good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting Today is Thursday April 17 2025 We'll begin the meeting with the pledge of allegiance I pledge algiance 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 Will staff please call the role Council member Schmidt here Council member Sum
here Council member Hingaman here Council member Taylor here Mayor Heliot here The next item on our agenda is to adopt the agenda Do we have any changes to the agenda this evening hearing none I'll move the agenda Second I have a motion from council member
Sumar and a second from council member Schmidt uh to adopt the agenda as presented All those in favor say I I Those opposed The agenda is adopted Next we have public comments This is where members of the public can address the
city council on any um topic of interest uh that is not included on our regular agenda for this evening This is limited to concerns which are relevant to City of Newport affairs policies or practices We ask that you come to the podium and clearly state your name and address for
the record and to limit your comments to about three minutes Generally the council will not take any action at this time but will refer matters to staff if appropriate Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak during public comments hi Um my name is Kelly Hoffman I live at
9891 12th Street here in Newport Um I'd like to talk about a problem in my neighborhood with loose dogs About a year ago I started walking my dog every day in my neighborhood And we keep running into dogs that aren't leashed or fenced that run at us while we're walking Um in the past year there have
been nine separate houses where unfenced dogs have run at us and twice those dogs were so aggressive that I needed to call the sheriff's department Um the first time that I called the sheriff was last year and the city followed up with me afterward to say that they were working with the homeowner to have a fence put
up Um the other time that I needed to call the sheriff was earlier this week So I'm not sure how that that will turn out Um the sheriff's office was great to work with in both instances and I really appreciated that the city took the complaint last year seriously and addressed it with the homeowner Um my
concern here is that these are after the-act measures Um I'm an adult walking with my own dog so a loose dog might think twice about doing anything more than chasing me But if a child was walking by that dog might be bold enough to chase them or and bite them or worse
Um so I'd like to ask the city to consider putting better preventative controls in place to mitigate the risk of an aggressive dog getting loose and chasing people in the first place Um and I have a few suggestions for things the city could do The first being education The city could send a letter to all
homes that have a licensed dog reminding them of the city ordinance regarding unleash and unfensed dogs and reinforcing that they could be subject to fines or other penalties for having a loose dog Um additionally this message could be part of the periodic newsletter that's mailed out to all city residents
I'd also have like to have a way to report dogs that are loose and running after me but that aren't aggressive enough to require a call to the sheriff's office Um if the city was aware of a dog that was loose but hadn't been aggressive yet they could talk with the homeowner to discuss options for
fencing or or other methods of restraint Um when I called the city earlier this week to report the snarling dog that ran at me I was referred to the sheriff's department and I did call them but it didn't seem like something that the city keeps track of So um if a loose dog could be reported before it became
aggressive it could prevent an incident where someone got seriously hurt Um lastly I encourage the city to work with the sheriff's department for preemptive control My neighborhood routinely has sheriff's vehicles present for normal patrols and if the sheriff staff saw an unleashed or unfenced dog while they
were patrolling it could be an opportunity to talk to the dog's owner on the spot Um I have a printed copy of these suggestions if the council is interested And I appreciate your time Great Well thank you very much uh for those comments and also for offering
some suggestions to us for what you'd like us to see us do and um we'll refer this over to our staff to address this So thank you Is there anyone else who would like to speak during public
comments seeing none we'll move on to our consent agenda So the consent agenda consists of items that are considered to be routine in nature and they're approved in a single motion There'll be no separate discussion unless a council member or citizen so requests in which
case it'll be removed from the consent agenda and considered after the consent agenda is approved Is there anything we'd like uh to remove from the consent agenda i'll move the consent agenda I'll second I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from
council member Sumner to adopt the consent agenda as presented Any discussion all those in favor say I I Those opposed The uh consent agenda is approved Next on our uh agenda we have
the Washington County Sheriff's Office report We have Sergeant Leget with us this evening Good afternoon mayor council members It's good to see you all today on a rainy Thursday which we need very dearly Um as far as to pass on within the past
couple weeks uh the warmer weather has brought people out which is great Um but with that uh it also brings out a lot of traffic both pedestrian as well as bicycle as well as vehicle traffic So I would I guess just like to pass on to the public if they could please watch
their speeds as kids are out and about I know that's been mentioned before but now that warm weather is actually starting to show up uh we want to make sure everybody's safe out there on the road Uh the it was exciting obviously to be at the dog park today with that grand opening I think that was great and it's
good to see Um and I appreciate the citizens comments earlier as well They're good kind words and also good ideas Um and if anything I could pass on to the public that please if you do have dogs that are in the city and residing in your residence they do need to be licensed with the city and please make sure that they have all the appropriate
shots and you do come to the city to take that care take care of that Um aside from that I do have comments on another topic that is not necessarily directly related with Newport but it is directly related with law enforcement as a whole So if you would bear with me
just for a minute I will not be here the next couple meetings only for the purpose of trainings uh and and stuff like that but I will have my partners here to to stand in if you guys have any questions for them What I'm going to bring up is actually law enforcement memorial week That is May 11th through
the 17th And this is a time to remember officers who have been killed in the line of duty And I've been asked many times what is it like to be a police officer and I've spoken to the county board in past years and kind of given
them an idea And I figured I'd take this opportunity if you're okay with that to uh let the public know and even yourselves you know some of the things that we consider and think about when we're out there dayto-day if that would be okay mayor Okay So um like I said earlier many
people wonder what it's like to be a deputy sheriff or a police officer So with that this is what I have to explain Imagine this You being a police officer you wake up in the morning and you get yourself ready for a day of work
The crackling sounds of the Velcro from your vest echoes the house as you put it on for the day to keep you safe You put your uniform on proudly that displays your badge and you sure you have everything that you need for the day to do your job As you grab your cup of
coffee because that's vital and you say goodbye to your spouse or significant other your kids come running up and then they give you give them big hugs and you tell them "Have a great day at school." As you grab your keys and you walk out the door there's a few questions that you start asking yourself
every single day First one I wonder what will happen today and what hat I will wear Will I be a counselor speaking with a person struggling in life considering suicide as you tell them every reason you can think of to stay alive and not give up even though you just met them
five minutes ago Will I be an educator educating people about the laws to keep everyone and all safe will I be a firefighter helping pull those fire hoses off fire truck so the firefighters can put out
the fire or as they cut a person out of the car you hold their hand to comfort them Will I be an EMT performing CPR and a grandparent a mother a father or worse a child will I be a coach a mentor taking
time with kids or adults trying to guide them on a path that will lead them to success in life we also ask ourselves this Is this domestic call going to turn violent is a car that's sitting next to me at the traffic light suddenly going
to ambush me is it safe to break at a gas station am I going to get shot walking out of the fire station or a substation where I just finished a report or ate lunch i hope my vest stops the bullets Another big question is
simple Will I be able to come home tonight will I be able to see my family again will I be able to see my mom my dad sisters brothers ever again will I be able to see my wife or husband give them a hug and tell them I love
them will I be able to see my beautiful children my 8-year-old son who started playing machine uh pitch baseball and when he hits the ball and runs to first base he looks at you and gives you a thumbs up with a huge
smile My 5-year-old daughter who tells you simple things like "You're my best friend daddy." And I love you so much daddy or mommy Will you see her dance at her first dance recital my three-year-old son who plays with such an imagination As he plays he
looks up at you with a huge smile and runs at you with his arms open yelling "Daddy!" I hope this has given you and others just a little idea on what it is like to be a deputy or a police officer We're passionate We're committed We're
driven And we're honored to be deputies and we will continue to do the very best we possibly can to best serve the citizens and the visitors of the city of Newport and the county of Washington Just as important we have to remember those that have fallen before us and given the ultimate sacrifice
where their families will no longer be able to give them a hug or say I love you again To those families I say thank you from the bottom of my heart for a huge sacrifice you have had in your lives know that I will not forget and we will not
forget and many people are praying for you So with that I thank you for your time for getting that out and I certainly stand for any questions you have Well thank you for that I think it really um touches on the very broad
spectrum of responsibilities that you carry as an officer or as a law enforcement professional and all the different roles that you play So I think that was that was very well well said very well done Um with that are there
any questions for Sergeant Leot tonight council member Sumar I will say that when I was working downtown in St Paul at the Capitol I did attend the ceremony at the law enforcement memorial and it is very moving and it goes most all of
the day and they have the deputies and and police officers from across the state come down there So if you happen to be able to come down there at some point in your life I do strongly
recommend it as one of those very moving ways to show appreciation Great Thank you Any other questions or comments i think we're good Thank you so much Thank you very much
Next on our agenda is uh the fire chief's report Uh Chief Wy wasn't able to attend this evening so we'll move on to the engineers report Good evening mayor members of the council Uh two items for formal consideration Uh the first uh uh regarding the 2025 street
utility improvements project Uh I'm going to ask for an assist from uh administrator Hatch uh as I go through the uh discussion but I can I can lead us off Uh so at the uh at your um uh first April council meeting uh we
presented plans and specifications for the uh for the 2025 street improvements Uh as a reminder these uh improvements are for 17th Street between Cedar Lane and 3rd Avenue Uh Second Avenue from 17th Street south to uh 15th Street and
Third Avenue from 21st Street to 16th Street There is a uh a figure in your uh packets on page uh 32 that uh that show those uh that limits of the of the project Um the uh
the approval of those plans was uh was tabled by staff's recommendation to um uh because we were uh looking at uh a a funding gap between the with the total project costs of around 7.7 million and
a uh less the uh the state appropriation that we received as well as the anticipated assessments we were looking at about $2.9 million in uh in a shortfall for the project Now we uh we had been looking for uh both a state uh
additional state appropriation as well as a federal appropriation uh neither of which will would were going to be available by the time this project started Uh we also applied for a storm water resiliency grant uh that we have not formally been notified about any
decision although it does appear that uh I checked as we uh began the meeting here we are shown on the list of uh uh the notice that came out as of today uh it does not provide any amounts and it appears that there are 46 recipients but
