City Council - Regular Meeting

to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Will you please do your call?

Mayor Clark?

Here.

Councilmember Anderson?

Here.

Councilmember Crone?

Here.

Councilmember Grove? Here. Councilmember Lyon?

Here.

Councilmember Pierce? Here.

We've had a request to move presentations up to before item D. So we're going to go ahead and do that so that our police officers can receive their recognition and not have to stay.

Mayor Clark, may we have a motion and a second to amend the agenda? I have a motion for that to amend the agenda.

Move to amend the agenda.

Second. Please vote. Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Crone?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson?

Yes.

Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Lyon?

Yes. All right. Item F1, Waukee Police Department Medal of Valor Awards.

Chief. Good evening, Mayor and Council. The Waukee Police Department Medal of Valor is presented to members of the department who, while serving in an official capacity, distinguish themselves conspicuously by the performance of a heroic act in excess of normal demands of police service, where the member is fully aware of the imminent threat of their personal safety. Criteria for eligibility include the situation being extremely hazardous. A strong possibility existed at the time that the member acted that the member could have suffered serious injury or death. The act was not foolhardy, and the member did not use poor judgment, creating the necessity for their acts. The Medal of Valor is one of the highest awards that a member of the Milwaukee Police Department can receive. On Tuesday, July 7th, 2026, at approximately 3.57 p.m., The Waukee Police Department and the Waukee Fire Department were dispatched to a submerged vehicle near Northwest Stratford Drive and in Northwest Lurie Lane. When first responders arrived, witnesses reported a vehicle had left the roadway and ended up on a small pond. Witnesses reported they did not see anyone surface from the vehicle after it ended in the pond. Several members of the Waukee Police Department and Waukee Fire Department immediately and without hesitation entered the water in an attempt to perform rescue efforts. Officer Seth Gray assisted the Waukee Fire Department personnel attempting to break windows and extricate occupants of the vehicle. During the extrication attempts, the vehicle was completely submerged in the water. and teams could not see anything under the water. Other members of the Waukee Police Department were nearby. However, Officer Gray was actively going underwater in an attempt to find access to the vehicle with the Waukee Fire Department personnel. Ultimately, two persons were recovered from the vehicle. Sadly, both the occupants did perish in the accident. Officer Gray displayed extraordinary performance even in the light of the conditions where he could not see, had no idea what he was facing, and at risk to his own safety in the effort to rescue the occupants of the vehicle. Officer Gray's immediate entry and assistance helped lead to the extrication of both occupants before the vehicle was able to be pulled out of the water. While the outcome was tragic and our hearts go out to the families of those affected, the efforts of those involved in the rescue and recovery operations were nothing short of heroic given the situation. Putting oneself in imminent danger to try to save another is one of the most selfless acts a first responder can take. Officer Gray's actions clearly fall within the criteria of the Milwaukee Police Department Medal of Honor. Please join me in awarding this award to Officer Gray for his efforts.

All right. A number of our team members are leaving, so I'm just going to give them time. Shockingly, they do not want to stay. All right. Item D is open forum. Open forum is the time for anyone here tonight to address the council on any subject over which the council has the authority to act or on any item on the agenda other than a public hearing. Does anyone here tonight, either in the council chambers or on Zoom wish to address the council at this time. If so, please approach the podium or raise your hand. And if participating via Zoom, please click on the raise hand icon located in the reactions controls. Just as a reminder, a few things on open forum. First, we're going to hold everybody to three minutes for public comment tonight just to make sure we get through it in a timely manner. Second, you do have to state your name and address for the record. And with that, first person, please come on up.

Thank you. Chris Cummings, 215 Bailey Circle. I've spoken at a few of these meetings about the automated license plate readers, spoken to the police chief and the council. And I just want to start by thanking the city of Waukee, the police department. I did read in the paper, Waukee has chosen to not renew its contract with FLOC because of concerns. And I know that's no easy task. You have a tool that is useful to you, but there are concerns about it. So I wanted to take the opportunity. I kind of get the impression a lot of people don't come here to ever say thank you or thank hearing them out, looking into it on your own and coming to a decision. And I want to say that. Thank you. It's genuinely appreciated. I'm recent to Waukee over the last couple of years. I don't come from an area where I feel city government actually ever listens to concerns of residents or issues that are at the national level that can affect towns. It's greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I would want to encourage the city of Waukee to not only continue with that and hold off of renewing a contract, but also not to investigate or take on contracts with their competitors, companies like Axon, who make a virtually identical product that has the same privacy concerns, or Leonardo, who makes the signal trace device that is able to actually capture the radio signals off of your cell phones and other devices, the IDs that actually identify who you are and where you go every day, not just the license plate or the people in your vehicles. Greatly appreciate it. Would encourage you to look into those two companies and see how they have similar and the same privacy concerns. They have a habit when towns around the country have canceled their contracts of approaching them and encouraging them to take it on. They have the same issues.

They are largely the same product.

And I would encourage you to give that same due diligence and consideration against jumping into those while it sounds like we wait for the state government to maybe give some guidance. So thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thanks.

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you all. So my name is Jeff Mallory. I live at 4395 Northwest 165th Street in Clive, Iowa. So last meeting, you brought up what and asked what Walmart's plans would be to give back to the community and what they would do if they were allowed to build in Waukee. Well, I can't speak for everybody, but I can speak for Hy-Vee. And I can tell you that Hy-Vee has and always will be there and show up. Everything we do is for our community. So we've been in this location for 13 years. We currently have 725 employees in that building and 139 of them are full-time. We're a chamber member and we just received the Large Business Chamber of the Year Award. We're very proud of that. We're Rotary members and we have hosted the largest fundraiser for the last three years in our location. We are very active in the school district and in the foundation. And actually I was just asked to be on the board for the foundation. So we're very proud of that too. What I really wanted to get into and speak to is the giving back. And I know that anybody can write a check and anybody can give to different organizations. But what I have right here, this stack is just last year's donations for just our store. That's a pretty thick stack, 137 donations. different organizations, from schools, to churches, to nonprofits, to fundraisers, to animal shelters, rescues, anything like that. 137, that's just in Waukee. That does not include what we do for the greater Des Moines, like JDRF or Variety Club, that sort of thing. Gigi's House or that kind of stuff. That's all additional. This packet here That is just August, okay? When we say we show up and give back, I promise we do it. And it's not just monetary, it's boots on the ground. Somebody needs to borrow our grill, somebody needs vans, somebody needs planting trees with rotary, Habitat for Humanity. That's what we do. The 725 strong are out there doing that. And this is just Waukee. Everybody forgets that West Des Moines 3, our Jordan Creek location, is in the middle of the Waukee School District. Their stack is just as big. I promise that. So some other things that we do that I would like to share with you guys is some of the donations and requests we get that are not written or asked for. Last year when Santa Claus is up on the triangle and we have the family event up there, somebody forgot to order hot chocolate. Who was the first place they called with 20 minutes to go, right? They came to us, a nice old couple. We don't charge them. We just hurry up and make hot chocolate and deliver. But I think that speaks to our company and what they know they're going to get out of with Hy-Vee and having Hy-Vee in the area. You know, hot days. We drive around. We partnered with Atlantic Bottling. And we just get in the van and we drive around in our uniforms and we hand out water. We hand out Powerade. Anybody working in their yards, businesses, that sort of thing. Every holiday, the first responders will get meals from us, guaranteed. It doesn't matter what it is. There will be meals delivered. That's not asked for. That's us being good neighbors and a responsible business in the community. Am I at three minutes? You are.

We very much appreciate your partnership.

I thought I timed it right to hit it. But anyway, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Thank you. We appreciate your partnership. Thank you. Next person.

Good evening. Thank you for your time tonight. I'm Keith Seashore, and my address is 2700 Northwest 167th Court in Clive, Iowa. And my property unfortunately butts up to the proposed Walmart on the northeast corner of the residential area. First, I'll say that I do not believe this is a good location for the store. I think the added traffic will be significant. Anybody that travels through that Hickman Alice's Road interchange has seen the tremendous traffic that's occurred over the past couple of years. I think this will clog up the city's access for 50 plus years. I think it's very important that that's considered. I actually would recommend that the council vote no. However, if the council does support this site, I would like to ask that you please help protect my neighborhood and property. from the following issues. Number one, noise, especially the auto center that essentially is the closest part of my property. And with semis driving around at potentially all hours of the evening with headlights glaring, noise with unloading happening at all hours of the night. The eyesore of looking at the back of a Walmart with pallets, tires, recycling bins, they're not pretty if you've driven in the back of a Walmart, very ugly. Also, lights shining into my property, not just from the store, but from the rear entrance of all the autos and semis that would be driving around the backside of the store. And then also supporting reasonable hours of operation and the unloading of semis in other areas. I do believe that Waukee City Code Section 161.06, which is buffers and screening requirements, grants you the authority to do just that, to provide... My neighborhood and my property with protection beyond just the minimum standards that I believe are set out right now in the site plan. I would like to request an eight foot or higher concrete wall border around the backside of the Walmart that fully covers the auto center and shields the full perimeter of my property and neighborhood from the store. I would like to ask for a dense evergreen tree barrier for all season coverage. Trees lose their shades in the wintertime. I can see right down the road, all the way to Hickman Road from my property. This should require an unbroken, multi-layer row of high-density mature trees, such as pines and spruces, allowing the entire perimeter of my lot line to block the sight, the noise, and the lights. The trees need to be cared for and maintained. And then finally, just operational restrictions on the northeast and northern end, requiring auto services to end at reasonable times, such as 7 p.m., not allowing semis to unload at the middle of the night or late in the evening, and then controlling the light, as I already mentioned. Thank you for your consideration and support. I think these changes are very doable and reasonable accommodations based on the situation, and this will help protect our neighborhood from the noise, the eyesore, seeing the backside of a Walmart, and help minimize the sounds from a large commercial building adjacent to my property. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And there was a hand up back there before you, sorry, before, sir, really quickly, there was a woman, okay, she had her hand raised last, so I was going to have her go first, but you can, go ahead.

