City Council - Regular Meeting

My favorite rent fair I ever did was when I was working in Colorado. We went to their rent fair and the whole office went out and rented costumes and we went as a whole office to the rent fair in costume. It was great.

It would be more fun when they used to be able to hire us. Yeah.

all right it's seven o'clock i'm gonna call this meeting in order please join me for the pledge All right. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda, please?

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda.

Motion by Purchman. I'll second. Second by Sayre. Any further discussion? All those in favor say, aye aye opposed same sign motion passes. All right. Does anyone here for community comment tonight? All right seeing that we will move on to presentations and reports and tonight we get to recognize Wayne Michael for 5 years with the city of Carver. um wayne is a member of our public services team and i remember my memories of you wayne are in 2020 what would have been four during the floods and walking the levee with you and you had had long nights and finding holes that we didn't know of um just a great addition to our team so thank you very much for your service to the city of carver I know you enjoy and thrive on the attention and the recognition. So we're so glad that you're able to join us tonight.

And you guys know there's a picture, right? Let's do a picture.

Let's give him a round of applause. Speech.

Thank you. Congratulations.

Congratulations. Thank you. All right. We don't have any public hearings this evening. Can I get a motion for the consent agenda, please? I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion by Conrad.

I'll second.

Second by Pershman. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes. All right. We have a couple of business items tonight. Up first is the enclave at Carver Creek, Phase 1 Final Platte. Ms. Smith.

Thank you. That's not very true.

But in that I deleted a slide. So we're just going to jump right in. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight we have two final plots to review. So before I jump into both, just setting the stage for what a final plot review is, what the process will be tonight. So it's your final review by the Planning Commission and City Council. Planning Commission reviewed both projects at their August meeting. City Council will take a look at it for the last time tonight. It's always our goal at a staff level that there are minor changes to the construction plans that occur during final plat. They can often feel like there are many minor changes that we're working through, but we typically try to work through the major issues that would be identified during the preliminary plat process that might change the number of lots or change the general site layout. The final plat confirms consistency with the preliminary plat. So there can be changes to the plat, but we try to keep that really, really rare because we know how important each lot is to a developer, what it means to how their numbers shake out, what the project looks like. So it's always our goal at a staff level with the development team to work through those issues at the time of prelim plat. And then when final plat comes, you'll see with Summer Gate that you reviewed their final plot very recently that we were able to move through the final plot process very quickly because we did so much work during the prelim plot process that final plot is just ensuring consistency with that previously approved version of the plan. And then also included in the packet for your review tonight is the review of the development agreement. So those tie to both projects, set out who is doing what and when and why and where, and then what happens if things go really bad. So lays out all things for both projects in the development agreement. So kicking it off, the first project we're reviewing is the enclave at Carver Creek. And again, you're reviewing phase one final plot for the project. general location west of our current city limits, so west of Preserve, Timber Creek, Carver Elementary, Carver Commons, et cetera. This pushes our westerly boundary into more territory of Dahlgren Township with our orderly annexation agreement. So three parcels recently annexed, reviewed by the city council several times. And phase one details, 91 single-family homes. The lots range from 45 feet wide to 65 feet wide. You reviewed that with your rezoning request that you previously reviewed. There are sidewalks throughout. And for phase one specifically, park dedication is cash in the move land. We know that there is a large-scale community park in this space, not contemplated with Phase 1, hence the cash dedication with this piece, but the development team and staff are beginning work on that park, so more to come. Phase 1 of the final plat is consistent with the approved preliminary plat that you reviewed May 2026. That preliminary plat is on the screen now, so that lays out the entire development, the 508 total units that are proposed for the project. Phase 1 final plat takes that down a bit. and then giving some context for the location. The 91 homes that are contemplated in phase one are circled in red on the right side, and then the preliminary plot is kind of flipped on its side with some street work on the left, so you can get your bearings of where work is going to be completed for the phase one project of Enclave at Carver Creek. So two actions before you tonight, the final plot resolution, and then the development agreement motion. I'll open up for questions, comments. The development team is also here if you have questions for them.

Any questions or a motion?

I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 143 dash 26 approving final plat for Enclave at Carver Creek motion by.

I'll 2nd, 2nd, by Pasco any further discussion. All those in favor say, aye. Aye. Opposed. Opposed. Same sign motion passes.