the uh the amount or the total funded amount was 35 million so there's a subst substantial amount of money available I believe we uh submitted for about 1.2 million if I was if I'm not mistaken Uh so uh more to come on that I was excited but I don't have a lot of information So
I know that's not doesn't play well at a council meeting not to have a lot but I'm I'm excited So I had to had to reference that So um uh we do have uh a couple options Obviously um you know the the significant funding shortfall uh
places some uh challenges for the city Um one uh item for uh that the council needs to consider is the current um the the current grant that we received from from my council That was a $2.75 million grant for the purposes of INI reduction
And so that money needs to be spent by uh June 30th of 2026 So we we should uh move forward with a project that at least have the amount of reimburseable cost to use that entire
2.75 million Uh now we we can phase the project I think that it would be realistic to phase uh 17th Street which is shown in red on your screen as well as Second Avenue going south as a 2025
uh street improvements and then postpone the uh Third Avenue improvements which are shown in in blue Uh which would would then reduce that uh shortfall amount uh for the 2025 project down to about 88 $816,000
uh placing uh you know the majority of that shortfall onto the 2026 project Now taking a taking a phased approach would allow the uh the city to um wait for the 2025 uh state legislature to to um to
complete And if they do do a bonding bill and we are included in that that would allow us to use uh bonding bill money bonding bill money from this legislative session on a 2026 project We're also working with uh Senator
Clolobashar and u uh Representative Craig's office for a federal appropriation that uh could also be used toward that uh toward the 2026 project Uh uh administrator Hatch has put
together uh some uh a funding analysis as well as a um as well as I guess a a strategy for either doing the entire project or doing a phased project and how that would uh how that would be financed through the city I'm wondering
if I can pass things over to Joe to uh to walk through that Absolutely uh mayor members of the council of course I think the priority really is uh first off making sure we do a project that's going to satisfy spending that entire state grant of 2.75 Unfortunately there is a
shortfall there Um additionally if we think about what we need to uh do as a community along Second Avenue we do have a an undersized sewer uh line and this project would uh upsize that We obviously have a lot of development
coming so that is a very high priority Um with that said you know we we're in a situation where we're going to have to juggle some things either way Um there are some options and I think you know there's a there's a
number of ways we could do it Uh as far as financing either the phasing uh shortfall uh we do have a balance of 423,000 in our water fund Recommendation is and best practice is to keep about
25% of that fund balance in there So I would recommend using about 260,000 for that Um and I've gone back and forth on this but we could also bond for the rest of that shortfall of about 550,000 A payment on that would be in
the 50 $60,000 per year range Um and a discussion I was going to have with council during our budget meeting uh we do have some investments and we have interest income and I was going to recommend using some of that interest income in order to uh supplement our our
uh our budget and our debt levy So I would recommend using some of that to uh make this payment so it doesn't fall on our property taxes Um we could also potentially use uh our straightup investments that are coming due Uh we have some fairly large investments that
are coming due in June and July Um and we could just pay cash uh for that Um for the priority one this would be the nonfasing This would be the entire project Um kind of feel weird talking without
the mayor here Uh so maybe we'll just pause for a second Yeah So water 400% We're gonna as acting mayor want take a small recess here and resume in a few
Okay we are uh back in our meeting and thank you for taking that brief pause Uh mayor members of the council as I was going through uh kind of the options on the phasing um uh and the cost breakdown and options for funding it the next one
here would be no phasing and completing that entire uh priority one project It is about a $2.9 million shortfall Again I would recommend using about 260,000 from our water fund This would keep that
25% uh recommended best practice there Uh use some DTA funds Uh we do have a balance of about 700,000 there Um I do want to keep a healthy balance there as we do have some projects coming up Um we do also have that investment
income that I discussed and I would recommend using about 440,000 of that It's coming due in July and August And then bond for the rest of the amount This would be a 15-year term It's averaging around I think about a 4.1% rate And so the payment was around
$190,000 per year In thinking about where we're at financially um we do have some you know healthy debt and a healthy debt levy And what I mean by that is it feels a little high uh and that that will continue until about 2030
So we are going to have uh investment income that I think could potentially it would cover this 190,000 and I would recommend if we wanted to go that route that we use that investment income in order to cover it so it does not end up on the levy because that would be a very
that's almost 7% on our levy So um with that said I think you know as as engineer Hardigan said um we do need to to do that you know it's definitely recommended from staff that at a minimum we do that project in order to spend all of that 2.75 million It would be foolish
if we didn't I think the downside is if we do the phasing um that uh you know the project will be more expensive uh we um did the costing on this a year ago and it did increase significantly and then um as I was
reminded there's always you know if we have to do two drawings and we do two submitts and things like that it will be more expensive Um but with that said there's a lot unknown such as the storm water grant which we've uh requested 1.2 2 million Um there's also potential
bonding money this year but that could be used next year So there are still some unknowns but um yeah staff is looking for direction from the council and and happy to try to answer any questions on this Council member Sumar
explain to me how you would justify using NEA funds for this Well I I think in the big picture for me um you know I I think this goes back to kind of the image of the city So I I look at in particular Third Avenue and
some of the other streets here and you know driving up and down and walking down the city you know some of these areas are fairly beat up So I I think improving these streets it allows access Um you know I think it would improve the image of Jar City So that that's how I
tie it together With that said um I'm looking for any way we can uh you know juggle our finances in order to potentially make this work should this be council's direction to staff I'm not opposed to using it I just wanted to make sure that there was no limits on
using those funds for this particular project I think passes the test Upsizing that pipe as well is about anticipated development coming into Newport and that's one of the reasons that we're doing the upsizing of the pipe So I
think there's also that nexus Okay those those two items Thank you Allow me to continue How much investment income are we looking at i mean the 190 would be paid for by it but what is like the amount we're talking we we're estimating um
over the next four or five years we're we're going to have about $274,000 in interest and that's not allocated for anything else currently No it's just been reinvested So hypothetically if you took the NITA off the table and it was a 2.3 and we ran the numbers we would
still have enough likely from the interest income Yes Okay Um a great question and and it's a tough thing for me I mean I've been looking at options for funding all the projects the city
has in our capital improvement plan with equipment buildings other things like that that I've been keeping in mind our long-term debt levy Um and you know we're going to be juggling for uh a couple few more years looking at the debt levy to pay for city hall things
like that So I think um but but yeah it would cover that And you know when we start developing our budget for 26 we were going to get into some some details and maybe I I just won't have as many options should council choose to spend this interest income on this project
which um you know it kind of makes it easy for me then So then kind of switching gears a little bit 2026 there would be options that we could potentially pursue for getting bonding getting outside help to fund the
2026 if we faced this Nothing's guaranteed but that council mayor council member that's correct Um you know frankly even before I started here the mayor's been very aggressive looking at federal appropriations and bonding uh
we've been aggressively lobbying uh the state the med council and frankly anybody who will listen So if you got some money we'll take it Um in order to you know and the highest priority has been the inflow and infiltration because of the the impact it's having to the
environment the impact it's having to to you know uh just you know a lot the qu and and it's it's a big project um that that hasn't been uh we don't have plans It's going to be very expensive to replace all this infrastructure So yeah
thank you for that No questions I have a question Yeah council member Goodman What happens if there is no federal money well that's a um coun mayor members of the council That's a great question Again you know we didn't we we did apply
for an appropriation uh and we got one in I think it was 2023 for Cedar Lane Um we did apply for one in 24 Unfortunately we did not receive any funding And very recently the mayor has been working very
hard on getting applications in for an appropriation for this year With that said I mean if anybody has a crystal ball and you know knows I think we're very hopeful for bonding in this year uh but we were hopeful last year and we didn't get it So and that's with the
state Yep Just to be clear With that said we do have the storm water grant that we have applied for I believe we will get some funding there Again you know it's uh it's one of those things I I wouldn't guarantee that we're going to get 1.2 million which is what
we requested So um and I think what's frustrating to look at this $2.9 million number is we had $2.85 85 million in the bonding bill from the state if it had only gotten
passed last year and then we would be looking at a very small shortfall and we could do the entire project Now I feel like it's not appropriate for us to take on more debt with the small
population that we have and the you know over a million dollars a year in debt payments that we make to pay off our existing bonds So to me I see that we have to phase this And
um we've been down at the legislature testifying and I could what did we ask for 5 million or something like that I don't we won't get the 2.85 that was written into the bill for this year because there's less bonding funding
available this year So I don't I'm not interested in putting a number out there because I don't want anyone to catch wind of it down at the capital What I'm willing to settle for 2.85 that's what I want Um so to me to break this
out can really help us with the potential shortfall there and that we just continue to try to find money and do these projects as best we can and whatever size we can based on the the revenue coming in And I think this uh storm water resiliency grant that our
engineers worked for you know they you've gotten a couple of good grants that have really helped us out um on our past projects as well So I see the phasing I agree with you that you know it's critical to get that pipe upsized and then to wait for Third Avenue until
uh construction year 2026 That's my take on it Council member Sumar we have 2.75 available from the state Yeah right now the Met Council Is there a
requirement for a match from Newport on that amount um we're if there is a match we're covering it Okay I I just didn't see it in in these referenced mayor members of the council of May Um
we did recently sign and finalize an agreement with the Met Council that is the administrator for this grant Um we were awarded these funds in the 20 is it 2023 environmental omnibus bill and it does have that deadline of June 30th of
2026 So it's fairly critical uh you know and and it's uh there is a size of project Unfortunately there's still a shortfall even with that size project Um and of course with the priority of making sure we can manage these future investments upsizing that pipe on second
So um you need a any other discussion i guess I guess my I mean I I my concern is I mean you can look at this project by itself and go oh yeah we'll we'll phase it but my concern is the bigger picture of like we have lots of work to do I mean we saw what that laid out for
us Yeah And we're going to have to bond some of that money somewhere along the way And we're not going to avoid that We're not going to you know I mean we can only work so much you know I mean I know you're working you're working hard on it And
like and if if we you know get money in 26 and we if we had to bond out then it's like it's then we can I think the next project we can try to do without bonding or minimal you know it's like I think but I think it's just my concern is that this I don't yeah it's it's a lot to swallow but it's just like I
