Yeah. Pledge of Allegiance?
» I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» All right. Um first thing on
our agenda is to approve the agenda as presented. Does anyone have any
questions or additions or changes to
the agenda as presented? If not, I'll take a motion to approve
the agenda. >> I move to
» Okay, I got a motion by Shawn Ryan. Rick, you going to second? Second by
Rick Seiler. If there's no questions, comments, all
in favor say I. >> I.
» I. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Next item is our consent
agenda. These are items that are pretty routine in nature. Um does anyone
have any questions or issues on the items that are in the
consent agenda?
» I move to approve the consent agenda. >> Okay. Second.
» A second a motion by Maggie Bass, second by Bruce Woolf. The only question I I
just want to confirm that we will be doing
the elections at the new city hall. >> Correct.
» All right. >> Okay.
So, I got a motion and a second. If there's no other questions, all in
favor say I. >> I.
» I. Any opposition? Okay, passes 5-0. Next on the agenda is government agency
updates. Dennis, if you'd like to
come forward and uh tell us what the heck the county is up
to. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the
council, thanks for having me again. It's always a pleasure.
Sorry I wasn't here last month. I was enjoying Canada fishing, which was
should be successful and it was, so thank you.
Uh what's going on in the county? Um we're on our third week of doing our
budgeting. Um again, I'm no veteran. I'm only a
year and a half into my position as as a commissioner. However, talking with
the county administrator and the other commissioners, usually at this time
we're looking at a levy of double digits. I
know, and then we have to try to work that down into the single digits, but
right now we're we're sitting really good. They're really really really
really pleased or at uh
uh meeting with the department heads and
figuring out next year's plan. Um also after the after the workshops,
we have a we're going through our ordinances throughout the county. This
is probably going on four or five weeks of doing that, so we've had long
Tuesdays. We've had our regular Tuesday meetings.
And now the workshops with the department heads and now ordinances, so
we're usually Tuesday we're there till probably 3:00, 4:00 in the afternoon
trying to get this out, but it's good because we're taking
four or five department heads at a time rather than I guess in the past they've
tried to cram this all into one or two days, and it just gets really
long. And then you're looking at 12-hour days.
Um some of the roads uh you know, obviously we had rain. There was rain
anywhere from 3 to 7 in over in Lee Shores, so some of our roads took a
a hit, but I talked to our county engineer along with uh assistant
department head Robbie Kopet, which uh he figured by today I talked to him on
Friday afternoon, late afternoon, and he figured by Monday, which is today and
possibly tomorrow, they should be back on par with having the roads all back in
order. Um just a couple highlights, our fraud
investigator that uh Sheriff Mason I I I think I told you
this already, Sheriff Mason designates a deputy solely to work on
fraud in Le Sueur County. And it's saving our taxpayers in Le
Sueur County and the state a lot of money. So, um
just wanted that uh a little fact for you guys to know
that that uh the money that we get
is a grant money from the state which doesn't
cover his salary, but we still think it's more
important to you know, in the long run we're getting
that money back. It did The money that we recoup from that goes to the state.
The Le Sueur County residents don't get that. It goes
to the state and then branches off from there.
Um >> [clears throat]
» as you know, Mayor Nicklay, the state baseball tournament's coming to New
Prague, so I encourage any of you that maybe have a weekend off or a weekday
off, um sign up,
help out the city, and uh it's going to be a lot of good baseball
coming to town. Um elections, I think I overheard you
saying your elections our elections. So, our meetings tomorrow Yes, the last
Tuesday and tomorrow and the following, I believe
or no, just tomorrow yet.
Our meetings are held at the courthouse cuz of the early voting is where our
where we usually have our chamber meetings. That's getting
allocated by early voting. Again, I'm getting phone calls or just
in person people talking to me. As you turn on the news, data centers. I'm
getting a lot of people not wanting data centers. My constituents, it's you know,
the 90% please don't bring data centers. We have no
intentions. Right now, we have a moratorium on data centers in the
county, so nothing can be done anyways for a year, but
um just to kind of put that at ease for
right now, there's no one's at approach the county wanting one.
