Which side is the thing? Alright. There we go. Alright. We're gonna get this party started today. I'm calling the Saint Paul City Council meeting to order. Roll call. Bowie. Johnson. Here. Vatsky. Here. Yang. Council President Aker. Vice President Kim. Here. Four present. Five present. Six present, one absent being counsel of President Nager, and she is excused. Thank you. Just before we, do the pledge, I just wanna make sure, Councilmember Regan, you can see us. But can you just say hello one more time and come off mute for us?
Hi, everybody. I'm here. Perfect. Thank you so much. Alright. So, please stand if you are evil and join us for the pledge of allegiance. Consent agenda items one through 24 are before you for your consideration. Wonderful. It's my understanding we are pulling items number fifteen and eighteen off consent. Anything else that needs to be taken for separate consideration? Okay. Seeing none. Okay. To to pull them off. No. That's a real deal because you said it. Okay. That sounds great. So, we're gonna because we have a council member that is virtual, we do roll call votes for everything.
So I will have, council member Provodzke move the balance of the consent agenda. Roll call. Louis? Here. Or yes. Johnson? Yes. Joest? Yes. Provodzke? Yes. Yang? Councilmember Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The consent agenda is adopted as amended. Item 15 is resolution 20 five-eleven 38 authorizing the City on behalf of Parks and Recreation Department to accept a donation in the amount of $32,000 from the Midway Men's Club to support recreation services programming.
Thank you, council members. We thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight, it's an organization I'm a part of. I've been a member for about five years. But just to maybe give, some background, Midway Men's Club has been in operation since 1960. We do have women as members now. Some of our best, board members are women. So, but we raise money for youth activities in the city of St. Paul and, like the donation we could, give to the city today. It would be a good opportunity to tell people they could, help our organization during the state fair. At the state fair, we operate a booth where we sell burgers and beer.
It's the cheapest beer you can buy at the state fair. But you just walk through the main entrance at Midway And Seling, go up to Underwood, take a right. It's on Underwood. And all the profits go to youth activities in St. Paul. Awesome. Thank you. What a unique opportunity to come speak. Thank you so much, Dan. With that, I will take a motion from Chair Buie to approve Resolution Awesome. Well, yes. Please come on up, our honored guest. So, it's always a unique and wonderful opportunity that we get to approve the reappointment of some of the best directors of departments in the city.
So with that, I'd like to turn it over to our honored guest, Chief Inks, to say a few words about his reappointment. And then we'll, of course, invite council members to share any additional thoughts. Thank you. Thank you, counsel. I appreciate the time here and the and the kind words. I I really appreciate that. Thank you. You know, myself and and my family, as you can see, are really just deeply honored for the opportunity to continue to serve, here in Saint Paul as the fire chief. It's, it's been a it's just been part of my entire life, growing up in Saint Paul and then spending,
the last forty years, forty, working for the city of Saint Paul. I'm just honored to, being given the opportunity to to continue to serve. I was joking a bit that last time we were up here, half of these kids weren't here. So, we've definitely grown as a family and, and and it's just it's really nice to have everyone here. So thank you. You know, we we started I started my journey here, you know, as a teenager like I said working for, a youth program, which is now the the right track program. I was I was a product of that program,
but it was labeled something way different forty years ago. And then, you know, moved there into the parks and rec department and then and then into, the fire department and now the fire chief. So it's just been a it's been a, a lot of years of of serving and giving back and and I just, it's really honored to be given that opportunity. So I I, you know, I wanna thank the council, Mayor Carter, just just for the confidence that you have in me and and giving me this opportunity to serve, you know, as one of your advisors, right? As one of the mayor's advisors and to be the face of the fire department.
So, I really can't thank you enough for that. You know, Councilmember Kim, we talked a lot and, I told you if ever given the opportunity to thank the women and men of the fire department, I'll take it every single time. We really have I I think, the best organization in the state of Minnesota if if, you know, I'll go out on a limb and say in the in the country, we're we are really a department that, does things differently, does things with innovation in mind, and, really committed to serve. And it's it's because of the women and men of this this fire department. And I also, you know,
I I sometimes forget, and and I and I don't do it on purpose, but the administration staff we have, I talk about it to our our fire department all the time. You know, we we the lights the the tones go off. You know, we get on a rig. We go lights and sirens and respond to to help people. That's what we do. But but it's often forgotten that the lights actually turn on. Right? The tones actually go off. The rig actually starts. And and we're able to respond. And it's because of the entire staff that we have. And so thank you to the administration staff as well as is you also serve.
You also respond. You also save lives. And and we we appreciate that. Yeah. Hi. Hi. To the union, the union delegates that are here, I can't thank you enough for your partnership. This department wouldn't be where it's at today without your partnership and without you working with us and working together for a common goal. We have a labor management process that, again, I'll I'll say it proudly, that, the rest of the country is trying to model. And it's because of the union leadership we have that is willing to come in and always always come to the table and work together.
So thank you so much for that. Our community members and partners, you know, thank you for your continued support and your trust and your and your belief that public safety is a it's a shared responsibility. It's not just the fire department responding. It's it is a community. You know, community first public safety, we talk a lot about that. But it is a community responding and, serving the residents of this city. I'm super proud of what we accomplished. You look back and, I was interim in 2018. I didn't know if I wanted it then until I until I stepped into the role. I remember the conversations with my wife and she's like,
no way. What are you thinking? No. But once once we got in there and once we figured out that, you know, you can make some change, you can really change what the department looks like, you can change how we respond, and we can change how we serve. It was it was exciting, and we were all in to do it. So, and finally, just just I can't thank my family enough. I really can't. You know, I'm I have this tag that says I'm the fire chief, but but it's it's not me. It's it's all of us.
We we have morning coffee and really a lot of things are implemented after that that morning coffee visit. It's it's through a a team approach and how we do things. My wife, Erica, is is simply amazing, and I I couldn't do this job without her. My my kids, my my grandkids, they are they are in the trenches with us too, leading this department. They're they they also serve, you know, my my my daughters and my son and and daughter in laws, my sister-in-law. Everyone's this is a this is a tight family and and a family committed to
serving, and helping me navigate this role. So, I can't thank you. Thank you. So, with that, and just in closing, again, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for believing in what we're doing and the opportunity to continue to serve here in St. Paul. Thank you. I was gonna ask the little one, please state your name for the record. But I feel we'll respectfully submit the public testimony. I know that there are a lot of folks that are excited to talk about Chief Inc, so I will start with Councilmember Prodzky. Thank you, council vice president Kim. Yeah. Chief, I love that you mentioned even the decision to become you know,
to take on this role is such a big one. And even the half joking or not so joking insistence of, like, what are you crazy? Like, this is a big thing to take on. I just appreciate that honesty because I don't know that anyone appreciates the level of sort of day to day burden that so many of our city leaders take on, but particularly folks in the fire department who have to be that frontline response. You know, I live about a 100 feet from the Hamlin High Rise. And I'm I'm very aware of what your your department does because there's just so many calls,
so many people relying on your team members to go and be the thing that keeps them alive, keeps them healthy, responds in an emergency. And so, that's such a such a long standing burden. Someone like me who chose to live in Saint Paul and moved to Saint Paul, I hearing about folks who have been with the city as long as you have is always such a good reminder of what people invest into making our community work. And so you having another term, you know, if we've interacted when I was a staff member now in my my silly short term term as a council member, and you've always been really helpful and responsive and,
you know, appreciate what you said of all the different folks in your department that make things go. But you're the one who has to try and keep things headed in the right direction, and I'm very happy you're in this role. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome. I will just add, Erica, please stay. We get a lot of babbling in this chambers, and there's nothing more welcome than a baby babble. So we are willing to hang with it if you are. All right. Any other comments from council members? I'll go to Chair Buie next. And then in the queue is council member Jost. Thank you,
vice chair. Chief, it's just an amazing journey and story. It's just an honor to, like, serve alongside, with you. I just think about just, like, your story from the Saint Paul kid to a chief is just so inspirational. And, like, so many young people can look up to you, and look up to your family. And I just wrote something down. You mentioned, like, a family committed to service, and I have seen that in my year and a half, at events that I'm at, whether it's national night out or, some community festival, you're there, your team is there, and you're proud to be with your team.
It is, there isn't no, like, big i's and little u's. Like, you're you're very rooted in making sure you have a collaborative approach and just a prime example, too, of what, what the outcomes are when you invest in young people. So thank you for your service. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair. Chief, I, also want to thank you and thank your whole family for all that they do and sacrifice, to to serve our city. I want to express my gratitude for, as Councilmember Bui mentioned, like, someone that's committed to service. Like, another way that you committed to service was,
in your role in the Northland Cup. So the Northland Cup is a hockey game where, Saint Paul has a team versus Ramsey County. And I've only been here a few years, but the game is a really big deal. It's very competitive, and it raises money for the Saint Paul Ramsey County, intervention program for, supporting, folks experiencing domestic violence. And so she thinks has been the coach and a player this year. And it's I just really appreciate your support for that program on top of everything that you do. So thank you. Thank you. I'll try to get a victory next year.
Alright. Next up, we have council member. Hey. This is council vice president. I am very supportive of the survey appointment, and I wanna say thank you so much to you two things for your commitment and your passion to serving in our city and just just really leading our fire department. One of my, favorite memories is when we toured the Fire Station 7 together. That was when it was really outdated, needed lots of improvements, and, look at where we are. You know, the grand opening just happened for Fire Station 7. And in our city, we have our first fire electric electric fire truck. And I just can't say enough how much this is possible because of who we
do have leading our fire department, and I really speak so loudly about the leadership and commitment that you do bring to our fire department and city overall. So I love it that you have your family members here. The work that you do, you know, holding such an important, position leadership position in our city really takes that important support network as well. So I wanna say, thanks to your family for really holding the fort over at home and, taking care of everything so that you can also do your work here in taking care of our residents. And, the last thing I wanna say is I really appreciate how open you are to
always having a open line of communication to the council here and, ensuring that that is something that's carried out all throughout our fire department. I, again, really appreciate you. And with deep enthusiasm, we'll be voting yes on this. Thank Next up, Chair Johnson. Thank you, Council President and Councilman Brighing. I also will be voting in support of the resolution. But I'm glad that we pulled it off of consent to just give you a chance to be appreciated while you're here in front of your family and so many of our friends. I think one of the things that is, just really important to me is being able to,
give folks their flowers while they're here. And, she thinks I've appreciated just your receptiveness to this, new council. And I think in also getting a chance to, individually, I think, build relationships with each of us. And I know for myself, like, it's the first, you know, first time in my lifetime where I've actually had, I would say, direct line of communication with the chief of the fire Saint Paul Fire Department and someone that I know that I can call and ask a question to, someone I know that will reach out and respond, but also just that carries his heart on his shoulders as as prideful as he
does his badge. And I have appreciated being able to see you show up as your full self in many different spaces, including just being able to add light today with the little ones here. Thank you for being able to do that. And thank you so much for your service, continuing to, serve our department and stay with us here in Saint Paul. We recognize that the job that you hold is a big one, and it's not easy. So I just want you to know that, much respect to you and your team continuously. Thank you so much. Very kind. Thank you. I will save my remarks, but the deputy mayor is in the house and, of course, to continue to glob on to this wonderful celebration that is the reappointment.
Council members, thank you for letting us, have a moment to give Chief Inks some flowers. When I think about the leadership, that Chief Inks has shown, Chief Inks was one of the first people that I really built a relationship with when I came to the city of Saint Paul. And I think about the legacy of his leadership, and and there's a couple examples that really come to mind. What we do in the city of Saint Paul when we have, a firefighter who is diagnosed with cancer, in some cities, that is a fight. In some cities, it's an awful thing for,
that individual and for their families. And in the city of Saint Paul, we we have a very different approach. And that's because of, she thinks teaching all of us about what that is and really fighting for the women and men in, our fire department. And so I think that is a huge legacy, and I think we've been, a real leader in that space for a lot of other, departments. The other thing that I remember very clearly was when we were going through COVID, not only did the women and men in the fire department show up in spaces like Encampments and care for our community,
and they've continued to do that. We had the bridge fund that we developed, and we didn't have enough people to, like, process applications. And we needed to get that help out to our residents. And the fire department said we have, a whole crew that is gonna learn how to do data entry and do all of that processing. And so we had, firefighters and EMTs that were doing the processing work to get bridge fund dollars to, members of our community, that that was literally the bridge that they needed during COVID.
And so, all of those things happen because of the goodness and the leadership and the the commitment that you bring to this space. And so, we're just really happy that you're going to stay with us for another term. Thank you all for letting me come. Yeah, of course. Thank you, Linda, Deputy Mayor. I will close out the comments. All of these are tough acts to follow. I think my only thought and comment relates to his family. It's very clear when you meet with Chief Inks that you are his everything. He thinks about you. You're the backbone to his work.
You're the thing that gives him resilience, the time to play and rest. And you help recharge him to show up to serve the city every single day. So I just want to give kudos to your family. Getting a little emotional about it, but today's the day. But you all are also doing the hard work. So thank you for your service to the city, because the way that Butch shows up, I think, is a illustrates the kind of family that he has. So give him a hard time. And also know that you are the backbone to what he brings to the city. And then I think in a very close tie is your department.