think that if we just push this down we're just going to have a little tiny pro you know it's I just worry that we're never really going to get this project I know that's been one of the goals too is to get this work done and it's gonna it's gonna It'll be a major change and it will take some of our own
money I think and I just think I just so my concern is that bigger what what Matt kind of that bigger picture what Matt's showing us when we just think about yeah but I mean yeah we wouldn't go ahead with the next project without money without without money but if we get the next project and it's and we're we knock out this then we can really start to
take the next project and do something otherwise we're just wrapping up this and maybe just starting a little I mean it's so I I think we have to think about in that bigger context of what we're trying to achieve And so I I still it's a strain on us but I think I still would
support trying to to to do kind of what we what we laid out to our residents too I know So other comments get it all done I mean I'm working on the uh the shortand the earmark uh funding
applications right now I'm asking for $5 million That would be for Third Avenue and then what we consider to be our priority 2 project So that total cost is coming in at a little over $10 million right now in
2026 Um and asking for half So you can expect if you ask for half you're going to get about 25% of what you ask for if you make it through the the various levels of approvals and um Congress approves the appropriations
So we just keep hammering away at it That's kind of my feeling And I mean the fact that we've done INI projects for the last two years we've got plans to do another one this year you know if we split this out capabilities to do another one next year
that takes care of priority one There was a priority two along this sort of center strip between Highway 61 and the river That'll almost complete that I think they'll do some additional televising south of the priority one and two project areas to make sure there
isn't anything that we missed or that we uh want to make sure we go in and get done with INI before we continue to move uh east towards Highway 61 and to try to continue with this work So and I don't know how many projects that particular
third strip would involve but um some of that's a little bit newer 7th Avenue is pretty new and we've done some work on 21st already and so that would remain to be seen But that's that's kind of how I see it laying out is
that and even if we don't get funding through the earmark appropriation for fiscal year 26 it just means we go back for fiscal year 27 and fiscal year 28 We just keep asking So
council member Sar Well I will ask the administrator then if he has a preference for which amount we bring forward in a resolution or he'll be putting this he'll be carrying this ahead with these options that we
have put additional time and discussions with with other staff members So he he must have a preference for what we should do take his advice and consider it Right now I think we've got three options out there
I'd like to come down with one that's most appealing to you Uh well mayor members of the council that's a tough one I've been mulling on this all week um as we have you know uh frankly I didn't sleep too great last
night cuz I was kind trying to juggle whether or not I should have a strong recommendation and I you know I'm I'm struggling with it Um you know we we can afford to do this and it won't
um it won't destroy our levy over the next four or five years Um with that said you know we've been very hopeful of continuing to get bonding and money from the state and the feds and we've been working hard at that We have a good
narrative We've been talking we've been telling the Newport story and it's great Um we've been extremely successful at it and it's been primarily to the leadership of the mayor Um you know I it's it's tough We have a
lot of needs Um I I do think we we can do it Uh but it's going to make things tight with other things and and we got about six years of potential Um you know
I mean we have a lot of development on the radar and frankly I wish we could have done this discussion in a work session but it it just didn't line up that way Um with that said I think you know we're going to have some um
some opportunities in 28 and then I think the bridge will be passed in about 2030 Um the bridge meaning what exactly you know where I think we have too much bonding and debt So in 20 I think 30 or
2031 about $30 and some thousand dollars will come off that and that's a significant amount um for us to then potentially go and do a big project So so you see us being in a better position financially by 2028 uh 2028 and then again in 2030 2028
because of the tax capacity and 2030 because of the lower debt So kind of two different reasons So but yes I don't know if I answered that I don't think I have a strong recommendation but these are all the things I'm doodling You can't wait that long Council Member Schmidt So I I'm
going to throw it out there I the phased approach landed home with me Phase one we're going to get relief here in the coming years It's a it's a large amount of debt if we didn't phase this and I'm I'm going to ask for support from this group if we can look at phasing this one Yeah Is this resolution uh written as
phase one or is it written as a total project it's written as a total project Thank you mayor for uh for bringing that up for discussion Uh it's easily it's easily amended to remove Third Avenue Okay Uh I will also mention there is a schedule in in the memo that we would
look to advertise this project uh starting next Monday Okay Um we we are we're tight but we can we've we've prepared the plans and anticipation that the project might get split So there is effort to separate the project to get
one out the door to be able to bid But we can do that probably have the plans available for contractors Wednesday of next week So it'll advertise people will reserve plans and then we will get them to them a couple days later Okay This project
because it's a assessment project It needs to be bid for 21 days That's a lengthy amount of time Uh so we would be uh bidding opening bids on May 12th That is the Monday before your uh second council meeting in May So I will uh I
will ask upfront for a little flexibility on getting uh some packet information to Jill Um and then we can uh we can consider those bids on May 15th That still puts us in line to have uh a early June uh start maybe even uh
if things move quickly the end of May and then again with a um with a completion date then in November So uh if it is the council's pleasure to split this project I think that a uh a vote would be in order and then consideration
of uh of the resolution in your packet uh with that amendment that we will uh we will make for the formal record Thank you So I will ask for a motion to adopt resolution 2025-26 a resolution approving plans and specs and order an advertisement for
bids for the project area described in the resolution but removing um Third Avenue uh from that reference Do you have a motion i'll make the motion Do you have a second i'll second that one I have a motion from Council Member Schmidt and a second uh from Council
Member Sumar Any further discussion i would like to say that I do agree with limiting the amount of the size of these projects because right now at the federal level there is so much confusion going on and it's going to impact every
single person in this city Our ability to to ask for more money from residents to pay for this it's not as much of an emergency as they're going to be facing just managing their own homesteads So anything that we can do even
entitles or entails us facing a higher cost sometime in the future We can pretty much guarantee that we're going to be paying more in the in the near future based on things that are happening at the federal level and I don't see them changing anytime soon Yep
I do think we need to keep our costs down as best we can Um would it be possible if we end up with a federal grant yes Yes you change this back to a no phase The federal grant uh probably
won't get approved until December or of this year or you know January February March of next year So it would have to be for next year's construction season for that for at the
federal level So any other discussion all those in favor of the motion say I I Those opposed today So the motion is approved Did you vote yes no You voted no The motion is approved on a 3-2 vote with council
members Ingamman and Taylor voting no Moving on the next item on our agenda which means which means that they want to do the full cost Correct Yeah The full project and bonds for 2.9 million Passed 3 to2 vote Yeah Yeah Yep
Okay Okay So moving on the Cherrywood storm water agreement is next on our agenda Thank you mayor Uh this is an agreement between the cities of Newport and uh Cottage or excuse me Newport and Woodbury uh for the Cherrywood
development Uh that is a develop or a single developer is developing on both sides of the of Century Avenue I believe we'll have a a much more detailed conversation about the development later in the in the meeting Uh but the the uh
uh the decision before you today is to accept a storm water uh agreement between the two communities Uh the the storm water management uh for the two developments uh is connected So some of the water gets treated on the Newport side goes over to the Woodbury side uh
and and then gets uh treated and also infiltrates into the uh into their storm water filtration basins and then the overflow for those storm water basins comes back into Newport discharges down the ravine So between the two communities normally a lot of the
maintenance responsibility for those storm water ponds would go to a homeowners association Uh but since uh we are dependent on the uh facilities in Woodbury functioning to make sure that our uh development isn't put at risk for
storm water and vice versa we have to maintain our facilities uh for Woodberry's system to function Uh we believe it's appropriate for the two communities to manage those two uh or the facilities within our own community So the agreement essentially lays out
the areas that have uh a shared uh purpose for both communities and then lays out that uh cost uh participation if and when maintenance needs to be needs to take place So our our city attorney has uh worked with the city of Woodberry's legal staff to prepare the
the agreement The uh I believe that begins on page 37 of your packet And we had uh just one minor change on some clarifi clarifying items but aside from that the uh agreement is uh um the
agreement is finalized and looking for council consideration uh to approve this And then uh likewise with the city of Woodbury Okay questions for our engineer When you say the water council member
Summer when you say the water's going to be treated on one side and then go to the other side and then be treated back what is happening that causes this to be bounced back and forth between two sites so there's a the South Washington Watershed District has a rule for volume
control which means that the they evaluate how much uh runoff volume how much storm water runoff volume uh discharges from an undeveloped site and then once we build impervious surface like the roads and rooftops that volume increases because it no longer
infiltrates into the ground what they the uh the Newport site had a little higher density and a little less room for some of those larger infiltration basins where they had a little bit more room on the on the Woodbury side Uh in
addition the ultimate discharge for the ex under existing conditions is the ravine alongside of the Newport side of the development So we in order to control that volume we have to infiltrate a certain portion of that uh
that storm water runoff we don't have room for it on the Newport side So then it goes over to the Woodbury side infiltrates but in large events where we get a lot of water at a in a short period of time the water level in those ponds will rise quickly It won't be able
to infiltrate It needs an overflow So then it comes back into Newport So by treating by treating you're referencing infiltrating Infiltrating Okay Correct Yeah Because other groups that I'm with they
talk about treating water with chemical processes and so forth So it's a different activity that's going to occur That's correct Okay This other questions on this So you don't have a formal
resolution You just need a motion to approve Motion to approve Thank you ma'am So would someone like to make that motion so move Second Second Okay So have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Sumar to adopt the Cherrywood storm water agreement with the city of
Woodbury Any discussion all those in favor say I I Those opposed And that motion is adopted Next on Oh I have I have nothing formal Thank you mayor You're welcome Uh moving on Next we have the
superintendent of public works report Matt Uh good evening Mayor Elliot and council members I have nothing formal this evening Uh but I do have a few updates for you Our levy breach on Cedar Lane is uh substantially complete Um we
have it all seated We're waiting for a little rain Um but I encourage you to drive by and uh take a look See what see what you think Uh there is a pretty substantial change down there Um the contractor um kind of at the beginning
of the project uh we had a our usual tree contractor lined up to do the tree removal on this project Um unforeseen circumstances led to uh basically defaulting to the contractor we arranged
