podium here, you said you gave me time. You gave me my five minutes. I didn't ask for any any more than that. You gave me my five minutes. So, you didn't do anything extra. So, you know, I had good
conversation with Council Member Wilson at the end of the meeting. I stood here forever trying to get some conversation with you, Nick, and it just it didn't happen. And I think one of the biggest the biggest parts was, you know, trying to figure out where's the
transparency. You can't get respect if you don't give it. And I I was, you know, we we have a couple new meetings now with you being the mayor and and everybody wants things to be different than what it was before. By golly, we're
certainly going to try at this podium to try to be different, but I mean when when when I follow along, citizen comments is for stuff that's not on the agenda and we can't talk about stuff that's on the agenda. That's not
being very very respectful. And like I say, I don't think you changed the bylaws of the of the uh council. you changed a city document from moving citizen comments from six to 12. It's
only merely a document that you changed, not a bylaw. So that that just, you know, just floored me. Now, can I have some time? We got a minute left, but there's a couple issues that I wanted to speak about
that about the two items. one being uh how come I wasn't able to talk or any citizen talk when you were talking about the bylaws last week. I raised my hand in respect. I didn't say say nothing. All I said to you while you were talking
about it was that it was a non-aggenda or it's an agenda item. So it says in comments when it was at number six at the last meeting, I didn't talk about it because it was on the agenda wasn't labeled very good. was just 71 bylaws.
It didn't say that we were particularly moving citizen comments from 6 to 12, but there was been rumblings about that for the last couple meetings from everybody saying that, you know, I think they're changing the citizen comments to the end of the meeting, which well, like
I say, I've got it right here. All this says was changing bylaws and respectfully raising your hand and asking the council to to talk about it during the the the agenda item turned away.
So I I don't see that being a lot of respect. Now the question >> I I don't control that dude. >> Well, David, you're fine. Okay, >> we good. Thank you, David. >> Anybody else?
>> I'm Kathy Johnson. I um and I live in Castle Rock. I have considered myself a Farmington resident for 48 years. Um, I got the Farmington current this week and here on page nine is the trout fishing in the Vermillion River, which is a gem
of a river. Truly, it is that flows through Farmington and it's one of the few designated trout streams in Dakota County. I think you may not be aware it's even more distinctive than that in that from my research there's only two naturally breeding trout streams that
are close to metropolitan areas in the United States and the Vermillion is one of them and uh it's a great recreational opportunity for Farmington residents. Much of the river has public assets where I live on the south close to the south branch. I see cars parked down
there in this the seasoned fisherman. They won't be able to do it in the future though because it'll be fenced in because the south branch of the Vermillion flows right through the data center property. To me, it seems kind of ironic that the city promotes the
Vermilion River as the only designated trout stream in Dakota County, big asset, but it will get damaged as it has happened in other communities that have been had data centers constructed close to uh waterways and I know track promises otherwise, but that's not the
reality that's happened in many situations. Um, and plus it'll be fenced. So the section where I see people fishing, they won't be able to walk there to fish at all because I can't get on the other side of the fence. Um, it just seems to me like I don't want to
end up like Hannover, Virginia, where tract is building a huge data center. They drained wetlands and then they exchanged that by purchasing land to other places to make up for that wetlands. Well, if you drain wetlands, as will happen during the de the
construction or the dewatering during building a foundation, for example, that will affect the river. Um, explain to the trout why the river's dried up. Oh, come back in two or three months when the construction's over. Well, you don't want to be like Beaver Creek, Wisconsin,
where a data center is causing the streams that runs through their neighborhoods to go from dry to flooding in the yards, according to what's going on at the data center. Um through my contacts with Trout Unlimited, I found out that the south branch is the branch where the natural
breeding of trout takes place. The north branch is stocked. And so what you're doing is taking a federally I don't know about the laws of protection, but as I understand it, it's a protected river. You are destroying one of the great
