Sorry, cutting that shutting that down. All right. Thank you. Welcome, everyone. This is the Northfield City Council meeting, for Tuesday, 05/06/2005. We'll call this meeting to order and request a roll call. Mayor Zweifel? Here. Councilor Holmes? Here. Councilor Ness? Here. Councilor Peterson White? Here. Councilor Soukup? Here. Councilor Beamer? Here. Councilor Donilon. Thank you. Next up is open public comment. This is the opportunity for the public, to speak on items not on the agenda tonight. So if you I don't have any requests so far to speak,
on open public comment. I think these are all specific. Yes. So if anyone would like to make an open public comment, now is the time. There are cards to fill out on the table over by the door. All right. Seeing no one, we'll move on to a presentation. Oh, wait. Nope. First, we're gonna move on to the agenda approval of the agenda. Sorry. I got distracted by the number of supplemental, memos tonight. So I would just will note before we approve the agenda that we have, three supplemental memos tonight, the latest, being from Ehlers. So everyone get a chance to see those.
Great. Okay. So I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda. Councillor Peterson White. So moved. Is there a second? Councillor Ness? Second. Thank you. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion carries. The agenda is approved as written. Next up is a presentation, by our police chief on our quarter one, police report. Good evening, mayor and council. I'll try and buzz through this here pretty quick. So, I think it's only 10 slides and it looks like you have a full agenda tonight. So and I'm sure, everybody in the seats here today aren't here to see my stats for the quarter.
So we'll go we'll go through it quickly here. So this is, just twenty twenty five first quarter statistics for the police department. We'll go over calls for service, group a crimes, group b crimes, and then noteworthy events. So group a, group b, just touch on that. That's the federal reporting. Group a is the higher level severity crimes typically. Group b is the lower severity crimes. Calls for service for first quarter twenty twenty five, you'll see we're at a 14.5% decrease from last year twenty twenty four quarter one with eleven twenty fewer calls.
But we are a 7.3% increase from last quarter, so quarter four of twenty twenty four. We're up there 451 more calls. So well, although with that said, we have a general downward trend in calls for service over the past two years. Group a crimes, like I said, the higher severity, including, everything from homicide down to, theft and fraud, things like that are all group a crimes. You'll see we have an 11% increase from last year, quarter one. With that though, there's a 10.7%
decrease in combined thefts. The bigger concerning one though is where a 29.4% increase in combined fraud. The difference theft and fraud is theft is merely taking something, whether it's from a person or a business, anything like that, versus fraud is essentially conning people out of money. Bank fraud, you probably all received the text messages, phone calls, things like that. The different fraud to to pay your impasse toll or whatever it may be. So 29% increase in combined frauds from twenty twenty four quarter one.
From quarter four of last year, so the end of last year, we're at 21% in decrease, sorry, decrease there of that 43% decrease in combined thefts, but again, and 29% increase again in combined fraud. So, that slight group a crimes are slightly increasing, as we go through the last two years. Group b crimes, like I said, lower level offenses. For there, you'll see a 3.5% increase from twenty twenty four quarter one. 20% of that is a decrease in DWI offenses, and then a 9% decrease from last quarter of twenty twenty four,
which is a 30% decrease in DWI. Although there's a slight increasing trend in group group b crimes as well. When you compare us to other cities, so where does that fall? Fall? You're probably wondering, okay. How does Northfield fit compared to other cities in the area that are similar size? So you'll see we're kinda right in the middle. The crime rate that you see of Northfield is twenty seven thirty nine. That's group a crimes only that are reported to the federal government. Of that, we have a clearance rate of almost 38%. That may sound low. What that means is a clearance rate is worth that specific crime is cleared by
an arrest. So the reason I say it sounds low is because if a crime is reported either not solved, it doesn't count towards that clearance rate or if it's not charged, it doesn't count towards that clearance rate. So that is only cleared by arrest. So when you compare us there, Northfield's at the top half of the clearance rate of other cities listed there. I threw this in there as well, so comparable officers to the same cities I used on the last one. This is not a staffing request or anything like that. I merely throw this in there for if you look at the numbers where we
compare to this last screen on where we fall for the crime rate and clearance rates. When you look at staffing levels, we're lower than most of those cities, but we have a higher clearance rate, which says a lot for us is essentially we're doing more with less than many other cities in the area. Couple notable events that, as you know, I like to end more with noteworthy events versus just stats and and call out some of the of good deeds that they've done. First one on the screen here is on January 5, officer Thad Munro responded to a medical call for an unresponsive person.
Officer Munro started CPR with the work of the patient's fiancee who was a nurse. Officer Monroe, Northfield Fire and Northfield EMS, the patient regained the pulse and saved a life. Not to be outdone, on May excuse me, March 7 at 06:30 in the morning, a male was found unconscious and possibly only possibly breathing. When officers arrived, no pulse was found. It should say CPR was started and no shock was advised. With the work of officer Kelling and officer Clobey as long along with EMS, the mill regained a pulse and sustained his own heartbeat.
Ultimately, he was airlifted to Metro after a quick visit to Northfield Hospital, and he survived as well. One more thing that didn't make it into the slide deck that I'll add is so next week starts National Police Week. So just a shout out to the staff, the women and men in Northfield Police Department for their dedication throughout the year. So, it starts next week on Monday. All week is National Police Week. To go along with that, we all remember what happened in Burnsville last year. So Burnsville is sending their most of their staff out to Washington DC to recognize
their fallen officers. The reason I bring that up is we will be sending officers to Northfield or excuse me to Burnsville to cover, to help staff, Burnsville at their time of need so their officers can go to to Washington DC to honor theirs. To be a little bit of payback for that, this last weekend, we had, the funeral for Melanie Feldeke, who is the wife of one of our investigators. While we were able to attend that funeral, most of the the police department staff was able to go that funeral because we were covered by Rice County Sheriff's Office and their support to take the city while we were at the funeral.
So, it's kinda work with each other and especially important during National Police Week. So any questions? No. Thank you very much. Counselor Peterson White. Is there a particular type of fraud that you're seeing more of? It's kind of a big combination. It's anywhere from, the the text message fraud that you're seeing that, a lot of people are falling for that. There's crypto fraud, which is growing in the city here, and that's where whether it's text message, phone call, email, that type of thing and saying, please go to a crypto ATM,
send money. Most of it goes overseas just like the the text message fraud. A lot of that goes overseas as well. So anything like that is the bulk of what we're seeing. I think it was just this last week. I had phone calls as well. Somebody's receiving unsolicited emails saying, please pay this or this bill is due, that kind of thing. Give us your credit card number, go to Target, buy gift cards or wherever it may be. Send us gift cards, Apple gift cards, that kind of thing. So it's there's so many different frauds out there. Most of them tie back to overseas, so there's nothing that can be charged on it, unfortunately.
So So the the crimes that you're reporting are ones that are completed where someone actually has their money taken. Right? For the most part. And then and then you hear about it. So there may be And those are the ones we hear about. Exactly. Ironically, I've been pulling the numbers on some of the fraud. In the last since 2022, Northfield residents have lost over $300,000 in fraud. So and that's ones we know about, and that's knowing no $1 amounts. So there was some that are they don't even know how much money they lost exactly. So it's a lot.
I mean, there's a lot of fraud and unfortunately, there's not a ton you can do about it other than messaging saying, look out for this or don't get money to that. So I try not to make random suggestions from the dais, but I I have certainly know people that have fallen victim to things like this and I seeing in our community ad brochure all the various forms of education that are available I wonder if it might be possible to give people an opportunity there to be educated about, you know, how to I mean, I I'm astonished how often I hear from people just in the community who know that I'm a, you know I don't know. I guess they think I might know things.
Right? And we say, do you think this is real? And, I think people really don't don't necessarily know how to distinguish, and they there are these these frauds can be extremely effective, obviously. Right? So, and that that's a that's a pretty big loss for the community, that $300,000. And, of I'm sure that there are others that we don't know about. Right? So I I certainly would be supportive of any kind of public education on that front. That seems possible. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I'll I'll just I'll follow-up on that and say that the training that I've had in my workplace has been super helpful with that about what to look for.
In my family, we were just discussing it the other day, and the family member was saying, oh, this looks legit. And I would say, well, look at the return email. It's not fed it's not actually you don't actually have a FedEx package waiting for you that is not getting delivered. You know? So I wonder if it's it wouldn't be a whole we don't have to create our own training, but if there is some, online five minute digital course that we could share, that would be amazing. Yeah. There's quite a bit on social media and, appreciate the comments and the feedback. And it a lot of it looks so real to the point where until my
wife has said this, I'm gonna throw her under the bus here for a second. My wife is a detective as well. She fell for a fraud out of her own bank account because it looked so real. It looked like it came from our bank account. So, I mean, it's very realistic looking very easily to I just gotta click on this and they're they have your information then. So thank you. Thank you very much. Counselor Holmes. I guess just along those lines, I mean, I think I know one of the frauds is actually taking numbers from like, phone numbers that are from the police department of the local municipality where those people
live and saying their people's names and being able to copy that. So it sounds like maybe that hasn't happened here yet, but I think, like, being aware of those things that even even if it's it's not just a suspicious email address, but they're able to actually take, take people's names and likeness and be able to use that. So, so I agree. Let's help educate as best we can. I think what's also interesting is, until today, I've always looked at those numbers as, I guess, not just the not not not necessarily the victims of crime, but the perpetrators. So thinking like,
oh, but but it sounds like the fraud is like, with fraud, the perpetrators aren't necessarily in our community. So I I don't know that there's a real question here, but I think is this is just not that I wanna create more work for you, but I think like just that if if we see that fraud growing or something like that growing, like, that number, I think is interesting to look at, like, what is local here, but what is also something that may be part of something bigger. Yeah. I appreciate it. And I would say of the fraud that's happening, which would be surely a guess yours, so not hard data, but I bet 80% originates overseas.
And like I said, there's nothing we can do about it, which obviously plays into our clearance rate as well because if fraud is up 29%, we'll never solve those per se and because we'll never have an arrest on it. So it's it's very difficult. So awareness is the key there, like you've all touched on. So Thank you. Councilor Beamer. I don't have a question. Just a comment. Just or statement probably more so than anything. Please make sure you share this with your officers. Thank you for everything you all do every day and every night.
It's greatly appreciated. I appreciate that, and it's it's great to hear. And it's the community is extremely supportive in my seven months that I've been here. But I appreciate it coming from council as well. And like I said, we're going into police week here. So, we do feel the support, but I appreciate the comments. I'll pass it on. Thank you. Our next item is our consent agenda. This is, all of the items on the consent agenda will be passed under one motion. You should be seeing the consent agenda now on the screens above the, audience there. I am looking for a motion from council to approve the consent agenda.
