--------- e e it is now 5:30 and I call to order the workshop of the Victoria city council our workshops are informal and so with that we'll Dive Right into our agenda there's one item on the agenda this evening which is to conduct interviews for our Planning Commission all
applicants were routed to all applications were routed to the city council in advance of the workshop this evening um but before we move on to interviews are there any questions or points of discussion from my Council
colleagues for me mayor all right seeing none um I'm gonna wait till Miss Hardy takes her seat here um do we want to have everybody just kind of Step Up okay John we can
have yeah okay very good to speak okay all right everybody's already there um first of all thank you for making application we're delighted to have you
here this is a very important committee to the city council you guys do a lot of heavy lifting on all those new developments that are coming into town so we appreciate all the feedback and the expertise that the Planning Commission brings to the city council um we're going to kick off this evening by giving each of you two minutes to
introduce yourselves and share with us a brief overview of why you're looking to get involved in the Planning Commission I'm going to ask our city clerk to use a timer so when you hear the time just wrap up your thoughts and we will move on and then after introductions Council
will ask a couple of questions and each of you will have a chance to answer each of the questions and we'll rotate who answers first I'll try and keep track of all of that I've got some incredible paperwork right here in front of me that'll help me do that so with that
let's begin with introductions and overviews and mallerie let's start with you you know what I think um Dan tell me this uh we need her to come to the microphone so we can hear her correct oh she's got you got them on the tables never mind you can stay right
where you are you don't even okay very good mallerie why don't you cut us off thanks thank you mayor McMillan um as you said my name is mallerie shower I have lived at 10,05 Corral court for 7 months now uh finally
getting all the boxes unboxed um and uh a little bit about myself and why I want to volunteer so I want to volunteer um on the Planning Commission because to me it's the most significant way that I can serve my community um we've all chosen to make
Victoria our home and it's important to me that we preserve the city that we all love while also supporting our local businesses and economic growth um I know that there are complex issues going on like like the zoning changes and traffic
concerns and environmental impacts um but I feel as though my experience in city government uh will be able to help my experience with city government will help me balance the interests of um City officials developers businesses and US
residents um and kind of keep the community's best interest in mind um my uh the decisions this commission makes around zoning and land will impact how this community looks decades down the road and uh Carver County is the fastest
growing community in the state and while growth often comes with change part of long-term planning is ensuring that our community's identity as the city of lakes and Parks is preserved um my daily experience in handling codes and ordinances and
policies uh gives me a really deep understanding of the legal and Regulatory framework that shapes land use zoning and urban developments um planning often involves disagreements from developers and residents and different interest groups
and so I believe my background in navigating these complex issues and reaching compromises would be vital um when there is push back on like variance requests very good thank you so much is it shower yes like take a shower yep welcome
home all right very good let's go to I am next all right uh my name is Ryan Graham I live at 90020 Meadows Drive in Victoria and I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you this evening um living in Victoria with my family and as a father of of two um I'm
deeply invested in this community um professionally I hold a bachelor's and master's degree in architecture um and have dedicated my career to working with public entities so primarily public school districts and then also municipality work um you know my my experience in my professional uh work
certainly involves navigating you know zoning regulations Municipal codes um going through the plan review process um and then certainly we've worked on a significant amount of projects that require rezoning um and have that perspective sort of from from this lens um beyond my technical
expertise my my day job um focuses on working with multiple stakeholders bringing them together and then guiding school boards primarily through you know long-term Master planning and facility um kind of workshopping um thoughtful planning not only supports local businesses but it also creates
environments and public spaces that people want to gather connect and and allow communities to thrive um and as a member of the Planning Commission I want to ensure that our community's design and and development work aligns with best practices in architecture and urban
planning um while making sure that the growth supports the community that all of us want to live and work in um I'd be honored to contribute with my expertise and perspective um help guide the future of our city and look forward to the opportunity to serve in this role very good thank you Mr
Graham all right up next we have Mark and I'm not even going to try and pronounce that last name it's Norwegian yeah it's Mark exian and it's pronounced exactly how it's spelled that should help out I'm at
11:22 Choke Cherry Court around a corner down a bend and one of the reasons is for me my presence tonight is to see about as a architect and real estate developer in the past and actually
present but it's been in an urban context and this is a rural context that's going Urban and I can see the development Trends here and I do expect this town to grow twofold in the next 15 years I know that the projections are
around 8,000 I'm seeing it a little bit heavier than that and I'm also seeing a lot of production housing going on with land masses and then people putting in production housing for the right reasons I might add but it may not suit the
future of Victoria in its entirety where you want to keep it with the Ambiance of a smaller Community as tightly woven as it is but has to understand its growth patterns that's one aspect of it and also I've been doing this for a long
time time but again it's been in the urban context and not exurbia where we are now I even remember when Jonathan got started so that goes back oh dear it is a long time that's why I don't have
any here I guess so I've been around and I know how it goes and I know how the infrastructures are in place and what they play for the community and how expensive it is and that developers also have rights and they just have to meld
with what is happening with what I would consider a better zoning operation and it can happen now on a local front too there are a lot of folks that have just come in with small play they want something in their backyard they want an
accessory use building they want something simplified confused it usually is a burden to the Cil but that's where we come in as this the Planning Commission people to help those folks out never say no
until you hear all both sides that's where I am very good thank you so much I'm gonna call you mark all right James please welcome hello thank you thanks for doing this uh I go by Jamie it's Jamie Corell I live
on the corner of 82nd and Bavaria so where the roundabouts going is part of my what used to be my property um I have lived in Carver County for 40 years we lived in chasa for the
first almost 30 um raised two kids there I taught at in the chasa school district for most of my career probably about 25 years at chasa high school and Chan assen High School um
I left that in 2019 and am now a uh residential contractor so I do home improvements and additions um I am I've been here a long
time and I have watched Victoria sort of first from the side and then now living in it um and I I part of my background is in organizational structure so I'm was a Baldridge examiner for a number of years
and which is kind of odd as a high school chemistry teacher but that's what I did and I think that um I could use that to sort of think through how Victoria is doing things and I you know I I could offer that um I have been in
public service essentially my entire career so I have that understanding of how that works um one of the ideas that I believe would be helpful in Victor is to sort of do a better balance between
industry and residential and I think part of our primarily the taxes come off the residential taxes because that's primarily what we are and it would be probably prudent as we grow to do something that
would expand and uh diversify our tax base so I think that that's a perspective that I would bring to the Planning Commission good thanks Jamie Robert you're next uh Robert Bean might go by Bob uh I reside at
102877 Street West in the Whispering Hills uh neighborhood uh we've been in Victoria since uh spring of 2018 I live there with my wife Katherine um we were or I was a lifelong resident of the Southwest area uh born and raised in
Shorewood spent a few years in deep Haven wandered back to Shorewood and then we downsized in 2018 um went to one level living out here um recently retired so I have a lot of time on my hands and uh so you know why Planning
Commission well I've had a lifelong commitment to community service um a number of working groups with the mitaka school district as well as Senior Community Services uh providing uh programming and meals to our senior
community in the southwest area South Lake area I was previously a member of the Shorewood Planning Commission for about six years and then I had one term as mayor of Shorewood and uh that that's where I bring um I guess experience to
this process and and and understand uh the ramifications uh I I was involved in one of our first uh editions of our 25e comprehensive plan back in the mid90s um two of the projects that I
guess I I I want to signify there as mayor was extending water infrastructure to the West half of Shorewood um and and really uh key to that was bringing much needed fir flow water pressure to Minash Elementary um
the other big project I worked on and and really fundamentally LED was a joint Powers agreement with deep Haven Greenwood Tonka Bay and exceler to develop the community center that's uh at 19 and um uh Smithtown Bay Road there