Um, again, listening to my constituents, I have no interest in having one.
All right. Any questions?
Thank you all for what you do. Appreciate it.
» Thanks, Dennis. >> All right, thank you, Dennis.
Next on the agenda is our public forum. This is an opportunity where uh
people can uh speak to the council. Um,
there's not going to be really any inner reaction, but uh
it will be noted. So, first on the list I have Brian Paulson.
Brian, you know, state your name and address, please.
» Uh Brian Paulson, 206 First Street Southwest. Uh may I remind the council,
I just wanted to thank uh all you and the chief of police and the city
administrator for turning on the transparency portal audit logs for the
flood cameras. So, I noticed that was turned on. So, I just wanted to thank
you. I know we've been talking about that for a long time. So, I just want to
say uh thank you. >> All right.
» [snorts] >> Thank you.
Next on the list is it Heather
or
» Oh, I think I I thought it was a sign-up >> Yep, so that that was a sheet for if you
would like to discuss >> No, you do
Oh, you you don't want to speak? You just Okay. Well, that's fine.
» you can't speak like Dennis, so. >> Well, who can? [laughter]
All right. So, I Heather and John, you do not want
to speak? Anyone else want to address the council?
All right. If not, we'll go on the next
item. We do not have any public hearings. And number seven, we're going
to go into the 2026 electric utility revenue bond update.
Um, that sale would took place on July 15th.
And um, it was presented to utilities commission last at their last meeting
last week. And
» [clears throat] >> now we're just presenting it to the
council. It has been a the council gave the
utilities commission the authority to approve that bond. So,
it looks like we have Brian Riley from uh
I Ehlers to kind of give us a quick summarization, right Brian?
» That is the plan. Thank you, Mayor.
Um, I will try to be concise and brief. As was stated, these bonds have been
sold and priced and the next step is closing, which is scheduled to occur
just a few days from now. Um, so just for your benefit, you should
have the sale day report in your packet and I'll just briefly walk you through
that and I'll I'll preface by speaking a little bit about the rating. Obviously,
the city is rated but our utility has its own rating with a
different set of metrics and standards that are directly applicable to
municipal electric providers. And so, the you know, the
those standards are a bit different from what you would think about from a
general obligation pledge. Um, the rating came out as an A and stable,
which means there's no point of view on whether or not the rating will change up
or down in the next few years. And by and large, if you go through that
quickly, um, you'll note a number of references towards relatively strong
financial operations, maybe a few things here and there regarding some
improvements that can be made to some long-term management, but by and large,
the utility itself is viewed to be in in positive condition and the A rating is
is very reasonable for a utility of that size and within your geography.
» [clears throat] >> I think what also speaks to that is as I
get into the bids here, we went to competitive sale just like you have
traditionally done with your own general obligation debt.
Bids were solicited and received on July 15th as was stated.
There were five bids offered which I would view as relatively strong
for a small communities electric revenue with generation.
And so you also you can see the benefit of the competitive sale where we've got
the winning bid coming in at about 4.16%.
The worst coming in at just under 4.35 with a few scattered around 4.25. And so
on the day of sale there were two buyers who were very interested. Both the
winning and the cover. We would view 4.16%
on a 20 plus year structure as being relatively attractive. I will say as you
look back knowing that it's early August, these bonds sold July 15th and
while we're not in the business of recommending timing the market, you did
hit it at a favorable time. Rates have been um
pretty much up since then not dramatically but you know, certainly to
the tune of about 15 to 20 basis points 0.15 to 0.2%. That certainly does add up
on a transaction over 16 million dollars.
On the day of sale, the pricing that was received allowed the city to reduce the
size of the issue. We we make certain assumptions when
we're putting kind of the pre-sale package together and working with you on
all of that and we make some assumptions based on any number of things including
the fees and expenses associated with the issue. There's also a debt service
reserve fund which is very common for a utility revenue obligation.
