##VIDEO ID:44NWnfHvdlE## welcome to the mountain city council meeting uh it's Tuesday August 27th at 6 o'clock can we rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge 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 all right we got our agenda do we have any amendments there is one Amendment to the consent agenda that's in front of you it's a private event um it came in a little late so we're just trying to get it taken care of add that to the end of the consent agenda okay so we'll we'll call this uh h on the consent agenda okay so we got our agenda can I get a motion to approve appr our agenda i' like to make a motion to approve the agenda with the amendment okay can I get a second second any discussion all those in favor please say I I those oppose all right that passes all right the consent agenda number four does somebody want to go through those can do that um consent agenda items a through G A approved payment of claims B approved minutes from the August 14th regular meeting C Debt Service Levy schedule change D action on resolution approving variance for new replacement deck at 6511 Bay Ridge Road E action on resolution approving expansion permit uh for Remodel and addition at 5032 Edgewater Drive f l Lake Commons maintenance agreement with mcwd G miscellaneous payment request uh for 11,000 11,00 $134 to minger construction all right and then again the H is the oh I'm sorry and with Amendment h a um technically called a gathering permit for um private party okay all right we got all those does anybody want to talk about any of those all right can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved all right can I get a second second all right roll call please council member McAn here U can we do uh Ira please for thank you uh council member Pew hi council member castalano hi mayor Hol hi okay thanks all that passes all right number five we got uh comments and suggestions from anybody that wants to come up that your item is not on the agenda been the consent all right um and then so I'm going to close that then um before we go to Rhonda I'm going to have Oro police come up real fast and just give us a quick update welcome um again I apologize uh last month or last two weeks I was gone I was on a vacation so I you got my record yeah I'd let everybody know any questions or anything concerning on there not on previous you've done a great job thank you um so this uh last two weeks uh they ran our numbers we had about 139 calls from service between July 24th and August 26th today um nothing really trending other then I noticed uh we had 10 DWI um processed here in M which it's a lot um it's just I'm assuming it's time of year um things going on a lot of people coming through town going to our venues and stuff so uh the guys have been pretty and gals have been pretty Vigilant out there at night so that's bound to happen uh other than that we have disorderlies and assaults domestic related um calls a lot of Medicals as usual um thefts well welfare checks vehicle accidents and some mental health uh calls for service as well uh we had five instances up on the highlands like Longfellow Cherrywood and Hawthorne where we actually had uh theft from motor vehicles uh leaving Vehicles open at night um it's usually probably kids running around they check the cars for sunglasses change anything nothing of great great value but we try to remind everybody lock the vehicles at night and uh keep all valuables out um right down to your garage door openers as well because they will get inside and they will take things so that's kind of been our focus on the neighborhoods and roaming through them at night as much as possible being uh seen out there uh moving on to Surf Side and Centerview we continue to work it as hard as we can um this past month there was 21 spot checks done uh in the Surf Side resulting in five citation so people are still it wasn't just trailer parking but it was people parking in spots they weren't supposed to be parking in so they kind of developed a new problem but we I think we got her back under control so and then Center View Beach has been pretty quiet 16 spot checks nothing really going on down there now it seems like we've cured that problem for now uh the oral police from uh we just got done with our uh annual DNR youth firearm safety for kids uh we had three Mound three uh children from Mountain coming through our DNR class uh we just finished that up last week with our field day so um we have that once a year anybody interested you know about it you're always welcome to send them our way we will um accommodate them and try to get them into a DNR youth safety cap class and then lastly this weekend we have Labor Day weekend as we all know we will be highly visible we're uh participating in um saturations around the area so there'll be extra law enforcement on the roads and oral included so any other questions or does council have any questions well Mr Mayor um I was out in my neighborhood this last weekend and I ran into one of the neighbors who had a question about interview maybe this is more our question than the police department and his concern was um those barriers that we have are they going to be there in the winter and a concern that in the winter there's a company that brings puts up big uh fish houses and then their clients come in take up all the parking you know and this is someone in up on Lenwood who likes to go down there and put his Fish House in but it's kind of blocked because of the congestion from the private company so I don't know if that's something we've never really talked about winter conditions right there and so is it something we need to uh be aware of and I don't know if the police department has any history with that area this has been the first year we've ever really blocked this off so um it'd probably be something I'd talk with I'd get with Andy and talk to him about it see I don't know what you guys have planned with that and I don't know what we have planned is it an issue in the winter time I've never had an issue down it was only an issue because of the yeah this person raised it because the barriers are there now and so he was concerned about when winter comes will he be able to get his Fish House through there and also the fact that there is a company who's taking up a lot of space in that area okay with their private company fish houses you talking about when they're on the water they're on the water yeah Ian well the parking restrictions are off been you know they don't go through the winter right so I guess we'll have to discuss that makes sense most likely going to pull the barrier once this season gets done and then I've never had any complaints about when or anything well I I think that there they're reacting to what we've done for the summer and think staying for the winter the the other thing too is on lennwood I was walking on Lenwood it is treacherous no one should walk on it anymore um even though it's not the detour it is the detour and it's like the rapid detour people are speeding down there so I don't know if we could get one of those speeding signs to maybe help get them to slow down there there's not one on there right now there's not one on there now I will put in a request to our um to J and have try to get one on there we we're trying to sit there to divert everybody off that road but they just they just so I mean they're even what I've observed because I walk the neighborhood a lot for exercise is they're even turning on church so they're turning off Commerce coming down church then going Bowmont or Belmont or whatever that street is over to Lenwood and then Zoom down lwood yeah I I'm not sure how much longer this construction is going to be up but I'm assuming as soon as this another week another week is what so I I'll put in request to our CSO to put one up just until yeah it changes thank you right doing a great job all right thank you appreciate thank you all right next up we got Ronda Nelsa Nelson with Gillespie Center presentation welcome thank you all right thanks for having me you guys I appreciate it um as Jason said I'm Ronda Nelson um I've been at the Gillespie now just since the beginning of the year um excited to be there I came on as a consultant and um help to help them kind of get out of the red and create a new strategy uh for to propel us into the future so we did that Sherry was a part of that as our um Council liaison um we had a working session a workshop with um our board um board of directors and a and a few of our employees and came up with a new vision mission and values that I like to share with you today and then a a lot of the good things that have come out of that since then so I was looking at your materials ahead of time and I saw that in your mission you talk about a flourishing community and we envision a thriving community so very in line um so en envisioning a thriving community and our mission then is that we are dedicated to providing a prosperous and supportive environment culture and space to enrich the lives of our community members of all ages um we just a note there right we are we are trying to honor Bill G's Vision that he created almost 25 years ago um next year will be our 25th anniversary and um but also really expand it to make it really a Community Asset again multigenerational um for that we did um create um five core values um that I think are important to kind of go through but um dignity I don't want to drain them but dignity right we want to make sure we're treating everything everyone with dignity that walks through our doors um of course inclusion we want to welcome value respect and hear all voices and diverse points of view um Innovation I think this is an important one as we Propel into the future right we want to take learnings from the past but really propel them into the future and then most importantly um sustainability as a nonprofit um we need to be fiscally responsible and ensure um that we do have a safe and secure um place for future generations to come um and then last but not um least is trust right we want to um Embrace an honest genuine and transparent culture for all um so from there um we did that in that workshop and then um coming out of that we created new goals and I don't think the gesp has really had I could be wrong um goals that we really um kind of set forth and measured ourselves against so um coming from corporate America this was important to me um to create smart measurable goals and so we we anchored on four goals um that we are already measuring um so the first one is to increase membership and there's a lot of conversation about membership you can be a member of the Gillespie um but we are trying to kind of transform that into a supporter um so to be a member does mean you give um monetarily it's it's not a lot um some can't afford a lot but it does mean that you're kind of invested and you're in you're donating um however right the Gillespie is open to all it's not just member based it is open to the whole Community um and uh we do measure this one quarterly and we've took a baseline in May after our session and we're already up today 9% from that goal um it's important to note too we created short-term one-year goals and then fiveyear goals from a long-term perspective um again second one is about that fiscal responsibility and increasing our profit so as I mentioned when I started we were in the red um we were we approved a negative $67,000 budget for the year um so our of course our first um goal is to get break even um and then by five years right really become profitable and it that's at least by 10% um we want to increase our programming usage so the people that use the facility again me Members non-members members of all ages um and we're measuring that that was never measured in the past so I'm measuring that on a monthly basis so um in the month of May we we had 722 people using um or coming to our events using our facility and that excludes um people that just stop in for Bakery um it excludes people that are um renting it right it's really people using our services in our events um and um I'm happy to