[0:16] Heat.
[0:27] Heat.
[0:43] Okay, I guess we'll start. I'd like to
call the meeting to order.
[0:53] » We'll start with the council. So,
Calbert
[0:56] » here.
>> Kley is absent. Foster Bolton
[1:00] » here.
Rome is absent, Wilburn is absent, and
[1:06] Maxwell
>> here.
[1:08] » Mayor Shack
>> here.
[1:10] » And then for the park board, we have
Hanley
[1:14] » here.
>> Schultz
[1:16] » here.
>> Christy is absent. Samki
[1:19] » here.
>> And Sher Ingram
[1:21] » here.
>> All right. We have uh two business items
[1:25] today. You want to tee up the first one?
>> I will.
[1:30] I'm operating two computers here so I
have to
[1:35] do both. So our first item is uh
regarding a youth action climate action
[1:41] grant which the city has received which
is an exciting opportunity for the youth
[1:45] of Minnetonka. So we have Ally
Sutherland. She is the city's uh
[1:49] sustainability coordinator and she
coordinator and she is going to provide
[1:52] you with some information.
>> Hi everyone. You can hear me? Okay.
[1:58] Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Leslie. Uh,
thank you all for having me here
[2:01] tonight. Ally Sutherland, sustainability
coordinator. As Leslie mentioned, um, I
[2:06] am in the community development
department. I think I've spoken to the
[2:10] park board maybe one time. So, thanks
again for having me. This is a really
[2:15] exciting time for this program. So, this
is a brand new program that we're just
[2:18] launching actually officially as of
yesterday.
[2:22] So that's why I was excited to get in
front of you as the park board and it's
[2:25] great to have the city council here as
well so everyone can get an update. I'll
[2:29] be taking the same presentation to other
commission meetings and board meetings
[2:33] so everyone can kind of be informed and
uh get the latest status update of this
[2:38] program. Um so
even though it technically went live
[2:43] yesterday, we've been working on this
program since January. So I learned of
[2:47] this program through another city who
informed me of it. Um it's through
[2:52] Bloomberg Philanthropies which is a
nonprofit and uh they support this
[2:58] program. It's called the youth climate
action fund and uh they support it to
[3:02] support youth in creating climate action
projects and getting them involved. So
[3:07] when I learned about it, it seemed like
something that really uh resonated with
[3:11] our climate action and adaptation plan
goals, which my main role here is to
[3:15] implement that plan. And then also with
uh the city council's goals of engaging
[3:21] youth, it just seemed like a perfect
fit. So we went ahead and applied. Um
[3:26] we're very excited to announce that we
were selected. Um and we're extremely
[3:31] honored to have been selected. We were
one of 300 cities to be participating in
[3:36] this cohort and we were selected what
the program told me from among hundreds
[3:42] and hundreds of applicants which is
pretty phenomenal. Um when I look at the
[3:46] list of past cities that have
participated and even current cities in
[3:50] this cohort um typically at least within
North America they're very large cities
[3:55] like uh New York City, Chicago, Miami,
Madison is on there. So, there's some
[4:00] more modest cities, but for um a city, a
suburban community the size of
[4:05] Minnetonka, about 55,000 residents to
have been selected, I think is pretty
[4:08] incredible. And um we're frankly we're
shocked to have been selected, but we're
[4:13] very excited. Um and I think it goes to
show that um you know, even if you're
[4:19] suburban community, you can be leading
in this climate space and it's really
[4:22] exciting to have been recognized for
that. Um, so thank you for all the
[4:27] support uh that the the council has and
park board and others um for getting us
[4:31] to this point because having that
climate action and adaptation plan um
[4:36] there and ready to go when we went to
apply I mean is the reason why we were
[4:40] selected. So thanks for that. Um so
through the program Bloomberg
[4:45] Philanthropies provides cities $50,000
to redistribute as youth climate action
[4:50] grant so or micro grant. So, we'll be
taking this money and then
[4:54] redistributing it to youth projects. And
they're meant to be selected based on
[4:59] how they can um help um move our climate
action and adaptation plan forward. And
[5:04] these are some real examples of youth um
that have participated in this program
[5:09] throughout the last three years. So,
this program is actually fairly new.
[5:12] It's only about three years old.
Um over the last three years, Bloomberg
[5:17] has engaged around 300,000 young people
in their climate action um planning and
[5:24] implementation. And I included the the
latest map. So they have 300 cities
[5:28] participating in this cohort. The last
two cohorts had 90 cities. So they've
[5:33] added um you know almost doubled it. and
uh all of these cities. So this whole
[5:39] global network of cities is now at the
point where we've all received the funds
[5:43] from Bloomberg and we are accepting
applications as we speak. So we're all
[5:48] kind of at that same um stage.
And in terms of the background, so uh we
[5:54] have received this $50,000.
We'll redistribute these as micro or
[5:59] this money as micro grants which it can
be um requested in lumps of $1,000 up to
[6:05] $5,000 per project. We can keep about
10% of that for administrative fees for
[6:10] program development, which is helpful um
because we obviously didn't have
[6:15] anything uh created already for this
project. Uh projects that are awarded
[6:20] must benefit the Minnotonka community.
So whether that means um the social
[6:24] aspect of our community or the
environment, they have to benefit one.
[6:28] These have to be youthled projects which
is actually pretty unique for this
[6:32] program. So youth are the ones that must
lead and design it and really just
[6:36] generally created. So um they do need to
be supported by an eligible
[6:41] organization. Um but it has to be
created and developed by the youth. And
[6:45] when we use youth in this case, it's 15
uh students or uh young people 18 to 24
[6:52] years old. Uh the youth must live in
Minnetonka or go to a school in
[6:58] Minnitankka if they're participating. So
what's really interesting about
[7:02] Minnotonka is that not only does that
include the Minnitonka school district,
[7:05] but that also means that Hopkin High
School students can apply. We also have
[7:09] at least one charter school high school
in Minnetonka and then at least one
[7:13] specialty high school. So I think that's
also what made our application stand out
[7:17] is I think there was over, you know,
4,000 high school students in
[7:21] that could potentially be eligible to
participate.
[7:25] U and then in terms of the eligible
organizations, they have to be a
[7:30] nonprofit or a public entity such as
like a watershed district for example.