and uh and worked with negotiating with senior community services to take that property and and provide the meals and Community programming to the South Lake Area Victoria faces many land use challenges as number of us have just
mentioned here and over the coming years ongoing development you know additional annexations of Lake Town Township and just General development are going to put more stress on the city in terms of infrastructure zoning Transportation uh
government services such as water sewer roads Parks Green Space um and other Civic amenities uh both within Victoria and you know um as a draw from the uh surrounding area and it's vital that we
remain sensitive to individual homeowners circumstances through our uh zoning codes um concerns while maintaining consistency I think that is really key uh that I would say most of the complaints I ever heard as either
mayor or Planning Commission was where there didn't seem to be fairness in the application of our of our ordinances you know and when we granted uh variances and puds versus the you know what the code called for so that consistency is uh very very
important um development decisions need to take uh make sense for everybody both those long-term residents as well as our new neighbors and I would very much enjoy joining the Planning Commission and helping with with that
process thanks so much Bob thank you and we're going to go to our incumbents over here Aaron let's start with you can you evening city council mayor uh I'm excited to U come back and apply for our Planning Commission um so I joined last
year uh and was the first alternate and then had the opportunity to jump on uh for a full seat for a brief period and I'm excited to come back and apply again U my family of five moved to Victoria in 2022 um we really look forward to making Victoria Our Roots and where my kids
grow up and hopefully come back for lots and lots of visiting um I have a background in facility planning uh future future planning I've done lots of it in my professional experience and my EXP really is rooted in problem solving
um and taking consultative approach so always taking a in into account you know the current codes history what sort of precedent are we going to set um so really thinking through it diligently to make sure that we're fairly considering all the different um options and that we're making the best recommendation to
the city council on what we should do with anything that faces us so really appreciate you guys considering my application and U forward to answering more questions good thanks Aaron John Iverson John how are you app um I'm John Iverson I live at
10:32 Anthony way of course here in Victoria been a resident for 13 plus years uh have been involved in working with the city in various different capacities uh for um probably a about 13
years at the same time uh have have seen the growth that has occurred how it's occurred and uh and have been uh a sounding board for many people that are
uh want to Define how they want to see Victoria and of course we're all neighbors and so we you know I I view myself uh in the in in the position on the Planning Commission as a
representative of the um um of the people in the in in Victoria so want to uh continue on that um the um um the Planning Commission I think it's been stated but it is all about details and
it's all about the size the trees and we have uh we have zoning coming up which is pretty exciting um at the uh at the same time but it's uh it's a lot of preventative work that
uh that that we're doing we're doing tomorrow for the future so I think that's that's real key to the uh to the whole thing um I remain a uh member of
the uh CAC for the uh um the uh uh the uh Watershed district and and I believe that I'm that I'm always a link uh for for the city of Victoria at the same
time working with them and uh and I think the other I think one of one of the other things that I that I've really watched very very closely is that with with both
residents and uh and Developers is is just the the very honest straightforward respectful uh response to uh to these people at the same time so um and we we
must be doing a few things right because we were covered in the Wall Street Journal and our mayor was was quoted and the uh Planning Commission was referenced at the same time I had a had
a call from DC uh on a uh on a Sunday Sunday night stating do you know anything about uh Victoria Minnesota and S and the planing commission I said one or two
things uh but uh so yeah I am um I am requesting to uh to continue with with the planing commission I appreciate your support thank you very much thanks John chair
good evening mayor and Council um my name is Jared I live at 8:20 interlocking in Swiss Mountain I've been a resident of Victoria for 25 years
um been on the Planning Commission for six years uh very excited to see everything that's going on in the city and help guide the city in all its
needs uh that we've gone through uh there's always things happening around here uh whether it's doing ordinances uh doing variances uh I think
we uh look forward to doing all that work uh helping the residents succeed and try to keep uh everything in line um but I'm excited to have the opportunity
to continue on as a member of the Planning Commission thank you all right I'm gonna I'm gonna kick the first question over to council member ivanski um and ask him to facilitate that first
question please thank you mayor I think we're going to hear um lot of the same answers to the very question in everybody's Preamble so thank you for introducing yourselves you've covered a lot of topics but um I
will start with in reverse order and go to chair uh why are you interested in serving on the Planning Commission and what aspects of planning or Community Development motivated you to apply for this role well originally it was just to get
involved with the city and at the time we were going through a lot of growth which would continue to go through a lot of growth um we have the upcoming 204 or
20 40 plan 2050 plan that is going to be getting kicked off here and I'm excited to help with h staff and counil to facilitate that thank you
Mr Iverson would you like me to read the question again or oh appreciate it um well I was I was originally recruited um to join the Planning Commission and um and the question that
I had for myself was so what do I know about being on a Planning Commission and of course the answer that I came up with is not very much at the same time so so it's it it's been an incredible learning
experience uh and and and I think that that the it's it's probably like any project that anyone takes on is that is that if if you know you have to do your homework uh it it really does really
does make it an off lot easier and and I and I think you know I think going forward um you know have have any of us ever learned from our mistakes and of course you know I I I'm not aware of any
mistakes that occurred well maybe one or two but somewhere but somewhere along the line we now have acquired um I think more knowledge on on really what it takes to to um you know
to make this city work at the same time and and and and I think one of them was uh listen to What the residents have to say know as I don't always have to respond to it but
you have to know so thank you um yeah so I I think I said it in my intro but I think to add to what I stated in my intro I think a big reason of why I'm reapplying is I believe a lot in volunteerism and giving back to the community I believe that not only is it right and we all have that duty but I
want to set the right example for my children so that they understand that this is what how you should act when you're a grown up um I think I'm a grown up hopefully um but also thinking about like we said we have the comp plan coming up we're reviewing a lot of the current um uh code and I think uh
representing my neighbors too to have a seat at the at the table to make sure that it's the right thing for all of Victoria looking forward um is really important to me and a reason why I'm applying thank you Mr Bean would you like me to read the question again or sure why are you interested in
serving on the Planning Commission and what specific aspects of planning or Community Development motivated you to pursue this role um similarly uh lifelong commitment to community service um going all the way I mean I learned my lesson from my
dad he was on the exceler Township Board um and S and you know helped shepher in the creation of shorwood as a village um and so he taught us early on to you know pay back pay it forward and so that that's a key aspect of it more
personally um Victoria is at a pivot point I mean the next 20 years are going to be extremely Dynamic um with the further growth and and I and the Really the foundation of that is going to be set in the next few years um in terms of
updating the comprehensive plan and and planning for how uh the further development you know uh out west how do we work with wakona how do we work with Chan has and shwood jasa um in the immediate surrounding
areas and that brings a lot of challenges and I think uh some very potentially rewarding Solutions and I I would I would very much like to participate in that process and uh in terms of what do I bring to the table I again I you know I mentioned my
experience with Planning Commission and in the council role um I would add to that that I spent 50 years in the trust and Estates and corporate retirement World um so I understand um sometimes
excessive regulations but I understand why they get created and and how it's important for you know to how they fit the fabric of everything together that makes makes things uh work properly for all the community and I see that
similarly with um understanding our ordinances our zoning land use and applying those um those you know rules and regulations effectively consistently um while at the same time understand that unique
circumstances present themselves but you need and so you need a thoughtful reason as to why that uh those exceptions make sense for both the the the home owner or um you know the surrounding neighbors and and the community at large great
thank you Mr Corell would you like me to repeat the question or you you good I'm good it's it's thank you it's funny my wife sort of asked me the same thing why you want to do this um so I was pretty involved in a lot of the planning and
organizational stuff within the school district for about 20 years and I was did a lot of that stuff um I am a chemist by training and a chemistry teacher and there's a lot of problem solving in that
um I see myself as uh being able to balance different perspectives and try to draw things together to figure out solutions to those things um and I missed doing that so I'm