report that already we're up 14% against our year goal of 20% and then last but not least we're measuring NPS so our net promoter score which is customer satisfaction I'm sure um you've all um taken a survey where from a product or service where you've been asked to rate them on 0 to 10 and How likely you are to recommend this to a friend and so that's what we're doing we took a survey when I first started of our membership um which which I'd like to expand that to Beyond membership going forward but um we got an MPS score 44 which isn't terrible when I came in there was a lot of negativity or some concerns because there was the director change and whatnot um so was 44 wasn't bad but of course we can do way better so our our yearly goal is 53 which is a 20% increase and in 5 years getting that to 90 90% increase um so then from our goals we really needed to align everything we do so how we execute right and so that is programming it's fundraising it's marketing so from a program perspective I'm not going to exhaust this list a lot of these things some of these things have they've been doing for a while some of them we've enhanced some of them we' revised to make them more um fiscally efficient um and some of some of them we've added um so just like a week ago I added um a person she's coming in to do free eyeglass consultation so adjustments and cleanings and things like that um as an example and then on the right side the programming side um right now um we're evaluating some of these things um and how frequently they're used or the cost of them for example the Wednesday lunch program there was a day I guess where um the L the the room was filled of people and it was an everyday lunch and it was several years before Co and as you all know Co changed everything so now we're down to Wednesday lunches and we're really trying to increase that socialization by um I'm adding like free programming around that or um music um so our ukulele club I'm like hey ukulele Club you guys come in and just enjoy the ukulele why don't you perform for us and I had to like persuade them a little bit I think Sher you attended that one they did a great great job and it was very pleasurable to hear so it was a win-win um and then other days like tomorrow um we're having a free uh seminar um which will be on the next page but I um partner with Ridgeview Medical and they come in monthly and do a different Health topic so tomorrow it's on um brain health how to keep your brain healthy and active um so you can avoid dementia and other fun diseases like that um so more on programming um like I mentioned I'm really focused on trying to bring in these educational seminars free so a lot of that bridge be medical stuff they're listed there um we did a whole series on dementia partnering with the Minnesota dementia Community Action Network um huge turnout we had uh four sessions and each session was attended by about 60 people each multigenerational I wouldn't say kids but 20 30s 40s on up um health and wellness we're partnering with a new new company called care Insight Partners um I've partnered in town here with Josh bradner who is their Edward Jones rep um and then JP Morgan and they've come in and done a monthly Financial seminar um and then we're going to start rolling out next month uh Medicare seminars because um to help educate people on the upcoming Medicare changes and then to try to make it fun and interesting we've also done some special interest speakers as well we had somebody coming and do American jewelry um a history of American jewelry um we have Doug Omen coming in next month who is a famous Minnesota author um and then we had a real estate company come in and help us talk about real estate fraud and um helping people downsize okay so in alignment with our new strategy we really wanted to create new programming so we have today um exercise classes um but again to get more multi-generational folks um we've added ta Chi um yoga chair yoga and yoga and actually today um l really hot off the press we're going to add Zumba it's a 30-year-old woman probably who has her 60-year-old mother living with her and a young child and she wants to come in and offer Zumba classes for free so um and attract again multigenerational um it's kind of fun even our regular Fitness classes I see a lot of um you know grandmothers with their daughters or even one that brings her granddaughter and and the granddaughter's probably a teenager but um it's fun to see that um together and then we're trying to um do new things on the social front um in addition to what we have today with coffee house and lunches and whatnot um we're um I'm Contracting with the transportation van company to offer excursions so we went to the Chan house and dinner theater Guth three sidekick theater next month in um in Bloomington and a couple twins games and those have been really well attended they've all sold out um we have a new room Cube Club walking club and cooking contest so from a funding perspective right to help get us out of the red um we really try to focus on that and again focus on Multi generational so um when I started we have this Bakery probably some of you may know we we um do food rescue from cub and get their Bakery and asked for donations in kind in turn um I um walked into MC tun's um in Minnetrista when they opened and um they did not have a plan for that so they're now giving us their Bakery and in addition to Bakery they're giving us us some additional food rescue which we um would produce and meats and so we in turn use that to fund our lunches as well as then Lots left over we provide to we can or the West TKA Food Shelf um we hosted a spaghetti dinner um family orientated dinner at the beginning of the year um we did a first ever cash Bingo which is well attended again folks of all ages um earlier or late last year they did a pancake breakfast with Santa um to get a lot of little kids in the center and we're planning to do that again this um December um if you're not aware we do Len Elma cruises and Len Elma has been awesome and they partner with us they've been doing it for several years now but I'm happy to report that this year was a record year um I marketed to all of our surrounding Metro um other community centers and um like Assisted Living centers and we had a record-breaking year so we had the most sales um from alen Elma we fill build most of the boats um and then the last there are six cruises throughout the summer and the last cruise we actually sold out he's like stop selling all the boats are being used so it was really kind of fun um and they're great to partner with and then they give us back a kickback of five bucks per ticket um that goes to the gese um partnership with Scot B went really well we had 90 people last month um people here in M love him they miss him um but so we built up around that and we um added you know a raffle we we had a donation jars we brought in music and we got 90 people and it was amazing um so great fundraiser for us and Scotty's now agreed to do this quarterly for us so excited about that and and you know people like him so it's great um we do a tea um Christmas brunch they do a holiday Boutique every year we're hoping to expand that Community nights and then what's not on here I don't believe which I missed it's on the right hand side but um first annual uh Spar of the Lakes event so in conjunction with Spirit of the Lakes kind of a brainchild late in the game but we put together event in our parking lot um a cornhole tournament and then family fun day with a lot of kids activities a lot of learnings I will definitely call it a pilot um but I'm super excited everyone the the event went really well from an execution perspective and we plan to do it next year in conjunction with the spirit of L so we can get in their agenda and make it even bigger and better and timing wise and we were competing against the the park um news event so um it'll be better um excited for that so next year again can continue expanding on existing events targeting the ones that are the most profitable um and doing more better marketing um I talked about skyb is expanding cash Bingo and then next year I think I mentioned is our 25th anniversary so we're hoping to do a big Gala um and invite the whole community so from a marketing perspective um hopefully you've all seen we have a new look if you've driven by it's beautiful it's fresh it's new hopefully it makes a statement blue with white trim versus the brown that kind of Fades into the background and then we have a new logo as well and the logo will be put on the building soon we found when we painted it there was some rotting boards up there so we have to do some more repairs before we put the nice wooden logo up there but coming soon we've already created marketing materials around the logo um and we're updating our website and kind of focusing on a social media Campaign which I don't think has really ever been done in the past um also definitely partnering like I said with alen not just with alen elas but other events to try to get other centers like shwood um the shorwood senior center is kind of floundering as well so they need help I'm like come to our events come come to the gusby right let's partner together um and same with Delo um and then we're also rolling out a sponsorship pro pro uh program for our newsletter so I'm here today to to share with all you guys the exciting news but also for a financial ask we are nonprofit oh I skipped the page sorry um oper from an operations perspective we're also making changes um obviously I'm the new director um my focus is not only the strategy um I've decided to stay on as the long-term director I'm very embraced with the the people I've come to love them I've I've really am aligned with our strategy and our mission um so I'm excited to stay on I have a background in kind of core project management and strategy um so um we've really focused on kind of um streamlining our operations and making them better um also um we added a youth director earlier this year um from the high school so he's a great person to bring in to get new ideas I'm hoping to add a second one in next year um and then also considering bringing in a young adult somebody that's early on in their business career um just for on the board for some fresh perspectives all right so I ask is um we are making every effort to Rebrand enhance you know invest in our fundraising um but we can't do it alone um we still have a ways to go um and so I'm asking here asking for your help to help us fulfill our vision and our mission um and um I know in the past um in 2011 I believe there was a contract sign I don't know if any I think you guys were aware but from 2011 to 2021 there was a 10year contract 5 years renewable for 5 years with three cities it was M Minista and Spring Park um where you funded kind of per capita and so at the time I believe it was $6 a resident it was about 60 Grand a year um that M funded um helped fund the gaspie so I'm asking for the same um that's my ask I'm going to ask for kind of inflation so if I take the inflation rate it comes out to be $8.4 a resident and actually I think our residents are down so take that down maybe was you could tell me that um I think it was 10,000 a few years ago now it's about 9,000 we're at 87 oh 87 so we could do the specific calculations but that would be about 75,000 a year roughly yeah so that that is my ask you're my first um on my road show I told Jason I'm going to city manista next in a few weeks and then I'm going to Spring Park um and then I'll go to other ones as well um our other smaller you know surrounding areas because I look at this as a Community Asset it's not just m even though we're in your backyard it is really a West Tonka Community Asset so I'm not going to forget about St Bonnie um or Watertown or you know all the other little communities around us so we do have members from all those communities um and members that have moved away and still support us um but a little over 60% of our membership is in Mound all right does council have any questions for Rhonda do you guys do