Councillor Ness. I'll move the consent agenda. Councillor Beamer? I'll second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? The consent agenda carries. That brings us to the public hearing portion of our agenda. The public will have the opportunity to address the council on any public hearings. Individuals who are pre registered, may take an opportunity to address the council for two minutes. We don't have any preregistrations tonight. However, if you would like to address the council, you are welcome to do so. Persons, will have two minutes,
and they should fill out the yellow card. And so we will start I will declare the public hearing open, and we will start with a staff report. Yes? I don't I don't have a staff report beyond what's in your packet. So the the, the application is for I can I can I can vamp? Sorry. I'm following the script here. So if No. That's just fine. It's okay if you don't have a staff report. I can just give you a a quick, summary of of what's happening. So on these,
the Northfield retirement community is, sort of, reconfiguring its ownership. And so they need to refund, which means sort of reestablish, and reissue bonds. They're pass through bonds. There's nothing obligating the city to be withholding to the debt or anything like that. It's a, pass through of a $20.13 bond that was issued to ensure that Northfield Retirement Community could be, a well maintained building. And now that they're sort of selling off a portion of it, they need to they're renaming,
one of the entities is being renamed. And that's why we have to do this so that all the documents, have the same and correct names on them so that that can go forward to, the issuing the bond issuer. So the HRA passed resolution of support onto you, and now you are, doing the same thing. Alright. Thank you. Is that how does that help? It does help. Thank you very much. Yep. So I will read the, the public hearing for the city of Northfield approving amendments to the senior housing revenue funding note, Northfield retirement community project series twenty thirteen b and authorizing reassurance thereof.
And then following that, we will have a resolution. So this is the moment for public input should anyone wish to address the council. All right. Seeing no one, we'll move on to council comments and or questions on this item. Anyone? All right. Seeing no one, I will, looking for a motion to close the public hearing. Councilor Ness? Move to close the public hearing. Thank you. Councilor Sogut? Second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Those opposed? Motion passes. So that's the public hearing. Then that brings us to considering the resolution for the City of Northfield approving amendments
to the senior housing revenue refunding note, Northfield Retirement Community Project Series twenty thirteen B and authorizing the reissuance thereof. So I'm looking for a motion and a second for that resolution. Councilor Sochup? I'll move Resolution twenty twenty five-forty eight. And Councilor Holmes? Second. Thank you. Council discussion? Alright. We're all good? Okay. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Resolution carries. Congratulations. Yeah. Okay. The next item is reports from, mayor and council members,
and then we'll start over here with councilor Beamer. I have just one item to report on. EDA meeting on 04/28, Riverwalk market fair presentation was that evening. They came in and gave information about last year's totals, and, we're also requesting requesting from the EDA an additional $5,000 in funding, to continue to support the, farm to families program. Then I believe it was mister Riley had, mentioned something that I was already thinking. They were going to do a match on on that.
They were gonna do a fundraising campaign to match that. And, mister Riley had mentioned something I was already thinking that, you know, we could, as the EDA, decide to to raise to raise the, totals that, we're proposing. I made a motion for that. It was passed unanimously, and we granted, granted the Riverwalk Market Fair the, entire $10,000, to, help fund the, farm for families program for this year. So, it was pretty cool. I know that Riverwalk Market Fair is,
is a really, really big thing for for our downtown, and, it's utilized by a lot of people because I've been down there on Saturdays. But, other than that, I have nothing else to report. Thank you. Thank you. Counselor Holmes. Thanks. What I would just have to report on is the last month's planning commission meeting. We had two public hearings, one for the conditional use permit for Loon Liquor to operate their micro distillery downtown, and that passed. And then, another one on land, land development code updates, Also passed, we heard from Saint Olaf.
They came in to do just a preliminary review of a conditional use permit that they want to pursue, for additional parking within their perimeter transition area. So they'll be coming back to the planning commission after getting some feedback on that, and then that will be something that we we will be seeing. We also passed a resolution recommending the text amendments related to adult use cannabis in the land development code. And then finally, we passed the, comprehensive plan, which we'll be discussing later tonight. Councilor Soukup.
I attended an EQC meeting, to the Environmental Quality Commission, on middle of last month, but we haven't met since then. So, this is a little dated, but we went over the carbon reduction fund balance, which is at about, $240,000 right now. That's being kind of has been, kind of saved up over time due to a couple large projects. So sounds like a ton of money, but it's, there's a plan for it. Then, the commission talked about the zero waste plan and a, proposal for a single use carryout bag fee,
which would be 5¢ per bag. Right now, though, that's just, they're gonna spend the summer, kind of putting out a survey to the community for input, and then the EQC and zero waste advocates, are working with staff on a potential ordinance, after that community input. So that was, interesting update. And, then I also had attended an HRA meeting on the first. We just voted on the first thing we talked about. Then we also an agenda item surrounding the sale of Jeff Jefferson townhomes,
which right now is owned by, Dominion. They're selling, this property. It's reaching the end of its thirty year HUD terms. So, Standard Communities is a for profit company, but is a b corp. They're they're wanting to buy the property, also rehab it and keep it affordable and manage it themselves. So we spent some time talking about that. Then we went into a work session to talk about the HRA's work plan for the next year and what kind of priorities there are,
that we can tie closely together with the comp plan and the strategic plan. So that was a really, I think, a really great conversation. There are a lot of ideas discussed, and, I hope that we can, kind of bring that work plan up in a council work session setting at some point to kinda highlight some of the things that the HRA wants to to focus on. And then I just wanted to spend a quick second now that I'm talking about HRA just to quickly highlight, something that we just passed in our consent agenda that I think is a huge
step forward for, our, the issue of housing in town, and that's around removing the 20% rental restriction in, to our r one and r two zones in town, which are residential zones around the colleges. That ordinance limited rentals, due to a previous issue with, college students and, not wanting too much college housing in town. It's it's now pretty irrelevant given the amount of, resident residential dorms on campuses. So at this point,
it was really restricting the amount of housing, availability we have in town. And, you know, it's not gonna, like, change the entire game, but I think it was a huge step forward. And I just really wanted to take a minute to highlight that because we don't often get to talk about housing on council. So thank you for everyone who who, worked on that and moved it forward. Counselor Peterson White. Thank you for noting that. It's wonderful. I attended a Friends of Downtown meeting the last Monday of the month. That would have been April 28,
I believe. And, the friends are planning another blockbuster series of Third Thursday Downhand events this summer. The first one is May 15. Second '1 is June 19, which is Juneteenth. So that's going to be a fun opportunity to celebrate July 17 and August 21. They're going to be bigger and better this year. The, they're going to use the entirety of the 304 blocks. And I think most of the businesses on those blocks will try to stay open late. There's a focus on having danceable music for at least part of the evening. Local folks will be there with handcrafted goods,
local products, tasty beverages from all of our various local sources for those. So it's a really great time to come downtown and hang out and enjoy all that Downtown Northfield has to offer. The friends are also are also working on continuing to explore the concept of a special services district for the downtown, and are reaching out to building and property owners who might be interested in learning about that or pursuing it. If folks are interested in that, you can talk to me and I'll point you to the friends or you can just reach out to the friends of downtown directly and and they'll be happy to,
get keep you in the loop about that. I think those those are the high points of the friends of downtown meeting, and councilor Beamer already covered the EDA. Thank you. Councilor Ness. I have nothing. Alright. Thank you for that. I have a I have a couple, shout outs. I was honored to welcome the community to the Cinco de Mayo event, which is at, the Northfield Middle School. Wanna give a big thank you to the school district, for putting that event on year after year. And then I also welcome the community to the Asia Pacifica event, which was the first event to use the new city showmobile.
And they blocked off Washington Street, and I think that worked really well. Great attendance, and a thank you to the library and Saint Olaf College for putting on that event. And then, shout out to Natalie Draper and Anhalika Linda Linder, sorry, Anhalika Linda. They were recognized as movers and shakers by Library Journal. So we all knew that was true. It's just now been affirmed. So congratulations to everyone. So that brings us to our regular agenda. Let's see. First up is considering the approval of construction manager guaranteed maximum price amendment after bid
of New Ice Arena. Looking to mister Bennett oh, everyone's coming up. Come on up. Alright. Mayor, members of council, here with me tonight is Brad Brickman with RJM Construction, Mark Lindvig with JLG, and online, we have Jenny Bolton. She's our bond counsel. And Nick Anhutt with Ehlers, to really answer any of the questions. The ice arena has been bid, so we're we're here tonight asking for counsel to update and amend the guaranteed max price with RGM construction. So Brad's gonna walk through the the really,
the bidding, on the project, and I'll run through some of the financials. Good evening, mayor and council. Brad Barrickman with RGM Construction here. Nice to see you all. So the first slide here, is just highlighting the process that we've gone through since the last time, we presented to council back in February. So following that council meeting in February, construction management at risk, requires a request for qualifications. That was issued to the subcontract market, February 25. We did receive back, over 125 contractors that were interested and qualified to bid on March 12.
They were then had the opportunity to, submit bids on the project. We received bids on April 24 in 36 trade bid categories. And we're happy to, note that we received a hundred and 22 bids in those 36 categories. So roughly a little over three bids per per category. So a lot of interest in the project and, really drives the value, in the bids that we received. Next slide here. So the the first column is the project budget that was presented to council, back in February, and it's broken out,
as construction, roughly 21,600,000.0. We had the the solar panels option at 890,000. Owner soft cost design fees at roughly 2.3, for a total project of roughly 24,800,000.0, with one alternate for consideration, the precast stadia seating, which is what your, bleacher seating would mount to. And that was approximately a million dollars for a total project budget presented back in, February of twenty '5 point '8 million. The column on the right is the, result of the the bid opening that we had back in April.
So construction value of roughly $22,600,000 Solar panel allowance is still carried at that $890,000 Owner design fees soft cost, roughly $2,900,000 for a total project value of 26,500,000.0. The Stadia alternate, as you'll note, it's significantly less than the budgets that were original originally carried. That's a sign of a number of different factors, that drove that number down. One being, I think there's a lot of interest. The precast vendor wants the city to accept that alternate.