to do the rest of the project Um so there's a little change in um costs and that kind of uh um associated with that project but overall I think it came in uh very reasonable and we ended up with a great product So
uh like I said that's uh substantially complete Um that is the same contractor that was working on the fireh hall demolitions last fall that it got too late to uh finish grade because of the frost um to get a nice smooth surface
essentially where frozen clumps Uh so they have finalized the uh the soil preparation and seating on both of the fireh hall demolition sites Uh so that's another um I guess contract that is
closing up and being completed And our third uh project that is coming to a close is our manhole lining project where we did uh manhole rehab on existing structures that we left in the
ground Um and that was INI related Um the last three were on 21st Street out here uh where we asked for a one-day detour uh for traffic They were able to complete those three manholes in the one-day detour and that finalized that
contract So a lot of uh uh you know not the huge projects closing up but a lot of the little stuff uh completing and kind of uh freeing up some more public works time Hey John's time as well Um and then other
than that uh we're nearing completion of street sweeping and hydrant flushing will follow soon So um but with that I'd be happy to stand for any questions Okay Well thank you for that update Any questions well you must have done a good job No
questions Thank you Matt Um next on our agenda we have the administrator's report Uh mayor members of the council just to clarify uh public works is very very busy They do not have any time Um first item tonight we have a couple
formal items The first one is the uh resolution conditionally approving the Cherrywood Final Plat And I believe Nathan has a presentation on that Yep Uh good evening mayor members of the council Brief presentation from me here This is Cherrywood the final plat and planning development request by Twin
Cities Land Development So we all know the location of this one Uh the overview here Twin Cities Land Development again is the developer Uh the requests are to have that last entitlement the final plat Um we have to get done with this review and the due date for that is May
2nd Uh again as a reminder this project is 117 units single family lots There are 69 of them 48 attached town homes Uh you'll all remember the background quite well on this We started in October 3rd with a of last year with a preliminary
plat approval January the city received a petition and in for an EAW and in February uh denied that petition So as a reminder about the platting process this is that last that final step where we're really reviewing the final details of development and
ensuring that the development that has come in in the final form is consistent with the preliminary plat So this is the the final plat document itself Uh lots of little squiggly lines on there You can see the lots um broken
out on the plat map here So in in essence the city has received in the final platform what it was expecting with um the preliminary plat approval So we did review the final plat and plans for a number of different um things First of all the conditions of the
preliminary plat approval um conformance with the city's PUD ordinance for this project We of course looked at the number of units and the density and made sure that all uh was as approved We look in in order to do that we were looking at things like the parcel boundaries the roadway alignment and the design of the
roads and infrastructure And as you know we've been uh John's team has been reviewing the storm water system and looking at the other public utilities Uh one reminder for you parkland education this is the part of the development process where we kind of do the math and figure that out and u as
you know when we do residential development it does create a demand on the city's parks and trails system Uh the nearest park to this development is Lovelin Park and uh the city determined that it would accept cash in lie of land dedication earlier in this process The staff report articulates the the
step-by-step process to calculate it Uh at the end of the day the Parkland dedication due for this project is uh just barely over $280,000 So uh in terms of review and coordination uh there's been a lot of coordination with this project As as John mentioned it's um one development
between two different cities We've got a um a storm water agreement that the city council just approved with a water service agreement that is between the city of Newport and Cottage Grove Um we have an engineering and public works review memo um that provides an
assessment of the final plans and how to get them um final revisions And lastly at Newport is the LGU and reviewing for conformance with the watershed district requirements Um in the final plat resolution I have 19 recommended conditions of approval 11 of these I
would say are more or less standard conditions These are things like requiring plan revisions um requiring a development agreement having the development pay for improvement costs fees receive the required permits etc There are more eight what I would call more specific or special conditions that
relate to this project Um in particular and because of the location of this on a bluff we do have a requirement for a conservation easement that would perpetually preserve the woodland area a tree in Luffy for the landscaping that uh wasn't able to fit that was uh a
flexibility that was previously approved and uh also landscaping plan revisions for um pollinators in order to make sure that we identify some open areas where pollinator habitat could be implemented In addition to a two-year landscaping warranty to ensure that that landscaping
does make it through a full uh estab you know become established we also have to make sure of you know just making sure we have the ability to require ongoing compliance with the Endangered Species Act of course And um we also have those agreements as as mentioned with uh the
cities of Woodbury and Cottage Grove Oh one thing I didn't mention there was that there is a restriction on fencing along that southern property boundary This is something we discussed as that wildlife corridor between the communities of Newport and Cottage Grove What was the DU a drainage and utility
easement okay Yep And and so that brings me to the staff recommendation Of course we have the the recommendation for a conditional approval because this is consistent with the the preliminary plans So uh that is that's through resolution 202529
Thank you Nathan or 28 Sorry And for the uh members of the public this particular uh proposal has been before this uh planning commission a couple of times It's been to some council workshop meetings as well This isn't our first time seeing this particular uh
development proposal in front of us So um we've had an awful lot of discussion over the last several months on this particular uh development project Um are there any questions tonight for Nathan council member Sumar In our
agenda we see 28 up here We see I just noted that typo Yeah So it's 2025-28 is the correct resolution That is that is my bad And we need Council Member Sar We need to move that one Yes Are you making the motion make that motion Okay I wanted
the correct number on that Got it Motion from council member Sumar And do I have a second second Come on guys I have a motion from council member
Sumar and a second from council member Taylor to adopt resolution 2025-28 approving the final plat and PUB request for Cherrywood with the findings and conditions therein Any further discussion i just wanted to you know thank our staff and the developer This
there was a lot of revisions back and forth on this and I really appreciate everybody sticking this all the way through the end It was it was it's a good a better product I think because of it So thank you Thank you All those in favor say I I Those
opposed The resolution is adopted Moving on we have the Bailey Farm Development Concept Plan Let me bring that one up on the screen here All right So uh this is another development in in an area that the
city's previously discussed and we're talking about a concept plan by Real Estate Equities and Quick Trip for uh a mixeduse development that's in the Bailey uh nurseries area So this is the the um part of the Newport for I'll call
it the Newport 40 It's the south southeast 10 acres or so So uh just to cover an overview of this area in in Newport the zoning currently in place is the B1 which is the city's
business park zone Um this this parcel is also located within there's a tiny I'll say a pretty small area of the parcel that's in the shoreland overlay Uh the shoreland overlay is established It's a thousand foot buffer from Rio Lake So that is where that comes into
place Um there is a future land use um designation for this property of mixed commercial and residential So that's a pretty broad uh category as we've discussed which does allow for uh a wide range of uses which do include the uses that are currently proposed The
site area again as I mentioned is around 10 11 acres of the overall just over 36 acres of the of the Bailey site in Newport The proposal here that we're reviewing this evening is a multifamily building by Real Estate Equities That's
193 units as currently proposed and a gas station convenience store That's the Quick Trip So uh this is the site plan that was uh previously submitted but I'm going to fast forward to the more recently resubmitted site plan that
shows the 193 um unit building alongside the Quick Trip And you can see the the position of these buildings relative to the proposed uh United Properties um industrial or business park development So again we're just looking
at the the part of the development or the site plan that's shown in color on this site plan You can see the real estate equities would be on the west side of this uh 10acre area and Quick Trip would be on the east And we'll talk about a lot of the different elements of this site plan So I'll dive into the
review but before we get there I just want to mention that as you know PUB concept plan review is really a an advisory process where we don't take any formal actions A little bit about the zoning and future land use areas So the zoning district the B1 district is intended to
provide for locations where office warehousing related business uses are are located in a business park setting That being said though the as I mentioned the future land use category is quite broad It allows a wide range of uses including multif family residential
and commercial Here is your future land use map I know you've all looked at this quite a few times recently as well So uh you can see that future land use designation we we talked about We also wanted to provide a little bit of uh an idea of what you might expect
in the surrounding communities because of course this site is you know obviously 40 acres in Newport but there's a considerable amount of land on the Bailey development that's in both Maplewood and Woodbury And uh in Maplewood the the long-term future land use guidance is for 80 acres that are of
mixeduse neighborhood classification Um that being said we have seen other concept uses proposed in Maplewood a little bit more in line with the business park uh that we see on the west side of Newport's proposed development In
Woodbury there's 160 acres that are guided for places to work This is very similar to Newport's business park um uses And there on on the ver on the south 40 in Woodbury you see a guidance of mixed use which is a mix of of different land uses including
highdensity residential places to shop think highway commercial type uses So that's generally what you might see in the areas surrounding Newport But going back to um and you can also on this area kind of see the the the land area around Newport just to
give you an idea of that area So the city did as I mentioned previously review the United Properties concept This is that concept just as as as a reference And then here is again the the proposed concept that I'll dive into the review
for So as mentioned we looked at the comprehensive plan These land uses as I as I said are are permitted but we did want to talk a little bit about the density range this future land use category has a very broad range of allowable density between 70 and 50
units per acre That's that's really wide Um the proposed densities here if we looked at that 172 units we're looking at approximately 17 units an acre If we look at the 193 units we're looking at approximately 19 units per acre
Um staff do recommend looking at allowing a a ceiling of about 20 units per acre because this would be consistent with um how the city has applied its its um future land use guidance in in the comp plan according to
zoning So that brings me to talk about zoning a little bit here As I mentioned we have a B1 zoning designation Um currently in the B1 there is no residential uses that are allowed Uh however I would mention gas station service centers are permitted So there
are a few options the city has in in order to move this project forward Um I think the best option from my perspective would be to reszone this part of the development to MX3 That would provide a ceiling of 20 units per acre as I was mentioning Um it
would be also providing some base standards for both of these uses both for the commercial the quick trip and for real estate equities the 193 unit building Other options do include just approving a PUD over this hold area and