any direct mailers or advertising or anything like that we H we haven't s out since I've been there I can't say in the past I did find out like the elen Elma thing um I I came in and there was really no transition and I didn't I had a really start over um so when I found out about alanas I'm like learning as I go so I just took my list I had been to a conference and I took all my contacts and then if I didn't have them I looked them up and I did cold calling and I called all the the senior centers or community centers um but I did find out that they had done a mailing in the past send out something for we could do it either way but it seems like you guys have a lot of events going on and you've added a lot like if you guys could get you know reach out to your sponsors and have them sponsor a mailer with like your calendar on it I don't know something that people would hang up at home oh we do have that sorry so we do do a monthly newsletter and actually I just started a couple months ago we we always have the calendar of events kind of in there but we actually have it as an insert now okay I saw the newsletter mentioned okay we do have a monthly newsletter call The gesy Gazette it goes out it's like eight pages or 10 pages now it's got a lot of stuff in it but then I wanted yeah one pager so somebody could hang it up on the refrigerator okay and recently one of the members asked me why in our newsletter we didn't have any Gillespie events listed so I think we could do that but we need to let Gillespie know what would be the process of them sending information to us for our newsletter that comes out quarterly okay great we have an effort to put it in on our website and we get the information from um Betsy at yep so anytime she sends an announcement out we make we either copy the flyer or make a new announcement and try to plug you that way too on the website great thank you yeah and I do send our flyers for all these events toy to distribute so Y and Ronda I got to say thank you you know it is a huge Comm asset and the facelift looks so inviting and and fresh you know and young and I got to think just a face lip that's going to help bring in events for you and events are going to really get you out of the red yeah and you know doing the faft people are going to be proud to want to go in and have an event so that's what we're hoping yeah yeah you're it looks really really nice good of course you know with anything any change people some people love it some people hate it you know so we get both but so thank you looks great and um you know we're thrilled as Mound that you've decided to stay on and good follow through with with your efforts and strategy hopefully it works because it we sure don't want to lose it it's a beautiful we're getting momentum we hope it continues and Yep this last weekend we had a lot of activity in the center so it's just great to see that Scotty be lunch it was like wow like this is what could be like all you know it's like great you know um and it's great to see um you know I know Bill GPS's Vision was the elderly or the AG aged but um we don't want to lose focus of that because we have a big Community there but we also a lot of them want to bring their kids their grandkids and have those events so we're trying to focus on those kind of things as well good luck wishing you luck yeah so I went in there to vote the other day oh yeah and yeah I saw that your little science of gotty be take home containers oh yeah they're his soup his famous sour my God and I'm like that's the one thing I was the most upset about when he closed was it yeah so I saw the soup and I text my wife I was like how many do you want awesome so I only took two but it was like 10 bucks a thing I was like that's an no-brainer and they're frozen you put them anyway so I would for sure keep doing the Scotty B thing yeah if not if you can get them to do more but yeah um do you guys do weddings at all we do okay how how many weddings a year do you do oh uh let me think I mean I think there's more in the summer I haven't been there full year yet I think I've seen three three since I've been there in like like early February um we just had one on Friday oh ni so you got to think that that brings in a few bucks right yeah I hope it brings in people that aren't yeah not that normally wouldn't come into the gby right um and you know opens their eyes and we do see members that get members that way you know people inquiring about membership so that's good um and then we had a celebration of life on Saturday and and then Westwood church so they're kind of displaced from from there or they're going to be right so we're helping them out and they're going to be using our Center more and more I think so that's also good yeah okay yeah any other questions at all no except for I have lunch there every Wednesday and you can all come and join me for lunch I do try to invite new friends every time to go with me and it's kind of great because um I sort of have reacquainted with uh when I went back to graduate at school I used to ride the bus with two other women all the time and so they come to the lunch and so we reminisce on our bus riding days in uh 2010 um and stuff but really great food and it's a good price $10 you know can't eat in any restaurant for $10 or less so it's a nice social engagement uh a lot of people you know have come and brought their mothers or um you know used it as a way to get their members of their family out into a social Gathering so I'd say join me on Wednesday $10 all right yeah I'm also partnering like my mother I just moved my mother here from Wisconsin um to press holes and I try to get her over on Wednesdays too to get her out and then um I know press holes I like with this Doug Orman thing coming up um and with Scotty B um they send buses of people so they'll have signups there and they'll bring people over which is really nice good all right any other last thing no and other than you know we're hoping that the park commission will get to do some things with Gillespie like the walking Club we're thinking about creating a walking Club around Lost Lake so we got to get that Lost Lake part you know walking path designation all right yeah that'll be in this next month's newsletter coming out in a few days so they're doing a great job really energize new programs um new energy when you go in there it's not just dead you know my experience was I'd go in and there'd be no one there except for the receptionist now there's a lot of people going the parking lot is full which makes it complicated for me to park but that's my parking challenge but uh you know a it's a good problem full parking lot yeah it's a good problem yeah yeah so great so but she did make an Ask yeah and responded to that does that sound like a reasonal ask so we a couple years ago it was done right the 10year contract was done and yeah it's expired in 2021 I believe right and I'll be honest we're really looking forward to that just being honest uh because that that's a huge weight off off of our financial issues which we have a lot of them uh we just went through a long-term financial plan um so I I guess I'd have to say t TBD um we can we can talk about it a little bit more but you know at least as of now anything that we can do to support you outside of giving you money we'd love to help you know again anything we can do in the newsletter social that kind of thing I mean I'm just talking for myself but um that's I've only been here four years but i' I've seen it's it's tough yeah that's what I was going to say too is we can you know without committing to anything right now if it's not monetary I mean we can help with re like we can help with our resources too like the newsletter and yeah um is so you guys are a nonprofit so donations would be tax deductible that's right is the membership tax deductible too uh it's a good question I think so because it's basically supporting we could help promote both of that you know through City Publications and I don't know couple ideas but yeah yeah I mean one thing for sure is as we think about planning this 25 year anniversary really getting kind of behind that even helping plan it or but really helping support marketing it um um our other city council Lea on Claudia Lacy who said I'm in at Trista really wants to do a campaign where you put you know you do ask for ,000 donors or something um and then they get to put a big yard sign in their you know something like that which we haven't fully develop that idea yet but um you know that'd be something maybe you could figure out how to Market or help us you know support us in that in that way well I think the thing is we have't down our budget for next year and if you give us a onepage you know make the case for um I don't think that we probably could do at the level that you're talking about um but maybe there's something else or maybe even asking us to be a sponsor of an event might be something that's more doable within our budget constraints um but we do have the challenge that our biggest fin fincial obligation is to getting a new water plant and uh so that kind of sits in front of everything so if we give you 60 Grand it's like why are we not getting clean water for residents right right no I I get that I get that need as well yeah yeah you could yeah you could use that for any topic but you know G give us some give us some options okay you know I can certainly come back with a one page business case that with some options and do you guys get um discounts is the right word or or anything for for doing mailings as well as a nonprofit no no they used to be able to do postage mailing but that's bulk mailing is that we that we were doing when I first started and that and bulk mailing is not for sure in anything the US post office has really changed so bulk mov send out our newsletter bulk mail and some people wouldn't get it for two weeks and then that's just then it would you know we're end of the month and they missed the events and that didn't work so we actually just went away from that okay for the big events you could reconsider the EDM which is a a really great way to reach out to all you know you can pick your routes and that's a great it's I mean I'm not going to say it it's inexpensive but it's it's really affordable when you're trying to reach a large audience it's Ed it's called eddm it's through the post office oh through post office and you go in and you pick your map routes for that postal delivery and you can tailor it for the most part to the community you want to reach out to okay and they give you a really great flat rate okay fa great I not aware of that but I can look into that for sure yeah good thank you for the ideas yeah yeah anything else let us know all right any other questions for me no doing a good job though thanks for letting me what would be what would be a time like the the one page you know the timeline for her CU I mean tomorrow like really fast is where I'm looking at the budget calendar okay I'll work on it and get something to you this week for sure yeah give it to Jesse uh Maggie I don't know do you guys both have cards well I can find nobody carries cards um yeah and then I forgot to mention we also are doing um I call them Community talks so Jason's GNA come and do a talk at lunch um upcoming soon that's Place pack it up let's go what day is it I don't SE my head September it's a Wednesday yeah Wednesday every council member should she did actually the 11 you know I think we landed on the 11 a double check the 11th I have to double at noon it was at noon yeah in because it was before we also have a remember we have a Summoner after that at 1 o' you're like that's fine right right right we're so good the other thing is she did offer uh candidates that wants that are running right yeah um and I did say there is a candidate forum uh the League of Women roers yep y uh but if you wanted to do uh kind of come in meet your people or you know maybe something less formal yeah um I thought I would attend that event and because that was early September I believe it was in kind of see yeah we got two more