There is another department where each individual contribution matters more to the city of St. Paul. And that recognition is not lost on your chief. So every time we speak to him, he knows exactly, the collective effort that it takes not just to show up for a broken bone, but to put out a house fire and save lives and help and help all of our constituents. So, it's just it's it's named there's a tie. And if he's not with one of you, he's thinking about the other. So, I've never seen someone that has felt so connected to all the parts of his life. And so also to his department,
please continue to support, the great leadership and likewise. And you are also the backbone for him at work. So thank you so much for your service, giving him a hard time and keeping him, keeping him in top ship shape. So, with that, I'd like to move approval for the reappointment of Barton Butch, Inc. As our chief of our fire department. Roll call, please. Hooey? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Joce? Yes. Provotsky? Yes. Yang? Yes. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no and opposed. The resolution is adopted. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Unceremoniously, we have a lot of work to continue. Thank you so much for being here. Feel free to host and excuse yourselves if you see necessary. Congratulations to everyone. Item 21 is resolution 25 Dash eleven forty five, Supplementing the general resolution relating to sewer revenue bonds and providing for the issuance of sewer revenue bonds series twenty twenty five c and taking other required actions. Great. And we have a staff report. And I think the thing to note is that this will go in amended because
of the timing that there's a timing thing with our bond sale. And so, we will be, motioning to approve, recognizing that it will be amended with updated numbers that you are here to provide us. So I will kick it off to you. Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Neil Younghands. I'm the city's debt investment manager in OFS. Earlier today at a competitive sale, we issued our 24 25 c sewer revenue, green bonds. These go to fund our annual sewer, capital program. So for the sale, we had eight bidders, with lowest invested going to Stonex, for a true interest cost of 4.18%.
Last year, we had six bidders. So, slightly better this year, but, last year, we had an interest cost of $3.59. I would like to thank our partners at Baker Tilly, Ballard Spahr, OFS, and, of course, public works for, working to get this transaction, completed. And I will be available for any questions. Any questions regarding the staff report? I think just logistically, to make sure that we land this plane, we are we'll take a roll call vote to motion to approve, recognizing that the final numbers will be added. So we are motioning to approve as amended.
Great. So, I will take a motion to amend from chair Johnson, and we will have a roll call vote. Thank you for the staff report. Hooey? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jones? Yes. Provodzinski? Yes. Yang. Aye. Council or vice president Kim. Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The resolution is adopted as amended. Great. We have a few, suspension items. I think we'll look to council member Yang's first. So I will, accept a motion from council member Yang to suspend the rules. Roll call vote. Bowie. Aye.
Johnson. Aye. Jost. Yes. Verbotsky. Yes. Yang. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The rules are suspended. Resolution 25 dash eleven ninety two, recognizing the contribution of captain Chia Kua Vang and Sai Ying Vang. Great. Councilwoman Yang, I kick it off to you. Thank you, council vice president. I really appreciate the council's support for suspending this item and, ask for your support in approving this resolution too. I received a request earlier, this week to, have the council approve this resolution for to recognize captain Chi Kuo Ving and Sai
Ying Ving at their event this Saturday. Their daughter Li Veng, who is the spouse of former representative, Sai Tau, reached out, to, have this resolution approved. And you may also know Lee Sister too, who is the former CEO of Hmong American Partnership, Valvang. I am always really inspired when I read about the the stories and accomplishments of our community leaders and also elders. I wanted to highlight a few things in the resolution here. Captain Chikuo Bang is a veteran who fought during the secret war.
It's a covert war during the Vietnam War in which the Hmong people were recruited by the USDA to fight off communist troops and vows. He carried out dangerous missions, such as the retrieval of Sean Lu Ying, who created a Hmong alphabet called Pahau that was specific to the Hmong language. His wife, Sai Ying Veng, was one of the first few Hmong girls to be educated in her generation, and she became a teacher in 1963. After immigrating to Saint Paul, both of them went on to become machinists, ventured into entrepreneurship, and acquired several rental properties as well.
Captain Chipotle later founded Hmong National Organization, a nonprofit organization to promote the Pahaw and also the Hmong culture. Sai worked at the paralegal for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, also known as SMIRLS, where she helped the Hmong community with legal assistance. And the both of them opened the first Hmong owned assisted living in Broadtown, Saint Paul, providing cultural specific care and services for the Hmong community. So with this resolution, we as the Saint Paul City Council recognize would recognize the profound leadership of captain
Chik Le Vang and Tsai Ing Vang and their contributions to the city and also proclaim Saturday, July 26, as captain Chik Hovang and Sai Yingying Day in the city of Saint Paul. So Pua will be presenting the resolution, if we have this approved. So, again, I thank you so much for your support in suspending this. And so, with the suspension of this item and with this, I move approval of the resolution. Alright. There's a motion for approval. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? No.
Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The resolution is adopted. Great. I think we'll do Ward one next, just because the other suspension item is a staff report. So, I recognize Chair Buie with a motion to suspend the rules roll call. Buie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provodzinski? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No and opposed? The rules are suspended. Honoring the belo or, sorry. Resolution 25 dash twelve zero three, honoring the beloved Melvin,
Mr. Bubbles, Giles. Thank you, counsel, for, allowing to suspend the rules. I do totally understand, that this, item has came under short notice. But, some of the, community members, wanted to make sure that the council had a voice in representing and honoring, the beloved Melvin Giles, who, was award one, proud, proud Saint Pauler. He was known particularly, as Mr. Bubbles, bringing joy to all the spaces he was at and has been a champion to community peace gardens and bringing peace, and love,
into our neighborhood. He had, unfortunately, the tragic news of passing away a few weeks ago. And, the reason why I'm bringing this up under suspension is because I, will be, delivering, this resolution to his, home, celebration August 2. You all are invited to it at, Como Park High School. From twelve to 2PM is the program, as well as two to four, there will be community reflections. I also would follow-up, too, with the events later on for this council meeting. So I,
it would mean the world, to my community if you can, support, and adopt this or excuse me, approve this, resolution so we can be able to extend our gratitude and recognition to the Giles family. Any other discussion on this resolution? All right. Seeing none, we'll receive a motion to approve from Chair Buie, and we'll have a roll call vote. Buie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The resolution is adopted. Great. I will accept a motion to suspend the rules from,
Vice Chair Jost. Roll call. Bowie. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Jost. Yes. Provodzke. Yes. Gain. Aye. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The rules are suspended for staff report twenty five-one hundred and nineteen, the 2025 legislative session report. Wonderful. This was just like a weird technical error. It's coming under suspension, but we have been really looking forward to the opportunity to hear from our IGR Director, Brynn, regarding this last session, how things went and,
yes, just how the city did overall and what was like up at the Capitol. So I will kick it over to you. Thank you, council vice president Kim and council members. I'm so happy to be here. And Brian House, I'm the inter intergovernmental relations director for the city of Saint Paul. I really appreciate you all giving me a few extra weeks to come before you to give this report. Since I have the mic and a minute, I'm gonna take one quick second to just, talk a little bit about Melissa Hartman, Speaker of America Melissa Hartman, who was my former boss, and as we all know, was assassinated about a month ago. I,
I appreciate you not making me come in June because I definitely would not have been able to hold it together back then, but I'm doing much better now. But Melissa was it's just a huge loss for the entire state of Minnesota, for the legislature, for everybody. But I personally had the honor of being her legislative assistant, starting at the beginning of her second term in 02/2007. And I worked with and for her all the way through my time at the House until I came here to the city in 2021. So I really got a front row seat to watch Melissa grow as a legislator and a person and a leader. And she was really inspiring. She She was hard to work for,
but she held herself to a higher standard than anyone. But I just what I really want to say to lift up her legacy since I have this moment of everyone's attention is, you know, at a time when we're all divided at the national level, at the state level, we have the most evenly divided state legislature in the nation. Legislators like Melissa are becoming more and more rare. She is one who saw that everybody was there for their own right reasons and that everybody really agreed on more than they thought they did.
And while the focus is on how we disagree and how we're different and how the other side is wrong, Melissa was the one who was saying, you know, we all want the same things at the end of the day. How can we find the areas where we agree with each other? So that's the Melissa, like the inner Melissa that I'm gonna carry with me through the rest of my career and the rest of my life. And I just wanted to say thank you all to the city council for your support of me taking this job last fall. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was really a gift to get to be up there for these last
six months. So thank you. Okay. On to my presentation, thank you for letting me have say a few words. As I mentioned, this was an incredibly challenging legislative session from the start. At the beginning in March when I was here last, I had walked through kind of the, what you know, the election outcome and the divided House and the temporarily divided Senate and all of that. So I'm not going to repeat, all of that beginning of session, kind of drama. But what I will say is just because session didn't really start until a month
in, at about February 14 ish, I wanna say, it we were already off. We were by the time session started, everyone was already behind. So it made things really challenging. And on top of that, we had budget pressures. The state had budget pressures from both federal uncertainty and tariffs and, you know, Doge coming in and just cutting programs that had been allocated with no legislative authority. That led, MMB to predict a much lower surplus when they got to the February forecast in,
March, to only a $456,000,000 projected surplus for 'twenty six and 'twenty seven, and then a $6,000,000,000 deficit in the out years of 'twenty eight and 'twenty nine. So that really set the legislature off on a tone of we have to make some really hard decisions, and we're not gonna have much money to fund new things. But you also have a lot of people up there who understand the needs that our communities are all facing. So it was very, very challenging. There were also a number of unexpected member vacancies during session. I mean, Senator Keri Diedzick passed away from a long battle with cancer in December, so that special election happened early on.
The Roseville Seat 40 B, the candidate who was elected didn't live in the district, so they had to, elect somebody there in early I wanna say that happened in February or March. I can't remember off the top of my head. And then, Senator Justin Eyckorn from Grand Rapids resigned in March after an arrest. So, it was I mean, any one of those things would have been, like, the big event of the session, and every week, it felt like there was just something new happening that was just you forgot about this last insane thing that had happened. As I mentioned, we also have the most closely divided state legislature in the nation.
Before Melissa's passing, it was 101 Democrats to a 100 Republicans. Right now, it's tied a 100 a 100. And so with all of that, the leaders, the legis you know, the leaders of the four caucuses caucuses and the governor weren't able to come up with joint budget targets until May 15. Session had to adjourn on May 19, so they obviously were not able to get a full budget finished by May 19. They did get a few bills done, but they ended up having to come back into a special session in June to pass a full state budget before, a threat of shutdown at the July or June,
excuse me. So through the May, the committee co chairs all worked together, House and Senate, in work groups or some did, some didn't, to come up with, a deal that could pass both bodies and get legislative leaders sign off. They did end up coming with that agreement, a special session. Oh, they passed the full budget on June 9 in a one day special session. So, just a very quick our, just a reminder, our top three priorities this year were the Arena Complex renovation, which ties into number two of downtown revitalization, and then our city's capital investment projects, among a number of other things.
But those were the main focuses for this year. So I'll go through each of these. These slides will look familiar from March, and I'll just talk about them to what we requested versus how the session turned out for our top priorities. That's amazing. I'm so sorry, Doctor. Haus. I just want to just really quickly interrupt mostly for the viewers at home. Your we are sort of toggling between presentation slide. And so we can see the notes, which is fine because then we'll hear them out loud from your talking points, but then just recognize that there's three things up.
And for the viewers at home, it's always nice to have the slides. And I apologize for not seeing it sooner, but in my mind over the bat. Okay. I thought maybe there were just multiple slides up. Perfect. Can I still see your notes? I can't see my notes, but I just wrote them or went through them. So hopefully, I can remember them. Can you see And if I really need them, I can pull them up on my laptop. I might do that while I'm talking. Okay. So for the Arena Complex renovation, we went in at the beginning of session well, in March with the full with half 50% of the overall project cost,
so a total of three ninety five million for all three pieces of that project. So Xcel Energy Center, we were asking for $285,000,000, half of the full project cost. The Roy Wilkins, 75,000,000, and River Center for 35,000,000. After hearing a lot of feedback from our delegation and in April after the legislative spring break, to cut out Roy Wilkins from River Center just for this year and focus on the, arena itself. And we reduced that ask to just $50,000,000 from the state, saying the wild and local partners would cover the other,
essentially 89% of the project cost. We still were unfortunately unable to get anything despite coming up with a unique funding source that would not have caused the budget, you know, dug into the rest of the budget. We found a new revenue source for it. But despite finding that new revenue source, we were unable to get agreement to, fund the arena renovation. So these will continue to be the city's number one capital investment requests going into 2026. We have put all three back into the state budget system,
capital budget system for their I can't get it. Put all three into the capital budget system for the 2026 bonding bill in hopes that we will get on the tour and hopefully included in the governor's, bonding recommendations for next year. And the numbers that you see here, these were the 2025 numbers. Those numbers are going to be bigger in 2026 because of inflation. Our number two priority was downtown revitalization. We were not successful on any of these items, unfortunately. The carb credit, high number two for all of us. That, you know, and there was a big coalition pushing for that.
But unfortunately, it was too expensive, and the tax chairs did not want to fit that into their bill, into their target. We were unable to get any redevelopment TIF for cities of the first class, either for just downtown or for the whole city. They didn't authorize any new TIF this year that I'm aware of, So we will keep going for that next year. Half cent sales tax extension and star changes, again, those were considered to be relative to the arena, and so the tax shares did not want to extend out our half cent sales tax and also then didn't make any changes to the STAR program that we'd requested.
Science Museum Museum and Union Depot Liquor License, those were not controversial and would have been included in a liquor bill had a liquor bill passed. But the legislature, due to other political factors, did not pass the liquor bill this year. And one of those other factors was the social district's authority. That is one of the two things that held up any liquor bill from happening this year. So, unfortunately, we did not get our social district's authority either. Number three for capital investment, they did pass a $700,000,000 geo bonding bill this year and 10 and a half million dollars in cash. 500,000
goes to the city for the Marion Park Skate Park Grant. That was originally, authorized in, I wanna say, 2023. And this is just re like, allocating those funds so they actually get out the door to the city for the skatepark. The other piece that comes to Saint Paul is a million dollars to the Port Authority for the Capital Area Economic Development Program. The rest of these are and most of the bonding bill was, local projects and then state asset state asset preservation. There were no local, like, specific projects. It was just all infrastructure. So these are all statewide,
funds that Saint Paul would be eligible eligible to apply for. Okay. So I'll go through the rest of this in just kind of issue area order. On taxes, we had a few wins. We got our TIF Ford site Ford site TIF extension. This would have been included in a tax bill in 2024 had they passed one, but they didn't. So we got that this year. The senate taxes chair was considering making cuts to both local government aid local government aid and county program aid. Fortunately, those were protected and maintained at full levels. And the local sales tax moratorium ended on May 31,
so we no longer have to contend with a moratorium on local sales taxes. As I mentioned, we the cub credit was not included. Our HAPSA local option sales tax was not extended. It's our program redevelopment TIF. And the other piece, we were proponents for of a sales tax exemption on construction materials for local governments. That wasn't included either. And I will say, the tax chairs had a pretty tough target to meet. They had to make some pretty big cuts, which is the reason why, more spending items weren't included in their bill. On cannabis,
again, not like huge wins for the cities. The grocery receipts tax was increased from 10 to 15% before before taxes have even begun being collected on cannabis sales. Unfortunately, as part of the tax bill meeting their target, they eliminated all local, local government cannabis aid. So we were supposed to get 10% of our sales back in aid to help with, like, DSI's enforcement and inspections and licensing. So unfortunately, that aid to counties and cities has been eliminated just at the time when we're starting to do all this work.