Mayor Clark, members of the council, Dan Manning, 4949 Westtown Parkway, West Des Moines, West Des Moines, I'm here tonight representing Orange Development, the owner of the property where the Walmart is going to, is proposed to be located. We want to make sure that we're prepared and we brought individuals in response to your concerns. It's item number four on your agenda tonight, but my question is, do you want us to speak to these issues tonight at the open forum, or do you want to wait until item four comes on, as I understood? Your presentation, I don't know that this is a public hearing tonight. So I want to make sure that we are clear with you. And we're here to speak to any issues that you have for us to include, you know, representative from Walmart, from Orange Develop, the owner of the property. So we're up to you. We'll do it however you would like us to do it right now, if you'd like, or later if you'd like.

So if you have prepared remarks or if you'd like to address comments that have been made, please go ahead and make them now. It is not a public hearing later. And so typically we don't allow public comment during that. What I can say is that last time we had several questions from council. If that comes up again, that we have questions from council, we will ask you to respond during that item. So you would have a chance to respond at that time if it was appropriate. However, any blanket comments you want to make regarding your position or comments that have already been made, you can make them now.

Well, my understanding is based upon at the last meeting, there was concern about Walmart itself. And we have a representative from Walmart here this evening. I presume the council might want to hear from them when item four comes up, but.

There will be questions. Okay. Yes.

Okay.

Yep.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. You had your hand up if you would like to go now and then we'll get, yep.

Hi, Candy Costello, 295 Northwest Morgan Court, Waukee, Iowa. I was a teacher for 25 years. I taught in Johnston. I taught in Des Moines. When I was in Johnston, I went to Walmart and asked them for donations for my classroom.

I was denied.

They said I was not in their community. I was in Grimes. They were in Grimes. I was in Johnston. Okay. Then I went to Des Moines. I asked them for donations for my classroom. I was denied. We have Hy-Vee in this town that is a local Iowa company that gives thousands of dollars to our schools, to our community. And I feel like we are just letting this large company come in who I'm sorry, twice. Little old me. How many other teachers and businesses, small little businesses, who I was done paying for things out of my pocket. I never went to Hy-Vee because back then I didn't know Hy-Vee would have helped. Now I wish I would have. But I was denied, a Des Moines school teacher denied from a Des Moines Walmart. So I want you to think long and hard when you think about what kind of a business we are bringing in to our community, one that cares about our community or cares about their pocketbooks.

Thank you. The next person? Yep, go ahead. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Karen Norton. I live at 590 Southeast Westgate Drive in Waukee. I'm a 22-year resident of Waukee. My question is about the trucks. How do the trucks leave the proposed store? As I read and understand, the driveway serving the truck docks is a right in and a right out only. So when a semi finishes unloading, it can't turn left towards Hickman. It must turn right and go north on Alice's Road into our neighborhoods. Then where does it go? If it's headed for the interstate, the route is most likely going to be Alice's Road north to Douglas Parkway, east on Douglas, past Shuler Elementary, and also past Des Moines Christian Schools, where kids are walking and they're being dropped off and they're being picked up. Target and Hy-Vee have at least two entrances with traffic signals. This Walmart store is even bigger than Target and Hy-Vee at 182,000 square feet. Plus it has a fuel center and two more lots over there still to be built. And yet it has only one entrance with lights. That's why the trucks will end up in our residential streets. And this is not just a small detail. This is a major design issue. not to mention the traffic as well as the kids in the area. That's why I just don't think this is the right site for this store and this size. What I'm asking you is to please not approve the site plan until the applicant either shows how trucks are going to reach Hickman without going through our neighborhoods or accepts a written condition keeping them off Alice's Road going to the north. I thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thanks, Karen.

Anyone else? And Becky, do we have anyone online?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

My name is Cody Bigelow, 140 Northwest Wilder Court, Waukee, Iowa. I'm a 21-year associate for Walmart. I'm a store manager currently. I live in Waukee, been in Waukee for the last 20 years. I hear your concerns, but Walmart's not bad. When I first started, I was a cashier, part-time. Didn't know what I wanted to do with the company, but they gave me an opportunity, and I worked my way up, just like I'm sure a lot of Hy-Vee employees were. There's... Restrictions on what we do and how we do it. I worked at Southside Store. There's ways we got into that store where we couldn't go through residential streets. Be the same thing in Waukee. How we maintain our back room or back of the store, same process. Every store has its hiccups. Just like the Hy-Vee in Waukee, you drive north on Alice's, you see all the stuff they have outside. So just understanding that There are certain things that come up that you have to have outside at certain periods of the year. So then we mainly try to keep it inside, but I do support the Walmart. I'll be a Walmart associate for the next 20 some years. So thank you.

Thank you. Yes.

All right. Okay.

You're next. I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand. You can go after. Bye.

hello dave graham i live at 160 southeast trillium uh i just wanted to come up as very much as the first speaker to thank you guys for presenting the amendment to chapter 125. i understand there was somebody who spoke actually a couple people who spoke about it last time and i think there seems to be a miscommunication there it's not actually penalizing people for having kids um or those kids playing it's just giving those parents accountability for those kids playing in the street. Nobody's saying that your kids can't play outside. Nobody's saying that your kids can't play. What this does is it alleviates the tension from the police department and all of the issues as they get called to several streets or several neighborhoods in the area repeatedly because of kids playing in the street. It's not telling those parents, your kids can't play outside. Let your kids go play outside. Just don't let them play in the street. And I'm a very big proponent of this. I am actually a substitute teacher for the Waukee School District. So I want to make sure that our kids are safe. And I just wanted to give you guys a thumbs up for your proposed amendment. And I hope it goes through tonight without any issues. But I'm looking forward to the future. Hopefully you guys present more laws and amendments like this that can help protect our kids a little bit more. So thank you.

Thank you. We don't actually hear thank you a lot, so I always appreciate it.

Doing the same meeting.

Hi, my name is Lynn Seashore, and I live at 2700 Northwest 167th Court, the property that backs to the proposed Walmart. I appreciate the gentleman saying that, yes, the stuff that is facing, like the semis and things like that, are facing Ellis's Road. In our situation, it's going to be facing our backyard. I don't know if you have done any Google searches. I have I actually got in the car and drove around the back of Walmarts. I went to Windsor Heights. I've been at the West Des Moines one. We were in Omaha, so we drove through a couple of those. It's not pretty. pallets piled up, all the compressed boxes, things like that. We're just asking, we're not against Walmart. Walmart can come here. I don't know as though that's the right place for it to get in and out. If it does come there, we're just asking that we do not have to look at compressed boxes, tires. If we're having an automotive center, where do you take the other tires? I don't really want to look at that in my backyard after we've spent lots of money trying to landscape and take care of this place. Again, there were lots of dead trees that, yes, they might have buffered, but there are a ton of them that are dead, and it's like, what's going to happen to those? And if you look in, I think I sent you guys some pictures of a neighbor flew his drone over those trees. There are a couple of huge trees that are already dead. out there. So are those going to be replaced? Those are our concerns. Personally, I think the Walmart should be closer to the interstate where people from Winterset and Adele can come in, get their stuff, take it home. That's where I grew up in western Nebraska. That's the way it is. I mean, it makes a lot more sense to have it easily accessible rather than where we've got the town center going in and it's going to be, we've got, you know, lots of restaurants, things like that, that are going to be pulling in more and more traffic. That is going to be a nightmare, that intersection. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. I do want to comment really quickly while we wait for it to come up is that we'll speak later during the discussion around the site plan about the buffering and things like that. So that will be part of the presentation.