That is borrowed money that is set aside as additional security for the debt in
the case that revenues are insufficient to support the annual payment
requirements and then would be required if there's ever a draw on it, you'd be
required to replenish it. So that additional credit enhancement
proves to be a benefit and is kind of demanded for an issue like this. And as
a result, we were also able to reduce that because the annual debt service
requirements were less than originally estimated. So, um, all in, able to
reduce the issue size um, roughly 600 some odd thousand
dollars. Um, so again, a positive attribute of this, coming in less than
expected. Um, you know, maybe I'll pause there and
see if there are any immediate questions. The bid tabulation shows you
the final pricing, the coupons, and the yields uh, for this issue,
um, and some other salient details.
Adjustments are made on the day of sale, and so, if you look to the bottom of the
first page of the bid tabulation, there's a few notes there that reference
the adjustments, and then what the final results are. Um, in that case, the sale
day report also has summary level detail um, on the cover.
What questions can I answer for any of you?
» Anyone have any questions?
» I have a general question, maybe not of you, Brian, but um,
just for our audience, um, is the repayment of these bonds is
actually [clears throat] coming from money coming from SIMPA, if that's my
understanding. >> Correct. Yes.
» Thank you. >> We have an agreement with SIMPA that
they would pay for the energy that that
generation plan could produce, and uh, so, this is going to
pay more than what the bond payments will be by a couple hundred dollars
thousand dollars each year. Isn't it something?
» I just wanted to make sure that that was said, so, um, our taxpayers understand.
» Right. This has no effect on our tax levy or tax burden at all.
» Right.
Any other questions or comments? No, I don't think we have any Brian. If
you anything else you need to share? >> I do not. All action has been taken to
your earlier point. The the sale has been awarded and we're proceeding
towards closing. So informational only and I do appreciate your time.
» I appreciate your time. >> Thank you.
» Thank you. >> Thank you all.
» [clears throat] >> Okay.
» Um mention we mentioned this before but this does give us added capacity within
the city and added redundancy so there's a a value to the city residents also by
this agreement not just that it's uh provides additional capacity for Sumpter
but it it gives us a better um
service that we can provide. >> Thank you.
» [clears throat] >> Okay. Uh there's no our city engineer
and updates. Matt, you just kind of want to breeze us
how the 10th Street project's going?
» Yeah, 10th Avenue is going really well. Uh we're about a week ahead of schedule.
Uh we actually had our first rain day on Friday which is not normal to have a
your first rain day in uh end of uh July so that's great news. Um
10th Avenue and 3rd Street is still closed. We still ask people to stay out
of that area. Uh the roundabout is I'm going to say it's 80% complete. Uh
if you walked up there or up to the signs you could see that the
roundabout's in place but they're still black dirt and sidewalks. Uh the trail
will be removed most likely next week on the west side of the road and repaved uh
the following week. Um so yeah, it's coming coming along really
well. Mainly concrete work this week. Uh curb replacement and sidewalk
replacement. >> Uh
any plans to open that 3rd Street roundabout?
» Uh as of now no because it's going to get have to be closed back down next
week. Um so opening it up for 1 week and they're still actually working in the
roundabout, um doing some dirt work. So, having it open for 5 days is just even
going to be more confusing than >> Oh, yeah. No, no, I was thinking like I
mean if it's all done and they're still paving. Uh
» Yeah, so the contract reads they have to have that roundabout open within 30 days
unless approved by um I guess myself or council. As of right
now, it is up to the 30 days at the end of end of this week, but as of right
now, we're going to leave it closed just because the
uh second lift is only a week week and a half old.
» Okay. Okay, thank you. Anyone any other
questions on any city engineering projects update that
maybe Matt can answer? All right, thank you, Matt.
Next, ordinances for introduction. Is this uh are we looking at a first
reading here? >> Uh yes, we are and I can give a little
brief synopsis here if you'd like me to. >> Yes, please.
» Uh Mitch, could you throw me the screen, please?
That's not what I wanted.