assets of our city. I mean, Rambling River Park is named after this river and you are um you know promoting it in your magazine. So, what are you going to say to the residents in the future? Whoops, sorry you came to Farmington. We don't
have that uh great asset in our river anymore. Um the 100year flood setback on the property was designed to protect the buildings from flooding during the potential of a flood and three 100-year floods have happened in the last two
decades. Where's the ordinance or the statute to prevent the river that protects the river from the buildings? There isn't one. And a hundred years floodback isn't going to do it. In my last minute and a half, there's a call to action that's on the Farmington uh
Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development website. If you go with Farmington, that's our private, not our public site. The call to action encourages citizens to call for people the uh about a moratorum which would be a wonderful piece of legislation to
protect slow down the state and act let the legislature get ahead of um the rapid push for tech for data centers to come here when there's almost no parameters to protect us um our homes and our environment. You can call
Governor Walls, the Senate majority lever leader um Aaron Murphy, the the House Majority Lever uh leader Zack Semonson, and including our own representative Drew Roach, and encourage them to support the um data uh the
moratorium on data centers. It's a very very important piece of legislation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kathy. My name is Mark Pearson. I live on 225th Street in Castle Rock Township. I want to raise some long-term planning concerns about the proposed data center
project. My concern is not about the technology itself, but about whether we may be committing permanent land use to infrastructure whose underlying storage technology is likely to change dramatically over time. To understand the scale of these facilities, it helps
to understand why modern data centers contain so many drives. Hard drives and storage devices fail regularly at large scale. When you operate hundreds of thousands of drives, failures happen every single day. Because of that, data centers are designed so that when one
drive fails, the system can rebuild the missing data. They do this through redundancy. In some cases, the data is stored three times. The important point is that a large portion of the hardware inside modern data centers exist specifically so that the system can
rebuild storage devices when they fail. Researchers are currently developing extremely dense archival storage systems using five-dimensional crystal storage, also called laser quartz glass. A single 5D quartz drive can store hundreds of
terabytes of data on a drive roughly the size of a current portable hard drive. And it's the the storage system is stable for billions of years unless it falls into a volcano. Uh the future storage systems could achieve far higher density in a fraction
of the physical space currently required. If this trend continues over the next 5 years, the space required for a data center like this could shrink dramatically, potentially cutting land use requirements in half or more every few years. As the need for physical
space decreases, operators are likely to stop operating certain centers or relocate data to fill their remaining facilities efficiently. This could leave our community with farmland permanently converted for a facility whose scale may no longer be necessary while they move data elsewhere or require concessions to
cons continue operating. This raises an important question for our community. If the physical footprint needed for storage continues to shrink, are we committing farmland to a facility that may require far less land than anticipated? And what assumptions are we making about tax revenue? Within a few
years, the operators of this facility may be in a position to demand concessions or incentives to keep it here. Because the land is already developed, but the need for such a large facility will be shrinking. When we make decisions that permanently change the landscape of our community, it's
critical to consider not just today's technology, but the trajectory of the industry over the past 20 years and where it's likely to go in the next decade. History shows that storage systems continue to grow denser and more efficient at an astonishing rate, a fact
that should factor in heavily into any decision about reszoning agricultural land for a project of this scale. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? >> Jeff Shhatler, 22420 Calico Court, Farmington. Couldn't be here at your
last council meeting. I'm glad half my neighborhood showed up and spoke. I hope you guys listen to them. I know you're sick of listening to me, so I won't even look up when I come up here. It's interesting. Um, pick your fights. Pick your battles. You've picked one with your residents and you're supporting it against your residents.
