City Council - Regular Meeting

Lord. the Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge algiance 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. We have a bit of a full house this evening for our first meeting in 2026. And um I always feel uh safe here with our amazing police department, but we are particularly um fortunate I think blessed this evening to have many of our um esteemed police officers in the back of the room. Thank you for being Thank you all of you for being here. It's typical at this time in our meetings for me to announce our open podium invitation to our residents of Eden Prairie. Open podium is an opportunity for Eden Prairie residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden Prairie city government prior to each council meeting. Council meetings typically occur the first and third Tuesday of each month. The open podiums occur from 6:30 to 6:55 right here in the council chamber. If you wish to speak at open podium about a topic that's not probably not on the agenda that evening, please do contact the city manager's office at 952-9498412 by noon of the meeting date with your name, your phone number, and subject matter so we can be better prepared for you. Open podium is not recorded or televised. If you have questions about open podium, please do contact the city manager's office. So most all cities I believe have a housing redevelopment authority group. Sometimes it's separate from the city council. Here in Eden Prairie, our HR is

our city council. So we often will have an embedded HA meeting within the city council meeting. So that's what we have this evening. I'm going [snorts] to call the HA meeting to order. And the first item is to approve the HR minutes of the meeting held back on December 2nd, 2025. Is there a motion to approve those minutes? Move to approve the HA minutes from December 2nd, 2025. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion on that? If not, all those in favor say I. I opposed.

All right. Uh Mr. Mr. G, I'll turn it over to you. We have a resolution to adopt this evening within the HA meeting and that will be the only agenda item for the meeting except to adjourn it. So, back or over to you, Mr. Gro.

Yes. Uh members of the HA, you may recall uh you pre previously approved uh the Roars Eden Prairie apartment project on uh City West Parkway. This is a conversion from um an office building to a 195 unit mixed income apartment project. So, you've already given preliminary approval to this project. You've also already held um a a public hearing for a proposed tax increment financing district for the affordable housing uh units, the rental units that would be a part of this, as you're obviously very familiar. Um all all of our um apartment rental unit projects have had an affordability component that is funded partially by TIFF. We also have an inclusionary ordinance that also has a number of units in this case 10 additional units um that are also affordable that are not part of tax increment financing. So you have 39 units 20% that are funded by tax increment financing. So, the action before you tonight is to adopt a resolution uh modifying um the project area and the tax increment financing district and adopting a tax increment financing plan and then approving the development agreement. So, as I mentioned before, you've already uh gave the preliminary approval for the project and held your public hearing. As you mentioned, Mayor, the action is the resolution. That's the only reason that you're holding the HA meeting this evening

and there should be nothing new in this this evening from what we um had discussed and again held the public hearing before. So, but council any u questions or comments you want to make at this time? If not, could I have a motion to adopt this resolution? I'll move to adopt resol adopt resolution adopting a modification to the redevelopment plan for redevelopment project area number five and establishing establishing tax increment financing district number 27 rowers Eden Prairie Apartments adopt a tax increment financing plan therefore and approve the tiff development agreement second any further discussion all those in favor say I

I opposed all right could I have a motion to adjourn the H meeting [clears throat] move to adjurnn during the HR meeting. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Coming out of the HA meeting now, back into our normal city council meeting. We have some proclamations and presentations this evening. Mr. Get. Uh, yes, Mayor and Council. We do have a couple different presentations. Uh, the first one, I'm going to invite our fire chief and deputy police chief up to the podium to introduce this item. [snorts]

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Deputy Chief Wood and I are honored to be here to represent both the police and fire departments tonight for a letter of recognition we'd like to give to Sundari Sangara. I'd like to welcome Sari and her boyfriend Rory to the council meeting this evening. You'll meet them shortly. I'd also w like to welcome all of the dispatchers, the police officers, the firefighters that are with us in the room tonight as well. And before I specifically give and we talk about the recognition tonight, I do want to talk about our public safety response in Eden Prairie. In Eden Prairie, public safety is about a team. It's responding to any emergency in our community is really about a team being able to do that together. In this case, it was for an emergency medical event that happened in our community. It started with our dispatchers and our dispatchers are amazing group of people that take information over the phone to be able to to get the information with what might be happening and then transfer that to the police, fire, and EMS folks that are responding to be able to give us that information over the radio or over a page. The police often arrive first in our community based on where they are and being out in our community. And in this particular case, a police officer arrived on scene first with care being performed by a citizen that we're going to recognize tonight. Fire arrived in that after the police officers. Again, arriving to help with ongoing patient care, but then also bringing additional equipment like advanced airway equipment and a Lucas device that helps perform CPR in a manual way. Um, additionally, the fire department also provides additional hands in the back of an ambulance when we move a patient from the scene to a hospital. And often last to arrive in our in our community is our valued resource and our partnership with Henipin EMS. In this particular case, Henipin EMS arrived on scene also to be able to provide ongoing care um as well

as advanced life support care to be able to then transport to a hospital. the evening of September 27th, 2025, all parts of the system, including bystander or public involvement, worked collaboratively as a team to create this effective outcome. But I also want to acknowledge the innovative and collaborative thinking of our park and rec director Amy Markle and her staff. In coordination with Eden Prairie Lions, which provided funding, an AED was placed at Miller Park just a few short days before this incident happened at Miller Park. Today, our park and recreation staff, along with the funding from the Eden Prairie Lions, continues to place additional AEDs in parks across the city. These efforts enhance patient care throughout our community. Now, I'd like to hand it over to Deputy Chief Woods to read a specific letter of recognition for Sundari. Sundarian Ray, could you come up, please? [clears throat] [snorts] All right. I will be reading the uh letter of recognition for the evening. On the evening of September 27th, 2025, Sundari Sangara and her boyfriend Rory Baky were playing pickle ball at Miller Park when Rory collapsed. Sundari shouted for help while other players called 911 and grabbed an AED that had been installed at the park just two weeks prior. Sundari had seen a Facebook post about the AED installation and knew to ask other players to retrieve it. An Eden Prairie officer arrived and helped Sundari check for a pulse and when they couldn't find one, Sundari started CPR, attached the AED to Rory and it delivered a shock. Eden Prairie firefighters and Henipin EMS paramedics arrived and continued CPR for another 10 to 15 minutes, administering two additional shocks and providing