[7:35] Um and what's also really cool is that
they can be in uh located inside
[7:39] Minnetonka or outside Minnetonka. So we
have the opportunity to connect with
[7:43] organizations throughout the Twin Cities
or Minnesota in general. In terms of our
[7:48] timeline, we were informed about the
program April. In May, city council
[7:52] approved our program acceptance. So, we
moved forward after that. So, thank you
[7:56] again for your support. Uh, in June
through last month, we've been spending
[8:02] a lot of time with program planning. Um,
so that means just generally creating
[8:06] the program. I worked with our amazing
communications staff. We created a new
[8:11] Minnotonka Matters page. So that's our
program page which uh there's a link
[8:15] there minnotonkamatters.com
youth-climate-fund
[8:19] that you can go to to learn um all about
the program but we've created flyers,
[8:24] brochures, the email list serve blast,
social media content. We have the
[8:29] application already developed the
application scoring process and then we
[8:33] also have developed um an application
selection committee internally uh who
[8:39] will help review the applications for
eligibility. They'll do a scoring
[8:43] process and then their recommendations
will go to the sustainability commission
[8:47] who ultimately will select the awarded
projects. But there's been a lot of
[8:52] planning up until this point. Uh but
yesterday was an exciting day because
[8:56] that was the day that we officially
opened the application. So if you go to
[9:00] the website, you can apply now. Um and
those applications are accepted through
[9:06] October 19th. And another pretty
exciting part about this is that we're
[9:11] going to hosting application support
events which is pretty fun. Normally
[9:15] grant applicants don't get a lot of
handholding but Bloomberg uh highly
[9:21] recommends and I believe even even
requires us to at least hold a couple of
[9:25] these support meetings to teach the
youth how to apply for a grant. Like
[9:30] what is a grant? How do you write a
budget? How do you think of a project
[9:32] timeline? And helping them scale down
maybe a very, you know, broad idea into
[9:37] something that's truly implementable um
and achievable with the time frame. So,
[9:42] we're excited about that. We just
started connecting with the high schools
[9:45] to be on site. So, um looking forward to
that, but a few of those are already
[9:50] scheduled. Um and then in October as
well, that's when the the sustainability
[9:56] commission will review applications.
That'll be a special meeting that we're
[9:59] hosting. And then in November, that's
when the projects will receive funding
[10:04] and they can start with implementation.
And they have to be completed um by
[10:08] April of 2027. So, it's a pretty short
implementation time frame, but um long
[10:14] enough that it gives them, you know,
enough time to actually get something
[10:17] off the ground, too. Um and then in
terms of eligible projects, their
[10:22] projects must support sustainable
transportation, energy efficiency and
[10:26] renewable energy, waste reduction and
recycling, or climate resiliency. And
[10:31] that um list is limited based on our
climate action plan so that we know that
[10:36] the the projects are aligning with our
our goals that have been set. And um
[10:41] lastly, I'll just end on how you can
help. So the reason I'm here is just to
[10:45] get everyone kind of on the same page of
uh knowing about this program, what it
[10:49] is, and asking you for your help in
promoting the program. If you have the
[10:54] capacity and interest or if you think
your uh network would be interested in
[10:58] something like this, you know, you're
welcome to share word of mouth. You can
[11:01] share our digital uh communications
content. You're welcome to share our uh
[11:06] website, the program website. If you go
on to our homepage, actually, I believe
[11:10] as of yesterday, there's a big banner on
there that talks about this grant
[11:14] program, too. So, even if you just share
our website, uh they'll get the
[11:18] information.
Another option is if you have a youth
[11:23] group in in mind, for example, like a a
student activity club at the high
[11:29] school, could potentially be an
applicant or if you know of another
[11:32] group uh organization that might be
interested. You're welcome to let them
[11:37] know directly about the program or send
their contact information to us and we
[11:41] can get in contact with them. Honestly,
just however you can share this program
[11:46] out would be amazing. We just want to
get as many informed about this as we
[11:50] can. And I think lastly, I'll just
mention that if you um have questions
[11:56] about, you know, if a particular
organization would be eligible or um if
[12:01] a project could maybe be a possibility,
you're welcome to reach out to me
[12:05] directly and we can talk offline about
those specifics. happy to talk to you in
[12:09] any capacity or you know to present for
example to an organization if you think
[12:14] that they could benefit from a kind of a
one-on-one conversation. So with that um
[12:20] I'll end my quick update but I will open
it up for questions too if anyone has
[12:25] any like general project questions.
>> Thanks. Any questions from the council
[12:30] board?
[12:37] City of Mitanka got $50,000.
So you have five
[12:44] 10 $5,000 grants potentially.
>> Yeah, thanks for asking. So um chair,
[12:50] board members, council, um we yes, we
received $50,000. We can keep 10% of
[12:57] that for administrative cost. So, we're
keeping 10% uh $10,000 for um we
[13:02] actually worked with a digital content
specialist that helped create videos
[13:06] that you might see on uh Facebook.
>> 5,000.
[13:10] » Um Oh, sorry. Of 50,000.
>> Yeah.
[13:15] » Yeah. Would be 5,000.
>> Yeah.
[13:18] » Yeah. I heard sorry.
>> Okay. Yeah. So, we're keeping that money
[13:22] and we're using that for our
communications purposes. So, then I
[13:27] think we can up to like eight projects
in total. So,
[13:32] » thank you.
[13:36] » I guess I'll take that.
>> How have you um what kind of outreach
[13:40] have you done to uh school
administration, teachers? This seem to
[13:45] be a classic win-win.
>> Yes. Yeah. Great question. Um, so we're
[13:50] still in the midst of that and it's been
kind of tricky with um, you know,
[13:53] reaching out over the summer is when
they're typically depending on their
[13:57] their role um, if they're you know
looking at their emails or not. But
[14:02] starting at the end of July, we started
sending outformational
[14:07] emails and we actually created an
interest survey on the website to say
[14:11] this isn't you applying, but if you're
interested in learning more or
[14:15] interested in being a sponsor, you can
submit that here. So, we sent that out
[14:19] to all organizations, which included uh
school activity clubs and teachers. Some
[14:25] were interested, but I will say over the
last couple weeks, we've gotten more
[14:29] traction. Um, and I have at least one
contact at the Minnetonka school that's
[14:34] connecting me with teachers and I'm
hoping to get into their classrooms uh
[14:38] for just like a quick little blurb about
it. We heard from our interns here at
[14:43] Minnetonka, which we interviewed while
some of them were still here over the
[14:47] summer, that getting in front of their
classroom would be most impactful. So,
[14:51] we'll see. It's unfortunately it's
really up to the teacher and if they
[14:54] they want to have us there or not, but
yeah, we're attending lunch periods,
[14:59] too, so we'll see. It'll be a little bit
of a experiment, if you will, to see
[15:04] what's most effective and possible.
[15:10] » So, I have a I have a couple questions.
So, it sounds like the the projects
[15:16] would be group projects and so you're
going to have, you know, you'll get in
[15:20] from So, it's up to the kids to get
together and try to figure it out
[15:28] before they apply. And the
[15:33] So the so the application phase ends mid
midmon next month.