I don't anticipate Saint Paul has a municipal cannabis retail license, so I don't think that one really applies to us. And then just a clarification, around, retail registration for preliminary like, once your preliminary license is approved, the city can issue a retail registration. On commerce and liquor, I already mentioned the liquor bill didn't happen this year, which was unfortunate for a few of our priorities. Our there was a big push in the Minnesota Senate to, either repeal entirely the copper wire law that was put in place last year.
That law was fully protected. There are no changes made this year at all to copper wire, although I do anticipate the scrapyards will continue to push, to get rid of the license. On that, there is also a an ongoing lawsuit. The scrapyards are suing the state, saying that they can't require people to have a license to sell scrap copper. And so we are monitoring that closely over this interim. And then I added this in in here. The new law requiring free access to drinking water at large ticketed events that was carried by one of our delegation members, Senator Umuver Baten. So we got one win.
On state and local, the big pieces here were Ramsey County's economic development authority was established, which is an opt in for cities in Ramsey County. And then the $3,000,000 of the $5,000,000 from the capital vitality account was, given to Ramsey County and specifically to the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office for public safety and community programming around the capital area complex. It does not require them to partner with the city, but does say they have to partner with community partners. So we will see what that means. They have the sheriff has talked about doing some pro community programming at Frogtown Rec Center.
So I guess I guess they plan on partnering with us. We'll find out. There was, an extension of the, funding for tree planting, wayfinding, and benches around the capital area. On voting, you can, only drop off absentee ballots on Election Day till 5PM. But you can still bring in your absentee ballot after five and vote in person. And then we did not get our $20,000,000 city and county cybersecurity grant program. Data practices and open meeting law. This is all pretty in the weeds and boring. So I won't go through each of these. But the two I have highlighted,
that I thought would be most interesting to this group. The open and accessible to the public requirement for remote participation in a public meeting is removed. So you can you know, elected officials and members of public boards can participate remotely from home, and they don't have to open up their home to the public, which is great for safety. And then the other piece, I think will continue was interesting and I think will continue to be a conversation, is the judicial official's personal information will now be classified as private. I would anticipate a conversation around elected officials' home information being more private going forward.
Oh, and I guess I would just also mention on data practices, there are a few changes to data practices that I think may impact how the city responds to data requests. And so that's just something for our city attorneys and for Sherry to know about. Emerald Ash Borer, there was some additional new funding for, Emerald Ash Borer that the city will be, eligible to apply for. And I guess I forgot to say at the top, but I'll say it now. There are these grant programs that I'll kinda mention throughout cities eligible to apply for those, but we don't know yet exactly how much or if we will get these funds. But as you're considering,
you know, a 2026 budget coming up in the next few months, I thought it would be helpful for each and all of this stuff. EMS got 27,500,000 to support EMS programming. I would anticipate this will be mostly rural. But again, you never know. Maybe Butch can apply for some additional EMS funding. Health and Human Services mostly apply to the county. The main you know, the big linchpin at the end of session was removing undocumented adults from Minnesota care coverage starting in 2026. So that will just be that will have an impact on our residents,
and it's important for us to know about. The cannabis and substance use prevention grants are, something that the city would or Ramsey Saint Paul Ramsey County Public Health would be eligible to apply for. And then these, Ramsey and Hennepin Counties had a, bridge to shelter bill to help provide additional funding for people experiencing homelessness and for counties addressing homelessness problems. But they that they made a big push but weren't able to get that done this year. They'll come back for it again next year. And then the 35,000,000 for the social services information system will be,
really important for the county in responding to all all of their human services work. Unemployment, the paid leave premium rate was reduced by point 1% and no changes were made to the fifty fifty employer employee split. The earn sick and safe time language was modified, and that may come before like, be something that HR needs to come before the council in an ordinance change. So just a heads up on that for you all. I would say the, you know, allowing employers to require reasonable notice for two or more consecutive days of ESST is something that I know,
employers, including our HR department, had some concerns about. So that will make, you know, hopefully, some of those concerns a little eased. And then but they also did some, changes that will make this program a little work better for workers too, including mandatory breaks and, and then also including some definitions just to make the law a little more clear. On the jobs and economic development front, the top $5,000,000 for World Juniors hockey was fully funded. That was one of our, support bills this year. So that is great for the city. World Juniors hockey will be here next December and January,
which is a huge deal for our downtown and our whole city. So that's really great news. And then these remaining grant programs here are programs that the city is most likely eligible to apply for. Unfortunately, the job creation fund and redevelopment grant program based cuts. The jobs target was, like, a $30,000,000 cut, I want to say. So, those numbers are less than they otherwise would have been. On housing, land use, and zoning, there was a big push, a big bipartisan push this year for city preemption on zoning to increase density, especially in suburban communities,
but it would have been statewide. So there it was, pretty controversial. Overall, those are bills that we I mean, we're already doing that work to increase our density and to provide more affordable housing options for our residents. But the we've, you know, we worked with the bill authors to help, you know, kinda show, like, kind of help, I would say, like, improve their language so that it wouldn't work against the cities who are already doing this this work, and help meet their goals. So that's a conversation that we're gonna continue to be a part of because I am sure that that's a conversation that will continue,
in future years. And in other good news, the housing finance agency is required to owe an additional points for jurisdictions that, you know, are working to meet these new zoning or zoning I guess not zoning requirements, but, zoning priorities that the legislature put in place. So I think that that will be a benefit for Saint Paul as well. And then let's see. There are some homeowner grant programs that were funded. How's $50,000,000 for housing infrastructure bonds. So that is something the city will also potentially report or, like at The Heights, could be eligible for.
And then, just a requirement that cities provide the attorney general's landlord tenant guide on its website. Let's see. Legacy and parks. K. Como Zoo Conservatory got $3,000,000 in legacy funding for operations, which is great. We did also put in a request for an energy development account for Como Zoo big cat exhibit to have geothermal. Unfortunately, we didn't get that, but we can keep trying. Our, appropriation for SUNY Lee, the SUNY Lee Art Was extended to 2027, and the location was clarified, since that had been a point of contention.
And then, priority consideration for the Tujiazang mural and statue at Lake Valens, Tujiazang Island. Also in legacy, the Children's Museum, got a million dollars. The, Community and Identity and Heritage Competitive Grant Program. So this is state money to support community events and festivals. Nonprofits and local governments are eligible to apply for those funds. The statute lists out the organizations that are meant to be, like, prioritized, which I have in my notes, but I can't see. But I I think that's the main organizations you would think of in Saint Paul.
Yep. And we've got a question from Sher Johnson. Yeah. Thank you. And thanks, Brenda. Not to interrupt your flow, but Yep. Quick thing, for. The Sunilique Cultural Art Installation, the extension was granted. Did they transfer ownership from the city, or is it still with the city? So they let me think. I have this written down, but, again, I can't see it. They gave the funding as appropriate to forecast public art, I want to say. Does that sounds right? But they have to work with the city because the locations are either a rec center, which name I can't remember exactly which one. I can send this to you offline.
Or it has to be at Lake Phelan, where the bus is located. So it will have to be in consultation with the city. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. I may want to just simply connect offline to find out where that ended up. Absolutely. Yeah. I'll send you the language. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. So okay. And then Metropolitan Area Regional Parks, which Saint Paul is a part of, got just a little teeny bit under our ask, at $51,500,000 And then the science museum got also just a little bit. And library systems also got a significant portion, but maybe not quite the full ask. Okay. Public safety and judiciary.
One big win we got this year was that the theft or damage for public street lighting, charging stations, essentially the public infrastructure that copper wire is in, theft or damage of those types of public infrastructure are now classified as a felony. It's, you know, unclear whether that'll actually deter, any copper theft, but if people are caught stealing city copper, that's a much, more harsh penalty now. Office of Justice Programming Service grants got $103,000,000 which is unfortunately down a $70,000,000
cut. I just want your notes. Oh, thanks, Greg. The Philando Castile police training funding, just under $5,000,000 Crimes of assaulting firefighters, EMS, and health workers is enhanced to a gross misdemeanor. There was a bit of a push this year to make changes to the Brady Guiglio guidelines, which, essentially just say that prosecution have to hand over, evidence that is like, puts the defendant in a good light as well as the evidence against the defendant. So there were no changes to that this year. Okay. We also were supportive of a program or creating a fund to reimburse cities who
have to, provide law enforcement for the capital complex and governor's Residence. We did get some really good bipartisan support for it. But due to the lack of money this year, we were unable to secure that. But it is something we will keep working toward. As the capital city, we have an additional responsibility that other cities don't necessarily face. And then no action happened this year toward banning firearms in public buildings. This one is a little in the weeds, but on pensions, there was a big change this year that affects Saint Paul it affects Saint Paul and Minneapolis, but the, you know, communities with big fire and police departments where,
employees who are eligible for their normal retirement cannot, on a planned normal retirement, then also claim duty disability right at their time of retirement. So they made changes that protect the employer and both the employee, as kind of a compromise. So this, went into effect right away, but overall, this is a benefit for the city, for our HR department. And on transportation, no major increases to local road and bridge funding, but no major cuts either, which is kind of a good thing because this was a very, very difficult issue area this year. The chairs did not get along,
and it was very contentious to try to make their very difficult budget target. There in in Saint Paul, there was $250,000 appropriated to the East Side Neighborhood Development Company for the businesses on East Seventh And Arcade that are impacted by MnDOT Street reconstruction. Those businesses can apply for grants up to $5,000 each. A million dollars appropriated to cities of the first class for traffic calming. That's will be meted out based on population. And then MnDOT is required to update its local cost participation for MnDOT roads and
rights of way by 02/01/2026. So that will impact some streets in Saint Paul and impact our participation when these kinds of major streets like Arcade 90 Seventh are reconstructed. And then just, just for sort of awareness, there's a shift of 77,000,000 from Northern Lights Express to balance out their big cut target, and Metro Transit operations, funding was cut by $61,500,000 Okay. So I just flew through a lot really quickly, but if anyone has questions, I'm happy to take them. Council member Prodzki.
Thanks, vice president Kim, and thank you, director Howes. I, you know, in my non council life, had to experience a lot of the context you're describing, and I can confirm, all of it at least from my perspective. For whatever it's worth, there was a very difficult session, especially with anything financial. There are a lot of things in here I would have an opinion on, but just to keep it brief, I I believe I'm required to be, name very, very excited, thankfulness for the Marion Park Skate Park funding. I'm very pro skate park, excited that award for skate park got some funding. I believe thanks to Senator Dibble largely for that,
but I we can share the thanks more broadly as well. The cannabis change is particularly frustrating. I know our PED staff put a lot of work into implementing the guidelines that the legislature gave. Essentially, the the more permissive and the more open you were to cannabis locations, the more of a share of that revenue you are going to get. And our staff put in a tremendous amount of time to ensure we are in a good position for that. And then we're essentially robbed of that opportunity the next year. So that's really unfortunate. Nothing we could really have done about it.
Personally very supportive of the social district. So hopeful those can come back and also very frustrated with the land use and housing changes being blocked by frankly, some partners that we engage with regularly. And housing is perhaps the single most regional issue we face as a city. If our surrounding communities are not adding housing, it adds pressure to our housing supply. And so I would love for our suburban partners to do a little bit more and, also Brynn deserves credit for also bringing adorableness to the table here her daughter Penny is here it's not just chief angst bringing cute kids so I have to mark
that as well I would also just like to say it is Penny's tenth birthday today So happy birthday, Penny. Oh. Just for sure she wants to be spending it at work with mom. Well, now I feel like, Penny, you need to come up and tell us your name and where you're from and how old you are just really quick. No. We should sing it first. She's like, absolutely not. Yeah. Not happy to be. Not happy to be. Birthday. Church on said. Oh, that's exciting. Alright. Everyone, we're gonna be singing no. I'm kidding. Okay. I appreciate just kind of being walked through this. I think over for a lot of folks,
it's like, woah. This is a lot that's going on. But the reality is there was actually a lot going on at the state capitol. And this legislature, this the session was different and, I think, in many ways, unique in its own way. I'm just curious, and I guess it's more of a question slash comment as well. It's one of the feedbacks that I think I consistently hear, from some of our state legislature members and partners is the size of our legislative agenda. And I'm just curious as as for walking through kind of the halls and talking
to the members and really getting a chance to look at all of the things, all the different priorities that so many municipalities have, if there will be if there's anything that maybe you learned or we may be taking strategically into the next session as some quite a few members will be back next session. And the dynamic, I think, will remain pretty similar to what we saw this year. And I'm just wondering if there will be, potentially, with this upcoming year and as we get into the conversations around our legislative agenda for '26, some intentionality of prioritization. Yeah. Thank you, Councilmember Johnson and councilmembers.
