We'll call the City Council a regular meeting to order for Monday, April 21st, 2025. But everyone, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. pledge allegian to the flag of the United States of America America, and to the Republic for which is stands, for one nation under God, indivisible for liberty and all. Call the role, please? Council member Wilson. Council member Cordes. Here. Here. Mayor Hoyt. Council memberember of Bernad. Here, Council member Lee. Here. Here.. All right. any changes to the agenda?
No, Nick, Holly? No. F Steve. None. All right. Seeing no changes to the agenda, we'd seek a motion to approve? Motion. No. Motion by Steve.. Second. Second by Jake, in favor say aye... All right. Item 51, under announcements, is our Arbor Day proclamation. John. Thank you, Mayor. On an annual basis, I think this is our 23rd European a tree city USA. We took there an arbor day this year's events. will include tree planting at Disted Park, both parks and recreation and our natural resource
specialist has been pretty involved in getting ready for Arbor day, and we're happy to make that declaration again this year. All right. Thank you, sir. I would seek a motion to proclaim Friday, April 25, 2025, as Arbor Day in Farmington in the month of May 2025 as Arbor Month in Farmington. Motion. Motion by Holly. Second by Nick. in favor say aye. Second. All right, we'll go through and read the proclamation, then.. Whereas the health and longevity of Minnesota's trees and forests are being affected by increased pressure from pest and diseases,
changing temperature and precipitation, and other extreme weather events due to climate change, and Whereas Arbor Day provides people in Minnesota, the opportunity to celebrateate the importance of trees and forests to our economy, culture, history, and future of the state, and whereas Minnesota's forests are at risk from invasive species such as emerald ashbor, that impact carbon carbon storage, habitat, and air and water quality, and. Whereas trees are of great value as they provide cleaner and water, shade and energy savings, wildlife ha habitat, recreational opportunities, wood products, and jobs while capturing and storing carbon from the
atmosphere, thereby offsetting greenhouse gas admissions, and whereas trees that are resilient to pests diseases, and the impacts of climate change can live longer, thereby capturing and sto and carbon from the atmosphere and offset and greenhouse gas emissions, and whereas properly planting and caring for a diverse mix of trees makes community forests more resilient by minimizing the impacts of diseases, insects, and other stressors, such as climate change and providing long term community and environmental benefits, and Whereas a healthy, resilient tree canopy decreases
summertime temperatures, in neighborhoods, enhances property values, improves air quality, and reduces stormwater runoff, and whereas thoughtfully choosing, planting, and caring for a diverse mix of trees, now supports resilient communities into the future Now, therefore, I, Joshua Hoyt, Mayor on behalf of the Farmington City Council, do hereby proclaim Friday, April 25th, 2025, is Arbor Day, and the month of May 2025 as Arbor Month in Farmington. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal the city of Farmington, Minnes to be affixed on this 21st day of April, 2025.
Our next item under announcements is 52, which is the Fair Housing Month Proclamation. Deanna. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Back in 1968, the Fair Housing Act was enacted. And this act prohibits discrimination and housing based on race, color, religion, sex, familia, status, sexual orientation, national origin, and disability, providing equal opportunity, housing for all And so the month of April is considered fair Housing Month, and we're asking for those city council to consider
passing the proclamation as such. Thank you, ma'am. I would seek a motion to proclaim April 2025 as fair housing Month. Motion. Motion by Steve. Second. Second by Jake, all in favor, say aye. And we' go ahead and read this proclamation. Nick. Whereas the Fair House Housing Act enacted on April 11, 1968, enshrined into federal law, the goal eliminating racial segregation and ending housing discrimination in the United States.. Whereas the Fairhousing Act prohibits discrimination
and housing based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national disability, and commits recipients of federal funding to affirmatively further fair house housing in their communities and. Whereas the city of Farmington is committed to the mission and intent of Congress to provide fair and equal housing opportunities for all, and. Whereas our social fabric, the economy, health, and environments are strengthened in diverse, inclusive communities, and Whereas more than 50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act discrimination persists and many communities
remain segregated and, whereas acts of housing discrimination and barriers to equal housing opportunity are repugnant to a common sense decency and fairness. Now therefore, I Joshua Hoyt, mayor on behalf of the Farmington City Council, do hereby proclaim the city of Farmington as an inclusive community community committed to fair housing and promoting appropriate activities by private and public entities to provide and advocate for equal housing opportunities for all by proclaiming April 2025 as fair housing model..
and witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the city of Farm to Minnesota to be affixed on this 21st day of April 2025. We'll move on to our next item on the agenda, which is citizen comments. If there's anyone in attendance wishing to speak, please come up and do so at this time. Citizen comments is a time for anyone to address the city council on matters not on the agenda, though speaking shall limit their comments to five minutes, and please state your name and address for the record We will not engage in discussion on your topic, but those issues requiring a responsese will be responded to by the next city council meeting.
You may begin. My name is Jeff Schotler. I live at 22420 Calico Court, Farmington, Minnesota. Not sure after last meeting, if I'm considered a Farmington resident, the way you talked about municipal boundaries in our neighborhood and things like that, and only been one. One resident on the lawsuits. So I'm not sure where we stand over there. If I'm actually a resident, if I have the same value as the other residents. But it leaves into some of the humor in the first two topics today. The Fair Housing Act. It is discriminating against
the people that you want to, against the outer edges of Farmington, what you consider the wasteline. You're taking away from us to give to others. That's kind of ironic that came up today. Arbor Day didn't think to say anything about it, but y'all are talking about trees and making it Arbor day. You just cut down half the trees in our neighborhoodhood with no intent or a plan to put them back and you're stripping everything off that golf course. That's a little ironic. So, big day for you guys today. Congratulations with your win up at the Met Council. I hope everything that was said was absorbed and not just the approval to move forward.
Their serious concern with residential impact, they' serious water concerns on the proposed pharmarmington technology park that need to be addressed and evaluated with longevity and redundancy in mind. To place something this large and this close to homes is obscene and irresponsible yes, you did. You managed to meet all of Met counsel's requirements. You checked all the box. You get to do some work. Now, you have a ton of work, a ton of unanswered questions, a ton of concerned citizens with real work to do. We've read thousands of emails between the city,
tract, back and forth, whomever it is. The first and foremost deal was closed the deal, and then it was residential concern. Now that you've gotten your permission and you get to move forward, you guys can go to track. We've read these emails. There hasn't been a serious ask of them to come back and work with their residents. The land is there. Move your spaces that are unoccupied to your 40 foot allowable, whatever the allowable, I mean CIE up backs are. Give the people that live around at the other 210 feet,
Add it to them. ram it up to Highway 50 ram it up to the vermilion River, ram it up to where people don't live. Put it up next to the solar field that's going in. Keep it away from your residence. It's going to help all of you in the long term. It'll help all of us. That's what you're here to do is to try and help everybody in the community, not just some. We've seen a lot of changes since this has all started a a year ago. We've had a new councilcil member resigned. We got a new temp council member. We got a new city attorney, we got a revised comp plan, a few other important changes. It's time to ask Trek to change.
Come back. Review, redesign their PD. You've accommodated them a ton. You've even let them build bigger buildings than they're supposed to be. You're giving them a ton of credit. You're working with them, not knowing what what they're taking, not knowing what they're gonna use, but you trying you're accommodating it because you want the business. I think everybody in the room understands that. You also want to live in a neighborhood with a neighborhood environment, in a quality area, like we do. The nature for progression is there, you guys are done your work, you put a ton of work into it. Every place we go where we think we find a hidden gem to go talk to somebody, you guys have been there.