saying you know these are the uses that are allowed within it That is something the city can do city could also consider reszoning you know part of the development R2 but again I don't think that really uh works super well from a high level zoning standpoint just just from my
perspective So we can get into the weeds on those if you would like Uh I did want to also mention the impacts this the shoreline overlay district has on this area Um I would say it's relatively minimal because of the u overlap that
you can see on the left picture it's pretty minimal Uh again that would be the buffer from Rio Lake in that area We can only allow for a 25% imperous surface maximum So that's hard cover rooftops things like that Um and I would
also mention that we would usually do that an agency review anyways as part of our development review process but the DNR would be included in that and um they would be able to comment Now I want to talk a little bit about just at a high level some of the bulk
standards we review for Typically we try to look at things like the lot area the setbacks just to get an idea of how this is going to work And it looks like pretty much all of the city's standards are able to be met by both of these buildings that are proposed by each
developer The lot area the setbacks uh those things are met both if we look at it on a B1 basis and also on an MX3 basis as well The only thing that might uh be a conformance um a flexibility that would be requested is
the height of the building The real estate equities building is proposed at I think 43 feet with the parapets included where the the maximum height is in this district is 40 feet So just three feet over as far as I as I know on their building height
So that's again at a high level Once we get more details we'll obviously review um and get further into the weeds there Um council member I see a question Council member Sumar is that he from 40 to 43 is that only because the parapets
they would only be 3 ft into that not the living quarters i would have to We do have the developers here this evening to to be able to talk to you And that might be a question I'd have to defer to them on I don't know exactly how their building is designed The flat roof we do measure to the top of the the parapet on
a flat roof So that very well could be the case So getting into the design and the site plan review Um if there are no further questions I can pause if there are I did want to ask a question Um you mentioned a little bit uh how Woodbury
has intending to reszone um east of this property in Woodbury that it was going mix I would say Maplewood is the one that we're looking at a potential comprehensive Okay We don't really have any word out of uh any formal word or
any public word out of Woodbury on what they're planning to do I I I know that they are reviewing a a concept plan and I don't know Joe if you have any additional information or I mean I know you guys can hear things uh that aren't necessarily public So I want to make sure that we're respecting that Uh mayor
members of the council we will absolutely respect that I know Woodbury has uh reviewed a concept plan and uh we've had conversations with their staff Uh we will have an open house for the community to come and get from more information about this development Uh uh
Woodbury is attending and they will have that concept plan there Uh I think folks you know unfortunately I don't have their concept plan uh to share Uh but we will have them here They I I they're going to I'm planning on having a board that will have that concept plan and and
folks can come and ask questions I've seen it and it does appear to be a lot of retail and potential very similar uses uh with retail and then also some multif family is what's planned um in the Woodbury area So uh it is out there
I believe on the city of Woodbury website and uh like I said we are having an open house May 21st from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m right here at city hall And if folks want to learn more um we're planning on having the city of Maplewood city of Woodbury Newport staff uh United
Properties Real Estate Equities and of course our great friends Quick Trip and Washington County and Ramsey County We didn't get the watershed district but maybe we should invite them too Well we'll bring in the elementary school and the school district Okay
Um is there anything out there from the county related to what they anticipate being changes to Bailey Road over the next 5 10 years mayor members of the council that's a great question Recently the county did
conduct a study regarding Bailey Road and the potential future Century Avenue And I did confirm that county staff uh the engineer uh in charge of that study which was recently approved by the county will be in attendance at our open
house Um so I I I you know if you look at the county maps and whatnot there is right of way there uh and the messaging that the county has shared with the city of Newport is based on the type of development that does occur they will uh you know make sure that that road and
those intersections can handle it So it's kind of like what's going to come first so the chicken or the egg and in this case we're doing this concept plan and I've had assurances that the county is going to make sure that the traffic controls and and that road would be able to handle it depending on what was
approved Okay Thank you Other questions so far council member Schmidt Um there's an earlier kind of drawing that we had seen of the potential plot map and I was just curious trying to align like an earth view with that previous slide that you
had up on the proposed design So on the far right here it looks like there is a road Is this the existing road that goes through there yeah So I can explain this site plan a little bit Um okay Mayor members of the council So what you're seeing is is you know the the top of the
map here is north the bottom is south So you're looking at it as it would be in an aerial effectively and uh along the southern side of this development is Bailey Road On the right side or the east side of the development would be the uh what we would call the extension
of Century Avenue So that would be between the communities of Newport and Woodbury And then on the north side of the development you would have a road that's shared between Newport and Woodbury as well Um let me bring this this concept shows you I think a little
bit better the the proposed roads that would be around this particular site So you can see um and I would say that you know these are concept plans So some of this is a little is is subject to change of course as details are worked through but I think generally
speaking what you're seeing here in terms of roadways is reflective of what you would see eventually along those connections to to Bailey And I I would also mention that uh there's been a considerable amount of coordination on on this overall area um that's been
going on for probably over a year now between the cities of Newport Woodbury Maplewood and the county uh to talk about um where accesses might be located and things of that nature So there's been I would say a pretty considerable amount of effort that's gone into even
putting forward the concepts that you're seeing now Okay I don't know if this helps to answer any of your questions but it did not No effectively what what is of interest is trying to understand the exact fit here Um there's an existing
sidewalk on on Bailey Um yep I'm curious if there's plans to tie in sidewalk access to this whole development if that's represented I mean those would be some of the things I'm starting to think about If there was ever a widening of Bailey how close does that get to the proposed design of a residential
structure those would be some things to think about Great Uh yeah and I I do have some thoughts on design so I can use that as a segue U if there and if there are additional questions I I'd be happy to answer them but I think some of these some of these comments may get towards
some of your concerns So when we look at these concept plans we're looking at them um from a again a high level thinking about conformance with the city's design and site plan requirements things like building materials the design of the building the landscaping proposed here open space and parkland
needs parking and loading and of course access And access does include the pedestrian side of things So high level site design considerations Um of of course there can be more than what you see on the screen here but first starting with thinking of
this site and this general area as a real gateway to the city of Newport and an important stop along Bailey Road to to uh consider from a design standpoint Uh in terms of land uses you see a mix of different land uses here Um which comes with benefits of course the the
walkability of of residential adjacent to commercial providing nearby amenities for those folks uh also thinking about how do we mitigate some of the other things that happen between these different uses So one of the first things that came to my mind with a a Quick Trip is the um car wash and I
think the Quick Trip team is really thinking about how to uh design their site in order to really think about that residential use and um so if you have questions about that I I know that we have the Quick Trip representative here as well And I appreciate the pond on the south side of this property I think for
people who live on the south side of Bailey Road they've been used to these kind of farm fields and very natural and and um now all of a sudden to you know see some development going in there It's I I think they're feeling that kind of
loss of of nature and to at least have the pond kind of buffering on the front side of Quick Trip Um you know it helps Grant there's going to be a big sign that says Quick Trip on it You know enter here Um but it's better than having a quick
trip immediately right up on Bailey Road So um I appreciate the thinking on that and and and keeping those residents in mind Council member Sumar this is again with north to the top of
the P Correct Yep And the one road that's up there not straight curves up a little bit Is that the end of property nope That's a great question council member So that would be a road that separates the uses within the Newport I'll call the Newport 40 Um this is an
east to west road that's about halfway to the to the north I'm going to go back a couple slides so that you can reference So that east to west road if you can see the cursor that you were asking about is right here And and again And in this
picture there's land still to the north of Correct It's not part of this concept plan but it would still be in Newport that belongs to Newport Correct So we're only looking at You're just looking at this possibly half of the project A quarter of it A quarter of it Yep With
these two projects Yes Correct Council member Yeah So yeah And thanks for the clarification What you basically the grade out part of this concept plan from United Properties is what we're looking at right now Yeah And I had to actually go back and look council member Sumar but we did a concept plan review on
what's on the west and what's on the north What last summer last July August roughly So we've already kind of reviewed three quarters of this particular patch of land the entirety of it And this is then just coming in with
that southeast corner Um with the kind of I'm going to say the next phase is not necessarily being built that way but that's sort of the next phase of the concept plan Um if that helps at all Southeast is a great area
Correct Y what's on the left side this is a the United Properties concept that was reviewed about a year ago This is a uh we'll call it a business park development Nothing on that references
No that's all right It's all on the Yep Bottom bottom right And so this is separate owners as well These are separate developers Yes Yep The Bailey's still own the overall area of course but are working with three separate developers at this time Okay So last quarter last question The
road on the far left and the road on the far right neither of those exist today None of these roads exist today except for Bailey Road which is on the south Got it Thank you Yep Yep And so that's where all that coordination comes in and really thinking about how this works long term I know that's what makes it so confusing The Bailey offices are nowhere
on this drawing Correct Correct Correct If I could zoom out here you can see the existing conditions This this black area is what I've been referring to as the Newport 40 basically Yeah This is this is the sum total of Newport's property
Yep North of in black And then the rest of the parcels are in either the communities of Woodbury or Maplewood So hopefully that helps to provide a little bit of context Yeah So the entire Newport portion is dashed
black line Correct The right right and to zoom in further Yep We were talking about this concept Yep And to zoom in even further I'm going to advance the slides Here we are again So again that's the this is the zoomed in This is the zoomed in version And this is what we are reviewing
tonight Um and and I as I mentioned you know these are concept plans I think at the at a high level we generally know where things are going to be proposed but things like you know where does the the the road separating the business park and and this site go and they're still working out some of those fine
grain details as they move forward Uh diesel going in here Yeah you do see some diesel pumps on the site plan You'll see them here Um there are not many What Quick Trips told us is this is not really going to be a big user of of diesel but of course they did want to
