Just as long as you get each one. 6:30. All right. We're going to open the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, welcome to the special council meeting September 29th, 2025. Um, this is an open meeting. Uh, is being recorded by True Lens Community Media. You can view the city meetings
live or replayed on cable channel 799. Meetings are also streamed live and archived on the city St. Paul Park YouTube's channel. Um, first item on the agenda is items from the public. Anybody have anything not pertaining to this evening's
business? All right, seeing none, we will move on to item number two, the consent agenda. Shortest consent agenda I've seen to date. We are going to pay the bills. All right. Well, Mayor Frankie, I move that we approve tonight's consent
agenda. And I have a second. All right. All right, I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Motion carries. 50. All right. On to new business. Item number three. Uh we will be hosting a
public hearing on the Geneva Meadows final plat. Um and then hearing about the development agreement and then we have a JPA with Cottage Grove that is also associated with this. I think I'm going to switch up the agenda a little bit on here because as was mentioned to
me, some um questions may be answered with the presentation. So, we will probably just take the presentation first from Nate Sparks from WSB and um briefly hear from our attorney's
closed. Yeah, maybe close the doors. Well, good evening. One minute, Nate. We're going to shut the doors just for for privacy. Well, uh good evening, honorable Mr. Mayor, honorable members of the council.
It is a distinct pleasure to be with you here this evening. Uh what you have uh before you is a public hearing related to the final plat of the Geneva Meadows subdivision. Uh it is a 61 lot subdivision, single
family subdivision on the south end of Lincoln and Ashland and uh Summit Avenues in 18th and it continues Lincoln and um Summit into the property and
creates uh home sites for 61 homes and then uh Summit Avenue then would then it actually curves and then goes to the east to connect with a right ofway that's being dedicated uh that would be for a potential future
road uh referred to as Geneva Avenue which would be in Cottage Grove. Um as so eloquently summarized by the mayor, there are three elements to this. There's the final plat, then there's the development agreement,
and then there's a joint powers agreement with Cottage Grove. Purpose of that is that right ofway is being dedicated, but there's nothing being put in it at this time and that joint powers agreement would allow a road to be
placed in it if needed to help develop the property to the east which is in Cottage Grove. And the JPA states simply that Cottage Grove would then maintain that road even though it's partially in St. Paul Park. it would be that they would maintain it in the future because
it'd only be serving their residents. So with a final plat, this is the final stage of the development review process which starts off with a concept plan where somebody has an idea, they come to the planning commission and council and
you provide comments to them. Then they go to the preliminary plat stage. The preliminary plat was in approved in June and at the preliminary plat stage that's when all the entitlements are given to the property. That's when you're checking it to see does this meet
zoning? Is everything that they're doing uh meeting all of our rules? And if they're not doing something exactly right, you can approve a preliminary plat on conditions that they fix it. And then it moves to final plat where what you're doing is you're confirming that
the uh final plat meets the uh conditions of approval of the preliminary plat. So the the what you're looking at here is you're just confirming that they've done everything that they've asked you to and if there's something that they haven't done, you
have one more chance to request that they do it. And with the final plat, you have a development agreement. What a development agreement is is it's a contract between the developer and the city that states that they have to do everything
to the way that it's being requested by the city and if not they have to post financial securities and if the financial securities guarantee that it's done correctly. So in the development agreement, there's a letter of credit
and then there's uh some you know the letter of credit is the way that you acquire money to ensure that the project is done properly. So if they do something incorrectly, you have a letter of credit which you can then pull on the correct whatever issues may
arise. And so through this process uh when they got the preliminary plat approval the developer one of the options they have is they can begin some work on the site
pending the final plat and they chose to do that. When you do that you're doing work on the site at your own risk knowing that if the final plat has an issue then you know you would be then having to redo all that work. Right. So,
what we did is they got that grading permit, they started doing some grading work, which I'm sure everybody's aware of, and then uh now they're moving into the final plat stage, which then the final plat, like I said, what you're doing is you're reviewing it for
consistency with the preliminary plat approval. And it generally appears that it is because when you look at the preliminary plaid and the final plaid, it's pretty much the same um same layout and everything and that's what we're generally looking for. A couple things
of note though is that they show I mentioned that right ofway that would be on the border of Cottage Grove which is then can be used by the property owner to the east for a development on his property which is in Cottage Grove that
uh is shown as outlots on the draft final plat. uh because of the fact that we have this draft JPA, we are requesting that that be converted to right ofway. And then secondarily, we have some other