looking for a way to get back involved in things I'm a contractor now which has its own problem solving stuff but that's pretty much between me and the client and the various cities that I work with but that's not as big picture so I'm I think I have something to offer to that and
I'm looking for an opportunity to become come involved great mark would you like me to read the question again or I think we're squared away for Big Buck they don't exist I'm here because
I've been here a while and I've seen some growth patterns and some of it I can accept some of it I can't but being a member of the community I'd like to reach out and continue that membership of the community by Outreach which is
participating in the transactions that go here in the city of Victoria so in a nutshell I'm seeing that the growth as Robert has mentioned is could be overwhelming in the near future and
maybe you need some assistance on that to guide it accordingly but also there's when again the individual homeowners come in and they need something done they want to get it done in a reasonable period of time but they don't want to
deviate there's countless examples of people putting out buildings in the wrong location fences in the wrong loc it causes irritation even chopping down and pruning trees that are on public property I've seen that happen it's not a good idea and some of that can be
resolved by simple phone calls or Side Bar meeting usually without the council's direct involvement but with the Planning Commission involvement answering questions and responding to the needs of the community that's where I am great thank
you Mr Graham you like me to read repeat the question or no thank you um you know I think I started a little bit by talking about how you know my family chose to reside here we've got two young boys um you know and we've put Roots down here and plan to be be here for a significant
amount of time um and I think depending on the growth of a of a Suburban city um tells a lot about whether or not those kids come back or if they go elsewhere so certainly invested in seeing the growth of the of the city be sustainable um create happy happy and healthy communities so that we do bring kids
back to our community um aside from that I spent a better of a decade um at a university learning about design best practices earning urban planning best practices um and then I've spent my career working with you know school boards and municipalities ities to really think about long-term planning um
and how how to make them successful with Community input and also understanding that every community that I work with is different so what solution is right for one city is not necessarily what's right for Victoria um I think I also probably represent uh a large demographic of that
represents the growth in the community as a um you know not quite 40 uh family in in the community um so I'd like to bring that perspective along with my my professional background um to support the community great thank you and last Miss Sher yes
would you like me to repeat the question no I think we're good um so what initially got me interested in the Planning Commission was honestly at work um so I do work for the city of Edina and sitting at lunch one day the um
couple co-workers were complaining about the commission that meeting that they had had the night before about residents requesting certain things I'm like hm wonder what it's going on at home like what's going on in Victoria so uh that's how I found the Planning Commission and uh realized that you know this could be
something I could really volunteer for really work for um again just like Ryan uh I do represent the growth coming into Victoria but also that my community while being new we did all fall in love with Victoria because it is the small
rural you got the beautiful trees that have matured and are still here and how can we preserve that and keep what we want what we in love with initially um and also part of you know my background
um I work specifically in finance so understanding well we want all these codes and ordinances how are we paying for everything um because at the bottom line uh it's all of our tax dollars coming together and want to make sure that you know all the codes are uh
reflective of our values um here in Victoria thank you wonderful thank you council member Roberts all right uh how would you resolve a situation as a planning commissioner in which you do not agree with other Commissioners on the
important development issue we'll start uh with Mark on this one and we'll kind of go around I'm going to beg your Indulgence to just repeat the question sure yep how would you resolve a situation as a planning commissioner in which you do not agree with the other Commissioners on an important
development issue carry a big stick of course no you can mitigate most there's going to be arguments that's good that's constructive you have to take the leadership position to guide the other
members into where you want to go but understanding not only the code but the inter interpretation of the zoning code and hopefully at that point in time it'll be a different form of code called form base which allows more interaction
of different building types and land planning types that's where I would take it I would not just tell somebody they're wrong there's no need to listen to all sides mitigate where you have to
negotiate where you have to but come to a conclusion where it has to be a joint effort and that's where I would take it thank you Ryan yeah I think um firstly approaching it from a model of
governance it's not about what my opinions are it's about um we we have a a planning code we have zoning to to use as a guide um we have best practices that we can rely on um and also what I've learned in my background is that it's as as Mark mentioned interpretation
um there's multiple ways to interpret building code zoning ordinance um and often times it comes down to a negotiation and generally um common sense um leads to a good solution that both parties can agree upon um so I think just kind of relying on on the tools that we have the data we
have you know industry best practices and then again working with community members and and people that are looking to build and makeing decisions together thank you mallerie do you need me to repeat the question sure how would you resolve a situation
as a planning commissioner in which you do not agree with other Commissioners on an important development issue um I think it's important first to understand where other Commissioners are coming from and their reasoning for why they have the opinion that they have and understanding that we all come from a
diverse backgrounds and that um we probably most of the time we're all trying to get to the same conclusion but we might just be saying it in a couple different ways so just reiterating maybe in different forms and um getting further communication with each
other J we go to you um I guess the biggest thing to understand each other and yes there will may be disagreements this uh and you may
not agree with everybody at every decision that's made uh people have their rights to decide what they want uh Ling commission is made up of seven individuals and seven individuals can
have seven different opinions uh most of the time we all come to the same conclusion uh after discussion um but if somebody doesn't agree it's it's their opinion and you move
on it's just how life is um exactly exactly yeah I mean I I think I think within within the confines of the Planning Commission is that on any given
issue there's uh there's a discussion with within the seven members and and out of that um one's one's thoughts may have changed after you've heard what
everyone else has to say at the at at the same time but if you really feel very strongly about it it's one person one vote and and you know we're we're not looking for group thing at the same
time so you know I think it's a I I do um I do recall only one where one situation where it wasn't unanimous after it had been the the the whole thing had been discussed
so thank you uh disagreement in my line of work is very common so I work as a customer success manager which is basically a fancy way of saying I'm a consultant for a software company I have 400 customers under my belt and I disagree with them often so it's uh not my favorite thing
to do but it's a professional thing that I've developed and so I think starting from that case of professionalism and understanding that we're here ultimately for our city and so having the conversation as uh everyone else has said already in a professional manner to make sure that you have stated your case
and that you flip your perspective and try to understand the other planning Commissioners um perspective as well so so starting from a spot of professionalism and understanding is how I would go to approach it ultimately uh I'm one voice although Mighty I don't
need to be the loudest or always right and so making sure taking your your personal baggage at the at the door and leaving it there and keeping the the mindset that we're here for our community as how I would approach it um do me to repeat the
question um I I think the best example I can give you uh in terms of my perspective and it really it's one word that encapsulate a lot of what you've just heard that's consensus and as mentioned everybody has one vote but consistence doesn't mean unanimous um
it's it's what everybody ultimately agrees is the is the right path um best example of that on uh from me is working with five City councils to develop a uh joint Powers agreement to build a community center if you can imagine
getting five City councils in alignment um that's the best example of consensus I can I can give you because that was some very challenging uh conversations and everybody had some
very strong opinions as why you know why located in shorwood why should it be you know this this size who's going to run it how are we going to put all that together so um it's that consensus building that I think is key thank you
James um first I'm shocked that the Planning Commission would ever disagree with itself but kidding kidding um I think when there are going to be disagreements there's going to be different perspectives and I think
ultimately we all want the best for the city and people have different perspectives I think if if we can talk about what is underneath th that reasoning that can help people um find common ground and
move forward uh also realizing that we're not always going to agree and this is there are seven on the commission there the reason there are seven on the commission but I think it's important to work things through and figure out what is in the common good of the city of