So there was really competitive pricing on the precast value. And in the budgeting stage, in error, we had carried, costs in the base bid that were, actually included in the alternate. So that number is significantly less on the bids that we received. But overall, the total project with acceptance of that alternate one is fairly close to that budget that was presented in February. So 25.8 back in February, and we're at 26,500,000.0 roughly all in, apples to apples. This next slide is essentially the same values that I just went through in the
last slide. Only high highlighting an in kind donation for site work and grading and utilities. That value is broken out at the $1,800,000 as well as, highlighting the donation values from, Northfield Hockey Association. And then it's just highlighting the the 3% increase from the number that was presented to council back in February. With that, turn it back over to Dave. I'm just gonna I'm gonna jump back because I think we we accidentally skipped over a slide. So I think really, to get to where we are, it really it's really about the the financial partnership and the collaboration between the school
district, the city of Dundas, city of Northfield, and the Northfield Hockey Association. I think every entity that is investing this facility is really trying to bring this project forward with the greatest impact to the community. So all of us partnering together truly bring forward, a project that will really serve the community long into the future. I I think I really wanna highlight that the NHA, and really the community, really rallied to get above the 2,000,000. They really tried to include more costs and more funding for the project,
and they have raised $3,800,000, to date and also have donated land on top of that too. So getting into the financing. So the I'm gonna really in the on the right column with the the current bid is the 25,000,000. So then this stuff really just gets deducted off to really get at what the cost is for the city to to issue the bonds for the project. So the Northville Hockey Association is gonna contribute cash of 923,000. They have the in kind site work,
donation of grading and utilities, which is valued at 1,800,000.0. And then they're also so some of the, when they're working with the community, some of it's all the cash is not there. Some of it's pledged over 4 to 5 years from the community members. So what the NHA is gonna try to do, is to see if they can finance those pledges. So they're they're gonna go to see if they can secure a loan so we have all that cash upfront so the city does not have to, issue debt, for that that 330,000. And then we also have, the sale proceeds from the land. So roughly,
so in February, we're at 21.8. We're at roughly 22.5 related to where the bond amounts are. And then this is from Ehlers post bid. So the the when you add in the the financing, cost to do the financing, the EDA bond amount is, $22,900,000. And this this slide illustrates, really the funding partners here. So you have the school district lease levy of $200,000. We have the city of Dundas financial contribution of $204,000, and then the city of Northfield levy,
which is one point 1,485,000. So, really combined impact annually of $214 or $18 a month. The other alternate, that really, would add to the facility is really a dry land training space. In February, it was estimated at 725,000. Post bid, it's 862,000. NHA has raised a hundred and has pledges of, 675,000. So there's a gap of a hundred and 87,000. So right now,
the the NHA is gonna try to raise that money, and try to bring the cash to the table. The contractor is gonna hold prices on the alternate for sixty days, so they're hoping that they can close that gap to add that to the project. But right now, in the action tonight, there's no other alternates included except for the alternate for the precast stadium seating. On the far right column, this really just shows, so we have about 7.1%. So if we had to finance the pledges, I think it would be a little bit different, and we'd have to think about we'd have to work with Ehlers and how you
would structure that. So, like, if the pledges came in over to five years, is there a way to do the financing different that would collect that money? Or we could reduce that debt in a shorter term based on, the NHA collecting those pledges and handing that over to the city. But, again, the dry land's not included at this time, but it's just illustrating that. This slide here is just referencing the overall timeline of the project. First column on the left is the design and bidding process that we just went through. We're in the preconstruction phase currently. So if the project moves forward,
we would begin to award bids, issue contracts, go through permitting and start to, mobilize the project. Site work, would commence here in in May through June, and then we would start foundations and precast walls. The the building would likely building structure and enclosure would likely be up, right before the the major winter season, here towards the end of the year, with occupancy in summer of twenty twenty six. So roughly a a twelve month overall schedule. Again, tonight's action is, approval of the guaranteed packs max price amendment with RGM construction.
It does include the first alternate related to the precast stadium seating, and no other alternate is included at this time. With that, we'll take any questions from counsel. Councilor Ness. Thank you. What is the absolute last date for the second alternate to happen? I know the the contractors holding it open for sixty days, but if they come back at ninety days, is that gonna work or I'll leave? That's a good question. There there's no guarantee in their pricing after the sixty days. So roughly the the June,
would open up the potential for either a cost reduction or cost increase. And that's the dry land? The okay. Just so people listening that might not have no. It's fine. This is gonna get could get complicated. That's the dry land workout that is the, other alternate. Councilor Holmes. Thanks. Yeah. This is I just, wanna call attention to what was, in the supplemental the third supplemental memo, especially because there is a lot of disinformation that's been out in the community around operating costs. And so I think this is an opportunity for us to confirm that.
That I think, what's been quoted a lot is that we lose $300,000 a year in operating costs on the arena. And that is has that that's not accurate. So, mister Bennett, anything you can share about operating costs, where they where they've been, where they are, where we expect them to be in in '20 when this opens and beyond? Mayor, members of council. So in the in the supplemental memo, so in 2023, the ice arena had revenues of $217,000 and expenditures of around $316,000.
So about 95 $99,000 operating loss on that. And then 2024 was about a $75,000 operating loss. Now we know when we move into the new facility, that we're gonna have more efficiencies with the with the equipment, how the building is running, and how it is operating. We also know that our rates are near probably the, the mid midpoint of the big nine rates on comparable cities. So we really see us moving more probably to the to the middle to the upper part. So I really think we're gonna close that gap where we're really gonna be close
to operating neutral on the new facility. Thank you. Other questions? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I also had a question about operating losses, so thank you for that. I know it's really challenging with municipally owned, like, the pool and the arena to, have those be revenue neutral. So thank you for, attempting that. Other questions? Can you talk about the annual debt cost to taxpayers? That's another number that I've seen floated that is a wide number. So Ma'am, miss Consul, I may need Nick to weigh in on this or Ben to help.
I mean, I think the annual debt cost to a so the Northfield payment is, like, 1,484,000 is what the what the estimated annual impact is, over twenty years for the for the city. So that would be our debt obligation for twenty years for the facility. Okay. Great. Thank you. Other questions? Okay. Thank you for your presentation. We will now move to public comment. I have a number of cards. So we'll start with Ruth Crews. Oh, I I didn't see that it was on. Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Ruth Cruz. I live at 405 Juniper Avenue West. My husband, Perry, and I have lived in Northfield for over fifty years. We have been involved in the old Northfield Ice Arena since since since its inception. Perry skated with the senior men's team on the first night of ice in April 1976. In the early years, we skated as a family with our two children during open skate sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. When our son was eight years old, he brought home a flyer from school about the Northfield Hockey Association.
He asked to play hockey and that began my husband's thirty nine year career as a hockey coach in Northfield. He has coached all levels from the four year old Mini Mites to high school girls. Both our son and our daughter played hockey in the association for many years, then we helped establish the girls high school hockey program in 1996 when our daughter was a junior. Over the years, our son and daughter have coached or played hockey in their own communities. We live in Northfield we live in Minnesota,
excuse me. We need winter activities to keep our children busy and healthy. With climate change, it is almost impossible to keep an outdoor rink in skatable condition. One week, it is frozen ice. The next week, it is water, and then it refreezes into very rough ice that's not skatable. Northfield has strong hockey and skating programs with active and engaged coaches. We can't let good programs fail because there is no ice available in town. Over the past fifty years,
my husband and I have seen so many children blossom and flourish because of their experiences at the old Northfield Ice Arena. We hope that the new Northfield Community Ice Arena can keep that legacy going for at least fifty more years. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, I have Patrick Tomczyk. Patrick Tomczek, one two zero three Woodland Trail, Northfield. Interesting hearing what Mr. Bennett had to say, but I didn't see any part of it where how much it's going to cost the average homeowner, the average resident. Where is that? This report that came out from Ehlers was supposed to have all that done,
none of or at least not open to the public. I'll bring this attention to you again. I do this all the time, but most of the stuff on this page is true. And he's asking questions that you people don't want to tell us or give us. You don't want us to vote on it? You're just telling us, oh, just pay for it. The Northfield School District is pledging $250,000 a year. I asked Mr. Hillman, I said, where is that money coming from? He said, it's not going to cost the Northfield residences very much at all because it's going
to come from the school district. And I said, Mr. Hillman, do you realize that most of the people in Northfield School District live in Northfield? So you're costing us. So this thing that you're talking about here about running it, it's going to be probably close to $400,000 to $450,000 a year. Where is that extra money going to come from? That's $0.75 a day for every single resident in Northfield, including the baby that was born yesterday, already owes a buck and a half. This is outrageous for you to put this on $26,000,000
20 6 million dollars The land that you're talking about came from the Gleeson family and they are donating it. They're saying the value of it is $750,000 They can't give it away. They can't sell it. So they're going to give it to you and say it's worth $750,000 That takes the taxes away from it as well. This is just a boondoggle. Let us vote. We deserve that. Let us vote again and see what happens. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Tomczyk. Could you put the slide back up that shows the, cost to the average homeowner?
Here we are. Thank you. So the cost the tax estimated tax impact for a $350,000 residential homestead is, 214 annual $18 a month. Yeah. That is correct. Thank you. And our current losses are in the range of $75,000 to $100,000 and the anticipation is this new arena would be more efficient in terms of energy usage. All right. So next person is Carrie Carroll.
Good evening, all. Carrie Carroll, current, Executive Director of Northfield Shares, our Community Foundation. I'm actually very honored to be here tonight to speak to all of you and be here, what hopes to be a momentous occasion. As some of you may or may not know, Northfield Shares is really the only nonprofit organization in our area focused on building a long term financial foundation to support our community's vibrancy and vitality. So what we really do is we build endowment funds and partner with other organizations to build financial resources to support all those programs that really make our our community what it
is to live in today. We know we have a super vibrant active we've talked about Riverwalk. We've talked about Thursdays and so on and so forth. This is just one other area of vibrancy and activity and support and community available resources for our our residents and surrounding areas to enjoy. As a foundation, we love to partner with individuals, families, businesses, financial advisors, organizations to really match passion and philanthropy. And I cannot explain how true of an example this arena project has really come
to be. From everywhere from the NHS, the entire arena campaign, all the community members who have stepped up, all ages, I will tell you, as the recipient in the partnership, at the foundation, alumni of the program, relatives of the program, and everybody who's really committed to making sure that this comes to be. It's really truly inspiring to be part of this three way partnership or multiple organization partnership as a foundation. Our role is really to collect those donations that are coming forward from all angles of our community and beyond to invest and manage and have those assets ready to
go for when the, arena takes place building takes place. Excuse me. I'm convinced that this facility is not only going to be a great ICE facility, but also great facility for that scared me. Sorry. Great facility for so many others to use. I would only just echo, just add that I think it's more than just ice. I think it's really an event center at what it can be. Off season, the training room I'm talking about dry land training, but it's really a space, that I think can be used for so many more resources and events to happen in this community. So thank you all very much. Have a great night.