provide the option So I can let them speak to that if there's any further questions Um I'm going to keep moving here So again we look at all these different things in terms of design considerations You know one of the comments was about connectivity not only
um you know around this site but also through it and and and internal So thinking about those things is definitely a high priority Thinking about sidewalks surrounding the development to make sure people can get from this site to the other um you know either places to work or shop in the
area U thinking about how we use that pond It could be a great amenity for the site in terms of both it could be activated as maybe a walking path around it uh for an amenity for these residents who don't have a park immediately adjacent of course they are they are going to have amenities from the building and then also think using
landscaping strategically as a way to buffer these uses from each other So those are all considerations again that we're looking at right now from a building design and and materials standpoint the building that we've been shown in the concept plan and narrative
generally seems that it could could meet the city standards and as we go further in the process we would be reviewing against those things So here's that rendering that was provided of the real estate equities building Um it's not dissimilar to other projects that they've done in other communities
including the city of Woodbury And then as as you know Quick Trip has a pretty standard design and you'll see a lot of what you've come to expect here And then this rendering was provided by uh the team This this uh view would be looking on the site from
basically from the city of Woodbury side of of the development So you can see the Quick Trip in relation to the bu the residential building behind it The idea here is is that they're trying to provide a little bit of a sense of scale on the site Okay So I talked a little bit about landscaping Um we do have a requirement
for landscaping and the development will have to meet that as they go forward in the process In terms of tree preservation there's really not a lot of trees on this sites currently um used by Bailey the Bailey uh company for agriculture And then
we've talked about screening uh and using the landscaping strategically I want to talk a little bit about parking So when we look at the the different uh bu residential buildings in particular the the quickriprip site currently has been providing enough parking on their
site plan So I really focused on on the real estate equities building Um looking at the 193 unit building we assign parking based on the the unit mix in the structure So the city requires one and a half stalls per one-bedroom unit or
efficiency and two stalls per two-bedroom plus unit in the 193 unit building Um Real Estate Equities is proposing a fair number of two plusbedroom units and um that's a little bit different than some of the other residential projects the
city's reviewed um where we're seeing more three and fourbedroom units in this proposal At the end of the day the total required parking stalls under the city's ordinance would be 463 parking stalls And uh in the site plan we do only have
315 proposed So that there is a there is a gulf there of about 150 stalls and uh if you look at the actual ratio of required stalls per unit the city's requiring 2.4 stalls for of parking per unit and
the developer is proposing at this time to provide 1.63 stalls per unit In terms of access and circulation um we are looking at Century Avenue as being constructed to a Washington County standard And so that does um have some
implications for access You're seeing on the concept plan right now locations where we think can work from an access standpoint U as I mentioned the Century Avenue would be shared between the cities of Newport and Woodbury Circulation uh on on the site plan seems
to be acceptable You know these are things that QuickRrip thinks about a lot and certainly also real estate equities Um and then looking again at sidewalks and making sure that we've got good connectivity to the Bailey Road corridor for that
trail Uh there have been a number of other internal review comments from city staff and uh the city engineering and public works team have also been able to to review these concepts One thing to note is that there is enough pressure
for water to serve the site However there could be a need for additional water pressure in the event that fire flow is needed So making sure that we're thinking about that right now And I there are discussions about an interconnect with Woodbury for emergency purposes
Um I and then I've talked about a couple of other these other things but utilities would have to be brought to this general area from the current terminus on Bailey Road in Sterling Uh and then I do have some information here on the city's PUD ordinance the the goals that projects
need to meet and the standards that the city's PUD ordinance has I did want to distill these things though into just a general review of of the PUD here So thinking about the flexibilities that this development will be requesting from the city's ordinance Um at this time depending on how we do the zoning we may
not have any need for flexibility on on on land uses Bulk standards currently I think building heights one of those things we talked about that uh it's not clear on on setbacks at this time It's looking like that can be can be met but parking is another thing that we know
other things that aren't yet identified You know we don't know if um we don't have any um detailed plans on other standards that may need flexibility In terms of public benefits of course the developer uh can speak to this Um one thing that I guess I could mention from staff's perspective is that we haven't
really seen a lot of the three plusbedroom units and projects that have been proposed If you're thinking about diversity of housing options that could be a perceived benefit Um we are also seeing higher design or the ability to have developmentwide coordination on design making sure this is again a
good-looking um neighborhood and and and conforming with the rest of the development in the communities of both um Woodbury and Maplewood And lastly uh commercial amenities being proximate to housing or vice versa So the city did have a public
hearing for this It was held at the planning commission on April 9th We did hear from a number of members of the the city of the of the community both Newport Woodbury and Maplewood actually showed up Uh there were concerns I think broadly about traffic in this area of
the city uh in all of in all of the cities Um and and concern for safety of of residents traffic speeds those types of things We also did hear comments about people uh wanting a a greater ability to access that Bailey Road Trail
corridor Uh we also did hear some other concerns from residents things like storm water management making sure that's done well and also um possible you know concerns about environmental contamination things like that The city's planning commission uh had a pretty good discussion Um generally I
would say that they seem to be supportive or at least not not in opposition to the proposed land uses here Uh they did have a focus on trying to ensure that the de development meets city standards like setbacks and things like that Uh they also were receptive to the concerns of the community on traffic
and to some degree echoed some of those concerns to make sure that there's an review of of traffic I just also wanted to echo uh the comments on upcoming engagement opportunities the city will have a open house on May 21st uh to talk about these
things where we've invited uh the developers and uh some of our adjacent communities Uh this project will be part of an EAW that would be done for the entire project within the city of Newport So once the land uses crystallized on this whole 40 acre area
we'll have a better idea of what the developer needs to submit in the form of an EAW So that will be a public comment that will eventually when the EAW is submitted there will be a comment period there and of course during the city's review process and people are always
welcome to contact staff if there's any questions So I've talked a lot about the entitlements and you you you've now kind of heard about the process We're at really the very beginning here with the concept plan Um this again advisory but um very happy to take questions at a
high level if we could get an indication of the council's kind of um thoughts on this project How does it feel from a land use perspective uh and then other feedback that you'd have or questions for staff Um again the developer team is here and happy to answer your questions
So thank you Okay Jump on with my big concern Um I like overall I like the site plan as it looks on the map and I think there's a lot to like I like the public a lot of the public hearing at the planning commission was well done A lot of the feedback was good My big concern comes
to you know not just it's the it's the workforce element of the property as it relates to our city budget And my concern as I looking at you know Newport is well known as a lower income community We have a fair amount of subsidized housing already You know puts
us in the upper tier of the Twin Cities Not at the top but in the upper tier we're adding more at probably a Red Rock three Yes Coming And I start looking at that and I look at if we add this to that mix You know my rough estimates right now it's like of cities in Minnesota
over a thousand we would probably almost certainly be in the top two as far as the share of our tax base Yeah In low-income housing So it's and that's that's a big thing to take on It's like Yes I mean I think there's a lot of could be a lot of benefits to the
community at large I have no I want to support workforce housing but it's it's a lot when you put the Red Rock Manor Red Rock Square and this combined and the tax rate on that the legislature and it's in its wonder like a year a couple years ago cut that rate already low rate
in half So if you look at Red Rock Manor in in town on 10th Avenue they only they're only paying $13,000 in city taxes a year at that when you get that lower rate used to be 30,000 you know a short time ago So it's just we're not going to put it bring in much money from the at the city level And so it's it's
almost like we're being asked to because we're a lower income community This this fits your community but then we got to subsidize We're basically subsidizing this too with that low tax rate And I I don't feel like we have much say in it But the thing is that at that at that 2%
tax threshold I mean there's you'd actually we'd have to actually submit there's like communities that list their low-inccome rental classification at 0.25% 25% that you would have to sign off on that like hey you're aware of this aren't you i mean right now the communities enlisted in Minnesota are Blackduck Fort Snelling Lexington
Metallands Nadia most of those are small outstate little you know so they exceed 2% And so I'd want to see some numbers that kind of put this you know or would we be in that level where we would be at at the end of this and at the same if this same concept came to me with like a
mix a mixed uh you know half low income half market rate to me that gets it okay that's I can justify something like that You know we're still going to be high but it'sund adding 192 on top of what we're just adding over here I I just think that's a really you know I look
across with Woodbury I don't know I'm sure they're going to be adding some affordable in their mix but they're a much more affluent community that probably isn't going to be asked to do the same And so I have a lot of concerns about that You know how we pay we're going to be shopping there Woodbury just
raised our sales tax to help get other people to pay for their city some of their city improvements and we're going to be Newport residents be paying for that So it's just there's a there's a fairness part about it I I'm really concerned you know and I don't I mean I think it would this development would be good for our community but I think it's
it's also unfair that we you know without some change if we were getting the older share of the you know again the state legislature they want to talk like oh communities you're you know you're not allowing enough Well I'm support our zoning is there but it's
like you're also imposed upon us this extremely low tax rate and they haven't given us a dollar a cent to compensate There's no formula to make up for it if your community does take on more more of its share And so I think it's very unfair and it's of of concern to me going forward
Joe do you want to speak to the tax rates as it relates to workforce housing um mayor members of the council yeah you know I can't remember exactly which year it was but it was within the last I'd say four years There was a change to the
uh tax rate for workforce housing Uh and as council member Taylor mentioned it is now uh 0.25 Um so it's it's much uh you know much lower and I think the intent uh was to you know we do uh have housing
issues and this wasn't to encourage you know folks to build more housing which I think is happening and a tough thing that I'm definitely aware of and I've talked with our financial adviserss is frankly and I we're seeing this with other development in the city unfortunately market rate um is not
being built anywhere right now um and in conversations with uh you know uh the broker uh with uh the Bailey family responsible for trying to put this together and obviously uh maximize the value for for that family there