Uh so, Nicholas Borowski, the owner of 300 East East or 300 5th Street
Southwest, um has a property down the southwest corner of town that's broken
up by 140-ft and 212-ft easements um and rights of way.
And he has submitted an application to the city to consider vacating these. Um
as as staff looked through these, they are certainly supportive of these
vacations um as there are no planned uses for the
alleys, utilities, um planned use for these alleys or right of ways, and there
are no utilities within these easements. Um one thing to note is we do have a
electric line within the property that we are unable
to find an easement for, but we are currently working through
that at this point. This is just kind of an aerial of what
the property looks like. Um,
Mr. Borowski owns the entire parcel here and these are the right-of-ways and
easements that are currently cutting across the property. So, he is he's
asking if the city would just vacate these and come back to him as the
adjacent property owner. >> Go back to that picture, would you,
please? Do other properties
east of that also have the same issue? >> Uh, it's entirely possible. I do not
have that information on on top of my head with me right now. I
would guess usually, especially as you with all cities, as you get into the
older parts, if somebody buys property like across the line that was
originally put on there in a plat from 100 years ago,
yes, like these exist actually all over the city if we were to dig into them.
Generally, at times some cities are very proactive
with it. It does take a lot of research time
to really jump into these, but a lot of times, at least with New Prague, we've
always been a little more reactive driven. If the property owner knows
they're there, they may request them and we'll consider
them on a piece-by-piece basis depending on if the
city has plans for them or is currently using them.
» So, this particular plat in our packet is from 1896.
Okay. >> Correct. So, that was that was when the
roads were put down thinking they may be needed and
they have not been needed. Or if they
» As noted, the one that Chuck was probably asked for to the east
that's Southside Park. So, that would not
uh >> Okay.
So, that property butts up That butts up to Southside Park there.
Okay. So, that's why there probably won't be
an issue with that. All right, thank you.
Is there any Was there a thought that Second Ave would eventually go through?
» There might have been. If if that was a thought way way back at one point, as
Maggie pointed out, it's a plat from 130 years ago.
» Right. >> And I think in a lot of times when they
do this, they it is Now they kind of take a property
and they try to map it out and put houses on it. A lot of these old maps,
they would take a four four square mile area and just drop all the roads on them
and you could start buying lots. So, there may have been the thought at one
point that that would be part of the street grid.
» I know that sometime that further south of that is
thought to be developed. And I don't know if it's conceivable for that road
to ever go through or not, but >> I mean, if that's Southside Park, I
guess the question of the council would be is would it be like like would it be
worth it? You are running into a train track right there. And so, even if the
road did go through, you'd either have to come up with a way to cross
or that property owner would have to be
willing to sell lots off, I guess. So, um
As noted, as staff kind of looked at this, it is one of those that just kind
of made sense that it's been around for a long time and
this is one of those that the city could let go of.
» Yeah, as part of this process before the hearing, I'd be interested to know
staff's understanding or thought or
would Second Street ever possibly go through or not?
» Yep. >> And if we have a right-of-way, do we
need it? >> Yeah, those are I will say these are
certainly good questions because as part of this process with an ordinance, a
public hearing is required. So, part of what I'd be asking you guys tonight is
to approve the attached resolution that calls for a public hearing on
our first meeting in September, which is the 1st of September.
Um Well, wait.
» No. >> No, the 8th of September.
» 8th it's not on this Tuesday. The 7th is Labor Day and so it would be Tuesday,
first two second Tuesday in this case. So the 8th of September would be our
meeting and that is when we would have a public hearing
that anyone can come comment on this as well as
Ken who normally handles these would be back and so he'd be able to answer some
of those questions. >> But are you still looking for us to
» So we'd be looking to approve approve on the first reading and then do the public
hearing as well as the public hearing resolution.
» And then if there's issues we wouldn't we wouldn't do the second
reading, is that >> Correct. Okay.
» Okay, anyone have any questions?