additional life-saving measures. Rory began to come back and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. A few days later, Rory was walking and talking in the hospital and a week after the incident, he was discharged. He was diagnosed with ARVC, a rare genetic heart condition. In late October, Rory received a defibrillator. It took a lot of factors for a successful outcome in this case, including the placement of the AED at Miller Park and the help of bystandards. But primarily among them was Sundari's ability to stay calm, give directions to others, and apply her medical training and experience. Her quick thinking and actions saved Rory's life. On behalf of a grateful community, we would like to present the city of Eden Prairie letter of recognition and two challenge coins to Sundari. [applause] [applause] [laughter]

I'm just saying Congratulations. We'll get We'll get in line and do some pictures.

You go on the side. [laughter]

We're good. You should be. Yeah. Actually, turn that.

[snorts]

Happy. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

[applause] [applause]

Just [clears throat] want to say um on behalf of the council up here that we every first meeting December set the levy which impacts taxes uh which impacts your monthly tax bill, right? um if if you advertise it, whatever, but it it directly um has an effect on every one of our residents how much we choose to spend of your tax money each year. And the majority of what's in our levy is for public safety. And when we see examples like this where the high quality of public safety in this city and it starts with our police officers and firefighters um but it goes to the equipment that we have and some of it's just staying high quality state-of-the-art that allows us to save lives to make sure that our residents have the the best opportunities to live long and healthy lives that they can. Yes, it impacts taxes. We try our best to do that as efficiently as possible to spend your money uh and to set that levy. But when we see examples like this that we've been uh really for 60 years, but we've been on it just for a handful of those years, but for 60 years Eden Prairie Council is choosing the the road or the path of high quality and we see it lived out in an example like this evening. So again, thank you um to Sundari um and other residents, but also thank you to our police and our firefighters. We really deeply appreciate all of you and on behalf of our residents, thanks for all that you do. Mr. Gato, thank you, Mayor. Uh we have another uh very positive item, I would say, as well uh related to a donation and a scholarship. and I will turn things over to Amy Markle.

Yeah, thank you. Um I'm excited. Tonight we are going to be honoring and presenting our first camp counselor impact scholarship which has been uh received through the Eden Prairie Foundation. We had an anonymous donor who's made a generous contribution through the Eden Prairie Foundation to establish the Camp Counselor Impact Scholarship in support of Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation Day Camp staff. The donor is a lifelong Eden Prairie resident and advocate for the parks and recreation department. This scholarship recognizes the dedication, leadership, and positive impact camp counselors demonstrate each summer while mentoring youth and creating safe, inclusive, and engaging camp experiences. The scholarship supports counselors pursuing their career path focused on youth development and service. The city is pleased to honor Dylan Curry and Lily Loginger as the recipients of the camp counselor impact impact scholarship in recognition of their commitment and positive impact on campers and the community. Dylan's present tonight to recognize the award Lily wasn't able to join us. We also have our park and recreation and natural resources commission commissioner Kirkpresser. um he's been a commissioner that's been uh heavily involved with our process and helping guide us. So, he's here as well as our senior uh recreation supervisor, Nicole Weedman, who oversees our summer camp program and has mentored, you know, hundreds of youth as they uh work with campers throughout the summer and provided a lot of leadership to them and growth. Uh so, she's here as tonight as well. So, I'd like to welcome Dylan to come up. Hello, council members and mayor. I'd like to thank you for this recognition and I plan to use this scholarship to fund my education at the University of Minnesota for elementary education. Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you. Do a quick picture. We're gonna do a quick picture. Oh, sure. Yeah. Let's clap. [applause] Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. This year was the first year of the scholarship program and we will be uh continuing it in 2026. So we'll strongly encourage any of our uh campers and the camp the instructors out at the camps to apply at for the 2026 scholarship. All right. Um, do you just want to Amy continue on or is Yeah, let's Yeah, Amy has a next item as well.

Yeah. So, I have our quarterly uh donations to the park and recreation department for the fall. Um, and we had quite a few and all of the donations we use help offset program costs and help bring um, you know, the cost to participants down and we're able to do more for several of our program and events with these additional funds. So, a huge thank you to everyone that has contributed generously. Uh, the Prairie Bluff Senior Living Facility contributed $400 to senior center programs. Spark contributed $200 to senior center programs and an additional 50. The Eden Prairie Baseball Association donated $500 to the Harvest to Halloween program. City Hill Church donated $1,500 to Harvest to Halloween. The Gardener School donated $300 to Harvest to Halloween. Vidian Credit Union donated $2,100 to Harvest to Halloween. Project 52 Dance, $1,300 for Harvest to Halloween. Legacy Gymnastics, $250 towards the Harvest to Halloween event. Actually, all the rest of them are Harvest Halloween. So, we had Applewood Point of Eden Prairie was $300. soccer shots, $125 and Old National Bank, $300 uh for a total for the fourth quarter of $7,325. Um and again, just thank you to everyone who generously donated to help offset costs.