They' attracting has been there. You're doing your work. All of you are. We're talking to everybody we can, too. Not everybody says the same thing. Some people have a different view. I think it can go there, but I think you need to work with the people a little better. I think we need a little more room. This is the two lawsuits. I'm confident they'll get dismissed. It was our first step. That was proactive. That was proactive. You're going to force us to be reactive at some point point if it's that close to our homes.
Your names are on us, they're attached to it. That's forever. It's all over there. It's gonna be attached forever. Do something to make it so people can live here. Put some guarantees for when all their wells dry up, that track will help them out with it, or whoever the unuser is. Do something that says that we're not going to be cut down the water and once over a week, instead of once every other day. Do something that says, you're going to work with homeowners if the noise is, dang it, it's that loud, it's that bad that you can't stand it. Do some of that work now.
I get you had to close a deal, you got to make it happen but there's a lot more work to be done, and I have an obligation as a parent and a duty to my friends and my neighbors in my neighborhood, to come here and talk every chance I can, and every person that I can, I know I look like a lunatic, I sound like an idiot, you guys are sick of seeing me. I have that duty as a parent We're not leaving there. I'm going to sit here and wre out this storm and see what happens and see how bad it gets. I don't want to be reactive, trying to be proactive. I hope y'all can help all of us be proactive and can
continue continue to live in Farmington and be in Farmington residence, respecting and trusting your guidance and your directives. I'm going to come in this week and ask you said nobody can we don't want City. determining what happens with land and making rules and judgments for our land. I'm going to come in this week. I'm gonna ask for a permit, a second asphalt driveway in my yard, not going to be issued it. I guarantee that. That's you saying what we can and can't do. You can tell Tract what they can and can't do. You do have the power. You can tell every person in the city what they can and can't do. You can tell them too.
We're great.re residents. We live here. The Olson don't even live here anymore. I get respecting their legacy and letting them move on and letting them retire. But you got a lot of other people that are still here to live a legacyacy and that want to retire and that want to be Fington residents. I plan on staying here when I retire. I don't plan on cashing out and moving out of town. So you'll hear from me forever until we get something that's decent. Thanks, free time. Anyone else wishing to speak? May, Ryan, Cambrian Way, Mayor and Council. I find it particularly interesting in that, again, you guys don't even understand what you're doing.
So you just did a proclamation for fair housing. In Minnesota, we have 11 protected classes, not seven. You only listed off seven. So you just said, the other protected classes in Minnesota, are they not protected in Farmington from fair housing? Receipt of public assistance, is that not not a protected class that's here? And the reason that I'm bringing that up and being poignant about it is because you don't even understand what you did when you as a counsel, trusted an attorney, or trusted advisers to tell you what to say.
You were literally just a puppet. You just read what people told you to say without realizing that there's other protected classes in the state of Minnesota. You were literally just a puppet. That's all you were. And the exact same thing was said when this rezoning came to place. You trusted people, you trusted people who made you a puppet, you trusted Deanna. Deanna went and got talking points for you. Ask Tr, get us talking points. From the very get go, from the very beginning of this project, when it first came through, the only thing that I talked about,
and the only thing that I really say, well, today is the rezoning should have never happened. They told you it could. You believe them. The mayor brought Ty points to each of you council members. You believed him. because he was getting him from someone else. You're putting a billion dollar company and what they bring to the table over the rights of what you your citizens have and want. That's what you're doing. You're choosing to rezone something. The mayor said,Well, we can't you don't want government telling what you can do with your property..
The government isn't telling you the oans what they can do with their property. Government told the Oans or they came to government back in their early 2000s and said, "Hey, we would like to build homes on our property. That is our exit plan. That's what we would like. That's our retirement plan, is we want to bring a developer, we want to have them build homes there." They came to government. Government said,Okay, yes you here, there's a plan." And then they decided that that wasn't the best option for them, or the market decided for them. Whoever decided, they had to come to government again, and government said yes, again.
At the detriment of everyone else, they grew up around them. homes grew up around them. Families, kids, children, grew up around them. And government does not even take that you don't even take that in a factor. You took an oath, when you took this office. You took an oath not to protect a billion dollar company. You took an oath to protect citizens. Citizens of Farmington. You didn't take an oath to puppet, to be a puppet at what these people tell you to say. You took an altar to protect all of us.
You took an oath to protect my family. You are not protecting my family. I can get into all of the legal things, right? I can get in and talk about legal strategy, and we can talk about other things. But at the end of the day, your job is to protect the residents of Farmington, not a billion dollar company from Colorado. And, frankly, not not a mom and pop that just want to retire. What they do with their land is their choice. Protecting us from their choices is your job and was your job, and you failed miserably. We look we back up, right?
So I did I had a call with Kristen, Kristen Dean, and I said, "Hey, come on, we're we're this far." Your response was, you're 1,200 feet away. You're not even going to be impacted. How would she know that I'm not going to be impacted?" But yet, someone 250 feet is definitely going to be impacted. Well, that 1,250 feet are that that length or that far away, I mean, I'm going to be impacted. We have property rights that say that right now we look at woods. I'm going to be looking at a building that sits 25 feet above the top tree, the top line of the tree line. We have property rights.
We have those rights. You should have protected those rights as elected officials. That's your job. It's what you get elected to do. And darn it. It's what you ran on, Jake. It's what you ran on, Mayor. You've made those oaths and what's even crazier is Mr. Mayor, you've made that oath more than once in your life. And you don't take it seriously? You don't care to protect Americans. You don't care to protect citizens of Armington, but you sure as shit care about a billion dollar company in
Colorado, 'cause they're gonna make you more tax dollars. If you really want to get behind this project, come with a proclamation that says, "Hey, when these two projects are done,Cause remember, we're not just getting one data center. We're getting two.We are going to lower taxes if you live in a $500,000 house, we are at $250,000 house, whatever. Most of them are $3,000 to $500 in Farmington. We're going to lower taxes by $2,000. Right? Why can't you do that? You're not doing that. If you get that tax money, you're just going to spend it on what? we can get those fancy police guns, those cameras for their guns.
Every time they pull it out. There's a camera. I mean, the cops wanted them five, ten years ago, maybe we can get those. I'll have you wrap it up. Your time's expired. Government can tell me that my time's expired. Government can sit here and tell me that, but you can't defend me. You can sit here and say, "Your time's expired, sir. Sir, move on, because we care about you and We're gonna show you how much we care we're gonna tell you to shut up. I brought my kids here tonight' I want them to see how you react. I want them to watch and see, and I want to show them exactly what a terrible council
you all are, especially you, Mr. Mayor. You're not protecting them. You're not protecting my family. That's what government should do.. Your time has expired now. That's what you should do, and you're not. And aren't we only option is to wait out, just like I'm doing now, is to wait out so that we can get you through enough money in your lawsuit, where the League of Minnesota City says, "Guys, we got a white flag it up here." That's all we can do. That's terrible. It's absolutely terrible.
That's how you chose to choose to serve the public. It's terrible. Except for Steve. Anyone else wishing to speak? Flash. Last call. Seeing no more, we will move on to item 7, which is our consent agenda. I'd seek a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Holly, second by Nick on favor say aye... All right. Item 10 1 under petitions request in communications is 10 ones's ad adopted adopt resolution 2025 Tech 029, approving the preliminary plat and preliminary planned unit development for Dakota Meadows.
Tony. Good evening, Mayor, Council members. Yes, before you this evening is the Pulmonary Plan Union Development and Pulmonary Plat for Dakota Meadows. Distinctive Land Development, LLC is the advant, and they are requesting review of the Pmonary Plat and Pmonary Plan Union development. The development is generally located towards the southeast intersection of Denmark Avenue and 220th St. west south of Dakota Electric and west of the Dakota County Fairgrounds, the proposed develop
development is to consist of 134 single family lots. The 134 lots are spread over 43 1/2 acres. It equates to a net density of 3.6welling units per acre. Proper is owned are2, low medium density residential, and allows for a density range between 3.5 to 6 dwelling units per acre Stormwire ponding is located mainly in the center of the development, with smaller ponds be located in the northeast and southwestern portions of the development. Wetland is located along the the southern boundary of the site.