You're at a point in the process where if you change your ordinance, you change anything, they built in eight-year terms into their development agreements. Whatever you change, it's not going to change this project. You've now got the choice of fighting with your residents forever or fighting with tract. Um, who's going to make you
uncomfortable? Who's going to sit at the gas stations with you? Who's going to be sitting in the bleachers next to you to the sporting games? Who do you have to deal with forever? Um, and it's not going to be forever. What do you guys got? Eight, nine months before the next election. People are supporting us. They're not
supporting what you're doing because they're not going to support it when you do it to them. They're not going to support this in their yards. They're not going to put up with it. We're the first step. If you continue to do it to us, they know it's going to happen in every other chunk of land available. Do you think LAR is going to want to build the
second phase of their development when you put a data center right next to it? because that's what happened with our our neighborhood. Within a year of the last home being built in our neighborhood, you proposed this. Do you think that LAR would accept that? I don't think they would. Well, why are we
supposed to accept it? The the deviation from the comp plan. Come back out to my house. Go to Meta again, take a look at it, and then come back out to my house. Come sit in my yard again. All of you besides Jake, you weren't Sorry, no names. You weren't here yet. Um, come to
my house. Come take a look at it. Come have these conversations with me. I had a 21m minute conversation with somebody from the developer today. They called me unscheduled, unannounced. They called me. You guys ain't called me. This is my 26th time standing here.
Why aren't you here to work for the people that voted you in? The same people that are going to vote you out. Um, what's the point in fighting with us? How uncomfortable does it need to get? Are you waiting for us to become mentally unstable? Are you waiting as this project grows for our aggression to
grow, for our anxiety to grow? I mean, what what are we waiting for to make a difference? You've been advised not to talk. I've been advised not to talk. I'm sure Track was advised not to talk. You're our elected officials. Figure something out. Come talk to us.
Make something happen. It's only going to get worse from here on out. It's only going to affect you guys as much as it affects us. And do you think that we're going to sit here and be pushed out of our homes and not have permanent hard feelings towards each and every person that supports this and staff? You're
involved in this, too. Um, when you've got an entirely newly new council and mayor up here, how appreciative do you think they'll be of some of the things that are being done to us as residents? We residents make up this town. We are team Farmington. My daughter goes to
this school. My wife works in Casarat. Half my day spent in Farmington. We are part of Farmington. Treat us like it. We deserve to be here. Till then, it's only going to get worse. You know, it's getting worse for us right now. We had tree surveyors there
the other day. Got to have a good conversation. It's not to see what they can save for trees. It's to get a quote to clearcut this place. They're not looking to see what they can save. Now, we've got no trespassing signs. They're 2 feet by 3 feet. Says we're daily
patrols. We're under 247 surveillance. And these are in residential. It's just starting. As their aggression grows and this development progresses, so will ours. You're pushing us out of our homes and you're putting us into a place where we don't feel safe anymore. So do better.
>> Thank you, Jeff. Nancy Arstead Castle Rock. First, water. That tired topic I brought up last time. I have four questions, please. First, you keep you keep saying you don't worry about the water. This data center project won't affect the
water. Will you publicly guarantee that publicly guarantee that our wells and nearby farming irrigation systems will not be harmed? in writing and publicly will you guarantee two. If my well starts pulling up sludge, what exactly is the plan for
that? Who do I call at 5:00 a.m. on a Tuesday if or when my water turns brown or black? One of you or are are you going to immediately fix the problem and pay for the damage? Or are we going to end up suing the city just like our
neighbors south of us are doing long and painful and unfair? Three, will you guarantee that the Vermillion River or Trout Stream will not be harmed by the deatering, the groundwater pumping, construction runoff, will you publicly provide a
guarantee to this city and to the fish? You are the RGU. It is on you. Four, if our wells fail, are you three willing to open up your homes so we can all come to your places and take clean showers and wash clothes until until our wells are
fixed? I'm very serious. If the risk is acceptable for us, that should be e an easy promise for all of you. Then I will know where to go at 5:00 a.m. when my water turns brown and my family needs to take showers.
Now, to address team Farmington first, this is not directed at the council member who used that phrase. That council member was our lone voice of reason up there, and I am grateful for him. It he is in a tough spot. But I saw team Farmington all over your Currents
magazine. It is such a hypocritical phrase, so easily tossed around and needs to be addressed. My son-in-law serves in special forces. He knows what a real team is. They move and work together as one unit. If one teammate goes down, everyone moves to protect
him. He is willing to risk his life for his teammates. No one is left behind. No one is sacrificed. That is a team. In Farmington, you chose to become a team with tract. You have been the opposite of a team with your residents. You
sacrificed thousands of people on the east side of town. We pay the price for the p perceived benefits of others. That's opposite of a team. One of you up there admitted this in an email to staff the day he voted yes November 4th, 2024.