Victoria rather than what do I think ought to happen so I I I think it's important to work through that stuff but understand that when you're working with human beings being there are conflicts thank
you good uh we're going to move on to council member R please yes um are you willing to take on the responsibility of making decisions that are in the best interest of the public even though they may be somewhat
controversial we'll start with uh Ryan I would say absolutely you know my my background has been you know working with uh you know school districts but also communities and often times um you know leadership might want to go a different direction than than maybe the staff or the students or the community
members um I think working and navigating through those complex situations is something I'm well versed in you know um problems arise uh there's varying differences um but there's a decision that has to be made and even if it's not necessarily popular I think it's important to highlight where there
is common uh where there is some agreement um and begin to share why there's some upside to to that plan for anyone thank you on mallerie um sorry can you repeat the question
sure um are you willing to take on the responsibility of making decisions that are in the best interest of the public even though they may be somewhat controversial um I believe so definitely and that as long as it has a legal standing and precedent that it's
important that we maintain consistency um with what has already been done before and consistency for for what needs to go forward excellent thank you then we'll go over to
Jared um yes that happens all the time not all the time but I mean it happens occasionally you run into those situations um and you work through them and it may not
be what this residents think is right but there's other organizations that kind of dictate what you uh have to do and follow and one of them is like the MC conso kind of
dictates some of our density ratings and um if we don't follow them things don't work right in the city so you um it may not be the most popular thing that happens in the city
but it it happens but yes thank you John um we we are here to make decisions and that's one of the hazards that goes with with making making those decisions but I think the other the other thing that becomes very
very important is that is that so here's you know here was the ruling from the board and here's the reason why and let me let me go through this in detail just so that just so that you understand not not looking for agreement but just so
that you understand the the the process that the Commissioners had gone through to come to this decision so I think it's that easy thank you eron yeah uh so simply yes uh definitely
comfortable with making tough decisions as especially even when it's not in the most popular vein not here for the popularity contest I'm here make sure that we're upholding and advancing uh our city and its future thanks thank
you Bob um absolutely willing to participate in that decision-making process and and hopefully help the Planning Commission present to the council uh the best recommendations that we think are are in the city's best
interest um and one other example I I guess from my experience um was when we extended water to the to Western part of uh Shorewood it was not received very well by a lot of residents that um didn't want to give up their Wells I
never quite understood it exactly but um you know if you want to keep drinking that well water um who am I but um you know the city had established a priority to bring um High High Press water to the
Min minowa elementary school because we had about a 30 second fir flow uh tank on the roof and I said not on my watch are we going to have a tragedy in that building if we can't you know evacuate it you know I think it took them on
average about two minutes to vacate the building um so you you make decisions like that and present options to the council to help them make decisions um that are in the best interest of the whole Community excellent thank you
Jamie um short answer is yes um longer answer is any is in any leadership position I've been in there are going to be tough calls and any change has uh folks that are glad about it and
folks that are not glad about it and that is that is the nature of making decisions um but at the same time I think it's important to acknowledge if you make a wrong decision and step it backwards because that that happens as
well so I yes I would stand on a decision and uh do my best to explain the rationale behind it and be open to what the consequences of that are thank you Mark you want me to repeat public
interest aligns with the city interest it's very important there'll be a lot of pressure down the road from developers who are looking at multifamily overextending overex expanding but they
have the Bucks that come in they claim that they're going to pick up the tab for various infrastructure works and you know otherwise and it would be in the best interest of the community to table it make them come back maybe phase it in
these issues are foreseeable in the future of the Victoria and that's when there's a continuation of the conversion of farm AG cultural based lands into high density housing and high density housing doesn't necessarily mean multi
family can also mean single family but tighter quarters because of the cost and it with toll that has on the community as a whole and the future of the community is vitally important to understand and sometimes it be
contrary to the force of um the developers who are really going to ramrod at home with their lawyers and their engineers and proving to you that it's going to work when you know factually it doesn't you
just have to take a stand and the other Commissioners would be in alignment with that and that's where you get some good given take and you come up with the decision that you must make a decision for the betterment of the community as a whole thank
you thank you council member Patterson oh yeah how how are we on time um we have about let's see if we can wrap this up in about 10 minutes or so got it Mark we'll start with you can you describe please your understanding of the
relationship and interaction between the Planning Commission and the city council Planning Commission will normally from my perspective it's a non-elected position so we're advisers to the council Council
makes the will have the rights to say yay or nay and the council will be in control ultimately but they will want to listen to the advice of commission and the conclusion that commission can make
for the betterment of the entire body that we all are comprised of which is the city of Victoria and its population great thank you we are going to go to Bob for this one as well describe your understanding of the
relationship and interaction between the Planning Commission and the city council um e Echoes basically that that the uh Planning Commission is responsible for the the analysis the fact Gathering the testimony and um public hearings and so
forth and then combining that to make a recommendation to the council uh for the council's decision thank you Jamie do you need me to repeat the question I think I got it um thank you and I'm not entirely sure
what the relationship is but as I understand it the Planning Commission is sort of doing the due diligence to figure out what is in the best interest of the community that's not the same as the city employees who will figure out
the legal code what that is I think it's our job as a Planning Commission to sort of feel what's in the best interest of the community as we see it and then we would present that to the council who makes the decision that's my
understanding of that thank you um mallerie would you like me to repeat the question um the commission is to my understanding is a advisory commission and that you know we we'll do all the heavy lifting doing the research making
sure everything sounds good and then uh present what our findings are gotcha thank you Ryan yeah I mean I think it's been well answered but certainly it's the the goal of a Planning Commission should be to have you know
representative diverse background of professionals and community members um with broad perspectives that can have discussion about potential projects um obviously we have to check those against zoning and and Municipal codes Etc to find out if a project or plan makes sense um and then again make a
recommendation to the council that and to actually act on deal thank you should I ask you through three the same question you have 10 seconds mention something that they
haven't mention sure uh so I think it's to coordinate with the staff to review in detail ahead of time and come prepared to meetings to discuss um with the other council members and the applicants and staff and then make a recommendation back to the
council thank you Erin John that's EX ly the answer I mean that truly is is is for the Planning Commission uh to to work with with City staff and do all of the research uh the
the Planning Commission should be viewed as the research arm for the city council Jared what's one interesting piece of this that you don't get to deal with I'll tell you what we have an
excellent City staff that prepares a lot of stuff even for the Planning Commission and they come to the Planning Commission and present it to us and they've done a lot of the homework that
we don't even though we do homework for you they're doing homework for us and it makes our job a lot easier too you get involved with financial decisions no thank you thank you very much thank you to all of
you for taking the time out to join us this evening um you're all excellent candidates and highly qualified for this we have three positions to fill and then we will fill some alternate positions so even if you do not get selected for the Planning Commission please find a way to
be involved in the city of Victoria we need people like you we need residents who are interested we have a park and wck committee we have a senior committee um we will be approaching the 2050 comprehensive plan where we get a whole bunch of people involved in that that's
a very extensive probably year-long maybe twoe long process where we really need all of these diverse um opinions experience and and all of that so if you are not selected for this Planning Commission please uh take heart find another place um it's not that you
weren't qualified or we didn't want to we just don't have enough spaces for everybody but trust me the city of Victoria wants your expertise and your Talent so please find another place we're going to be making official appointments for the Planning Commission and the park and W commission and the