The minimum watt area proposed with this development is 4,261 square feet with the average lot area being 5,307 square feet. Minimum lot width is proposed at 40 feet. The minimum setback's proposed front yard 20 feet, which is our standard. They are proposing 25 feet along sidewalk side of the street, a rear yard setback of six, side yard interior of five feet and side yard corner of 15 feet. The plat does contain five outlws, which are labeled A through
E. Outlw, A is a combination of stormwater facility in wetland, Outlaw B is a remnant park parcel, Outlw C, stormw facility. Outlot D is a remnant parcel and Outlw E is a combination of trail corridor and stormw facility as well. This is an overall site plan of the proposed plat, and then this is the preliminary plat itself, providing a lot area and width as well. There are four different
building elevations that are being proposed with this development, the Barrett, Becker, Biscay, and Brookton. All these would be basically slab on grade units. As far as access and transportation to this particular development, the access will come from Denmark Avenue. A secondary emergency access is to be provided towards the southern end of the development by the wetland area. This emergency access will consist of a 20 foot wide enhanced trail section, extending from Denmark Avenue all
the way over to Street C on the east side of the development. And we'll have to be gated and closed to motorized vehicles. The Dakota County Plaque Commission did review this, and they are fine with that additional emergencyency access. Three stubs are provided to adjacent properties, one to the CDA property to the north, one to the Murphy property to the south, and then one in the northeast corner of the site to the Turk property All roads within the development are public in what consist of a six foot right of way with a roadway width of 29 feet.
Parks, trails and sidewalks. sidewalks are provided on the south side of street A and west side of street C. 8 foot wide, butuminous trails are provided along the northern boundary of the site, extending basically from Denmark Avenue up to Ash Street, or 220th Street And a trail also extends from the cul sacac Street B to the emergency Access Trail and along the right of way of Denmark Avenue. The city will be taking cash in lieu of park dedication with this plat. The park that would service this development is Westview Acres Park, so a couple blocks north
of this area, therefore, making that trail connection to the north of all that more critical and important As far as the Pliminary Plan unit development, again, these tend to allow for flexibility to the R2 standards. The flexibility that is being requested with this one is reducing the minimum area to 4,261 square feet reducing the minimum lot with to 40 feet, reducing the corner side corner, side yard setback
to 15 feet, reducing the interior side yard to 5 feet and increasing the building coverage percentage for for lots up to 50% The plane commmission did review the plulmonary Plat and planned Union Development on their April 8th, a regular meeting and held a public hearing regarding that. The commission did recommend approval with a 40 vote of both the Pulmonary Plat and Planned Union Development I do want to note that there was some discussion on the trail, specifically, the portion along the northern boundary
of the site between the developer and the Planning Commission really dealing with whether or not they felt that trail was appropriate in that location. Because of that conversation, a second condition was added to the approval that staff continued to work with the developer regarding the location of that trail along the northern boundary and have resolution regarding that trail prior to a final plaid middle. Do one also note that the parking recognition will be reviewing that trail specifically at their May 14th regular meeting.
So they will provide a recommendation on that to staff, so Therefore, the action that's requested this evening is adopt resolution 2025 Tax 029, approving the Dakota Meadows Preliminary Plat and Plinary Plan Union Development contingent upon the following. One, the satisfaction of all engineering comments requirements, including construction plans for grading storm water and utilities, and number two, staff continued to work with the developer regarding the location of the trail along the northern boundary and have resolution regarding it prior to subm of a final plan.
Stand for in questions. Thank you, sir? Steve, any questions? I do.. This is kind of more of a broader question comment. you know, we're seeing a trend, which, I think, is a reasonable trend towards smaller lot sizes, Tony, and, of course, 20 foot setback. I was quickly trying to pull out my own parcel, but I think I have a 25 foot setbackback And, you know, we had a good discussion with John last week, so I just, you know, we start seeing these smaller lot developments. How much discussion are we kind of having either
internally or maybe this is kind of part of the whole thing we we're talking through because there just isn't a lot of, you know, public right away there, and presumably most homeers would want to plant a tree, probably some landscaping, and you've got a really small area to work with. So any thoughts on that in general? Well, as far as as the landscaping and things like that, right now, we don't allow for Boulevard trees. Correct. We allow for a lot frontage trees, which are typically eight feet from the property line in minimum, eight feet from the property line in.
I guess the bigger issue that you run into is with driveways, especially with these smaller lots when you're only going 40, 45 feet, 50 feet, you know, 20 feet of that's taken up by essentially driveway at a minimum usually It's something that we do consider because like John had mentioned at the work session, right of way is it's shrinking. All of these developments are, you know, and it is the trend that is out there.
So it is just something that we probably do need to look into and try to be more cognizant of as these move forward Well, and I I don't think it's a problem unique situation unique to Farmington. I mean, every community is, you know, the market demand, just from a pure cost standpoint is for smaller homes So, you know, I guess, you know, there's the public right there's the utilityility right away, which essentially is the discussion we had two weeks ago.
So, yeah, I wish I wish we could I wish we had the ability to kind of say, you know, kind of controlling that a little bit, but the utilities do have that right. The other question I have, though, which is more of a question comment for the developer. So on the eastern side, there were pretty much abutting that train track. And was there any discussion at the planning commission about possibly requiring any kind of decorative fencing along the back?
I mean, because this is pretty close comparedared to a few other developments that we've looked at. And even to the point of, is there going to be any kind of community communication to potential buyers in that area that, you know, whether you're a buddy in the track or near the track that, you know, trains come by here a dozen times a day, they can be loud, you know, they might slow down in certain areas, blow a whistle, you know, all the stuff that would be associated with trains And I'm just kind of trying to think in advance
of if the, obviously the developer is aware of that, but, you know, do they have any thoughts around that, both communication and whether the idea of granted, what it cost, but do they have any thought about fenceing? It was brought up at the planning commission meeting. Being with some of the other developments we we've had recently and the train activity and some of the complaints from noise. And you know, the Fairh one's a little different being that there's a siding track right there. But with this said, you have a crossing g just north of
this development where they're going to be blowing a horn right as they go literally buy this development. I think John is here. I don't know if he has any specific thoughts on.. I know they're proposing some plantings along the backside there and things like that, but as far as fencing, I don't know that. You want me to address it now No, it's fine. Good evening. My name is John Anderson. I represent distinctive land development, and we did have discussion on that and did think through this process,
you know, going back to last year, when we were first doing concept plans and things like that. And what we looked at here on this site, being an R2 zoning was it's not your, you know, you can do a single family in this district, but it also allows for more density. This was previously rezoned from a higher density, which will allow for townhomes down to the R2 by the previous developer when they approved the original Premier plat about three, four years ago. And we actually considered going back to a townhome and doing a mixture of some of these single family small lots with some town homes.
And what we ultimately decide upon with the builder was to do the small lot across the entire site to make it work this way. And we are looking at this as much more of an alternative to say a townhome, attached townhome, I should say, versus competing with some of the single family neighborhoods in the town like, you know, Sapphire Lake or something like that. So we do have, you know, trees and landscaping going to go behind these homes adjacent to the railway. We're also going to be doing that along the North Prop line, which is kind of some of that discussion with that trail up on that area as well.