months after that so you could do something I think that's a good idea and again it gets people in our building yeah see what we do and different maybe types of people yeah yeah exactly cool it's good all right all right we'll see time appreciate it all right thanks all right number seven we got Planning Commission recommendations consideration SL action on a variance for accessory structure at 1703 Jones Lane got Rita yes maybe on Jones Lane right I just making Jones Lane yep we're just trying to figure out which computer we're using yep [Applause] okay we switch over to all right good evening that's interesting that didn't like you today okay well we'll just pivot I'm going to do it without cuz it's not liking I'll keep playing with it but I don't want to take too much time it's only there you go all right sorry thank you for your patience um good evening uh I'm Rita trap planning consultant for the city this is a variance request for an accessory shed on 1703 Jones Lane um the property is a corner lot that's located at the intersection of three points Boulevard and Jones Lane um and that's one of the reasons for the variance request is the location of the property uh currently there is a single family home that is uh located on the property and they do have a two-car attached garage uh there was a variance uh as well as a public lands permit granted for this site in 2020 uh the variance was for a fence height uh and then the public lands permit was to allow the placement of a fence um and it is 6 feet tall rather than the allowable 4T tall um and the fence is placed in the public RightWay along three points Boulevard and I'll talk a little bit about more about that because it does factor in um to the variance request this evening uh the applicant is proposing to construct a 440t accessory garage and shed um in the rear yard um and they would like a variance to allow only a four a 5.7 foot setback from the property line um which is not what is required by the code uh the request is primarily due topography uh it's an interesting site so when we get to uh the elevations I'll kind of talk about talk through the elevation issu that we have on the site uh the site is guided low density residential which is intended primarily for single family housing and this will continue to use the property for single family purposes um it is an R1 single family residential uh and that factors in just because of the way that the setback requirements are um the accessory structure structure setback requirements um in the front yard is 20 ft um and the street sidey yard is 20 ft and I'll come back to that in a second um and then on the interior side yard so on the the South property line it would be 6 feet and then the rear yard it would be 4 feet uh I do want to note and it was in your packet of supplemental information um the code is interesting and probably something that staff would suggest we fix uh the code has some confusing Provisions that are not technically Prof uh conflicting but they're in multiple locations um so there is a provision in the code that specifically in the R1 District that says that you need to have that the front setback is related to the of the lot but when you deal with an accessory structure the setback that you use on a corner street side setback is related to the width of the lot and so we had applied the reverse um and so the variance request is not 24.3 feet as was in the Planning Commission packet but 14.3 ft the long and shortest no matter what the accessory structure is not moving from the location being proposed and they still need they still would like to be 5.7 ft from their property line it's just the amount of the variance change it is important because you know they don't have as much of a variance needed but either way um and that's something I as I said staff would like to look at and maybe we'll come back to separately this fall um because it isn't it is confusing to have Provisions in multiple places that switch how you approach calculating things um just to make sure and we don't apply Corner yard setbacks very frequently um surprisingly we don't have a lot of those that we have to deal with so back to the structure this is a lot that's uh over $10,000 ft which is the minimum lot size for R1 uh I do want to note that accessory structures are limited to either 3,000 square feet or 15% of the lot so it's the lesser of the two so for this lot they could have up to 1,500 just over100 sare ft of accessory structure they're proposing 440 Square ft um and so that does meet what the Cur the code says um again the code does require a front setback on both 3 Boulevard and Jones Lane it's just in the accessory structure Provisions they kind of change how you calculate what the front setback is um but they are looking to do 5.7 ft from the northern property line they are proposing to meet the rear setback uh which is the West property line uh they're at 5T uh the 4 feet is what is required by the code uh the main reason for the request is topography uh the site does change significantly in topography um the South West corner so this corner uh elevation uh the dot elevation site elevation is 9524 um the elevation kind of right in this vicinity is 9420 uh I do note as you go back up to 3 points it actually increases again so this kind of area is coming down from three points and then it goes back up and the hill uh resides on the back um all along the rear property line there is a retaining wall so this area has been impacted in the past um if the applicant were to shift uh the H the proposed structure to the South they would uh need to cut farther into this Hillside and put up a retaining wall so there is currently an accessory shed uh in this vicinity so their proposal is to kind of put the new accessory structure in the same general vicinity um as was there in the past obviously it is larger um than it was before uh the residential accessory structures do need to be shorter uh than the principal structure and the indications that we have from the building height information provided by the applicant is that it will be um and again that'll be verified at building permit time uh we did distribute this for comments and no comments were received uh the Planning Commission review occurred last Tuesday at the meeting um there was kind of two areas of discussion uh there is uh the neighbor who I believe they are here again this evening and we'll have uh an interest in speaking with you um believes that we the variants should not be allowed because there are alternative conforming locations that it could be constructed in there isn't a reason it has to be in this location uh I know that the Planning Commission also discussed um minimizing the view of the structure from the street um so there was a lot of discussion about topography where the fen is trying to make sure that if we were going to have this structure as close to three points as proposed that it wouldn't be something that would stand out um and there is a fair amount of distance uh in the between the fence uh and the sidewalk and the fence and this property and there is the topography change uh staff did recommend approval and the Planning Commission did after discussion recommend approval as well uh so this evening uh we're asking that you discuss the request I know the applicant is here uh there was photos included in your packet and they may wish if you are meable to bring those up so you can see them as well in the can talk through the situation on their site I know the neighbor if you are again amable would like to speak to you as well and um provide information about their concerns about the proposed request we did prepare a motion a motion a resolution for your consideration given the fact that the Planning Commission and staff both recommended approval it was included in your packet uh but if you don't want to move forward with approval then it would be helpful if you wanted to table it to hear why or you can always uh Mo make a motion to deny with findings of fact and then staff uh can prepare that if needed with that I can answer any questions or clarify any points if clarification is needed does council have any questions for Rita um can you pull up that picture that's in the packet yes we're going to switch back to okay I think it's like 143 or something there you go so is this where it's currently at that's the current um shed on the property yes and where is the new one going it's going in the same general vicinity but they will the lights a little bit yeah I can do the lights and actually it would probably be better if the applicant talks I can speak to it for a second I drive by it every day um the backyard so that little section of white fence that you see is like um point you go over one section no it's not that's the backyard and then it comes back towards us and it's so three points is going along us on the right hand side right so the north side of their yard where the fence then goes you know along three points so this is just the back corner of the yard so my understanding is they're in the same general vicinity though they are going to move these to Shrub SL trees uh and then dig down a bit so this is all level and it'll be constructed in this vicinity and but it'll be bigger the if you look on the survey you can see how much smaller the existing one is versus what's being proposed okay what do the other pictures show can you go to the next one that's just a different view that way right yeah we're a little bit to the left of the photo that was there and I think part of this is showing the mature trees that would be this one I was confused I see the neighbors right something there sh is just to the right yes sheds to the right of this fire pit okay is there going to be a curb cut for this shed because you that's no there isn't and that's one of the conditions that staff has is that there can never be a driveway for this okay because that's we wouldn't want that on three points right okay now we go to the last one there just another okay so basically putting a shed exactly where already is and then do they need a permit to put that shed there originally I thought that that was non-conforming but I was not involved with that one I don't think the size of it very big uh if they're under 200 S ft you don't need a building permit but they have to meet sex and I I'm not aware if they had a permit or not so does this meet sets already or no um I'm guessing not um because it's very it's not as close as this one but it's close to three points um I I can't see where it's sitting related to the West slot line it's uh a little bit closer than what's proposed so my guess is well it's supposed to be four feet so because of the E right from the property line yeah so it is still close to three points though okay but no permit because it's under it's under the square way under the size yeah all right does council have any other questions for M okay and you said the applicant wants to say something the applicant's here I'm sure that does the applicant want to say anything whatever all right come on up can you give us your name and address yeah hi I'm Jake ker I reside at this address 1703 Jones Lane uh thank you Mr mayor council member staff for the time on this um I don't want to take too much time so but I do want to be detailed enough so you guys can understand the situation I guess so the the picture there um we are proposing to put the shed exactly in that spot it's just that where that one comes 10 ft towards three points we want to build a 20 ft a 20 foot wide so it would come another 10 ft towards or 12T towards right um so in our and the other thing that I don't know if there's another picture in there you guys that shows the the fence if that would help paint the picture but if if youve driven by it you you know if you come down three points the shed that's that's on running parallel with three points sits on top of another burm that's 5T higher than this low ground so we got the burm and then a 6 foot fence so that whole side is like 11 ft taller so when the if the new structure is approved there's only