I'll make a motion to enter into a development agreement with Tamarack Land Enclave LLC. Motion by Conrad.

I'll second. Second by Sarah. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes. All right. Thank you. Moving on next to Summerfield, the phase one final plat.

This is going to feel eerily similar to what I just presented. So project location, we are southwest of our current city limits. So some places on the map to orient yourself a little bit, Carver Elementary and then Creekside Park. We've called this our southwest growth area for a long time. So phase one is located in that same area that you have reviewed several times. I think most notably with this project was that AUAR that we worked through, the really large scale environmental process that we went through, looking at this entire project area to be able to make really sound decisions. And rational decisions beginning in phase one. So setting up that work in phase one with AUAR, I think was really important and allowed us to make decisions for the full build out, which I think was a really important piece of this project. Phase 1 of Summerfield is 276 single-family homes, very similar to the Enclave. Lots range from 35 feet wide to 60 feet wide, which we reviewed with your rezoning request with the preliminary plat. There are sidewalks throughout. Park dedication will be cash and limit of land for Phase 1. Again, we know that there's a large-scale community park in Summerfield, but not contemplated in Phase 1, so we're doing the cash and limit of land. of land dedication. There are two HOA maintained parks that are included in this section of the park. So the HOA will construct and maintain those two pocket parks that are included in phase one. Phase one of the final plot is again consistent with the approved preliminary plot, which you just reviewed in July of 2026. Phase one is now on the screen with their illustrative drawing. This is the phase one project area that you saw with the preliminary plot and final plot. Freeland plot is on the screen final looks really similar again, which is our main goal through the final plot process. So, again, actions that we're looking for from the city council, or the final plot resolution and the development agreement motion questions, comments, concerns developers again in the room.

Not a concern, but the reason why we're.

outlot a is not being developed at this time is because that's on a collector street and we don't want to have driveways go out outlot a is uh the far west outlot so it is here yep so this is a farm buffer so the property owner that is west of the project area is going to continue to farm his land okay so giving a buffer for the future residents as well as that existing farmer Is why outlet a is larger than what you typically would see, but it is proposed for development in future phases. So, moving forward that a lot a will be replanted. So it'll be part of the project eventually when that buffer no longer needs to exist. Thank you.

Any other questions comments?

I have a question. Is this then what would include the 276 single family homes? Or this is just a section of.

So the 276 is what is illustrated in this plan here. So it's consistent with what you saw in the illustrative graphic, the prelim plat, and then the final plat also reflects that same number.

And then what do we know about the pocket parks? Like is there just because it's more flexibility or like could their locations move or like what they're programmed for?

So the preliminary plat and final plat sets the areas where they will be located. So the outlots are shown for uses. So the two pocket parks are established for their locations. At a city policy level, we have moved to development, construction, and maintenance of larger scale parks that would serve more of a community level, moving away from the pocket parks, which require, if there's a pocket park in every neighborhood, there's maybe... 25 throughout the community, which would be a pretty heavy maintenance left So in the park at this time the developer is going to work through those details It will move to the HOA for their construction and maintenance Thank you for answering my questions.

Mm-hmm All right motion. I'll make a motion to that resolution 144-26 approving file plat for Summerfield.

I didn't mean you specifically. Thank you I'll 2nd, okay, we've got a motion by Conrad and a 2nd, by any further discussion. All those in favor say aye aye. Opposed same sign motion passes.

Okay, I'll make a motion to enter into a development agreement with summer gate development. L. L. C. motion.

My 1st, I'll 2nd, 2nd, by, uh. Pascoe, I'm sorry. Pascoe, all those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign. Motion passes. My apologies, Kayla. It's okay. I called Christy Courtney earlier. You sure did. Okay. Up next, I am super excited to be talking about this. Let's talk about the Certified Levy Project Plans and Specs. Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Arthner.

All right. Good evening. Mr. Hubber is going to be joining me in the presentation tonight, which he should be since he's been on this journey since the get-go. A decade ago, I think, we started this journey.

Our marathon sprint, as we call it. Marathons.