[15:41] » So they have that much time to kind of
get themselves together and and do the
[15:46] thing. Okay.
>> And that's the tough part. And so the
[15:48] the application phase um actually is
created by Bloomberg. So they usually
[15:54] recommend at least six weeks, not much
more than that, which is a really tough
[15:58] time frame. Um So what we heard from
interns actually here was that linking
[16:04] not only sharing example projects but
linking to past ones that other uh you
[16:10] know groups in Bloomberg have done would
be helpful. I wish there was a better
[16:14] database of that but after scouring some
local sites I found at least one page
[16:20] that had really really good examples. So
we're hoping that between sharing those
[16:25] links on Minnotonka Matters and then
hosting these um the events that were
[16:31] we're able to help give ideas without
doing too much handholding.
[16:34] » And I if I if I remember correctly, we
have a sliver of Weisetta school
[16:39] district and we have a lot of kids in
Minnotonka that do go to Weisetta
[16:44] schools. So there's that.
>> Um and then I was just curious in terms
[16:50] of the our application because it is
kind of amazing, you know. Um and so you
[16:56] think that you It sounds like you
submitted the the cap um with the
[17:04] application. Do you get feedback about
what
[17:08] you know what it was that uh put us over
the top or and and what besides the cap,
[17:15] » what else was in there that you think
>> did the trick?
[17:20] » Um I I can't remember if I received
distinct feedback or not, but I do have
[17:25] some suspicions. So, first off, asked
Leslie if she would be a supportive
[17:30] applicant with me because you needed at
least two um internal staff to support
[17:34] the program. So having more than just
one sustainability person for sure
[17:38] allowed us to even apply. Um I think
because we had so many high schools
[17:42] within Minnetonka that that was
compelling. I also think of course the
[17:47] climate action and adaptation plan I I
mentioned that our goals are the most
[17:51] ambitious within the state of Minnesota
or one of which also stands out. Um I
[17:56] think piece that stood out is that we
have so many commissions. So, I noted
[18:01] that we have a DEI commission, a park
board commission, and they all have
[18:04] youth representation on them, too. Um,
as well as the youth advisory board that
[18:09] we have. So, even though the application
was very short, it uh included a lot of
[18:15] these kind of like unique aspects of
Metanka that must have stood out.
[18:22] So, we have some engaged
um young people that we've given the
[18:27] sustainability awards to and
>> we had some young women who received
[18:34] writing awards. To me, those seem like
engaged and um motivated students. I
[18:41] mean, are we pushing it out to other to
these types of people that we've had
[18:45] communication with in the past directly?
>> Yeah, I mean, that's my intention. I
[18:51] think um it's it's tricky because they
have to be within that 15 through 24 age
[18:57] range and I believe that some of them
that at least participated with this
[19:01] within the sustainability um or
sustainable matonic awards program might
[19:05] be younger like the most recent ones
>> but I actually was thinking even like
[19:09] our youth volunteers might be a good uh
group to at least just inform. So we're
[19:15] creating this giant spread list of
emails. So you have any to add to that?
[19:20] um I would welcome them. But yeah,
>> and then one other suggestion and I can
[19:26] follow up with you on this, but I think
um groups like the optimists and the
[19:31] Rotary
>> and actually League of Women Voters had
[19:34] um
>> a group that I think also spoke to us to
[19:38] the council that was doing research on
water quality.
[19:44] Um, they were really League of Women
Voters might have some suggestions. And
[19:49] then there there used to be an AP bio
class or AP environmental
[19:56] science at Hopkins. I don't know if they
have it anymore, but they did. So, I
[20:01] think that these clubs, right, with
adults who are motivated to be mentors
[20:07] and can because this is kids are great
and they'll be able to do it, but it
[20:12] would be also probably have some mentors
that are helping guide it.
[20:17] » So I think that might be an opportunity.
>> Great.
[20:22] I know the groups, the Rotary group, but
Optimus and other groups are always
[20:27] welcome to come
[20:32] » and Leslie's probably put you on
already, but the wershed districts
[20:36] » that would probably be possibly a good
>> source, too.
[20:42] We'll all be ambassadors if we
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[20:46] » This is great.
>> Wonderful. Well, thank you all.
[20:48] » Just one curiosity on I hate to think
downside. So, what happens if we only do
[20:54] three grants
>> and we spent $5,000 on?
[20:58] » That's not an option.
>> Okay.
[21:00] » Um
>> I like that attitude.
[21:02] » Yeah. I don't know. Some days I'm
concerned we're going to get none and
[21:06] then some days I'm concerned we're going
to get 50 applications. So, I don't know
[21:10] what will happen, but I have faith um
that we'll get a lot because we have so
[21:15] many high school students and they seem
engaged. So, I'm just hopeful at this
[21:20] point that that won't happen.
>> Great.
[21:23] » Any other questions or comments?
>> Um just one more thing. I think about,
[21:27] you know, the
you know, it's been several years, so
[21:31] they they're probably off at college,
but the young people that kind of got
[21:35] the ball rolling on the mountain bike
I mean they go out there and I know that
[21:42] they were volunteering
um to do all kinds of trail work. So I
[21:47] just feel like there are, you know,
people that are out there in our young
[21:52] people that are out there in our hearts
doing work. And um so I just think about
[21:57] that as well and
even church and you know places of
[22:04] worship, their youth groups.
[22:10] » Well, thank you Ally. That was very
helpful.
[22:13] Our next item is 3B, the Opus Station
Park Vision. Is this
[22:18] » Matt first or Leslie first?
>> Matt. Okay.
[22:26] » Thank you, Chair Ingraham, Mayor Shack,
Council Park Board, everybody in
[22:30] attendance. Um, tonight we're going to
go over our um first few months in the
[22:36] Opus Station Park Vision Plan, as we've
renamed it recently. I have our
[22:40] consultants with us tonight, Sandy and
Olivia from Mend Collaborative. Um,
[22:45] we've had a wonderful process so far to
get to this point. We're really excited
[22:48] about how it's going. So, tonight's um
presentation is going to be sort of a an
[22:53] introduction into the process thus far,
an update on the the openhouse and
[22:58] outreach and engagement that we've been
doing so far and our conversations with
[23:02] the developer that have been really
exciting in this area and sort of the
[23:05] timeline um as we proceed into the
future. So, I'll kick us off with a
[23:09] little bit of a background. Um, so Opus,
this is an important area of the city as
[23:14] I'm all as you're all aware. Um, and we
do have thankfully some precedent
[23:18] documents that we've been leaning into
during this master planning effort,
[23:22] specifically the Opus Opus area
placemaking and urban design
[23:26] implementation manual, which is a really
wonderful guide um that some folks at
[23:30] Men Collaborative actually helped when
we were putting that document together.