minor conditions which include they have to pay park dedication. Park dedication is uh either you have to give land for a park or you have to give money for parks. And since our park plan doesn't show any land in this area, we
asked for the money for that, which will be roughly $80,000 that will go into the park fund, which then you can use to buy park equipment or land elsewhere. So, that will be something that will you
could like put some some park some equipment in parks near here that can serve these residents. is part of the development. They have to put a trail along Lincoln, which eventually is intended to carry people up to the parks that are to the north in
the future where you can place uh new park equipment anywhere in any park that you want in the city. It just goes into the park fund and the park commission and city council can decide on how that gets spent in the future. Another condition is that they have to meet the
requirements of the city engineer. And whenever we have like a step in this process, the city engineer reviews their plans, provides them with a list of comments and corrections that they have to make. And it isn't something that's like open for discussion. You know, it's
you just need to do these things as part of the approval process. And then when they've provided us back with a plan set that addresses all those conditions, then they can proceed administratively. they can continue on. Uh, another
condition that we have on this is that they've got a 100 days to record the plat. So, that means they have to button everything up administratively with staff and get the signatures and everything on the plat and then get it recorded within a 100 days or they got
to come back to you guys again for more discussion. And so then those are the conditions that are on the plat. Um, if you have any questions about the process or what you see before
you, I could answer them for you um, at this point in time. But again, if a final plat is consistent with the preliminary plat approval, as a city, you're compelled to approve it essentially because that's the point of
this step is you're just making that confirmation. And if they do the things that we're asking of them from the city engineer and fulfill the terms of the development agreement, then they would be doing that. Um, so it would be
recommended that you approve the resolution uh for the final plat because the development agreement contains important securities that you would then recommend that you would then approve that and then approve the JPA.
But those two documents you would approve authorizing minor modifications to be made because what we do is when you approve a development agreement, the developer and the city attorney sometimes have a little discussion about
some wording in it and as long as it's not a substantive change, then it's acceptable. And it would be the same way with the JPA. Uh we received a revised version of the joint powers agreement from Cottage Grove today. We had some
questions for them and they responded to us. The things that we're discussing with them are not substantial. They're they're minor things, but of note in the JPA, just so you understand this, is that the property to the east, which is
in Cottage Grove, has no other way to access it into there, uh, except for their private drive, which comes from the north that they share with another property owner further south or through this subdivision. And because of that private drive being over a gas pipeline,
it may not be safe for them to bring construction vehicles over it. So the JPA mentions the reality of that. And if it is found to be that way, then there may have to be construction traffic through the Geneva Meadows plat into
that property. Just so everybody understands that they this traffic will not go through the city of St. Paul Park any more than that though it's it would be going through Cottage Grove to access the site but would have to come in
through the access point through this subdivision and over into the property if you're following what I'm saying but it would not go north on Lincoln north of this development site. That would be it. So let me clarify. So technically it
would come down 85th and just have to turn into the development and then go through that would not increase or any extra traffic due to any other potential down the road development in or with Cottage Grove would impact anybody who lives on Lincoln.
Correct. Okay. So but the but it's important to note that this property which is owned by uh Mr. Krenner in Cottage Grove. If he's he may not choose to develop his property,
we that's a hypothetical, but if he were to choose to have his property developed or somebody in the future did and they can't safely cross those pipelines because the pipeline, you can't have trucks driving over the pipes in certain
situations. And we don't know that that actually is an issue at this point, but it may be an issue. And if so, they want to have the ability, which we have to grant because he has no other way to access his property, uh, through our roads, that would be part of this
subdivision, but not part of any other part of the city. So, that's in the JPA. And so, you could, but that's not what the point of the JPA is. It's just an interesting fact that is in the JPA. The purpose of
the JPA though is to say St. Paul Park residents, taxpayers money is not going to go to the maintenance of that road which only serves people that will be in Cottage Grove. That's the purpose of the JPA. Cottage Grove asked us to acquire
that right ofway for their purposes in the future and agreed that if we got this for them that we wouldn't have to pay anything for it in the future like maintenance unless conditions completely change and a future council renegotiates
it based on some other situation that we can't even conceive of that's theoretically possible but the way that the JPA is written St. Paul Park doesn't participate in anything to do with that road because it only serves people in Cottage Grove.