Go ahead. Hi, my name is Candy Scott. I'm at 707 Southeast 6th Street in Grimes. I currently work here in Waukee. I chose to move down here from small town Marathon, Iowa. And when I chose to move down here, I avoided... a lot of the Des Moines areas, mainly because of security purposes. I moved close to my grandson, and I chose Waukee because of the safety factor. And the one thing I haven't heard much on is, you know, whether or not safety has been taken into consideration. And I call that to your attention mainly because... the overnight parking if that's allowed still at walmart's um so my main concern is you know if that's being monitored how that's going to put pressure on the waukee police department um and of course for the safety of you know women children and whatnot You know, I used to work until probably 12 o'clock at night. And occasionally, you know, I do consider working later into the evenings for my department at Hy-Vee. And I am very concerned about walking out the door by myself in the evenings. So I just want to make sure that you guys are taking into consideration the safety factor. Mainly, again, like I said, just that overnight parking situation. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

But that open forum is closed. Agenda item G1 is a public hearing on plan specifications, form of contract, and estimate of cost, 2026, 2027, 80 sidewalk improvements project. And I declare this public hearing open. Becky, have we received any correspondence on this?

No, none received in the city clerk's office.

All right. Did we approve the agenda? No, we did not because we made a motion earlier. All right. Thank you. We're going back. We're all out of order tonight. It's throwing us off, I guess, apparently. We will take item E, a motion for approval of the agenda. Move to approve. Second.

Please vote. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Lyon? Yes. Council Member Anderson?

Yes.

Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Blame the fact that it's a Tuesday. We don't have meetings on Tuesdays.

All right.

Two in a row.

That's really unusual. All right. I'm not going to read it again, but we're on agenda item G1 at this point. And it's up. Rudy, you're up. I mean, this area is fairly protected.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Up on the screen is a display. It shows various locations across the community for our 2026-27 ADA sidewalk improvements program. These locations are bullet pointed there on the right hand side. The map are four maps actually because of the area that these locations disperse across the community. But you can see those locations. A few of them are intersection pedestrian ramp improvements. The others are some trail connections and some actual sidewalk reconstruction widening over by Easton Elementary. Again, this is part of our annual ADA sidewalk transition plan program we have. We have $100,000 in our annual budget. We've learned over the last few projects that we've done, we've actually combined two fiscal years for a total budget of $200,000. So we have that in our approved $27,000. 2027 through 31 CIP with a total budget of $200,000. And we do have an anticipated construction start of this project in calendar year 2027. Ideally, we have this wrapped up, the paving portions that are adjacent to schools in early August, and then we have a restoration completion in late September of 2027. I'm happy to take any questions if you have on this project, but essentially it is sidewalk improvements throughout the community that we have concerns with complete streets, or not necessarily complete streets, but safe routes to school and other ADA improvements that we identify throughout the year through our budgeting. So happy to take any questions if you have any, but staff recommends holding the public hearing.

Thank you. Does anyone here tonight either in the council chambers or on Zoom wish to address the council and voice their comments or questions on this particular public hearing item? If so, you may approach the podium at this time, or if participating via Zoom, please click on the raise hand icon located in the reactions controls.

There are no hands raised in Zoom. All right. Does council have any questions at this time?

No. All right, and now to clear this public hearing closed. Agenda item H1A, consideration of approval of a resolution approving plan specifications, form of contract, and estimate of cost for the 2026 ADA sidewalk improvements project. Can I get a motion? Move to approve.

Second.

Rudy?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Staff record, or the plans and specifications, form of contract, and estimate of cost have been on file with the city clerk for review upon request, and staff recommends approving the resolution. Happy to take any questions if you have any.

Thank you. Are there any questions? Please vote. Council Member Pierce? Yes. Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Lyon?

Yes. Item H1B, consideration of approval of a resolution awarding contract. Can I get a motion? Move to approve. Second.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Up on the screen, you can see we received bids on September 2nd. Just last week, we had eight general contractors submitting bids for this project. And you can see our engineers estimate was $225,000. And you can see the apparent low bid was TK Concrete out of Pella, Iowa for $224,785. varying range, and it certainly went up from there. One of the bids that we received, not quite certain about that, if it's part of just some anticipated cost increases for the coming year of construction, or it's just really they were trying to throw a number at the wall and see if it stuck. So we certainly do have experience with TK Concrete out of Pella from prior with prior similar projects, sidewalk and trails specifically, and so staff are comfortable proceeding forward with the recommendation to award to them with this project tonight. Happy to take any questions if you have any, but staff and Venture and Kim, the design engineer, recommend awarding the project to TK Concrete out of Pella, Iowa.

Thank you. Any questions?

Please vote. Council member Crone.

Yes.

Council member Anderson.

Yes.

Council member Grove. Yes. Council member Lyon.

Yes.

Council member Pierce. Yes.

Item I1 is the consent agenda. Can I get a motion?

Move to approve.

Second. Any discussion?

Please vote. Council member Grove.

Yes.

Council member Lyon.

Yes.

Council member Anderson.

Yes.

Council member Pierce.

Yes.

Council member Crone.

Yes. Item I-2, consideration of approval of an ordinance for the Division of Revenues under Section 403.19 Code of Iowa for the North Waukee Residential Urban Renewal Area 2026 ordinance parcels. This is a third and final reading.

Move to approve the third reading of the ordinance in title only and place it on final passage.

Second. Thank you mayor as a reminder, this is the parcels included within 2026 that have seen development within the North walkie residential or renewal area. The purpose of this ordinance is to establish it within a tax increment finance district to allow the city to collect a tax increment financing in this case low to moderate income funding as well as a part of that staff would recommend approval of the third and final consideration.

Thank you any questions. It's vote. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Lyon?

Yes. Item I3, consideration of approval of an ordinance from N Chapter 135 of the Waukee Municipal Code regarding playing in streets or alleys. This is also a third and final reading.

I move to approve the third reading of the ordinance and title only and place it on final passage. Second.

Chief. Good evening again. This is the third reading for the amendment to chapter 135, which simply adds a parental responsibility component. As you may remember, the code has prohibited playing in streets for a long, long time. Long enough that Becky couldn't find where it started. And as alluded to earlier, this does not increase penalties. It simply gives us a way to hold a parent responsible when they refuse to help mitigate that issue. I also appreciate the comments. We're not trying to stifle kids playing time. We want them to be outside. We have some beautiful parks. We have trails. We have streets and sidewalks and areas in your yard. The only thing we're asking is that they do not belong in streets. That's for vehicle traffic. We want to keep our kids safe. So they need to play in places that are safe. With that, I will be happy to take any questions that you may have, but staff recommends approval of the third reading.

Thank you. I very much appreciate the comments earlier. As you may imagine, we received a lot of emails on this, and there's been a lot of interest. We absolutely are not trying to stifle kids' activities, but you're absolutely right. There are appropriate places for it, especially when there's unsafe behavior happening. Are there any questions?

None.

All right. Please vote. Council Member Lyon?

Yes.

Council Member Pierce? Yes. Council Member Grove? Yes. Council Member Crone? Council Member Anderson.

Yes. All right. Item I-4, consideration of approval of a resolution approving site plan for Walmart Supercenter number 098721000 at 1165 East Tickman Road, tabled during the August 17th, 2026 regular city council meeting. Can I get a motion?

Move to approve.

Second. Andy. Thank you.

All right, good evening, Mayor Clark and council members. As Mayor Clark indicated, this was a site plan request that was considered at the August 17th meeting and the council tabled action on the item. Before you tonight, the owner of the property and the applicant, Orange Development LLC, is once again asking for consideration of approval of the site plan located at 1165 East Hickman Road. It's generally located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Northeast Alice's Road and East Hickman Road and outlined in blue on the screen here. The applicant is requesting approval of a site plan to construct a 182,429 square foot retail store On the north side of that property, in addition, a 1,600-square-foot fuel station service building, as well as the fuel canopy that includes 10 fuel pumps. Based on the direction from the mayor and the council from the August 17th council meeting, staff did and our traffic engineering consultants did put together a response to the concerns and questions raised by Hy-Vee based on the letters that were submitted previously. Prior to the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, as well as to the previous council meeting, staff did provide a response to that in kind of a table format that was provided to the council, as well as included in the packet that was sent out on Friday by our wonderful city clerk, Becky Schuett. In addition, the council did request that a representative from Walmart be present here tonight to address questions related to store operations, community involvement, things of that nature. I can tell you that there is a representative, Lisa Nelson from Walmart, is here to answer any questions that you might have. In addition, there are pretty much this whole front row, as well as some folks in the back in the second row are here as part of the development, the ownership group. Walmart, as well as some of their legal representation is here tonight as well. With that being said, the site plan does comply with all of our ordinance and code requirements. Staff would recommend approval of the site plan for the Walmart Supercenter located at 1165 East Hickman Road. I'm happy to take any questions. In addition to if there's questions related to traffic and things like that, Rudy Castor is here to help answer those questions. And in addition to the engineering team, Mr. Joseph Parsley is here as well.

I know you went over buffering last time, but could you talk about buffering again for the people?