going to be like 2 feet of the roof line maybe sticking above the fence so you're really not going to see it at all from from uh three points um and I guess I just want to point out the the Planning Commission had a lot of discussion about reviewing the difference as well between Corner Lots on collector roads versus um Lots on side streets and residentials and you know my understanding of that is you know there's there's no Neighbors on the other side of that three points right on three points it's all bushes and then the garages and then the seahorse condo over there so it's not like other neighbors have front yards that are looking at that M we on some Corner Lots in residential streets it's different right you have neighbors that are all looking at that right um if you look at our property and if you visited it like it's really hidden back there like it impacts nobody like nobody sees it it doesn't impact anybody um it's not blocking anyone's Vision there's no vision it's not encroaching on anybody um to to be honest like is that is that I know the neighbors want to talk about some differences in in their opinions but I thought they would rather have this location because it's not towards them you know it's on the other side of her lot but um yeah okay they also talked a little bit about like you know if if the code if they look at it more of a collector Road versus a regular road and it was considered like an internal lot the setback right there would only be 4 feet so we're we would it's definitely in compliant with that but I I know it's not an internal lot so um we I truly believe the Practical diffic difficulty is being met I mean right in the city code and on the application everything it talks about topography uh being a practical difficulty and if you come look at this situation um the Topography is is kind of a mess and yes we knew that when we um moved in of course um but this you know if we were to move this structure this way one we'd have to tear out Three Trees to be within code and that burn back here you know right here it's maybe four feet tall but it goes up a hill up here and this is like 10 ft tall back here so I'd have to dig into that burm 10 ft tall um and put a retaining wall or build it back in there and it just does not make any sense when you look at this property and to be honest we we won't do it I if you guys don't approve this we we're not going to dig out this BM and bu take down trees and build it in there um so I do believe that we did meet with the neighbors back here up on the hill um the mun stocks and we talked to them about it and cuz they have a house up here and their driveway comes down on the three points over over this way and they had absolutely no issues they they said they would be willing to come to the meeting if I wanted them to they had no issues whatsoever with it being located here and we are staying within the code on this property line which is kind of a budding to their property so we're staying off of that property line um you know our other neighbors to the south over here uh the sundell are here you know they're expressing concerns about consistency um but with with all due respect like you know we went through this a year ago you guys are all here um their ask on their variance was completely different and the whole point of a variance is to look at the uniqueness of each situation and each lot and our lot is uniquely different than their lot um so I just with all due respect I just don't think we're talking apples to apples when they're trying to compare to a variance that they applied for a year ago and I do believe that the process is really consistent we've gone through as you guys know a ton of detail with the staff and with the Planning Commission and it's been a consistent process and the last thing I guess I would say is just that you know again where where I'm proposing to put this um impacts nobody like it's it's not encroaching on anybody it's not a view thing it's not it's nothing it doesn't impact anybody so people that walking a yard are like why w't you put it right there so it just makes all practical sense to me it does not make any practical sense to tear down trees and dig out a burn so just to again another clarification we can put up the maybe the other thing in a minute but you're going this way yeah if we put survey it might help a little more do you have the survey on what page is it on or was in your presentation to9 095 so he's a poin I don't know how e it is see there we go so the pictures that you were seeing before we're looking at the front of our existing shed right here it was like I was standing here taking the picture looking at this so over here is a big burm where this flat ground this BM goes up another 5T there's a fence up here that goes up another 6 feet so what we're proposing is the 5.7 ft to the property line there's another 7 and 1/2 ft to this fence so we're 13 ft off of that fence plus another 4T to the sidewalk so we're you know 17 ft from the sidewalk so the existing shed sits right here so you're proposing going how much farther to the north so the existing this shed is 10 ft right here and we're going to slide it like a half a foot or a foot over here I'm trying to come as far as I can here without tearing down trees and cutting further into the BM so the the BM over here is only a foot or two high so there's really really disrupting the land the least amount we can um or again over here it's 3 ft high and digging all the way to 10 ft like here that BM is 10 ft tall where it comes down back here it's only 2 feet tall so it's a must um and then this is all the flat so the sh the current shed that sits there was there when we bought the property um 15 years ago um it's just getting a little old too so we wanted to replace it and and make it bigger um so the existing shed is a 10x10 right here and we're trying to build a uh 22x 20 sure and you're staying on on the west side you're staying that same line there uh this one's at 4 feet we're actually going to move it another foot this way so we're going to be 5T off the rear property line the requirement I think they said is four or five but we're in we're regardless we're going be five okay so we're not asking for a variance on this back property line all right so you're asking basically it's the the north side correct is that you're okay correct all right does council have any other questions no I mean I can see the Practical difficulties on corner lot he's got like I read all the minutes and it's like I the same difficulty it's you have two front yards and it's not blocking anybody's uh Road visibility or view view from your house no one no one is going to see it but I don't think I have any questions okay and it's and I think I say this but it is going to sit it would sit so low down here that you know um over here is the seahorse you know garages Hedges and garages going along this way and then the seahorse HS way back over here right so it's it's not a visibility thing again again I think this is the least impactful position for it but okay okay well thank you thank you app and this is not an open meeting per se but I know if do someone else wants to come up and say something real fast can you give us your name and address yellow yellow good evening my name is John sundell and I reside at 1717 Jones Lane in Mound we're here tonight due to a letter received from the city notifying us that a variance request for the construction of an accessory structure next door at 1703 Jones Lane the kers property as you may recall my wife and I spent several months last summer requesting a variance permit followed by an expansion permit and we ended up settling for a standard building permit for the remodel of our primary residents we were directed to redesign three different times by staff by Council by Planning Commission because they said there were other options and you felt we should look at which involved more time and money we're a little Beyond surprised to see the cers pursuing yet another variance request for the property given the veracity of their issue with us pursuing a variance for our home remodal project in 2020 cers also requested and were granted a variance to add a fence within the three points Boulevard 30 foot front yard setback area as the cers have stated before when challenging both our variance and expansion permit they are fully aware of their property and their setbacks as they understood these all before they purchased the proper property in 2009 both of our requests for our initial variance and expansion permit were denied on the following basis the city felt we had other options and redesign or cost for this proc process should not be an influence at the Planning Commission meeting last week a few of the commission members were having difficulty understanding what a corner lot means regarding setbacks corner lot means the city code recognizes two sides of the corner lot properties as front yards with the city code stating a 30-ft setback to buildings not to be confused coers have a corner lot with two sides of the property having a 30ft minimum setback to buildings in the sidew they're proposing the success restructure is one of those sides it seems reasonable to us to request that the co look at different locations or options for this accessory structure in our case the council mentioned that there were other construction design options to be considered which would alleviate the need for the Planning Commission and or city council to issue a variance or an expansion permit every option brought up by our neighbors the cers the Planning Commission and the city council were far less reasonable in the scope of work needing to be done as well as the cost that became prohibitive to us as homeowners cost is not a consideration for for uh practical difficulty as stated in city code section 1292 paragraph 3 economic considerations do not constitute a practical difficulty architectural limitations imposed by our existing home remodel costs due to those limitations um on ite topography such as removal of existing landscape trees and Grading an existing garage that could not be that could not accommodate our truck all these were not practical difficulties upon your review the callers have stated that they don't want to remove other trees or do additional grading to accommodate a different building site as it will cost more money a very specific example of having more options is this city council encouraged us to to remove two 85 ft maple trees and do additional grading to accommodate the option of looking at different sites you asked us to expand on the cell side of our property do additional grading and take out 2 85t trees as an option you asked us to pursue that the callers have other options for this accessory structure location can I see exhibit one please here's their existing house right here here's their existing shed right here here's the proposed shed moving 12T closer to three points Boulevard in the setback area why couldn't they look at shifting their shed to the South where they would not need a variance why couldn't they look at expanding on their existing shed making that larger why couldn't they just look at putting an an addition addition to the backs side of the garage if they're looking for additional storage needs to issue a variance or an expansion permit is to extend special privilege this is a direct feedback from both the planning Comm and the city council the concern was that you did not want to set a precedence specifically the pre precedence of extending spe special privilege where there are other options it was further stated where does it end if we continue to do so it seems reasonable to ask this Council for the cers to review other building sites or footprints where they would not need a variance perhaps a simple building permit the size of their building is surely not the minimum which is needed when requesting a variance variance and expansion permits are to be considered only where the homeowner is asking for the minimum where the scope of the project is concerned not the maximum this exess