Thank you. Next is Philip Spenceley. Philip Spensley. Eight eight eight Canyon Valley Drive. I'm not a hockey player. I never have been. I'm simply a member of the community who is aware we have spent a lot of money needlessly in recent times and some needless projects are still on the table, but this one needs to remain on it. We know we need to expand economic development, and that requires investment. And a lot of people in the community have given and pledged a lot of
money toward this investment, not just hockey players or hockey parents, responsible citizens. This ice arena is more than about hockey. It's an investment in business beyond hosting hockey tournaments, figure skating events, competitions, old time Seniors League, other ice sports such as curling that will bring in dollars to local businesses as well as put heads on beds that are times that are often slow here in that regard. It will help protect school enrollments,
keeping students and their families from leaving to pursue opportunity elsewhere if there's not opportunity here. And with less state funding from fewer students, the demands on residents here to continue to provide the excellent education we're noted for will be even more difficult to sustain. It will provide opportunity for the broader community to enjoy skating as both a recreational exercise. As we said, outdoor rinks are not sustainable as the climate warms. Quality of life opportunities and amenities are important.
And businesses will decide where to locate and settle, so will residents. Sports and cultural facilities create an identity, a draw, increase civic pride and economic and social sustainability. If we don't build it, someone else will, and they'll get the benefits that we have the opportunity to make our own. So I know this proposal comes to us at a time that we are facing costs of an upgraded high school facility as well as needs to maintain and repair
the surfaces of our streets. But I know about economic investment and development, and this arena will help us better achieve the other two. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you. The last card I have is from Todd Bornhauser. Welcome back. It's great. I I hope I've built some street creds so I get a little bit more than the three minutes or two minutes. Good evening, mayors Lightfoot, city council members, and staff. My name is Todd Bornhauser of 1202 Bluestem Court, Northfield. You might know me as the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce past,
President, Executive Director. I'd like to make a few comments on just a few points. First, I was here in front of council approximately twenty three years ago as president and executive director of the Lakeville Area Chamber of Commerce, advocating for the construction of a new ice arena with, of course, less gray hair. I discussed the economic impact of a new arena from a tourism standpoint, the ability to attract more weekend tournaments, increase in hotel rooms used, heads and beds. I love that. Thank you. Restaurant usage, shopping, entertainment businesses,
yet twenty three years later, here we are still at Square 1. The arena is beyond the cost to salvage. Others have talked about the problems and challenges. I just like to expand the extreme safety issues of the stands in the arena. Lack of handrails, stairs that don't conform to building standards make it a death trap for people getting in and out of the stands, especially the elderly or to people with two left feet like myself. We are so fortunate that we've not had a person or a flaw resulting in a serious injury or death.
I hate to think what that lawsuit would have cost the city. We are fortunate, for the funding efforts of the Northfield Hockey Association. I find it somewhat ironic that some of our main donors, the Glenn Hassey family, the, Sawyer family, and others have that had businesses here at one point in time, lived in this community, and have left, but yet are coming back to donate to this project. It's pretty remarkable to for me. I also wanna, honor one person who's, elderly woman that's donating money. She didn't grow up here. She wasn't born here.
Her kids weren't born here. Her kids didn't graduate Northfield High School. But, she moved here thirteen years ago with her husband so she could, watch her grandkids play hockey. And yet she's donating money in honor of her husband who loved the Zamboni, wish she could be a Zamboni driver and loved to eat food. So be the concession stand. It's pretty around it's pretty it's pretty great story to talk about. And her only goal is that it actually gets built before she dies. The last thing I really wanna do, and I know I'm taking too much time,
this project really should be called about building a community recreation center. Yes. The major tenant will be the Northfield Hockey Association and the Northfield high school School for use as an ice arena. However, it has the capacity to to be so much more for community events, activities, and other recreational activities when not having ice in the facility. It's imperative that the city is aggressive in its marketing and promoting of using this
facility three hundred and sixty five days a year. Thank you for letting me go a little bit over. I appreciate it. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to comment? Alright. Seeing no one, I am looking for a motion from counsel. Councilor Beamer. I move that, agenda item 20 five-two 50 to consider the approval of the construction manager's guaranteed maximum price amendment after the bids of the new ice arena be approved. Thank you. Councilor Peterson White. Second. Councillor Beamer, would you like to start us off with comments?
Thank you. Kind of glad I don't have a two minute timer on this because I could probably go on for much, much longer than that. I grew up in this town. I'm 52 years old. I know the history of that arena. I've had many good friends, including Timothy Hazy, who's the son of, Glenn and Kay Hazy, who are generously, big donors for this project. That arena needs quite frankly, when I graduated high school in '91, we probably shouldn't have been playing hockey there at that point already. I ran a campaign,
just came off of a campaign for city council saying that I would do nothing to stand in the way of getting this arena done and that I would support this arena, and I fully intend to keep my keep my word. I I wanna make sure that this is for the kids. We have spent a lot of money around town for small percentages of the people, for the last bunch of years. And I think this is this is something that will, in all likelihood, get more usage. I reviewed the plans and the specs just like I did with the water treatment
plant. I could not pick it apart like I could the water treatment plant. I knowing what I know and the background that I have in construction, they they have that thing coming in pretty bare bones. The things that the things that are in there such as the solar array, I know it looks like an expensive ticket item. Cedar Creek Energy, I work with them at work as well. Actually doing a project with them up in Orono at the moment, and their numbers are good. They they tell us that those panels will pay for themselves in eight years and
that we're gonna be I think the number was 1,940,000.00, somewhere right in that neighborhood. If I'm wrong, Dave, correct me. But that's that's a huge savings over the lifetime of those panels, on a building that is going to be built, to energy standards that exceed energy code, all of which will lower our operating costs in that building, along with the solar array and everything else. I fully support this project. I ran a campaign saying that I would,
and I'm a man of my word, and I will continue to support this project. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Councilor Peterson White? Thank you. I've had a lot of opportunities to comment on this issue over the many years that I've been here talking about it. So I'll I'll try to be brief. I am pleased to see this moving forward today. I, I think that, there I I wanna I wanna build a Northfield of the future where we're building things that are good for young people and that young people need in order to thrive and be healthy and active and engaged with their friends and other meaningful grown ups
in their lives. And this is one of those things. And, one of as as counselor Beamer alluded to, one of the critiques that we hear is that this only serves a small portion of the population. And I that's what we have to do in order to serve youth in our community. We have to do many, many things that serve all different kinds of young people. And, young people who do all kinds of different things. And this is one thing. It's a big thing. It's a very expensive thing. But I think that when, you know, I've really reflected on this decision for such a long time, and, I I think reasonable people can disagree about this project.
And I understand that that to many people, it may not seem like the right investment. To me, where I have landed from my own decision, is that, I think this is a worthy investment in building the future Northfield that I wanna see which is one that has a really great, not extravagant, but solid ice arena for our young people and for anybody else who wants to skate. I'm a terrible skater, so it won't be me, but maybe my kids will. We'll see. But, and and that that's kind of, you know, when when I really was staring down this choice of,
like, do I wanna vote for a Northfield that doesn't have this resource at all, which I think is the only rational alternative, really, to building a new arena, or do I wanna live in a do I wanna build a future Northfield that does have this resource? Then I think option b is the right one for me. And I think I also just want to acknowledge that, like, this is, as I said, reasonable people can disagree about this. We're living in a cultural moment, maybe more than a moment, wherein there are a lot of influences trying to convince each and every one of us that people who don't see things the same way that we do or who
disagree with us about an up or down vote like this are foolish or uninformed or worse. And I I just wanted to speak up and resist that actively because I some of I disagree about this issue with some of my dearest friends. I may disagree about this issue with some of my colleagues here. I don't know yet. We've all been engaging with it for a long time. And, I I would just I I want my colleagues to understand that I I think that this is a complex issue. It's an expensive project.
It's not an easy decision, and I want the public to understand that as well. Well, from your personal perspective, it may be really obvious what we should do. There's about there's a large proportion of the community to whom the opposite is obvious, and those people are not foolish or uninformed or villainous. They just disagree with you. And, so I'm hoping that we can move forward here. And, I think this is gonna be a really positive thing for the community, and I hope we can get it done. I think it'll be great. And no decision that we make here really is as obvious as it might seem from the outside.
And this one, I would say least of all, that I have voted on here. So, thank you all for being here. And, really thanks to the many, many, many, many people who have been involved in bringing this this far. Thanks. Counselor Holmes. Thanks. I feel like, counselor Peterson White, like took the words that I was writing all day, but I'm still I wrote them, so I'm still gonna echo some of that. I think especially the point is, one that I anticipate we're gonna have a split vote on this because the community is split. I myself have been split.
I can see both sides of this argument and it is not as simple. Anyone out there who says, It's easy. It's this. It's that. It's black. It's white. It's not. When you sit where we're sitting it's very difficult and there's so much that we have to consider. And I think what's really important is where you sit when you sit when we're sitting, it's all about the policy and the decisions we make and how we think about things. And I know that what I'm gonna say here is probably not gonna change. In fact, I'm not saying these things to change any any of my colleagues' minds. I respect how you're going to vote. I understand. I'm probably not going to change anyone else's minds, but I want people to know where I'm coming from,
especially the people who have emailed and I haven't yet emailed you back. This is consider this part of my response. Okay? It's really dangerous when we set things up as win lose, good bad. So if we look at this vote as winning or losing or being good or bad, as Councilor Peterson White also mentioned, it makes it really hard. That's really bad policy, and it makes it really hard for us to do our jobs. And so when I get an email from someone saying demanding, if you represent me, you're gonna vote no. And then the next email that comes in my inbox,
if you represent me, you're gonna vote yes, we would never be able to vote. Like, literally, there's no way I can tell where things stand because people are so dug into their positions. So what do we have to go on? I think it's appropriate that we are looking at the comprehensive plan tonight when we look at our it's a return to our mission, our vision, and our values. And yes, those could be interpreted very different ways, and you could take each side of this argument and apply it. But I think that that's what's grounded me in being able to to make the
decision that I have tonight. I think while there is a lot of uncertainty, what is abundantly clear to me is we really need to double down and expand our tax base. This you'll hear this from me a lot from I think all of us a lot that the burden is becoming really high for property owners in town and business owners in town. And so if this project moves forward tonight, it then changes things for me in the future in terms of how we can look at things. And when we we talk a lot about wants and needs,
most of the things that we have and there's there's a handful of things. I'm oversimplifying it, but most of the things that we talk about are wants. There are some needs within them. This is a want. However, I feel like it's a really important want that gets to the fabric and the heart of our of our community. And I think that in the future, without an expanded tax base, we might have to put some of those things on hold. Those wants have to wait until we can better share and disperse that burden. This project is a now or never in my mind. We can't we've waited so long.