Sure. So due to the location of this property and the zoning that the property has of C1 Community and Highway Service Commercial District, the... landscape and ordinance landscape and open space ordinance requires a minimum of a 30 foot wide landscape buffer to join existing single family residential or any really any sort of residential development that the property bounds. So there is a 30 foot landscape buffer that is indicated on the north side of the property. as well as along the east side of the property. So that has been indicated. We also spoke at the last meeting that there's a significant amount of existing vegetation along that north property boundary that is being kept. It's probably, you know, certainly... Here, kind of in the northwest corner, it thins out a little bit, but there's a pretty heavily vegetated area in the northeast corner of this property that it's pretty close to that existing single-family neighborhood in the city of Clive that is being maintained. But they have identified the required amount of plantings on the site plan in compliance with the code requirements.

And while the minimum requirement is 30 feet, can you remind us what the actual buffer or what the actual space between Walmart and the neighboring property is?

Yeah, so I've got some exhibits that I can show you here. Sorry, I got to get through a few slides here. Okay, so here's kind of a general slide. Actually, this one might show it better. Sorry. Yeah. So here's a slide that was provided to staff here within the last couple of days. You can see this is the joint property line. I believe this is where the seashores live here. This is a distance of approximately 110 feet to that joint property line. And then And then that distance from the south of the property line, I measured it previously. And I want to say that that is close to approximately 100 feet as well. So there's about 200 feet essentially from where these tree removal limits are to where the back of that house would be directly to the north.

Thank you. Okay. What other questions? I'm sure there are many. The eight foot wall. We talked about that a little bit last time. Can you?

Sure. So the council certainly has at their discretion to require above and beyond. That would be something that the applicant would have to agree to in my tenure here, not only as the community development director, but also as A planner, a planning coordinator, I'm not aware that the council has ever required additional plantings and or screening for, you know, whether it's a big box store or whether it's for some other type of commercial use. Our code actually doesn't allow for eight-foot walls on commercial property. Eight-foot walls are only permitted on industrial property. So that's kind of...

Additionally, as you look at that property, the Walmart will sit up quite a bit higher.

The Walmart is approximately, the building I think at its highest point is 29 feet. But yes, there would certainly be the grade. Yes, yes, the grade. Okay. In terms of it not providing. Sure, yeah.

Go ahead.

I have a question for one of the representatives. That's all right. I don't necessarily agree with the location. I'm not against Walmart. It's just the location. And I'm curious why that location was picked and not closer to the interstate or further out west where we're starting to do more development. Somebody like to address that?

Mayor Clark and members of the council, once again, Dan Manning representing Orange Development. This location was selected because this is the location that this council determined based upon the comprehensive plan. and based upon the infrastructure in place, the traffic transportation system that you have in place. It's selected because it can address all of the concerns that you have about a facility like this. So this was vetted through staff. This was walked through the process and the rezoning process. And the traffic analysis was analyzed by three different engineering firms. From our perspective, we're here because this is what you've laid out. that what you want as a city to have this location utilized because we go, developers focus on the comprehensive plan. What is it that you've laid out? They focus on the transportation system that you put in place. And what we have is a property that is long, The highway was reviewed by the Iowa Department of Transportation because it's a state highway, Hickman Road, Highway 6. Alice's Road. You see it being widened now, but it's obviously has the width in place to address it. You have the infrastructure in place. So to answer that question, why here? Because this is the plan that you as a city, through the work that you put together to put a site plan, I'm sorry, to put a comprehensive plan together. From our perspective, that's the best way to answer that question. We think that that We are where you've helped through your legislative process determine we should go.

I want to clarify there. We have a comprehensive plan that has identified that corner as commercial, and we have infrastructure in place. We do not... take out businesses. That is not the purview of the city. We have not determined anyone should go there. We have determined that should be commercial. So while that holds for whatever should develop there, and it is appropriate that the corner of Alice's Road and Hickman should be commercial, this is not a city-driven function in terms of which business goes there. What is available to go there, however, is commercial. and that has always been part of our comprehensive plan. That is accurate. Some of the concerns that were brought up during the public comment were, one, generosity and partnership with the community, and so I want to make sure that that gets addressed, as well as... I'D ALSO LIKE TO HEAR FROM WALMART REGARDING THE TRUCK TRAFFIC AND WHERE THAT CAN GO IN OR OUT. NOT NECESSARILY THE TIMES OF DAY. WE ACTUALLY DO HAVE AN ORDINANCE IN PLACE IN MOIQUI THAT GUIDES LOADING AND UNLOADING HOURS. SO IF THERE WERE EVER AN ISSUE, YOU WOULD REVISIT THAT. SO I THINK THAT ONE HAS ALREADY BEEN ADDRESSED THROUGH CITY ACTUAL ORDINANCES. But in terms of truck traffic, the truck route out of the facility and through the community and then the partnership with the community, I think we'd like to hear that addressed.

Introduce Lisa Nelson to you right now from Walmart. Thank you.

Perfect. Can you stay on?

Thank you. I had prepared some remarks, and I have to apologize, and I appreciate that we're here tonight. I did hear that you were disappointed at the last meeting we weren't here. This is a developer-led project, so we are here tonight, and we also have another Walmart leader here that can probably address some of your operations issues maybe a little bit better than I can. My name is Lisa Nelson. I'm with Walmart Public Affairs. I actually cover Iowa. I cover the upper Midwest, and I live in Wisconsin, if that matters to anybody. I know Jason, Bill, and the development engineering teams have been working closely with all of you on this project for some time. And this, as I said, is a developer-led project. So I'm here tonight not to repeat any part of their presentation. and not to be an expert in the development or engineering of this project. But I'm here because at the last meeting, you did request that someone from Walmart be here. So hopefully I can answer some of your questions. If I can't, maybe our operations leader can. And if not, we'll get the answers to questions that we don't have the answers to. So A big part of my job is working with communities across Iowa and the Midwest where Walmart operates. I spend a lot of time with local officials and community organizations. And one thing that I've learned is that every community is different. Our job isn't to tell you what we think you need, but for you to tell us what you think you need. So let me start with one of the questions that came up at the last meeting that was just discussed here. Why here? Why in Waukee? I wasn't part of the real estate team that evaluated and selected this particular site. So I don't want to speculate about every factor that goes into that. What I can tell you is that we have an exceptional team of real estate professionals who evaluate potential locations. And we have many real estate brokers and developers and owners that come to us with proposals. And then there's a pretty rigorous process that those sites go through to determine whether or not they are good for a Walmart development. and if they'll serve our customers. There are some things about Waukee that are pretty straightforward, and as I was driving in here today, you could see that. This is a growing community, and it's really nice. It's an established commercial area. It's zoned properly, so I think the developer and their team have done a really great job on their end. We don't currently have a store in Waukee, but we know we have customers in Waukee, and we want to serve those customers as close to them as we can. So there isn't an opportunity for us to bring our business closer to customers here in Waukee. And ultimately, the reason we build stores is to serve customers. So right now, families are paying attention to what groceries cost and what everyday essentials cost. And we want to give Waukee families that opportunity here so they can save money on the things that they buy as well. That's really at the heart of what we do. Helping people save money to live better. And I think I get a point every time I say save money, live better. That's our slogan. It's our mission. It's what we do at Walmart every day. You had asked what this would mean in terms of jobs. So based on what we know today, we would expect a Waukee Supercenter to create about 250 to 300 jobs. Those aren't all the same kinds of jobs, of course. There's a mix of full-time and part-time folks and a wide range of opportunities from someone at their first job or their last job, maybe a part-time job, to skilled positions like pharmacists and automotive folks, department leadership and store managers. There are a lot of salaried folks inside of a Walmart store. you might not be aware of. Approximately two-thirds of our hourly store rolls are full-time, about two-thirds. That depends on the market and the availability, of course, of the workforce. And you also asked about wages in Iowa. So our average hourly wage in Iowa is $18.73, which compared to other states is pretty good. But I think we need to talk a little bit more than just the wage. Eligible Walmart associates have access to benefits that a lot of Fortune 50 companies have access to. So we have health and wellness benefits. We have 401k with a company match. We have an associate stock purchase plan. We have paid time off. We have associate discounts and education and career development opportunities. We have many associates actually that can get a college degree for free. Many of them sign up. We have an online program and we have, I'm not sure of what the number is of how many have completed the program, but there's many in all of our states that have taken advantage of those partnerships we've created for our associates to get a full-time or to get a college degree. And one thing I'm really proud of is the opportunity people have to build a career at Walmart. You heard someone who is here with 21 years of experience. I just had my 20-year anniversary last year. It's not unusual to go into a Walmart store and meet people with 20, 30, even 35 years at Walmart. And that's because they're treated well. They get great benefits. And they're like families in these stores. I mean, it is actually... It's amazing. The folks that work at Walmart, we have such a strong culture at our company. People love working for Walmart. You asked about store hours. I heard that question come up. Our anticipated customer-facing hours are 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. That's pretty standard. I think you allow 24 hour operations, but since COVID, we don't have any stores operating 24 hours because we're doing other things in that last shift. We're doing a lot of stocking, a lot of cleaning we weren't doing before, et cetera. And we can establish those final hours and we can work with you on that. There was also a question about truck deliveries. And that was the last question I think that was asked. I know that's really important because there are homes that are near the site. They are further than I thought they were when I saw the map, but nevertheless, traffic is a concern. Deliveries need to occur as necessary as possible. to keep the store supplied, particularly when we're talking about fresh groceries and everyday essentials. Timing can be based on operational needs, seasonal demand, weather, and transportation conditions. We operate thousands of stores, including stores in communities throughout Iowa, and we have a great deal of experience managing our deliveries. We also control our fleet, and this was something we talked about just before this meeting. is our trucks come into our store. We can control that somewhat. So if there is concern, there is some control that we have over that. There are also direct deliveries that come to the store and they are local deliveries. So those ones are usually the first ones of the day. Those are your bread and your milk and those products, they come every day. And then your Walmart truck might be once a day, very seldom in the middle of the night. But that is something we can control. So you can work with us on that. I wanna acknowledge the people that live near the site. If you're gonna live next to a new development, questions about traffic, lighting, deliveries, all these things will affect your daily life. They aren't theoretical to you because you live right there and they're legitimate concerns. And we take very seriously our responsibility to you as our neighbor. And the site has been designed to safely accommodate that truck circulation, the loading and unloading to minimize that conflict with our neighbors. And when there are more technical questions about traffic, noise, landscaping, and design, we have the appropriate professionals within our company and also right here that can help address those things here in the front end. And finally, you asked a question I think is as important as the operational questions is what kind of partner will we be? Well, our goal is not just to open a store. Our goal is to become part of Waukee. And When you look at the areas where we operate, you will usually find people that are within our organization on the chamber board, involved in Rotary, involved in Feeding America. That's a very popular one. Junior Achievement is very popular among our store managers. And I don't want to tell you what you need as a community, but what you have here and what your needs are, those are where our associates and our things, our giving programs are going to be focused. As the store gets closer to opening and local leadership begins building relationships with schools and nonprofits, Your food security organizations, you might know that food insecurity is one of our signature focuses. And where we need to volunteer, where our folks, where our interest is, because the people that work at the store, they're going to come from around this community. And they're going to know and they're going to want our store to be supporting the things that they're involved with in their community. And that will reflect the priorities of the community as well. The specific question about the Waukee Area Chamber of Commerce, we welcome the opportunity to engage. Like I said, many of our store managers are already on the boards of their local chamber of commerce's. We have many that have been chairs of their local chambers. And that's really the relationship that the community and the chamber build with those leaders within the store. And I think you will be impressed actually. And the larger point that I would leave you with tonight, and I know I'm over three minutes, is that if this is approved, Walmart isn't simply putting just a building at Hickman and Alice's Road. We are going to be employing hundreds of people. We're going to be serving families. We're going to be contributing to the local economy, the tax base, and we'd be establishing a presence in Waukee that we expect to be here for a long time. Waukee is one of the communities that I'm responsible for covering Iowa. So you can have my phone number and you can call me today, tomorrow, or next year. I'll probably be with Walmart, as you said you will for a while. So we hope to have a great relationship with you. And if I might, I would like to answer just one of the questions about the education grant, because that was interesting to me. We do have a very focused education grant program. We provide local grants of $250 to $5,000. It's called the Spark Good program. The difference is that our programs go to schools, not individuals. So you have to apply as a school and there's a registry that a school can apply for on our Spark Good registry and that school fills it out and then the store usually fulfills those requests. And that's a very popular program. And also, I looked up the RV parking. RV parking is not allowed in Waukee, I believe. I looked that up just before I got up here.