He wrote legacy. This is a decision in which there are winners and there are losers. We cannot escape that fact. And to pretend like people aren't going to be impacted is to improperly invalidate those residents concerns. But the question has been posed at one point at
how we wanted this decision to be viewed in terms of our overall legacy as mayor and as council. I believe this question was intended to drive us against being in favor of this project, but it has had the opposite effect on me. 10 years from
now, I refuse to look back at this decision and say I had an opportunity to help the city and begin fixing a problem that a vast majority of our residents have been voicing for years, but more importantly to help my children have a
better education and future opportunities. and I was not willing to do it. Think about what that means. That's not a team. That's not I will risk my life for yours. That is I'm willing to risk
your life and your quality of life for me and mine. That is the exact opposite of a team. Completely opposite. Another email from one of your city staff said to the other, quote, "Let's go data center dollars in a grocery store. We
should get statues. She wanted statues expecting glory while ignoring the suffering being imposed on others. That is not a team. Team Farmington is a fake false phrase that hides selfishness. That is why we scoff at it. We need I I
just needed to explain that. Please do not extend the plat in May. Make them renegotiate. Amend the PUD. Fix the MUI code so projects like this go in industrial areas, not next to people's
homes. Right now, your legacies will not be remembered as team Farmington. Rather, that you were willing to abandon and sacrifice your residence for yourselves and for others, not a team. Thank you. Thank you, Nancy.
>> Anybody else? Terry Pearson, 2475 225th Street South, Castle Rock. Okay, I got the Farmington the the glossy brochure and it talks about water efficiency rebate grants. It
talks about tips to conserve groundwater. It talks about landscaping for clean water, city drinking water report, odd even water restrictions, adopt a pond, monitor wetlands.
We have been talking about that for two the past two years. We're very concerned about water and I believe we're being treated like what is the phrase? Red head redheaded stepchildren, please listen to us.
>> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Hi. Good evening, council members. Um, you know, not to beat a dead horse, but uh let's do it anyways. Uh
I live on uh 3054 at 224th Street in Farmington. We're in Executive Estates. As uh many of my neighbors have said before, you know, this is a been a very frustrating situation for us and we feel like we're not being heard.
Um it's just kind of tough. Um, I come here to speak every once in a while and I have kind of a moral dilemma because I am in construction. I am an electrician.
I have built these things before. So, it has financially benefited me to do this. But at the same time, when you have buildings of this scale being built next to houses, it is it's just not okay, you know. And I
understand that we're in the middle of a lawsuit, so you guys are kind of tied, you know, hand tied and whatnot. So, we can't really make decisions on this, but, you know, we got to keep hammering this point home to you guys that this
isn't okay, you know, uh, and we just got to do better. Um, I'm just also kind of curious with these comments that we are making or whatnot, like why don't we ever really like hear a response from you guys? I understand
that this is an open input from us, you know, like can you guys at least communicate to the citizens through like a Facebook page or whatnot? You know, I shouldn't have to go seek this information out on the Farmington's city website. this type of stuff, you know,
speaking of transparency with others all the other people that would help greatly in terms of you guys just communicating certain things to us in a more open platform, you know. Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Mayor and Council, Nate Ryan, good citizen of Farmington. Uh, just a few things I'd like to to mention to you today. Um, so I've been up here, you know, maybe as many times, maybe even
less, maybe more times as Jeff. It's been a long time. Um, when I first started coming here, I really talked about zoning. And I've said it before and for some reason people don't understand, but I'm just going to say this again. I am not against data centers. I see I see the useful impact
that they can have for the city of Farmington. I see the tax revenue that they can get. What I am specifically again against is the reasonzoning of this property. I think that's the biggest issue uh that that all of you face. Um and I don't just come and just
complain or It brings solutions. It brings solutions. We talked about a moratorum. We've talked about that many times before and that is a way out. Um so much so that Dakota County in April is going to be hosting uh specifically around data centers and talking about
that at the county level. I think it would be great for anyone here or anyone online watching to go and attend those sessions and talk with Dakota County about those um and and get in contact with your county commissioner. If you don't have any idea who that is, I'm