This was a really, obviously, as I mentioned, challenging legislative session and, for me, personally challenging because I came into this work only two months before a session starts. So for me, I mean, the big change I plan on making is talking to them much sooner than I did last year because, essentially, we had a legislative agenda that we baked and then we brought to them. Whereas I think this year, we now that I have more time and my feet kinda under me and I understand what we're trying to do here, I would like to work with them more on the front end to get their input and feedback ahead of time before we bring a full legislative agenda to all
of you. So that's, I would say, the main change I plan on making this year. Okay. Yeah. I I know that, like, so many of things I think for me as a follow-up, I think, it just would be really helpful to know, like, some of our key priorities. Like, I really appreciated that language. When it was presented. I was like, this is where we're starting. I think continuing that, is important, especially if we're gonna be pretty much, you know, I think over the next couple sessions at least, you know, really, trying to push through several parts of our priorities. And so Yeah. I think having a clear,
like, a list of, like, five or you know, just give give or take a few different main key priorities that the city's operating on in the midst of everything else that's going on, might be helpful to focus and really hone in on. So some of the things that maybe we weren't able to get this session, for whatever reason, bringing back for next session to be successful. Yeah. Well, and I think a challenge that Saint Paul faces that maybe some of you know, when they're hearing from other cities that they don't have all this they don't have all these needs, well, we also have a much broader array of needs than maybe other cities in the state have. We're the capital city.
We're the second largest city in the state. We have one of the most diverse populations of any city in the state. And so we just have a lot of needs. And this you know, I mean, you know, in the city's defense a little bit, like, it's our job to go up there and ask them for what we need. It's sometimes, it's hard for them to hear how much we need, but we still have to ask for it. And we still have to be honest about what those needs are, even if it makes them uncomfortable. So, like, that's our job, and that's my job to figure out how to do that in a productive way that they can engage with. But we can't shy away from expressing what the city needs.
Thank you. Yeah. Sounds great. Well, I don't see any other questions or comments from my colleagues. Oh, I'm so oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Council member Yang. Thanks, council vice president. Well, Brene, I wanna say thank you so much for your presentation. And I first wanna open up by want to open up by saying thank you for sharing such real and raw stories of your experience with, representative Melissa Hortman. It was, yeah, you know, it was just so tragic what happened. And, right after that really tragic event, we did take a few moments during our council here to say a few words
about that too. And I just remember, you know, like, the one thing that sticks so much in in my mind is that we can never normalize what happened. And I I really appreciate you just bringing that into the space here because, I mean, something that we often talk about at the council is sometimes we take a really contentious vote, and then we have to move right on to the next agenda item. And it's like we never really get to soak in, what we actually, you know, voted on or even what was discussed because we have to keep things moving along. And so I I really appreciate you for just really bringing in that that,
you know, humane level of, like, feeling and and rawness to the table here and appreciate all that you do. So I'm really grateful that we have you here leading our IGR work. One of the I have a couple of things that I, have, that I wanna ask about. The there were a there was a slide where you mentioned, it's about the Downtown Saint Paul revitalization priorities and how, it sounds like almost all of the bullet point items that we have on here, it, wasn't approved. And so part of, like, what I'm wondering is what where does that leave us for some of,
you know, the work that we're wanting to accomplish here in our city? What what's the current status of, you know, projects that we were hoping to be able to get done upon approval of these different, priorities here? That's something that I feel, we don't often, like, go back to. And so if you can talk a bit about that here or if you can do a follow-up to the council, that would be really great because I think it just really sets, the tone for what we do want to, to go all hands on deck on, when it comes to the legislative session for
next year. And then another thing too is the question that I had about all of these downtown Saint Paul revitalization priorities. I have the same question when it comes to, cannabis too. Like, with the local government cannabis aid being eliminated, What does that mean now for our work and and what we're wanting to do, especially with enforcement, in the city of Saint Paul here? So those are the two top things that I'm curious about and wondering if you would be able to touch on. Yeah. Great. Thanks, council member Yang and council vice president, council members. I'll answer your second question first, if that's okay, on the cannabis, aid being eliminated.
Unfortunately, what that means I mean, you know, our the city's work around cannabis doesn't change with this aid being eliminated. We still have to license retailers. We still have to enforce and inspect, and do all of that work. So, unfortunately, that, aid being eliminated, well, it wasn't very much money. It was still some money, and that's gonna make the budget conversation probably a little more challenging for 2026 and going forward. And as far as, you know, the downtown revitalization, I pulled that list back up. I would say, you know, just generally, I we can get some information from PED on what, the Cub Credit and redevelopment TIF not happening mean for downtown and for other projects
around the city. I know that there are some projects, I want to say I don't want to say that in case I'm saying the wrong project. But I believe there's a downtown project that was, may or may not happen now, without redevelopment TIF, because it doesn't qualify for regular TIF. So, you know, those are, some projects that would be some redevelopments that would be happening had we been able to get this this year. We're gonna keep pushing for all of these things. I don't think we're ready to say we're giving up on any I I know
we're not ready to give up on any of these things. So we'll be back up at the legislature in 2026 next year, and I'll be talking to our delegation about, like, what can we do better next year to make the case for these things. I have some thoughts about that too, but, that's the work to be done. So So I hope that I answered everything. If I've missed something, please let me know. That sounds great. Yeah. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for the very robust report on our legislative session. Great. Thank you. We will be moving on. Item 22 is final adoption of ordinance 25 dash 38, amending chapter three seventy five of the legislative code to allow pedicaps to pull a
trailer, incorporate uniform license procedures, remove the hours of restrictions, and, sorry, guys. Let me just start over. This has been screwed up. I'm ending chapter three seventy five of the legislative code to allow petty cabs to pull a traitor, move remove the hour of restrictions, incorporate uniform license procedures as outlined in okay. This is up for final adoption. This has been before council. We had a public hearing. This is obviously being originated through council council president Acres' office with a ton of staff work that was done, by the former LA, Tynan Mackey, and then handed off to the next illustrious ward to LA,
Meghan Jecket. I will make a motion to approve the ordinance, and I will hold space for discussion from any of my colleagues. Any discussion on this ordinance? All right. Crews then, let's take a roll call vote. Bowie? Aye. Johnson. Aye. Jost. Yes. Provotsky. Yes. Yang. Aye. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The ordinance is adopted. Item 23 is first reading of ordinance 20 five-forty three, establishing the classifications titled legislative hearing officer,
senior legislative hearing officer, and chief legislative hearing officer in the unclassified service pursuant to section 12.03.2H of the city charter. And this ordinance is laid over to August 6 for second reading public hearing. Item 24 is a first reading of ordinance 25 dash 44, amending the appendix to chapter four zero nine of the legislative code pursuant to section seventeen point zero seven point one of the charter and section four zero nine point two zero of the legislative code to expand the Energy Park Commercial Development District.
Wonderful. I believe we have a staff report. Come on up. Thank you, council vice president and council members. Good afternoon. My My name is Dan Uschelik, deputy director for Department of Safety and Inspections. Thanks for the opportunity to present this item before you today. We are here again for a commercial Development District, and we've had one recently, so I won't go into the in-depth, liquor license '1 thousand and one. We could have a test, but no. We'll just go into it. So what we're here for today is expansion of the Energy Park Commercial Development District to support the business owner of St.
Bark to obtain a on sale liquor license. As we talked about last time, given neighborhood livability, public health and safety, alcohol is well regulated in the city of St. Paul as well as most cities. City charter as well as ordinance, restricts the type and location of different types of liquor licenses. But we have commercial development districts, which allows us to go beyond those restrictions in areas that are appropriate for the type of a utility that is created through on sale liquor licenses. And so before us today is the request.
St. Bark is a proposal for an indoor dog park, that would like to serve beer but not act as a restaurant. And so based like we talked about last time for entities outside of downtown or commercial development district, we can only issue licenses to restaurants, hotels, and private non profit colleges. Therefore, in order for Saint Bark to achieve a on sale liquor license, they would need to be within a commercial development district. The most adjacent one is the Energy Park Commercial Development District,
which is one of the original six that were in charter. And so the proposal is to expand it to the east to encompass 1611 Wynne and some adjacent properties. So with that, on July 9, yourselves approved a resolution waiving the petition requirement as required by ordinance. And then on July 11, the planning commission reviewed the city council public hearing for August 6 has been properly noticed to property owners as well as in the official paper of the city. So therefore, we are here for first reading and we will see a public hearing on August
6. Take any questions. Councilmember Pafrowski. Thanks, vice president Kim. Very appreciative of the deputy director, Nigelic, who's put in a lot of work and been very responsive to our office. Legislative aide Jenny Nelson has done, more than 100% of the work on this for on the ward office side. And, it's just a simple way to help a local business that wants to start up, right in the neighborhood. So appreciate all the work and look forward to the public hearing. Fantastic. Wonderful. I believe that there is a small potential Scribner's error adjustment that, we will entertain.
Yeah. Yes. Apologies. I didn't even read my own note. I will move I will move version two. Perfect. So, version e version two should be adopted then. Right. So, a motion to approve version two. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provotsky? Yes. Yang? Mookie. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The ordinance is amended and laid over to August 6 for second reading public hearing, which will be located at 595 Aldine Street, Capital Region Watershed District office at 10AM.
Item 25 is a public hearing of ordinance 25 dash 41, amending chapter 33.04 of the legislative code to require that 10% of the estimated plan fee review fee is to be paid before a review may begin. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item? Going once, going twice, I'll take a motion from, Chair Buie to close the public hearing and layover final adoption. Roll call. Buie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes.
Provodzke? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the ordinance is laid over till August 6 for final adoption. Item 26 is Resolution Public Hearing twenty five-one hundred and thirty three, amending the financing and spending plan of the Department of Parks and Recreation in the amount of $54,500 to reflect funds received from the Walk On Teepee, formerly the Lower Baling Creek project for the Walk on Teepee Center. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak on behalf of this item?
Going once, going twice, Chair Johnson, will close the public hearing and layover for final adoption. Roll call. This is you can't adopt this. Oh, I'm sorry. Close the public hearing and layover. And approve. And approve. Thank you. No problem. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provotsky. Yes. Yang. Aye. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 27 is resolution public hearing twenty five one hundred and forty two, amending the financing and spending plan of the Department of Parks and Recreation in the
amount of $2,000,000 for funds contributed from the Port Authority for the Hillcrest Heights project. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Going once, going twice, Council Member Pobrowski will make a motion. I'll accept a motion to close the public hearing and layover and approve for final adoption. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted.
Item 28 is Resolution Public Hearing 20 five-one hundred and thirty six, amending the financing and spending plans of the Department of Public Works capital budget for multiple capital projects. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item? Going once, going twice. Seeing none, I will take a motion from Council Member Jost to close and approve for final adoption roll call. Bui? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provodzinski? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no and opposed.
The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 29 is Resolution Public Hearing 20 five-one 147, authorizing the Office of Financial Services to accept a $49,000 grant and authorizing execution of a grant agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Local Climate Action Grant Program for developing a municipal fleet decarbonization plan. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item? Going once, going twice,
I'll take a motion from Chair Johnson to close and approve close the public hearing and approve for final adoption. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 30 is resolution public hearing twenty five-one hundred and fifty one, amending the city's capital improvement budget and operating budget to reflect the final sale details resulting from the issuance of the GEO Capital Improvement Bonds Series 2025A and the GEO
Street Reconstruction Bonds Series 2025B. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item? Going once, going twice, I'll take a motion from Chair Buie to close the public hearing and approve roll call. Buie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provotsky. Yes. Yang. Aye. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 31 is resolution public hearing 20 five-one 138, approving the final combined plat for 391 McKnight Road South to create three H1 parcels.
This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item? Great. We have testifiers. Please come on up to the podium. Please introduce yourself, your name for the record, and what neighborhood you're coming from. Hi. I'm Patty McDonald. I have sort of two hats. I'm part of the land use committee for the Cirque one, and I am also a neighbor of this property. So, and Just to clarify, you'll have, two minutes to testify, and we've got your around. So, and I forgot my other glasses. When the district one met about this issue,
we only had the, public hearing notice, not enough information to comment on, so we hadn't. Since then, we found more information and discussed it. I, those comments that we had, I'm gonna represent as a neighbor because we did not meet in person or vote on them, but we may still send a letter about them. So our concerns first, I'm a neighbor at 425 McKnight. I'm speaking for neighbors Trudy Marshall at 435 and Jen McCall at 407. And I also have four other properties that are adjacent lots. So this is it.
We feel some very basic considerations have not been addressed, and we would like them addressed before it moves forward in regards to the location of the houses and the close proximity of five driveways to each other after the two more squeezed in. One is the lack ugh. I put the wrong not the access for fire trucks, but because of the fire department. I think one of the new rules is once they park out front, there has to be a plan for the hose distribution or something, and we would like to see that since the driveways are very long and behind
another site. There's a lack of street parking for visitors. Because the five driveways are so close, there isn't anywhere really street parking. And across the way in Maplewood, there is no parking. So third is the difficulty of the public emergency services and delivery drivers to locate the future homes that are to be located. Issue four, when snow plowing, where is the snow gonna go? And five, during rain and snow melt events, where will all the runoff from these two additional long, detimatous driveways, where is it gonna go?
Will it cause a runoff problem for neighbors in, in other parts of the land, which has happened in that neighborhood when other places have been built, and then a next door neighbor has been flooded out and stuff. So we would like to see all those concerns met before it moves forward. Great. And you are right at time. Thank you so much for your testimony. Any other testifiers on this item? Does anyone want these? Sure. If you'd like to, hand them, we can distribute them for you. Thank you so much for your testimony. I'm going to look to Chair Johnson, to see what you'd like to do for this item.