So, if you haven't come to Harvest for Halloween, I think you're going to want to. It is truly an amazing event. I'll never forget the first one. I think we were expecting We didn't know what to expect, right? hundreds and we got thousands of people. I think it was right kind of during COVID people were looking for or right after an excuse to go out. It was just amazing. Um and I I say this often when we accept donations that you know the city collects taxes, right? And and we have a levy, we spend back, but we can't do everything. And so when these organizations that have maybe special interests in contributing to a particular cause, it it really allows our tax dollars to go so much further. So we really deep deeply appreciate uh the contributions and 7,325 is no small deals and sounds like 6,700 going to Harvest for Halloween. So again, if you haven't come to that, please um do um show up at that as well as our other events. So, council, this is this needs a motion to adopt a resolution accepting the fourth quarter donations. Can I have a motion?

Move to adopt resolutions accepting multiple fourth quarter 2025 donations to park and recreation. All those in favor say I. I opposed. All right. Ready to move on to the agenda for um our council meeting. I believe u we uh council member Timmy I think we have one addition. Yes. I just have a council member report at the end. Okay. Is there anything else, council, to um add uh to the agenda this evening? So, could I have a motion to approve the agenda with the one addition? Move to approve the agenda. Uh as with the one addition, is there a second? Second. One addition and second.

You got it. We got it. We got you covered. All those in favor say I. I opposed. All right. And then we need to approve the council minutes from um our last meeting December 2nd. uh both the workshop and the regular council [clears throat] meeting. Uh council, are there any um uh items or I uh lines within either of those minutes that you wish to edit or add comments to or question? If not, could I have a motion to accept both minutes? I'll move to approve the following city council minutes. City council workshop held Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025 and the city council meeting held Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. Is there a second? Second.

All those in favor say I. I I opposed. All right. Consent calendar is quite long this evening um because we're starting out our first meeting of the year. We have a lot of um kind of general things to um establish. Just for anyone in the audience or listening at home, a consent calendar are really important items. They often don't require additional discussion. So, we clump them in one large motion. However, council, you are um certainly free to u pull any or have any pulled. We can even vote on on them separately. But anybody have a question about any of the items A through X? If not, could I have a motion to approve the consent calendar? Move to approve item A to X on the consent calendar. Is there a second? Second.

Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. Opposed. All right, Mr. GO, we do have uh four uh public hearings this evening. Um do you want to introduce the first one?

Uh yes, Mayor Council. First one is Wings uh Financial Credit Union. [clears throat] This is a proposal to construct a new 3200 almost 3,300 square foot building uh Wings Financial Credit Union in the northwest corner of the Cub Foods parking lot at 8015 Den Road. Um the request is a a site plan approval uh for the city council and we do have the um applicant here to provide an overview of their project and staff and the um applicant can answer any questions the council may have. At the December uh 8th planning commission meeting, they review this project as well and unanimously uh recommended that the council approve this project. And I believe the applicant is here to come forward to present their project.

Great. Please give your name and address and who you work for maybe if that's relevant to why you're here. Hi, my name is Lori Brockman. I'm from Hope Design Group. Um, I actually a resident of Blaine, Minnesota. Um, we'll let you continue. Okay. [laughter]

I believe there's a presentation. There we go. Um, Pope Design Group has been working with Wings Credit Union for approximately eight years. Um, and we have been working um with them and developing the same prototype. Um, I think we've done eight of them so far. Um, next slide, please. Um, Winkx Credit Union has approximately 950,000 members um, of those members, approximately 6,000 um, call Eden Prairie home. Um, and they come from a wide range of different backgrounds and, um, age groups. Next slide, please. Um Wings is proposing to build a new credit union um at the corner of Leona Road and Den um in the Cub Foods parking lot as an outlet uh outlot. It will be approximately 330,000 330 3,300 square feet. There we go. Um on the corner there um to serve its members. It includes full service banking and has a remote drive-thru. Um you can see an image of the proposed building there and um a sample drive-through lane as well. Um the building will connect to Den Road and is providing a pedestrian pathway from Den Road all the way to Cub Foods. Um we have some images of similar buildings that have been constructed. Um this one is in Maple Grove and you'll note as we cycle through these most of them um are in outs of retail centers. Um the intent is that to help members take make their banking part of their regular um errands Lakeville Northfield.

There any questions council? Okay. If um we will have a public hearing, so if we have other questions, we'll call you back up. All right. Thank you so much, council. Do you want to proceed to have the public hearing or do you want any questions asked first? Okay, public hearing.

Go ahead and have the public hearing. So, uh, anyone in the audience, this is a public hearing. Um, if you wish to come up and address the council on the Wings Credit Union initiative or proposal, please come forward now. Give your name and address. Seeing none, um if you council, if you wish, go ahead and close the public hearing if you want, unless um you can still ask questions. So if you feel comfortable, go ahead and make the motion, see if we get a second, and then we can still ask any questions or have any comments made. So go ahead. Move to close the public hearing and direct staff to prepare development agreement incorporating staff and commission recommendation and council conditions and authorize the issuance of an early land alteration permit for Wing Financial Credit Union at the request of the developer subject to the conditions outlined in the permit.

Is there a second? Second. council. Um, any questions you have? It's pretty straightforward. Um, interesting, too. When you go into a parking lot corner, your impervious surface doesn't really change, right? So, that's kind of nice. Um, are there any trees on the I don't even know directions, sir, because I get so turned around at that part of the major center market area. But, is that on the north side, the side facing the hotel building? Is is there's a tree line there? Are there trees impacted by that pathway? Go ahead. or the utility ement there. There are I can let Julie respond.

Mayor, members of the council, there are several trees that will be removed that are currently in a in a landscape island and those trees need to be removed in order to uh provide utility connections to the building. They will be required to be replaced at a one for one ratio. Um and that has been incorporated into the site plan. Now, why one for one? Because our ordinance has caliper inches, right? I mean, so how does that work? Because you're replacing a big tree with a little tiny tree if it's one for one. In this case, there is an approved landscape plan for the Cub uh food center. So when it's an existing landscape plan, they are replaced at a one for one. If it is new development, then things are calculated on a caliber per inch basis.