[23:34] So there's some legacy institutional
knowledge there. And then our parks open
[23:38] space and trails system plan references
opus quite a bit. Um specifically how
[23:43] that area of the city um is is lacking
in some park space down there and how
[23:49] Opus is really a wonderful example of um
multimmodal transportation network and
[23:54] specifically the trails through Opus
area. So there's a lot of sort of leadin
[23:58] to the effort that we're undertaking
these days.
[24:02] Um so Opus as you know is fairly
innovative um in terms of its design way
[24:07] back in the 60s at this point. Um but
really the focus was the natural
[24:11] environment blending with a mix of
residential and commercial through that
[24:15] area. They really leaned into this idea
of being able to bike to work and you
[24:19] can really um see that um in terms of
multimodal transportation in that area.
[24:24] We do have the light rail coming in. So
that's a that's a big deal. So the idea
[24:28] here is that um we are looking to
develop a public space and redevelopment
[24:33] adjacent to the light rail station in
Opus which we know is going to be a very
[24:38] vibrant node in our community and we
want to make sure we put the right foot
[24:42] out in terms of what folks see when they
come into the city of Minnotonka or are
[24:46] they getting on the train and and able
to live in the Opus area and easily
[24:50] commute downtown if their work if their
work is down there. So really we
[24:54] understand that this this park and and
the visioning that goes in behind it
[24:58] needs to, you know, sort of um check a
lot of boxes.
[25:04] Um I'm going to turn it over to Sandy um
from men to walk us through
[25:10] the the process thus far.
>> Great chair, board, and council. Thank
[25:14] you so much for having us here. My name
is Sandy. I'm a landscape architect and
[25:17] I'm a founding partner of Mend
Collaborative. I'm the project manager
[25:21] on the consultant side for this project.
And Olivia, I'll let you introduce
[25:24] yourself.
>> Hi, I'm Olivia Haldney. I'm a landscape
[25:27] architect as well and serving as the
assistant project manager on this
[25:31] project.
>> All right. So, zooming into the site a
[25:34] little bit. Um, currently there's a
large building, the Minneapolis Mart.
[25:41] Minneapolis Mart. Yep.
>> Um, quite quite a large building,
[25:45] singlestory building kind of tucked into
the landscape there. um and a lot of
[25:49] impervious surface. Majority of the site
is covered by building and by parking
[25:53] lot. Um so excitingly doing a park here
is going to be a great improvement to
[25:59] this site with helping with um
increasing permeable surfaces. Um
[26:03] speaking to you know sustainability and
and all of that stuff that Minnotonka is
[26:07] really um you know prides itself on. So
what we're looking at here the dashed
[26:12] orange line is the um outline of the
parcel. Um, we are hopeful that the um,
[26:20] uh, developer that's working with this
parcel owner will also be acquiring the
[26:25] parcel adjacent to it, so we can kind of
even this out as a nice square. Um,
[26:29] we'll see where that goes, but we're
hopeful that that will be a successful
[26:32] conversation. Um, the site is bound by
Bren Road, um, west and east. Uh and
[26:40] then we also have Green Oak Drive which
is actually going to be reversing
[26:44] direction here shortly um in an upcoming
project that the city's doing. And it's
[26:50] very well bounded as well by in the
existing trail system through um the
[26:54] Opus area. And we have a diagram to kind
of show the greater trail network for
[26:58] that area as well. The trail currently
doesn't cut through the site though, so
[27:02] it's really just a big impervious space
that was um you know used for the
[27:06] Minneapolis Mart. And then you can see
that big green line on the side there is
[27:10] um the light rail that'll be going
through and the opus light rail stop is
[27:14] the one stop for the the uh green line
extension in in um Minnotonka here. And
[27:20] I did also, you know, want to speak to
this slide a little bit and how unique
[27:24] this station is going to be for the
green uh for the the green line. Um, as
[27:29] you can see, the Shady Oak station to
the north and then to the south, the
[27:33] city west station, Golden Triangle, Town
Center Southwest, down Eden Prairie and
[27:38] beyond, they're really park and ride
focused, surface lot, um, big um,
[27:44] parking structure focused. Whereas what
we're looking at for um this site here
[27:49] is more of a welcoming open green space,
a public space, which is going to be a
[27:53] really unique typology for our public
transit in the entire state, upper
[27:59] Midwest. Um there's not a lot of
examples like this in Minnesota or the
[28:03] upper Midwest. So this is a very
exciting project that Minnotonka um is
[28:07] undergoing. We have an existing um storm
water it functions as a storm water
[28:13] pond. Um uh it it is a designated
wetland with that pond. It's it's quite
[28:18] large. There's a couple islands in
there. Um and then there's some newer
[28:22] developments um uh for multifamily
housing and then some of the legacy
[28:27] businesses that have been in the opus
area. So a lot of a lot of change in
[28:30] this area currently. Did you want to
speak to the priorities?
[28:33] » Sure. So um as we take on these efforts,
we certainly want to look to coordinate
[28:37] with the city's strategic priorities. So
we're hitting on a number of those with
[28:41] this planning effort. um specifically
the finan financial strength of this
[28:45] area. We know we're going to get
residents. We know we want to attract
[28:48] long-term residents and and this open
space can certainly help do that. Um
[28:52] safe and healthy community. We know that
there's going to be a lot of traffic
[28:55] coming in and out of the light rail. So,
we want to be very thoughtful about
[28:58] that. We have an opportunity to plan
park space that addresses those um some
[29:02] of those concerns and make sure our
public safety's folks can keep, you
[29:06] know, a general eye on the light rail
station as traffic really picks up and
[29:09] people um become used to that space. Um
there's a lot of opportunity in terms of
[29:13] sustainability, resilience in the
natural environment. These were former
[29:16] wetland sites. We had an opportunity to
remove a lot of impervious surface. So
[29:20] we're going to check a lot of those
boxes. And then certainly uh well
[29:24] planned and livable development. That's
really the goal of Opus. It's quite
[29:27] unique in that way. So through the
looking at the strate strategic
[29:32] priorities, we identified some vision
plan goals overall. So we want to center
[29:36] a nature-based urban park experience.
Obviously in Minnotonka, we're really
[29:40] attached to the natural environment.