frankly not surprised. But um but they they are hosting these sessions and I think that would be a very good thing. Um one of the main reasons that I've been scratching my head just like why won't they listen to this whole moratorum thing? Why can Egan do it but
Farmington quote unquote can't or won't? Um and it's not because you're in a lawsuit. You you can do a moratorum and be in a lawsuit. They're not you don't you don't have to choose one or the other. Um, and with that is I I think that I in
preparing for something else, I came across what Jeff was talking about and specifically that section, it's number five uh in the development agreement and that number five states that there the land use controls sit asis for eight years. Um when I was talking when I was
researching and kind of understanding that I was working on a session um for to testify in front of the Minnesota House uh committee and that was against NDAs for for municipalities if you all hadn't signed that NDA
specifically staff hadn't signed that NDA and those documents would be publicly available a few like you have to get them out there Thursday I think before your council meeting If those things would have been publicly available and we could have talked about those things because it was on the
agenda so we weren't supposed to talk about it during public comments and we could have talked about those things I I think that this conversation might be different and I think that you might actually be looking at a possibility of a moratorum. My guess is that your attorney and attorneys are like listen
number you signed number five like you did that you signed those things and that's if you did a moratorum even if you did it because you signed number five that project wouldn't be impacted and you have hundreds of years of
experience I've been told for your sta with your staff if all that experience was there then why the heck did they suggest that you sign that particular particular statement that number five in that developer agreement is a problem. And it's a problem because the solutions
that no matter what any of us bring, you're you're stuck. And maybe your staff got out negotiated. Maybe they overlooked it. And I'm not here to point fingers. What I'm here to
say is gosh darn, how can we move forward and resolve the zoning issue? Um, a few things around that zoning issue with mixeduse, commercial, industrial. Some of those things, one of the biggest things and you know this, oh, this fallacy that there's not going to be hundreds of generators. Well, sure
there are hundreds. The the largest commercial generator available today. Um, you know, so there's 750 megawatts produces three megawatts under like 95% load. Three. I'm not super good at math, but if I take 250 or even 200 and divide
it by three or take 700, excuse me, because it's going to be 705 megawws and divide it by three, you know, that that's a problem. And and that's hundreds and hundreds of generators. So, it's not like we're just pulling these facts out of thin air or some type of fallacy. These are the things. And then
where are you where are you going to put the stuff? Where are you going to put the stuff being diesel fuel that's needed to store this? And is that allowed under mixeduse commercial industrial? Outdoor storage is not allowed under mixeduse commercial industrial. It is under industrial. But where are you going to put hundreds and
literally hundreds thousands gallons of diesel fuel? So that is an issue and I think that there are ways out of this if you truly want to get out of them. If you truly want to think let's just take a step
back. >> I have more You you could make a motion and say, "Hey, if you got Anybody else looking to speak tonight? >> Anybody else?
Okay, see we'll move on to round table. Amy. >> Uh, thank you, mayor, members of the council. Um I wanted to um make a kind of a general statement about a couple of the issues
that were raised during public comment. Um you know to the ex to the extent that specific people talked about um environmental concerns. I just wanted to remind the council that on February 26th, the plaintiffs in the lawsuits
against the city um filed a second amended complaint uh in the lawsuit. Um and this time they um added claims related to um the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act or MEA. Um, so
I just wanted to um let the council know that because of the new claims um that makes it more difficult for this for the council to be in a position to talk about um environmental issues um because the city council has to protect this the
city's legal position in the lawsuits. I know that's not a popular stance, but it is still um the advice of the litigation uh attorneys that um you follow kind of a standard procedure in in when a city is in litigation and that is you don't
talk about the the issues that are raised in the lawsuit. So, if you have questions um about the claims that are included in the second amended complaint from the plaintiffs, um I can arrange for uh the litigation attorney who's appointed by the League of Minnesota
Cities Insurance Trust to meet with the council um under attorney client privilege to talk to you about those issues. Um and if you have any other questions that that I can answer, I'm happy to try to do that. you, Holly.