So if you have any questions for me, the the development agreement includes it it includes some securities that may have be of interest to you as well, like it includes securities guaranteeing that the roads are built right, that the sewer and water is being installed
correctly. And then it also includes K um Lar was kind enough to offer uh some road maintenance assistance for the city when the project's done that they would allow to have a a coat on put on the Lincoln the
access route into the site. And there is also some security to guarantee that future construction traffic on Lincoln would not um if it damaged the road that we have some security related to that. Um so those things uh were placed in the
development agreement at your request Mr. Mayor. And then uh additionally like with the securities and the it it allows for everything to be put in there in the way that it's supposed to. They've done
some grading work but the grading work according to the developer is intended to be coming to an end here. So the trucks bringing the dirt in that's going to be coming to an end. And next was going to be installation of utilities
which is going to be about according to their uh site supervisor about a 4-week process most likely and then after that the batuminous will be placed on the road provided the weather cooperates
with that. But by approving this here tonight, uh you're making it so that some of these impactful actions that are going on on the site are going to be able to come to a close sooner. So this will by doing this they can finish up
the grading work and move to installing pipe and then installing curb and installing batuminous. But you know, you have no guarantee that some of that because we are getting towards the end of the year. Sometimes putting batuminous in in November doesn't always work out. Many times it does though.
Concrete can get difficult too. But the goal is that if they can use this time frame that we've set by you holding this meeting here tonight, uh they have a good chance of having this complete and then general construction activity won't
be happening then next spring or anything. It would just move into building houses, which will be something that'll go on for an undetermined amount of time until all the lots are sold and built. But that's that's the fact of where we're at. Um, if you have any questions for me,
I have some questions. Yeah. Um, so I'll just break it down and you just agree because I know that you said it, but I'll try and make it a little easier. So, um, let's start with, uh, so in partnership through discussions that we've had all week with LAR, they've they've agreed to become a an
understanding partnership with the city that in the development agreement, there will be some funds set aside in that partnership where we figure that we could potentially use that enough funds to, let's say, seal coat the entire
length of Lincoln from Hastings to 85th approximately. And then that should be enough. Correct in our correct present calculations. Morgan's nodding. Um so I think that's definitely a bonus and it was um
yeah it's it's intended to do the amount of money is intended to do exactly that. Right. And we did um come up with a little extra money in there for um Lincoln specific catastrophes. Not that
we're going to get this money, but let's say something tragic, drastic happens, there's just a little bit of extra money in there. Um, that is just specific to Lincoln. Correct. That's right. Um, overall approximately how much is the
amount of these securities? Not that you don't have to point to any specifics, but isn't it somewhere right around four plus million dollars? I mean, it's a substantial amount of money to guarantee that this development gets built correctly. They're putting into a letter of credit of over $4 million.
Okay. So, I mean, we have some repercussions to make sure it's done right, and that's what we want. Um, have the conditions of the original um preliminary plat been met? Yes.
Okay. Um, and do we have so if they're talking about potentially first week or so of October and um I saw Linar was here and if you don't have the answer maybe he can give it to us. I mean we're we got to be coming to the end of this dirt. Yeah.
So potentially I heard dates of October 6th or 7th. So then maybe within a week this dirt should be done being hauled. I can uh you can uh Steve Trosky from LAR is here and he can uh expand on some
of this. I called uh the person who's in charge of the construction just and asked him this so I could we could have this information but he might know better than I but yes that is correct that the intention is that there's probably you know I guess it's as and
you can't like hold anybody to these things because this weather dependent right but it's likely that there be the grading work will be finished up next week and then they pivot to the installation of the utility signs and then it was explained to me that can take up to four weeks and then four
weeks of curb and and asphalt and hopefully all that can get done because that's less stuff that would be happening in the spring than next year. Does anybody else have any questions for Nate? Council member Conrad,
I have a couple. Um, in a perfect world, what's an approximate timeline of the total scope when when they would expect that the last house would be up? I think that that's kind of dependent on like the market for home sales and I
think that might be a question that Mr. Trosky from um Lar could answer. Um, okay. And then I have one other question. Um, I would expect this to be an almost not possible situation, but say that
something happened to the development and it went belly up. What kind of remedy is there for that situation should it occur? Well, you have a couple options. So, let's say that did happen. Uh the most simple approach to that is is that their
letter of credit would be taken and we'd finish the development essentially with the letter of credit and then the development's done because you got to think when they record the plat these are lots that are going to be out there. People could try to buy them. You got to make sure the roads and the utilities
and all that are in because at that point it's it's too late to turn back in some cases. So that's the intention of the letter of credit is that if something happens that the development gets finished. That's that's the point of it and that's why it's based on like
the letter of credit itself is based on what the costs of doing the development are plus 25% extra cuz if let's say something happens next year you know prices go up you have enough money to do
that. That's the basic scenario. Now, is there some other alternatives that could be explored? Possibly. But that's what the point of the development agreement is is it's a contract that says if if you fail, we're going to do this. And and that's kind of the basic way you