Yeah, yep. So so this is a very important milestone in the, in this journey of this project tonight. We're talking about council approving the plans and specific specifications and allowing for us to proceed with bidding the project. So very big piece. We're moving towards construction, which is a very good thing. Um, so we want to just go ahead and take an opportunity to kind of run through everything again with you all before you're considering that tonight. So we're going to kind of look at this, you know, the, the journey that we've been on, we're going to update you on the budget and the, and the funding. There's some new funding in the system, which is great. Um, we're going to look at the final renderings that, um. For the project, so, you know, we were talking conceptual renderings for a long time, but this is the final set of renderings that were. Showing to everybody and all the public facing documents will have that going forward. Now, we're going to talk about how the bid will be structured and then take a look at the project schedule to finish this evening. So, with that, Todd, if you want to go ahead and kick us up on the background.

Sure, as folks are well aware, the levy here was removed from the Army Corps of Engineers Voluntary Levy Assistance Program due to deficiencies in elevation, setbacks, maintenance, vegetation in the levy, a number of things that did not meet up to their current standards. So we looked at that and council decided to move forward to try to secure funding for a certified levy, which means that the 55 properties behind the levy that currently are in the floodplain will no longer be in the floodplain and will not have to provide floodplain insurance. Plus it brings the levy up to current design standards of the federal requirements, giving increased protection to those properties and also giving the citizens a levy that will last for many, many years to come as we go down into the future. Been a long journey. We began exploring feasibility in 2021 prior to 2021. Actually, I think 2016, we started on a journey of just trying to put together what a levy would look like, what a levy would cost, what funding sources might be available. And then we started to seek funding for that. Uh, in March of 2021, we received a 250,000 dollar grant from the Minnesota Department natural resources to prepare a concept plan for the levy and do public engagement. We did that in 2021 to 2022. I did some concept level designs, some geo technical investigation and try and help narrow some of the cost down. July 2022, we received 2 and a half million in federal funding that allowed us to do additional geotechnical work, do some preliminary design, begin the regulatory processes, being able to walk through the federal EA that we did in 2022 to 2025. That was a very long process of having to work through all of the alphabets of permitting and agency review. And that took us three years nearly. May in 2023 received $6 million from DNR via state bonding bill. And we've been working on final design since then. In summer of 2025, we began defining the easement limits, started conversations with property owners on easement acquisition and work towards final design. In winter 2026, we received another $4 million in federal funding. And today we've secured the easements and the final plans and specifications are being wrapped up this week for publication next week upon the council's approval to advertise for it. So it's been a long journey. And we've got some additional funding that came in from the DNR for $575,000 just last month. So that's moving us in the right direction on our funding gap.