>> Uh, yeah. So, um, in case if anybody missed the memo, we had a ridiculous amount of snow in the last 24 hours. And I just want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the um the drivers and the uh city staff that were out in the wee
hours of the morning and again in the not so wee hours of the morning and then again in the afternoon um doing the jobs that they did so that people could get in and out uh safely. I know that that is a high stress, low sleep, lots to do sort of situation. Um, and both as
council members and resident, I am very very grateful. Um, uh, to those that are involved in that part of keeping Farmington up and running and safe and all of the good things that are happening. Um, also I actually want to talk just a quick second about the
vacancy. Um, I am hopeful and excited um to see residents who are interested in engaging further um in their volunteerism and time dedication to the community to uh step up and submit
applications. I would love nothing more than to um field so many that I don't know what side of the room they are all coming from um because that could be a best case scenario for everyone. So hopeful to to see that and as Lynn already pointed out that they're going
to open tomorrow and close at 400 p.m. on the 30th. Um and so um from my stand standpoint just excited to see that. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Jake. >> Just like to echo Holly's sentiments and thank the plow drivers and everyone who
was out keeping our streets safe. John, if you would extend that thank you to your crew. I know we would all greatly appreciate it because we appreciate everything that they do during the minor and major snow events and everything in between. >> Steve,
>> um I want to thank Lynn for uh doing a lot of work to keep the transition to uh move to a uh you know having Nick move over to mayor and then to get everything moving. So I appreciate everything you're doing there. Um, and then I'm going to take a quasi
left turn. Hopefully the humor will be appreciated. Um, but I do want to thank our city staff who puts these together. I know that there's been a few criticisms of maybe the information in there. Um, but it goes out to every
resident. I think there's a lot of great information in there. It's designed to allow the average resident to become more engaged in the community. Now, outside of the comments that were or outside of the pages that were referenced, if you go to page 19, you're
going to see my photo. So, I'm looking at this because I I got nominated for Kiss the Pig. And of course, I'm quite excited about that. Um, so, you know, based on some of the comments tonight, it kind of might be like a high school yearbook. side like those paper high school yearbooks. So, you might put a
heart around it, you know, or you might scratch it off and go, I don't like this guy. And either way is fine. But before you make the mark in the book, drop $20 for either me or the other folks, you
know, in the can at the liquor store, at the local grocery store. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I said that. At the local retail stores. Wow. That's going to be on South Metro Scoop. I can feel it right now. Um, no. At the Quick Trips, Holidays Gas Station. Bottom line is
this all goes to the Rambling River Center. I would love to win. I don't care if you mark up the book. It's okay. I'm, you know, I've got a pretty hard shell. But either way, um, find your favorite candidate and donate. And again, I just I really sincerely want to
thank our staff that puts this together. It's a it's a lot of work. Um, there's a lot of really, really good programs in there. I know Kelly's department particular and our communications department spends a ton of time putting these together. So, take a look at it.
There's something in there for everyone. >> All right. Um, thank you. I wanted to make a couple comments tonight regarding some public comments that were made and it has to do with transparency and our items on the agenda. Um, just to make it clear, if people are listening and
wondering where our agenda is, um, if you go to our City of Farmington page, the main page, there's a button halfway down that says agendas and minutes. If you click on that, you click proceed to a site and you get sent to another site
where it lists all of the meetings. And if you click on that meeting, you can see all of the items that are on the agenda. There are links under each item that it gives a council memo to explain what's being approved or not approved on
the agenda. So, I just want to reiterate on February 17th, we did have a city council work session and we did discuss the public comment. Um and on the March 2nd there was an item that was under new business that was pulled to or uh under
consent that was pulled to new business that we discussed in detail at that meeting um about the bylaw changes which were approved and that's how they were changed at this next meeting as um tonight. So that's all I had. Thank you. >> Thank you Linda Diana.