this accessory structure plan surely isn't the minimum an accessory structure can be built with a slope and Landscaping in the backyard as we've done so can I see exhibit too please this is our property just to the south of the kers cers properties right here on the north we have the same BM actually bigger than in their backyard and we've elected to stay compliant with our accessory structure and build it according to we've had to cut into the BM we've had to remove a couple trees but we're compliant we didn't ask for a variance so it's doable there's options we're here tonight to confirm that this city council remain consistent in their messaging to not only our neighborhood but our community and what they can expect when they approach you as a sitting elected Committee in matters that pertain to interpretation of our city experience code we encourage Comm we encourage continued property improvements in our community that said our recent time and experience with you as a council is such that we clearly see this project accomplished by a building permit this would mirror the same process or close to the same process we have followed with respect to the construction of an accessory structure in our backyard we're confident that if the cers are head held to the same standards as our recently completed remodel the variance expansion permit being requested would not rise to the rigor required by the city council for a variance and expansion permit to be granted there's a high level of sub subjectiveness to this process of pursuing a variance and navigating it isn't easy the Optics to this are very visible in our community and consistency is key to level setting the bar so that we as residents can appropriately be can appropriately better be guided in what to expect on these matters in closing I asked myself why are we here tonight the coers have plenty of room to the south of their proposed accessory structure location they could change the dimensions of their plan could easily do an addition to the back back of their garage to create additional storage room they have options furthermore their plan surely is not the minimum a variant states that it's to be used as a minimum plan a Varian is for those that don't have options coers have options they could simply relocate the building location and use a building permit thank you for your time and considerations thank you ccel any questions for well I'd like to say Mr sandel I can appreciate your frustration and you sound really frustrated and as we said at the planning meeting the Planning Commission does make every effort to try to be consistent I just going through the accessory structure ask versus you know your re the you know the red doing of your entire home are they're they're just not comparable and and just let me finish I I'm starting to feel like now I've heard you twice and I'm feeling like you're you're using this as a punishment because you weren't you didn't get your variance and I look at what they're trying to do it feels like the least impact for anybody and yet you want them this is what it sounds like to me I'm not suggesting that you're trying to punish them but but it's starting to sound like that that because you didn't get your variants you're going to put them through every measure to make it difficult even though where they would move it makes no sense my statement is that there's other options than requiring a variance there are other options they're asking for variance to encroach closer to three points Boulevard which is a collector roadway correct me we have not was it is roadway yes it's not a standard neighborhood roadway it's a collector roadway that feeds all of three points Boulevard so they're asking for a variance to encroach into that setback where there's other options simply there's other options but but the other options they don't make sense why would make sense well first of all the building that they're trying the accessory it won't even be barely seen by three points and they move apparently you don't care if if it keeps encroaching on your view views aren't an ordinance you can encroach no I understand that but but I'm saying as a as a neighbor I would think you would go gee this is going to be great having it over there because it really doesn't impact me at all it's just the variance ask is what it sounds like it's impacting you I really am concerned about the variance request when it's not necessary they've already been granted a variance for something that was a fence issue again they stated during our process last summer they clearly understood their lot they clearly understood their setbacks they clearly understood their limitations but yet they're asking for a variance now that is a feeling setting a prence if you were to Grant this variance okay does council have any other questions for him I don't think so I mean is it if it goes where they're proposing is it affecting like the use or enjoyment or of your property for you uh it wouldn't affect my property my concern is the future expansion and public infrastructure Improvement along thre points Boulevard what happens if they have to improve this sanitary sewer deep sanitary sewer and they get into excavations that are deep and that it impacts their building the city might be liable for additional sheeting required to do improvements on the roadway there's a setback for a reason you guys and if you're granting this variance I think it's unwarranted I think they have options within the building code to not request a variance for a shed I'm involved in City engineering uh civil engineering for 36 years now I've seen projects like this go through I've seen when they have to come back later and do deep sanitary sewer reconstructs and they have to Shore and sheet these properties it's additional expenses to the taxpayers all right thank you for your time thank you appreciate it thank you all right anybody else have we've heard from you uh anybody else real fast okay Rita can you come back up S all right hello can you just pull back up the one so we're asking for it was it 15 ft I think it's 14.3 off the top of my head without having in front of me 5.7 ft from the north property line 5.7 5.7 ft from the north property line so the variance the variance was that's the bigger number but the actual distance which is how I that's how my brain thinks it's like how close is this going to be just over six feet or just under six feet to the property line which is still from three points a ways right so technically because of the corner lot you're saying it's really a five foot problem not a not a 15t problem that's supposed to be 20 ft back yeah it's only going to be 5.7 ft back from the property line okay just again this is a just to make sure property line fence sidewalk sidewalk three points and can you Center Line mention how much space is between the sidewalk that goes to the fence between this these two points I that measurement is not not on there if we look at this that this is 5.7 ft you can easily see that it's going to be 12 yes another and half to the fence and another to the sidewalk but the sidewalk the edge of the sidewalk isn't isn't the property line is it this is the property line right here okay you can see that see I think we have to be consistent I I do agree with the neighbor in the sense that we are so inconsistent in this city um you know we're always giving variances to people we're allowing people to always push up against those property lines and um you know I I'll never forget one of the first cases I remember hearing Council was someone pushed up against the property line they stayed within the property setback but then their Eaves extended over because they changed the roof pitch and you know what and he talked a little bit about the height of the building building that supposedly you wouldn't see it yeah from I I needed to understand that was he talking about the the bottom of the roof or was he talking the pitch top pitch of the roof that you wouldn't see when you go on when you're on the sidewalk on three points mhm and there's a white fence their yard goes like that so you would maybe see the eve of the you'd see the top of the roof maybe probably not me one second as it connects itself in so uh the note that the fence is not here m u I'm going to go back just to orient everybody so this is the corner Jones we're on three points so this is the sidewalk there is no fence here so that's one thing that's misleading okay I acknowledge there's no fence but I can't make a fence in this in this picture but there actually is a fence right yes just this picture whenever they took it it was a ways ago but it the only thing nice for us is oh I like this one just one second I'm going to go back one click maybe two clicks there's actually this is the trampoline there's actually the shed back here get it just right you can actually kind of see it through the trees so that's what they're talking about is that the Topography is such that we're higher but it was still Cal and there's still a 6ft fence on top of this right now there's a 6ot fence so you'd have to be able to look over the top of the fence and down the hill to see it so you still are going to see the top of the roof of the shed but it's down it's not at grade when you're on three points or you're on the sidewalk and there's still the separation between the sidewalk and the fence and then the fence and the property line and then the property line and the shed so there's kind of multiple movements away so my my problem with this whole thing is we're talking 15 feet 14.3 14 some feet my wife wants a new shed too I mean I could go put up a shed you know as long as I stay within the you know if we're talking to foot or two I don't have a problem with it 14 is I mean you you could you could put it a different way you could do a smaller shed you could do I don't know I I gotta say that's a lot whether anybody sees it or not again like you said staying consistent when we're talking about a one foot Pro remember that rof toop thing that we're talking about it was like one foot like who cares it's not a big deal we're talking 15 ft that's very we don't do these that are 15 ft off I mean since I've been here yeah maybe before I was here when you had that other issue but and is there room to shift it if you shift the other direction shift uh if you shift it this direction then you're taking out the tree trees and you're cutting farther into the hillside so it's but you could also bring it towards the house right how far can you bring it to the to the house you could bring it towards the house though how far can does it have to be away more than well let's remember though shifting in this direction doesn't get us to the variant right cuz I know but if you if you make a smaller Shad to move it this way and turned it this way yeah I mean you could take up their rear yard with a shed you could do but you could go along this way instead of that way you could go this way long to the east you can't it would have to go this direction yeah it would have to be smack in the middle of their backyard if you're going to try to I'm not and that's not a that's just a statement of fact that's not a statement of my opinion that's just in order to meet the setback you've got to come down and then you have to shift it this is 20 ft back to to be that big of a shed almost yes so it's almost right in here so I mean one I'm struggling a little bit because I don't have uh it's a subjective decision and so I don't have an opinion I do want to note that the reason in planning reasons why we do this is particularly to protect the view along the street of all of these houses right that's the reason for this corner yard setback is that we don't want to have houses is whose front yards are here and here and here and here and here and here and here to end up with what is basically a shed in their front yard right but this street is different because of the fact that we have the apartments here this is a very big lot that's set back differently so again I'm not advocating but that is something the Planning Commission felt