So, as Todd alluded to there, we have new money in the system that 575,000 that brings total funding to date to 13,325,000 dollars. So a huge amount of funding on this project. Just excellent. The current project estimate is 15 and a half million dollars. So that's about 2,175,000 dollars of a delta between what we've secured to date and what the total project estimate is for the project. We have a federal request in currently for 3 million dollars for fiscal year 2027. So we're still waiting any results on that, but that is one piece that we're still tracking that's outstanding in the system. And then Todd is always working with the through our grant administrator. That's where that 575 came through was through their kind of general funding for that program. So, Todd continues to update Matt Bowman at the as this project progresses in the construction. So as I mentioned to you all, we want to take a look at the final renderings for the levee. I'm just going to kind of step through this piece by piece just to get your bearings here. But this is the first block that's right behind us right now from 4th Street, which is the upper end of our levee terminus. And then it goes down to 3rd Street adjacent to City Hall here. So, as we've been talking about for a while, this is going to be a cast in place flood wall system with a naturalized channel in the middle of the flood wall. And then what you'll see here on the next slide is this is on the on the city hall side of the levy. We have a concrete maintenance access route on this side of the levy, which is the I'll call the commercial side of the levy. The, the residential side will will remain a turf restoration, but this will be kind of the main access route in and out of the levy in this area. And then this is looking at the 3rd street intersection. So this is adjacent to the Carver creamery. You can see here this intersection, the 3rd street bridge, which we completed a couple of years ago. So the levy will tie into the 3rd street bridge, which was always the plan was at that time. There'll be stop logs that would go across 3rd street in the future. Um. So we wouldn't be doing an earthen embankment like we have done in the past to protect the city. There would be aluminum stop blocks that would go across the street in the event that flooding would get that high in the future. Uh, so stepping down on the next block from from 3rd street to main street, it's a very similar configuration. We'd have the cast in place flood walls on each side, the concrete maintenance route on the East side and then the turf grass on the West side by the residential areas. As you can see here, very similar configuration. And then as we go down to Main Street, one piece that we're going to talk about here in a little bit is an informational kiosk, which you'll see here in the rendering. That was one of the stipulations that came through the SHPO review processes. So a couple slides ahead, we'll talk about that. And then the last block from main street down to the existing pedestrian bridge, we will still have. The 2 walls, but this is kind of where we're transitioning back into more of the natural earth and levy environment. It gets a lot wider in that area. So. Um, you'll see things just kind of start fading into the. Into the background where the rest of the earth and levy exists today with that large pedestrian bridge. So a good opportunity to kind of switch fundamentally how we're protecting the city with the levy systems as we approach the earth and levy along the Minnesota river. And then lastly, this is a look at Main Street looking south, as I just described. This is adjacent to the Getaway Motor Cafe. So one piece we wanted to chat about here quickly tonight was the informational or historic kiosk. This is something that was stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement with SHPO and HUD. As part of the environmental review processes, that was a resultant of that. Basically, that the levy had an adverse adverse impact on the historic district of Harvard was the determination. So 1 of the stipulations in that document said that. An informational kiosk had to be provided to basically inform of the history of this area before the landscape would be changed with this project. So, the way that we are achieving that is we're, we're going to do this informational kiosk at main street, which will be a double sided kiosk to have information presented on on each side. We, we did go to the with this in August and we reviewed concepts with them. And then Brent actually presented at the Carver on the Minnesota group meeting. a couple of weeks ago to get any additional feedback that they might have on on the history of this area. So, based on all that, our intention is to work with Ken foreigner who's done the design of a lot of our informational kiosks in town. So he'd be helping with the panel design and then shills ornamental would be doing the fabrication of those kiosks, which is again, they're familiar with the design standards and how those are put together. So, as a result of those meetings with those 2 entities that I just mentioned on the previous slide. The HPC mentioned things such as thinking about themes, like looking at historic flooding, maybe some photos of past flood fighting efforts on some of the history of the flooding, such as. Um, when a boat had to be used to go to a, a building on the 2nd story of a house. So, those are some of the broad themes that were presented. There was no. Major requirements that either of those groups. Voiced, so I think we have the ability to really work with these, um, with, like, Ken foreigner and kind of really develop this. This, um, kind of eyes wide open. So. Um, tonight, if if council has any additional direction, they'd like to provide, we definitely like to get that as well. Um, but the intention would be, we'll, we'll organize a group and we'll start working with these folks and putting together kind of the final package for the informational kia. So, maybe I'll just pause there. If there's anything that council wants to. To bring to us, and we can bring it back then to the group.

I'm sure these groups are going to find wonderful pictures to go on there. My one, just a thought, is to have like a today's before and after next to it so that you can see because once the day passes, it becomes history, right? But so you can see right when we start the project before to after.

My question is a little similar. My question is like, because this is SHPO required, how historic does it have to be? Because the flood in 2024 broke the 1965 record. So I don't think it has to be 2024 heavy, but it would be cool to see a couple pictures from that as well, because that's part of our history as well, even though it was a couple years ago.

And my only other thought then, too, is I love the ones we've done before. We had grants from SHPO. Are we going to be able to get grants again? Do we know? Are we going to try for them?

So because it's a stipulation of the permitting, it's eligible.

Oh, it is eligible.

It's eligible for the existing funding programs that we have.

Okay.

So it's included in the project cost.

Okay, so we can't go for an outside grant for sure. Correct.

Okay.

My only other thought is, these are wonderful. We might have a lot of information there. Does it matter to us if it gets a little bit bigger? Or does it have to be within the exact same to match the other ones? Like just say if there's a bunch of pictures or we can make them a little bit larger even just for easy viewing and. I'm neither here or there.

I think it's just a matter of space planning that area. I'd have to probably bring that back to Jonathan Nelson and just see like physically how much space that would take up to expand the area. But I can definitely ask him.

We used to have a lot of flood pictures. You know what I mean?

We've 65, 2015. I would almost rather see the pictures get smaller than the kiosk get bigger because I don't want it to look like a billboard.

Okay, I hope that makes sense.