>> Thank you mayor and council. Um, I want to appreciate the robust conversation we had at the EDA meeting tonight. Um, a couple things that I want to point out from that meeting just so that the public can be excited about it is that we will be rolling out a pilot program.
It was in the spring current, but I wanted to just announce it again tonight. There'll be a 15minute parking spot program that's rolling out for the downtown to support our small businesses. We talked about that again tonight at the EDA meeting and a recommendation of the EDA will be coming
forward to the city council to approve those locations and the map that goes with it and that will be launched um this spring. We'll be doing a communication plan to go with that. We'll be talking to our downtown businesses and again this is a 15minute spot program to support our downtown
businesses. they have been asking for these spots to allow um quick in and out for a lot of our businesses in the downtown. So, that will be happening. Um and thanks to public works for helping to do the implementation of that. Um, I
also wanted to just uh mention that our EDA today, they said it was a no-brainer and so I do appreciate your support for that, but they will be supporting um the downtown social um activities which has been a homegrown
um event in the downtown that takes place on the fourth Thursday. The EDA will be helping to grow that. And so there's a lot more to come from that, but we encourage our community to support the downtown businesses to support all of our businesses. And it
will be fun to see what that grows into. Some other things that we talked about tonight in the EDA is um the growth of some of our businesses like our daycare. We have the we have a Spanish immersion daycare here in Farmington and it is just opened and it is already looking to
expand and we looked at ways that we can help support that and it's exciting to see things like that happen. So that's just a taste of some of the things that we talked about and so I um thank you for that robust conversation that we had tonight and that's all I had. Thank you.
>> Thank you John. >> Thank you mayor and council members. I want to report back that the contractor doing the industrial park ditch cleaning was substantially complete before a weekend snow. Uh so that's great news. Uh they were able they had to use mats to access the ditch, but that work
substantially complete and they just have some cleanup left to do. Um additionally, we've been talking about citywide speed limit study, I think since late 2024. Uh, and that's based on legislation that was uh, passed by the state uh, that
gave the city more authority over speed limits. So, I'm very appreciative that we're launching that project to do a city-wide speed limit study and the residents will be seeing more public engagement on that uh, moving forward and we hope to have that done or near done by the end of this year, early next
year. >> Thank you, Kelly. Staying on the currents uh topic for this evening. Um on the front cover of this uh edition of the currents is the picture of the new uh renovated Ringling River Center and the Raming River Center Advisory Board. You want to show it?
>> Well, I was going to say >> Oh, you can. >> Um I want to thank the advisory board for all their work they've done over the years, but wanted to share a fact um about the Rambling River Center. Since we reopened the center um the last week in June through February 28th of this
year, we've gotten approximately 100 brand new members. So that's not renewals, that is 100 brand new members. So just want to thank the council again for your support of the Ramling River Center um for making this investment in our community um for the seniors but for
the wider community and doing it as a singlephase project. It it means a lot to to the people that call that place home. So, thank you again. And then, uh, excited for the next step in the skate park process. Uh, the final design reveal will be next Monday night. Um, it
will be a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. Spawn Ranch will be presenting the final design. The information and link is on the front page of the city's website. So, please uh uh visit the website um and get the link. next Monday night, uh,
the 23rd at 6 p.m. >> Kelly, >> I have nothing to report tonight. >> Uh, so the fire department staff was out today shoveling route hydrants. Um, we're asking any of the public if you have a hydrant close by that's buried, please give us a hand cuz seconds
matter. Uh, you'll see our staff out tomorrow. I know warm weather's coming. I know the snow's going to go away, but until that happens, we ask uh for all the public's assistance to try to clean these hydrants. Um, like I said, seconds matter. So, when we need to get to that hydrant, it takes time for us to shovel