We have to make the decision it's either now or never. We either build an arena with more partnership than has been in any former arena, proposals in the past. We continue to honor the value that we have of human connection and providing a space for that to continue just like we provide and subsidize through the pool, our other athletic facilities, the library, the NCRC Building, and the tenants some of the tenants in there. Or we don't. We decide not to build and we effectively end a really valued community program.
Some people think that this program isn't the responsibility of the city. It's the school district. It's the NHA. It's its own private thing, but I and so it should be really easy to kill it off. But I don't see it that way. Just as the pool and the library and other community sports and and NCRC, say, fifty North, offer human connection for some but not for everybody, I think only the city can foster this human connection through this facility in a way that is more equitable and inclusive. Will everyone take advantage or participate in it?
No. Will I? I'm some I'm maybe a decent skater, but we're not a hockey family. So no, I probably am not going to be you leveraging this, this building to its maximum potential. But I think that I value that human connection. And that's something that is core to us here in Northfield. And I think that's the fabric of our community. And I think pulling on this thread creates a hole. And I don't think it's a hole that could be mended. If we don't build it or read it out,
if we vote we vote no, I don't think we build one ever. And I don't know that we can bend that hole. If we expand our tax base in the future, though, I think any holes we create from the financial burden this might cause then gets dispersed. It might we might not feel it right away, but once new businesses are here in town and we're able to have that additional funding, it disperses it. It helps mend some of those other holes. But this other hole of not having not having this valued community institution will always be there.
And I am not confident in being the person to say that that's okay because I don't think it is. So, I think with that, I am I I don't want to create financial burden for anyone. I know that that is real, and I know that people are deeply feeling that. And I think we have to look at the long term future of what's what is that fabric of future Northfield? What is important to our community? And I, I stand behind my previous votes tonight in in support of this project.
Thank you. Kelter Ness. Thank you. I too will have not was not involved in hockey. The only involvement I had is when I was friends with the son of the Saint Olaf hockey coach when they played their games in an outside arena in Ames Park. And guess who got to flood the arena when it was ten below zero? His son and me, we would go down there and flood the rink because the city didn't want to. But but I gotta look at somebody. And Dave Halk had a perfect line.
I swam for him at Saint Olaf. He said, why would you wanna freeze perfectly good water? But I've been as most of you know, I've been in favor of this for a long time. I knew a lot of the people who were involved in building the existing arena, and, miss Cruz said it opened in '76. I think I graduated from Saint Alphons in '78. And they said at that time, we need a new arena. So it's been on the table for a long time. I think it is time to do it, and I will be very happy to support it.
Thank you. Counselor Sokup. Thanks. Yeah. This one has been really tough for me, and I've gone back and forth a lot. So, thinking about tonight's meeting has been on my mind for quite a while. At our last meeting where we discussed this, I voted yes to see the final project and actually know what the impact to residents would be. And the impact to an average household is, really significant in my opinion. So I'm really struggling with how to vote even in the moment.
I really appreciate everyone who's worked on this and showed up, and all the meetings that we've had where we talked about this, where youth have showed up and talked about how much hockey has meant to them or skating has meant to them has been really impactful, and has probably caused me to vote and think in different ways this entire process. So, yeah, I'm really I'm really struggling, kind of in the moment with this. It's not, ultimately something when I think about you know, people might think, like, for example, I voted the or I supported the water treatment plant,
which honestly has a similar monthly impact. And so some may think it's hypocritical for me to vote against the ice arena. However, like, a few of, counselors have touched on already. You know, we all come to this from different perspectives and weigh projects on, case by case basis. But, also, for me, it's really important, to keep the bigger picture in mind when we vote on these things because they add up very, very quickly, and they add up. That number gets really large.
And I'm really concerned that this $18 a month impact to an average household is going to prevent other things from going forward that will have more of an impact to all residents in town. I I do think I'm, I do think there's well, I'll just I'll just say that, I don't personally feel like I can support a project that that does not, in my mind, serve enough people in town. I really believe that there should have been a larger private funding component,
although I understand that there's a limited number of resources that that can be fundraised. And I know it's a been a huge feat to fundraise as much as you all have, and I think it's incredible. However, when I think about the bigger picture of cost to residents in Northfield, this to me doesn't is does not make financial sense. And I and I'm weighing that in the moment knowing all of the arguments I can make to myself from myself about all of the benefits of having a new
ice arena in town, and all of the things that the ice arena would bring. I am deeply concerned about people like me who are fortunate financially compared to a lot of a lot of residents here and how incredibly hard it is to afford, living here. I know the city has a very small portion of that burden, which I would love if more people understood. But everything we add makes it harder for people who grew up here and want
to be here to stay here. I think about housing and the housing crisis we're facing across the country and how how that impacts people in Northfield. I grew up across the street from a hockey family. I grew up with, one of their sons who is deeply involved in hockey and was obsessed and and never I never really was into it, but I I would be a goalie for him, you know, to be nice. But, you know, I talked to, his parents who are both now retired and on Social Security and disability.
And, you know, they're like, I don't I don't know how we're gonna be able to stay here. You'd think that they're being a hockey family all through his, upbringing would be like, yes. Arena. We you know, they but the I'm just bringing that up to say, like, this is a really nuanced conversation. They know we need a new ice arena. They could have told you that when I was a kid. But if they were up here at the dais, they would both vote no. So this is a really I appreciate, my fellow counselors bringing up how difficult this decision has been and how it's absolutely
not black and white. And I I hope it's not seen as it being about whether or not you support hockey. However, I understand that if the arena doesn't go forward, that has a real, real impact. So, yeah, this is really tough, but, I don't know how I can support the the cost of the arena on, all residents in town given the increase in costs that we're looking at in other areas, at the same time. Thank you. I appreciate all the comments around the dais,
especially the comments about regional people disagreeing, and the comments about split votes. My feeling on split votes is, that they're not a bad thing, that they're representative of the community. And I think you'll see that here tonight. So, I have always been opposed to a municipally owned ICE arena. When I was previously on the council, I voted to send, the ice arena to the voters at the time, and it was voted down. So I also have a policy around, nonessential capital projects and sending those to the voters.
I was on the council when we were weighing, the police facility and the ICE Arena, and I was comfortable sending the police facility to bonding because that's an essential capital project. And I was comfortable sending the ICE Arena to the voters as a nonessential project. That's still where I'm standing. I would prefer that the ICE Arena were not municipally owned, that it would add to the tax base. I also have an issue with some of the figure some of the money the money involved in some of the figures.
I'm seeing a $1,600,000 economic impact to the community at a $1,500,000 cost to the tax payers annually. That's a pretty slim margin. I am hopeful that the operating losses will be lower than we're currently experiencing. And one thing that I think is, it's hard to talk about and it's hard to touch on is, we've talked about the school district and the loss of of families, loss of hockey families potentially if we don't build an arena. But it's much harder to quantify how many families for this it would create a
financial hardship, or they may not consider moving to Northfield at all. So, I think we all are up here holding various tensions and values, and so I really appreciate the conversation around the dais and the different viewpoints. It looks like this will move forward tonight if I have my math correct. So if this does move forward, I will be a % behind it and appreciate the support of the community. I appreciate the value engineering and the work done by staff and the impact the solar panels will have on,
keeping this building, costs more reasonably as climate change happens and the temperature rises, it will be, more challenging to create that artificially cool atmosphere inside the building. So, even though we are putting in more energy efficient infrastructure, climate change is going to continue and it will be, we will need more energy to cool, that indoor ice. So, my vote will be against this, project. But as I say, if this project goes forward, I will be all in and 100% behind it.
Would anyone like to speak again? Yes, Councilor Ness. I just have one point of personal privilege. Yes. I'd like to introduce in the audience a very interested guest we have with us. He's current mayor of Faribault, Minnesota, the honorable Tom Spooner. He said one of his council meetings was canceled for tonight, and instead of suffering from withdrawal, he decided to come here. So I I I hope it was worth it. Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Counselor Beamer. There we go. Thank you. As you noticed, I may have been a little bit emotional the first time I spoke,
so, I cut my speech a little short, so I could gather myself a little bit. I talked with a resident in town here on Saturday, after we shared a cup of coffee. And he put it in he put this in a really good perspective for me, because trust me when I say that that, this is something that I have probably lost a little bit of sleep over. You know, having been a swimmer and a football player and a baseball player and a track guy, I
you wouldn't wanna see me with a pair of skates on my feet. Trust me. The the, you know, the ice arena, I knew it need you know, we needed to do something with the facility that we have, and I it's hard to put good money at at bad money. And he brought up a great point to me on Saturday. And if of any of the true team sports, basketball, you have five players on the court. Your bench might be if you have a really good team, you might be three or four deep. Otherwise, the rest of the kids sitting on that bench,
unless you have a huge lead or you're getting your butts kicked, you're probably never gonna see the court. Hockey, on the other hand, you have four to five lines of five kids. And generally speaking, that fifth line even sees some ice time during a during a game. So if you wanna look at it from an inclusivity standpoint, I would I would argue that hockey is probably one of the more inclusive sports out there. More kids play it than they do basketball or baseball or anything like that as
well. I I know this is gonna be hard for for the residents, and that's probably, one of the reasons why I'm a little bit emotional over it. I've seen my emails. Thank you for everyone that has emailed me, regardless of your viewpoint. I think I have responded to the majority of you, if not, as, councilor Holmes stated, consider this your your response. But, thank you all for your for caring about our city. I am hopeful that this goes through,
and and I understand the impact that it's gonna have. Trust me. I pay taxes too. Thank you for allowing me to speak again. Mhmm. Absolutely. Anyone else like to speak again? Alright. Well, excuse me. This this this motion just needs a simple majority. Yes? It's the next one that needs the super. Okay. All right. All those in favor of approval of the construction manager guaranteed maximum price amendment after bid of new ice arena, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign.
Aye. Aye. Roll call, please. Councilor Holmes? Yes. Councilor Ness? Yes. Councilor Peterson White? Yes. Councilor Silke? No. Councilor Beamer? Yes. Mayors Weifel? No. Motion carries. Alright. That brings us to the consider resolution approving the donation agreement with Northfield Hockey Association for the new ice arena. And that is mister Bennett. Yep. Mayor, members of council. So this is an item that will require, five votes for approval accepting donations. So, really, this this really gets at the the partnership with the Northfield Hockey Association.