This is a bit more urban for us. There's
[29:45] certainly a lot more gray down there
now, but we have an opportunity to
[29:48] retrofit this space, add more pollinator
habitat, add storm water management, add
[29:53] canopy trees. So, there's some really
exciting opportunities there. We want to
[29:58] create a regional destination for family
play and recreation. We understand that
[30:03] with all this traffic and the
destination that is the light rail
[30:06] station, we're going to have a lot of
folks coming through. Maybe they'll
[30:09] they'll choose to live near here so they
can commute or or or travel through this
[30:14] area to get downtown and stop off at our
park space um to enjoy something um in
[30:19] the city of Minnotonka.
We want to address the environmental and
[30:23] site constraints. As Sandy mentioned,
there there are some storm water issues
[30:26] on site. We're learning more about the
soils down there, challenges in terms of
[30:30] of redevelopment overall. So, we have to
work within that sandbox. And we want to
[30:36] enhance connectivity, access, and
wayfinding. As I mentioned, Opus is
[30:39] really robust in terms of its multimodal
trail network. So, we need this space to
[30:43] function, be a hub, sort of a spoke to
to send people out into the trail
[30:48] system. We have the nine mile regional
trail just to the east of here through
[30:51] Edina. You can easily cross into Edina.
So, we're really at sort of a a key
[30:56] connectivity hub easily um getting to
downtown Hopkins and west into Lone Lake
[31:01] Park. So, we're really at this amazing
intersection. So, we got to make sure
[31:04] that that space coming on and off the
station and then living in that area
[31:08] really functions in terms of
connectivity, access, and wayfinding
[31:11] through that area.
And then finally, we certainly want to
[31:15] support the inclusive, connective, and
culturally vibrant community place. We
[31:19] really have an opportunity to do more of
an urban style like Ridgedale Commons um
[31:24] park space down here with a lot of
vibrancy, a lot of local residents, a
[31:28] lot of opportunity to do community style
events. um possibly um opportunity for
[31:36] integrating public art. Um a lot of
eyeballs coming through that area.
[31:40] Public art has been something we've been
talking about for a while, but it really
[31:43] represents an opportunity quite the
canvas down here at this open space to
[31:47] integrate some of that public art and
storytelling, history of Minnotonka,
[31:51] etc. Um so really focusing on quite a
few strategic priorities that we'll be
[31:56] able to uh to um tackle with this
effort.
[32:03] All right. So, the general approach that
the project team has really been
[32:07] embracing here is, you know, using this
opportunity to really tell a story
[32:12] about, you know, what what people who
are visiting or riding on the light rail
[32:19] for the first time, what is their first
introduction to Minnotonka? But we also
[32:24] have people that are living in this
area, this is their home. So there's
[32:27] kind of these these two perspectives
that you know we really want to
[32:30] reinforce that we really want to support
through this process. So the project
[32:34] team has kind of been operating under
this model of you know this this future
[32:38] public space really needs to operate as
the front porch to Minnotonka. You know
[32:42] what is that welcoming these are our
values as a city. You know this is what
[32:46] we want you to understand uh about
Minnotonka as you're going by on the
[32:50] light rail as you're visiting someone
who lives there as you're going through
[32:53] on the trail system. But this also
really needs to function as a backyard
[32:57] for the folks that live in this area.
There's an a growing and increasing
[33:01] number of of folks living in this area.
Um there's also people that work in this
[33:06] area every day at at the various, you
know, businesses and corporations. Um so
[33:11] there there's really this opportunity to
embrace a story through the landscape
[33:15] here.
And speaking of the community, um just a
[33:19] quick snapshot of the understanding of
the community in the Opus area. Um
[33:23] there's a lot of folks that work here.
There's over 15,000 employees. There's
[33:27] 140 businesses. And um by 2040, there's
estimated to add over 4,000 more jobs to
[33:34] the area. And then living here, there's
um about over 7,000 residents in the
[33:40] Opus area. There's approximately 2.2
people per household. And 30 36% of
[33:46] those newest 2,00 units are designated
as affordable. um in the demographic
[33:52] profile of the Opus area, we're seeing
uh more diversity in the Opus area as
[33:57] compared to Minnotonka as a whole. Um
and we're seeing uh a lot of languages
[34:01] spoken at home other than English in
this area as well.
[34:06] And zooming out a bit, you'll see the
the sort of entirety of the site is
[34:11] again outlined in that red outline
there. Um we've zoomed out to kind of
[34:16] the opus area in general. We're looking
at about, you know, a mile wide by a
[34:19] mile tall um of the Opus area here. And,
you know, as Matt mentioned, we have the
[34:24] Nine Mal Creek Regional Trail. We also
have the Minnesota River Bluffs Regional
[34:28] Trail just off the map to the northwest
up there. And then we have a very robust
[34:32] trail network throughout um the Opus
area that the city's also been doing a
[34:36] lot of reinvestment in as well with
lighting and wayfinding.
[34:42] And then zooming back into the site
here, um, you know, Matt touched on some
[34:45] of the the constraints that we have to
look at from an environmental lens. So,
[34:50] we found it very interesting to overlay
some of the information about soils and
[34:55] flood planes here, especially with that
pond on the site and there's a lot of
[34:59] wetlands. There's a lot of storm water
management happening elsewhere in the
[35:02] Opus area. So we want to really
understand what that means for what does
[35:06] development potentially look like in the
future from you know developable area.
[35:11] How much of this site do we really need
to dedicate to storm water management?
[35:15] Can that be part of the story? So what
we're seeing here is the deeper blue is
[35:19] that um pond itself. The lighter blue is
flood plane for that pond. So a pretty
[35:25] good amount of the site we're going to
have to be dedicating to storm water
[35:28] management to flood plane which is a
really exciting again opportunity to you
[35:33] know leverage that story of what
Minnotonka values and what we can
[35:37] embrace as part of this park space.
There's also some constraints in the
[35:41] northwest part of the site. There's some
hydric soils which is essentially wetter
[35:45] soils that you would see in more of a
wetland. So, we are starting to
[35:48] understand some of the constraints from
buildable area here and what we can kind
[35:52] of, you know, work within from an
environmental perspective.
[35:57] And we're going to jump into community
engagement really quick. We've done a
[36:01] handful of engagement events already.
Starting in July, uh we did a popup at
[36:05] the farmers market on July 14th. Uh we
did a design day, which Olivia is going
[36:10] to touch on really quick here. That was
at the end of July. And then the day
[36:13] after that we were able to um table at
the disability pride on July 25th. Um
[36:20] the circular bubbles on the right hand
of the side the the slide here are some
[36:25] of the major themes that we've been
hearing from the community engagement so
[36:28] far. The larger the bubble is the more
we've been hearing that theme. So you
[36:33] can see we're really starting to hear a
lot of community value in water in
[36:38] seating in play. But you can see there's
also a lot of other ideas in there. and
[36:42] we have, you know, a lot of opportunity,
a lot of flexibility with this vision
[36:45] plan to think about how we can capture
all of these things the community values
[36:49] in the future park. Next week, we'll be
doing a popup in Green Circle Park just
[36:53] north of this site. And then um at the
end of the month, we're going to be
[36:57] doing an open house inviting um all the
residents, doing sort of a direct
[37:02] newsletter, direct mailing to the
residents in the Opus area, inviting
[37:06] them to an open house that'll be at the
Marriott in the O Opus area.