Is there anyone else to testify? I don't believe there's anyone else here to testify on behalf of this item. Make yourself known. It does not appear so. Okay. I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. Great. Roll call. Bui? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Dost? Yes. Provodzinski? Yes. Yang? I mean. Vice President Kim? I. Six in favor. No one opposed. The public hearing is closed. All right. Chair Johnson? Thank you so much. I appreciate, Ms. McDonald for coming in today to take the time to come and testify, not only on behalf of yourself as a neighbor, but also on behalf of others. I know that we have,
mister Miller Johnson in the audience as well today, and I just have a couple clarifying questions for you as I'm gonna ensure that you have, this, and I'll get an additional copy as well, Patty. But can you pass this to him as well? And just because I think it's helpful for there to be ongoing communication thank you, Jay. They have it already. Appreciate you. Can we, are there certain questions that you might be prepared to answer today? And then can you also speak to the timing of when this resolution has to be acted on? Sure. Yeah. Thank you, Vice President Kim, Chair. Thank you for those questions.
And thanks to the testifier who came forward today, Spencer Miller Johnson, Planning and Economic Development senior planner. I have the final plat on the magic, projector. Great. Just to kinda help orient us. So what this proposal is is for three lots. It's a 2.4 acre parcel. So in the city of Saint Paul, that's very large. The proposal basically shows, splitting that one site into those three lots one would be point five acres that and that one would front McKnight and then the two in the rear would be each about point eight five acres So all three parcels are pretty large.
They would be served the rear parcels would be served by a private street that's about 20 feet wide, and that goes back into the parcel so that's west and then serves each of the two lots, on the north and south side there. The so there is no proposal for development at this time, so I do wanna clarify that. Like, this is a proposal to split one large lot into three different lots. It meets all the required findings in the code. It's been, reviewed by the city surveyor. In terms of, concerns about access and,
stormwater runoff, from a plat perspective, there are no concerns. When development proposals do come through those would go through site plan review and at that time all those things would be assessed. So from this perspective if a if a plat meets the required findings of the code which are pretty straightforward, that's meeting, meeting their part of the code, meeting the comp plan, those sorts of things, then, we would recommend approval. Okay. And then could you just, again, can you speak to the timeline of if there's anything that would be pressing that would per se if I want to, I may make a motion to lay this over until the August 6 meeting.
And is there anything that would would that comp up with anything? Sure. Council member, the sixty day deadline is August 3. However, we have not administratively, we can administratively extend fifteen ninety nine for another sixty days. We've not done that yet. So that is something that I could go back to the team and and submit to the to the applicant to request an extension. We do have, purview to do that. Yeah. I think that's gonna be my motion. So Okay. I'd like to leave this matter over until August 6, but I also would appreciate if,
staff would be able to follow-up with some of the neighbors that are listed on the public record now that have come forward with just some of their concerns. I think primarily because if it if the information didn't necessarily get to the district council, I I appreciate, Patty coming in to speak on behalf of herself as a neighbor, but she's also a part pretty active member of the district council. And I'm a little concerned about what information may be getting to them, and I wanna catch it early. And so if it's possible, and I think and with the support of my colleagues, I'd really like to, lead us over to August 6. And then I would, encourage the, the extension with the hopes of actually being able to just address the questions and
get everyone on the same page of how you're proceeding. Because it sounds like there's not a development proposal at this time, but this is simply to split the the parcels. But I still think being able to share with folks transparently along the way so they know what's happening in their next in their backyard is helpful. Absolutely. Thank you, councilman. Great. So there's a motion to leave the item over to, our August 6 meeting. Roll call vote. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Provodzinski? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no and opposed. The resolution is laid over to August 6.
Item 32 is Resolution Public Hearing 20 five-one 149, approving the application of One Civil Plan LLC for sound level variance in order to present amplified sound on August at the Minnesota State Capitol Grounds 75 Reverend Doctor. Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item? Going once, going twice, I'll take a motion from council member Jost to close the public hearing and approve. Roll call. Sorry.
Bowie. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Jost. Yes. Prabotsky. Yes. Yang. Aye. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 33 is Resolution Public Hearing twenty five-one hundred and fifty two, approving the application of Anderson Race Management for sound level variance in order to present Amplified Sound on August 17 at Harriet Island, 49 Harriet Island Road. Great. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item?
Going once, going twice, I'll take a motion from Council Member Provevski to close and approve roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor and no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 34 is public hearing 20 five-two. Considering the application of Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority, Housing and Redevelopment Authority, and Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church to rezone property at 694 Minnehaha Avenue East,
et al, from I2 General Industrial to H2 Residential, R M two medium density multiple family residential, and t three traditional neighborhood. Great. And I believe that we have a staff report, so we will take a staff report first. Oh, there we go. Perfect. Okay. Hi. Hello. Chris Hong, a seed planner in planning and economic development. And, so this is just a staff report on, this rezoning application. I'm sure you're all familiar with the Hams Brewery site. But here it is just right on the edge of,
Payne Phelan and, Dayton's Bluff. So, I will this rezoning application is for five parcels, and I'll start with, these three as they were recommended for approval by the planning commission. Parcel 1 is a multiuse trail. Parcel two is undeveloped parkland. And Parcel 5 is a church, school, and outdoor play area. And these, three parcels are just being rezoned to fix the, the split zoning. And like I said, the, the planning commission recommended approval for, these three rezonings. And the other two is, Parcels 3 And 4. Parcel 3 is the smaller parcel in the upper left hand corner,
and Parcel 4 is the larger of the two. And they contain some of the buildings of the, former Hamm's Brewery and some, accessory surface parking. These buildings have been vacant since 1997. The applications are to rezone them from I-two general industrial to T-three traditional neighborhood. And the parcels with Xs on them would remain I-two. So we found that the rezoning is consistent with the comprehensive plan. It's designated as a mixed use opportunity site, which calls for higher density mixed use developments or employment centers. And the T3 Zoning District allows for just that.
Both staff and the city attorney's office found that the rezoning would not constitute spot zoning. Spot zoning applies to zoning changes typically limited to small plots of land which establish a use classification inconsistent with the surrounding uses and create an most of the surrounding uses are permitted in, in T 3. The, the uses permitted in T 3 are also quite similar to the uses permitted in T 2, which is already present in this area. There are three parcels that, would, that are not affected by this rezoning application and would stay I two. The fact that these three parcels would be,
surrounded by a property with a different zoning classification does not alone constitute spot zoning. And the uses within the, craft brewery and the distillery, are allowed in t three as well. Additionally, these parcels are adjacent to this, this large area zoned, I, I two. So they would not be isolated industrial, parcels by any means. And, the district council did, recommend approval for all five rezonings. But, like I mentioned before, parcels three and four were recommended for, denial by the planning commission.
And so this is a summary of the zoning applications. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Ms. Huang, can you just clarify as well for, committee members who are here today the full scope of the the resolution that's in front of us? I'm sorry. I don't understand. Like, what we would be actually voting on? Can you just be clear about what that is? You went through the presentation in whole, and I appreciate the background information. But can you just clarify the vote today? Sure. Of course. So typically, when a rezoning is, brought to city council, it's brought forward as an ordinance. But that's only the case if the planning commission recommends approval.
However, because the planning commission recommended denial for two out of the five parcels, we are first holding a public hearing to determine if the city council wants to introduce this, rezoning as an ordinance, as usual or if they just want to, save us all some time and, deny the application here. Okay. Thank you so much. Perfect. Great. This is a public hearing. We will have folks if you if you're here to testify on this item, just maybe, like, raise your hand so we can kinda get a sense of how many folks are here. Okay. Perfect.
We will take, the applicant first. They get five minutes, and then everyone else will get two minutes to testify if you'd like to start to queue on either side. And to be very clear, we are asking testimony, for and against, the resolution, which is, again, a statement of intent. So please, if you are interested in testifying on this item at all, please do line up in queue, and I will start to make ends of the queue in about after the applicant testifies. I will identify the last testifier on each side. So if you'd like to be included, please please start the queue now,
and we'll have, the applicant testimony, and you'll have five minutes. Hello, director Newton. Thank you, council vice president, council members. My name is Nicole Newton, and I hold two roles within the City of St. Paul. I'm the director of the Department of Planning and Economic Development, and I also serve as the executive director of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, or the HRA, who are the owner of this property and the applicant for the rezoning. The Hams Redevelopment site contains blighted historic buildings that have been vacant for decades. The site has been a priority redevelopment site for the HRA in order to create much needed housing,
tax based jobs, and additional residents to support neighborhood businesses. To that end, an RFP process was conducted by the HRA in 2022 for redevelopment of the property. Five proposals were submitted from teams led by J. B. Dang Partners, Rob Clap Investments, the HOPE Program, Kingdom Realty, and Trellis. After multiple interviews and careful consideration of the proposals, the HRA board unanimously designated JB Vang as a tentative developer. The JB Vang redevelopment proposal reflected key community and HRA goals with a mix of uses, including very thoughtful residential units reflecting community needs and households of varying sizes,
ages and incomes, commercial space for entrepreneurs, community gathering and open spaces, preservation of historic buildings. In advance of the development of the HRA on land, the HRA has maintained the property and allowed for public parking on the site. While there are no agreements, leases, or licenses for any particular business or entity to utilize the HRA on land for parking, the HRA has worked with the proposed housing developer to redesign the project to result in as much surface parking for public use as possible. The development project will include 147 spaces of structured parking for the housing units,
which will be located underneath the new construction housing. All in all, there will be more than 140 spaces of public surface parking available for the public and commercial businesses, and an additional 30 or more spaces of street parking are available adjacent or very nearby. In addition, this site is transit oriented with multiple bus stops stops ferry nearby, direct adjacency in connection to the regional trails and regional bikeway system, and walkability to adjacent neighborhoods. The new housing will bring customers who will have an easy walk to nearby businesses, both existing on the site and within the surrounding neighborhood.
I'll add to what, Ms. Hong mentioned about the spot zoning, just a little more clarification on that. There have been questions about whether or not this action would constitute spot zoning, which is not legal in Minnesota. Spot zoning occurs when zoning changes establish a use classification inconsistent with surrounding uses and create, again, an island of nonconforming use. In this instance, while the parcels not being rezoned do look sort of like spots, the surrounding uses are consistent with uses in those parcels. For example, craft brewery and craft distillery are allowable uses in both I-two and T-three.
I do understand why that would be confusing, but the city attorney's office has reviewed this question and this action, would not constitute spot zoning. The development project is well supported by community in which the development is located, by the relevant district councils, and again was unanimously supported by the ATRE board. Just yesterday morning, the project was awarded over $1,000,000 from Ramsey County and has previously received multiple competitive awards totaling more than $4,000,000 all contingent on the project moving forward. The proposed zoning change is a necessary step toward the redevelopment of the Ham site
as envisioned by the HRA and is consistent with the comprehensive plan and community goals. We thank you in advance for your consideration. That's great. Thank you so much. So I think we'll just start to alternate sides. Please, you know, step on up, center yourself on the two microphones, state your name for the record, and everyone will have two minutes, and we'll be very quick on that timeline. So two minutes, and our first testifier is here. Please state your name for the record, and your two minutes will start. Yeah. My name is Fred Stenberg, and I am opposed to any action on this development.
What you have heard from the planning staff has obfuscated and confused and ignored the issue that they have not worked with the current businesses. So this shouldn't be happening today. This shouldn't be happening. This will kill those businesses. There is not enough parking. There won't, there'll be much less parking, and St. Paul Bruyne needs to be able to meet with planning and actually have a serious doc, a meeting of minds, which they resolve the problems, and Saint Paul Brewery has asked for a meeting and has not had that meeting.
So this is an Anne run situation here. I don't know why you're smiling because this isn't funny. Technically, whatever was said was probably correct, but wasn't because they have not worked with the brewery or the other businesses and the and the other and they have wanted to be part of the process and help solve and head off problems for the future. What when the business was first set up, the brewery, the original owner was given a promise that there would be parking and the availability of the land, which is the big part of Parcel 4.
That place has been broken. So we're looking at it ahead is if there isn't this process stopped, there'll be a lawsuit against those responsible. I don't like lawsuits more than you. I've been involved with some. And, I don't know why. Why does the planning not meet with the brewery? I'm so sorry. I know you've I and I don't know. You just run out of time. I'm speaking. Yeah. You've run out of time. We are giving equal time to everyone that's in line, sir. I'm so sorry. We Can you let me continue, please? No. No. We have other testifiers. We're gonna give everyone the same amount of time,
and I'm so sorry I have to cut you off. There there's opportunity to continue to submit the information. So if you haven't sent an email, we're still able to, I think we're able to receive information. If you have something written down, you can hand it to Greg, but please sign in, and we'll just keep the line moving. I'm so sorry. We're gonna be very strict to the timeline. There are folks that have been waiting, to testify. Thank you so much for coming. Next up, please state your name for the record. You've you're two minutes. As soon as Greg is ready, we'll start now. Thank you so much for your time today. My name is Sarah Gartner, and I am a resident Of Ward 7. And I'm here to voice a very strong support for the proposed rezoning of the
Hams Brewery site. In a state of the city address, Mayor Carter called upon us to build a more equitable, livable St. Paul, one where housing is accessible, development is inclusive, and our historic neighborhoods can evolve without losing their soul. This proposed rezoning does exactly that. Our city is in the midst of a housing crisis and we desperately need more housing options, especially deeply affordable housing for working families, artists, and long time residents who are being priced out of the city. If we are to be a city where all residents can live with stability and
dignity, this proposed rezoning helps meet that need by paving the way for this thoughtful, community anchored development, the kind that mayor Carter urged us to pursue. At the same time, this plan honors the legacy of the Hamm site, preserving historic structures, uplifting existing businesses like St. Paul Brewing, not replacing them. It adds public space, retail, and opportunity making the neighborhood more welcoming and sustainable for the long term. This is the kind of project that meets the moment. Responsive to both our housing needs and the community values. I urge you to support this rezoning and help move the city to a more
livable and inclusive inclusive Saint Paul that I believe we would all like to see. Thank you for your time. Great. Please make sure you sign in. Perfect. Next testifier. Thank you very much. My name is Mike Kalpa. I'm an attorney with the law firm Anthony Oslund, and I'm here to represent my clients who are current property owners at the Hammes Brewing site. We are due to deny this zoning application that will change certain parcels from I2 to T3 because as nine members of the Planning Commission have already observed, this is illegal spot zoning. And it's spot zoning for two reasons.