would do it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions for Nate? There is a qu, if I may, mayor. Council member Swintson, there was a question of seal coating on Lincoln. When would that be a when would we see that happening? Uh we would
probably want that to happen um after you know this development's completely finished and everything. So it could be next year or the year after. Okay. And is that just a seal coat or is it a peac coat also that we're talking
about? I think the the definition of it is we have it where it could be we do seal coats in different ways in different parts of the city and we haven't selected the absolute manner in which it would be done. Okay. But it was intended to cover you know
the crack filling putting coating on and then restriping it and everything. We left it open enough. So, right. Favorable for us. All right. Nothing further for Nate. All
right. Nate, thank you very much. Um, Mr. Trosky, if I could get you to come up, maybe answer a few questions. Good evening, Steve Trosky, Lenar. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Oh, thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for um sitting through all of
these um different meetings and answering questions and and being um available to the citizens when we're here and the council and the planning commission members. Um, uh, first off, I personally would like to state that, uh,
it was great that last week we were able to, uh, work with LAR and come to a partnership and an understanding about the situation on Lincoln. So, for myself, thank you on that. Um, and be sure to relay that. Um, I guess my biggest concern and one of the biggest concerns that I'm hearing is with the
dirt and the dust. Are we looking at like maybe a week now? Do you know? Yeah, I would be a a bit more conservative and say probably two weeks at this point. U you know, we've got the bulk of the dirt in there. So,
uh we've tried to, you know, we had a great planning commission meeting last week and we talked about some of the things that LAR has done and and will do in the future to remedy some of those problems. Uh thankfully, I'd say about two weeks left of that. We do need to work with the oil company that owns the
pipeline that goes right under the main entrance. They have a crew out of Illinois that will be coming up here the week of the 20th and they'll work with your city engineer on road signage and whatnot. Uh they are actually reinforcing that pipe. So all of our
traffic in the new community, they're going to be going over that pipe. So we have to pay to reinforce it. So we've got about two weeks of grading, I'd say. Then the pipeline is coming in. It's it's their crews. It's their process. They're going to do that. And
then once that's complete, we're going to come in and start putting in the water lines, sewer lines, etc. Which should take about 4 weeks. Again, all weather dependent, right? Well, we're supposed to have beautiful weather, so at least for the next week, so you could, you know, make
hay while the sun is shining. Um, so at the most I with the dirt, I think is the big thing. at maximum 2 weeks is what what I'm hearing. Yes. Conservatively. Yep. Okay. Does anybody else have any questions for Mr. Krosky? Council
member, just with regard to that, is um is there any ability to do a little bit more of the sweeping, whether it be consciously curb to curb or um maybe a couple more times during the the middle
of the day. I personally have driven up there and the traffic lanes tend to clear out because of traffic makes it blow to the sides, but uh I just think it would be advantageous if there was a way that they could go up and and remedy at least that section down to I would
say Gary at least at least to Gary, maybe 14th, but at least that first section to the next stop sign. Oh, I'll pass that note along. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. I mean, it's all sweeper and sweeping
street and it does nothing but blow dust everywhere. No, we'll get to that after. Sorry, I blew up. I seen you coming. We're during the public hearing. We'll get to all these. Um, did you have a question, council?
Yes, I do. Um you stated two two more weeks with regards to the heavy loads of dirt and then what do what is the expectation for the reduction of the volume of trucks we come see come through and the tonnage that is an area where I'm not at an
expert so I'd have to go back to our construction crews at LAR and get some better information. I don't want to give you an incorrect number. Okay. If if we want to relay that to Nate and then he can get specific questions. Um, I'm happy to get the answers for you tomorrow. I just can't give you those
tonight in terms of tonnage and trucks and things. That's outside of my area of expertise. Okay. Any more questions for Mr. Trosky? All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you, council. Appreciate it. All right. Now, I'm going to call up our
illustrious attorney, Ron. Ron, and if you would introduce yourself to the council and the citizens, let us know exactly who you are and what you do. Sure. Mr. Mayor, councel, thank you. Um, I'm Ron Batty. I'm the city attorney. I've been the city attorney for probably
18 years or so. I don't make it out here very often, so it's kind of nice to come out once in a while. Um, you know, Nate's kind of a a hard act to follow. I think he pretty much laid everything out for you both in terms of the details of
the subdivision but also about the process. And I think what he said uh the most important thing he said I'll I'll emphasize again. We go through in a in a plat process we go through preliminary approval and final approval. Those are
statutory terms. I've never really liked the term preliminary approval because I think it's somewhat misleading. In fact, as Nate indicated, preliminary approval of a plat is where all the
details are settled. That's where the die is cast. You look at a plat and con uh determine whether it meets the land use requirements of the city and certain and set certain terms and conditions and
those are adopted at the time of preliminary plat approval and that really becomes the um the standard under which the council has to review the final plat which is where we're at tonight. You have very limited
discretion at this point. As Nate indicated, really the goal tonight at a at final plat approval is to determine whether the ordinances of the city are still going to be complied with and the terms and conditions of preliminary
approval have been met or will be met and one of the ways in which they will be met or can be met is through a development agreement. Obviously, for example, it require this uh the preliminary plat approval requires that sewer and water and roads be installed.