If not I guess I'll make a motion to approve ordinance number 366 the first
reading of vacating certain rights of way
um in the on this plat. >> I'll second.
» I got a second by Maggie Bass. Any other comments? All in favor say I.
Any opposition? Okay, passes 5-0. Next the resolution calling for the
public hearing on September 8th. Um
I guess I'll make a motion to approve that resolution just at the public
hearing at our council meeting on September 8th. I'll second. Go ahead. I
got a second by Rick Seiler. There's no other questions, comments?
All in favor say I. Any opposition? Okay, passes 5-0. So we
will get this thing all cleared up and answered and everything on September
8th. Number 10 we have no ordinances for
adoption, no resolutions. 12 general business pay grade update. I
know this is a recommendation from the utilities commission
um due to the fact that um
it is hard to find linemen uh at this time so we're looking to add a
classification under grade two. And I think Robin, I think you had talked to
uh the company that did our comp study. >> Yes. Um so, just briefly in Bruce
Reimer's absence tonight, um I told him I'd speak to any questions.
So, um exactly what you said, Mayor. Just um
not having a big candidate pool for qualified linemen that meet all of the
criteria. We're looking to create a position and add to our pay grade, an
electric utility apprentice position. So, I did contact AutoSolve to work with
them for placement on our grade, and it would be at
our existing pay grade step two. So, I included the pay grade in the
council packet as well. So. >> So, this the only thing is you just
added this position at that grade. >> Correct.
» On the in the existing thing. All right.
» change in pay or anything, just putting placement on grade two.
» So, move >> Anyone have any questions for Robin?
Okay, I got to get a motion by Rick Seiler to approve the pay grade update
adding the electric utility apprentice position on grade two of our current
scale. >> I'll second.
» I got a second by Maggie Bass. There is no other questions, comments?
All in favor say I. I. Any opposition? Okay, it passes 5-0.
Next, we have uh concept review of the Harvest Fields.
Do we Are you taking this, Josh, or >> Yes, I will take this one again.
» [clears throat] >> So, this uh this particular review is
for a concept kind of a concept review of um
the southern portion of what we have discussed in the past as the kind of
Beswick land up on the northeast corner of town.
Um, generally with the concept review, they kind of come in very, very high
level and they are looking for just um
feedback based off of are there things we like, are there things we don't like,
is this something that we could foresee them going [clears throat] forward with,
is it something that we want to completely throw the brakes on. I do
also want to note that uh and I'm hopefully I don't butcher your
last name, Lucinda Spenner, uh
from uh JPB is here as well to kind of introduce herself and the company as
well as hopefully um being able to answer any questions that may be about
this, but I will run through some quick background
uh that staff have been doing to this point
as well as what both the park board and planning commission have done.
So, as I mentioned, JPB land did apply for a concept review. Uh this particular
development includes 185 single family lots on about 63 acres of land. Um, of
note, this land is guided single family on the west side and medium density
residential on the east side. Across the entire development, lots do
vary from 42 ft wide to 72 ft wide. Um, of also of note that this particular um
land would require uh a planned unit development or PUD zoning which allow
you some flexibility in your zoning requirements. Um, that being due to the
fact that lots under 50 ft wide and with side setbacks
um lots current zoning code does not allow
for lots under 50 ft wide and that setbacks are set at 7 ft instead of 6
ft. And so, to be able to meet their particular concepts, um the cleanest way
to do it would be to do a PUD unless you're willing to do variances for every
single lot. So, PUD just makes it much cleaner.
Um, this particular plan also does expand
out Heritage Park um with an additional 1.4 acres as well as continues the
Greenway truth trail through um
the development. On July 14th, the park board did
uh review this and provided general support for the
concept plans in terms of how the park uh Heritage Park was expanded as well as
the Greenway trail extension. And then on July 22nd, the planning
commission also reviewed the plans. Um, there was not a pub- formal public
hearing for this as it was a concept review, but they
um we did send out 250 notices to the area um and kind of residents around
that area. Overall, we had about 30 people in attendance um and we uh the
planning commission did choose to take public comment.
