[0:00] Reservation
[0:07] Commission meeting to order.
>> Roll call, please.
[0:15] » Phillips,
>> present.
[0:17] » Place
>> present.
[0:18] » And chairperson Snyder
>> present.
[0:22] All right, that moves us on to item
number three, which is adopting the
[0:25] agenda. Has everyone had a chance to
review the agenda for today? Yes.
[0:30] » All right. Would anybody like to make a
motion?
[0:32] » I will motion. I will motion to adopt
the agenda.
[0:35] » All right. Motion by Commissioner
Nagasetti. We get a second.
[0:39] » I will second.
>> All right. Seconded by Commissioner
[0:42] Phillips to adopt the agenda. Agenda.
All in favor say I.
[0:47] » I.
>> I.
[0:48] » And all opposed?
Hearing none. The motion carries to move
[0:53] us into item number four, which is
visitor presentations. Uh, is there
[0:58] anyone in the audience that would like
to present today? Uh, Liz, do we have
[1:01] anyone online?
>> No, there's no one.
[1:04] » All right, great. That's going to move
us on to item number five, which is
[1:07] approving the previous meeting minutes.
Has everybody had a chance to review the
[1:12] minutes is from August 5th, 2025?
>> Yes.
[1:16] » Yes.
>> All right. Can I get a motion?
[1:19] » I will move to approve the minutes.
>> Okay. Motion by Commissioner Phillips.
[1:23] » I can second that. and seconded by
Commissioner Nagasetti. All in favor say
[1:28] I.
>> I. And any opposed?
[1:33] Great. Hearing none, the motion will
carry. And that moves us into item
[1:36] number six, which is the consent agenda.
And there are no items on under the
[1:41] consent or action items. So that moves
us to number eight, which is discussion
[1:45] items. We have one item under discussion
items today, which is our 2026 goals.
[1:50] Liz, could you please introduce this
item?
[1:53] » Yes. Thank you. So, I'm going to share
my screen just so we can see the goals
[1:57] in front of us
that I've drafted. Um, not necessarily
[2:03] the ones you need to act on or
officially accept as your 2026 goals,
[2:09] but ones that uh have been previous
goals um in other years. So, some of
[2:16] those are carried over, some are uh
lingering projects that are out there.
[2:21] Um, so I did list out four different
goals uh to maybe have our eyes on for
[2:27] the year of 2026, but also in maybe
future years as well. Um the first one
[2:34] um is nomination
of three properties that um we
[2:41] had Alyssa Bidwell who was a graduate
student from the U of M um research last
[2:47] year and put together nomination forms
um basically for properties on the west
[2:52] side of Highway 41 that have been
identified by uh the HPC and previous
[2:59] HPC members uh to look into further. Um
so kind of the next step in in that
[3:07] process is to locally designate those
three properties. Um I will say that
[3:12] much of that um effort really comes from
myself or from city staff to move that
[3:18] along. Um but a goal for all of us to
shoot for and hopefully accomplish this
[3:26] year um is getting that process started.
Um so hopefully we can um get the
[3:33] necessary agencies reviewing that and
then in front of you guys to formally uh
[3:40] designate or give that recommendation to
our council um who can formally
[3:44] designate those three properties. Um
your part will come in um to hold the
[3:52] public hearing when we give that
recommendation to city council. So
[3:56] that's a pretty big step in the
nomination process. Um and then giving
[4:01] any further comments that we or you guys
may have on uh designating those
[4:07] properties if any. Um so that's the
first one. I think that one um has been
[4:13] a long-standing one, but I think we've
made some progress in the last year just
[4:17] getting that the information put
together for those three properties.
[4:22] Um the second goal is kind of goes in
hand uh with the first one. um which is
[4:30] doing additional research um for our
local designation list and seeing if
[4:35] more properties can be identified and
added to that list. Um much of our
[4:41] efforts were on the west side of Highway
41 when we kind of did our walkthroughs
[4:45] and pointing out um homes and buildings
that are of importance. Um we haven't
[4:52] done that on the east side of Highway
41. So, I'm hoping maybe this year um
[4:56] once it warms up, we can kind of shift
those efforts on the east side and start
[5:02] to add even further um to that local
designation list and kind of go through
[5:07] that same process that we did with the
other three and seeing if we can get,
[5:12] you know, additional help uh from the U
or whatever programs exist out there uh
[5:18] with students and research.