That hasn't happened, but that's the point of the development agreement. And so, if you're comfortable that the terms and conditions of preliminary plat approval have been met, then you're really required by law to approve the final plat. And so, that's that's really
the limited issue before you tonight. You know, the other point I'll just comment about the letter of credit. Uh the question about the letter of credit as Nate indicated it's 125% of the estimated cost of the improvements which is a nice margin of
error. The other thing to think about is that that's the aggregate figure for all the improvements. It's uh I'm not an engineer but it's hard for me to imagine that everything would go bad at the same time. And so
you've got $4.4 4 million in a letter of credit that would allow you to remedy anything that didn't happen. Again, um you know, if sewer and water will go in first and that will be taken care of and then the road will will be taken care of. It's just it's not it's not real
realistic that everything would go bad at the same time. And if something did go bad, what you would do is evaluate how much the city wants to intervene. you would certainly button up the site, make it safe, but you're not in the subdivision uh business, so you probably
wouldn't f uh finish the subdivision. But I think with that amount of letter of credit, you have a very generous uh financial guarantee to complete things that would be in the public interest to complete. So, any questions for me?
Any questions for Ron? Thank you. Answered your questions. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you for coming. All right. Um, so I believe that's the gist of it. Hopefully, we got some questions answered for the public. So,
at this time, I'm going to close the city council meeting and open the public hearing. And now we are going to hear from everybody. Um, first on the agenda this evening is Larry Krener. Larry.
Thank you, Mayor Council. I decided I would ask questions because I want to make sure I understand what I've heard tonight. U I live at 8591 Geneva Avenue South. So, I'm the person that owns the 13 acres directly across from the
project that runs parallel to the gravel road. And my biggest fear for the last several days or 10 days is I've been speaking with uh the LAR salesperson, their sales rep, who indicated to me
that after the project was completed, I would have to exit my property to the south instead of going north like I've been doing for the past 30 years. We built our house on if if you all ever go out there, we built our house on the
level stretch that actually is level with Lincoln and 85th for that reason. There's a huge hill there. It's almost impassible during the winter. Our neighbors to the south have had issues with it for over 70 years before we
built there. And they u they can't get deliveries in the winter. I take for the deliveries for them. So that would be a deal breakaker for us to have to go left down that hill and for me to have to take care of it because the two of us,
my neighbor to the south and I have bore the expense of taking care of the gravel road as access to our property which is in St. Paul Park. We realize that. So that's my question is I think what I heard Nate say is that that portion
north has changed now back to where both the city of St. Paul Park and Cottage Grove are going to have it in there as a set aside or whatever you would call it. My question is is the gravel road going to remain exactly the same from this
point to the end of that project? I guess if we come to an agreement on the JPA, that would be a question that you would have to take up with Cottage Grove. Well, I know Cottage Grove wants it done, but that's beside the point. I've been speaking with them. I've also been
speaking with the u the uh subject matter expert for easements for Marathon Pipeline for a number of years. Matter of fact, he's come to see me. He's coming up here. when he comes in October, he's going to visit me again cuz we've had questions about going over
that road. The intent for the city, actually both cities, I had talked to previous people that worked here was to make Geneva Avenue that artery. I know that's changed, which is fine, but that
was the original intent always was to take Geneva and run it all the way south past my neighbors even. So that is my question and that would be I don't know how we would deal with it for emergency vehicles to get at us in
the winter or something from the south wouldn't happen or it'd be very difficult unless the weather was cooperating, right? No, I believe all that will be handled by Cottage Grove going forward if we reach an agreement on the JPA. Right. And then um I'm sure Nate can relay to them to reach out to you and
let you know um what their intent is on that. Yeah. But we just felt like then having one city have control. Right. Exactly. It becomes less hassle and Hegel. I mean technically still begrow property but
Caj Grove is going to um agree to take care of it and maintain it so that we don't change it. So that is what I was told today. Yep. So, okay. So, anyway, those those were my questions. That's my biggest concern. We have to be able to exit our property
north. I'm getting too old to go out there and shovel gravel. All right. Thank you, Mr. Ker. Tim, is it si Sam? This is Sam. This is his and this is that other guy's right.
I just got a couple issues. Sweeping is the main thing. They haven't come by our house in almost a week. Can we get you to just state your name and address so we have it for the record? 1696 Lincoln Avenue. Thank you, Tim.