It's not. I think one of the questions was, is overnight parking permitted at the facility?

Do you mean for us or for RVs?

No, not for RVs. Is anyone allowed to park overnight?

Typically not, but it depends. I don't think so. I mean, does anyone know?

It really depends because our association is parked in one area, but it could be a car sitting there. We'll notice it and then make contact with whoever owns it. And if we can't make contact, we'll call the police immediately.

I apologize for my lengthy comments, but if you have any other questions, I can try to answer them.

At least I do have a couple more questions wrapped around the community service aspect, and you'd mentioned the chamber, which is great. A few of the organizations that are kind of pivotal in our community is Waypoint Resources. You talked about food insecurity. We've got a lot of businesses that will donate food to Waypoint. So I think if it passes tonight, as you're considering these, Waypoint Resources needs to be on that list as well. Appreciate the... support of the Rotary as well. We also have an organization called Herda, which is a transportation company here in Dallas County. And I would think that not only employees, but also customers would want to use those services to get to the store and back. So as you're looking at some of these things, again, if it passes tonight, I think Herda needs to be on that list as well.

And we certainly would take feedback from any of the council members or community members that might be listening. Our leadership, our leaders at that store will really lead that process as we go forward. But certainly not without input. We want your input.

I do have a couple of additional questions that I'm sure other people do as well. And this might be more of an Andy question.

There he is.

Lost you in the crowd. It's okay. It doesn't usually happen. We normally get six people total. One, do we have the ability to kind of be very careful and very thoughtful about where we place the tree plantings that are required in order to make sure we continue to provide buffering to adjacent property owners? That's the first question. And then number two, I believe you talked about last time the fact that the light plan had been put in place to minimize light pollution to the nearby. Can you talk about both of those things, please?

Sure. Yeah, so to answer your first question, Mayor Clark, we could certainly, what I would envision is, again, because there is a significant amount of existing vegetation out there, you know, it certainly could, you know, during the construction of the store, maybe some additional has to get, you know, removed, or maybe we need to adjust, you know, these plantings that are shown here on this site plan, you know, they're all in a nice straight row, but You know, we might have some areas where we've got some really large pockets of good, you know, mature trees. You know, do we need to kind of fill in some of those areas where maybe there's not as many existing mature trees? So certainly that's something that staff can work with. The development team, their engineer, their landscape architects on, you know, do we need to adjust some of those plantings? We don't want to certainly reduce the quantity, but we want to make sure that we're putting them in the right spot where we think they'll be more effective or be the most effective, I should say.

And then light plan?

Yeah, so photometric plan was submitted as part of this site plan package. Obviously, you know, City staff doesn't want to be fielding calls, you know, regarding, you know, light trespass and things like that. So one of the things that we made sure of, well, that we make sure of with every commercial site is, you know, we get a photometric plan that demonstrates compliance with the site plan ordinance. And I can tell you this photometric plan does demonstrate compliance with the site plan ordinance and the proposed fixtures also demonstrate compliance with those requirements. So they're full cutoff fixtures. There's no UPLIGHTING, THINGS LIKE THAT. SO THE FOOT CANDLE MEASUREMENTS AT THE PROPERTY LINE, PARTICULARLY ON THE NORTH AND THE WEST SIDE, THERE'S NOTHING AT THOSE JOINT PROPERTY LINES.

NEW SPEAKER.

I HAD A QUESTION FOR LISA OR JEFF IN REGARDS AGAIN TO THE COMMUNITY SERVICE PART OF IT. As one of the ladies that came and spoke and said that she was denied some donations, can you give me some examples of what you do within the actual local community rather than nationwide or a regional program that the money is coming back right to Waukee?

So we operate one of the largest foundations in the world and we operate in many countries. But what's most important is the community giving that we give in the communities that we call home. And a lot of those most of those decisions are made at the store level. And so their budget reflects the sales in that store. We give at the local level. We give at the regional level. We give at the big foundation level. And we have Pillars of Giving, and you can look those up on our website. If you look up walmartstores.com, that's our corporate website. There's a whole foundation report and it kind of outlines kind of where those dollars are going to. So it's a really good roadmap to see what kinds of organizations Walmart might be interested in funding. Certainly education is one of them. We heavily invest in veterans organizations. Food insecurity is a major focus for us. But of course, community, building community capacity with nonprofits that help your community grow homeless shelters. Sustainability is still a focus where if you're looking at programs that help educate kids on recycling, on waste, on all of those things. I mean, it's pretty broad, but I would say that you'll be very, I think you'll be impressed with the amount of giving that the store does in the community. And again, those decisions are made at the local level. So, and the process, you know, you go into the customer service desk and you talk to the store manager usually, or sometimes they designate someone in the store to be the liaison for community giving. And then you fill out an application. Not every single thing gets funded at the store level. But, you know, lots of Boy Scouts, lots of fire departments, lots of police departments, Those relationships are really important to us. I heard some concern about safety at our stores. We design the store to be safe from the lighting to the architecture to the space in the aisles. We have award-winning AP teams, asset protection teams that work in those stores. And if you talk to police departments where we have stores, you'll find that we have strong relationships and work with police departments.

Thank you. Other questions?

I have several. Yeah, go for it.

That's why you were waiting.