[37:11] And here's just some, you know, fun
photos of community engagement. They're
[37:15] always really fun events. We got a lot
of um kids providing input. We had a lot
[37:19] of sticker activities, a lot of post-it
notes, a lot of in-person conversations.
[37:23] So, really good valuable feedback there.
And Olivia, you'll touch on design day.
[37:27] » Yeah. So, this is design day. Design Day
is one of our favorite engagement
[37:31] activities that we do. Um it's really an
opportunity to catalyze the project into
[37:37] design and get a ton of different people
in the room. So, In this case, we had
[37:43] several people from the city. We had the
developer who's um already on board on
[37:48] this project. We had architecture. We
had landscape architecture. We had
[37:52] watershed. We have uh
EO team as well, environmental
[38:01] consultant. Thank you. We had all the
voices in the room together, which is
[38:04] great. So then we were able to talk
about the project as a whole, go through
[38:08] precedents, talk about our visions for
the site together and then sit down as a
[38:13] group of three in this case and sketch
together some initial ideas of what we
[38:18] could start to see. And these
conversations are so critical because
[38:22] you have all of these different
perspectives right there at the table.
[38:24] So I have this great idea for uh
architecture building from the developer
[38:30] perspective and then you also have uh
the city there to talk about building
[38:34] heights or you have the environmental
consultant to talk about constraints
[38:38] related to the pond. So it just really
catalyzes us into some realistic
[38:44] concepts essentially to move us into the
next phase of design.
[38:48] » Um one second. It was really cool to
have city leadership in terms of um our
[38:55] our folks internally. So we had Phil the
engineer, we had Susan planner, we had
[38:59] Will with public works, um Julie, we had
just the the big thinkers in the room at
[39:06] at this design day. It was really
exciting and I heard a lot of positive
[39:09] feedback that it was really cool to get
away from their desks and be able to sit
[39:12] with the developer and sketch out ideas
and it was more loose and creative than
[39:16] their day-to-day activities. So, it
ended up being a very positive
[39:20] experience from what I heard from from
city folks. So,
[39:24] » and you were there, too?
>> I was there, too.
[39:28] » Um, if you need to head out, I can take.
Okay.
[39:31] » All right. So, what you're looking at
here are very loose sketches that were
[39:36] kind of the outcome of design day. So,
as Olivia said, um this group of, you
[39:41] know, city folks, public safety, the
developer, the developers, architects,
[39:45] the project team, all these folks, we
kind of broke into three different
[39:48] tables so that we could see what
different ideas these groups would
[39:51] generate, making sure we had, you know,
representation from all these different
[39:55] groups at each table. Um, so, you know,
we we gave an attempt to kind of name
[40:01] each of these kind of big concepts that
each table came up with. And you know
[40:05] the intent was to kind of be loose to
kind of let the pen flow just to get
[40:09] some bigger ideas on paper. Um the first
group came up with this concept of
[40:13] lines. So you can see you know one of
the biggest moves there is this really
[40:17] strong prominade from the light rail
stop all the way over to the pond and
[40:21] then park spaces kind of built off of
that you know linear prominade. The
[40:26] middle concept that the second table
came up with is this idea of funneling.
[40:30] So really embracing the entirety of the
light rail station with this public
[40:34] plaza, public park space and then
funneling people towards this natural
[40:38] feature of the pond across the site. And
then the third concept is nebula where
[40:43] you know what does it look like to kind
of break this park space into various
[40:46] components throughout the entirety of
the site. Um, but what the the biggest
[40:51] takeaway for all of us really was was
this, you know, each group independently
[40:56] with all of these different brains
together started thinking about this,
[40:59] you know, east to west connection of of
bringing people from the light rail stop
[41:03] from the trail connections that are
already existing on the northwest, the
[41:09] the southwest, and then the east side of
the site and bringing people through the
[41:14] site and really starting to embrace
those already existing trail connections
[41:18] and uh embraceing the natural features.
So, you know, it was it was that's a
[41:22] pretty big move um in and of itself to
to start thinking about, you know, how
[41:26] are we going to come up with a concept
plan for this park moving forward?
[41:32] And this is a version of what that kind
of looks like a little bit more uh
[41:35] formalized. You know, it's kind of hard
to read architect sketches sometimes.
[41:40] What do those squiggles mean? Um, so
what that kind of looks like in a little
[41:44] bit more of a formality. So, you know,
we can start identifying, you know, the
[41:48] the white lines or how pedestrians or
bicycles might move through the site.
[41:53] You know, building if the road goes
through the site or if there is no road
[41:57] through the site, you know, how does
that start looking and then how building
[41:59] massing could potentially start looking
um throughout the site as a whole. Um,
[42:04] and another encouraging thing was that
each group drew a relatively large
[42:08] amount of park space, which is very
exciting. So,
[42:15] building masses.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Building footprints.
[42:18] » Building footprints.
>> And I I want to reiterate that these are
[42:22] very high concept. This is sort of a
process for us at this point that these
[42:26] still need to be reviewed by city staff
internally and the developer or the
[42:30] watershed districts haven't seen these
yet. So this this is just sort of the
[42:34] process of us landscape
>> architects.
[42:40] the developer would
>> own.
[42:45] » Yep. Correct.
>> Yep.
[42:48] » And we we intentionally tried to not
overlabel this as part of the process
[42:53] just to kind of let general gestures and
ideas and you know figuring out spaces
[42:58] and circulation across the site as well.
[43:13] Yes, we're working together.
[43:19] » Which is also a, you know, kudos to this
process for kind of getting ahead of,
[43:24] you know, something that, you know, a
developer might come to the table and
[43:29] say, you have this quarter acre to work
with for park space. you know, getting
[43:32] kind of ahead of that to envision how
can park and development work together
[43:37] to support and enhance each other is is
a really cool process.
[43:41] » Just one more to tag on to Ann's
question. So, is the the de is the
[43:46] development in the space commercial,
residential, retail?
[43:52] » Primarily residential and retail is what
we're hearing so far.