Um, they they haven't been sweeping at all. It's just a cloud of haze down there. There's rocks all over the gutter. Uh, I don't know why they can't clean this up. And the other issue I have is I walked around that the other day and they don't have any safety fencing and they got one
spot down off of Geneva Road that is straight down for 15 to 25 ft right next to the road and there's no fence or nothing there. Just a silt fence and that uh that shouldn't happen for safety purposes. That somebody should address
that and uh get it taken care of. Somebody's going to drive a car off of there. So that's the only things I have. It's got to be swept. There's no reason we got to live in dust. Thank you, Tim. Greg Wilart.
Name, address. Greg Wilart, 1031 Lincoln. Um, I'm glad to see that. I I'm more worried about the infrastructure of Lincoln Road or Lincoln Avenue. Um, our concerns are with my neighbors is we've already been
assessed at $10,000 on this project few years back. And with the heavy trucks going down the road, we're going to do seal coating. But is that going to be enough come say 3 4 5 6 years down the road, we start
having separation breaks and then we come in and we do a patch repair and then it's just going to continue on. And then 10 years from now, right about the time we start to retire on our road is now we're going to get assessed again,
which could be up to 15 to $20,000 per household with way inflation's going right now. So with seal coding, I get it. It's going to cover up the the cracks and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, is there enough funding
for the new to do infrastructure of re remode since we've already had it done once? I just don't feel that we should be paying $10,000 $15,000 per house all the way from Hastings Avenue to 85th. That's
just it's not it's not fair to us residents. Dust we can get live with, right? I I've been here my whole entire life. If I lived with that whole south project when Heritage Park was being built, all them homes were being built. We get all that, but at the end of the day, to be assessed again 10 years down the road is something we've already paid
for. So, I guess my big question is is are we going to have enough funding for that down the road? So, all right. I will say that uh in response to that um for anybody um we
recently had I don't know just a few years ago had a um study done on the pavement in that area along Lincoln and um it's in pretty good shape. So to my understanding um what we are getting in the ability to
push this off for a few years um and get the extra years out of um seal coating um to which was not even a possibility. So um stepping forward in that partnership is is kind of a big deal
because you know no pun intended we could have been you know told to pound sand. Um, so, um, I think that's at least a positive. And yeah, uh, right now we're one of our processes with our new city administrator, whether it's
Lincoln or others, we're going to be starting a whole new CIP process and figuring out um, you know, where do we go from here with all of our streets because we have other streets and other areas and other subdivisions that we're
going to need to get to, but um, we're trying to do everything we can. So, thank you, Greg. Um, and then I have here Kevin Jansen. And Kevin, if you could just state your name and address first, please.
Kevin Jansen, 1765 Lincoln Avenue at the far end of Lincoln, the last house right at the end on the south end. And um, I have a little concern. um right on that
corner where it meets 18th, you know, and I'm sure, you know, Lincoln's going to go farther south after it's built. Um we should probably have a stop sign or a stop light or something, you know, anything but a roundabout, of course. That's common.
So, I think that's a safety concern cuz I see people go around that curve pretty fast and there's a lot of trees to the east and they can't sometimes see if there's a car coming from that direction. So, you know, I I've always watched them in the winter time especially. They go across it pretty fast and they slide in the ice right on right into my yard. So, um and then I
was one more thing. Uh I was just kind of wondering about XL Energy. Uh how uh how long they're going to be taking cuz they're tearing up everybody's yards pretty good. And um is that something that's going to be finished up probably in the fall with all that digging and stuff? and will they be doing some
soding or, you know, landscaping to repair that? So, that's all I got. All right. Thank you, Kevin. Um, let's address that a little bit here. Um, well, at this time, does anybody else want to come forward?