Oh, yes. I mean, that's my... And I apologize. My voice is probably going to cut out. I don't normally sound like I... Don't have a voice, but sorry. One of my questions is the ownership entity for this store. Will that be the same? I don't know who to direct my question to, but will that be the same ownership as other stores in the Des Moines metro area? Or is this, will it be different? Because a lot of times once the store is constructed, it's transferred to a different LLC or a different entity. So I just want to kind of have an understanding of that. Yeah.

mayor and members of the council, orange development, LLC will be the owner of the property. Um, you know, that's Jason price. He's here tonight and he's, he'd be the sole owner of this particular property. Sure.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um, one of the, I have a few technical questions. I'll, I'll try not to ask those while you're up here, if you don't mind, um, sticking around, but, um, So one of the questions I'm not sure that we got a direct answer to, or perhaps I missed it, was specifically what market research was done as to why this location in Waukee in particular was selected. Not just, we know Waukee is great, but what was the research done and what did that research result in that resulted in this particular selection?

Well, it would dovetail with the answer that I gave before that at this location, that this is, with the infrastructure in place, that this made it the right place for Walmart to be successful at this location. It's also an analysis of you know, where their other stores are and where they would want to be situated in order to accommodate. I think it's within Walmart's analysis within a particular area, three or more miles distant from another store. That is what went into the analysis. But obviously, you know, a store like this, a store this size, You need the infrastructure in place. So we know that the growth is there. We know based upon where the other stores are located, like in West Des Moines and so forth, that this made good sense for it to be there. I don't know that there was any more detailed analysis than that.

Lisa mentioned that you knew that you had Waukee customers right now. How do you know that? How do you track that? Can you give us a little background as to that?

So again, I wasn't involved in the very beginning, but I will say that the real estate team, when they look at a site, they spent some time with Jason and Dan and drove the area. They looked at the market. They looked at the traffic. They looked at the traffic counts. They looked at the studies. And then they can look at a number called leakage, which is like customers that are leaving here from the zip code to go. And I don't even know if this is a different zip code. It is. So they can look at the leakage analysis going to our other stores, and then they can see who are our customers already in this area. And that information is all proprietary, but I know that that's one of the factors that they may have looked at is, and I don't know that for this site. Again, I wasn't involved in that, but that may be one of the elements that they looked at to see what our existing customer base was right here that's already driving somewhere else.

Okay, and then I have technical questions. A little bit more technical questions. Under the current zoning that we have, I'll lose my voice completely soon, sorry. Outdoor storage is not permitted under the zoning, correct? Or it is permitted? Or if it is, can you tell us what exactly that entails?

Outdoor storage is not permitted in the commercial zoning districts. Outdoor storage is permitted in our industrial districts. That's why there's a pretty substantially sized enclosure on the north side of the property where you would store your garbage dumpsters, your recycling, any tire storage from the auto center would have to be stored within some sort of enclosure. Okay.

And like pallets, things like that?

Correct.

Okay.

And then overnight parking was addressed, I believe, as it pertains to vehicles. But what about semi tractors and trailers, things like that, that permitted at this location? shaking heads no okay okay that is not that's not allowed okay um let me just make sure okay and then trucks departing as far as truck route I don't I'm not sure that was directly answered also could we get some more probably not you Andy sorry um but some more information on where the these trucks would be routed after they leave your store yeah do you want to take that question Joseph or is there someone else from the team

Thank you all for having me. Joseph Parsley, Cross Consulting Engineers, 76E8 Ledgestone Commons, Bartlett, Tennessee. Walmart has a fleet safety program that manages all their truck deliveries and will determine the actual routes. I don't know the exact route tonight, but I can tell you what's special about this store. This is not a prototypical Walmart supercenter. Typically, you would have two different truck docks. You have one here. Typically, you have one facing this direction towards the residential homes. This door was designed to put all of the docks to the west side of the building. So there's no docks pointing to the east side. Like I said, that's a prototypical super center. So this one's a little special where we've separated all the truck traffic away from any of the residential buildings. I pressed the wrong button here, sorry. So all the trucks would be isolated here and leaving here. There's no trucks that would come over this side towards those residential lots. So it's a little bit special on this site here.

They wouldn't be staged there. I guess they're waiting for docks. Our company delivers to Walmart all the time at a variety of different hours. So I know we've staged and Pretty interesting areas waiting for a dock to open up. So how do you plan to have that?

Well, now, if you're talking about, like, Lays or Doritos, some of those box trucks do park behind the building. But all the semi-trucks will be entering this drive here. Oh, I did it, Andy. Sorry.

Allergy gets us all.

Perfect. Thank you. But yes, all of them will be entering in this drive, and this is a truck spin right here where they spin around and back up into the docks here. There's five different bays, so plenty of bays for any semi-truck deliveries.

And you'll have, I asked this last time, but I don't know if I got an answer or not. Will you have signage for the semi-tractors so they know where they're supposed to go?

We've got no truck signs past this point. You know, I'm sorry, my hand is shaking a little bit, but we've got signage saying don't go this way. Here's where you got to go. Okay.

And as far as hours for semi-deliveries, yes. I know that we've scheduled deliveries for like two in the morning, six in the morning at Walmarts around the Metro area before. What is your plan for restricting semi-traffic during overnight hours?

Do you want to talk about the just regular delivery at one of our nearby stores?

So normally we get deliveries 24-7. But we do have restrictions in Jordan Creek, one of the cities. They cannot deliver before 5 a.m. So we have that set up with our fleet where they will not deliver certain trucks before 5 a.m. Most of the GM trucks or grocery will arrive before 10 p.m. Frozen berries, it could arrive from 7 p.m. or 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 10 p.m. So with the truck delivery process, it's 100% controllable by our fleet. So I wouldn't have a concern with those. When it comes to DSD deliveries, I'm sure there's a DSD door at the back corner where we'll have same trucks who deliver at Hy-Vee come up with their trailers, unload their product, come and get checked in. That normally starts at 4 or 5 a.m. So it's usually contained during normal hours.

And so are, Brad, do you want to speak to? Yeah, local deliveries. Yeah. Brad, do you want to speak? Yeah, yeah.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to remind the City Council, we do have a noise ordinance in place for the City of Waukee. It explicitly states that loading and unloading between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. is restricted. Obviously, those are going to occur, but if it is a an instance where we receive a complaint, obviously that's when we're addressing those. We're certainly not out looking for those much like we're not out looking for kids in the streets, but if it is an issue, then we do have the mechanisms in place to resolve that.

What is the process? I was just saying, what is the process if we did want to work with your fleet, like locally, who do we reach out to? Or like, what's that process?

If we receive a complaint about trucks unloading in times they should not. Or just before a complaint. To be clear, our staff does this all the time. I mean, works with, we've had issues, right, where we've worked with other retailers in terms of their, you know, so we're familiar. But go ahead.

Just truly contacting the store. I'm a store manager, so just contact the store, ask for the store manager, and then we'll work. with if it's our fleet it's easier if it's a direct store delivery we have to work with their hierarchy but it's pretty easy to get it fixed and put a fix in place and i do have an additional question um my only other question was probably more so for the council here um so regarding the landscaping buffer we've talked about that

at length. There's still some concern about whether additional buffering like wall or anything else would help. Personally, I don't see that a wall would be beneficial in this particular instance. My question for council is, there's plenty of room here, especially on the north side. I mean, they're in the northeast corner. Does anyone have an issue with requiring additional landscaping buffer above the 30 feet?

Well, we already have I mean, I think we're at like 130 feet from the property line, right? And then we're, because we're already like five times the minimum. I know from last time, you didn't specifically cite that number this time.

But that's just the trees that are there now. There's nothing to bind them to.

There are additional trees that are being required. And I think what I got to earlier, what I was trying to get to is, can we be very specific about where those are placed so that we help block off? Which I think we should absolutely require that we want to be very thoughtful around where those go and help. mitigate some of the winter foliage loss issue that has been mentioned a couple of times.

Location and type of tree?

Yeah. We also had a concern about them dying and being able to replace them years after because they don't always die the first year.

Make sure they're maintained. Absolutely. Go ahead.

Two things to address there. First of all, as indicated, there is a 30-foot landscape buffer requirement along the entire north property line. We do know, based upon the land use plan that's in place for the city of Clive to the north for the remaining vacant property that sits to the west of the existing single-family homes, That is a combination of commercial ground closer towards Alice's Road and multifamily residential directly adjacent to the current single family. Obviously, that's a land use plan. There's been no plans that I'm aware of in the city of Clive that have been approved. My point in saying that is we absolutely can be very strategic when it comes to those plantings. Yes, the goal is obviously to have a landscape buffer, but in those areas that maybe don't need it because of that land use and or because of the existing tree cover, we can work with the developer in strategically placing those trees. So the idea being is it very well may be that in portions of that landscape buffer, it's a much heavier presence of trees. And in those areas where it doesn't make as much sense or there's existing vegetation that doesn't trees, if you will, from there and putting there. This is the last thing that was just brought up to compliance. That is absolutely on city staff. So again, we have a limited staff. So I wouldn't say that our co-compliance department is out. taking an annual inventory. Our planning department of three is taking an annual inventory every single commercial site in Waukee. However, if we do receive a complaint, we will address that complaint. The site plan ordinance does require compliance with all vegetation that it remaining place consistent with the approved site plan.