You're right, though. I think we're going to have to whittle down pictures, but we can all see the one that you used in this presentation of the... the train over the river. And, you know, if there's a picture of that canoe from the second story of the Harley hotel, like that would be great. I've never seen that picture, but maybe there is one. But even like more recently, I'm thinking of a picture of like the fire department call out in 2024 behind Carver. Yeah. with Brent directing traffic, and I know that you would hate that. But that's the core image that I'm thinking of from that flood.

How much do these cost a piece? I mean, there were a few thousand before, but I'm sure that was a while ago.

I don't have a number off the top of my head, but I was thinking somewhere between the $3,500 and $5,000 range. Okay.

Only because is there an option then that we look to add another one later if we get a grant, right? We can add additional pictures. So this doesn't have to be the only one, right? So, because again, it's going to be hard to weave them down. Everyone's got an opinion.

Well, that and I was also thinking like, and I know we're running out of real estate, but I think the story of the river's importance to the city of Carver, it's literally why we're on the map, might be good to weave into there too.

Yeah.

I have a question about longevity. I'm not an expert on kiosks. When did the pictures fade into oblivion? How long did these last? Is etched metal an option for something like this? It stays the way it looks from day one.

It's probably expensive. I helped design some of these back in the day when I was staff. These have been here for, do you think the oldest one is 15 years old now? I would think it has to be. I just think, wouldn't metal be just outrageously expensive?

It's done with lasers now, so it's a lot different than it used to be. The actual insert could get refreshed if it needed to be. Obviously, the structure itself is a fairly permanent thing, but if we need to reprint what's in the inside of it, I think that could be done in the future if there was fading.

I wouldn't go for the pictures being smaller, though. I just think ADA-wise, with the height, with people trying to be able to see it and read it. So my suggestion would just be to try and add a second one with a shibboleth.

Okay, thanks for that feedback. Okay, let's talk about bid structure. So how are we actually going to organize the bid? So we've been looking at these colors for a while, obviously, but we're going to structure this thing with a base bid, obviously, and then we're going to propose two alternates in addition to the base bid. So the base bid itself would be the areas contained in Yellow and green, so everything along spring creek and then the area from basically this existing pet bridge out to Depot park. So that is, that would be the base bid for this project. And what we would propose is alternate 1 would be the area in red on this photograph. So, basically, from the existing pedestrian bridge West, all the way to the westerly terminus of the project over by the carver lift station. Um, the main reason we're doing this is because. We don't know if we have enough funding with, you know, with that gap that we're still showing so. With doing the area in red as an alternate 1, that gives you a lot of flexibility on how you award a construction contract. You get to make those decisions once we have real numbers that we can bring back to you. And decide, okay, yes, let's do it. It's a. 1.5Million dollar gap, but we're going to fund it with so and so or. Great, bids came in excellent, and we have a no gap. We just don't know until you actually get those hard bids. So we would propose that that red is that alternate one. And then number two, I know we had talked in the past about cutting all lighting out of the Spring Creek Drive segment. Um, but our suggestion or recommendation is given those columns that are along those walls, it's virtually impossible to do any sort of retrofitting on lighting for that in the future. So we would recommend. Doing an alternate number 2, just for the lighting along spring creek, which would allow the council to make a decision about whether or not. that would be a thing that you wanna do. Because like I said, you're never gonna do it later. So if there's ever a time, our suggestion is at least get a bid as an alternate and decide in October.

When we talk about lighting, I mean, the plans that we're looking at right now don't have lighting fixtures. So have we, I mean, we've seen a lot of these plans. So were there lighting fixtures on some of the previous ones?

We had it, and then when we went through the value engineering exercise, I don't, that was like three or four months ago, we had cut all the lighting along the Spring Creek segment.

Can you remind us what that looks like? Is it in the columns? Is it stick-like bollards?

You know, so I'll just go back to a photograph here. Okay.

And I think the conversation we had is that, um. Particularly the, the lighting that would be in the columns along here, the pedestrian level lighting. Um, the only time you can really do that is when you originally build it. If you come back to try to retrofit it, it's going to be in the way of, uh. The closures that we put in between the railing and that, and the cost to do it would be prohibitive. And then you have also to notify the core and FEMA and the rest to get authorization to do that. So, we thought if if there's any thought at all in the future of doing that, let's just get a cost and see where it lands. And if that's something you want to proceed with, it's. It would work very well at keeping the light on path and not so high. I think right now what we have our light mass at the roadways that we're directing light towards this direction as well along the pathways. So we eliminated that in our previous conversations, but. It's up to you. It's an idea that we wanted to just bring forward to you.