All right, seeing nobody, we're going to close the public hearing, reopen the council meeting. Um, now the council meeting is open. Thank you everybody for coming and voicing. Um we do appreciate it and we do we do not take this lightly. We've
been working very hard. Um, I just want to state that, uh, as stated by Ramb, our attorney, um, Nate Sparks of our planning, um, that, you know, I believe that this process is kind of a
little bit backwards. Um, because we're asked to approve something on the same day that we ask you guys to come and voice your concerns when we should have been working on these concerns the whole time. And if we don't know, luckily we've had somewhat of an open process once we were aware of it and um the
planning commission's done a great job um as hearing these and the citizens have reached out and we've tried to address a lot of these concerns. Um I think some of them we've at least the majority of the big ticket items um for the city which impacts the entire city
we've we've tried to address and and we've gotten we've had some success. I mean with the potential for some um financial contributions. Um I will say that um speaking to the Excel Energy
project um yes we have a major XL energy project going on in this city which is separate. We have actually have two separate XL Energy projects going on in this city which are separate from the Third Street project or the Geneva Meadows project. Um and for a while
there once again um because of the way things are set up with the powers that are granted at XL Energy Center, the city ourselves, we were having a hard time communicating with the actual people in charge because they did not have to my understanding people hired in
those positions. We have recently got into contact with them. I have personally talked to their um government relations person last week. Um yeah, there's a lot of holes. There's a lot of holes in my yard. Um, there are portions of my house that are sinking right now. There's I just I feel everybody's
frustration. It's like feast or famine right now for the city of St. Paul Park. We've gone from this sleepy bedroom community into this community that now has four major projects. One um a small development, the other which XL is
calling a generational investment in our city and in their pipeline. But that's great for them as a business. But um like I expressed to the gentleman from XL Energy, like that's great. You guys do what you got to do. You know, you're allowed to. But when it comes to
remediation, you better fix this stuff and you better fix it, right? And that's going to be a long process. As far as how long this is going to take, I think it's already taking them way longer because they did not realize that St. Paul Park was built on bedrock.
And you can't just come into this town and dig a hole or shoot a pipe or shoot something through. It has become not only a mess for us, but a mess for them. And lots of us have been in discussions with just the contractor for Excel
Energy Center on the issues they're having. Um, but my last discussion with the government relations person from Excel Energy Center was that's great. I'm concerned about remediation.
You guys better put this back or at least satisfactory to how it was, if not better. These holes in people's yards. I'm one of them. These holes in our streets, these big gaping gashes down our alleyways and our main street and everywhere. Um, it's a huge deal and
it's a huge deal for them and I think it probably was ending up, like I said, being more of an undertaking than they thought and maybe they should have planned better, but he was very understanding. Um, and we now have a contact. So, I also informed him like when things like this happen and things
aren't going right, they don't come looking for you, Mr. XL Energy. They come to my house. They come to my business. They come and yell at me. And it's not a city project. So staff is working on trying to disseminate some of that, get together some of those contact
information. Um that'll be going out if it's some of it isn't already out on the website yet. Um once we figure out which area and the contact people for those areas um and who you should contact, otherwise contact the city and we can
get you that information um on who should be handling which project. um because the only actual city project going on right now is Third Street. The other one is the LAR development and two separate XL Energy developments which are being run by contractors which
technically aren't XL employees. So that's kind of where we're at with that. But always feel free to drop a line to city hall to either get the information or have somebody check it out for you. And if that gets you nowhere, then come and find me. this is my job and I will
figure it out for you or at least get you the information that I can. Um, so that's where that's at. Um, so on to the decision here as far as the final plat for does anybody have any comments about
the planning or the um public hearing before we get to this or can I get a motion? Are we taking one individually or each individually? They said they said something about allocating $80,000 for some type of park
thing and if they're not are they not building a park down in that area in a subdivision? No, they're not. No. So, they're going to have to go up to probably Heritage Park or something. Well, you can we can bring all this up after the meeting. Um, I'm just I'm just curious. Are they
going to be putting sidewalks in at some point down the line on Lincoln Avenue? That's a possibility. Right. Yeah. Right. No, that's all you can Nate can fill you in on that after the meeting. Um,
but see, this is what I was talking about, and this is the last I'm going to say about this, and then we're going to have to move forward. The misnomer is is that right now there's something we can do. We've been busting our butts, at least myself, Nate, and others, and staff, trying to negotiate with LAR, and LAR has been doing whatever. As far as
the final plat is concerned, we don't have that option to make changes anymore. You know what I mean? Those that's why we should have I believe that our ordinances or codes should be changed to where we before the
citizens come because these decisions have to be made tonight. So the questions that you guys have, you should be given the opportunity to ask more questions and that's a change that we are going to make. You know what I
mean? And luckily our uh planning commission held a meeting and allowed some testimony at so we were able to get some of that. You know what I mean? Not to say that we're not going to answer our questions or work with LAR to go forward, but some of this we we can't
change at this point, you know? So, that was kind of my point on that. Um, so can I get a motion? What would you like a motion for, Mayor? We have three points. Are we doing each individually?
Let's take up the final plat first. All right. Well, I make a motion that we approve the Geneva Meadows final plat. Second. I have a motion in a second to approve the Geneva Meadows final plat. Any discussion? None. All those in favor say I.