So yeah, we have considered that. We do look at, you know, from a buyer's standpoint, and Steve Boner from Capstone Holmes is here, and he can maybe speak to this as well, but there would be some sort of disclosure for any buyer out there and items like, you know, the railroad or other things that come up with that nature. So it depends on, you know, the situation and all that. But I don'tt know, Steve, if you want to talk, he has a couple of other neighborhoods where they're building the same product in other communities that also back up the railroad tracks. So they are very familiar with that situation, one being Cottage
Grove, and I think the other one is Andover, so I don't know. Good evening Mayor, members of the council. My name is Steve Bono with Capstone Homes. And we've heard comments like the smaller lots, we've heard many times, we've built this product in about six cities right now. It's been received really well, and we end up building it in places where the zoning is higher. So it's typically, it is different than a single family home that way, so we take advantage of the ability to get the density,
and it's actually a nice alternative to attach townhomes. So that's the way that we look at it with the setbacks and the smaller lots and affordability is the key. When we were at the planning commission, I said, "Cottage Grove's a great example. We've done We did our first 150 unit community there. Now we're doing 180 more of them in an neighborhood called Mississippi Landing. And we're doing it right now And we actually have railroad tracks right on the back side in Cottage Grove as well.
And just the key, the most important factor here is price pointoint. So we do want to do the landscaping that we talked about with John. We've previously looked at that, we wanted it to look nice. We just have to be very careful about building something that that adds expense because this is a price point. These units will be anywhere that the single family homes will be anywhere from about $375,000 to $435,000. And and we just try to watch that carefully. But in Andover, we had the same situation where
we back up to railroad tracks and we do the trees and try to do our best with that type of buffer. Yeah, and I appreciate your comments, guys, especially the you know, having a buyer, you know, sign up, basically acknowledging the awareness. I think the property, I think the housing type is great. I have no concern about that. I find that attractive. It adds diversity and you know, yeah, so I like that part of it. But I do think if you're able to have a disclosure for the buyers, really, if everybody just based on the proximity, or certainly the folks that back into Street C
you know, because they may not notice it. Some may love having trains go by, others are like, holy cow, it's three in the morning. I can never sleep around here. Why did I buy the song? But I think it's it's going to be a really nice neighborhood. I like what you're doing with it. But yeah, I would encourage that type of document, so that way the homeowner is at least aware of it. We could do that. Yep. Jake? My only question or comment was also relative to the railroad tracks more from a safety perspective,
in the Andover development and heard of any concerns with, I'm raising a family, and there's a railroad track right in my backyard. I mean, that's you know, we did not that has been we built that community a while back, and we haven't had any there was no feedback that we haven't heard of anything that became an issue. And in Cottage Grove, we're building it right now. and so it's the landscape buffer that we're doing and trying to create something that makes it a little harder makes it a little bit safer.
Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Anything else? That's it, Howard? My questions were actually asked and answered, so I'm good. I think it's actually really helpful that you you guys kind of framed it as the context of an alternative to a townhouse, given its previous kind of zoning. But to Steve's point, I guess my question would be, like, pound for pound and a housinging situation like this versus a townhouse. Do you have the right away concerns? Is it like comparable between the two models in terms of competition in those areas?
I'm a mayor of city councilcil members. primarily from a tree standpoint, you're just reducing the amount of space you have for a tree, assuming that, you know, front footage, that drain and utilities easement make it used at some point in time for you know, fiber or whatever else it is. So it's just reducing proportionally the amount of space you have to put a tree anywhere else on a lot. Okay. particularly in the front. Rightway is basically the same same size either way. Okay. Yep. That's about the only thing I could think of on that one. No other questions? Nope. Real quick here.
So, I guess the question would be for Tony, or even the developer can weigh in here. Is there. I see that there's a couple of stubs there for potential future access, right? To the south, goes outside of limits, to the north, falls into a couple different potential opportunities over time. Is the general thinking that this is phase one of more to come? Or is this kind of a one and done and the planned future streets are just stubbed into a general location based on what we think is going to happen?
Yeah, so I can talk to that. So of the 134 lots, we are looking to do that in three phases. So the first phase would be 42 lots, then the second and third phase would both be 4 46 lots The stub to the north and to the south over on that eastern street, that would potentially create additional development opportunities for the city. Both those parcel are currently within the township right now, so they would need to be annexed into the city. I do know we have sewer depth issues to further south we go. I don't think we'll have a problem going to the north And I think there's also, I believe, ut utilities up on, what
is it, 220th or Ash Street or whatever up there. But going to the south, I do know we were very careful where we stub into the north over into the townhouse site that's under construction right now. Their temporary access that they have out to Denmark will go away, then their primary access will come through that entrance And that's been planned since they went through with their design a couple of years ago. And so we picked the sew and water up from that location, and we run the, I think it's the minimum gravity or depth all the way out to that south property line.
And I do know we have some ability to go further south there. I do know that property also has issues with wetlands high water table, how to run that road through there and get that back out to Denmark Avenue at some point in time. There's some things like that that would need to be addressed and dealt with. I have that owner's Brian Murphy. I've talked to him numerous times over the course of the review, over the last, you year or whatever. and so he's fully aware of what's going on.. and we've kept him up to speed and everything. So we have considered that, we have looked at that, and it would potentially create some options for the future. Okay.
Thank you. Tony, what's the what's the street with? It's a 60 foot wide right of way with a 29 foot roadway. Do we have... Like, what when I look at this, I immediately think East Farmington Park Place. I think about the sidewalks that are sitting closer to the homes than the street. You see the reduction in the front yard setback, and all of a sudden you you got two vehicle with driveways. Ultimately, there's a lot of people that end up parking on the the street. Right?
Which is just not enough capacity. And I know there's smaller homes, smaller footprints, so, I mean, you start thinking, you know, 2.2 and a dog, or, right? Average house. There's eventually there's going to be a third driver, right? Right. Are we backing ourselves into like a logistical nightmare when it comes to the April or the November through April, no on street parking We've got these smaller driveways. It looks like a lot crammed into a tight space, right?
And not having any not having any flexibility when it comes to parking. Right. Am I missing something here? Right? Or Well, it is a lot of units in a smaller area. I do believe is this would this be part parking only on one side of the street with a 29? That's the way it's proposed. No, they can parking a lot on both sides. Yeah. So it Okay. So, just real quick to kind of talk about that real
quick, so we're not actually reducing the front yard setbacks. We're actually enlarging them on one side of the streets from what the current zoning requirement is. And just to give an example, I also worked with that Vita Tia 55 plus community and they've got basically the same product as part of their development. And they also have the 20 foot front yard setback. So if you drive through that neighborhood and look at those units in where they got their trees and their driveways, it'll basically be the same as what you're going to see in this neighborhood, except for our lots, with the sidewalk on that side of the street will actually be set back five extra feet
So that's to allow, so there's nobody overhanging onto the sidewalk with the bumper or something like that. But we are meeting the front setback requirements and actually enlarging them. And each of you would have a two car garage with the ability to park two more cars at least at a minimum in the driveway, so that's at least four parking spaces on every one of these lots. Some may have more, depending on the driveways. All right. Mayor? I'm sorry. No, you're fine. Yes., sir? With regard to East Farmington, I didn't recall that we had a disproportionate number of snowbirds during a real snow season, that like this past year.
I confirmed that was the chief. He doesn't recall you know, a disproportionate high number of snowbirds or vehicles parked in the roadway when we're trying to plow. The one issue in East Farmington that we still have time to avoid through careful placement of the trees is in East Farmington is where we have a lot of our concrete sidewalk heaving and replacement repair problems, most due to tree placement on the very narrow Boulevard. So taking work here in that regard can avoid what we have happening in East Farmington.
The other question slash comment that I wanted to propose here, I know we always we always go through and talk to public safety, right? Especially considering the ladder trucks and the length and the turnarounds and things. When you look at what would be street C, just having two dead ends and not having a common turnaround, unless I'm, again, unless I'm missing something based on the rendering here. You think about trash days, you think about snow removal right? I mean, it's one thing to look at in 2D when it's in concept in preplanning phases, right?