senior advisory committee at our regular meeting following the workshop this evening so if there's no further discussion from Council I'm going to entertain a motion that we adjourn the workshop motion to adjourn the workshop we have a motion
can I get a second second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries stand adjourned we will Part: 2
e e e e good evening it's now 6:30 and I call to order the regular meeting of the V 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 the first item on our agenda this evening is announcements our next Workshop will be
held on Monday April 28th from 2: to 6:00 p.m. at the Victoria Recreation Center in the multi-purpose room during this Workshop the council will discuss the 2025 2028 strategic plan and the long-term visioning for the Victoria Rec
Center all meetings of the city council are open to the public and are held in the council chambers at City Hall unless otherwise noted we encourage anyone wanting to attend our Council meetings or workshops in person to contact our City Clerk in advance in other
announcements we are accepting nominations for our community Builder award each year in June the city recognizes an individual Group business or organization that has through their outstanding volunteerism or exemplary action demonstrated an extraordinary
commitment to making Victoria a better place today and for the future nominations are due by March 31st please contact our Communications and public engagement director Kendrick ra with any questions or if you need additional information about the program we have an
upcoming open house for a transportation project improvements that residents might be interested in attending the downtown West Highway 5 and 11 Improvement project and Highway 11 project County Road 11 project will be
held on Thursday March 27th from 5 to 6:00 p.m. um it will convene in the city uh Victoria city hall in the council chamber MERS right here at uh 1670 stiger Lake Lane here in Victoria for any questions or additional information
about the streets improvements please check our community web page then click Street and utility projects or reach out to our city engineer Cara Garen with that there are no other announcements this evening and our next order of
business is to adopt the final agenda Council can I get a motion to adopt the final agenda motion to adopt the final agenda we have a motion can I get a second second a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries our next item is
the open Forum uh the open forum is the opportunity for anyone to address the Council on an item that is not on the agenda or not in application form that will be coming to the council in a future date uh please don't expect any action from Council this evening we may ask clarifying questions but this is not
intended to be a back and forth there is no one who has registered to speak in advance but is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the Council on an item that is not on the agenda or an application form that will be coming to the a uh council at a future
date seeing no one we'll move on to the next item on our agenda which is the consent agenda items on the consent agenda are routine administrative and do not require deliberation or are housekeeping items that are required by law they're approved with one vote unless someone request an item to be
considered separately Miss Hardy does staff wish to pull any item from the consent agenda for separate discussion and vote none from staff Madame mayor members of the council anyone from the council uh any member of the audience wish to pull something from the consent agenda item or consent agenda for
separate discussion and vote all right seeing none I will entertain a motion for the consent agenda make a motion to adopt the March 10th 2025 consent agenda thank you second we have a motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I any
opposed motion carries we're now moving on to our regular agenda the first item on uh the first item this evening is 6.1 which is Planning Commission Park and wreck committee and Senior advisory committee appointments presenting on this item this evening is our city
manager Miss Hardy thank you mayor members of the council I have a squeaky chair here this evening so my apologies um so you just got done uh doing your interviews for Planning Commission and on February 24th during that Workshop
you interviewed uh applicants for the park and recck committee and then we had one applicant for senior advisory committee um and uh we have three openings so um you'll be making assuming that you'll be making that appointment
for uh senior advisory committee um and then you'll have to make appointments this evening for Planning Commission and park and wreck committee those are the three citizen advisory boards that that we have um and there are a number of
openings so to assist Council um with that uh those motions we have listed the applicant names for each of the uh for each of the Committees the applicant names and potential motions for you to
consider I think uh this is going to be a difficult decision we had such wonderful applicants who are willing to give their their time and talents to the community um and it really has been a pleasure um listening to all the ideas and the talents that they could bring forward to
the community so um with that staff will stand for any questions otherwise I we'll pass the floor back to council for discussion and appointments very good thank you uh clarifying question are we taking these each individually correct correct okay um with council's if
council is okay with this I would recommend that we start with senior commission that's work is if that's all right with everybody mayor uh senior advisory committee we had one applicant Jennifer Spalding um I will make a motion that we appoint Jennifer Spalding to the senior advisory committee for a
three-year term beginning April 1st 2025 second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries congratulations to miss Spalding um next let's go to our park and rec committee um before we discuss the appointments
here one of the things that we have um talked about is the park and wreck is currently a seven- member committee we have talked about expanding that to be a nine-member committee um I understand council member petson you've had a conversation with our the chair of our park and wre committee you want to share
a little bit about that conversation correct I had a chance to speak with um chair Schultz last Friday um regarding the number of participants in the park and rec committee um standing at 7 I asked him if he how he felt about moving
to 9: he felt comfortable that and felt that it would be good especially with summer vacations and a lot of other things that come up for people that having nine people involved um would only give us a a better group of folks to draw information from so he's very
comfortable with it very good thank you council member petson so with that um I want to open the discussion for Council about um pros and cons of expanding to a nine member par and W committee versus the current seven member Park and wreck
committee I think right now Pro for me would be as uh council member peton mentioned flexibility was scheduling and things like that we are a growing Community we're g to I mean we need these ambassadors in our community so I'm I don't see a con I would agree I
don't see any cons either and sometime we see it every year right like sometimes people move something happens they drop off and in this case people are right up to speed be one thing if we didn't have great candidates right but we had all three of them right and our incumbent
right we had four great candidates that I I don't i' I'd rather put them all on than have to tell one of them they can't yeah do it because they all AG great council member evansky any comments from you um other than I'll
defer to my other council members and then join an agreement that expanding to nine is a reasonable use of staff's time and reasonable coverage for uh the city and drawing on our expertise of people who
are willing to serve very good I'm going to ask a procedural question here do we need to make a motion to expand our committee yeah mayor and councel um I guess I don't know as I sit here now if there's any code language we need to take a look at I think I think there
probably is and Dan it's confirming that that's the case so I think probably direction to staff to to implement uh that policy decision is the best thing and staff then can bring back whatever uh documents are needed to to make it happen okay very good um the only other
question I would have right so we have three that are three-year terms and one that's a two-year term um my initial thought I guess and since we're talking about this is that since Terry has been on committee for a while that maybe we
keep her at the two and then the new people get the three-year term so that they get their feet it's probably more likely that someone who's been doing it for a while might be want to be done in two years versus you I guess that was my initial thought unless people disagree yeah I'm
okay with that I'm okay with that as well I would agree with you and I'd also say the other three interviewed and Terry did not all right I'm in agreement okay very good so first and foremost we're going to direct staff to uh make the adjustment on our uh
the size of that Park and recck committee and uh we don't need to do anything further now that that's taken care of so uh now that that's finished I will entertain a motion um know you go ahead and make that formal motion if you would Council make a motion to appoint
Alexander hay uh to the parks and recs committee for a three-year term beginning April 1st 2025 second we have a motion and a second I'll in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries can we do this all in one motion or do okay we do
oh we can do I can read them all okay sorry um and make a motion to appoint Chris Casey and Adam Durer to the parks and rec committee for three-year terms beginning April 1st 2025 and a motion to appoint Terry cope
to the parks and rec committee for a two-year term beginning April 1st 2025 very good thank you we have a motion can I get a second second second for council member pson all in favor sing by saying I I any opposed motion carries all right
moving on to the tough decision to make tonight the Planning Commission appointments um we we just interviewed um Planning Commission applicants we have several we have several incumbents we are looking to appoint um four four positions and an altern or