Um the third goal is updating
[5:25] um historical documents or um context
studies um that pertain to our historic
[5:33] downtown. Uh so we have the historic
context study which was done in the
[5:38] early thousands. Um
so there are those um studies out there
[5:44] that you know have been helpful um but
are due up for updates every so often
[5:51] just to make sure that um with any
changes that have occurred within
[5:55] downtown or you know some goals and
objectives that have been outlined
[5:59] either in our comprehensive plan um and
hopefully an update to our downtown
[6:03] master plan um we'll be able to um kind
of reflect that and the documents that
[6:09] kind of shape how we review things here
within the HPC.
[6:14] Um, and then the fourth and final one is
staying engaged uh with any projects
[6:21] that really have some overlap with HPC's
review. Um, so the City Square West
[6:28] project has been kind of a long-standing
goal that we've kept on our goal list.
[6:33] Um, since it's right in downtown, it's
one of our redevelopment sites, kind of
[6:38] the the final redevelopment site that
was identified in our downtown master
[6:43] plan to move forward with. Um, all the
other redevelopment projects identified
[6:49] in our downtown master plan have been
achieved and constructed.
[6:54] That's the last remaining one.
Um, that hopefully will get kicked off
[7:00] soon. It's all pretty dependent on
funding being available from
[7:05] legislation. We continue to do bond
tours um with those representatives to
[7:12] keep that keep that project in front of
them um to hopefully uh be a part of a a
[7:18] future funding bill. Um so that could
happen as soon as this year. Um
[7:26] but again it it has been a few years
since we received our first funding bill
[7:31] for the project. So we may be waiting a
few more years uh following this to get
[7:38] that kicked or started with um with us
and everyone who gets involved with
[7:44] that. Uh so those are the ones that I've
listed out for 2026. Um, if there's, you
[7:51] know, this isn't a set list, so we can
still, you know, make deletions or even
[7:55] additions to this. If you guys feel like
there's anything that's missing or you
[7:59] don't really want to prioritize your
your time and attention to a certain
[8:03] thing, this is kind of the the time to
discuss that and hear any other ideas.
[8:13] Um, I think the to nominate those um,
locations, that the houses specifically,
[8:19] I think that's great. I think the the
work that was done was really awesome on
[8:23] that. And I think that hearing some of
the stories was kind of the coolest part
[8:28] of that whole thing. So, I wonder if
there's maybe a way for us to um, do a
[8:32] little bit more work in kind of telling
those stories as opposed to just
[8:36] nominating them, but like is there is
there an avenue for us to do a little
[8:39] bit more of that? um because I think
that was the most interesting part of
[8:43] that whole process is is coming up with
those like really nuance specific things
[8:47] that you'd never know if we hadn't done
that study. So I think that was really
[8:51] interesting. And then you had mentioned
um trying to do something similar again
[8:56] this year. Is that the expectation? Is
that the goal? Like do we have any any
[9:01] sort of sense if we'll do that again or
if it'll be available?
[9:05] Yeah, right now it's hard to say if
we'll have um that same program
[9:10] available. Um I do think what is
achievable this year is starting to
[9:17] identify properties in other parts of
downtown um to add to that list. um and
[9:24] hope, you know, I'm pretty hopeful that
um there is uh interest and um
[9:32] students available that would be able to
do that work. It's just kind of aligning
[9:36] the timelines and um uh getting someone
on board and kind of going through that
[9:42] process to, you know, kickstart the real
tangible research on on those
[9:47] properties. But at least we can take
steps to kind of get there and set that
[9:51] up for whoever would be interested in
taking it on.
[10:02] » I think all these goals uh look great.
For number four, uh the City Square West
[10:07] project. I think that's incredibly
exciting just for the city at large. And
[10:10] you know, I want to recognize the city
for all of their efforts to date for
[10:14] just preserving the character and the
atmosphere of downtown. And I think it's
[10:19] awfully important to continue to
maintain that momentum in any new
[10:22] development. So, I'm looking forward to
our role as well as the the rest of the
[10:26] organizations involved to continue to
kind of help influence that just to
[10:30] preserve the nature and the the
architectural and history of Chaska as
[10:35] we think about that really exciting
project.
[10:41] U probably one item on that first school
that you mentioned a community hearing.
[10:44] So is that at the city council meeting
or is that at this meeting that that
[10:48] would be or is that a separate meeting
when you'd have like a community hearing
[10:52] for those sites or review process
whatever that is
[10:56] » for the three properties? Yeah.