Um you know and and the conversations I've had with him this is this is uh how the numbers work Um he you know he's been very clear and you know are there options you know what can we do here and uh you know I think you know um So
that's that's been the communication I think you know it's one of those um you know we have a small community that does uh obviously struggle with options for housing Um we are one of the lowest uh income communities in
Washington County and you know we just had a discussion tonight about how we're going to be affording to do um you know significant projects as a city needs to do So you know every nickel does count here and uh I understand the intent of
of the state but it it puts us in a bind as as a smaller community that you know frankly every project that comes in you know will have an impact uh on our ability to do different things So um I you know that's what I got to say and and you know I I I did express those
concerns to real estate equities early on and and the developers and you know they they've told me that you know it is what it is but this is um how the numbers work for this development overall Additionally um you know the developer can definitely
you know is here and can speak to it they are going to build a class A high quality building um you know which will have some three and four bedroomedroom units Um is it perfect is it all the you know money and the benefits there financially that we'd like no Um but I I
think if you you know maybe look at it as a the the entire project as a whole So do you have any estimates on the numbers of single bedroom two-bedroom threebedroom fourbedroom just just like percentage of it I think why don't I
have Alex sir step up uh to our microphone So Alex is with real estate equities and he is um a development partner and maybe you can give us just a little more info I see you talking at the table So yeah happy to Mayor uh members of the council I'm Alex Bazan
I'm a partner with real estate equities Thanks for having me here tonight Um so yeah just in terms of the unit mix that we're proposing right now um I'm just going to go to my uh slide here but we have uh sorry let me just find it
here So right now um of the 193 unit project we're proposing a 20% of the units are onebedrooms Uh 40% are twos 35% are threes and then 5% would be fourbedroom units So you've got 40% of the units being three and four bedroom
units Um which you know is a unique product offering frankly in workforce housing Um that definitely will cater to families uh you know in need of in need of workforce housing So I think that's one thing you know talking through it with Joe and Nathan a bit too Um you know I know there's been some other
projects built within the community uh relatively recently Um you know I think their unit mixes are quite a bit different in terms of one and two bedroom units So um and also just speaking a little bit to the quality of the project Um Nathan you you hit on it a little bit too but um the projects
that we build you know we just closed a project recently in Woodbury that we're building right now And um you know we we really do build these buildings to a class A market rate standard And they look and feel and they operate you know like a market rate property And so um and we own these long term We own them
we manage them for a minimum of 15 years Um and so it's really important to us that we build a really you know high quality product So I just wanted to can emphasize that too So so um Council Member Taylor asked a
little bit about you know half workforce housing half market rate Is that on your radar at all or you know uh it's not Um it's it's really complicated today frankly to get financing to do those
kinds of projects Yeah Um you know that's the the honest truth Um you know market rate housing kind of across the board in the in the metro area is really really stifled today There's very few projects happening and the ones that are are getting huge tiff notes and they're
being leveraged Um you know it's it's very difficult to make those work So we've uh we really focus on doing um you know projects that are 100% affordable They're at 60% of the area median income you know that those income levels are I
think for a single individual about 55,000 up to just over 80,000 for a family of four Um and so um and we we finance the projects with taxes and bonds too which is part of that program too So
um you know I'd say one thing too just to comment on just related to the tax rate um you know and the 4D tax rate most projects that we've developed over the last you know probably eight years that are similar to this you know uh and this is even you
know pre the tax rate reducing um you know we've been getting tax agreement financing and we've needed that as a critical resource to fund uh funding gaps for these projects and so this this project we're not asking for tiff Um so that's a big difference obviously um and some of the other projects that
we've done um and the fact that the site is located in a QCT um is a huge benefit for affordable housing and what we do um because we get a enhancement on our tax credit basis So that was um kind of a really big kind of
data point for the for the site too So I wanted to point that out too Okay Are there other slides maybe we should cycle through that they have here Yeah let's just go ahead and do that Start at the beginning here
You want me to do the presentation okay Um so little uh background So Real Estate Equities uh we've been around since 1972 Uh we're based in St Paul Minnesota We currently own and manage about 4,500 housing units Um and our our portfolio
consists of properties that are here in the Twin Cities uh Rochester uh as well as Arizona Um you know we we manage properties uh long-term We have long-term ownership u and we have on-site management all at all of our projects Uh this is an example of four
projects that we've recently built or have under construction Aster House in Egan uh Arbor Court in St Moose Park Uh the landing at Amber Fields in Rosemount we just completed Um and the reserve at Stellar's Ridge is in Woodbury We just closed that in
December Uh this next slide just kind of shows you some examples of photos of interior finishes of some of those projects Again the Egan project the St Louis Park project the Rosemont project This is just reflective of the finish levels that we're doing Uh and the
example photos are uh kitchens as well as uh the uh community rooms at the buildings Uh the next slide um is the site plan again that Nathan showed previously Again we're proposing 193 units Um right now we have 38 units uh
that are one-bedroom units at 20% of the unit mix Uh we have 78 two-bedroom units which is 40% of the unit mix We have 69 threebedroom units 35% of the unit mix and we have eight four bedrooms which is at 5% of the unit mix Uh the parking
total is 315 stalls which is about a 1.63 parking ratio which is uh comparable to what we've done at other projects that we've built um in suburban communities Uh this is just some examples of we were talking about site
activation um creating walkability kind of integrating the site These are just some examples of you know benches trelluses just kind of meeting areas that you could kind of put in place to you know create some kind of uh you know walkability Uh again this is the
rendering that Nathan showed previously This just show this is kind of the initial design rendering that our architect Cass Wilson put together And Christian is here with Cass Wilson too but this is just an example of kind of the initial uh design that we're contemplating for the project
uh building details So community amenities uh we do a fitness center a club room uh underground parking uh we try to do outdoor recreation areas Um we have a tot lot uh dog run uh as well as an outdoor patio and barbecue area Uh in
terms of unit amenities uh stainless steel appliances in-unit washer and dryer granite countertops uh and also high quality cabinetry So this is just h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h little bit on the affordability requirements So in terms
of the income restrictions at 60% AMI um well one person household the maximum income that an individual could make is $55,620 Um and for a family of four is just under $80,000 Uh affordable rents at 60% AMI
uh the max rents allowed uh for a one-bedroom are 1400 for a two-bedroom are 1676 for a threebedroom are 1933 and for a fourbedroom are 21.49 Um just a data point that we uh put together the medium household income
uh in Newport is 63,400 Um so the statistic uh of renters facing housing cost burden is 57% um in the city of Newport And then there's just some data on just typical market rents for a market rate property
uh of a comparable finish level uh in the market Uh one bedrooms are 1475 to,600 Two bedrooms are 1850 to 2000 Three bedrooms are 2200 to 2600 Uh and four bedrooms are are north of 2600 And that's it
Thank you Well I was glad to see you had some covered parking stalls so that was one of my questions And I assume if they're at that 43 foot height we will be asking um Chief Wy to take a
look at that Council member Sumar you had a question Oh speaking of your mic Yes I do So you you mentioned that you generally hold the properties long period and then I heard you say you often sell them at 15 years Can you No
So we a little bit more Yeah Yeah Happy to So as part of the tax credit program our tax credit investor that we'll have on the project we're required to own the property for a minimum 15 years So we have a 15-year compliance period as part of that program Um you know our intent
is to own these and manage them long term Um so you know at the end of the day like after 15 years um you know whether or not we'll refinance the property continue to own and manage it um you know or or potentially sell it but um
you know our our our business model right now with building these projects is owning them and managing them long term So do you currently own properties for more than 15 years do you currently have properties that you're still owning after 15 years have expired or are you
still in that early 15 that pre-15ear timetable with the apartments that you have shown us yes So we've done um we have a number of projects that we've owned for 30 plus years actually Okay Um and we have some tax credit projects that we've developed in communities that
we've owned for 20 to 25 years Um so yes we've owned many properties longer than that 15ear period Okay Yeah we don't we don't sell a lot of real estate I mean we've sold select properties throughout the company's history Obviously it's been around the real estate equities has
been around for over 50 years So um during that duration we have sold some property but we're generally long-term owners I think Newport is more interested in the long-term commitment of the owners to keep the quality of the apartments up
Yes By owning them I mean that's our intent questions questions This is really the concept uh plan review stage So it really is about kind of just overall questions and kind of a high level broad brush of anything that might stand out I
think to council member Taylor's comments you know this is a multi-million dollar construction project but we're leaving an awful lot of property taxes on the table uh with it being 100% affordable housing And I
don't know if that's a question for us to resolve because I don't know that we can necessarily even reject a plan that's allowed with air I mean I guess it has to do if we don't change the zoning then it doesn't go there Well we have to I mean the fact that you'd have to sign a resolution we're under no obligation to sign that resolution So it
isn't like we have to do it I don't think there's any that state you mean the resolution to change the zoning from B1 I mean yeah it's just it's more like I mean it's a philosophical question I'm putting out there but it's like obviously we're not voting on a concept plan at this point We everything we do is advisory but I just I think I would
just put that out there as like I'm not you know while I like I think I like the site I think it works good for the workforce residents I think it works good for a lot of other things to facilitate the retail I just you know I'm not saying I can sit there and promise my support for it either down
the road I mean that's the thing is this is a major this is a major fiscal thing that the site the what the analysis that we have doesn't really you know from the city's interest we need to make sure that we're you know yes I you know and
like it's a I understand the market right now you built a lot of uh multif family apartments but it's just yeah it's a tough market I get you know it just but it's just to make a project go again it's just to make it you know it's like we're you
It's it's a tough thing to be asked to subsidize subsidize a project to this tune to make it go even if it's a good project And so it's that's the struggle and I think that's why it's a philosophical question It can be a good project but yet not something that we necessarily want to undertake I mean I think we have to at least undertake with
great caution because it's we are you know about straining yourself and this is something we'd be this would likely be straining our you know resources you know these apartments take a fair amount of resources would be that way for a long time to come So it's you know it seems like oh yeah it gets us gets it
built You know again that will be you know unless the legislature changes the rates or does something other something else To me this almost requires a legislative solution for communities that are burdened by this But it's like that's not going to happen You're no guarantee that's going to happen But I think that's you know I've been thinking