But when you think about six months after somebody's moved in, I mean, have we have we considered considered alternatives to either the reduction of in a few of these key areas, pulling out an additional parcel to ensure that. There are turnarounds at both of those. There's If you look.. I see the bottom right, what would be Outlaw B? Yep. There's a half cul-sac that goes there, and then on the northern. And that's permanent, not temporary. correct? Correct. Okay. And then there's on the north and there's a.. Like an turnaround. Turnaround.
Up to the west side. Okay. And we feel that those are sufficient for actual real Yep. life scenarios based on size. Okay? Mr. Mayor. Sir, thank you. Keep in mind that when we have requirementsments for temporary cul de sacs, I do put that in air quotes because temporary becomes maybe 20 years temporary. So they have to meet the full turnaround requirements as if there's emergency vehicle in there or not. And keep in mind that that dark line across the south edge is that emergency access to that southeast corner, so we're
still working through that, and that will be a full emergency access, 20 foot wide, meeting all the weight requirements for fire vehicles. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. I don't have any other questions. With that, I would seek a motion to Tony. adopt resolution 202509, approving the Dakota Meadows preliminary Plat and Pled Union development contingent upon the following one satisfaction of all engineering comments, requirements, including construction plans for grading, stormwater, and utilities. Number two, staff continue to work with the developer regard regarding the location of
the trail along the northern boundary and have resolution regarding it prior to submittal of a final plat. Motion to approve. Motion by Holly. Second. Second by Jake. Call the role, please. Council member Lean. Yes. Council member Wilson. Yes. Councilember Cis. Mayor Hoyt. Council memberember Burnett. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you, Tony. Thank you. Excuse me, next item is 102, which is the amendment to a Planned Unit Development Agreement for Meadowview Preserve.
Jared. City Council members. Thank you, Mayor. Cate Development is requesting an amendment to the Planed Unit Development Agreement for Meadow View Preserve to increase allowable lot coverage to 40% for single family homes Currently, the requirement in the R1 low density districtrict is 30%. So currently the existing PUDD agreement in place for MetaView Preserve outlines two deviations from the R1 zoning district that is reduced lot size to 8,1119 square feet.
This requirement is 10,000 square feet in the R1, and then reduce a lot width to 60 feet. This is usually 75 feet in the R1 district. So the narrative for this anticipated amendment is that Summergate initially anticipated being the builder, but as ended up selling many of the lots to two home builders, Branley Anderson, Poulty These builders would like to offer multiple home types, not compete with each other. And currently the 30% lot coverage is working for traditional two-story homes that are starting to be built out
along Everfield Avenue adjacent to the Troy Hill neighborhood And then the 30% lock coverage is an issue for the Villa style homes being built by Barlon Anderson along Everglade Path, which is the street to the west adjacent to the open space. These homes typically have a deeper footprint on a lot, therefore needing extra lot coverage So including example survey of a home permit that the city has received from Bran Anderson and kind of what this would look like at a 40% max lot coverage. So the lotline is outlined in the black
and with the house footprint outlined in red So this slot area is 8,25 square feet. And then when you add up the house area, the porch area, and the deck, you're at around 3,240 square feet, giving it about 39.9% lot coverage. You can see from this house, there's no upper level, so they accommodated for more of that square footage throughout the footprint of the house so it extends a little bit deeper back on the lot. There's still substantial room there to meet separatelybacks, so that's still not a concern.
It's just specifically the lot coverage. The Plan Commission did hold a public hearing at their April 8th meeting. They did recommend denial on a three to one vote. They voiced concerns that developer was coming back soon for amendment that was approved back last year in January 2024. And they also recalled previous meetings back when this development was first proposed and kind of the neighborhood concerns and opposition that was had in the multiple meetings that took place to get to that initial plan unit development agreement. With that being said, staff is still recommending approval.
The development already has approved reductions in size and Lotwidth. Therefore, an increase in lot coverage, could be expected when this occurs It also was very unlikely at all lots. We built to a maximum of 40% lot coverage. Again, they're mostly having this issue along Everglade path with those lookout lots, not the lots that are adjacent to the Troy Hill neighborhood. And we are seeing a trend in, you know, single family home developments that are, you, coming with smaller lots while still trying
to maintain, you know, a decent home size, and then that these PVDs are being utilized to allow these deviations, including a lot coverage from traditional zoning codes And we do have several active single family home developments in Farmington right now with PUD lot coverageverage deviations. Fairhill estate at North Creek. They have up to 50% a deviation from 35% Vitaiva is up to 51%. It's a deviation from 35%. Whispering Fields is up to 35%, a deviation from 30%, and then the Vermmilion Commons, 4th
edition, the single family home, portion, they're up to 45% with a deviation from 30% So the action requested in front of city council to consider one of the following two actions. So one of the actions would be to deny the request, to deny the amendment to the PD agreement for men who preserve as per the planning commission's recommendation and direct staff to develop findings of fact for denial or approval resolution 2025, 028, amending the PD agreement for a preserve per recommendation from staff. Thank you, sir.
Nick, any questions? I don't start with you. I'm still thinking here. All right. Holly? Well, we get passes. So, uh. thoughts and questions. My first thought, obviously, is that we are responding to market demand in these situations, that ultimately, what's happening is individuals that are looking to purchase homes are asking for different things than what home builders had originally thought might be of interest. Is that a fair assessment? So when we're talking about the increase increase to 40%, and then we're also talking about the fact that this
is likely really only going to affect non-to story product. Does it give pass in permission to the two story developer to then also increase the footprint of their home because we're talking about that 40%? If we're just looking at, you, visual metrics here, lowerlying homes you're not going to necessarily notice as much, right? But when we're going up a couple stories, my expectationsation is that any home that's being produced on those lots is then going to be able to go up.
Correct. Fair? Right. Yep. Okay. And is there anything from the builders that is indicative that that's a change that they're looking to make on two-story homes or not? Not that we've seen. It's only been uh, Bran Anderson on the west side I can certainly I would like to comment on that too, or a representative from Summergate and the builders too, could comment on that as well. Okay. Good evening. So I also do work with Brall
Anderson Holmes and have had a lot of conversations with Summergate development. Brian Tucker, who was here at the Planning Commission, was in in another meeting in different community night, and Casey Wolscher from Summergate was going to be, but got pretty sick and was not able to attend. So Tony and I I have talked a couple times as well, and I know Chris Contreas from Briana Anderson Holmes is here also And just to go back in history a little bit, and I know Tony was here at the time, it's got to be about 15 years ago, kind of post recession, there was a development called Hometown up used to Highway. 3, Turney Holmes bought like 25 lots in there.
And every house they went in there was needed a variance for the lot coverage, just you couldn't make it work And at that time, there was a discussion, and that was zoned I believe, R2. They raised some of the lot coverageages to kind of fix that problem, and it has worked out ever since. And as you go into the project and you look at it, say, R1 versus R2, there's different ways lot coverage because the differences are, you know, lot sides in R1 are supposed to be bigger than an R2. And in this case, the property owned R1. They did the plan unit development, went through, did all the negotiations. I was not part of that, so I don't know specifics.
But the basic background is, now that we got there, you know, the Pi is doing the two story homes on the kind of the east side. Brandonall Anderson's going to do the villas, where I should say the one level homes on the west side and they didn't want to compete against each other being two villas in the same development. Well, as we start looking at it, the 30% coverage doesn't work for a one level home, basically at all, because typically one level homes have a bigger footprint than a two story, because they have the belly put, you know, square footage on the upper floor. And one thing, and this is my opinion, I don't know for sure, but, you know, I've done a few developments in Farmington over the years and, you
know, the Vita Tiiva in tonight, the Dakota metals site we talked about, and when we apply for the PUD based on that specific product, you got to look at, where do we need the reductions or the increases in through the PUD. And one thing that always happens is we increase as the lots get smaller, you need to increase the lot coverage on the lot to make them work. In this case with the metalview preserve development, the lot's got smaller to be more like an R2 development, but yet we're still using the R1 lot coverage when in reality, you're really restricting what you can build on some of these lots.