I'm sorry three positions and an alternate um I'm going to ask a procedural question again we have um in the past provided some on Deck spaces um do we want to continue to do that if if uh Council sees
fit very good all right with that um council members I'm looking for uh anybody who would like to start we're looking for consensus to appoint um three planning Commissioners for a three-year term and one at least one
alternate for alternate number two I I'm just to say just discussion first I guess I think it's it's tough right again very uh talented group of people it sounds like right all very qualified you know to me it's a little
bit of do you stay with status quo versus getting new blood and and potentially new ideas right so I think that's our our difficult decision we have to make right we we you know we know our incumbents uh do a great job um
but is it you know is it is there benefit from getting new voices in there as well yeah I would agree I it's always hard because our planning Commissioners do a great job but I think it's important to um you know rotate through our our residents
and get some new voices on the Planning Commission and all of our committees quite honestly so um we've we've got some really talented people in our community who want to serve and I I would like to give them the opportunity to do so other
conversation other discussion um just about Aaron Aaron has in lack of better term served his time as an alternate and has literally been on the Planning Commission to replace me for two months um I think he absolutely
deserves one of the positions and I would agree with that I would agree with that as well I'll share that so should we right make a motion to uh handle aon's appointment and then work to the others that sounds great all right and then I'll make a
motion to appoint eron croth to the Planning Commission for a three-year term beginning April 1st 2025 we have a motion can I get a second second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion
carries all right um I'm going to start off by saying um I have a couple of candidates that I would like to bring forward uh Ryan Graham and Jamie kenell I would like to appoint to
the Planning Commission as well Council um consensus or maybe what we should do I know in the past we've named uh some of our top uh candidates and we looked for a consensus among those top candidates so
um maybe council member evansky you want to list a couple of top candidates on your uh I I felt that Mr Robert bean and Ryan Graham were excellent candidates for being uh appointed to the Planning
Commission okay counc member Roberts um I had Robert Ryan and mallerie is and I had Ryan and mallerie mallerie okay help m p i Jarrett John and Ryan
okay I'm seeing uh big favor for Ryan um we have a couple have a couple votes for Bob and a couple votes for mallerie did I get that right no wait a minute there's you had
mallerie and you had a mallerie right we have two for mallerie I mean we're splitting hairs they're all excellent yeah we are we are do we want to make the next motion for Ryan since that seemed to be a consensus that sounds great uh I make a motion to appoint uh
Ryan Graham uh to the Planning Commission for a three-year term beginning April 1st 2025 we have a motion can I get a second second uh second with council member Peterson all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries all
right um we are down to two votes for Mr Bean and two votes for um mallerie I'm I'm going to suggest we appoint one and put the other in an alternate position is there any consensus on appointment versus
alternate mayor I I'll support your recommendation for both appointing Robert and M okay so one we have to point to an alternate position and the other to the planning commiss question do you have
a suggestion on that um my suggestion would be to appoint uh mallerie as a full-time member and Mr Bean as no all right I will take that as a motion do we have a
second second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I I any opposed motion carries very good we've we've taken care of that so we do have opportunity that come up from time to time for those of you that have interviewed with us this evening if we
do have an alternate position that opens up we will uh contact you first all right mayor members of the council um did you want to place anybody on deck and if so is there an order that you would like um in case there's vacancies throughout the year that way
um we don't have to go back through the application and recruitment process uh because you have done that through this Council um we can we can put some folks on Deck uh we had uh votes for Jamie
Jarrett and John and we could put those folks on deck for when positions open and I would do it alphabetically any other questions do we need a motion on that
one yes a motion would be nice I will make that motion motion can I have a second second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries very good any other comments questions
thoughts on that again thank you to all our applicants we appreciate it very much the only comment I'd say mayor is that it's always a difficult process to choose among really really talented people who are willing to serve us um I
think that all of us sitting behind the dice have have all been in your chairs before interviewing for these would I'll say our coveted positions to really sit and serve and work with a great wonderful staff and my recommendation is
if we didn't select you it was a very difficult decision and don't be discouraged and please just stay engaged and stay involved um things change people have to move people find that their family situations don't allow them to commit the time and we're always
welcome to have people that we've already gone through and vetted the process step up and take those positions it's really great great privilege so thank you for showing up toight yeah well said Council membery very good our next item on the agenda is item 6.2 which is a public
hearing for the easement vacations for tamarak proper uh tamarak properties co-presenting this evening is our city engineer Cara Garen and City Planning planner Brian mccan Miss Garen Mr mccan the floor is yours good evening mayor
members of the city council um so 6.3 also relates to 6.2 so I'm going to give an overview of really kind of both and I do want to note that I have some special guests here with me tonight so
Eric Johnson I'm representing Carver County who's been here before relating to the Arboretum area transportation projects and Andrew our special guests from the Landscape Arboretum so um we will have a chance to hear from him shortly um so why we're here tonight
this is a topic we have covered um extensively broadly related to the arborita Maria Transportation plan in Council workshops I am not going to cover the transportation projects here again um but did want to uh specifically
show this slide just to highlight um what uh the topic here tonight specifically relates to out of the arbor Maria Transportation projects the highway 5 Improvement project as well as the 82nd Street project um so those two
projects in particular um are what brings us here tonight and I did just want to note that the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is surrounded by these projects so um the Arboretum is located within the two projects and then
of course as everybody's aware also owns um land around the Rolling Acres Road Project North of Highway 5 as well as west of Highway 5 so um including during the study phase um the our breed and the University of Minnesota have been part
of the partnership since the beginning as we've been working through all of these projects um so aeriel there we go um so back to just the broader context of
the project area um so all of the projects do have property impacts to the Arboretum there's about 15 or so um specific impacts to Arbor areia property where the project needs to acquire property from the University of
Minnesota in order to construct the project so um similar to the highway 5 and 11 project that we are leading um the project has to go through the property acquisition process related to um working through property acquisition but further than that um
the arum is impacted from um access perspective so those of you who are familiar with operations at the Arboretum there's a lot of different access points out to Highway 5 even just related to um research Fields over um
around the Rolling Acres Road and Highway 5 intersection there's a number of access points that are being closed as part of this project as well as um some access changes that the aroms planning um with the project itself so
I'm going to hop back over to here and make this bigger which is a little bit awkward to do from here um so if we want to go into any of those specific details Eric would be our guy to answer those specific questions but the county and the University of
Minnesota and the Arboretum have been working through all of those property impacts in addition to the impacts to the property the project has a number of environmental impacts so we've discussed those here with the city council um one such impact includes the
um I want to go backwards how do I go backwards from here um impacts to the um Rusty patch bumblebee we've talked about that and there's other environmental impacts associated with the project so what we've been talking about with the city
council sorry Brian I'm moving you back and forth um is is the city owns a number of properties up on the um northeast side of Lake tamarak and so what we're talking about
here tonight is part of the ongoing discussion that we've been having um with ultimately using the property that the city currently owns in this area um and at the end of the day selling this
land to Carver County who would then subsequently sell the land to the University of Minnesota um as really part of a what I would consider to be a pretty Grand partnership um as part of both the
mitigation of property impacts to the AR bedum as well as creating an opportunity to um address the environmental impacts of the project so as part of the project we are impacting the rusty patch Bumblebee and we need to mtig for those
impacts so as part of this um property exchange and this is the part that gets a little bit technically complicated um we do need to um create an opportunity to create new habitat for the rusty
patch Bumblebee and we would be um working towards having the opportunity to create that new habitat in land owned by the University of Minnesota in this area um as part of the project so