>> Um so yeah the public hearing is kind of
[11:01] a formality in our process to designate
those properties. So, um that would have
[11:09] to happen at your level at the HPC
meeting level. And basically it would um
[11:16] for the three properties it would have
kind of a notification radius around
[11:21] each of those properties that are
getting nominated within 500 ft I think
[11:25] is our um limit or our radius uh
required for designation.
[11:33] Um, so those properties would be
informed that a public hearing is going
[11:36] to be held to for you guys to make uh a
review and decision on nominating and
[11:43] designating those properties. Um,
which would be recommended to council.
[11:48] So at that time, if there's any property
owners that are interested in the
[11:52] project or have questions on the project
or have concerns with those nominations,
[11:58] that would be their time to make a
formal statement.
[12:04] And I know that we had a couple of other
properties that were looked at that
[12:08] either didn't meet the requirements or I
think there were a few that we had
[12:12] homeowners that weren't interested
>> that is that correct? There were a
[12:16] couple that they just weren't interested
in purchasing.
[12:18] » Yeah. Yeah. They just didn't feel
comfortable moving forward with
[12:22] additional research or
>> uh bringing their property to that
[12:26] level. Were there any that like we had
pretty complete research on and they
[12:30] just weren't willing or did we kind of
stop the the research portion pretty
[12:33] early?
>> Yeah, we didn't go down the avenue of
[12:37] research if we were getting that initial
push back.
[12:41] » I just didn't know if there was ones
that we had done the work on that we
[12:44] could then, you know, go and and have a
conversation with them again because I
[12:47] don't want something to be left off, you
know, due to that kind of that earlier
[12:52] conversation and maybe they feel
differently now. But if we didn't do the
[12:55] research, then it doesn't.
>> Yeah. I I think there is that ability to
[13:00] potentially revisit some of those
properties that didn't get as much focus
[13:05] on them um in
um subsequent years from now to see if
[13:10] property owners are feeling different or
maybe it's someone different who's
[13:15] involved now and has interest in in
wanting to bring it to that level. So,
[13:20] um, yeah, I I I feel like we still have
quite quite a few properties that we
[13:27] just didn't get too far into the process
just because we didn't have, you know,
[13:32] the the bandwidth um just from um Alyssa
alone and because yes, there hasn't been
[13:40] that interest uh stated from the
property owner to continue.
[13:45] » Sure.
Any
[13:51] other comments from anyone on the plans
goals?
[13:57] » All right. Um, does anyone have any
other business that they'd like to
[14:01] discuss?
Liz, any other staff updates?
[14:09] » I don't think so. um other than you know
not really pertaining to HPC realm but
[14:16] um you know our
uh public safety facility is hopefully
[14:22] going to be opening soon. Um they're
putting final touches in there. Um they
[14:28] still have to get a a certificate of
occupancy. So that's kind of the the
[14:33] biggest thing before our police and fire
can move in there. Um and then soon um
[14:40] we will be breaking ground on our new m
municipal services building on Creek
[14:45] Road. Um so that's kind of working
itself through its through that process
[14:50] too. So, uh, a lot of, uh, changes
happening, um, within that realm, which
[14:56] will ultimately,
uh, start the process on kind of the
[15:00] next, um, city building,
um, kind of a part of that building
[15:06] improvement program that both the public
safety facility and MSB building were a
[15:13] part of. The next one on the list would
be the library. and um
[15:20] yeah, basically finding the new location
and starting the design process for the
[15:24] new library in downtown. And that one um
I bring up just because um it is in
[15:29] downtown and so there may be some
overlap too of the HBC
[15:34] » having some part in that.
>> So,
[15:37] » the public safety building looks great.
It's I drove past it yesterday.
[15:42] » It's really It's coming along. Yes, I
just visited the inside of that last
[15:47] week with council because they did a a
works uh work session there just to get
[15:52] a tour of the facility before it was all
kind of occupied and fully built up. And
[15:58] yeah, it's it's
got a lot of progress going on in there
[16:02] and it's it's definitely to the point
where it's just barely ready. Um just a
[16:08] few more final touches and then it'll be
open. And I believe there will be an
[16:12] open house that's going to be open to
the public. So, as soon as we know that
[16:16] information, we'll definitely share with
you guys as well.
[16:22] » Um, all right. Would anyone like to make
a motion to adjurnn?
[16:30] » I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
>> All right. Motion by Commissioner Pice.
[16:34] » I will second.
>> And seconded by Commissioner Phillips.
[16:37] All in favor say I.
>> I.
[16:40] And any opposed? All right. Hearing
none, this meeting is adjourned at 7:17.
[16:46] 17.