And then because this doesn't have a lot of open green space, where will these trees be replaced? Mayor, members of the council, those trees are going to be replaced in other landscape islands that will be added to the site in order to bring the site into closer conformance with our newer regulations regarding landscape and parking islands.

Excellent. And then one last question. I assume um you've done a parking analysis. I'm assuming I've been to Cub several times. Obviously, I go to a lot of grocery stores across Eden Prairie. So, and that is true that they don't utilize their entire parking lot anytime I've ever been there. So, I'm assuming this is not going to create an issue at all. And even in future uses of this building space, in the event it was no longer a grocery store, I'm assuming we've considered that and calculated and that we will never need this parking space.

Mayor, members of the council, that is correct. Even with the reduction of the parking stalls to accommodate the construction of the new uh credit union, the site will still exceed the city code requirements of both the Cub Foods and the and the credit union itself by approximately 30 stalls. Okay, good. Council, any other questions or comments? Then uh we've made the motion seconded. Um I think we're ready to vote. All those in favor say I. I.

I oppose. All right. Great. Welcome to wherever you went to Eden Prairie. Thank you. Thanks for uh coming this evening. All right, Mr. Get our second public hearing. Thank you, mayor. Second public hearing welcomes a new business uh new business into Eden Prairie Dave's Hot Chicken. The applicant is requesting to move into an existing building in the southeast corner of the Prairie Village Shopping Center. um occupying um currently there's a veterinary clinic that occupies 5,800 square ft in a 7,800 ft² building. So the restaurant um would occupy just a little over 2,000 square ft and they're looking at um a small 500 square f foot addition that would be a threeseason outdoor dining area on the west side of the building. There would not be a drive-thru. Um the addition would extend into three parking stalls on the west side of the building. Um again you will note that um the approval here is simply um a development agreement approval. Um there isn't uh any zoning approvals or any plan unit development. Um it it fits into the existing building into the existing zoning. The applicant is here to again also because of that this project goes straight to city council. It did not need planning commission review. So there isn't a recommendation by planning commission. It only needs to go to city council. Um the applicant is here to um to answer any questions you have, provide any information that you may need staff as well. Uh this does require a public hearing and as I said the only action then would be to direct staff to prepare a development agreement.

Okay. Uh, council again. Uh, do you want to ask any questions now? Do you want to hold the public hearing and then hold your questions if you wish? Oh, presentation by the proponent. Yep. I'll make it quick. No, you take all the time you want. So, give your name and address and um company that you work with. That's Walk us through all the menu items. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. Well, thank you guys uh for having me here tonight. Uh my name is Connor McCoy. I'm with Kimley Horn. Um I'm here representing First Washington and to talk through the uh Prairie Village Southeast building updates. So we do have a slideshow that was pre uh prepared. So next [clears throat] please. Uh the building is located at 1649 West 78th Street um on the corner of uh Highway 5 and Eden Prairie Road. Um this building is a part of the overall Prairie Village Shopping Center. Um but it is within its own lot. Um the existing building which is roughly 7,880 square ft used to be occupied by Met Express. It is proposed um that it would be subdivided internally um to have um approximately 5,880 uh square feet on the east side for the current vet clinic and 2560 on the west side for the proposed Dave's Hot Chicken. Um that number includes the 55 uh 550 square ft uh for the proposed three seasons patio. Um, and then there is also a common area space roughly 830 square feet in the southwest corner of that building. Um, with this being a part of the overall shopping center, this building does share parking with all the other tenants in the area. Next, please. Uh, the Dave's Hot Chicken is proposed to occupy the west half of the existing building as shown on screen. um a connection from the building to the patio uh would be made uh with the patio extending off the western wall. This patio is proposed to occupy three existing stalls. Despite the loss of the three stalls, uh the shopping center as a whole still complies with the city code requirements. The proposed patio

will cause a loss of sidewalk space against the building. All customers will still have access to the building going through the patio into the building or accessing the building through the main entrance on the north side. Uh this new restaurant is considered a fast casual style and does not have a drive-thru. Next, please. [snorts] Uh the existing facade on the current building is proposed to remain as is uh with some updated signage for the new tenants. The threeseason patio will be constructed with materials classified as class one building materials. All materials um both existing and proposed are to are going to meet the city's building material standards. Next, please. Along with the building changes, it is also proposed that the current lot um will undergo a lot line adjustment. This adjustment would extend the western and northern lot lines uh near the drive aisles. This would allow the lot to encompass the new patio extension as well as the head and parking uh directly adjacent to the building. Um this would increase the lot size by.13 acres. Um and these proposed lot lines do still comply with the setbacks that were approved by a variance back in 199 1993. Next, please. Um, and then I'm going to pass it off to my colleague, Jacob, to talk about the traffic impacts.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um, yeah, as part of this, we completed a traffic impact study knowing that this is one of the higher traffic areas in Eden Prairie with the the mall being fairly well utilized. Um, and as part of the traffic study determined that there's available capacity in the area, but it more so comes down to how people actually get into the site. Um, as you can kind of see in the images, there's a couple driveways in really close proximity to the the intersection there where vehicles will slow down to turn into the lots. So, we have a couple different mitigation measures to kind of help with the additional traffic from the Dave's Hot Chicken. And um that would be kind of converting that uh first drive aisle to an exit only. So vehicles cannot turn into there and they would have to go to the aisle just to the west. Um and then add additional signage near the front of the Kowalsskis there to prevent people from uh stacking in that area and doing any sort of pickup drop off at the the front of the store. Um

can I stop you right there just to ask a question? Um a lot of us are really familiar with this site. It's um go-to grocery store for many of us. But I've found I I'm just curious and that maybe Julie maybe or Robert maybe this is traffic staff issue, but I I'll ask you as well. I would think it'd be exactly the opposite that you'd convert to an entrance only because when you're trying to exit and there's just lines of cars there to get out of that second corridor is really difficult. Whereas if you could get cars in there and get them off the road coming in, it seems to me that would be an entrance only and the other one would be an exit only. But I'm just curious to me that stacks cars badly, but if I'm missing something, Robert, is that more your area?