that we should come back separately and have a conversation about is does this setback even make sense given if it's a busy Street those types of things so again I struggle even to say that because I'm not trying to Advocate one way or the other it's more of a statement of the reason we do this is to protect the front yards of neighboring properties what makes this one different is there are really no front yards of neighboring properties around this one so the there is no economic considerations for difficulties so that's not technically correct it says economic considerations alone do not justify alone so that is one word that got dropped off when it was stated and I did verify that it that word is in there okay and then the well trees go go with that I guess um you know they have other options right you could do a different shed smaller shed put it on the other side of the yard I mean just because the shadow was there doesn't have to be there again right correct and do we know are there any other properties on three points that that have also are off from this varant so they are closer to the street their structures or is everyone else's setback you know for consistency I'm on a street um I mean I drive by there all the time but yeah I'm try to think into my right as I'm driving it's the most out of the way that it can be right yeah it's not blocking anybody's view is that black view but I mean the stre she's looking this up I just give my opinion actually this is a better one because you can see the lot lines I mean I'm pretty comfortable with a unanimous Planning Commission recommendation and a staff approval recommendation yeah and I'll make a habit of going against those but you can't compare the two properties they're not the same one's a corner lot one's not some projects affects people's view some don't they're just they're not the same well no I wasn't talking about other I was talking about properties oh I know I know yeah like street view too y on three points it's behind if you ever had to widen the street then this shed would create oh man if they had to widen the street there'd be be yeah it would be is there any utility lines and stuff under there yeah that's not going to happen under the I don't uh I know there's under I can see there's the overground the overhead power lines but I know I can't answer that because remember when that was I always trust the city Engineers they have an issue to let me know that there's a potential problem I don't know I mean we have a really so if I don't know if this is help this is just the property lines so this is the house again for orientation across the street are the apartments this is what I was talking about where this property is is so different in terms of How It's structured um and then these so yes there are some houses that face the front um this one's kind of at an angle these are facing towards the front so but it's hard to me it's hard to I can't however you interpret it because they're all kind of different there's not like a consistent one that I can point to that said yes well you know I too hate to go against the the Planning Commission when they unanimously approve something but I'm so tired of us making variances on everything so much so that you know we make it I mean you know I have this thing about all the lake proper properties that have variances so that they can't get their stuff in their backyard which is the Lakeside so it sits on the street side because they can't get anything in between the houses because they've all squeezed up against the property lines um so I think we we make too many exceptions for it but so I'll speak against I mean I I don't because so a variance is there by like nature of the word you know just to be a variance when there's a certain situation that arises I mean I can have one example I have you know a couple houses down we have neighbors where it's like they were going to put a shed that was going to be like if you opened your blinds you would just see their shed you know and this is not affecting anybody's view I mean it kind of sounds like it should really be a non-issue here well I agree with that if because there's no one living across the street looking at it yeah and I've walked the street and I have to admit that being a short person everything's above me so yeah you won't see it I don't see anything you won't see it unless I'm across the street looking from afar you know I just still have a problem [Music] with that big of a variance for a shed that do you really need to do it so I mean yeah but if we have unanimous approval from Planning Commission and I have a hard time with that I know they're thorough I know I I was there yeah yeah I just I still have a hard time with it personally so anyway cons mechan I I just I see other than reducing the size of the accessory shelter the way they've laid it out is the least impactful to anybody so I'm like the count the Planning Commission I'm going to go ahead and say I agree with the accessory shelter okay all right the placement of it should we any other questions or you guys want to take a vote I'm fine call comes down to you it's not negatively impacting everyone so I'm ready to take a vote okay I'm ready okay someone wants to make a motion I don't even know if I'm on the right page I read the wrong page last week um on 2077 right 2077 yeah um I would like to make a resolution approving variance for accessory accessory structure at 1703 Jones Lane okay got a motion can I get a second second okay any other discussion all those in favor please say I I I those oos I what did you do I'm abstaining okay so it passes then yeah all right okay so that passes so congrats guys you can clap thank all right uh off to the next item okay so now we're on number eight we got uh Council uh comment comments and reports from council members uh council member Pew well I spent my weekend walking around in my neighborhood and learning about what people are interested in it's kind of interesting people didn't immediately say water so that was kind of new good um but um but I you know I did note the the traffic on Taco which we talked about earlier um being in need and also was brought up and I shared with staff was um there's a National company renting houses in our community and it's a virtual thing and this one neighbor got very concerned because people were coming up peering into the house that they can't get into because the company is some national company and they they're really concerned that it might be sort of a scam on rental and I think they've had the police look at the property a couple of times and staff is going to check into who this company is where is that property this is on Noble it's a house on Noble that um it's suffer rent it's maintained very nicely it looks nice on the outside and everything so it's not like it's been unkempt um but it's been drawing a lot of activity of people coming by and wind up appear in the windows and the neighbors's next door sort of like don't really want all this extra activity going on in their properties but you know we do have a lot of out of City investors in properties in our community and I know that staff has too many other other things to deal with but sometimes we do need to take a stop and look at some of these situations and stuff like that so that was my week kind of walking the streets talking to folks on ma um I would like to bring up I've seen an opportunity this has been going on for about three months but we're always so long um and the opportunity is the empty flag pole all over Mountain I'd like to propose and I have done a little layout to kind of elevate the community Spirit or what have you is doing a mound flag and putting it on the flag pole I designed the flag just briefly just so I could see what it would look like and I'll hand it to you guys oh I just throw that over there I I've talked to uh Jesse about I've talked to Ryan about it and they would need three flags per year and they change mod three times a year I so they're all empty huh they're all empty right now just this one is oh okay okay uh no all three flag poles are empty okay they are yeah well not empty but the third flag pole the third one is they used to have the Minnesota flag on it m yeah is empty and I'm not sure to engage in a debate controversy of your flag I'm seeing this as an opportunity to kind of showcase M oh okay sorry this is not this this is not in front of City Hall this is no this is the park Veterans Park Veterans Park okay pal FL yeah so the okay that's there that one's empty we have one empty one and we have the fire and the United States FL fire department up here there's three locations that have three okay you okay yes yes and so there's three locations that are empty a flag and there is an expense I'm just going to go through this with everybody okay um Ryan said that they change out three flags three times a year and they get 4 by six so you know there's a price break at quantity so for 18 two-sided flags with the price break it would be 3240 for two years of changing Flags 3,240 yes and if we did just one-sided which I wouldn't recommend because you're going to be coming straight into Mound you know right where the new intersection is there's no price break it's $90 a flag you know so it it'd be 1620 but the P um yeah the P flag is two- sided so anyway I just thought I'd bring it up for consideration I think it would be kind of a cool thing to do for our town to kind of elevate our pride so it would add the mound flag to those spots yeah pretty much then they all have that's what I'm proposing yeah that's cool yeah I like it so we all like that or no yeah I don't have a problem with it um so is like the 3240 is it like you said for two years like they would like they wear out after yeah you yeah I mean you have probably a plan you have to change m i have a flag on my Dock and they get ripped yeah they get ripped M blew off in the storm yesterday my my one nation under God great what do you think of that so anyway they they get shredded so yeah the city of Mound changes our three flags out generally three times a year to keep them looking nice yeah it's cool part of it is we're spending money on flags anyway this is just talking about the yeah yeah I a problem with it well if any if everybody likes this then someone make a motion to staff I I should mention that I I've kind of designed a couple Flags other than just white I just kind of did the blue logo color with kind of some waves under it if you want to look yeah I was going to say like for anybody listening or that was going to listen or watch later it's it's the the logo is the same it's just the addition of like the waves under it yeah cuz I like you know I like that saying how it is and then basically this think it's cool with some and and the blue will stand out a little better than a white yeah so that's my ruminating for the last three months all right would you want to make a motion I'd like to make a motion to direct sff to direct um what am I doing staff oh to direct staff to allow us to uh use this flag on the three empty flag poles and we will be submitting it um for the C of without tax 3240 okay does it work for okay got a motion can I get a second second okay two seconds uh any other discussion all those in favor please say I I those oppos all right that passes Mr May thank you I think it'll look really nice do you have something no I was just saying it'll look cool okay okay um I did have one other thing I from my walking around um and talking to people um but it's more about the storm last night as my son who was half asleep when I talked to him and asked if they had any trouble in the neighborhood he he cly said oh well the wires across the street run fire and the fire chief was there and he watched it and it went out and that there were and then when I talked to my niece this morning she said well it happened a couple of places in Mountain so I I think it's important that we contact Excel and tell them that you know they need to do maintenance in our city because we shouldn't have live wires catching on fire fire with