Okay. Okay. You have additional questions?

I do. And this is is mainly comments for Lisa. Okay. Lisa, you asked us to tell us what it is that you think that we need. And I'm not going to speak for the rest of the council, but I'm just going to speak for myself in terms of what we need. We need good neighbors who are going to contribute to Waukee in big ways. We need people who are going to support our community. We need businesses that are gonna support our community. If we have teachers who come to you with needs, filling out an application for a foundation request is not practical. For a teacher who needs cookies for her classroom tomorrow, that's not a practical idea. So that to me is not really being supportive of the community and we need to have that. We need to have jobs that have an hourly wage that allows people a living wage that they can live by so that they don't end up on public assistance in our community. We need people who can live and work in our community, both. We need partners who can maintain beautiful facilities so that 10 or 15 or 20 years down the road, things don't start to degrade and get ignored. We need to make sure that our facilities in Waukee look as beautiful as we would expect them to. So we need partners to do that with us. We need truck routes that are not disruptive to the rest of the city in terms of getting around our city. We need deliveries that do not disrupt our residents at odd hours of the day and of the night. We need to make sure that we're not putting a strain on our police department. because of things that may happen around the area. We need you to contribute to Waypoint Resources and HRDA as Councilman Grove suggested earlier. We need to have good partners in our community and In my mind, this isn't a great location for this store. I'm not saying that we don't want you in Waukee because I think we do want to have a Walmart in Waukee for sure. I just don't think this is a great location.

Do you would like to respond? That's a lot.

And I know that's a lot. All of the things that you want are things that we want too. So I think it's a great partnership. It's a great opportunity for a partnership. We can only be successful at our company if we can build trust. And the only way we build trust is to is to honor the commitments that we make, have our leaders have great relationships with the city, and to honor our end of what we're trying to build as a company, and that's trust. So the customers trust us to help them save money and live better. Communities trust us that we're going to be there if you need us. And our communities are made better by the things that we do as a company. So I think what you've just outlined are things that we want to

Any final questions?

One other thing that I forgot to mention, Target's hours are 8 to 10 o'clock. Their store hours are 8 to 10. So I would expect something very, very similar to that.

I think there's... If this passes, additional guidance required around truck traffic, tree plantings, hours are going to be part of the conversations going forward, will need to be part of the conversations going forward. Any other?

What do you want that to look like? Just following up with that, what do you want?

Yeah, and that we would expect Walmart to be an active partner in those conversations and very receptive to that.

Great.

like that. Please vote. Council member Grove?

Yes.

Council member Crone?

Yes.

Council member Anderson? No. Council member Lyon? No. Council member Pierce?

Yes. With that, I do want to comment that your concerns have been heard. This is a multi-step process. This business is in line with the zoning that is per our comprehensive plan. However, that does not necessarily mean that that's where it ends. And this is an ongoing conversation about how do we make sure that they are a good partner going forward. Item I-5, Fox Valley Plat 2, I-5A, consideration of approval of a resolution approving final plat.

Move to approve.

Second. We're going to maybe give a minute.

Yep, take a pause while the room empties out.

Still some good stuff here.

Okay. All right. If you're going to socialize, please do so out in the hallway. Thank you. Consideration of approval of a resolution. You weren't the only one. Approving final plat. Can I get a motion?

The motion was already made.

You're right. I was waiting to have anybody speak on it until we had some quiet. So sorry about that. Melissa.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The owner and applicant is Element 119. The property is located south of Meredith Drive and west of Warrior Lane. It contains just a little over 16 acres in area. It is outlined in blue on the screen. The property is zoned R2 1 and 2 Family Residential District and R2 1 and 2 Family Residential District with a planned development overlay. The final plot includes 54 lots for single-family residential. All lots meter exceed the minimum requirements of the two different zoning districts. Several extensions to existing public streets are included with the plot. A 10-foot-wide trail will be provided along the south side of Northwest Hillside Boulevard. And let me zoom in just so you can see it. Oh, sorry, it's all broken up in here. But it is the main kind of the east-west street that runs through here. So there will be a trail on one side of that. And then all other sides of all streets will include five foot wide sidewalks with individual lot development. Public utilities will be provided to each lot. Stormwater detention will be provided within a detention basin located offsite to the west. Parkland dedication requirements will be met with future phases of the Fox Valley development, which will be located to the west. And staff recommends approval of the final plot. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Other questions? Mm-hmm. Please vote. Council Member Anderson.

Yes.

Council Member Grove. Yes. Council Member Pierce. Yes. Council Member Lyon.

Yes.

Council Member Crone.

Yes. Item I-5B, consideration of approval of resolution accepting public improvements.

Can I get a motion?

Move to approve.

Second. The public improvements have been completed and staff recommends approval of accepting the public improvements. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions?

Please vote. Council Member Crone?

Yes.

Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson?

Yes.

Council Member Lyon?

Yes.

Council Member Pierce? Yes.

Item I-6 for Hamilton Ridge Flat 2. I-6A, consideration of approval of a resolution approving final plat. Can I get a motion?

Move to approve. Second.

Second. Melissa? The owner is Landmark Development Services. The applicant is Hamilton Ridge, LLC. This property is located south of Ashworth Road and west of U Avenue. It contains 5.29 acres. It is outlined in blue on the screen. The property is zoned R1, single-family residential. The final plot includes seven lots for single family residential development. All lots meet or exceed the minimum requirements. The final plot also includes one out lot, which is adjacent to Ashworth Road. That will be owned and maintained by the Homeowners Association. The plot includes one street off of Ashworth Road. A five-foot-wide sidewalk will be provided along the south side of Ashworth. A five-foot-wide sidewalk will also be provided adjacent to all the lots within that development. Parkland education requirements have been met with previous phases of the Hamilton Ridge development. And then staff recommends approval of the final plot, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions?

Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Pierce? Yes. Council Member Crone?

Yes.

Council Member Lyon?

Yes. Item I6B, consideration of approval of a resolution accepting public improvements. Move to approve. Second.

The public improvements have been completed and staff recommends approval of recommending approval of accepting the public improvements. Any discussion?

Please vote. Council Member Anderson.

Yes.

Council Member Crone.

Yes.

Council Member Pierce.

Yes.

Council Member Lyon.

Yes.

Council Member Grove. Yes.

Item I-7 for Indy Run Plat 8. I-7A, consideration of approval of a resolution approving final plat. Can I get a motion? Move to approve.

Second. Second. The owner and applicant is Indy Run West LLC. This property is located north of Hickman Road and east of Northwest 2nd Street. It contains 8.65 acres. It is zoned R2 one and two family residential district. The final plot includes 23 lots. Six lots are for duplex residential and 17 lots for single family residential. All lots meet or exceed the minimum requirements of the R2 zoning district. The plat includes the missing section of Northwest Sunrise Drive, which is between Northwest, or sorry, North Warrior Lane and Northwest 10th Street. This plat also includes extensions to two existing streets. Public utilities will be provided to each lot. Stormwater detention will be provided in an existing detention basin, which is located a little to the east of that. And parkland dedication requirements have been met with other phases of the Indy Run development. So I recommend approval of the final plat, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Any discussion?

Please vote. Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Anderson?

Yes.

Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Lyon?

Yes.

Council Member Pierce?

Yes. NMI 7B, consideration of approval of a resolution accepting public improvements.

Move to approve.

Second. Again, the public improvements have been completed and staff recommends approval of accepting the public improvements.

Thank you.

Any questions? Please vote. Council Member Grove.

Yes.

Council Member Crone. Yes. Council Member Pierce.

Yes.

Council Member Lyon.

Yes.

Council Member Anderson.

Yes. Item I-8, consideration of approval of a resolution approving site plan for Joaquin Mid-American substation at 2593 with West Hickman.

Move to approve.

Second. Second.

The owner is MidAmerican Energy Company. The applicant is Parr Electrical Contractors, LLC. This property is located north of West Hickman Road and West and Northwest 20th Street. It contains 2.49 acres. It is outlined in red on the screen. This property is surrounded by Apple. The property is zoned M1 Light Industrial District with a planned development overlay. The applicant recently received a variance from the Board of Adjustment to install a wall and or fence up to 10 feet in height surrounding the substation. Per the M1 ordinance, you can have up to 8 foot tall fence, so they did need to get a variance to get to that 10 feet that they were wanting. The plans include a new substation for Mid-American Energy. Again, a 10-foot wall will be provided along the south side adjacent to Hickman. So the south side will be a wall, and then the remaining three sides will be a 10-foot tall fence. The proposed fence that they are showing on the plan includes barbed wire, which by our city code is not allowed unless they ask for approval from city council. So they're asking you guys of that tonight for approval of the barbed wire because per the city code, they can ask for approval. And if they get approved by city council, that's how they can have it. The applicant has mentioned that the barbed wire is necessary for the use that they're proposing for security and safety purposes. Yeah. Access to the site will be provided with an existing access drive off of Hickman. A 50-foot wide landscape buffer will be provided adjacent to Hickman. And I think I have a site or a landscape plan in here that shows that. Yes, so that shows all the plantings that they're proposing. And the site plan also includes lighting as necessary by MidAmerican to provide security and safety as well. Staff recommends approval of the site plan, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Questions? Do we know how much taller with the barbed wire in addition to the 10 feet?

