City Council - Regular Meeting

Council member.

Good evening everyone. I'm I'm looking for all my council members to join me here at the dis. Council member Refe. Council member.

Okay. Very good. Thank you. Welcome everyone. It's now six o'clock and I'll call to order the workshop of the Victoria City Council. Our workshops are informal, so we're going to dive right into our agenda this evening. The council is hosting a listening session on downtown parking. So, I want to say thank you to all of you who have joined us. On behalf of the council, I want to thank everyone who took the time to come to city hall and participate in the interactive activities and share your comments. We ask that anyone wishing to speak this evening register in advance. If you'd like to speak and have not yet registered, please see our city manager, Miss Hardy, quickly to have your name added while I go through some housekeeping this evening. Um, Miss Hardy is missing. Jen, do you want to grab a signup sheet? You can see Jen right over here at the corner if you want to. If you haven't already registered to speak, see Jen here and she will get your name on a list. So, we're going to invite individuals to the podium in the order that they registered. As your name is called, please step up to the podium, state your name and address for our record, and each speaker gets three minutes. Our city clerk is going to be keeping time. We want to hear from as many people as we can this evening. So, as soon as you hear the beeper, we're going to ask you to wrap up your thoughts and we'll move on to the next speaker. To ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to speak, we want to um ask you to please not exceed your three minutes. Your comments here this evening will be part of our record. While the council is not making any decisions this evening, our purpose is to listen. We'll be taking comments into consideration along with our survey feedback, open house feedback, studies, and our other data to drive decisions around downtown parking. And with that, I'm going to call our

first speaker to the podium. Um, Patrick Murray, and then on deck. So, I'm going to do an on deck so you know that you're up next. John Herman, you're up next. Mr. Murray, welcome. Good evening, council members. Uh, my name is Pat Murray. You like my address? I do. 8380 Kelzer Pond in Victoria. Thank you.

Um a few years ago there was a um a temporary golf cart permit and last year our family got a golf permit and it's been uh quite wonderful. We get a chance to see our family, friends around Victoria. Uh we take it to the Victoria Rec Center. Uh we got our Chaska permit as well so we can go have dinner at uh the Chesa Town Course. And we would love to have uh that ability to do that in Victoria. We've got quite a few uh golf cart enthusiasts here as well. And uh just an idea to consider uh there is a a trail right back here and from Kirk Locken Park to uh these bathrooms is about 700 yards. It's a great spot to potentially have some golf cart parking. So obviously that would help eliminate or alleviate some uh uh parking congestion downtown. uh certainly from uh the senior members of our community, it gives a lot of mobility options, some uh independence for those folks and it just makes uh Victoria a unique city already more unique and uh nicer than it already is. So uh again, just an idea to somehow bring golf carts into the downtown community to have a chance to visit our uh great city. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Um John Herman, you're up next on deck. Gina Homeman. Mr. Herman, are you in the audience? All right, we'll come back to John Herman. Uh, Gina Homeman and on deck is Nan Emmer. Welcome, Gina. Thank you, Mayor, council, city staff. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak. My name is Gina Holman. I reside at 8510 Alageney Grove Boulevard. We moved into Victoria in 1987 when my mom and dad moved into Deerrun. So, we know what it is like to see this community grow and thrive. And what we believe is the thriving of this downtown is because we are very blessed to have so many small businesses here. And behind us are a lot of the community that loves supporting and putting our wallets into the downtown in our small businesses. What we would love to see is if the council and the staff would be open to using TIFF increment financing to help alleviate the parking problem downtown. I have the unique position of being the director of liquor operations for the city of Weisetta. So I ran the MUN for 20 years. We had a parking problem there as well. And the city used tax increment finance and it was a huge boon for all the small businesses to come into downtown and continue to let downtown Victoria and all the business owners that have been here for decades to now support them so that we can have a thriving business. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Gina. Nan Emmer. Oh, she's not going to speak. didn't sign up. Okay, very good. How about John Herman? John Herman. Everybody put their name down. They didn't know what they were putting their name down for. John. Okay. Is John Herman here? I got John on both lists here. Okay. How about Bobby Jensen? There we go. And on deck, John the door. Mr. Jensen, welcome.

Well, thank you, mayor, council people. Um, I live at 1699 Stiger Lake Lane. Um, I just want to say, everybody says we don't have a parking problem here. I've had people come to visit me in the summer and I've had to put them in our garage in a stealing a space from somebody I knew that was out of town. uh people park in the bank and you know and I agree with the fact that if we could alleviate this problem with tiff money I don't understand why that isn't being considered or maybe it is being considered but I would like you to really consider it. What some of the projects that I've seen that people are going to do that are going to make it available for parking seem to make a lot of sense. So I would hope that everybody, all of you sit down and honestly look at the projects and look at the cost. If the cost doesn't cost you cost the city anything and the taxpayers, why isn't it being considered? And that's I guess the biggest thing that I' I've learned tonight is that that's out there. Why don't we use what's available to us or to you? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jensen. John Bador and then Kristen H is on deck. Mr. Bador, welcome.