This agreement lays out the the donation related to the site work including along with the land transfer of the completed site ready to go for the building. In addition, there's the template naming rights agreement. So we'll have naming rights agreement that tie back to the funding related to the arena naming, some high school and youth locker room naming, concession stands, and maybe some potential others. I know, the Hockey Association, the Foundation, they're still actively working to raise money, and sometimes things are still coming in. So we'll be working to to bring those agreements forward.
So I think that's really all that I have. It just is kind of the really accepting of the donations, related to to that work, and there'll be more coming forward once we with with the naming rights agreements. Alright. Thank you. Any questions? No? Alright. Is there a motion from the dais? Councilor Holmes. I move resolution twenty twenty five dash 49, the resolution on donation agreement with Northfield Hockey Association for the new ice arena. Councilor Beamer? I'll second. Alright. There's been a motion and a second to approve the donations. Anyone wanna discuss that?
I just I'll just say, because I didn't say this in my original comments that, thank you to the, dedicated team who's been working really hard on, I mean, for several years since this plan has come forth, we've talked about will there be donations and what will it be. And so I think, bringing that to fruition, I know, was a a lot of work. So thank you for your efforts on this. Yeah. Thank you. Councilor Beamer. I'd like to second that. The I I really would like to thank the Hockey Association, the City of Dundas, the Northfield School District,
and the rest of my colleagues. This has been a long time coming. Thank you to all of the donors. Thank you to Anabec Construction. Thank you to the Ozzy family and the Sawyer family and every single person that, that has put in the time, the energy, and the effort to to make this happen. It's been a very long time coming. Thank you. Alright. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion carries. I'm recommending, what, five,
six? Let's go with a six minute break. We've earned it. Okay. I think we are approaching our six minutes. Seems like good night, mister Spencey. Alright. I see Alright. It looks like our the folks who are here for our next agenda item are getting themselves ready in the back of the room. Okay. So next up for us is a really exciting opportunity to consider the consideration of the comprehensive plan 2045 adoption, and we will be receiving our staff report from mister Riley.
Awesome. Alright. Hi. Thank you, Mayor Seifull. It's a pleasure to be here, And I am joined by, planningcom planning commission chair Bill Coleman and former planning commission chair and steering committee vice chair or co chair Betsy Buckheit. I'm gonna quickly go through the presentation here and then, let them be available for questions should you have any. So as you are aware, a comprehensive plan is a twenty year vision for the future development of any community. And in this case, we're talking about Northfield,
whose current plan dates back to 02/2008. So the requested action from you tonight is a formal adoption by resolution, which is in your packet. And the planning commission, recommended this to you at their last meeting on April 17. This has been a long process. We started the process in 2023. Part of my, work program was to complete the comp plan by the end of twenty twenty three, having been hired in 2022. But this is a close second because I think it's a really cool plan,
and a really, really was a really excellent process and, fun engagement that we had, both as a planning commission and a steering committee and then being out in the community and talking to, hundreds of people, which took place over the course of a year. The final drafting was done or preliminary drafting was done by the consultant team, at the end of the fall. And then the planning commission itself, took over, finalizing the draft that came through, public process with a public hearing in December of twenty twenty five and a second public hearing in January. We've been working on producing that document,
producing the digital versions of the maps, which will still have some additional refinement. The planning commission, as I noted, recommended adoption last month, and I'm hoping to get the same from you today. This is a vision, mission, and values of the city as a whole, and the vision, mission, and guiding values of the comprehensive plan align directly, and sort of sit within that overarching vision of, the city established through the strategic planning process that, administrator Mardick brought with him. Now two cycles of strategic planning at go. He'll be in the midst of the third cycle.
The Northfield's triple bottom line is shown here on, on this slide. That's the environment, the economy, and equity. I think we heard about all of those things, in the ice arena conversation as well. One of the most fun parts of this was coming into sort of a half, a half a year's, set of drawings, by local artist Rocky Casilla who created this Dear Northfield series of posters. There were six of them. The original idea was to have 12, but the 12 never manifested. And I thought, well, why not ask have Rocky ask some of the same people the question,
about looking into the future. What, what can Northfield be like if all of the goals in the comprehensive plan are in twenty years, what that look like. So you've got all 12 of those panels here in both Spanish and English. And then we've got the the way the plan goes together. This is the cover page, and then the vision says where what we wanna be. It it responds to guiding values. Strategies and the plan and the policy topics go together to achieve the outcomes, and then we implement. And that's the most fun thing because that's when we get through our laundry list of work plans to do both as a planning commission,
but also with the EDA, the HRA, and the city council working together with the other boards and commissions. General policy direction is set forward in chapter two, which was all developed directly from community input. Hundreds of, meetings with people where they are, that found the formed the foundation of the plan. And as I often say, you know, you ask enough people the same kinds of questions, they generate the same kinds of ideas that professionals in the planning and housing and development sphere come up with. We all know what good towns and good communities look like. We just have different ways of talking about them.
And this kind of puts all those different ways of talking about them together in into a shared language that we can use to talk about it together. One of the most, I think, innovative things about this plan, which was an idea brought forward by the steering committee co chairs and the former planning commission chair, Betsy Buckheit, which is uniting, some of the most important things together rather than looking at them alone. So that's connecting land use and transportation, connecting how we get to the things that we want to do. So planning for accessibility, prioritizing compact development,
targeting those areas of underinvestment that are, evident in the community, and then designing, as part of North Hills triple bottom line, that resiliency and sustainability. And then chapter four does the same thing. It connects housing and economic development, which gets to not only making sure that people who want to live in Northfield can live in Northfield, but also ensuring that those who do live in Northfield can stay here throughout hardships. And that involves not just producing and ensuring safe housing for folks, but also supporting, local businesses, local jobs, and as noted earlier today,
improving the tax based diversity and, growing the share of the taxes paid by the commercial industrial land as compared to the residential land. And again, then chapter five connects municipal services. So roads, water, trees, parks, all those things together with sustainability and resilience. So setting the stage for updating some of those future plans, that the public works department tends to oversee, including the future transportation network, and setting the stage for additional sustainability work that can take advantage of some of the, more modern ideas and and some of the things that have changed.
Because a lot has really changed in the short time since the climate action plan has been adopted in terms of energy efficiency, the access to to access to equipment, to be more sustainable and to think differently or maybe more critically about, how we incorporate, sustainability into infrastructure planning and then budgeting, which leads me to the implementation chapter, which really tries to connect the comprehensive plan with the strategic plan and the capital improvement plan very clearly along with budgeting, as described in state statute as a recommended approach for municipalities to approach those things.
And it is designed to dovetail and align with the strategic plan. So you have a comprehensive plan that has a list of sort of outcomes, that can be, used to select what the strategic plan outcomes might be and to make those things go together. And then you can align your budget process with those as well. So, this is the wrong next step slide, but, we the plan has been recommended to you for adoption. We have a draft of an online accessible web document. The printable document that you have in your, packets, is designed for print only,
and there are some minor, changes that need to be made, and a couple of things that I think might come up today. The there'll be an executive summary that will be a graphical, accessible and translated, document that can be, printed for as a keepsake or, we can hand out, attached to things. That's still under development by the city's communications team. But the web based version is intended to be the official version, and the print document was crafted in order to have a good parameters around which to I to set up that online document. And, so the substance will not change between the printed document in your packet and the
online document. The online document will just be more accessible and can be translated, into any language available through the website. Some of the ways we intend to use the plan, are to put together from community development standpoint anyway, a more standardized staff report and presentation template that includes comp plan conformance, items in it that could be used by any of the bodies that have to do that. So that's not just the planning commission and the preservation commission. That's also the EDA and the HRA in certain sick cases and also for you. Step one is really redesigning chapter 34, that's the land development code.
And first, returning it back to its original moniker, which is the zoning code. And then, making it so that we can be much more flexible with our development, procedures and processes and make them a little bit more clear and more efficient for everybody. And work plans for the community development boards and commissions. And there's a big thank you that needs to happen here, which is to all the community members who participated, whether they gave time, by coming in person to give a comment or through an intercept, kind of engagement, whether that was on Carleton's campus or at,
Kwik Trip or at Don's Corner Bar. We had folks going all over the place to talk to people. We met with the disability community, met with age friendly Northfield, and I'll be meeting again with them on the fourteenth. And then of course the steering committee, which included people from all sorts of different parts of Northfield's ecosystem, the planning commission, which crosses crossed over two sets of planning commissioners, the city council, same thing, all the boards and commissions and community groups, city staff and the consultant team, and then the design work by the city's communications department,
and, photographs from all sorts of people, and, of course, Rocky's artwork. I don't know if Bill or Betsy have anything they wanna add, but you can always reach out to me for questions. And I think that's it for me. Do you? There. They're very amenable at this time at this point. So that It's nice. It's not even that late in the evening. Alright. Questions from the council? I have one. I have a question about the map on page 45, I believe, that the cars map, and it talks about household percentage of households without cars. And I, raised a concern about this map months ago before now legitimately before you were in
the map phase. So, and I was surprised to see it still in the plan, as presented because to me, not all of our residents live in households, and it doesn't appear to include the college students, which about 80% don't have cars. And we know that the colleges support our transit system, and it's widely used by, 5,000 members of our community, to get to work and volunteer and shop, that don't have cars. So I'm I'm my question is, is it valuable in its form? Do you is there is there a reason it's still in there in that form?
And if it were removed, would it have dire consequences to the plan? Thank thank you for the question, Mayor. I I, I don't think that it would have dire consequences for the plan to take it out. It exists in the format in which it does because the only sort of, useful and and continuously evaluable data comes from the Census Bureau, and they only calculate households with cars. They don't look at people living in group quarters, and that's what every student Right. Is unless they're living in a off campus house.
Right. And then some students might actually count themselves with their parents because while they might be located here in Northfield on April 1 at the decennial census, their parents so there's some Right. So that's that's I don't think it would harm the plan to take it out. The language in the plan describes that we need a more robust transit system that is accessible to everybody without a car, and it does list out those people. So I think that if, we take it out, it's not a big problem from a policy standpoint or an app or a grant making. Find a,
yeah, college ace class that could get us a Northfield centric map to replace that one. One of the things I was thinking about asking Brianna to do as part of the set of interactive maps is to she can pull all of the census data and then people could actually play with the demographic data that we wanted them to play with within the interactive map, but that doesn't need to be attached to the approval process for the document itself. Okay. And and then my other question was about the natural I'm I'm a big map person. So my other question was about the natural resources inventory map.