It'll be 10 feet at the tallest height with the barbed wire. With the barbed wire.

Are there issues with people climbing the fence to get into a type of facility like this?

Go ahead. I think that is their concern, is they want to keep people out, obviously, based on what it is. But I'm not sure as far as what issues they've had in the past on that.

Is this a typical use across their other substations?

As far as the wire? Yeah. So one of the other ones over by the Waukee High School, they have some sort of wire. I'm not sure if it's actually barbed wire, but there is some wire at the top. And I believe the one along Alice's Road also has something.

That's my question is why I was in place at the other substations. I'm not a huge fan of barbed wire. It causes a lot more harm than good and caused a lot of harm to animals in particular that have no idea what they're doing and are just trying to get home. It's unnecessary. I get the liability standpoint. I've also read the lawsuits. I understand that they are responsible for anyone that trespasses onto their property and gets hurt. I get that, but they can handle that on their own. They can have a 10 foot wall. Having barbed wire on doesn't look good. No, it's very tacky. It looks like a jail. It does not look good. But also, it causes a lot of harm. So I'm not a fan of that. And I would like to know what the other substations have in place. Not that that actually matters that much, because this is our decision to make based on what we feel is correct going forward. But I think that they can accomplish the same goal without causing more harm and creating something that looks even more aesthetically terrible than 10-foot wall already does.

Is the desire to get a response from MidAmerican before moving forward on this, or do you feel like you could provide a response? Is that why you moved up?

Ryan Hartsey with Civil Design Advantage, 4121 Northwest, Urbandale Drive, Urbandale, Iowa, civil engineer on behalf of the Project for Power Electric and MidAmerican Energy. So when the original site plan came to the city, it was proposed to have an eight-foot chain link fence with the security barbed wire on top of it on three sides. Staff had concerns with that, with visibilities from public right-of-way. This is a distribution substation for Waukee residents. It's not part of any of the other infrastructure internal to the Apple campus. Staff's concern with views from the right-of-way is mitigated because of the precast wall. One of the reasons for the variance is with an eight-foot wall being maximum height in the industrial district, the 10-foot tall wall on the precast side, it eliminates that anti-climb measure. And that's what's the public-facing side on the south side of the substation. It's also enclosed within the Apple campus, so it has a very dense and large berming and landscape buffering that's going to be around the perimeter of that entire square mile once that site's fully built out. And this project will build that section to the south where the trail goes along. Barbed wire is really needed from a security perspective just to keep If someone were to try to enter that substation, it's very high voltage electricity. It's very dangerous. So as a part of their security measurements, it's a requirement for the utility.

I was a little bit confused by the comments you just made. Around the 10-foot precast wall is what faces the trail? That's correct. So this is looking at barbed wire on the other three sides?

That's correct.

On top of an eight-foot chain? Okay.

What questions? It won't really be visible. I'm not sure I fully understand that design. Why only three sides? Is that your question? No, he just said 10 foot. I just asked about 10 foot wall height.

On the side facing Hickman Road. Okay. And that will not have barbed wire on the top of one? Not on the first.

And then the rest would be eight foot. with barbed wire on the other side. Okay, thank you.

So what are the other options? I think was the question I heard. What are the other options as opposed to barbed wire?

I would have to regroup with Meta-American Energy on what other security measures they would have. It would likely be some continuation of a precast or some other wall material around the rest of the wall. There is a cost factor associated with that, and ultimately the rate payers in the city pay for cost increases for the utility. So it is a factor in the design.

I think what I am hearing are concerns about the barbed wire. So if it would be an option to provide different analyses different options along with, you know, your analysis of pros and cons or mid-Americans analysis, pros and cons, that would be, I think, preferred by council before they take a vote. Is that a fair statement? Yep.

Yeah.

Okay. I make a motion that I withdraw my first motion and we table it.

I don't normally do that. So yes. Theoretically if, I'm hearing it would be a potentially split vote, potentially no, if we move forward on this tonight. So it would probably be best for Men in American if they came back with some options. So we're going to get a motion to table, which Lori has now put in place. And we table to the next voting meeting, which will be September 21st. Yes, Becky. Okay. And so can I get a second on that?

Second. Is that acceptable? I appreciate your time.

Any final discussion or recommendations to?

Nope. No. If we could see multiple options other than just eight foot and barbed wire or a precast wall.

We do have a work session next Monday. If those options could be to us by that work session. Otherwise, this is not like a voting meeting is not the time to consider multiple options. So if we could get this by next Monday, that would be preferred. All right. Please vote.

Council Member Lyon. The motion is to table.

Yes, to table. Yes.

Council Member Grove.

Yes. Thank you.

Council Member Crone.

Yes.

Council Member Pierce.

Yes.

Council Member Anderson.

Yes. All right. Item I-9, consideration of approval of a resolution approving site plan for Keytown Loop at R2 Building at 2886 Grand Prairie Parkway. Can I get a motion?

I do approve. Second.

Second.

The owner and applicant is the quarter at Waukee LLC. The property is located north of Ashworth Road and west of Grand Prairie Parkway. It contains 1.42 acres. It is outlined in red on the screen. The property is zoned K-RR Kettlestone Retail Regional District with the plan development overlay. Let me go to the next slide here. This is the site plan or the landscape plan. The project includes a two-story multi-tenant building. The building is just over 20,000 square feet in area and 32 feet in height. The building footprint is just under 11,000 square feet. The building is proposed to include multiple tenant spaces and include several different users, including restaurants, a bar, a cigar lounge, retail, and office. A trash enclosure will be provided just west of the building. Access to the site will be provided with the shared access drives within the overall Keytown Loop development. A 10-foot-wide trail exists along the east side of Southeast Parkview Crossing Drive, which is located just to the west. A sidewalk will be provided into the site from that trail. Parking and landscaping requirements are being met. All utilities are provided to the site. Stormwater management is provided with the existing pond, which is located to the southwest. It's a large pond on the screen here. The building elevations.

So here's some renderings.

The building elevations are proposed to be constructed mostly of brick, architectural metal panels, and storefront system. And then the trash enclosure will be constructed of the same brick to match the building. I think that's it. Staff recommends approval of the site plan, and I would be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions?

Please vote. Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Lyon? Yes. Council Member Pierce?

Yes.

Council Member Anderson?

Yes.

Her voice is cracking me up. I'm sorry.

I10B, consideration of approval of a resolution approving randomized site plan. Can I get a motion? Move to approve. Second.

Melissa?

Okay, we're on 10A, right? 10A and B, okay. So this is a revised final plot for Alder Point Plat 2 and a revised site plan for Alder Point Retail. The owner is Boysen Properties, LLC, and the applicant is Alder Partners, LLC. The property is located south of Northwest Douglas Parkway and west of Northwest 10th Street and contains 4.37 acres. It is outlined in red on the screen. It is zone C-1A neighborhood commercial district and R4 road dwelling and townhome dwelling district. The R4 portion is really just the access drive from the west into the site. A final plat and site plan were originally approved for the site by city council in May of 2025. No improvements have been made and the applicant is now requesting a revised final site plan for commercial development. Okay, next.

Thank you.

Motion to approve. Second. I don't have anything further to add, but I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Any questions other than Anna?

All right.

Please vote. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Lyon?

Yes.

Council Member Crone? Yes. Council Member Pierce?

Yes. Council Member Grove?

Yes.

Item J, reports.

Brad. Thank you, Mary. Just a couple items for you tonight. First of all, originally it was scheduled that the bridge over Ute Avenue was closed today for approximately a four-week period to do some repair. They have delayed that until this Friday, so September 11th now, beginning at 7 a.m., the bridge over Interstate 80 will be closed at Ute Avenue. And then secondly... As most of you are aware, we are hosting, in coordination with the Chamber of Commerce, our annual economic development bus tour this Thursday. Hope to see many of you there. It is sold out, so if you didn't sign up, we'll wait for next year, I guess.

We just follow the bus around. There you go.

And part of that is our limitation. Narrate on your own. We do quickly run out of bus captains, if you will. So we have restricted that to four buses this year.

You don't all volunteer? You're not all excited?

Brad. I'm one of my favorite things to do every year.

I would do that.

And Brad does a very good job.

Chris and I would do that.

Wouldn't we? We would do that. No reports.

Oh, no, no.

I would do. I would do that.

No report.

No report. Nope. All right. With that, I will take a motion to adjourn. So moved. All those in favor?

Yes.

Have a good week, everyone.