[43:55] » Thank you. The other examples that they
have pointed to working with the city in
[44:00] sort of a redevelopment style like this
um did feature restaurant space
[44:06] primarily residential with a blend of
some public space mixed in. They
[44:11] showcased an example um on the river in
ana that they just wrapped up a big sort
[44:16] of prominade along the river that had
residential and a and a city space
[44:20] associated with it was very similar to
our open space. So they totally get that
[44:25] process and seem to be excited to work
with us
[44:32] » and through internal discussions with
the project team and um talking through
[44:37] some of the folks that were there at
design day. It seems like, you know,
[44:41] trending towards this idea of funneling
to really, you know, kind of embrace
[44:45] that light rail stop and in enhance the
existing trail connections on the on the
[44:52] west side of the site to really start
bringing people through and make a
[44:55] really fluid connection of park space
across the site. Again, this is very
[45:00] high level. It'll look probably pretty
different at the end of this, but this
[45:04] is kind of our jumping off point of a of
a concept that, you know, a lot of
[45:08] people are in the room together kind of
sketching, ideulating together. Do you
[45:12] want to add anything to that?
>> Just that we still have a long way to
[45:16] go, but there there's a fine tuning, a
whittling down of big ideas um and a lot
[45:22] of a lot of interest. You know, we
certainly need to protect the storm
[45:25] water, so the wershed district will need
to weigh in. Is this accommodating for
[45:28] enough units? the developer is going to
have to go back and look at those sorts
[45:31] of things. But this represents an
opportunity for us to take the wheel a
[45:35] little bit in this process um and
coordinate with everybody along the way.
[45:43] » Very cool.
[45:49] » It's that
>> green uh bar on the west side. Yes.
[45:55] There on the hand.
The concept is there will be no
[46:02] » parking associated with the residential
units. So if you're familiar, we'll see
[46:07] him tonight on the bus tour. Um all the
parking associated with the residential
[46:12] area or the residential buildings just
south that that turn on outside E
[46:16] building that's called Minnetonka
station that just opened. The parking is
[46:20] on the ground level. So underneath the
residential units or there's associated
[46:25] parking garages. It would be this
situation, but it would not have a large
[46:29] park and lot ride lot associated with
this
[46:32] » public space.
[46:38] » Or at the west side, there's a park and
ride drop off area,
[46:43] the west side of the station, there's
essentially like um
[46:49] » a kiss.
>> Yeah, that's what they're called. Yeah.
[46:54] So, more of a commuter lot than a park
and ride style lot.
[46:59] Pick up and drop off. Well, since we're
kind of diving into some questions, I
[47:03] guess I'll throw one out, too. Um, so
programming in this space would be
[47:08] really
focused around residents and workers in
[47:12] that in the Opus area. You wouldn't want
to throw a event that would bring people
[47:17] in substantially unless they were coming
in on the train.
[47:21] » You know what I mean?
>> Yes.
[47:23] » There's no parking. That's what we're
trying to find out through this out
[47:26] outreach and engagement process. What's
the appropriate amount of that sort of
[47:30] space?
>> Okay. Thank you.
[47:33] » So, I'm getting a little bit of like a
uh Centennial Lakes vibe
[47:39] » um to this and we'll see, you know, but
the other thing from the from the
[47:46] bubbles,
>> community engagement bubbles, granted
[47:50] there's already water in this pond, but
it also start to give me this like Round
[47:55] Lake splash pad playground vibe.
>> Um,
[48:01] so just plug those in.
>> We've talked about Centennial Lakes
[48:04] quite a bit during this process. Round
Lake hasn't come up, but Centennial for
[48:09] sure. There's a lot of similarities with
the office space around it.
[48:13] » Yeah, I think I think in regard to
Centennial Lake, what you know,
[48:16] community has brought up is the amount
of like family activities available to
[48:21] do there and actually draws you to want
to come there.
[48:25] » Um whether you're, you know, living
around it as a resident or, you know,
[48:28] you're, hey, let's drive a half hour to
somewhere new that, you know, we haven't
[48:32] been to in a couple years or something.
So,
[48:36] um, these are images from, you know,
other projects elsewhere completely
[48:41] around the world. Again, this is a very
unique opportunity,
[48:45] um, from a park space perspective. So,
we don't want to be too constrained with
[48:49] thinking, you know, too small here. I
think, you know, there's a lot of
[48:52] opportunity to think big with what could
potentially be here and um, you know,
[48:56] those bubbles of community feedback were
mentioned and this is what people were
[49:01] really reacting to. Um, you know, what
they would like to see. You're seeing
[49:04] that balance of, you know, nature, that
connection to nature, natural spaces,
[49:08] native plantings, but also things to do
amongst that. So, places you can gather
[49:13] with friends and family, places to play,
places to maybe learn about the
[49:17] environment, you know, sit alongside
some some water, some nature, and
[49:22] there's a whole, you know, you know,
sort of spectrum of what all of these
[49:27] activities could really look like. And
this is what, you know, our next round
[49:30] of community engagement that we're going
to be doing next week and later this
[49:33] month is to dive a lot deeper into these
elements and really understand from
[49:38] community, you know, is this is that
type of playground, you know, way too
[49:43] big of a scale of your thinking? Are you
thinking smaller? Or is that what you
[49:45] want to see? You want to see something
really iconic here for Minnetonka. Um,
[49:50] So that's kind of our next step and
intent is, you know, we've kind of
[49:53] started thinking about this bubble
diagramming programmatically at a high
[49:56] level and then starting to get into that
next level with community. What's the
[50:00] right scale? What's the right, you know,
kind of vibe for this space?
[50:06] » That's it.
>> Thank you all for your time. And any
[50:11] more questions?
>> Thank you. Yeah. Any questions,
[50:14] comments?
You'll see it with your own eyes. At
[50:18] least in its current condition here.
>> It's very exciting. Get ready.
[50:22] » Yeah, really. Brace yourself.
>> I guess I'll throw out one since I
[50:27] always throw out questions. Um,
the Golden Triangle is that I'll call it
[50:32] the optimum lot. Is that the optimum
station?
[50:37] » Let me go back.
>> No, that one's called City West
[50:41] » on the map. I didn't see. Is that on the
map? Yeah, just south of our Opus
[50:44] station.
>> It is the optimum station basically.
[50:48] Okay. City city west. I'm sorry. That's
what I meant to say. So that has a big
[50:52] park and ride lot. So if that's where I
was kind of headed is I don't know what
[50:56] the frequency of the train is, assuming
it runs.