Yeah, mayor case council, I can weigh in on that. Um I do frequent this quite often, too. I live in this [snorts] neighborhood. So, [clears throat] um, actually the concern that we had, and I think that matched with what the engineer analysis said, is vehicles that are making that northbound left and coming into the site, if they have to make an immediate right-hand turn, then they have to slow down, they have to navigate that corner, and if you have several cars behind you that are still trying to get in, just slowing that vehicle down, you actually lose a vehicle or two um, trying to get through that queue. And you have a very limited green time for that northbound left, right? Yeah, I can picture that. Exactly. So, all right, I get it.

Um, and then that'll just be a signing issue. Then you'll have a big sign that do not enter exit only or something to keep cars out of there. The idea would be we'll try to tackle that with some signage, maybe some pavement markings. If that doesn't work, and I think we'll need to talk about what are some contingency plan mitigation measures, you might need to do something with the structural curb and gutter. Um, we haven't we kind of want to wait and see and I think we can address that through the development agreement. If perhaps the signage alone, pavement markings alone did not work. So much of what we're talking about impacts Kowalsski. So I'm assuming they've been at the table consistently. This is their property, right? They would

Yeah, I think they have a vested interest in this project being approved and they'd be cooperating as we try to mitigate any traffic impacts. Thank you for allowing me to interrupt there.

Yeah. And just to kind of go along with that, part of what we did was we set up cameras for five days to kind of record observations out there. And that was kind of right before the Thanksgiving holiday. So, it was a good uh kind of stress test on what we were seeing out there. Um, and a lot of that first drive kind of comes down to loading trucks going to the back, which already kind of turns slower than normal vehicles, but then having to make that kind of S maneuver into there. Um, so trying to limit those maneuvers as well. Um, and that's where our our final kind of improvement of adding a couple seconds of additional northbound left green time just to allow more vehicles to be able to turn into the site on a on a cycle should be adequate to accommodate the traffic. Is that it? That is it.

All right. Um, stay close in case we have questions. Um council once again I can um now um second time going through this open this up to a public hearing or uh you can ask some questions now or after your pleasure. I do have questions but either time will do. Okay. Why don't we have the public hearing close it and then um ask our questions. So this is a public hearing. Anyone in the audience wishing to address us um on the this development uh proposal of Dave's Chicken? Um what? Dave's Hot Chicken.

Dave's Hot Chicken. Thank you. Please come forward. Give your name and address. All right. Could I have a motion to close the public hearing portion of Dave's Hot Chicken? Um, and then we'll proceed with any comments we have. Move to close the public hearing. Uh, is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. All right. Public hearing is closed. Uh, Kathy, why don't you go ahead? I've got a few questions as well. Go ahead. Um, I've got a question um about the wall that's joining the pet clinic and your restaurant. [clears throat]

It does strike me that um you might serve some things that animals in the pet clinic would love to get their teeth around but probably won't be allowed to. Is there enough bracing and enough smell control so that you're cooking food isn't going to make a problem for people bringing their pets into the clinic? Kind of could go both ways on that one. That's a good question. Well, thank you for the question. Um, unfortunately I do not have the answer to what the material is going to be of that internal wall. Um, and the details of that. Um, I can get that information for you. Um, but that would be more of the architect question.

We could have staff also just follow up on that. Yeah, I I would like to know that because it's a little different circumstances than many two businesses being next to each other. Well, we have crisp crisp and green and fly Flying Cloud Animal Hospital. Good point. We already have that in the city. So, we have a pre I was just there today and crisp and green smells good. Julie, so you've got precedent on that. You can bring just back a brief comment or send it out uh in our next packet or something. Follow up. Okay. What else? that that that's really it is thinking on the part of the current um people bringing their pets in and the people who will want to come in to eat and such.

Got it. And make sure there's some way to keep the pets from going into eating. That's important, too. Um I just Yeah, as long as you're there. Um more curiosity, why threeseason, not four season as long as you're building it. Um, it has to do with the windows that they're installing. Uh, they didn't want to say four season if it got too cold. They were want to have the ability to not have people sit out there, but still use it as an entrance to the building. Um, so that's why I've been appointed as a threeseason instead of four season.

And you need to like that. I mean, I don't I was just more curious. I'm sure we might get that question. And then I'm assuming no drive-thru because you've already mentioned the traffic issues, but I if in the best of our worlds, would you have preferred a drive-thru? Um, personally, I don't know. That would be a Dave's Hot Chicken uh question. If they would have preferred a drive-thru, um, it wouldn't work really well with the site and if they wanted that patio there. Um, because their big thing was increasing the seating area for the restaurant. So, they could either have one or the other. And I think they probably went with the extended seating area.

And then finally, um the common space that is included in there, is that like um trash cans or something or is that not something that seems like there's a lot of square footage in there that the restaurant could have utilized rather than to build an addition? [clears throat] But what's the reason that the common space was not within your control and domain? I believe the common space is there currently and it is proposed to be a common area for both the vet clinic and the Dave's hot chicken to utilize as well as landowner to store salt for snow and salt removal. Okay. So store room kind of concept trash area. Yep.

Anything else from staff to Okay. Uh any council um anything else to question? Thank you. Thanks. All right. We have um closed the public hearing. Um we need a motion then to go ahead and approve this. Direct the staff. One of you direct the staff to prepare a development agreement for Prairie Village Southeast Building incorporating staff and commission recommendations and council conditions. So we had no council conditions this evening. Is there a second? Second. Any other um questions or comments any of you wish to ask or make?