One, it creates an island of a new T3 zone in isolation from other T3 zoned parcels. And secondly, which is clear from the maps that you've seen, my client's properties have become islands of I two zoned parcels within a new I within a new t three zone. There's no rational basis for this change, and it's precisely the kind of illegal spot zoning that the Minnesota Supreme Court has repeatedly held to be illegal. It just makes no sense to have the kind of industrial establishments that are permitted in I2 zones to overlap with the kind of residential developments that would be allowed
in T3, which is exactly what's being proposed here. And in addition to the spot zoning problems, which has already been mentioned, this zoning change would remove the public shared amenity part of the parking amenity that my clients businesses depend on and which the the city has repeatedly promised to maintain as a shared parking amenity for over a decade. In short, we believe this proposal is just a giveaway to support, a single private development at the expense of my clients' businesses. I wanna conclude just by observing and noting that this application is a little bit unusual procedurally in a sense that,
it was being it's being submitted by the HRA. And that puts my clients at a little bit of a disadvantage to the extent that the city attorney's office who represents the HRA, is giving advice on spot zoning issues to the applicant here. So we just ask you to consider the facts here and let the facts guide your decision. And we're confident that if you just look at the plain facts here, you will come to the same conclusions of planning committee commission and deny this application as illegal spot zoning. Thanks very much. Wonderful. Thank you. Next, testifier. My name is Danielle Erbank. I am a resident of Ward 6.
I've been a resident of the East Side for almost a decade. I love living there, and I'm proud of my neighborhood. Since before we even lived there, I have been a customer of what was then flat earth, now Saint Paul Brewing. To be honest, my husband and I even considered the proximity of the brewery when we bought our house, and the previous owners left a growler in the fridge when we moved in. I have watched the evolution of a small hidden gem brewery with free tours and free samples to a top patio in the metro that even my friends who don't usually drive north of the river frequent. I understand the need for housing. It's a major problem all over the country, especially here.
However, it does have does it have to be at the expense of a thriving business on the East Side, especially at a time when it seems a different brewery or restaurant is closing every week. Taking part Away from Saint Paul Burien would absolutely hurt them. There is little to no street parking in that area for overflow, and there is always overflow. If you can rezone this location, why another location that doesn't impact the business thriving on the East Side? I don't know the reason behind choosing this location specifically, but it seems the city should be embracing this economic growth, in a much needed area. I speak for many of my neighbors when saying this business has only helped grow
our community. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Please sign in next testifier. Hello. My name is Jacob Hooper. Today, I'm here representing the, on behalf of the sustained St. Paul board of directors. Thank you for hosting this hearing. We strongly support and are excited about the opportunity that this project presents for the immediate neighborhood and for Saint Paul at large. A 196 much needed affordable housing units, in a range of different styles. 86 of these are gonna be on a historic brewery property. These historic conversions are not easy. We appreciate that this proposal is gonna preserve and revitalize a beautiful and iconic building
that has sadly been vacant for decades. A 110 of these units are gonna be built on what is now a single level parking lot owned by the Saint Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which means it's a piece of property on which our city currently collects absolutely no taxes, alongside almost 20% of the rest of the city. With our city's considerable financial strains and ever increasing property taxes, we need developments like this one, that expand our tax pace and promote density for efficient services benefiting both the both
new and existing residents around Sweet Hollow and citywide. There are other big benefits to the community, green space, recreation areas, performance plaza, etcetera, all connected, via the Bruce Vento Trail and Sweet Hollow Park. Amenities and accessibility like this to, bike and pedestrian traffic double down on this site as an enticing destination for residents while simultaneously moving us toward our climate goals. This development prevent presents considerable opportunity to the business community from the new commercial marketplace that's going to give small business owners a place to start and ability to build
equity through an ownership model. But also, I wanna stress that for existing businesses, nearly 200 new local housing units, improved connectivity to the rest of neighborhood, increased foot traffic, all of this presents them with a wealth of new prospective customers, and I hope that they take advantage of that. Thank you for your commitment to Saint Paul. Please support an affordable, livable, and sustainable city by supporting this rezoning. Thank you. Thank you. Next testifier. Step on up. Yep. Thank you for signing in. Wonderful. Welcome. You've got two minutes.
Hello. Thanks for having me. My name is Patrick Kelly. I live one block north of this proposed development, and I do not support it. My neighborhood has a huge parking problem. We have multiple successful businesses running in this neighborhood. Every day cars fill up my street and there's nowhere to park. Right in front of my house, I can't park there. There's nowhere else for these people to park. You're proposing to move in more people than parking spots.
In addition, you're removing the parking spots that already exist. This is a bad plan, and personally, it's really bad for me because I won't have anywhere to park in my neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Please sign in. Next testifier. Hello. My name is Ashley Visner. I'm with, the, tentative developer of the of the HRA on-site. Our address is 1335 Pierce Butler Road. Council members, thank you for considering this request for rezoning today. As a tentative developer of the HRA owned part portions of the Hansbury property, J. B. Bang continues to be excited about the proposed development that has been guided by community
voices. Our project is proposed to nearly proposed to bring nearly 200 units of much needed housing to the East Side as well as commercial marketplace, significant site improvements that will bring new green space, community gathering spaces, and connections to Sweet Hollow Park and the Bruce Minto Trail. Based on the proposed project plans, we believe the rezoning from I-two to T-three is best suited to support housing and commercial activities as well as allow for the improved bike and pedestrian access to bring new connectivity and vitality to this area. As noted in the staff report, the change for this site is supported by the city's 2040 comprehensive plan,
which designates it as a mixed use opportunity site. To date, we have secured 4,150,000.00 in an outside funding for this project from the Metropolitan Council in Ramsey County, including the most recent award this month of 1,150,000 from Ramsey County. We also submitted an application to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency or MHFA on July. Our community engagement efforts have yielded support and enthusiasm from the community, including our most recent appearance at the Art in the Hollow Art Fair on June 7 and the launch of our community engagement website that allows us to reach a broader segment of the community.
I am sharing this document with you today and have submitted it for the public record, which shows our website at hamsesight.com has garnered nearly 2,000 unique visitors and a 94% positive or neutral comment rate since the launch of it this year of May. On behalf of JB Dang, I respectfully ask you to support this rezoning today. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you, Greg. Welcome to the podium. Hi, Diana. We're going to let Greg make his way back around. And then I'm just noting the end of the line looks like Rebecca on the
left hand side and then in the black shirtless response. Yes. Sorry. You are the end of this line. So that is the end of the line for the testifiers, and we will keep it moving. Welcome, Danette. Please introduce yourself. You've got two minutes. Hi. My name is Danette Alridge Tosano. I live on the East Side. I'm a horrible public speaker, but I'm asking you to vote no on this. I already feel I don't I've never been in a meeting, but I feel like you've already made a decision. So I think this is probably for not. But, I'm really glad that the person before me brought up the Sweet Hollow Art Fair
because I was there, and I asked, directly you know, I because there's no parking. The parking that is gonna be, put out you I keep hearing that, you know, it's busing. The Minnehaha doesn't have good busing. It doesn't have good parking. It really is gonna be a problem. And I I asked them the day of the art fair, and they literally said, you know, I said, you know, the numbers don't match, and they said no. I don't know if it was the same woman that was here, but the the table that was at Sweet Hollow admitted that the parking, you know, they don't have,
you know, I don't know. They they don't know how they're gonna make it work when the the numbers don't add up. I am on I'm on the board of ESNDC, and I know that we were brought the information, and it looks like an amazing project. But that was the redevelopment of the buildings, not this huge, apartment building, which I love that there'd be housing in the, revitalization of those buildings, but I don't think that that's a great space for a huge apartment building.
It just it would be kind of like an island in amongst all this business and a thriving business that I can't imagine you guys would wanna close down, which is what's gonna happen. And I kinda wanna be on film stating that I think what's gonna happen in my mind is they're gonna build the housing because there's money for, housing. And then the buildings aren't gonna get revitalized, which is gonna be really sad. And as an Eastsider, that's sad. A lot of times. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next testifier, you've got two minutes.
Thank you for signing in. Hi. My name is Tim Marino. I'm a community organizer with the Dayton's Bluff Community Council, and I'm speaking on behalf of our board as our board president is unable to make it today. On behalf of the Dayton's Bluff Community Council, please accept this letter of support for the rezoning under consideration for the Ham's Brewery property owned by the HRA. At a regularly scheduled meeting on April 21, the board voted unanimously in favor of supporting this rezoning. Rezoning from an industrial use to mixed use for the property is a valuable step forward in this project. As a community council, we support an updated zoning classification to reflect the proposed uses for the site and
removing the industrial classification at this location. And then I'm also a resident of Dayton's Bluff, so in a personal capacity, I just wanna add that, since this land has been purchased and rehabilitated with taxpayer money, we expect that this is gonna be in accordance with the comprehensive plan. And if we're denying this rezoning, that would be in direct opposition to the goals of neighborhood nodes and the opportunity sites. And also, this development does be in line with l, policy l u one, two, thirteen, and fourteen, many of which say that call for reducing parking in this area.
We are in a housing affordability crisis. 55106, the ZIP code with this development, has the highest rate of evictions in the entire state of Minnesota. And redevelopment has been planned since 2001 with the failing quarter development strategy plan. The longer we wait, the more expensive this project becomes, the more housing units might have to be cut, and the city is gonna send a message to affordable housing developers that we're not a willing partner. Despite everyone speaking here, the people who aren't a part of the conversation are are those who would be safe from homelessness or housing insecurity due to this project not being built or being
built. And for the people opposing this project, I really want you to think about, would you feel comfortable telling those folks that housing cars is more important than housing people? Thank you. Thank you. Hi. My name is Cheryl Peterson. I'm a resident of Ward 5. I live about 10 blocks from the brewery. My apologies. I came at the last minute. I do not have prepared notes, and I'm not a policy wonk. But I do know that over the twenty six years I've lived here, I got through the .com bust. I got through the housing bust of 02/2009.
Every time my hopes get high that things are gonna get a little better, It always seems to crash, and the East Side always seems to take the brunt of it. I, was on the District five Planning Council for many years. We suffered under St. Paul parking restrictions. That poor man who was trying to reopen Schweitz', which is now Brunson's, died of cancer. He finally got his place open, but you took those parking restrictions away, which was lovely. We got, started building up again. COVID hit. We get this brewery going. People are coming.
It's a destination. Ham's is worldwide known. And, here we are with parking again. The plan, I've looked at it. What is it? Marketplace? Communal Marketplace? Three words, keg and case. It's not gonna go well, especially over here on this side of town. I am very disappointed. I don't know if this is factual, but the Ford redevelopment site would have been a perfect site to have plenty of affordable or, I don't know what the new, term is for the low income housing, which I am in favor of.
But I want the more affluent areas to I want to diversify the more affluent areas, and I wanna see more affordable housing there. Thank you for listening to me. Great. Yes. And, of course, thank you, Cheryl, for testifying. Yeah. Thank you for signing in. Next testifier. Council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Regina Clapp. I'm the co owner of Eleven Wells Distillery located just across from Saint Paul Brewing. My business partner, Liza, and I are currently pouring our hearts and energy into transforming the former ElevenWells space
into the first woman owned and run whiskey distillery in Minnesota called Bollier. Our space will be engaging, welcoming, and full of life, a case study for the innovative adaptive reuse, the community's top priority for the Hams Complex. Full disclosure, Rob Clapp is my husband. When I met him seventeen years ago, he was a residential real estate broker who, like many others, were struggling in the housing market collapse. Even then, one thing stood out, his love for St. Paul. Everywhere we went, he would point to vacant buildings and say what they could become,
places of beauty, community, joy, and creativity. It wasn't a dream. It was a calling. Over the last decade, decade, he started from nothing and created something creative and remarkable. These aren't businesses. They're places people love, places that make Saint Paulites proud. You've heard it today. Arguably, no one is more accomplished at commercial adaptive reuse in Saint Paul than rum. Today, you're being asked to vote on what is textbook illegal spot zoning and, in support of a project with its current design, will kill our businesses. There are compromises, and we've proposed several.
The stakes are high. Your planning commission voted nine to two against it, clearly determining it constitutes illegal spot zoning. Taking this into account, ask yourself how you would vote if this request were coming from any private developer, not the city yourself. You are in these chambers as both the applicant and the decision maker. Please vote no in this illegal spot zoning request, and instead follow the request of the planning commission, which is to work with Robin Ku and identify a compromise solution that works for all. Thank you. Welcome up. Your two minutes will start.
You yeah. Just stand right between them. They'll they'll catch you just fine. Hi. My name is Anne Polacek. I'm a member of the East Side. I'm also the proud owner of Polly's Coffee Cove for eleven and a half years. So I got a chance to know the business community and the city council. I also had an opportunity to be participant in district five planning council. So it kind of gave me an idea. I really learned about Saint Paul. When I learned, I thought, you know what? Just because there's a space, doesn't mean you can plop kids down, or plop a residential down.
Because you have to look at the area around there. You know, I would love to find successful business on the East Side. I really would. I've been here about thirty years. But you know what? Small businesses may not exist. They may not happen, because it won't. You can't force them to. You cannot force a residential next to the beautiful heritage of Hams. What I suggest is for you all to vote no. You can look for other places that will really go well. Being a teacher, I have been on those buses where they turn around,
and it is not a place for kids to be, or a family. The problem is, if you put more people in there, I hate to tell you this, but you could get into things like trafficking, which some of you may not be aware of, but it's very big in that area, and all the way over on the East Side Of Saint Paul. It happens everywhere. Please do not put a residential in there, because you're gonna run into things you don't even wanna touch. And being a teacher, and being a business owner, and being part of the district council in the past, all these things you want could happen, but don't place it here.