[50:59] » Um
but Shady Oak and City West have large
[51:05] parking areas. So it's depend on the
frequency. if you were to want to have
[51:10] something to happen on a weekend or
something, people could park there and
[51:15] just ride in for four minutes on the
train, too. So,
[51:21] » and and we've heard from community
community members that, you know, having
[51:26] something iconic here, you know, artwork
or an iconic play structure, whatever
[51:30] that may be, will,
>> you know, make people want to get off
[51:33] the train. So, you know, maybe maybe
someone, you know, does the park and
[51:38] ride lot at the Golden Triangle Station,
commutes into St. Louis Park or downtown
[51:42] every single day, but they see I want to
bring my kid there one weekend. I'm
[51:46] going to come back here. You know,
that's kind of
[51:48] » Sure. That's
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, I do have an
[51:53] announcement of an announcement, which
is that on September 26, there is going
[52:00] to be an event in St. Louis Park.
location to be determined at 10:00 a.m.
[52:06] and at that event
opening day of the light will be
[52:10] announced. Okay. So,
>> all right.
[52:13] » By the end of this month, we will know
when opening day of the light rail will
[52:18] be. So, that is exciting in the sense of
we we will have an answer,
[52:24] » right?
>> But I encourage you, you know, we had a
[52:26] really cool event where we um when they
reopened the trails and celebrated the
[52:31] reopening of the and a lot of a lot of
community there, a lot of, you know,
[52:36] free stuff, ice cream and those kinds of
things. So, keep an eye out for this
[52:40] event and come join us so you can find
out
[52:42] » when the library is going to open.
>> That's exciting.
[52:47] » Well, this is a great a great
presentation.
[52:50] » It's an exciting project certainly and
we got a long way to go before we're
[52:54] cutting any ribbons out there. Um, but
this setting we're we're hitting the
[52:58] ground running that I think we have a
really solid team. a lot of excitement
[53:02] from staff in the city, a lot of
excitement from city leaders, you folks.
[53:06] It's really a kind of a thrilling
opportunity for us here in the city of
[53:10] Manitaka. So, thank you.
>> Matt, oh,
[53:15] » I know you have some upcoming engagement
events that you mentioned, but do you
[53:19] have any more information related to
timeline for this particular plan and
[53:24] when they might see it? Again, the
parking council. Our current scope in
[53:28] terms of timeline would be to be
producing a a draft version of this
[53:32] document to be presented first to the
park board late this fall is our
[53:37] timeline. Early winter seems more like
it at this point. There there's going to
[53:41] be a lot of distillation of community
feedback. Um I know these these two
[53:46] events are locked in. We're also going
to be at the firehouse open house which
[53:49] I believe is um October 6th. So we'll
have a table there as well. Um, so
[53:54] there'll just be some some doing u
behind the scenes before we produce this
[53:58] draft document um that I would go up on
on our Mitaka Matters site for public
[54:04] feedback and and be presented to the
park board. I'm expecting I mean no
[54:08] December probably at this point after
the new year potentially.
[54:16] So, another sort of big picture
question, and I feel sort of stupid
[54:21] because I don't know the answer to this.
Um, in the CIP plan, there was talk
[54:27] about we're going to have a we need more
park space in Opus and there was a very
[54:33] big number about how much it was going
to cost and some of that was to buy
[54:38] land, I think.
>> Is this that park or is that a separate
[54:42] park? That's this part. This part is
okay.
[54:44] » And yes, they're big numbers and we're
we're trying to figure out through this
[54:48] process that we're on the same page with
the developer. We get a better sense of
[54:52] what they would offer us in terms of the
land, what they would owe us in terms of
[54:55] the land and with their redevelopment.
Um, so this, like I said, helps us take
[54:59] the wheel in that conversation a little
bit working with them.
[55:06] It seems
dog park is kind of on some of our
[55:10] minds,
>> it doesn't seem like there'd be enough
[55:14] room for a big one. It would if there
was one, it would be small.
[55:18] » Yes, it'd be a smaller like urban style,
smaller fencing area.
[55:23] » Thank you.
>> Well, this sounds so exciting.
[55:27] » Maybe we should take a tour.
>> Good idea.
[55:31] » So, unless anybody else we could Yes,
Leslie. Um, just a couple of notes. One
[55:36] is um I know some of you are aware park
board member Brad Lman um ended up
[55:43] having an opportunity to move out of
state and as you know we haven't met for
[55:48] three months so it's it's been a while
since we met but he had to resign his
[55:51] position. He was hoping to be at this
meeting, but he and his wife, and I
[55:56] don't think he mind,
have had an opportunity to move closer
[56:00] to their children and grandchildren. And
so, it's very exciting for him. They
[56:04] ended up moving earlier than they
thought they would, but he wanted to
[56:06] send his regards and his deep
appreciation for serving on the board
[56:11] board and being appointed by the
council. He really enjoyed his tenure
[56:14] here. He was sorry to leave. He really
enjoyed it. So, he just sends his
[56:19] regards. So, we certainly appreciate all
that.
[56:22] He was a good contributor.
>> Yes, he was a very good contributor. Um,
[56:25] and then the second is, as Matt
mentioned, we will be taking a tour. So,
[56:29] hopefully you are all on board for that.
And is the bus here? The bus is here.
[56:34] It's always kind of nerve-wracking
making sure the bus shows up. Um, so we
[56:38] will be starting at the OPA station. So,
you will get to see exactly what they've
[56:43] been talking about.
Right now it's very urban and big
[56:47] parking lot sort of a bit dated but
you'll get to uh use the information
[56:54] they provided to try to envision what
this could look like. So we'll start
[56:58] there and then the second place we will
go is the big willow park. Um as you
[57:02] know we are in the middle of completing
a master plan. Last year we went and we
[57:07] looked at the ballpark or ball fields
area. This time we're going to go to
[57:13] natural area along the creek on the
south side of the creek along the Tanka
[57:17] Boulevard where there was proposed you
know picnic shelters trails and Matt
[57:22] will talk through that but we're going
to go see that area as well. So just two
[57:26] stops tonight so we can take our time.
We should be back about 8:30. Um so I
[57:31] just encourage you to take maybe 10
minutes or so if you need to use the
[57:35] restroom. If you want to grab something
to drink, we do have some beverages here
[57:39] you can bring with you if you leave
anything will here. The facility staff
[57:44] will make sure it's um safe and then we
will come back at about 8:30 and the bus
[57:49] should be out in the front
>> out in the front of the community
[57:52] center.
>> So, do we need a motion?
[57:54] » We do.
>> So, those are my notes. Yes. Now, if you
[57:57] would like to move to
[58:01] » I'd like to move that we adjourn.
>> All right.
[58:03] » Second.
>> All in favor?
[58:06] » I
>> And I just also want to say that uh
[58:09] Council Member Wilburn is here.
attendance. Zoomed in very quietly.