The one council condition was as we hear back about Good point. Fair. Yep. Just [clears throat] a clarification that adequate freethought has gone on planning gone into the separation between the two entities. Um all right then ready to vote. All those in favor say I. I.

I opposed. All right. Um Dave's Hot Chicken. welcome to Eden Prairie. Um, I'm sure that's going to be um a benefit to many people, me included. All right, I'm allowed to vote on something that I'm going to personally benefit from. I just want as long as we all benefit together and just want to clarify that. All right. Um, Mr. Gro, we are moving on to our two ordinance public hearings this evening.

Yes, Mayor, we do. We have a few code amendments here. The this code amendment coming up next is related to our site plan reviews. So timely, we just had some site plan reviews. We'd like to do some some cleanup on site plan approvals to streamline the process a little bit um based on some feedback we get and also some peer reviews of other communities. So you will see in the packet um that some of the changes that are being proposed that are rather minor and they're related to a few small areas where uh staff is recommending um that there are a few site plan scenarios that can be approved at a staff level and would not need a full review of planning commission and council. And you can see on the table, those would include areas where there are um small facade changes that are made or in certain areas related to building demolitions and um con uh certain um conforming building expansions. So, as you know, we have three levels of review depending on what types of projects there are. Administrative reviews, minor reviews that maybe only come to city council. That was Dave's hot chicken. And then many many of our reviews that go through um full planning uh commission and city council. So there are some reviews where you'll see a facade change. It a building addition will not happen, but a facade may change and it'll come to city council and that adds sometimes weeks if not a month to a project that couldn't be done at the staff level. And you as council members sometimes ask, why is this on our agenda? Why are we approving this? Is because our city code says that the council co city code required that that particular facade change required council review. So, um staff can

certainly answer any questions that you have. We're trying to improve the process, make it more applicant friendly, uh, but also be rigorous enough obviously to stay within our standards of design and our our processes and values. Uh, since this is an update to our our chapter 11, we do need to hold a public hearing and there would still be uh a first and second reading for this ordinance. Planning Commission at their November meeting unanimously recommended approval.

So am I correct in seeing that the only change changes are the facade changes from class one to classroom and conforming to conforming?

Mayor, members of the council farther down on the chart is also the conforming building expansion. So staff could approve up to 10% of the gross floor area administratively. If there was an expansion between 10 and 50% of the gross floor area, that would be minor, meaning it comes straight to the council bypassing the planning commission. Anything greater than a 50,000 or excuse me, 50% gross floor area increase would require the full process. And then on the back page, similar situation for a demolition up to 10% can be demoed with staff approval. Anything greater than 10 would be a minor uh process through council only.

My eyes read that as a late category, not I got it. It's [clears throat] green. I understand. Great. Understood. Um before we hold a public hearing, um council, um any clarification questions you have?

So, because it's an ordinance change, this does anytime we amend an ordinance, it does require a public hearing. So, this is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the council on this ordinance amending city code section 11.47? If you were here tonight for 11.48, I apologize. It's 11.47 right now. Seeing none, um, council, if you um want to go ahead and close the public hearing and move the motion. Move to close the public hearing and approve the first reading of ordinance amend amending city code section 11.47 relating to site plan reviews.

Second council. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I oppose. All right. Mr. Gro, our last um public hearing of the evening. Yes, Mayor. Uh this is related to our shoreland uh management and section 11.5 and very exciting because it brings to us tonight our water resources coordinator Lori Hack. She is going to I believe it's her first time it is live on television city council.

All right. and and I don't want to steal her thunder because she's going to uh present to you the updates to our city code to better align with uh new Minnesota uh DNR uh model ordinance. So, she is going to walk you through this. Good evening, mayors, members of the council. Thank you.

Um try and keep it brief and simple this evening. Um our shoreland code is section 11.50 50 of uh Eden Prairie city code and it is basically a more protective overlay zoning district that helps regulate protection of [snorts] shoreland areas and those are areas that are within 1,000 ft of the ordinary high water mark of a lake or within 300 ft of a creek or a river and then the associated flood plane that goes with that. So, I provide that because this graphic is a little bit overwhelming at first because nearly 50% of all of Eden Prairie is within the shoreland zone. This is a significant thing within the city. We have 18 lakes and four different creeks and a lot of shoreland. So, you can see that there there's a potential significant impact. The thing that's really important here is that the DNR adopted a model ordinance which is meant to cover the entire state in 2022 and the city of Eden Prairie needs to bring its code into compliance with that. But of course, because we are mostly developed, we can't do that word for word. So what we're doing this evening is proposing modifications that have already been uh received preliminary approval from DNR. they've been conditionally approved in October. Um, and we're proposing some modifications that will align our code with that model ordinance. So, the goals are again to comply with the DNR requirements and those state rules to in some places codify existing practice because as you're aware um, city of Eden Prairie has had a shoreline code since 1982. We modified it in 96 and again in 2004 and since then we've just started doing some things with development that

we'd like to have solidified. So we're going to add those things in. The best way for us to do this is to re repeal and replace section 11.50. Um it will make it easier to use an update. Other communities use the model ordinance. Some adopt it just cartwash um or just you know kind of as it's written by the DNR. Um but in this case that doesn't work for Eden Prairie and we've been working closely with the DNR uh to align our ordinance with things that make sense for them also. So this did uh receive planning commission recommendation of approval of the prop proposed ordinance with no changes on November 17th their meeting. So the main changes that we're proposing are actually several of them are just to make it more user friendly. We're going to add the ordinary high water levels, which is a regulatory elevation, to the body of the city code. We're going to correct the DNR classification for streams. It was incorrect in our existing version of the ordinance. We're going to actually relax some of our rules around water oriented accessory structures. Currently, you can only have like a little shed for storing fishing poles and life preservers and things like that within the shoreline setback, but this will um actually align us with what DNR has accepted for those accessory structures. So, folks could put something like a small patio or a gazebo down by the water in a way that they can't currently. It adds some vegetation management plan requirements which is a administrative approval that has long been uh required by staff. Um and this puts this in city code. And finally, probably the most significant change is with regard to imperous surface. It refineses the definition to include a few more examples because that can be confusing for applicants. And then the model ordinance that the DNR proposed