I see a really good thing of the Saint Paul Brewery. They have families there. Preserve the heritage, and I know you all do that. Thank you. Wonderful. Next testifier, come on up. State your name for the record, and you've got two minutes. Thank you. I'm Rob Clapp. I'm the owner of Saint Paul Brewing as well as several other, entities, all located in Saint Paul, employing, 197 amazing employees. I don't know where to begin. Somebody said, you know, that the city is sending a message. The city is also sending a message when, they retaliate, bully,
and harass the existing businesses, as to, you know, is St. Paul welcoming of businesses? I have successful businesses. And yet, here I am fighting for for that survival of of my businesses. This is so simple. I have for two years, I've been, battling with the city to to find compromise and collaboration, and I've been ignored at at at every step. For two years, I've been at this. The only thing I've asked for is what the RFP requested. And that the initial, goal of that RFP was to see the existing Ham's Brewery building redeveloped.
That's it. That's what everybody wants. I wanna see that. I support historic designation. I support affordable housing. I support the I'll support the rezoning. I've offered the city. I will lift all of my objections. The only thing I ask is that the existing building is prioritized just like the city. In fact, I have an email from Stephanie Hart when she was, an aide telling me that that was the intent, is that the existing building would be developed first. And now, there's no plan for that. There's no developer for the marketplace.
NDC has said it's it's flawed. It wouldn't work. Where are the plans for that building? Develop that building first. Let's take a twelve month hiatus and see how everything is working. You get affordable housing, 89 units. You get a marketplace. And the existing buildings get to businesses get to stay and thrive. And we just take a twelve month hiatus and see what works. And also, I've also offered my Aquaponics building, which could support another 60 units of affordable housing. You are now at time. Thank you so much for wrapping up quickly.
And our very last testifier, come on up. You've got, two minutes. Please state your name for the record. Hi there. My name is Rebecca Nelson, and I am the board chair of the Payne Family Community Council. I'm also on the board of ESNDC. I was previously on the board of Sustain Saint Paul and prior to a couple years ago, also the board chair of District four, Community Council. So I I I have a long history in this neighborhood, and we've been very involved, with the development of the how how Hansberry was gonna be developed,
attending community meetings put on by JB Vang and things like that. I don't really have any other points to make because I believe that they've all been made, prior to me coming here. Just wanna point out that the district council, both d four and d five, support the, change and just wanted to let you know that. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Please sign in. Those were the ends of the lines. I will motion to close the public hearing. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson?
Aye. Jones? Yes. Provodzinski? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The public hearing is closed. All right. I'm going to toss it over to Chair Johnson and then, of course, open up the floor for discussion. Thank you, Council Vice President. And thank you to everyone who took the time to come out and attend the meeting in person. And thanks for your patient as patience as we got through so many council business items before you were able to testify. For those that also wrote in, either to my office or to other council member offices, our office worked tirelessly to tirelessly to make sure that those comments got added to
the public record as well. So just wanna assure those that couldn't make it today in person, your public comment was also added, to this item. And, you know, I will just simply say about this, particular vote and to clarify, it's a motion of intent vote that communicates, essentially will spearhead and start the process if it were to, move forward today. This vote is solely to make a motion for intent on the rezoning that would be followed for three additional council meetings after this. And so, you know, I have had a chance to review. I've reviewed a lot of the comments.
I've given you know, and I am listening to quite a few of the comments that have been had. And, one thing that I will share with you is that this vote today is not about parking or about really just like what the site ends up being. This parking this, vote today is about a rezoning request. And right now, for folks that are going through the piece of the puzzle and even just the request itself, right now, it's in it's, general industrial I two. And in order to be able to have any sort of conversations about future residential pieces on this land, the rezoning would be necessary. And so in this regard,
especially when we're looking at the future of the Hams Brewery site, it's not a question of whether or not there will be housing on this site. That decision was decided, and it was decided by the previous council unanimously. And when you're looking at just the direction that the HRA wants to take, that also has been reiterated to community. But I just wanna back us up almost twenty years and bring back some of the community, feedback, community studies that were done, and where community articulated very clearly what they wanted the site to be. Because I think we need to reground it because a lot of things that have happened recently and in recent years, may take us and subtract us from just the continued voice that has continued to
be around for decades. And that's that the hand site needs to be revitalized. Individuals wanted to see housing at the site. People still want to see housing at the site. That's been vocalized over and over and over again. And I recognize that that sometimes can create some tension in what it looks like and what the ending result could be. And with great respect to both JB Vang's, development team, but also to Saint Paul Brewery and myself. This isn't just about these two entities. It's about the larger neighborhood as well that's vocalized and continued to, communicate the intents of what this site would be.
And quite frankly, we're at a crossroads. If something if nothing happens to this site in the next few years, we don't even actually know how long it will take until nothing can happen at this site. And then we'll have individuals really coming to us wondering why these weren't restored, why they weren't invested in. This is the single, largest HRA development in Ward 7. It's had a history of being supported by several Ward 7 council members, several of my predecessors. It was unanimously supported by the previous council, by the previous HRA board, and I continue to have that support. Today,
the motion for intent as well so as the final vote will have my support. And it's in part because this is a rezoning request again. And if there will be any conversations in the future about having residential at this site, it's not gonna happen on an industrial zone. And I appreciate the concerns that have been brought up, but I will go back to the fact that at this particular juncture, there's no, the city has found it not to be spot zoning. In addition to the comments and the concerns and working with, Saint Paul Burien, I remain, interested in being able to have ongoing conversations with all of the preexisting businesses and
preexisting pieces, but also all of the preexisting residents in the nearby area, because it's not just about this site. It's about the continued impact on the neighborhood that it has. And that that vision has been continued to be perpetuated multiple times in writing, either via email and the news articles. I've seen them all. I choose not to participate in things that I don't see to be productive. The back and forth in the media, the back and forth on social media, the back and forth through emails, none of that will equal what what community wants us to do, which is ultimately work together. But this particular vote today is about a rezoning.
And that intent has been communicated over and over again, and my support will still remain unwavering. And I will be making a motion to approve, the motion for intent. That sounds good. I will accept that as a motion. Any discussion? Councilwoman Pavodzky. Thanks, Vice President Kim. I'll just state, you know, so many of the comments tonight were about the site overall and the project overall, and this is a specific technical vote on the rezone as Councilmember Johnson spoke to. I'm strongly supportive of St. Paul Brewing and eleven Wealth Distillery and all the businesses on the site.
I think, to be honest with you, this is a the city has a uniquely large responsibility to play here as the owner of of a big portion of this parcel, and I hope PD leadership can continue to do even more to try and bridge that tension between the two developers on the site. This is just a very tough situation for folks to be in where, you know, multiple entities have multiple priorities, the community input, you know, all the work council member Johnson is putting in. There's just so much at play here, and that puts a lot of tension in the situation.
I have a lot of thoughts about, you know, what's being proposed in the site overall, but today's vote, as Councilmember Johnson correctly pointed out, is about the rezoning. And in that, I'll be voting in favor. Great. Any other discussion? Yes. Council member Yang. Thanks, council vice president. I just wanna share right off the bat for the same reasons, stated that that that customer Johnson stated about why she's supporting the rezoning. I am also I will also be excuse me. I will also be supporting the rezoning as well. And I just,
you know, wanna first acknowledge, like, I think the points that you made, councilor Johnson, are so, thoughtful and just really appreciate you really talking about what it is that we're actually voting on. In the as I reflect on the comments that folks shared about earlier and also just even comments that I've been getting from folks overall, whether it's being emailed in or conversations that folks are sharing with me about, like, hopes and dreams overall and, you know, concerns too about, the Hansberry site. Like, I think overall, to me, like, what is really important is,
you know, thinking about the the things. Like, obviously, you know, so much of us care deeply about our business community. We hear clearly through the comments that Saint Paul Bernini is a community that is is a business that is deeply loved, well loved, along with the businesses, in the, in the area too. And the vote today is is very different from what it is that folks are bringing forward. Today, I hearing lots of conversations around parking and, you know, to me as a as a council member who has, been here at the table and been a part of those previous votes where,
we voted on the RFP, and, also, they just talked of had overall conversations about the vision for the site here. Like, housing is especially very important, and that's something that I, would would like for us to see come into fruition at the site here. And also just wanna really urge for, more conversations to happen around the concerns that people do have around, the business aspect, on the site here that, you know, business and the the commercial aspect and also housing aspect is, are the two top things that I have been hearing people care deeply about,
and I think that there's a way for us to, to be able to, build a bridge there for all of that to happen. So I will be supporting the, rezoning request today. Great. Thank you. Any other discussion from my colleagues? All right. Seeing no further discussion, there's a motion on the table to approve the motion and intent to approve the rezoning, if I worded that correctly. It's late. Sure, if you would like to reiterate that just for clarity's sake, you're happy to do it otherwise. I'll take a roll call vote. Bui? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky.
Yes. Yang. Aye. Vice President Kim. Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The motion of intent is the application is granted. Item 35 is ABZA 20 five-five. Considering the appeal of Stronger Sober House to a decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals, denying a variance request to establish 11 resident supportive housing facility on the property at 519 Farrington Street. Great. And we're still in the public hearings. Sorry. My brain is dying. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on behalf of this item?
Oh, I'm sorry. Hi, David. That's how the brain's working. You have a staff report. Yep. Welcome. Hello, council members. David Ide with the Department of Safety and Inspections. I'm the staff member assigned to the board of zoning appeals, and I'm here, to talk about 519 Farrington today. This case is in front of you because we have an appeal to the city council. So the board of zoning appeals ended up denying the applicant's variance request, and the applicant has the opportunity to appeal if they believe it that there's an error in fact finding your procedure. So that's why it is in front of you today. So it's the applicant and the appellant are the same in this instance.
In this instance, it is a actual Sober house that they wanna convert into a supportive housing facility. So Sober House is a dwelling unit occupied by more than six persons, all of whom are in recovery from chemical dependency, and the residents leave the site for services. It's currently approved as an 11 resident sober house. They have request for reasonable accommodation that was approved. Supportive housing is considered to be in higher intensity use than the existing sober house. So they are still proposing 11 residents, but they would be adding services that would kick it into the supportive housing category.
And there are some different standards that apply to, supportive housing facilities versus sober homes, which includes a quarter mile distance requirement. So here is the request that we had. Quarter miles required from other specified congregate living facilities with more than six adult residents. And this one is this proposed supportive housing facilities within, a quarter mile of three. The close of which is 736 feet away, and I have a map up on the next screen here. So in this instance, we have 519 Farrington is the proposed,
supportive housing facility. And then there are three other facilities that are within a quarter mile, the closest of which is at 470 Westin Avenue North. All three are supportive housing facilities. So, this is a standard under this, supportive housing facility, land use category. So if you don't meet the standard, you can apply for a variance. Otherwise, you cannot move forward. So the as I stated before, the applicant applied for a zoning variance. We held a public hearing on 06/09/2025. Staff recommended denial based upon findings one, three, four, and six. And there's six findings that need need to be found true to grant a zoning
variance request. We did not receive recommendation from district seven Frogtown Neighborhood Association, but they were, notified. We send out an ENS, and they're on that list. And we also send out a mailed, public hearing notice. At the public hearing, zero, person spoke in favor. We did get one letter in support. And then I got another letter in support, but that person later emailed and said they basically withdrew it. We got one person spoke in opposition, and we got one transcribed voice mail in opposition. The board ended up denying request based upon findings one,
three, four, and six, which is in alignment with the staff recommendation, and five of the five members that were present voted to deny. And then the applicant submitted their appeal application on 07/23/2025. I'm maybe the applicant's here to speak on it, but, essentially, it was that, you know, they were speaking about how they were an existing sober house, and they didn't believe that it created a cluster. And then the fifteen ninety nine, hundred twenty day deadline I extended already is 09/05/2025. Like I said, again, six findings to grant the zoning variance.
The the ones that are bolded are the ones that staff and the board zoning appeals found not to be met. So I'll go over those briefly. Finding one regarding the variance being in harmony for general purposes and intent of the code. Staff and the board found that this request is contrary to the intent of the code as it create a cluster and would be contrary to the intent of the zone code in section 60.13. Finding number three was also not met by the both the board and staff, and that's regarding practical difficulties. As we see economic considerations alone can't constitute practical difficulties,
the intent was that is that the hardship is not self created and that the landowner cannot reasonably use the property due to the ordinance. In staff and the board's opinion, the request is financially driven as the testimony primarily focused on the funding streams. The property is zoned h two h two. So you can, you know, single family dwellings, duplexes, etcetera, are permitted. So that finding was not met. Finding four regarding the plight of the landowner, that finding require it requires that the request be due to a hardship related to the property itself. The requested variance arises not from unique circumstances of the land,
but the applicant's desire to establish 11 residents supportive housing facility within the required separation distance. And this separation requirement does affect other properties within a quarter mile of those other facilities on that map in question. So this is not a plight that's unique to this property, but rather to the it's it applies to the general surrounding area. And then the last one, finding six, regarding the central character, that finding was not met. Staff and the board thought that granting request would result in establishment of two within close proximity, and you saw that there were three actually,
creating a cluster which could undermine the goal of community integrations. That finding was not met. And then in the end, it's the council's, decision whether they believe that there's a, indeed, an error in fact finding a procedure that was made by the board of sending appeals. And I put the purpose statement on the screen again. If the council chooses to grant the appeal, then the property can owner can establish an 11 resident supportive housing facility within a quarter mile of those other three on the map. If the council denies the request, then the property owner cannot establish,
but they can continue operating the sober house. That is approved, and they can continue operating as they have been. And then like I said, September 5 is the 1599 deadline. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to respond. Alright. Any questions from my colleagues regarding the staff report? All right. Thank you. Yep. Vice chair, thank you so much for, your assistance with with this item. I just wanna be clear because I know, in the grand scheme of things, we're gonna be seeing several items like this. I just wanted to, point out or, I guess,
ask a question for you to point out, with this applicant, what are the services that they're requesting that's, putting them into the supportive housing? And my apologies in advance if you already mentioned that. But I just want to be clear. Is it nutrition services, or is it a different type of service? Council member, I believe that it was it's nutrition services primarily. They did mention twenty four hour staffing on the site. I think it was a DHS license that they're pursuing. So the twenty the twenty four hour staffing, that wouldn't be a resident. It'd be, you know, a staff member plus the nutrition.