They're basically two story homes. And I think it's something that probably just got missed in the initial review, the initial approval And now that we're coming back and we're starting to actually put, houses on the ground and realizing this, that we're starting to come across it. Not every lot has this issue because there are some that are bigger than others, but some of these smaller lots are having that. And so what we're just looking here is just to be able to do that product that, you know, that was up on the screen and, you know, we're not actually doing this product on the east side. That's where you Pali Holmes will be. It's going to be further on the west, adjacent to the the
creek or whatever, the floodplain area, kind of on the west side of this site. So, you know, there is a reason why, as you get a smaller lot, the increase goes up on the lock coverage, and there is some history to it in Farmington. I also know I work in some neighboring communities in Lake Lakeville and Rosemont and stuff, and you know, Empire, and I've done projects in all those communities over the last few years and in Lakeville's case, they don't really even have a lot coverage requirement for the structureure like this. So it doesn't even become an issue. Other communities like Empire, the site that we approve there that's under construction right now, they also did some similar PUD stuff, more based on back council requirements, but in that case,
because they were reducing some lot sizes, they also increased their lot coverage and in some cases up to 50%. So it's very common to do that and when your lots do get smaller, reality is these lots are more like an R2 lot than an R1 based on the sizes of them. So you need to look at also your setbacks, or requirements, your lot coverageages to go along with that. And what summreggate is asking for for Bry Anderson Holmes is just to reduce our increase, I should say, the lot coverage, for those lotss to allow for some additional styles. I also know there's, you, home buyers that have already,igned pert
scments that are ready to go on some of these houses, but right now they're on hold, and, you know, we definitely you want to make sure those people can be happy and get them their house. And if you have more questions about the specific specific product for Brenda Anderson, Chris could probably address that on specifics on the house more than I could, but yeah. I don't have anything else right now. I'll probably think of of something, but.. Nick. I mean, the reason I'm kind of mulling in my head is I don't think I can, you know, have the discussion we just had about the previous topic when we reduced the lot coverage thing and then say the same thing here, right?
So you know, you ask yourself the question of, why do we have a lot coverage requirements? And it's generally probably something like a belief of what we think may makes a desirable lot, right? Well, if the market is telling you that they want these lots that are, you, they're selling, then that is the market, that is desirable, right? So, I don't think I have a ton of con concern in terms of, you know, just changing a lot of coverage to make it fit to make it work, to make it fit the market. Like I said, diversified house mix never hurts. What I'm really hanging up on is my planning commission has recommended denial to me,
which to me, reduces us to, you know, why do they deny it? And do I just cause to go above and beyond what they've said, or supersede what they've recommended to me? And that kind of falls down into the.. you know, this change of plans, and how many times we've been here for this kind of same area of land. And I think this is the third or fourth time we've been through this on a change in plans. And so I guess. if
we go back, I mean, to Great Oaks is the one that's really stuck in my head, and we basically denied that on the premise that we didn't want to be changing plans that much. We wanted to know what was in front of us, what our five year plan was. And if we say we have a five year plan for it, that's what we want to stick to. And it seems like that's what the plan Planet Commission is raising here is why are we changing so much and how do we resolve that? So I guess I don't know if you have any thoughts or on that topic of whether you see that calming down, whether you see,
you know, this is the last change and we're good to go, you know, any thoughts in that area? Sure, just as an immediate thought, I don't I wouldn't foresee any more specific zoning deviations to those bulk requirements happening, from the houses that have been submitted so far besides a couple of these Brandel Anderson homes have been submitted, have met the zoning requirements perfectly fine or well within those requirements. So we are not running up into any other possible changes that I foresee.
That doesn't mean that, you know, further down the line that something could come up, but that hasn't happened besides the lot coverage as they've started building homes. Okay. Good. Yeah. Okay. Um. When I watched this portion of the planning commission meeting, and at first I shared the concern that we're making this change so soon after this was initially approved, but there were three items that jumped
out at me that night, and two of them you touched on Jared in your presentation, the first being the conversation that this really will be only a few lots. It potentially won't be the entire development. You also touched on the fact that this 40% coverage area falls roughly in line with a few other recent developments. I think the one item that stuck out to me watching that meeting that you haven't touched on yet was the water infrastructure. I think it was mentioned at the planning commission meeting that the infrastructure was designed for 40% coverage.
Is that correct? Sure. So the building pads that submitted through the preliminary plat, I know in the packet to, there's two differentiations between the two story and then the villa home. But the building pads usually set up for what they, you know, account for storm water, usually have exceeded the 40% of this. So they consider that entire pad being built out. So we don't foresee any storm water issues with that. Yeah, after hearing those three items, I'm more
inclined to support this amendment at this time. Steve? Yeah, I have zero concerns about this. I mean, with regard to the planning Commission, I mean, I think they've actually seen this a few more times than we have. If you rewind a couple of years ago and I would agree with that the perspective at that time. I think Summergate was maybe feeling a little bit uncomfortable about just the whole area being R1 kind of wanted to change its scope. I mean, I think we've gotten to the point today where we're going to have a diversity of housing
mix that's going to meet consumers where they're at. The two builders listed here are builders that have a very high reputation for quality homes. I think it's going to be really easy to sell those. I'm really, I just think it's a very attractive development and you know, the planning commission, I appreciate their review of it. I have a different opinion than where they came to. I did want to acknowledge, too, because it wasn't our packet. There is a resident in this area that has concerns about
the project, and I respect the fact that she wrote to us to express those concerns very articulate, very art articulately, I might add. And, you know, obviously her backyard, the backyard of the folks that have lived there for a while is going to look a little bit different. But obviously, this is an area that's been zoned. Well, it did start off as R1 for a while, but is now changing a little bit, but I like this development and like what's going on here, so that's all I have.
Tony, I'm going to lean on you a little bit here for some dates to make sure I got this right. So if I recall, it was the... Was it late summer, early fall of ' 23, when the preliminary plat came forward for Summergate? Yes, sir. Was approved. Looked more in line with what phase one is. Correct. Didn't start building. came to us late 23, early 24, like November and January. saying market conditions have changed. We need to reduce the lot size, right?
Ultimately, we said no. Correct. Right? There was some traffic concerns. There was traffic on 190th going into pilot. knob. There was traffic concerns on a right in, right out on 195th. Close proximity to school, all the things. We said, the density at the time didn't work because of the location. The density could work as other areas are built out, through way of 190th to Flagstaff, and ultimately, they took the denial and they went back back, and they found a way to make the initial proposal viable again.
Correct. Which it came back to us through the planning commission and ultimately got approved. Yes, sir. And to Nick's point, we're not even through phase one yet, and we're already wanting to change it. That's my primary concern. Sure. It's not about the builders, it's not about the def fitment, the diversity of the housing mix. It's eerily reminiscent of what we went through with another group. That's the part that we don't have a Summergate representative here, is that correct? Correct. Okay. So
I'm going to make a motion, following me back up. Is there any other motions on the table to either approve or deny as presented? I will make a motion to approve. Case. Oh, second. So is a motion to approve by Steve? A second by Jake, Call the r. Mayor Hoyt. No. Council member Burnett. Yes. Council member Berlean? No. Councilmember Wilson? Yes. Councilm Cortis. Yes. I go. We move on to item. 12 1 under New Business,
which is Repeal of Title 7, Chapter 3 of the Farmington City Code, Titled Design, Instillation and maintenance of Onsite individual sewage treatment systems. Josh. Good evening, Mayor White and Council members, I do not have a fancy displayplay as we're talking about septic systems, but tonight I'm here to formally recommend the adoption of Ordinance, 202501, which, if adopted, will repeal title 7, chapter 3 of the Farmington City Code, as it relates to subsurface sewage treatment systems.