And you said that it it wasn't updated, which is fine because it's the hydric soil soils are still where they were. But it's since it's not in the plan, if I want to consider that as I'm decision making, how do I I it's linked somewhere? How does that work? Similar to the, thank you, mayor. Similar to the transportation, and wastewater and water planning that's from the 02/2008 series and the updates that the public works department has done to those plans. Those maps are available in the interactive map section,
and we can we can certainly add the natural, lands to that section as well. So it's all there kind of with infrastructure. And and as those plans get updated, then that online interactive map can be updated with that too. And that way, you don't have to look in more than one place because those things are not disappearing. They still exist. This just sets the policy direction. Great. Thank you. Counselor Holmes? Just to that point, about the natural resources resources inventory, so great to have it with the interactive maps, I think, but then it is also in the document. I found it on page one thirty eight in the table of implementation of,
like, other plans that are associated. So it is also linked in there too. And because we had been just we had been talking before this, and I was like, oh, I don't know. And so then I just did a search and found it. So that is so it is also in the document too. So it doesn't just so it points back to that as well. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. Thank thank you. I look forward to your conversation. This was a really it was a hard and, long process, but it I think result we have a really great result to work from, and I appreciate your patience with,
me and the steering committee and the consultant team. So thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone in the public who would like to comment? I don't have any cards. Okay. We will move on to, I'm looking for a motion to, adopt the comprehensive plan 02/1945. Counselor Holmes. I move resolution 2025 dash zero five zero, considering the comprehensive plan of 2045 adoption. Thank you. Counselor Peterson White. Second. Alright. Thank you. Discussion. Counselor Holmes. Sure. I, just want to say thank you to staff,
to planning commission members, and, steering committee members who have well and everyone who's been engaged in this, but particularly staff and planning commission members steering committee members who have done a lion's share of this work. It's as Mr. Riley said, it's been no small feat. And after spending lots of time in the draft documents, seeing it with the visuals, and it makes it more of a living document. I mean, it just makes it more real. So I just wanna congratulate you on
on all of that work and bringing us a product that is really high quality. And I think what we deserve as a community and and and something that can help us reach those aspirations. I guess I have a question. Yes. If, if because the mayor mentioned that that map. If if you would like to an amendment to be made. Yes, I would. Okay. Then, I can make that amendment now. Yes? Because we've already moved and seconded. I'd like to offer an amendment that
well, I guess before I offer this amendment, do is there other, I guess, opinions on council in terms of removing the map? Point of order. I think mister Hood is online. I'm not so certain that the maker of the original motion can amend the original motion. Alright. Well, okay. Well, then I botched that. Alright. He's on. We found an offer. I'll move to them and, by taking out the map on page 45 related to car user Car ownership. Car ownership. Thank you.
And I'll second that. I can second amendment motions and amendments to emotions. Okay. So now we're discuss oh, hello, Chris Hood. Did we do that correctly? Maricato. Yes, you're fine. Okay. Thank you. All right. So now we are discussing the amendment to the motion first. So, councilor Soukup, you are the maker of the amendment. Would you like to say anything? And then I took a bite of a candy bar. I don't have anything further to say. I support taking out the map, for all the reasons you stated, mayor. Yeah. Thank you. And as the seconder,
I'll just say, I I'm not opposed to eventually replacing it with something, but I'm concerned about leaving it in in its current form that it, it may not accurately reflect the transit needs of the community the way that it's presented. So that's my my concern. Other comments on that? Okay. All those in favor of the amendment, which would be removing the car ownership map, I think it's on page 45, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. So that's amendment, has been approved. Now we're back to discussing the original motion,
which is to approve the comprehensive, plan. Anyone else? Anyone else wanna councilor Peterson White. Yes. I just wanna thank everyone who worked on this. It's as you I mean, as you all know, it's an incredible number of people who contributed to this. But most of all, the committee, worked really hard and staff did as well, to to bring this to this point. It's an incredible document. It's I've been looking forward to approving a new comp plan for Northfield since I first got on the council, and it's a it's a great plan. And, I, I just think it's gonna be incredibly useful in moving in moving us forward into
the future that all North Hielders want and deserve. So thank you. Counselor Ness? Thank you. I've talked to some contractors who have said the plan generally says please build in Northfield, but if you build in Northfield, we're gonna add rules, regulations, sustainability, building policy, etcetera, etcetera, and all it does is add to the cost of the building, we're not interested. So on their behalf, I cannot support this plan. We're looking for contractors to come and build stuff in Northfield. Then we put all the rules in front of them.
They can go 10 miles in either north, south, east, west and not have to deal with those. So and that's what most of them said they will do. Thank you. Councilor Slocum. I just wanna say thank you to, staff, especially mister Riley and, the steering committee as well as especially the planning commission and, Betsy Buckheit, and Tracy Heisler who co chaired the steering committee. I I, was on the steering committee. However, I think the huge and incredible amount of work between mister Riley,
the co chairs, and the planning commission, and the consultants took place over a span of a year and a half, two. It it was a huge amount of time because this, and and I feel like the document that was created, is worthy of the time that it took. There there are a lot of different opinions in Northfield about what the future of Northfield should be, and I feel like you it would be so easy to create a document that only took into account, you know, 10% of those views.
And I feel like when I read this, I don't I don't agree with 100% of it, but I don't think anyone would. But I think that everyone can see themselves in it. And I think that that is really, really difficult to do in general and especially in Northfield. So I I'm just really in awe of the work that you all did, to get this to the point that it's at. I think it it made our strategic planning process, better. I'm I just remember joining the planning commission and reading the 02/2008 plan and thinking like,
this is this is really beneficial to read, but I feel like it needs to be updated. And then I went to my first planning commission meeting, and we all talked about how without me saying anything. But everyone was like, yeah, man. We really need a new comprehensive plan. So it's just been it's been, an honor to watch you all, really spearhead this and take so many different people's views into account, ones that you don't necessarily agree with. And I feel like that it all showed up, and it holds kind of that tension of,
like, what people think about when they think about Northfield changing, which can be scary for a lot of people here. I don't think it dictates that we change in a certain way at all or that it imposes a certain way of of, changing the community here. I think it leaves it very open to if enough if people want to be engaged, they can find a way to use a comprehensive plan to argue their point in a way that serves Northfield regardless of what, kind of viewpoint you're coming from because,
the document just really, I feel like it just really successfully holds a lot of different, a lot of different communities here, together. So I just I'm I'm just really proud of it. I'm excited to use it, and become even more familiar with it. I'm really excited that there'll be an interactive online version. I think that's great. But I'm also excited to have a printed version in, like, a three ring binder. I think that'll be really cool. So, yeah, I'm rambling at this point, but I'm just really happy about it. And I I personally think it will be a tool to create more growth here
in the ways that are well thought out and and really considered. And I think that's a testament to the work that the planning commission does. And so thank you so much. Thank you. Councilor Beamer. Thank you, mayor. Before I get into what I what I'm going to say, I wanna make sure that I thank Betsy, thank Jake. I know how passionate you guys are about this, And thank you to everybody else that put all the time and effort in there. However, I don't disagree with councilor Ness. I've read it. I've got notes all over the place in here.
I don't think this will surprise Jake at all. It probably won't surprise Betsy either because I have voiced my concerns with it already. There's areas throughout the plan, where I think we could have prioritized a little bit better. There's areas in the plan that I see wearing my contractor brain, that read as though as Brad as Brad, had mentioned from some of the other, that from other contractors that he's talked to. Hey. Come to Northfield,
but but but, I worry about that. There's verbiage in there. To me, a comp plan is is a guiding document, and I there's verbiage within the plan that make it seem in some aspects restrictive. It puts limits on things. It it restricts you from doing this. It restricts you from, there's an example in there. It was just refreshing with it, about prior the priority growth areas infill focus on infill first,
and then expand. The bottom line is we put verbiage like that in there. That in there, it could be misinterpreted by somebody looking to come here into town with a business, and they just decide to go, as Brad stated, 10 miles south, 10 miles east, 10 miles west, or 10 miles north, where they don't have to deal with that. To my knowledge, we have a we have a climate action plan that is in place. We have a climate action plan that is working. We implement it whenever possible.
I read through the plan. I can't go more than a page or a page and a half without seeing climate action. This it seems way too climate focused for a city that's already got a plan that's in place that appears to be working, and we do a lot of things in here based off of that climate action plan. To me, it seems really, really, really climate focused, probably more so than, hey. Let's hurry up and find some businesses focused. Hey. Let's hurry up and figure out how to get affordable housing here into town focused.
Those are the big ticket items. To me, those should be the first things that we see in this in this comp plan, and they're way at the back. I will be voting no. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. It's hard. It's, there's a lot here. And, so I'm just I was just trying to jot down a few of my, favorite, highlights from the plan. Also share in the gratitude of all the folks who worked on this plan and brought it to us, who went into the community, so many, engagement opportunities and opportunities to,
talk about. I was at the one in the library, and we talked a lot about the barrier that is Highway 3 as it cuts through town. And it was, helpful to talk about that at a community scale, and I appreciated that. I will say, I have talked to a few developers, and they are leaning into the density and mixed use, that's offered up in the plan as as as an option. So, I'm excited about that. I think when I was on the HRA, we would talk about where is there an empty lot, to put house or put affordable housing.
And now it's more, every lot is in play. You know, we've seen people take their single family home and turn it into a a triplex where they're getting some rental income on top of staying in their in their home. So, I am really excited about the opportunities that it offers. I appreciate the intersectionalities, that it lifts up. Transportation and housing should be planned together. It seems so obvious, and yet we didn't have that in the previous plan. And that was something that really jumped out at me when I read this plan. I also appreciate the equity focus throughout the plan,
and I appreciate the climate focus also throughout the plan. I think the, and I'll just mention that the one climate y thing that I'll lift up is the blue green infrastructure and managing our stormwater through more trees and native plants. They are a huge resource, and I appreciate the, the amount of dedication that they get in the new comp plan. And I like that it's I feel like when I read it, it challenged me to be better. And so, I'm gonna hold on to that, and as we go forward and use this plan.
So, yes, counselor Peterson White. No. You're fine. I was wrapping I was wrapping up. You know you already know my you know my body language so well. I I think that, I I wanna speak to a tension that's been raised here between, the, I I mean, I I think that the the content of this plan came from public input. It came from some deep listening to North Yielders of all stripes in all different kinds of places about what they want Northfield to be like in the future in 2045.