uh required 25% imperous service m surface maximum throughout the entire shoreland zone. And if you're familiar with Eden Prairie and where our lakes are, some of them there's no way that we could feasibly, economically, realistically put that restriction on properties within the shoreland places like um the Golden Triangle actually has has a considerable amount of shoreland. Um areas over by Lake Idle Wild, which is really close to where uh Wings Credit Union, right, was looking. Um those areas would be subject to that. And so we in working with DNR in explaining the level of protection that Eden Prairie has been able to secure through land acquisition and easement acquisition throughout the years. Uh we've been able to come up with a reasonable compromise of 30% limit for rural and R1 zone properties and 70% in all other zones. So with that, the requested action is to approve the first reading of repealing the existing Shorland city code section 11.50 and replace with new city code section 11.50 relating to Shorland management.

Thank you. Uh just I have a quick question. I'll throw it open to um council as well. We also have to have a public hearing here. Um what's the watershed district's role here? or they have policing agents as well. Do they oversee any of what we do? Do they go beyond? Do they have their own? Are they um preempting ours? How how does that all fit?

Mayor, council members, uh that's a great question. They do not have land use authority. So, while they may have some restrictions, one big example that they regulate that we don't is rip wrap. So, if you want to stabilize shoreline, that requires a watershed district permit. But because they're not a land use authority, they don't they can't get into the same level of detail that we do. So throughout the state, whether it's the county or cities or townships, whoever has that land use authority are the folks who are adopting these shoreland rules. Okay, great. Thank you. Appreciate that. Council, anything else before we have host our public hearing here? Yeah, I do have

um does this affect anything like um you know docks that are in you know somebody's backyard that adjoins a lake um or for that matter um decks that are fairly close to said dock.

Mayor, council members, docks are uh regulated under a separate part of the code. It's uh I believe it's chapter 9. Um and so that wouldn't be affected at all. In this case, there is a provision about decks, but it is making the code more lenient um in order to allow some sort of deck use in properties where they were set real close to the ordinary high or closer than the rule requires. It would actually provide a little flexibility to provide decks for some of those folks. So it doesn't change the overall setback of principal structures, primary structures, but it would provide a little more flexibility.

So in other words, anything the city of Eden Prairie approved a while back, you know, um on a a deck or whatever it was, it's it's fine. People don't need to worry about that. Expanded, but it can exist the way that it is. Yes. Okay. Boat houses are still grandfathered in. Correct. Yes, those are prohibited by DNR um and continue to be, but whatever is existing will remain.

Is something going to go out to the various lake associations? you know, so many of our lakes have homes built around a good deal of it and there's parks, you know, there and there's places you can put boats into the water from landings that are Eden Prairie. Um, so do people have to wonder if they can still put their ice fishing house out onto the lake, which would be current that you see happening all the time, or that kind of thing where it's going to affect use or how the neighbors or maybe our neighbors coming to do ice fishing or, you know, regular fishing during the summertime. That won't change that.

No, it really is just with development around lakes. You sound like you're asking from personal experience. Well, I happen to live near You do happen to live near a lake like on it. Yeah. Well, but the public landing that people come in and off of you see all the time. And I can tell you there would be some very upset uh ice fishing people that seem to live on the lake that um we would hear from them, I'm sure. But if everything's asis is fine and you know but some of the people I think have been doing this for maybe decades and their children and perhaps their grandchildren. So

why don't we go ahead and have the public hearing and then um if you have more questions we can choose to close just the public hearing. Um so this is a public hearing. Anyone interested in addressing the council on the first reading of an ordinance that will repeal the city code and replace it with this new version of section 11.50, the shoreland management ordinance. Seeing none, um are you all okay making the entire motion? We can still ask questions. Uh could somebody uh close the public hearing and also um move the motion? I'll move to close the public hearing and approve the first reading of an ordinance repealing city code section 11.50 in its entirety and replacing it with the new city code section 11.50 related to shoreland management.

Second sir any further discussion. I don't know who that was but him. Okay. Do you need to take the call? I'm sorry. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Passes unanimous. Thank you. Nice job. And um this is the first time appearing publicly. Do you want to like do a song or anything or just experience the moment? No. Okay. You did very well. We were all impressed. So, thank you so much. Thank you.

All right. Uh, moving on, we have payment of claims, which for anyone new to this meeting, it's um the listing of all the expenditures that the city spent uh items um specifics um since our last meeting. Uh council, any items you wish to question or ask or find out more about? Uh if not, could I uh entertain a motion to approve the payment of claims? Move to approve the payment of claim as submitted. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Let's have roll call vote. Council member Nion I. Council member Nelson I. Council member Tumi. Hi. Mayor Casease. I.

All right. Now we move in because this is the first meeting of the year. We have a whole lot of appointments for the year. Commissions we serve on the newspaper we choose to use. And we're going to um not whip through them but move through them fairly quickly. But I'll turn it back to Mr. GTO and then you can um tell us how you want us to proceed. Mayor, I think you cover that very well. This is a time of the year where you and mainly it's you as council members are making appointments to those organizations um that the city belongs to. Um so yeah, it covers a variety of organizations that serve the city in in many different ways and these are the annual appointments in addition to as you said um needing to appoint our official newspaper. So yes, you can go through each of these um however as as you wish.

Okay, I won't even ask for discussion. However, if you have a comment or question, just interrupt me really fast before I call a vote. Okay, the first is the um designating the paper. So, could I have a motion? Move to adopt a resolution designating the Eden Prairie Sun Sailor as the official city newspaper for the year 2026. Second. Second. Okay. All those in favor say I.