I don't hate the idea of it being an alternate bid, but I'm still not quite sure what we're talking about. It's in the columns, but is it the little vented lights that aim down? Is it lighting the entire columns?

It's just a little vented light that aims it down at each column.

Because when it says poles, I'm thinking light poles. Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm going to use a bad term. And

I don't have a problem getting quotes for that, but maybe if we could, or not quotes, but having it as an alternate, just so we can see what you're thinking. I mean, I have a good idea of what you mean. I just wanted to make sure it's more of an ambient lighting because this is going to face people's residences from the inside too, and we don't want to start polluting their bedrooms. Yeah.

Absolutely. And that's why it's looking at pedestrian level, nothing shining up, nothing upward projecting, but at low levels, just to light the footpath, provide security and safe passage.

I don't have a problem with looking at an alternate. It's an alternate. Aaron, can you remind me, when we're talking 15.5 for the overall project estimate, does that include a contingency?

Yes, it does. Okay, great. Okay, I have a question.

Yeah, I probably just need to be reminded and maybe it's something to bring back in another presentation. But when we look at all the funding sources, which ones does the city need to contribute something? There's somewhere we need to. Is there anywhere we need to match? We already did.

The fund that came through, they do suggest a match of 575. we'll work through that if there's additional federal funding on whether that's necessary or not. They do have some new guidance that came out in February. I haven't had a chance to digest it with Matt. He didn't get back to me on whether. That was future federal funding could possibly qualify as a match or not. So we'll, we'll continue to work on that.

We can't do a look back and say we've already got money in the bank?

We did that already. Oh, okay. So, yes, we've already capitalized on some of that with the previous lift station improvements on Main Street and some other things. So we've done a number of elements there. Okay.

I do want to clarify, sorry about these lights one more time on alternate too, because it says both. It says Spring Creek light poles and column lights. So what is, so column lights, I mean, I'm not speaking for everyone else, but for myself, that's great as an alternate. What is the light poles part?

The light pole is literally like the standard fixture that we have like on all the streets in Carver downtown.

It's like the... Yeah, the bulb ones that are...

So like we have...

Was it in the rendering?

Yeah, it's in the rendering.

So it's just the ones on the street level kind of?

Slide each.

It's at each roadway crossing.

Okay, okay. Yeah, back one more.

Like this light right here. So there'd be one light here at 3rd, and there'd be one light at Main at the road. And then the columns would have those small, vented, soft pedestrian lighting.

Okay. Is there a reason to have... both if we have the column lighting already do we is there a reason to have the tall ones because we have ones already on the corners right we have a cobra head by 121 behind the getaway there's a cobra headlight then there's a we start to get into the decorative ones there's one there's a decorative there's one at the intersection over here and then there's that one by harvey's patio which is part way down the street on one of the sides that's decorative So do we really need these additional decorative ones?

Those other ones are quite far away. They're closer to the intersection. So we just thought providing basically one light at each main intersection point of the levy would be appropriate. But again, it's up to council.

I like them for security reasons, if nothing else. Better lit, less mayhem. Ref ref. That's fine. I agree.

Okay. All righty. Get back to the slide we were on.

Okay, so project delivery schedule.

As we mentioned, This summer, it's been all working through the final design components of the project doing all the permit or acquiring all the permits. As of August 5th, we have all easements secured for the project and in the city's control. So that's a big checkbox that's done. So, tonight, what we would be doing is, is asking council to consider approving plans, suspects, authorizing the advertisement for bids. Um, we would be going for bids after that as Todd mentioned, we're hoping to get all the plans wrapped up this week and posted next Monday or Tuesday and then we would be bringing the bit or the bids would be received on October 6th. Um, at which time we'll evaluate the the bids and then bring them to you at your 2nd meeting in October. So that's the schedule for the next month. And then construction is obviously. Always contingent on river levels, but we have a kind of a conservative outlay of 2026 through 2029. As this a loose construction time window, and that would obviously be dependent on whether or not alternate 1, which is the Westerly half would be. Constructed now, or if it would have to wait till later. So that's probably the biggest schedule. Components in construction is whether or not that piece of the project is actually. Done as 1 package, so yeah. No, I was just going to say, Todd, you can maybe talk about loan wire since, you know, more about that.