trees um next to them well one of the main outages was right you know across the street from cath Catherine posi which is the road and I I only got internet probably right before I shortly before I came to the meeting yeah I know I we got power at 1:30 this morning I don't know if it affected you down there but but these were actual fires oh yeah this was bad that was y yeah this one this one was on fire too and you know we're a heavily forested City so our trees start catching up fire well and this I don't know about the limb down there but the one up here on Highland the entire wires were wrapped with tree and it's still there a lot of people are still out of power maybe till tomorrow morning poshies andh the people right there but the wires are literally wrapped with branches so clearly they haven't been cleaning up the trees everywhere right so yeah on the county roads that's their responsibility right and then on the city roads that's ours yes and I I I was going to touch on this um at the end too but I mean our side of things the guys were out there since yesterday cleaning and so that will'll be continuing throughout the week um till it's clean but Al along the the actual power lines and things that's that is the uh excel's territory so I I was just we got a or I was passed along to me this afternoon that they that excel's working on this you know it says that um 150,000 affected customers in the state or in just the Twin City metro area half were expected to get their power back today and the rest by Thursday afternoon so yeah I it's tough to probably get on them anymore than they already are but um well I'm saying when this calms down yeah do we need to have them if there's any major areas where I mean I'll drive down the main Bartlet there and it's just like there's it's just right over them and it's like it's just a matter of time yeah we and we can um but that's maybe have uh Ryan or something just drive around and see if there's any major problem areas I mean you're going to have big trees anyway that are going to come over but if there's that are growing through the lines we should be well you know I'm going to bring this up because I've been calling and the trees are on city property okay but I always take care of them because my property literally butts up to it and I called I called NSP or XL probably for three years I've been calling them and they have they never come out you know it says spunde or however you annunciate that company that actually does the tree cutting for Excel yeah yeah as blund is that what it is so I was up working one day and I happened to see Exel at my neighbors so I ran across the street and I said hi um I've been trying to get you know Excel out here to Mark the trees and you know they literally growing into the lines right yeah really bad so he put a note through this is why it pays to sometimes go bug people that aren't necessarily looking to be bugged I'm like oh my God I'll bring you banana bread thank you he put my name in literally by the time I got back up to my office I had Excel say okay you're on the calendar now it did take another two and a half months for the tree trimmers to come but they were here a couple weeks ago and then the city I was expecting to pay my tree guys to clean it up and the city cleaned it up well my guys so I was so thankful I went out and said oh my God you guys thank you cuz my tree guys took the rest of the tree down you know and so that that was great I I appreciated that but I've watched him go down our street over the years and not even look twice at literally the trees are hanging on the wag yeah that's yeah so I don't know if they I'm sure they try to be as efficient as they can you know with every single neighborhood in Minnesota but like you said to both of your points you probably have to complain and yeah here they come I called about trees in my yard that that are growing you know the wires are right through the middle of them they came out they came out looked at them and then sent me a letter saying they're not a priority they could have cut them down while they were out looking at them you know or they could have trimmed them so um you know I think we we just really need to stay on it but we also need to understand the city will trim stuff along the street line right on the city street on the city's on on city streets and then the county does the county but when it comes to the trees that are um surrounding the wires that's Excel right yes okay okay and they only clear them just to give the tree triers so they don't kill themselves you know they don't take the trees down no I know they don't but they clear it okay do you have any other items no okay uh castano um I don't have anything except um thank you Mr lman for the the memorandum for the this building yeah um I suppose we I we probably should do this at a workshop and yeah that's going to be on the L I'll talk about that in a second oh okay I was going to say call for that but I don't have anything particular for me okay cool so sensey said that yeah let's if you guys are okay five clock next council meeting okay I was just going to add I don't think it doesn't seem like terribly urgent if there's anything else we need no there's another thing I want to talk about too okay um so if you guys are good with that at the next meeting yeah we'll do five in the conference room so that would be what date to talk about the sale of this this and then also um I met with as well as Jesse we met with the uh mayor and city manager of M Trista about police coverage and so I want to give an update on that as well at the work so are you talking about the 11th I think so is the 11th there oh wait I'm sorry that's Wednesday Tuesday the 10th yeah the 10th at 5: right before our six o'clock normal meeting so put that in there so we had a meeting right before this so I want to go through that um in kind of next steps about that cuz we we need to follow up on that Workshop as well um and then weekend has an open house Thursday October 10th from 4 to 6 Thursday October 12 uh 10th at 4 to six we can um The Crossing and the new road should be open in the next week or so right any updates there no I I I don't know that yesterday said I'm back at all but they're the county has said it's this week by Labor Day I think they were being generous to them for themselves too so hopefully sooner I keep coming down the main road on the way home and then I turn at Bel city hall because I'm like NOP still close still close so um I got a tour of artessa uh and you didn't come on Monday you know what here's the deal he did he did say that he promised you a tour so you should call him I one who asked for a tour three months ago you got his number and yeah I think well no I don't yeah so they are doing I think it's Friday night a social hour for all the new residents so I think it was two to four moved in on Monday M um was kind of fun to meet them I saw someone sitting on the balcony today there you go yeah I kind of walked around their backyard the other day when I they did a beautiful Jobing beautiful property and so anyway got a got a whole tour of cost probably six to eight units I think he walked he he's so excited about walks us through it um and uh 22 this week are moving in so we're going have 22 new residents in Mound by the end of the week which is pretty cool so anyway I met two two of the couples um yeah I think there's something about a happy hour with the new residents that he kind of loosely invited me to so you might want to call him okay that's not I don't think the Public's supposed to call that but um uh but they are doing a ribbon cutting uh in I think I said that last meeting September I think it's October maybe oober and then hopefully they'll be full by then but um and then well two more things I've been meeting with pretty much anybody that is running for anything it seems like they're all reaching out probably to you guys too but uh so I've met with uh well one out of the two house candidates uh the other one just reached out to me today uh both Senate candidates um that's about it so you know whoever we get I want to make sure that they you know a civil civil engineer so she loves to talk about water plants well we talked that's what we talked about um and then last thing do you have my picture so on Saturday woke up and took actually he's upstairs doing our video here um oh he did the the thing y oh great so I took him out on our boat and this is him videotaping um I you call it videotaping filming May um as you can see our Tessa and coming into the channel and then there's another one but it's just the same the same thing but it's a different picture but anyway so we went uh a lot of Harrison Harrison's Bay cuz that's where I'm at yeah we did a lot did some some stuff there uh he brought down a guy from duth with a with a drone okay so he was flying over and what day were you doing that did you see any it was Saturday morning oh no okay I was going to say I was out there the other day was on the boat and I was like it's the Drone oh man he didn't want to go on the boat the Drone guy didn't want to go on the boat probably because the drone's probably really expensive yeah in case something happens but he was flying all over the water so um and then uh they took I mean they were down at Surf Side they he said they spent uh till about 3:00 so 9 to 3ish uh doing that so um they said they got plenty of video so and then Maggie's going to work on I guess the the next process of editing and getting an awesome from um Explore Minnesota has been sending me emails and we need to sit down and talk and look at they have surveys and it sounds like what you do is you fill out their survey then they type it and put it on their Explore Minnesota website so it's like free marketing almost you know we get on Explore Minnesota Maggie and I talked a little bit this week when I was in the office and I did send that to Jesse too so you did send it to you so you said you sent it to my email you sent it to my old old old email oh really that I never check like once a year okay that was the when I was running oh so I don't even use that one but send it to my new one next okay good anyway I did I did for to Jesse so he okay good uh that's all I got do you have anything else no I just wanted to recognize Ryan and the public works department for they were out there yesterday at the end of the day setting up generators for our lift stations and we're in all last night and then again this morning and then I'm sure if you were in town you saw them today so so we have to manually put up generators for our lift stations uh they don't have back three of them four of them because they went down and the ones that are left that don't have them installed so we're almost done getting the new ones out have that okay MH but um when they don't it's a problem so especially when we're losing power so it is uh no small task thank you thank them for us well yeah they're doing great job they were out all day up and down the street picking up sticks and all the way so I'm sure they're beat the summer version of winter snow plowing right right you know the siren was wasn't very loud though I was going to mention that I don't think it it was very soft that's why I called my son CU they're on the west end and I said can you hear the siren and he said no and he's just walking in his house um so we might want to check the volume on the horns I agree I don't think it was all that loud it wasn't super loud no right at dinner time we had dinner in the basement all right uh any other last things okay I'll take a motion to adjourn oh that was done at the very beginning I was oh that already happened that was part of the sorry that's a agenda thanks for coming out to the meeting though oh man while it was approved actually you I didn't see you back here well congrats on your approval take care than have man oh you never know okay uh I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved so moved okay and a second second okay any other discussion all those in favor please say I I those oppose all right we're adjourn