um while we don't talk a lot about the be working through this in concert with all of these different parties is actually a pretty exciting um unique opportunity to all work together not only with the people that you see here
but also us fish and wildlife uh mindat and other regulating parties who have to all approve these ideas for mitigating for environmental impacts um so what I imagine you all
would be interested in hearing more about is what the University of mota and the landscape arboretum's plans would be to do for with the land um after it would be transferred to the University of Minnesota so the way we're going to flow through the rest of these agenda
items tonight I didn't put a specific agenda slide here today but um I'm going to turn it over to Andrew to talk about what their plan will be for the property um should all of these steps move forward from there um Brian will cover
the specific planning actions that are on the agenda tonight associated with vacating the drainage and utility easements and RightWay that exists within this property he'll cover that um then the council will hold a public hearing and consider action on those
specific topics and then the next item on the agenda for consideration by the city council would be to approve a purchase agreement with Carver County for the sale of the property I will go into the detail of the purchase agreement when we get to that specific item um but if it's okay with you all
and you don't have any questions for me I would like to turn it over to Andrew to speak about the plan for the property very good um anything from for Miss Garen from Council before we turn this over to Mr ginsky
good evening did I did I just slaughtered your name Andrew perfect welcome Andrew ginsky introduce yourself please you might need a tell our microphone yeah can you hear me okay well it's it's a pleasure to be here tonight and thank you mayor and
Council for having me uh I've been executive director at the ARB breum for just going on two years it'll be two years in May uh and it's surrounded by amazing communities including the city of Victoria and look forward to working with you as we move forward um the
existing lake tamarak property that's owned by the university there's a total of 80 acres uh and so it's the South the southern part of the lake and then going towards the east as is highlighted there that land was acquired in 2014 uh through State funding
lccmr um and Lessard Sams and University uh Foundation uh and it was acquired as such that it would remain in public accessible uh focused on conservation uh and habitat um and light recreation so
there's a dock there for Lake access and we maintain a Gravel Road off of five uh for that access it's also accessible by uh the regional bike trail uh when the we started talking with the county um and the state about
the highway 5 projects and the lands that were needed surrounding the arbored um uh the coners ation really turned to how do we preserve uh new parts of land uh as we lose certain parts uh to the transportation projects and so we
started looking at um a situation where uh we could find uh new lands to conserve um and so we started looking north of Lake tamarak uh which is currently owned by the city of Victoria and potentially adding that uh to the 80
acres that the arom maintains in the public good today so Our intention would be to maintain it just as the existing AC 80 acres is maintained uh totaling over a 100 acres of conservation land uh and completely
conserving the lake shore uh of Lake tamarak uh for the public good so I'll end there very good thank you so much does any Council any questions for Mr kinsky before he grabs his chair again
Andrew thank you so much for that I think that's what we were uh you know that's what we were hoping that's been a beautiful part of the city of Victoria and we've loved loved it as it is so thank you for stepping forward and offering to be the steward of that beautiful spot um Council I want to take
this take a pause to see if there's any questions at this point seeing none then I will turn it over to Mr mccan one more thing there that I just want to add to that that I want to highlight um from what Andrew covered here the distinct difference with the Arboretum maintaining that land
compared to the city um right now the steward of that land would be the city of Victoria Public Works Department and I mean no nothing negative about the city of Victoria Public Works Department um but when we're talking about the ability to conserve that land certainly
um the Minnesota Landscape barbarum has um different expertise and different knowledge in terms of being able to preserve that land in perpetuity so um we did just want to highlight the the
different level of um care and preservation that would occur with that land compared to its um what would happen today yeah very good what point well taken and and nothing against the public works department they do a beautiful job all right Mr mccan let's
turn it over to you on to you okay perfect thank you mayor and council members uh so I know we've already talked a bit about the properties um but here uh pointing out that the areas that we're talking about highlighted in blue
generate approximately 26 Acres located east of County Road 13 Rolling Acres Road North of Highway 5 also adjacent to tamarak Lake and the Lake manona Regional Trail the those properties are currently zoned PUD uh or just standard
R1 low density it also consists of portions from three separate plats that have previously been approved by the city of Victoria uh Overlook at tamarak Lake Swiss mountain and Tristan Heights and as was covered earlier this land is
proposed for acquisition as part of the highway 5 uh Arboretum area transportation plan with the Arboretum the vacating e ments and the right of way uh that you will be considering this evening just removes any City Authority that we would have in those
areas so I'll I'll take this parcel by parcel uh for the first one we're just looking at vacating the standard drainage and utility easements for the site highlighted in red uh except for this small portion highlighted in blue which is part of a trail Corridor um and
then moving on to parcel 2 once again moving area and red uh and then the area in green does not have any easements over it so that area will remain unac uh parcel or easement 3 here for parcel 202 this one's a little bit
different we'll be vacating majority of the existing drainage and utility easement out there a portion of that will be retained uh and a new portion added in blue this is for a 50ft wide drainage and utility easement uh I will
cover that on the next slide moving on to easement 4 here once again just the standard easements highlighted in red uh looking at that third one that I just showed you uh the reason for this being is because interlocking currently
terminates on the west side of Lake mayonka Regional Trail that is where our utilities end that is the only existing uh utility Corridor that we have to access these parts on the east side of the trail uh anything in this area would
require either Chanhassen utilities or for the city of Victoria to get Utilities in that area somehow to leave that option open for any potential future developers uh we're requesting this 50ft wide easement here to make that a possibility if we do see any
development out in that area then moving on to the fifth easement once again just area highlighted in red standard easements that were recorded with the plat uh easement six here once again a little bit different uh vacating the area in
red but we are retaining a portion in blue because there is an existing Basin out there uh that the city needs to retain that easement for maintenance purposes and then easement 7 we are vacating a majority of that piece except
for a very small portion adjacent to Tristan Drive and then lastly the right of way for the east side of inter lockin from the lake motanka Trail so this does require a public hearing State Statute requires that we
notice it in the newspaper for two consecutive weeks which we did on February 27th and March 6th we also notifi Property Owners within 350 ft of each of those easements I highlighted for you uh based on attendance this evening I think it worked out all right
uh we also posted it on the city's website and on the monitor at City Hall I did have one resident call me last week who was just generally curious about what was going to occur this evening and then another individual approached me at the coun this morning with that staff's recommendation
would be to hold a public hearing on the request and then adopt the resolution vacating drainage and utility easements and write of way for the tamarak properties I have a sample motion for you on the screen to adopt table or deny the request and staff can stand for
questions very good Council any questions for staff before we open the public hearing mayor yes please may I ask a question of St you may sir uh so the the uh threshold for voting on a vacation is four fifths if it has not been petitioned for and a majority if it has
been is I'm not clear on has this been petitioned for or are we treating this as a non-p petition uh Tri has a non- petition these are City requested vac so for four fifth vote to approve the vacation very good thank you for that
clarification I appreciate that any other questions or comments all right with that this is a public hearing so I will now open the public hearing on the easement vacation for tamarak properties if there is anyone who wishes to speak to this item
please step forward to the podium identify yourself and make your comments please go ahead got very good that would be great thank you it's always it's always good to have somebody who wants to to break the seal here please identify yourself with your address and then make your comments
absolutely James Cardwell 7115 Kings Road so I am a property just to the um east of the Tam so I've talked to many in this room um especially some other issues we've gone through with some developments things of that nature but especially with this property um Hur and
the way it's written I just want to actually commend the written of the purchase agreement protecting public you know use of this for perpetually you know things of that nature I've lived on that property for six years I do not ever plan to leave so that's one of those things that we've actually used that land um a man from Swiss Mountain
actually used to mow the trails with his lawn mower so to see a little Toro push through and that's how I'm actually very thankful that we will get the same as the South part of the the lake one area I do want to call out was per the easement 3 is with that little I think 60 foot buffer I would be concerned on