Okay. And this, existing residential, does it already have a full time staff or any staff associated with this, I guess, facility? Council member Buoy, I believe that the applicant might need to respond on that. I'm not exactly sure what their current model is. I believe that they did. During the hearing, they mentioned that, but they might need to clarify that. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Great. Thank you so much for the staff report. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Great. Wonderful. Yeah. Well, come on up. Please stand right between the microphones.
They will pick you up. I promise. Yep. And just before you start, is the applicant present? I'm the applicant. Oh, perfect. You are look at that. So then you have five then you'll have five minutes to testify. So thank you so much. Please state your name for the record. And then once you start, your, five minutes will begin. Okay. Well, let me get ready. Yeah. Please do. My name is Chum Win Strewe, and I prepared a short statement. I did not know what the staff was gonna say, so pardon me if it's repetitive. I am the majority owner of Stronger Sober House. I'm here today to request a variance that would allow us to continue operating this
sober this home as a sober living residence, as it has been for over a decade. We are not changing anything about our program, structure, or how we serve residents. The only reason we're here is because of recent changes by the Minnesota Department of Human Resources, which reclassified our license to supportive housing. That technical change shifted our spacing requirement from three thirty feet to thirteen twenty feet, even though we are operating the exact same program as before.
The home provides safe, stable housing for approximately 50 men every year. And to answer your question, Anita, it does include staff. The majority of the people that we serve are minorities, and who would otherwise face homelessness. Over the last ten years, we've served hundreds of men in recovery, quietly, consistently, and without disruption to the neighborhood. We respectfully we are respectfully asking for this variance so we can continue doing what we've always done, providing life saving support to to vulnerable men in recovery.
Regarding the specific findings, finding one, zoning intent. We meet the intent of the zoning code by promoting public health, safety, and welfare through housing men in recovery, many of whom would otherwise be homeless. Finding three, practical difficulties. Operating at a reduced capacity would create significant financial and operational hardships for any organization operating at half capacity with staffing and food requirements. And would limit access to recovery housing at a time of very high need. Finding four, unique circumstances.
This situation is unique due to the DHS mandated license change effective August 1 that just came upon us. And it was a mandated license change, not any change in our operation or desired by us. This site has functioned in the same manner again for over a decade, Finding sex neighborhood character. Our home has been operating here for years without issue. Nothing about the program has changed, so it will not alter the character of the little residential home in the neighborhood. Thank you for your time and thought for consideration.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for your testimony. Any other testifiers that have come for this item? Any any testifier at all? Yeah. I I like to do call alls, which maybe isn't always helpful. So if you'd like to say something, you can come up to the podium and take two minutes if you'd like. Or if you are against it, you are also welcome to come up to the podium and take two minutes if you like. Well, it sounds like you'd like to have something to say. I'll give you thirty seconds to make your way up here. Otherwise, we're gonna make a motion to close the public hearing. What's up? Come join us if you'd like to. Yep.
Please step on up. All of all test to me is very important. Else? Yep. So just This is William Hanson. Great. Name and I've been there for fifteen years. Two minutes. We're gonna just wait for our staff to catch up. Name one more time. I'm so sorry. William Hanson. And you've got two minutes. Boy Manson Bald. I love Jesus. What else does you want? Stand right between the microphones so we can pick you up, and your two minutes start now. I what's that? Your two minutes start now. I own a church next to the house. It was it's always been a halfway house. It was a woman's shelter. There were staff there, and there were sober people there.
It is not the way it is now. Completely different place. I have a list from the majority of the residents from around the neighborhood that really didn't want to be put on front Street, but if this is going forward, that has to be submitted. Because I told him I'd stand up and talk for him today. Great. If you'd like to hand it to Greg, what can you do? It has nothing to do with her or anybody else. And, I mean, the guys can do wonderful there. They do nice things, but the variances are for a reason. I mean just today as I'm leaving. Even though there's four of these now with 11 guys or whatever.
Just your average homeowners moving suction fenders in on top of it as long as they keep it under the number six. So you're flooding the hood, and there's nobody out there taking care of these people. You understand what this is, this piece of paper here. Right? K. That's all I have to say. Is that yours? Yes, ma'am. Do you want it? Great. Well, thank you so much for your testimony. Yep. No. Thank you. I mean, you guys still have here. Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry. Please sign in. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Greg. Great. Any other testifiers on this item? Okay. Seeing none,
I will make a motion to close the public. So if we're about to make a motion to close the public hearing, please finish signing in and take a seat. I make a motion to close the public hearing roll call, please. Buoy? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Verbotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The public hearing is closed. Alright. Well, I'm going to kick it over to you, Chair Buoy. Thank you, vice chair. And I just wanna say thank you for, taking time out of your day, sir, to come out here and testify. I'm glad that you did get a chance to have your remarks on record.
And thank you, so much for the applicant being here or, excuse me, the pilot being here, to give some context. So I'm going to be, really short. I'm gonna treat this item similar to the other item that was in my ward, and, ask for support of a layover to August 6. Gives this gives time to, actually issue, a study to further examine this ordinance. Like I had mentioned in a previous, meeting, you know, I think this policy is worth updating. This policy is worth, examining to ensure that we have preventative measures so there isn't a disruption in services.
There isn't a disruption or potential displacement of tenants, that we have heard in other cases. The fortunate thing in this scenario is that we actually have time. So, like, David had mentioned, we have until September. I am requesting, a layover to August 6. And another thing I just wanted to to uplift, like, Mr. Hansen had mentioned, just, I think we need to take some time to really examine just the evolution of supportive housing and supportive and sober housing. You know, like was mentioned before,
what we used to know it as has probably evolved or changed. I think this gives us some time and capacity, to really make a decision that is intentional and informed based off of our staff's studies. So I'm asking for a layover to August 6. Great. There is a motion. Any discussion? Seeing no discussion, the motion is to lay the item over to August 6. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice President Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The appeal was laid over to August 6.
Great. Legislative hearing consent agenda items 36 through 53 are before you for your consideration. Wonderful. Welcome, legislative hearing officer Marsha. Are there any items that need to be taken separately? Could could item number 36 be read into the record? Item 36 is RLHSAO 25 dash 10, making finding on the appeal of Michael E. Corcoran to a nuisance abatement ordered for 1478 Ames Avenue in council file RLHSAO 20 four-fifty one.
I would like to ask the council to, grant an additional two weeks, for the work to be done. This is a summary abatement follow-up. A year ago, the city issued the orders. There's been progress along the way doing things. Oh, he is here. I thought he had left. My I will give you a more thorough staff report. So in that case, I will find my slides. This was, this is a case where a summary abatement order, correction order, and, later, another correction order regarding vehicles was issued.
So we had the yard was a really big mess. There were many vehicles that weren't legally parked in the yard for multiple reasons, and there were also orders written on the shed. There are other problems with the property related to, the roof, the construct of the deck, and the shed. There is a building permit that was pulled for work on that. The, building permit, the last inspection on that was, last year in November, so there hasn't been any progress there.
I would like to show you, here excuse me photos, and these photos are from 08/20/2024. And so, you can see that there is wood, tarp, other building materials, the vehicles throughout the yard. You can see the corner of this, sort of a deck structure being constructed there. Moving on, you can see another angle of the same and you can see pallets and, a shed with some tarping on the side of it.
Again, the same, just out in the yard. You can see other kinds of items there, more tarps, more scrap. The city issued the orders in order for those things to be addressed. When I conducted the hearing, in fact, we had two hearings, my recommendation to the council, which was adopted in August, was that by 11/01/2024, one third of the work needed to be completed. By April 1, the next third needed to be completed. And by July 1, it should be completely done.
So that is quite a generous timeline. It does take us out for eleven months from when the original orders were issued. But trying also to take into consideration that, the owner is working and trying to do projects and so on with these materials. The first two deadlines, like I said, you know, on April 1 and then previously on November 1, those, the inspector found that the work was, done, and he was keeping up with the plan. But when I switch now to where we are at,
on Monday, we have, some photos. Here's the back of the house, just FYI, but we have pallets, more pallets and scrap metal. Or yeah. Pallets, scrap metal, scrap wood. More scrap. More scrap metal. And here's another view. So we have this going on the yard. We also have vehicles in the yard that continue to, be there. In fact, an abatement order on those vehicles was issued with a deadline of today, which the council can, of course, extend should you wish to.
And the vehicles have been written on a variety of problems, almost all of them on unimproved surfaces. We have vehicles that are inoperable. We have, lacking tabs and, some other problems here. We can see this one is, sort of situated within a improvised, structure. And what we're talking about at this point is that last third in getting over the hump with it. I would say that the photos that I'm showing you now from Monday's inspection indicate that that last third is not taken care of,
and that the city council, would I'm asking that the city council would authorize the Department of Safety and Inspections to go forward and complete this job. Mister Corcoran, who is the you Great. That sounds thank you for the staff report. How much time do they get? All right. Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you. Step on up. You will have, two minutes to testify. Boy, I I didn't realize Marshall was gonna give me two more weeks. In the beginning, no. She was warning warning herself, obviously. Boy, did I have a mess. I'm gonna lose my train of thought, but, I was really going to just say thanks to her and Lisa for doing the jobs that they do for the city,
if I wasn't going to make any headway with the city council because I know she does and Lisa does a lot of good work. As you can see, I saw the picture of that house, and I thought, Jeez, I can't believe it looks so nice. That house originally I built in the year February. In the beginning, I had really good framer, and there was a guy with money. And that house was going to be the actual, what do you call that, a model home where we put all these extras on it all around. I was trying to change career paths. I I was in the auto repair business,
and I was real sick, asthma and everything like that. And I was trying to find something in the home building that I could do. And I guess it came down to doing hot water heat in the floor. In the end, that's something I could do. But, I I I found out that I ended up with a lot of building materials. I was trying to learn what building materials were at that time, and I got so much stuff. And I didn't realize it. Looking at those pictures again, I I saw I just kept I just keep peeling away at my layers of
stuff that I have, and I just can't believe what I had. And, I I guess, I I have a I've had a terrible time doing things on time. I found out my wife had problems last November. We never found out about what it was until spring with, heart failure coming. I'm so sorry. Your your My daughter's been really sick. Right at time. Can you just maybe say one more one more sentence, then we'll close the public hearing? And I was sick too when when we were doing it. So I I have a tough time to keep going on it. I just, I get so hot and sweaty out there.
I gotta I gotta chase away from the sun, you know, go do stuff in the shade, and it's just hard. Yeah. That sounds good. But I got my son is now, I guess he can help me out when he's over for the last two or three days. We're now at time. We're now at time. I'm so sorry. Oh, okay. So I will just unfortunately abruptly cut you off. But I appreciate your testimony in coming in, and it sounds like you are amenable to the recommendation of legislative hearing officer. So if you don't mind taking a seat, we're gonna, council member Yang, I'll take a motion from you to close the public hearing.
If you would like to have a seat, you can. Okay. Seeing the motion, roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? Aye. Vice president Kim? Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed. The public hearing is closed. Great. Council member Yang, chair Yang, I'm gonna just toss it back over to you. Thanks, council vice president. I would first like to thank the test for for coming down to to City Hall and, just sharing your your experience so far. Overall, I just want folks to know I am supportive of granting extensions,
and we have done that already last year. I am supportive of another two week extension, to the property owner, but I do want to urge, them to move with haste and and removing the items. It wouldn't be wise to go into winter again with all of those materials outside. So the extension here, I I hope, will allow you time and also for if you need any sort of support in getting the items out for you to be able to seek that. But, again, just really urge you to meet that deadline,
because I I just want the best for you and don't want it to go, even lower than this. So I'm supportive of the, of the recommendation from the legislative hearing officer. Alright. That sounds wonderful. And just, to reiterate for the record, you are, recommending a two week layover. Vice president Kim, I I think it makes sense Yep. To ask the council for a two weekly over if you're interested in granting an extension. The resolution in front of you is making a finding about whether the nuisance has been abated. Mhmm. And it would then authorize the department to take action.
So we'll follow-up. And if it has been abated in two weeks, great. If it hasn't, then the counsel could authorize the action. That sounds great. And it sounded like, Chuyang was taking the recommendation. So, I'll take that as a motion, a motion to approve a two week layover. Roll call. Bowie? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Jost? Yes. Prabotsky? Yes. Yang? Thanks. House president Kim? Aye. Six in favor, no one opposed. The item is laid. Over to August 6. Great. Any other items for consideration? I'm not aware of anyone else here to testify on a legislative hearing item.
Perfect. Then I will take a motion from council member for Roski. Oh, on the remaining items. That's right. So this is a public hearing. We'll take a public hearing for all the remaining items. Thank you so much, Harry. Is there anyone here to testify on any of the remaining items? Seeing none, I will take a motion from council member for Roski to close the public hearing and, approve the recommendations of the legislative hearing officer. Bowie. Aye. Johnson. Johnson. Okay. Aye. Yep. Jost. Yes. Borodsky. Yes. Yang. Aye. Vice president Kim. Aye. Six in favor. No one opposed.
The public hearings are closed, and the consent agenda is adopted as amended. Great. Holy cow. Seeing that there is no more business before us, the, St. Paul City Council is adjourned.