Thank you. John Bador, 2020 Woodstone Drive, Victoria. I've been here I don't know how many years, so I'm not even going to say. I am in favor of the parking um downtown the downtown parking of adding and using utilizing tiff money. It's going to add spaces. is not going to cost nearly the amount if you try to do this yourself. I or you're putting it on to the taxpayers. I think that um I'm just going to leave it at that. It's I'm in favor of that. I'm not in favor of any structures, three, fourtory parking things or anything like that. Thank you.

Thank you, Chris. Kristen H. And then on deck, Kimberly Reeves. Hi, my name is Kristen and I run Victoria Flats. Um, so the parking lot out in front of our building is full often as Bobby was saying, and there is a steady stream of city hall employees and city council people when there are city council meetings and other city of Victoria employees in and out of my parking lot that do not abide by the two-hour parking. So that just shows me that there is a parking problem in this town. Um and also when I'm doing my walk around on the building, um just about every night the after the bank closes that bank lot is full every night from people and I watch them walk to and from the businesses in town because there's no parking in the streets. So there definitely is a parking problem and learning about the tiff money that's available that could help alleviate it without a taxpayer increase seems logical which would help my residents and the people of Victoria. So just thought I'd add that. Thank you Kristen. Y Kimberly Kimberly Reeves and then on deck Jim Pollson. Miss Reeves too much already.

Miss Reeves, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Um, I live my husband and I live at 8439 Cray Lake Court and then we own a condo for my husband's mom at 1776 Tiger Lake Lane. Um, I work in residential real estate and our city is beautiful and wonderful for the residents who are looking to move to Victoria. It's a great selling point and having parking would also increase that um just um vibrancy and with increased stores and restaurants and all the things that are being proposed for downtown, having it with the TIFF funding would also be just a great incentive um for keeping the um the taxes down as when you know someone is looking for a home, they're also looking at what their taxes are in in their total financing. So, in um looking at what we have with TIFF and what we can do for the city and how we can continue to just invest in our city would be a great thing. So, thank you. Thank you, Miss Reeves. Jim, you don't have anything to add to this evening.

Okay, very good. Thank you. Mary Mason is up next and then on deck Brenda Lret like Brenda knows who she is. Hi Mary.

Good evening Mayor and council members. Um as you all know that at 7929 Victoria Drive, 1776 Steager Lake Lane, 2020 Woodstone Drive. And I have an office here. So um so we have three or four properties in Victoria. Uh I'm g just turn this way a little bit. Um you all are very aware of the model that we've done on the central parking lot that's behind Ganons and we've got all of the property owners including uh Carl Runk who's working with the Ganon project are supportive of us exploring doing tax increment financing from the Ganon property from the hotel uh possibly Victoria House there is a way to bring them back in and also from the Roars building. So if the Roars did an expansion of their tith district and we got that done, we would be able to use the blighted properties that we have and once they're gone or once we pull a permit, it's not going to be available anymore. So that tool disappears. We have this one-time opportunity to be able to do a tuck under ramp. So at Steager Lake Lane lane where Victoria House is, it's 10 ft lower than wherewam is where you'd enter. It fits into the landscaping absolutely beautiful. You could not lay out a topography any better than to be able to put a ramp that is tucked in and then main level. You also have an opportunity to do something for the residents, too. Um, you can put a a covered deck on top. That is a an acceptable use of tip buns for a for the gathering of people, for the park, for a gathering area, and the residents would be able to have a nice space that they

could use in the downtown. You know, we've used TIFF uh for three of the apartment buildings and at least 15 years of it goes 100% to the developer. I would like to see them be successful, but I also would like to see the existing buildings and businesses that are in the downtown be successful, too. We've all invested and uh you have no no problem I don't think with doing tiff for a developer who wants to put in apartment buildings. But when all of the business owners come and say, "Hey, we'd like to see tiff in the central parking lot that the city already owns, it seems like it just falls on deaf ears. We've got redevelopment happening. It's an incredible spot for the city to put in parking and I think it's a huge missed opportunity if this council doesn't get behind it and support it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Mason. Brenda, I apologize. I can't read your last name, so you're gonna have to tell me.

Brenda Leg.

Legit. Thank you. We live at 1776 Deer Lake Lane and we love Victoria. We've been here over 17 years. We love the downtown and we're excited about Victoria West as well. And I think anything that happens in the downtown area benefits Victoria West as well. And we have people who we invite to come and eat in Victoria and they say there is no parking. They will not come over to our side because there is no parking or that's what they understand or have experienced. And so we would love to see this new parking happen. We know that there's tiff funding and that there's a very brief window when this is available. So, we hope that you'll look at it, save us tax money, and help us have more parking in downtown Victoria. I think it's good for everybody, Victoria West, and everybody downtown and our business owners who own property here have invested so much in making Victoria what it is. So, thanks for listening.

Sure. Thank you, Miss Sid. Okay, I have David Igel and then on deck, Terry Hartman. Mr. Igel, welcome.