about since I went to that housing workshop with Joe where Washington County I had a conversation with a couple people that night about this very situation is like yes Newport we want to support it but there's limits to what we can do what we can still consider it without again and I think there's a trap
that you can just get into as lower income community that it's it's yeah you got we're subsidizing lower income communities lower income communities are subsidizing lower income residents in meantime while more affluent communities tend to not have very tend to maybe do a little bit
here a little bit there just to make themselves feel good but it's like they're not straining their tax base when they do these things I mean it's like Woodberry can do Settler's Ridge but that's a drop in the bucket of Woodberry's tax base They have a fraction of the the subsidized a fraction of the affordable So it's and then they can sit there and their
residents wonder why our tax rates are so much higher than Woodberries That's among the reasons is that we do you know it's not the only reason but it it it contributes to that reason And it's like it's a you know we want to be able to So I don't know It's just kind of more of a high level thing I want to be struggling
with And doesn't mean I'm against this project but it's like it's a big thing that maybe the project as a whole works maybe it works for the you know when we look at the tax you know we we see it as a package bundle and not just as the department but it's it's a you know it's
a significant I think there's again a lot of benefits for our community in this project too that might make it worthwhile to take on even and it's but it's it's a yeah as you saw earlier in our discussion earlier meeting we're not you know we don't just write checks You know
we got we got streets out here that are deteriorating and you know don't never had sewer and gutter or curb and gutter And so it's it's a it's a challenge I don't know Yeah I don't know what we do with that You know it's just I think that's I don't think this concept plan
is really set up to address that question but yet you know a you know because this isn't typically so yeah it's but yet at the same time to not raise that concern now would be disingenuous too So it's it's a struggle I don't think I just not sure what to to
to say to that beyond Yeah And I know we've had conversations too about that sort of missing middle housing We have no town homes or condominiums for empty nesters who want to continue to stay in Newport but don't want the responsibility of a yard and and snow
removal and those kinds of things We have virtually none of that housing right now And it's not just the apartments you mentioned We also have a whole building that's a section 42 HUD building in town So we're doing we are doing more than
our fair share of workforce or any sort some subsidized housing Um and I know we have a proposal we've approved for market rate apartments and they're struggling to get financing So you know what you're saying is exactly mirroring that person's experience as well as what
our financial advisor is saying to us only affordable housing is getting the money right now but we have an awful lot of it as a percentage of apartment units um within our community already Uh you know I think what might
be helpful Joe is to understand just basically even an estimate of what this project value is the property taxes that come in if it's an affordable building and the property tax that come in if it's considered market
rate Just ballpark numbers I'm not ask if you don't if you know that now great If you don't I I'm not asking for an answer today Mayor members of the council I might have to use my calculator Um But uh I know the developer I've got a human calculator Someone with a
calculator is here I will defer to the developer Okay You want to speak yes You want to introduce yourself yeah Um mayor members of the council thank you for having us I'm Blaine Barker uh with real estate
equities as well Um the uh discussion on property values for a development like this is very recent in our minds Um we're actually working on a very similar proposal for a 164 unit workforce uh
property in Cottage Grove Mhm And um that one cuz we're asking for TIFF they got a financial advisor involved and and they did a detailed um tax analysis with with the county and um I do have to do a
calculator here but they were at about $220,000 per unit of assessed value Um and that really doesn't change whether it's uh my understanding whether it's a market rate property or a workforce property because the Yeah the value is
the value The value is the value and then the the the classification rate is is where that's different Um so I just wanted to add that as an anecdote um for a ballpark and that would be about $42.5 million based on the 193
unit proposal the tax assessed value Yes Yeah So a rough value of 42.5 million at 0.25 property taxes versus What's the market rate property
tax because once it's classified as affordable housing that's what affects that And and I you know I love Cottage Grove They're our neighbors We do a lot of things together but their average household income is about twice what our average household income is Um they've
got an awful lot of development going in both commercial construction as well as housing construction as well as industrial We don't have any of that you know you you got Egan and you've got you know St Louis Park These again are communities with very you know very high
average household incomes and you had the pleasure of listening to us try to figure out tonight how we going to pay to fix a sewer problem So I know you get it You know I don't I don't have to convince you of anything You get it It's tough for a small city that has uh kind
of low income Joe you're that did that stall long enough uh a mayor members of the council I'm not going to quote a number tonight Um I mean I I I did some math I I it's just hard for me you know I mean if that value let's say it's 42
million Um you're just 40 round number You're going to multiply that by you know a 0.25 25 of percent and then multiply that by our tax rate which is let's call it 42 percent So back of the
napkin math is you know it's a good number Yeah Um but I I I'm not going to quote a number tonight I I won't do that I I I would you know maybe the thing that I'm going to push to you is like what is it what do you think of the cost of service of surveying those you know from the you know and that's so and I
can speak I can speak to that generally I do know uh generally you know you pay about 1.2 so any multif family apartment building the city is is going to be a net loser for services Uh with that said you know when
you do a development like this for commercial property or industrial um it's it's significant So usually you're paying 1.2 two maybe uh uh you know one $120 for every dollar that you collect
in taxes for an apartment Um with that said if it's a commercial industrial you're you you're you're making that dollar and you're spending about you know 25 cents to 30 cents So that's that's where you need to as a community
balance balance that And I I think you know what I what I've been told by you know the Bailey family and their broker is that this is what they need to make the project work Um you know and and you know I I would defer to them I you know
again I'm I'm not a a broker or developer I work in local government So Okay any other feedback um for real estate equities or even we have the vice president of quick trip is here as well if there's any questions or
feedback for them Nathan do you have other anything you would like us to discuss further you know I think the the primary thing from my perspective was getting a a good feel for the council's feedback on land use I feel like generally what I what I've
heard is generally this site plan makes some sense maybe there's some details to be worked through but you know there are there are some solutions from a land use perspective So of course there there can be more information provided on some of these other areas of discussion down the
road Um but you know understanding that these there you know land use wise as a path forward is really what I needed in terms of feedback at this time So what you could expect then is the uses are crystallized on this area is again that the overall development can move forward
with an EAW but of course there there remain some of these other so any other comments or questions for the developer Quick Trip staff council member Sumar
do both these projects have to happen together if there's no apartment would there be a quick trip option or is it only one and the other one are handed off mayor members of the council what's been
communicated to me from the broker uh and from the Bailey you know the Bailey famil family's broker is that it is they they need all of these projects the United Properties project the Quick Trip project and this apartment project uh with real estate equities in order to
make the numbers work We are phase one in a in a large development that's um you know close to 300 acres and this would be the first 40 and they they do want it to start in Newport It kind of makes sense Um there's a lot of moving
parts and it's you know it's uh it's a big project That's what they've communicated to me and I have no reason not to believe them Okay Thank you Other questions well I want to thank you both as well as
um Scott here from QuickTrip for attending and sitting through a kind of a little bit longer meeting than we typically have here I appreciate it very much Yeah thanks for your time I appreciate it too Thank you You're welcome So um next on our agenda is the
resolution of support for congressionally directed spending Uh we approved one of these about a year ago Um this becomes an attachment to our application for earmark uh funding requests and the letters of support from
our uh state senator state representative county commissioner Um all of this uh rolls into as well as uh we'll have a letter of support from our Met Council representative too Um
all of this becomes an important component of getting a project through the next level of approval within uh the earmark process So they want to know that the city council supports the project and we do that through a formal
resolution Any questions on that very good Do I have a motion to approve so move Second Thank you I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Sumar Any discussion all those in favor say I
I Those opposed The resolution is adopted Next we have mayor and council reports Um we were all there today We had our formal uh dog park opening We had many dogs in attendance which was really fun
to watch And um the Southwest Cable Southwest South Washington County Cable was there doing some filming as well So I'm sure they'll do a a little short story on our grand opening We had ice cream for dogs We had ice cream for humans Um Fuzzbutt was there which is
the dog clothing attire business that operates in Newport out of the same building that the post office is in as well as Marathon uh Refinery and they it is this uh particular uh park amenity is on their property So
we're leasing it for 10 years and um we couldn't have really you know put the the dog park in such a really beautiful location with all the natural trees and all of that without it But we had really strong attendance Several members of the um Cottage Grove area Chamber of Commerce also attended today So it was
fun to see them there too So that was a really fun event That's my report Council member Ringamman I have nothing No Council Member Taylor Uh just echoing that but also the the public hearing that we had at the planning commission on this Bailey farms development I just
want to emphasize that was a great public hearing which if your concerns weren't heard tonight they were heard that night I know council member Sum and I were there and it's just I think that really did a great job and I want to thank everybody who showed up that night Great Thank you Council Member Schmidt
Nothing for me Council member Sumar I attended a tree pruning class It's one of my projects that I enjoy very much for Newport I also attended as council member Taylor mentioned the concept review plan that we just saw expanded
upon here I went today to the Pigs Eyee Lake task force We've had the ninth meeting and we're preparing a report that will go to the state legislature and we're looking at the options We're going to give them one in
order to decide how to handle that heavily contaminated site and make some recommendations as to what they might want to do in the future Turn it into an active park a passive park just simply a wildlife area We looked at
the challenges being down there next to the railroad tracks and being next to the Mississippi River with its potential for frequent flooding attended the dog park opening and also the library Our very wonderful library is having an egg
extravaganza event this Saturday prior to the Easter rabbit bringing eggs and spreading them around with great happiness to the children of Newport So you can get an early start on that at the library this weekend That's it Thank you very much with that
Can do I hear a motion uh for adjournment i'll make that one I'll second Have a motion from council member Sumner and a second from council member Ingamman All those in favor say I I Those opposed We are adjourned We'll take about a fivem minute break and then
uh start our workshop meeting Thank you all for watching