that out during an an emergency. So, if you see our staff, uh, we were, like I said, we were out today shoveling around hydrants. We'll be out tomorrow and the and the next day. Thank you, >> Nate. I got to pause you for a second. Just for my own education, how far below the fire hydrant port do you have to get with that shovel? Do you got to get
right down to the ground or >> So, it's supposed to be 3 foot by 3 foot by 3T around the hydrant. And I mean, if the hydrant offsets the street, just kind of like a walking path to get in. I mean, we're just trying to get access to it as quickly as we possibly can. So, I mean, we're not asking green grass, you
know, all around as as much access as we possibly can to get to the hydrants to hook up. >> Perfect. Thank you. Now, Chief, >> uh, mayor and council, just a few things. Uh, last week, we had, um, some really good things and some not so good
things uh, at the police department. first uh good stuff. Uh s the uh department and school district jointly held interviews for school resource officer and officer Dane Tuk was selected. So he'll be starting next school year in the in the schools making
those uh connections with students and staff and he'll serve us well. Uh the not so great news is officer, excuse me, detective Sean Scoville announced his retirement and um he scheduled his last date is the 9th of next month. I wanted to announce that. So, if you wanted to
make a connection with him, you had time to do that before the next meeting. Uh, and then this this week is I I'm sure many of you met uh CSO Claire Kennedy. This is her last week of school, so that's very exciting. She graduates on Saturday and we look to uh have her
approved for hire as a police officer at our next meeting as well. Thank you. >> Okay. Oh, where do I start? Um, I guess let's maybe talk about, you know, a work session and, you know, to
your comment about being able to talk in a work session. I mean, fundamentally, I think there's things that I can try and change about how the previous mayor spoke to you, how he presented himself, the tone of the discussions, and there's
things that I can't change. Um, I'm doing my best to change what is possible for me to change and to try and be a little bit more open to listen to you guys in the way that I can when we're in the middle of lawsuits like this. Uh, but at the end of the day, like a work session is two hours long and we have an
agenda that is very packed. And first and foremost, the staff and the council have to get through the discussion of those topics. If there's extra time, that's when I can, you know, you that's your opportunity to speak. and I tried to give you bandwidth to speak as much as I could and still move the agenda
forward. I can't promise that it's just going to be an open discussion among the general like the entire public. We'll never get through a meeting. And that is just the way it has to be and that is how a meeting has to be run in order to finish in time. So, if you're going to view me as bad or not talking to you or
not transparent, I can't help that part of it. That's just the way a meeting is run. And that kind of goes for here, too. I'm going to say what I said four weeks ago. I don't think we solve any problems. me trying to talk down at you or you trying to talk up in this group setting. Someone's going to say something that's just not right or just
that little bit off that we pick it apart in a group setting. These happen in small discussions and that's how we solve these problems and move through these things is in one-on-one discussion and small communication. And I will try my best to do that part differently than what Josh did. That's
all I can offer right now to try and do that. I mean, I've tried to think of a different a ton of different ways. For right now, I'll say I can at least commit to Mondays and Fridays. Monday before council meetings, I will sit in
that office right across the hallway for the hour or two before the council meeting. You can come in there, talk to me oneon-one. There's not going to be a lot that I can say back to you without, you know, legal advice, but I can at least listen to you. You can vent at me. Say whatever it is you want. Say what your ideas are. Say what your frustrations are. I'm here to listen to
you. You can call me, you can email me, you can go through those channels. I am not going to get involved in Facebook arguments. I'm sorry. That is not the place to have those discussions and I will not budge on that one. Productive conversation doesn't happen on a city
Facebook page or a a community Facebook page that is moderated by different people. We have official channels. We have a city Facebook page. We have a newspaper and you can call me do it that way. Please. Beyond that, like I said, I'm doing my best to listen to you and I'm doing best to change. That's all I
can say. With that, I would look for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Motion in a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> We're adjourned at 8:48. Everything.