And, as an elected official, I just think, well, I have to respect that. Right? And there are parts of it that I think of that. That's pretty much, you know, if you just ask me independently to describe the Northfield I wanna see in 2045, that matches what I think. And there are other parts I'm like, oh, well, that's thought provoking. And, but I I I think my take is that we we have to respect the work of the committee and the public in putting this plan together. And, it should reflect the diversity of perspectives that went into it, and I think it does. I think one of the one of the false dichotomies,
which is kind of like a a if a a logical trap, maybe, a rhetorical trap, maybe, is the word for me, that I think, Northfield has tended to fall into over the decades that I have lived here and been involved in public decision making is this idea that either either we're gonna let people build whatever they want or we're gonna have a high standards. And it's a silly dichotomy to set it up that way. I don't think any of us actually think it works that way. Nobody here thinks it's that simple. But it's a tension that we as elected officials have to hold and keep our
arms around and keep balancing all the time as we make decisions. And to me, when I read this plan, I think the real challenge is in the land development code or are we calling it a zoning code now? We're calling it a zoning code. Okay. I'll adjust. It's gonna be hard, but I can do it. It's only been a land development code since 02/2011. Yeah. Uh-huh. Just since 02/2011. I I'm great with it. I love calling it a zoning code. I think that I don't think anybody sitting here would say we don't want anyone to build anything in Northfields.
I also don't think that anybody sitting here would say we should let people build whatever they want in Northfield anywhere they want. If you've been to Houston, you know how that works out. It's not great. I think that we all understand that there's a balance to be struck, and my hope is that we can rise to the occasion. And when we are engaging with the zoning code and all of the attendant work that will go into that, that we will find ways to do what Northfield to break down this false dichotomy. And ensure that when we say we're building a thriving community,
that means this is a place people wanna come and build things. When I read this plan, I think this is a place where my business can thrive, where my business is gonna do really well, where I am gonna be able to hire more people and expand probably. Right? And I want other kinds of businesses to think that too when they read this plan and when they look at our zoning code. And I think that that is very possible. So, I think that, it's tempting to think something like regulation is bad for business somehow. But I I don't believe that, and I think all of us probably can agree that it's not that simple.
So, and I think that, actually, the the, the comp plan is not a regulatory document, really. It's it's a visionary document, in my opinion. Maybe, maybe people here would argue that it is a regulatory document. But I to me, the point of it is to establish the vision. And the regulations will follow, and we can write the regulations such that we can facilitate the things that the community has said they want and protect the things that the community has said they want to protect, preserve those things, while also facilitating the kinds of growth and change and development that are going to
make this a welcoming community for everyone and not just the people who already live here but the people who want to move here. So, I feel deeply optimistic about this and I'm excited to move forward. And I just hope we can keep breaking down false dichotomies. Thanks. Councilor Soukup. Thank you. I just wanted to say that, I totally respect if there's colleagues here that don't support the plan. I just wanted to really, for me, highlight how much I noticed a difference between our current plan and this plan in
the way that it talks about housing and residents and affordability here. I don't personally feel like housing, you know, in the current plan is like a chapter in there. And I've I've, when reading this plan, see it layered throughout the entire thing, and really focused on in one chapter. But, I was really excited about seeing that because it comes up, in every conversation I have with constituents that are not when it's not just about a specific project,
but housing comes up in every conversation. I think it came up in, like, all of the community engagement. And so I was really happy to see housing as a concern and a dedicated, like, effort to at least try to shift, all throughout the plan. I think that that's beneficial to anyone who wants to build here. I think the city, through this plan, is is very clearly committed to building more homes, And and and like councilor Peterson White said,
when it comes to, the zoning code is where we could really and the planning commission can really get into the regulation side of things. So I I just I just wanted to highlight that specifically, because I didn't say it in the first round of comments, and I meant to that, I so appreciate that, really front of mind concern for many people here being very highlighted throughout the the entire plan. Mhmm. Thank you. Administrator Martig.
Thank you, mayor. Could I just wanna make sure before the vote, if I might pose a question for the city attorney and, planner about whether this requires a five votes for passage and whether there's any consideration related to that issue. I just wanna make sure there was awareness on that. So mayor, if you wanna maybe yeah. I would love the answer to that question. Mayor and council, passage of a comprehensive plan requires five affirmative votes. It's a two thirds vote. Thank you. Councilor Holmes. Well, I was gonna say I'm not planning on trying to change anyone's vote,
but I'm gonna try to change people's vote because I think it is quite short sighted to only think about this from a developer and contractor perspective. This plan is about how do we connect all of our work? And as my colleagues have said, it is a visionary document. It is not written in stone. And we've talked about this at the Planning Commission about how we need to revisit it and we need to revise it and we need and it's going to be organic and living. And so as we see things or as things come up,
we're going to be able to adjust. We have had great conversations. I mean great as good, but at great length about the land, land use and, priority growth areas and have been very thoughtful with contractors as a part of those conversations with us about how do we grow smart. We could just go out and go wide, but that creates incredible infrastructure costs. It isn't necessarily smart to just go after the money and bring in developers.
We need to be very thoughtful about our approach. And I think that this plan and the way that we've approached the maps and the way that we're gonna be looking at the zoning code will help us do that in a very, in a way that is responsible and the way that stays true to Northfield. Because I think first and foremost with this plan with with any of the plans we've had, we don't want to be a sprawling suburb. That is not our intent. And so I think that we are maintaining that with this plan and keeping true
to the spirit of Northfield. And so I would strongly urge anyone who is feeling like they want to vote no on this that they think about how we can continue to work with it and use it and evolve it and use it as a guiding document to help us move our work forward. Thank you. Councilor Peterson White? Madam Chair, I move to postpone consideration of this item until, our do you want me to Our next meeting? Until our next regular meeting, which I believe is on May 20.
You have your teacher. Is that does that require a sec yes. A second. Okay. Counselor Soukup, there's a second. So we have a motion and a second. I'll second. Thank you. Motion and a second, to postpone this item to our May 20, meeting. Is there any discussion on that? Is it I'm sorry. So Is it discussable? It's it's debatable. It's discussable. It's right here on the sheet. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Mhmm. I'll just say that it it, would be helpful to know how counselor Dahlgren feels about the plan if we're gonna postpone. Yes. Counselor Peterson White. Thank you. And I I guess I would add that,
like, given the incredible amount of work that's gone into this plan, I understand if people don't like all of it. But if you're gonna vote no on it, I I guess I would ask my colleagues to if if you truly believe this should not move forward, if that is your actual belief that you wanna stop this comp plan from being adopted, send it back to the drawing board. I'm not sure what next step is envisioned there. But that you kind of consider that, consider the consequences thereof and, perhaps work with staff to offer some more specific suggestions that that might change this.
I think we've all had ample opportunity to discuss this with staff, and to offer our feedback. And so I I think we share a collective responsibility to move this forward in a in a meaningful way. It doesn't have to mean we adopt it the way it is if we don't have the votes to do that. But, I guess I would hope that the responsibility of a vote that might kill a project comes along is is is understood to be the responsibility for trying to make that thing something that you could support. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. But I I would support postponing the item until May 20.
Yes. Thank you. Yeah. I also support postponing it because it would be nice to have the full, body present for this vote. So anyone else on the postponement? Alright. All those in favor of postponing, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion carries. This, item has been postponed until our May 20 meeting. Our next agenda. Thank you all for being here tonight. Our next agenda item is, considering the action and summary conclusions of the evaluation of the performance of Ben Mardick,
city administrator pursuant to state stat Minnesota statute 13 d point zero five subdivision three. So I have, something to read here. So on 05/05/2025, the city council held a closed meeting to evaluate the performance of city administrator Ben Martig. In accordance with governing law, at this council meeting, which is the next possible open council meeting following the previously mentioned closed meeting,
the city council is required to summarize the conclusions of the evaluation reached by the council at the 05/05/2025 closed meeting. City Administrator Martig did not request that such meeting be open to the public. As a result, the evaluation of the City Administrator Martig's performance took place in the closed meeting as provided under the Minnesota Open Meeting Law. As chairperson of this meeting, I will now provide a summary of the conclusions reached by the Council, on 05/05/2025.
Northfield's elected officials are satisfied with their city administrator, Ben Martic's leadership in the last year. Ben continues to receive recognition for the implementation of multiple projects throughout the city. Engagement with the community is ongoing. The city council is pleased with the quality of city staff and Ben as their leader. The city council has expressed through this review process a desire for Mr. Martic to continue as their city administrator for the upcoming year. Members, as you are aware, we evaluated the performance of the city administrator, Martig,
during a closed meeting on 05/05/2025. However, specific salary adjustments were not negotiated nor approved. We will now discuss any salary increases in an open session. And closed in the, packet are the two compensation resolutions. I'm looking for a motion to approve one of the resolutions. There's option one, which is the one step, and there's option two, which is a one step plus a, an open ended
amount. Councilor Soecker. I'll move the resolution the one step resolution. Yeah. Option one? Yes. Thank you. Councilor Peterson White. Second. Alright. Is there discussion? Alright. Seeing none, all those in favor of option one, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, motion carries. I think correct me if I'm wrong, attorney Hood, but that's that that ends that agenda item. Mayor and council, that is correct. Okay. Thank you. The next item on our list is an administrator's update. Looking to mister Martig for that.
Thank you, mayor, members, city council. I don't think I'll really add too much other than to say thank you, especially with the last agenda item. I appreciate, the professional review that you provide, and certainly, it's an honor and privilege to serve Northfield, again for another year. And I look forward to challenging year ahead and continuous improvement for myself as well as the city as a whole. I would say just broadly, I think the agenda really reflected some of the great spirit of Northfield, the collaborative work of people that how group efforts on getting work done in the
community, whether that's volunteers like those in the audience. I think there are probably some specific people that might even need more recognition for the volunteer time that have been put in, on some of these projects. Certainly, mister Riley and mister Bennett, who put a lot of work into it as long as well as a lot of the other staff and important consultants are behind that. I would say also just how, inspiring some of the governance work was this evening, around tough issues and being, particularly in a tough time. I think modeling the importance, in a democratic society about the importance of agreeing to disagree in a in a passionate manner,
but also one that recognizes the importance of the process and the work that we do. Somebody who's been in the field a long time, the process is outcomes are really important, and I'm a really big outcomes person. But how you do the work in the process, I think, gets overlooked sometimes and, gives a lot of stability and strengthens the community's resiliency over time. And since my review is done, I can say this. I'm not pandering to those that are, giving my review. But I I really do think it was a great, great meeting. And I think also, just made me think a little more broadly about the community and some of the
great aspects of North Hill. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. That looks like, a wrap for us. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Councilor Ness? Move to adjourn. Councilor Beamer? Second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? We are adjourned. I had I would not