I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. 5-0. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Council member. I move that we approve the Geneva Meadows development agreement as stated. I'll second that motion. I have a motion
and a second to approve the Geneva Meadows Development Agreement. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries 50. All right. I'm going to make the motion
on the Geneva Meadows JPA joint powers agreement with Cottage Grove because there are some nuances here because it's not finalized. There's a couple things. We just got back from Cottage Grove. So, I'm going to make a motion to approve the JPA with Cottage Grove for the joint
ownership of the Geneva Meadows Avenue um with conditions for staff revisions and approval. And if we do not get those um we will bring it back. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve
the JPA with conditions. Any further discussion? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Swanson, is this a necessary step at this point or can we uh table this for future discussion until it's completed be I mean it isn't required for No, it is not required for Lonard to um
move forward, but to my understanding most of it's been buttoned up. It just happened so late in the day that for posterity reasons um we want to show in good faith with um our neighbors that we're willing to work with them on this. Exactly. Okay.
Thank you. All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries 50. All right. Reports from the council. Council member Hagerty. Yeah. Uh public works commission. Uh we have not had a meeting since our last
city council meeting. Um, our next uh scheduled meeting is December 2nd at 6 p.m. And we're still looking for at least two uh members uh for public works. So, please come on down to city hall and apply. Thank you, Council Member Haggery. Council member Swson, public safety.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh nothing new to report from public safety. Other than that, we do have two openings. So, if you're interested, come on and see city staff. It's much better commission than the public works or the parks and wreck. No. Uh, the next meeting is set for December
or excuse me, yeah, December 4th, which is a Thursday, and it's at 6:00. 6. It might say 7 on the inter internet, but it is at 6:00 here at city hall. That's all I have. Mayor, must be eastern time or something. Council member Conrad, planning.
We have uh our last meeting was on the 22nd. It was pretty significant to this meeting, and I would defer to uh the commission chair if he would so like to speak. Well, I'll be you guys wrapped it all up tonight. I
don't know. Okay. I know what you want to say. I mean, I would just ask could you guys please make a note that we wanted to have that meeting televised unfortunately for staffing issues and given the immediate immediiacy of the meeting. It wasn't they were able to record it. I just
wanted to make sure that people didn't think that I can make a note. Yeah. just the fact that there wasn't recorded wasn't some sort of way of paying high. Right. And based on that, our next meeting is
uh the 13th of October at 7 p.m. here at city hall. All right. Thank you, Council Member Conra, Council Member Whit Hemson. Um, our this Friday we have bunko starting at 7 at Heritage Park and then
our next bunkos are November 7th and December 12th also at Heritage. Um, our garden is going great. Still got a lot of life in it. I think we're almost at 250 lbs that we give to Basic Needs Foods Market, which is great. Um, still
got a lot of life left in there. It's our garden is going really good. Um, our trunk or treat is Friday, October 24th from 5:00 to 7:00. The Masons will be there with popcorn, hot dogs, refreshments, and so if you want to get a trunk or if you want to sponsor a
trunk, let me know. Uh, look on our Facebook page. And, um, our next meeting is October 9th at 6 if I didn't say that. And we always could use members lots. That's it for me. Thank you, Council Member Whitmerson.
Can we talk about uh the fireman open house on October 7th? It is. Um what if I said no? Uh okay. So, October 7th, I think it's at it starts at 6 if you want to look on the
Facebook uh the fireman Facebook page, but I think there's food trucks. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of I saw there's going to be a lot of a lot of stuff. Last year it was a blast. Yep. those with the food trucks and everything. What? Last year we had that old uh and the old truck was going to be there also,
right? From New York. Yeah. From 9/11. Yep. Awesome. Um that they travel around the United States and uh weather pyramid and he will they will be there. Yep. Cool. No, it was a great event last year for
all right. Um, so yeah, I've been busy. That's what I'm going to say. Uh, yeah, due to scheduling issues, um, just so anybody who has any questions or may want to, the last planning commission meeting was not televised. Um, there are will be
minutes available, um, as any meeting. Um, so if you have any questions or you want to know about what happened or who said what, feel free to go to the website and look up the minutes. Um, sometimes what we do doesn't always jive with the cable commission. Um, and um,
due to the circumstances, the the scheduling was off. So, um, that's why we made sure to have it here tonight. Um, and other than that, um, I just if want to let everybody know if you have any questions or concerns about anything, feel free to reach out to city
hall, feel free to reach out to Hugo. Um, look up the number 459-99785. Um, look up our uh, reach out to any of us on our um, email address, email addresses or come down to the cafe and find me. If I have time, I'll talk
to you. If I don't, I will take your name and we'll get to it. But usually, you know, we can figure it out. Um, so with that, I'm just thankful for everybody. I'm thankful for everybody coming, whether it is staff or citizens. Um, it's good to see when people get
involved one way or the other. So, thank you. Um, that's all that I have for tonight. Anybody have anything else this evening? All right. Nothing further before this council. This meeting's adjourned.