If adopted, future administration, permitting, inspections of both current and future systems will be performed by Dakota County. A little background on the subject. Farmington voluntarily adopted a subsurface treatment system in the early '90s. And currently we have 81 dwelling units that are served by septic systems in 12 other undefined systems. Over the past five years, we've installed just one system, new system in the city of Farmington, so the numbers have
reduced quite a bit in recent years. Owners of properties that are served by septic systems, the city Suzemmi, $30 maintenance permit, which is good for three years, and we issue that permit once they provide pumping records and inspection results, showing that their septic tank is watertight. To date, after taking the position as building official, I looked at our systems where we were at, to date less than 10% of all of our septic systems appear to be in compliance. That number could be erroneous.
So they either have failed to provide current pumping records, which results in numerous mailings and staff sending out numerous notifications of noncompliance, which, like I said, are oftentimes inaccurate. The reason they're inaccurate is that the issuance of maintenance permits and mailings to ensure compliance is a process that's already done and duplicated by Dakota County. So all cities and townships in Dakota County pay a monthly fee. The fee is to maintain a pumping database through Dakota County. That database tracks the pumping records and send out,
sends out automatic notices to residents when their systems are due for maintenance. In accordance with Minnesota rules 780, 781, the county must adopt and implement a subsurface sewage treatment system ordinance, which they have done. It's Ordnance 113. The county with SSTS ordinances must permit and inspects se systems with the cities and townships that do not administer an ordinance septic ordinance. So having that in mind in April of
this year year, actually, April of last year, I began working with Emily Gable with Dakota County. We talked about the necessary steps to repeal our current septic system by default, turning it back over to Dakota County. Part of that process is providing Dakota County with six months written notification, which was done. Dakota County was also provided with all permits, pumping records, as builts, septic designs, and drawings for all of the city's systems. We've had a shared folder that we've been working closely with Dakota County with that.
If adopted, the building inspection partartment, will still continue to work very closely with Dakota County, when new building permits, applications necessitate the need for a certificate of complaint compliance. Those scenarios may include the expansion of a building served by a septic system, such as in addition to your home, additional bedrooms, bathrooms, or if there's a change in the use of the property that increases the demand on the system. Also, the city of farm team will continue to review all new building permitsits for
new structures, based on their location and distance to available city services, and they will first be examined decide whether or not they can first be served by city sewer and water services. When I look at budget impacts, I don't see any impacts to our budget right now. We just budget only $600 annually to actually inspect those systems, so we have a private contract inspector that we pay $250 to perform those inspections. I looked at the impacts to the citizens as well. Dakota County Church charges $421
for a new septic system for a Type One trench. The city in Farvington charges currently right now, $350 plus a $30 maintenance fee every three years. So the costs are about a wash. The action requested tonight is to adopt Ordinance 202501, deleting Title 7, Chapter 3, of the Farmington City Code. if adopted, the future administration permanently, inspections and current and future systems
will be defaulted to Dakota County. With that, if you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Thank you. I have no questions. I think Dakota County's offering this service, and sounds like they're saying sending out duplicative communications at the same time the city is. It seems like an no brainer to me. It's smart government. Part of the duplicity is what sparked this, because we struggle to get compliance with people sending in their pumping records and obtain maintenance permits when they feel they've already done that by providing
those to the county and the pumping authority. So Steve? I'm good. Sorry. You I's done. Holly? Works smarter or not harder? I have no questions.. Nick, I have just deeply disappointed in the lack of hilarious pictures you could have included I personally had Christmas vacation in my head. Maybe not. Kyle's appropriate, though. No, no questions. Great work. I have no questions. Thank you. Thank you. At SEGA Motion to adopt Ordinance number 2025 Tag 01, amending Title 7 of the Farmington City Code as it relates
to subsurface sewage treatment systems, deleting it in its entirety. Motion. Second. My N. second by Holly, call the role, please. Council member Cordis. Mayor Hoyt. Yes. Council member Burnettes. Yes, Council member Lean. Yes. Council member Wilson. Yes. Yes. All right. R table time. You have to move your mic.. Okay, so the light is on, that means I can talk into it and be heard, right? You're good. One of these days, I'll figure this out. First, apologies for being a few minutes late today. Traffic was not my friend.
and I don't really have a report other than to say that, you know, before the next before we're back here again, for your next meeting, we will be passing my favorite holiday, which is the first Saturday in May, Kentucky Derby Day, so happy Kentucky Derby Day to all who celebrate. I challenge you to wear your Kentucky Derby hated to the next meeting. Oh., Mayor, that is a gauntlet you don't want to throw down. I just got a new one for this year. They all want to see it. All right. Here you go, Nick. see. An expectation has been set there.
It's warm out. I guess my children are all terrorizing neighborhoods on their bikes, so please be mindful. flying balls, flying kids, whatever, all that stuff. Be safe. Watch out for. Enjoy the weather. I. Uh, I said it last time I was here, I'll say it again. Guys and Dolls Opens Thursday night. Free senior preview is tomorrow. Yes. Yes, tomorrow at 4 p.m. So if you are a senior in Farmington or a run of the surrounding communities you can go experience live theater at no cost. I know that it's probably been a long time since most
of you were afraid of being carded, but don't worry, we will not card going in the opposite direction. And hopefully, for those that are interested in exploring the arts or engaging their families with it, it's a good chance to go out and see. See some local talent. That's all I got. Thank you, Jake, I am going to echo Holly's comments tonight. Go see the musical. I know there are quite a few tickets left, available, and personally, I've never been to Broadway, but so take this comment with a grain of salt, but last year's
performance of " Joseph, An Amaz Technical or Dream Coat, was better than Broadway. So I'm sure guys and Dolls will be better than Broadway this year. So if you you're available, I six, seven, eight showillings, I'm not 100% sure.. Seven showings. Plus the senior preview. Plus. Starts on Thursday night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday of this one week at 7 p.m., Sunday matinee is at three, and then next week, Thursday, Friday, 7 p.m. and Saturday matinee at three. There you go. No excuse not to go.
It's it'll be a fun date night, I'm sure. Holly, what is the definition of senior? That's why I said, "We're not going to card you. If you feel senior esque, you can be a senior in this situation... I would say if you qualify to be able to go to Rambling River Center, we're going to let you in. That's 50 and over. Yeah, and if you eat dinner at 4 p.m., you're absolutely allowed to go. I did do that today. Sweet. There we go. And I, too, am going to the show. I might go more than one time. And that's all I have. Nothing tonight.
Surely? I don't have anything. David. I've got two things for you tonight. So, first, in addition to the various appointments you made tonight, we are actively in the hiring process for numerous seasonal and full time positions. One of those is the front desks that I mentioned before. I did have the opportunity to make a contingent offer to a highly qualified individual today, what what I really wanted to point out with that position is we had 109 applications for that position, which I think is just a further testament to the city as a highly desirable organization and community.