I oppose. All right. And just a real quick comment, we have we basically have to choose Eden Prairie Sun Sailor. We might anyway, but because it has there has to meet certain statutory qualifications and once we lost Eden Prairie News, we don't have a lot of other alternatives. Okay, moving on. We designate the official meeting time plus um the acting mayor which is um in what we uh stat statute calls the deputy mayor or in the event that the mayor is absent from the meeting for any reason the acting mayor fills in our meeting or if um I'm out of town and we have some type of um community emergency. The acting mayor functions as mayor. You need to have somebody designated in that role. Um so with that um Kathleen Nelson's the acting mayor but could I have a motion to um move the official meeting date time and place and the acting mayor

move to adopt a resolution designating the official meeting date time place for the city of Eden Praik Council in 2026 and appointing council member Kathy Nelson as acting mayor. So second all those in favor say I. I oppose. Okay. Moving on to the council members that serve on the H, etc. I'll move to adopt a resolution appointing city council members to serve as commissioners for the Eden Prairie Housing and Redevelopment Authority and appointing Ron Case as chair, Rick Gshow as executive director and council member Kathy Nelson as secretary for the year 2026. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I.

I opposed. All right. Moving on to the suburban rate authority. What we can do is just go up and down the line. So, we're just moving really fast. So, we'll start with Kathy here and you're going to be next and Okay, go. Move to designate public works director Robert Ellis as the director and county council member Mark Fryberg as the alternate director to the Suburban Reed Authority. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. Okay. Go ahead. Move. Move to appoint council member Kathy Nelson, finance manager Tammy Wilson to Fire Reliefs Association. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. Opposed. All right. Moving to the um National League of Cities.

Move to appoint Mayor Ron Casease as delegate and council members as alternates to the National League of Cities. Second. All those in favor say I. I oppose. Okay. Next. Um Municipal Legislative Commission. Back to you. Um move to approve the appointment of Mayor Ron Casease and Council Member Lisa Tumi as alternates to the municipal legislative commission. Second. All those in favor say I. I opposed. All right. Southwest Cable Commission. Move to approve the appointment of council council member Mark Fiber to the Southwest Cable Commission. There second. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Moving on to the I494. Can I make a motion about me?

Sure. Okay. Move to approve appointment of council member Lisa Tumi to the I494 corridor commission. Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Moving on to the most important I like this appointment of the entire and might need a little bit of explanation after we make it. Go ahead. Um, Council Member Nelson. Uh move to approve appointment of forestry and natural resources supervisor Karly Whitner as assistant weed and inspector for the city of Eden Prairie. Second. All those in favor say I.

I oppose. So um imagine a state of Minnesota 150 years ago where we were a huge problem to farms and so you had to appoint a weed inspector and typically it was the leader of that township or that city. So the mayor is the official weed inspector for the city of Eden Prairie. I don't know much about that. So we about the topic content. So we appoint um an a person who does know a lot about that as the assistant weed inspector. I will not be out in your yards inspecting your weeds. Okay. Moving on to the Southwest Transit. Move to approve the appointment of council member Mark Frybert to Southwest Transit Board as the Eden Prairie appointed representative for a twoyear term to end December 31st, 2027. [clears throat] Is

there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. Sorry, just to let people know we appoint two council members to the Southwest Transit Board and they rotate. I mean they go every other year so we have that turnover. And the second and council member Tumi is the other member. Yes, I'm the treasur. Yes, I understand you've got you've got leadership now on the southwest transit. I'm incredibly indubably impressed. Oh, treasure this treasure. All right, Mr. GTO. Uh, anything else to come before the council tonight. I believe the report. Thank you so much. Just quick quickly.

No, take all. Go ahead. just like take this opportunity to acknowledge all of our snowplow drivers for all and for all their hard work. It's long hours and tough conditions. Everybody knows and they work we they work through it all to keep the city moving safely. And while most of us are still asleep, they're out there navigating icy roads and heavy snowfall so we can get to work, school and emergency services can are are not affected. Um, I would just like to say that their hard work is greatly appreciated and uh, so on behalf of the council and the residents of Eden Prairie, thank you so much. Keep up the good work. I know it's only January, but I have a feeling it's going to be a short winter hopefully. And [clears throat] all the ice and the accumulation of wind, rain, sleet, and snow falls sometimes create very bad situations on the road, which we've got right now if you're out and about. That being said, we have the best roads around. We just always I hear that all the time from our residents that we have the best condition roads around our current condition which isn't it's mother nature's fault and even so we have the best roads around. So um thank you to definitely to our um snowplow drivers.

People tell me that they can tell as soon as they come into pray I'm not going to say where they're coming from but

and it gets back to the equipment again. It gets back to the levy. It gets back to the money that this council based on you all telling us what you want us to spend it on choose to spend for salaries for staff people and for the best equipment around and also type of people that are state-of-the-art. They're just cutting edge innovation um and creativity. So we have just truly amazing staff. So thank you. Thank you. Oh and even use of salt. I know that we're we were setting records. Um Mr. This is all Mr. Ellis's uh area I think here. But we um we are known around the region, I think. Don't we get uh copied? And we're a model for uh low salt usage. You still have to use it. Intersections, you got to use it somewhat for safety, but um there are better ways than others in the way that you um deise. And so again, um we're state-of-the-art. So, thank you, Mr. Ellis. And make sure to thank your employees, our employees, our wonderful employees who serve all of us. All right, council. Anything else to come before the council this evening? I will entertain a motion to adjurnn.

Move to adjourn the city council meeting tonight. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. I oppose. This meeting is adjourned. If you happen to be a student here and and you wish to picture prove to your teachers you were here, you're welcome to come up. If not, we won't be offended. Those