Uh, Madame Mayor and council members, thank you. I'm glad I'm going before Terry Hartman instead of after him. Um, I've uh I'm at 1725 Martinale Lane in Victoria. Been a resident here for a number of years. Been a resident of the area for about 30 years. done business uh in this area for about 20 and brought in a lot of of people that enjoy Victoria by building homes and neighborhoods for them. I've also gotten to know a lot of the people and business owners in the city of Victoria in downtown. We patronize them several times a week and I do know that parking is a problem. We bring people in from out of town to come to our favorite restaurants. I've known these people. It's a problem. And it sure seems like there's a great opportunity to build a ramp that blends into the city that can be funded uh with a limited opportunity with with Tiff funding. Um and I think you really need to take a look at it. So thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Igel. Mr. Hartman, you're up next and then on deck, Tom Strigle.

Thank you. uh Terry Hartman and we own property at in several locations downtown but 1750 Tar Boulevard for for one of them. Uh I don't want to repeat some of the same thing. I'd like to bring you a little bit new information. I'd like to talk about just how wonderful it is to drive in from the east and see all the new highway projects that are going on that you guys have been working on. all the highway, the county, the the local roads, and how exciting that is to see that everything that's new. We've been looking for that for 25 or 35 years or when we, you and I last talked, you were here for 40 years. So, so to finally see that happen is pretty exciting stuff. To finally see the downtown develop like it is right now with the momentum is pretty exciting to see all of that. the new Mexican restaurant, the businesses that want to expand, of course, all of the new apartment buildings that are that are happening. There's just a lot happening right now. And I think with that, you know, I've been on record saying we need to look at parking expansion with all of you. And and I think what I heard you wrestle with is is the when when does that happen? traffic engineers have have said that at when we're at 85% capacity at peak hours, you're almost too late. You you're full. Not 100%. 85% is about at that point. And we don't know the studies, but we got to believe we're there because it's hard to find a spot during those peak hours. And from a timing perspective, with all that you're hearing regarding TIFF and the critical timing of TIFF, now is the time to make that make that decision. Waiting to see what happens after all of this growth takes place. It's too late from a inconvenience

standpoint, but you will have lost the opportunity to get the public financing to make this uh costefficient for the rest of us. Thank you, Mr. Hartman. Um Tom, Mr. Strik, welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um I want to applaud the having this uh forum. It's it's become I think clear to a lot of people that it's harder and harder to engage with the city staff and council between the disbanding of the citizen committees like the senior committee and park and wreck and finance and all those things that have gone away and then the citizen input opportunity at council meetings. just feels like it's very insulated and I think many people in this room don't necessarily think that the listening here is going to turn into action based on the input. And so um again I want to applaud that and and I'm looking forward to seeing the um the outcome from this session and how it's taken in specifically how it's taken into the planning and the work that goes forward. This conversation was old when I was on council 18 years ago and it's not any different than it was. The people who are investing in this downtown who are risking their capital by building buildings and starting businesses have been unhappy with the level of parking availability again since 20 years probably. Um I think they pay unless something's changed a pretty dis uh high value. taxes for their buildings and I don't necessarily think they would feel like they're getting proportionate benefit from that. Um, tiff is designed and intended to be used for projects that benefit the good of the community, not the developers, right? And and you can argue at some point having a diversity of housing and um opportunities makes is good for the community, but I think the balance is lost and I'd like see it

return. Um, and so TIFF is probably a way that, you know, visions like what has been shown with the two de two deck park and a parking ramp and with a parking space on top um is a beautiful way to keep us from just becoming a giant hunk of asphalt with a bunch of buildings sticking up in the middle of it. So, um, again, thank you for holding this session and look forward to hearing uh the outcomes.

Thank you, Mr. Stre. All right. I'm gonna ask for John Herman one more time. I don't want him to miss an opportunity. I think John is gone. All right. Very good. All right. Um that is the end of my list. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to address the council at this time? We do have a few minutes left. So I invite you forward if you'd like to address. Yes, please. Mr. Wharton. Welcome.

Mayor and council members. I again just like Terry don't want to repeat a lot what's been said but there is definitely at our busiest times Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday when I drive out and around and I don't find hardly any parking spots that are available in the immediate downtown in close proximity for people to come in that want to walk especially especially in the wintertime when you have ice and snow you have snow piles you have all kinds of issues and we have a lot of people that have told us we're just not coming back we can't if we can't find a convenient place to park, we're not going to come to your restaurant. And I think that's the same with several of the other restaurants that are in town. And so I think it's important that you do consider Mary's done a great job of putting things together and to be able to see what it means to have a four plus million dollar potential tiff available to build what could be a a a two-level ramp with potentially a beautiful deck on top. And I think it's really important that you do take a close look at it before it's gone. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Any other folks wish to address the council on this matter this evening? Going once, going twice. Very good. Thank you. So there are no more items to come before the body this evening. So I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. We have a motion. Can I get a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? Motion carries. We stand adjourned. We'll reconvene in a few minutes at 6:30 for our regular count.