Yeah. I mean, once we complete the project, then we would file for a letter of map revision, which actually removes the area behind the levy from the FEMA flood maps, removes the requirement for flood insurance. That process can take a while. It's taken almost five years in some instances, just the back and forth. FEMA doesn't want, they don't take it lightly to take land out of the floodplain and rightly so. So we are working with them. We've been working with them since April of this year, trying to get a CLOMAR done, which is a conditional letter of map provision saying that the design that we have is is acceptable to move to a low mark. We're still working through that. We're probably a few months away from receiving that, but we can begin construction on most of this project without it. And so we're in a position where we can, but it will take a while to get that back. But all of our paperwork has been submitted. Some of the pieces that they're looking at are the geotech report, making sure that all the calculations on seepage through the levee has been done properly. looking at all the freeboard requirements and making sure that the elevations that we've shown and the closures and those types of things are up to federal requirements. They're looking at the lift station's design, not only to keep out the water from the river, but also to make sure that when it rains on this side, when the river's flooding, that they will protect the downtown area from flooding on the backside of the levee from stormwater events. And then also make sure that there is an operations and maintenance manual in place that will maintain that the levy will be in good standing and position for future. And then one thing that's not in there is to try and re-enroll you in the Army Corps Volunteer Program. So if there is a catastrophic event of some sort, that 80% of those recovery efforts to repair the levy would be paid for by the Army Corps engineers and not by the citizens of Carver.

Todd is there a difference between Lomar and Clomar in terms of like is Clomar does that help folks with flood insurance like on a day the project is done it's merely a step in a process too it's a conditional letter of map revision in other words if you fulfill all of these conditions then you're acceptable for a loan looking good right right okay okay but it doesn't speed us up in the process or do anything for residents and it doesn't really speed up the removal of that Okay, and we're still thinking realistically from the day that we close out the project up to five years to get that LOMAR?

I'm going to say five years, but we can get it done sooner. We will. It depends on how cooperative FEMA is.

Okay, okay. Um, so another question that I have for both of you guys, and I was talking to Todd before the meeting, I got a call and this is news for council too. I got a call from Senator since our last meeting, and we are in for an additional 2Million dollars that isn't included in the funding for the 20 fiscal. 2027 budget bill at the federal level. That's not something much like the money that we got this year. That's not something that's going to be signed, sealed and delivered until it's signed, sealed and delivered, which could be. December or January or February. And in talking with Klobuchar's staff today, we can't start on whatever that money would go towards until we have the money. We can't do a look back. We can't refund, you know, like, repay ourselves for that. So with that, like, I'm thinking strategy. Like... I think the idea with alternate one is we're testing the waters, right? To see what the bidding environment is like. And if everything can come in at 13, then we're off to the races. And that would be like the home run and best case scenario. But would we... rebid this would we rebid it for a february 1st effective date i don't need an answer now but i want that like and again like you guys know me i don't want to jinx ourselves we don't have this money at this point it's looking good and we're in the bill but we can't count on it so

So one of the things, there's a number of strategies there, and we've now been named a local contact for the HUD management of the funds, which is something that we haven't had up to this point. So we're reaching out to that individual. We have a number of questions, and one of those is that subject. I would say that in the first round of federal money that we got, they accepted where you were in the process. In other words, you didn't have to start the federal process all over again or your design process and those things because you got federal money. So we would ask them to allow us to continue in the condition that we're in. One of the questions I have is if we just don't award the alternate until a later date, that might be an option. So that's a question that we can have where we hold the bids. We work with the contractor. Contractor's okay. Let's hold them until May of next year. And if it's approved by May, then we'll award that segment of the project. So there's a number of things we can play with, but we need to talk to our HUD representative on how that might play out.

Okay, great. I wasn't sure how that works with contracts. If we can indeed hold it and be like, we're not sure if we can pay you. We'll know more next year. Okay, great. Any other questions?

Courtney, I think you need to... I do.

Yes, I would like to make a motion to approve plans and specifications and order advertisement for bids for the Carver Levy Improvement Project.

I'll second.

Motion by Johnson, second by Conrad. Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes. Okay. Super excited. Clearly. Thank you. Thank you guys for all your work. Can't wait to open those bids. Can't wait to break ground. Can't wait for all the things.