The second thing is, at your last meeting, you approved an RFP for health insurance brokers serviceservices. Those responsors are due this Friday. But tonight, you also approved staff staff signing on to an RFP for private carriers, for paid family medical leave, P FML plans That's something that has wanted to get on your radar that we will be discussing probably later in the summer, especially as we go into budget. That's legislation that's originally passed in 2023 goes into effect January 1, 2026. That mandate is going to have a financial impact on the city
and our employees, so we just want to make sure that we are fully informed of all the different options, so we are making the best decision, again, for the city and our employees. That's all I have for you tonight. Thank you, Deanna. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Up tonight at the EDA meeting, we had one of our partner organizations come and present to the EDA. The partner organization was open to business, which is a service that we are part of a contract with Dakota County and other Dakota County communities to be able to provide free of
charge to our businesses, business counseling service, services for businesses anywhere along the spectrum, from startup, ideation, all the way through businesses that have been in operation for years and just have some level of need. And this is, we're happy to bring these partners in, because economic development cannot happen in a vacuum and we leverage these relationships that we have. And the reason we do that is to better our community and to make sure that we have a
variety of services available for all of our businesses, as well as businesses that want to be part of this community. So I was super excited to be able to continue to bring our partners to our EDA meetings. We will continue to do that this year and have the opportunity for the EDA to engage with these partners, to learn a little bit more about what it is that they offer, to understand that relationship that we have as your staff that's carrying out these various different initiatives and ideas, and to really have an opportunity to have that dialogue.
So tonight, it was open to business. Natalie is our business consultant. I think she does a fabulous job for us, and we will continue to highlight those partners, because they really are instrumental in us contin continuing to help our businesses grow. So I just wanted to highlight that and thank everybody for the dialogue and conversation that you had. Thank you. John. Thank you, you. City Council members, just a reminder to residents that we're in the process of doing our spring hydrant flushing. We expect to finish by a Wednesday with the exception of the area near the high school.
We defer that until school's out, that'll be June 9th. So if you have noticed discolored water, a different smell, we have information on the city website, recommendations on what to do if you encounter that at. It's not unusual when we're doing hydrant flushing to have discoloration in the water. Life tip there. Thank you. Don't accuse your children of not flushing the toilet on hydrant flushing there. Second life tip, keep the lid closed on those toilets also. Not wrong. I don't know if I can follow that. No, just a reminder that May 3r is the Rounding of River Center.
It's Arts and Craft Fair at the Schmitt Mac Arena, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., so please come out and support the Rounding River Center. Progress on the Center continues. They're painting, windows organization to be installed starting tomorrow of their tiling, their flooring. So we're starting to see the finish line. I promise, Matt, we're going to get there soon. We'll be back in the center. It's really exciting. I know the seniors are ready to move back home. And then also Saturday, May 3rd, is also Pond and Park Cleanup Day. I know some groups have already cleaned. I know one was cleaning tonight, so I just want to take this opportunity to
thank all the individuals, families, businesses, and organizations who have adopted our city parks. Every single one of our city parks is currently adopted, and we have a couple of people who are on a wait list to get a park. So without you, we couldn't keep our parks looking as good as they do. So thank you very much to those individuals, groups, families, etc Do we have a substantial completion date yet for the Rand River Center? They're saying May 15th. Okay, beautiful. Yep, it's right around the corner. Yep, right around the corner. Chief? I like it. I really don't have anything tonight, I guess I have to come up with something next Monday, Tuesday, we interview for our paid on calls.
I just went over the list, and we have 244. So nice. Chief. Thank you, sir. Yes. I struggled with whether or not I wanted to bring this up, but and this is going to be a little bit of preaching to the choir, I think, because what I'm about to say, I think everybody in the room already knows. Tuesday morning, this past Tuesday morning, we had a pretty ugly attempted homicide here in Farmington. It's not something that we see a lot of here, obviously. It's a very safe community. It arose out of a domestic incident. I bring it up just to
point out the fantastic work by your police and fire personnel and quickly getting to the scene, getting the suspect in custody, securing the scene, locating the victim, getting fire, and to start providing life saving aid. And it was something that just brings me the most pride to know that I work with some of the greatest men and women on the face of the planet. I appreciate you bringing that up too. C it is. It's. I don't know how it came up in context the other day, but I was having an a conversation
with somebody, and I've used the phrase, like, everythingverything's good until it's not, and everything works until it doesn't, right? We sometimes take for granted that the community is as safe as it is. We don't have a lot of violent crime, we don't have a lot of transient crime. We don't knock on would have a lot of the things, right? But there is still a certain level of readiness that must always be maintained because that call comes in and we are making men and women have to respond immediately. And it's, it's a starker reminder of how short life is,cause people have neighbors, and everything seems fine. And then one day there's the thing that happens and everyone's just shockocked from it.
I mean, that one happened 600 feet, 700 feet from my house. I wouldn't even know it, right? But it just, we all too often forget forget the luxury that we have living in a first world country and having public safety and running water and all of the things at our disposal. And then when all of a sudden something changes, something bad happens, we have to flash back for a second and just remember the world that we actually live in. And that world is protected by men and women with guns and those fires are put out by men and women with a lot
of specialty equipment, which is a little bit of a segue here. Not intentional' because I had no idea that the chief was going to talk about that, but this is a natural segue. My state of the city got postponed. I've elected to push it back to Friday, May 23rd. We've pushed it back about 30 days. And part of that was because we've been working on, what's a plethora of stuff going on. Obviously, we have two lawsuits that are currently in place. We have the Met council looking over some comprehensive plan amendments.
We have a significant retirement and a successor that needs to be placed, and I feel like there needs to be a little bit more clarity on a few of these things before I present my state of the city. But on that note, there's a lot of there's a lot of financial commitments that this city has to make. We often hear our taxes are so high, our taxes are so high. Well, at the same time, what we're really saying is, we don't have enough revenue. We don't have enough of the right revenue coming from the right places to ensure that we have healthy, balanced coffers to look over the decades to come
You either change that by increasing your rates and increasing your taxes, or you do it by expanding and taking on new tax capacity and new growth. And that's not always the most comfortable thing. We've been banging that drum and beating that sentiment pretty heavily since I've been in office, about the need to make sure that our equipment is upgraded and our roads are maintained and replaced in proper industry standard intervals. And that hasn't happened
We've been digging ourselves out of too big of a hole. We need to make some changes, some pretty significant changes. And part of that comes off of the heels of growth. And, yes, this council, all five of us, have provided clear direction to our team to go out and execute on that mission. That is, move the needle. By any and every means possible, bring them to us, let us talk about it, let us decide what's ultimately a good fit for this community, and then make a decision on how we're going to move forward. We got elected to take this role and
make those decisions on behalf of the community as a whole. There's things that we've been silent about that we haven't commented on, and that is 100% intentional, because it doesn't matter what someone says. It'll be twisted and turned and flipped around into a narrative that sounds really good inside of a small group or an echo chamber. and we've heard that yet again tonight. We have to continue to push forward. We have to make really hard decisions because the alternative doesn't work. We are not going to talk about cutting services such as public safety
cutting our teams to the point where they can no longer deliver a minimum acceptable level of standard for performance. There's going to be some hard conversations that we's hard conversations that we've already started and more that will continue up into including taking some services offline. It's just part of the mathem equation that currently doesn't work, absent the growth that this community has begged for. And frankly, there's not a long list of people that are standing there advocating on behalf of things like data centers, because they've seen and we've heard the behavior
and how we've been treated publicly. But we signed up for this. Every one of us raised our hand and swore an oath to defend and do the things that this community needs. That's not always pleasant. But I I don't blame anybody for not coming in in here and sending the email, calling us and telling us what they really want. We need growth bad, desperately, we need growth, because without it, it there is no future. It is very bleak. And so in about 30 days, we'll go through and talk a
lot more about it, and there's going to be a moment of reality that hits a lot of people, and I hope they're paying attention because this thing's been brewing for quite some time and we finally hit that crossroads. So with that, I would seek emotion to adjourn. Make a motion to adjourn at 8:30. Motion by Jake. Second by Holly, in favor, say, aye. Second. Hi. adjourn at 8:30.