that because it's kind of contradictory to the idea of conservation if um it'd be two things one there it looks like it would go through is that is a James J Hill Railroad Bed like that's a very historic area you can still see and it's a I would hate to see it just kind of lose its culture versus the history of
what that little Trail is and to see what it was prior to today's engineering and the Feats of those things the other one is that's a very uh well mature area of oak tree um areas where the rust patch bumblebee would actually dormant in the winter time they would hide in the hollows the things of that nature so I don't feel
it's very necessary especially with just to the uh east side of the property there's not that many and most of us I would probably say I have one of the cheaper houses and most of them are million-dollar houses plus who want land they're not looking to develop and they're newer so I don't feel that it would be necessary to put drainage and
utility at the cost of kind of contradictory to losing part of that value of the land the historical of it and things of that so thank you very good thank you is there anyone else who wishes to speak to
this please step forward I'm G to ask again anyone else who would like to speak to this item please state your name and address for the record please yeah hi I'm Tina puls and I live in the Tristan just sou or
um east of the Tristan Heights development where that portion is being um talked about um my con or concern and just I'm happy to see that it's going to be to the arum and that they're going to conserve that property to stay for the
bees and not be developed so that's just what I would like to say that we appreciate that it stays the way it kind of is and better developed thank you thank you right last call anyone else
that wishes to speak to this item please approach the podium going once going twice thank you close the public hearing motion to close the public hearing we have a
motion can I get a second second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries the public hearing is now closed and I will open the floor to council discussion Council any comments questions discussion on this
item just one point of clarification regarding the easement that um Mr Cardwell brought up is that right um that's just an option right there's not going to be development done
through that 50 foot e um down the road 50 years of something changes we would have the ability to do it should those new residents want to do that is that correct miss Karen you guys are pointing at each other
no I'm happy to take miss Karen please um mayor members of the council um so we really are we really do need to preserve a corridor to potentially provide um city suum water to a portion of our city
so um circumstances where we may need to extend City seum water to that part of the community could be development driven but it also could be a circumstance where um groundwater could become contaminated and um homeowners would need to connect to city services
right now a number of those properties all of those properties that have homes on them are served by um septic systems so um really staff did feel it was important to preserve a corridor should we need to extend utilities if we did um
likely we would Envision that those use utilities would be extended through directional drilling methods not open cut methods um and we did locate the corridor um based on where we um envisioned the utilities being able to
be constructed so we are dealing with some topography through there um so we did have to site that Cor based on where we envisioned um a force M and water M would be able to be extended through that area but certainly extension of
utilities through that area would require approval by the city council and that would all be your decision down the road when a circumstance would um so it's kind of kept for an emergency purposes basically development driven or
um circumstances where it would become necessary but ultimately that would be a council decision at that time okay okay thank you very good thank you any other questions comments all right seeing none can we uh take a look at our motion here and I
will entertain a motion I'd move to adopt the resolution vacating drainage and utility easements and right away for the tamarak properties we have a motion can I get a second no second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I
any opposed motion carries covers our four fths requirement and we are good to move on thank you very much the next item 6.3 which is for the potential purchase agreement to sell tamarak properties at appraised value to Carver County for the highway five Improvement
project um back at this again is our city engineer Miss Garen Cara please continuing on mayor members of the city council so in the packet in your packet you have a draft purchase agreement um that reflects uh what we've just
discussed here so um selling the land specifically to Carver County so just to note um the reason why the city of Victoria would be conveying the land to Carver County um quite frankly is so that the city of Victoria did not also have to enter into an agreement with the
University of Minnesota while Carver County is entering into a very large agreement with um the University of Minnesota reflect all of the project elements so um the city of Victoria will have a joint Powers agreement similar to The Joint Powers agreement that the
council is already approved for the previous five four or five um transportation projects that you have already approved so um the city would convey the land to Carver County Carver County would subsequently convey the
land to the University of Minnesota so the purchase agreement is with Carver County um the purchase price would be based on the apprais value now we wouldn't be um receiving cash for that appraised
value rather it would appear as a credit in the joint Powers agreement against the cost that we will be required to contribute for the highway 5 project so the costs that we will be required to contribute for the highway 5 project are
in excess of the appraised value of the land so um we're not concerned that we will owe less than the appraised value it's clearly going to be higher um based on the estimates we've received to date so um that is the way that's written
into the draft agreement um a couple of other contingencies that I want to note um within the draft agreement there is a right of reversion in there so should something happen where the project doesn't move forward the land would come
back to the city so we wouldn't have a situation where Carver County would own this land the county doesn't want to own it the city doesn't want the county to own it so if something were to happen where the University of Minnesota you know the the project falls apart the
project isn't moving forward the land would come back to the city um the 50 foot drainage and utility easement we already talked about and then we also are going to have to um process a what's it called to release the
velopment agreement satisfaction a satisfaction of the um development agreements for the um three different plats that Brian noted on these particular Lots so that would come through at a future council meeting um
prior to closing and then um the last thing I just wanted to touch on is there's language specifically in the purchase agreement related to um Public Access easement specific to these Parcels so so what that's speaking to um
is that the land can't be subsequently sold for development um and that it needs to be accessible by the public so we're working through final um tweaks of that language between uh the City attorney and the University of Minnesota
attorney um and that is getting finalized here relatively quickly and so um the sample motion that we have you'll note that um it does include subject to modifications approved by the City attorney to reflect those final changes
that are um moving back and forth between the parties but with that I would take any questions very good thank you I do have a question can you go back to that slide Brian talk a little bit about the release of development agreements is it because that property is currently zoned to be single family
development and we just want to make sure that yeah mayor and council members kind of what I talked about during the last item it basically relinquishes any City Authority that we have um what was approved for those developments were for
construction of single family homes by satisfying Those portions of development agreements for those areas we're basically saying uh everything's either been done or we're relinquishing that right to confirm that everything's been done very good okay I understand okay
Council questions on this so just one quick question car maybe it's more financial or nature but the net result is that the the appraised value of this land that we've effectively had as stewards of
conservation just simply by the act of the city of Victoria owning them we're going to now move that conservation stewardship ultimately over to the University of Minnesota will have arguably the resources to maintain it arguably the resources to keep that in
the public domain for an exp Express conservation purpose and the benefit that the city of Victoria then gets in return is a credit to the contributions that we would otherwise have to bond for and pay principal and interest over whatever term we choose to finance this
with so this $20 and some thousand dollar could long term over 30 years be almost triple that that we we're saving the city of Victoria taxpayers by entering into this agreement is that a fair assessment that is correct thank you very good any other comments or
questions from Council all right seeing none I will entertain a motion motion to approve the purchase agreement to sell Tamar properties at the apprais value to Carver County for the highway 5 Improvement project sub subject to
modifications approved by the City attorney thank you I have a motion can I get a second second all in favor signify by saying I any opposed motion carries very good Council there are no more items on our regular agenda so we'll move on to reports and emerging
issues attorney B you're up first mayor thanks nice to see you I don't have anything to report tonight oh very good nice to see you as well Miss Hardy anything from staff nothing from staff Madame mayor all right anything from members of the council nothing may all right seeing none I will entertain a motion to
adjourn motion to adjourn I have a motion can I get a second second have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries We Stand adjourned