I'm going to follow that up with staff and consultants, everyone. Thank you so much for all of your hard work on this. And I'm going to turn to Courtney and say thank you for all of your hard work on this. You have pushed us forward in ways that we've never seen. So good job.

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. It has truly been a team effort and I appreciate all of your support when you guys know that I'm doing things and you're like, well, I don't know, but as long as she comes back with money, it's cool. So thank you for your, your blind support on that. I appreciate it.

Thanks everybody.

Thank you guys.

Okay, communications. Kayla, you want to go first? I can go first. Courtney and I got to see the ribbon cutting today at the Merriam Junction Trail. The weather held out for the half an hour that we were out there. It was amazing. And it's going to be really exciting to see that trail finally getting used after all of the construction that it's been through. So it's a good event.

And to be clear, the trail will open probably in November. It was just like celebration of the bridge being done, which I didn't quite understand that until today.

I don't have a lot except for one huge thing. So Stevo Days is coming up this weekend. We know that. One thing that's great is Southwest Transit is supplying our bus routes again. So Saturday night from 5 to 11 p.m., we have two bus routes. One that we call the Bluff Route and the other one we call the Spring Creek Route. And that one stops at the bus station up here, too. So the transit station. And then Saturday or sorry, Sunday, there's the parade bus. So they provide that now, too, because that is always difficult for parking down there. So we have from noon to four and you catch that at the transit station. So it's great. They supply that service for us. And we'll see you 11 through 13. If I don't say hi or if I'm crying, leave me alone.

No, it'll be great. I'm excited for this week. It'll be lots of fun.

All right. Laura?

No updates tonight. Eric? No updates.

All right. Let's see. We talked earlier tonight of the Edith Ann Award where Kayla and I awarded Morgan, and it was just so fun. And it's always fun to see these folks who already take so much pride in their properties. but to like invite us in and walk us around and ask us to dip our toes in the stream not pictured but there is like a plunge pool and Morgan got right in and plunged and showed us how it works so really really cool to see his pride and ownership down here and if you guys haven't I don't know if there's any one of us if you have ever seen him out in his yard like talk to him he will love to tell you but like don't do it when you're running late for a meeting here because he'd It has a lot to say about CR. We had a business alliance meeting on the 21st. We had the chamber attend. Brittany from the Ivy Aesthetics Spa came. Carver Insurance was there. Annette was there. And then Sean was there for Hometown Bank. Hometown Bank let us know and I can't remember the details, but they're going to be sponsoring like the bounce houses and stuff at Steamboat Days on Saturday afternoon. So bring all your kiddos, grab a kiddo if you don't have your own because it's going to be free for a few hours, which I think I imagine that they'll be promoting on social media a little bit later on this week. We talked about it tonight on August 21st. We learned that we're getting $575,000 for the levy project from the DNR for the flood hazard mitigation grant program. Then on August 24th, I got that call from Senator Klobuchar saying that we're in for two more million dollars potentially if the bill gets signed. So that's going to be a waiting game from now until that happens. um we had movie in the park at ironwood park um saw kayla and her family there it was a great night um and there were easily 100 folks there um let's see just other random things i watched the planning commission meeting and we have such a great group with the planning commission like The reason part of the reason why tonight was so easy for us is that they already did all the hard work like they are thoughtful. They are thinking of things and like we just that group is humming on all cylinders and they're fantastic. So just wanted to give them a shout out. They're doing great. And then the only other question that I have, and it might be a question for you, Andrew, but have we thought dates for fall cleanup yet? Okay, that's okay. I don't mean to put you on the spot. Of? Okay. Fantastic. HAVE NEIGHBORS WHO ARE SUPER EXCITED ALREADY SO UM OKAY GREAT AND THANKS FOR DOING THAT A LITTLE BIT LATER ON IN THE YEAR TOO BECAUSE I THINK SOMETIMES WE'VE DONE IT IN SEPTEMBER AND FOLKS ARE STILL WAITING FOR LEAVES TO DUMP IN THEIR YARD SO UM THAT IS IT WITH THAT I WOULD ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO ADJOURN I'LL MAKE A MOTION TO ADJOURN MOTION BY PERSHMAN ALL SECOND SECOND BY PASCO ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE OPPOSED SAME SIGN MOTION PASSES GOOD EVENING