Generally, and township people are here as well, um but they have the township
has uh expressed support for annexation. Um, and just general comments were kind
of about traffic and weeds uh on kind of this development area.
The developer did note um that their build out is expected to take
about 5 years, but that obviously depends on market conditions and what
kind of demand that they would see. So, here is a large overall map um with
that southern portion being their uh concept proposal being dropped onto it.
Of note, those blue roads uh are and you can see that small
roundabout are taken preliminarily from the uh feasibility study for uh the
realignment of Alton Avenue there, and so uh it actually lays very well onto
what our um potential projected um roads would be for the north half of
that property. >> [clears throat]
» And then here's just more of a zoomed-in area. You can see um the larger lots are
in the pink for this, and then you get into uh
the uh I guess we'll call them turquoise which are your a little bit smaller and
they kind of size up to the middle. So, of the adjacent neighborhoods,
the lots lot sizes line up pretty well in terms of size and so nobody is
necessarily getting a house built next next to them that is significantly
different than what they have built and the smaller lots are tucked into the
middle also next to a lots of similar size.
Some notes on this, the city engineer did review and comment.
And just kind of noticed some changes as we've gone forward that they'd like to
see for future submissions. Both public works and utilities did not
have any comments beyond what the city engineer provided.
The police department did note that the siren nearby here
has been plugged since 2009 but it does still
provide coverage.
I'll be honest with him, I'm not sure what that comment means. I'm assuming
» Yeah, go ahead. I was I found a
Well, I found it when I was going through looking at some of emergency
management things and wondering why that zone for that siren was smaller than the
other five that we had. So, I went and I did some digging and I
found that in 2009 there was a resident that had
some type of medical condition that the noise from that siren
was bothering his something to do with his health. So, at
that time Dennis Sawyer and Chief Wolschke decided
to put some I guess mufflers into some of the
ports in that siren. And I did have Bob Brazina with city
staff go up there and check and just ensure that that was still the case.
And it is to this date and there's a memo on that dating back to 2009. So,
the ability there is to unplug that and I don't know what that conversation
looks like with that resident after it was decided
years ago to do that. So, um there could be some additional coverage there if
city chose to take those baffles out of that um
siren.
» And that resident still resides there? >> Yes.
» That was my question. >> Yep. That is my understanding right now,
yes. >> But, the fire department did not have
any comments at this time and the community development department just
noted that um the this concept did fit very well
with not only the area um but also kind of the comprehensive plan goals such as
life cycle high is housing, park and greenway expansion, and um protection
and enhancement of natural features.
Uh the school district school district also provided a letter noting that they
have um significant capacity within the schools to be able to absorb kids or
families who may move into this neighborhood.
Uh talking about development fees, and
these are the fees that are generally paid um most of them right up front, but
also some kind of as you go through. There would be um with this particular
development as it's shown, a park dedication fee of either $383,327
or 9.2 acres of parkland or a combination there of both.
Um an emergency siren fee of a little over $10,000,
a sidewalk fee of a little over $10,000, a water area access charge of $177,000,
a sewer area access charge of $378,000, and then an electric area
uh access charge uh ranging somewhere between $475 to $500,000
um kind of based off of uh, electric usage
and then uh, last one I've got here is a saw and
seal fee for $22,000. Uh, this was a new one to me. I did have
to ask Matt about it and he can correct me if I'm wrong. Um, once we kind of
stop seal coating because we were spending money and not getting what we
were looking for, uh, what we do now is we go and we uh, cut the preliminarily
cut the asphalt very similar to how concrete is cut to create that
pre-crack. Um, that way as it expands and contracts
keeps stays on the crack better and then uh, so we'll make that saw cut and then
we'll seal that up. It's much smaller than the toilet
papering you'll see around town. In fact, many times you won't even know
it's there if you're not walking along looking for those cuts. So.
Uh, and these are just kind of some pictures kind of from around the
neighborhood um, as of right now. So, these
» [clears throat and cough] >> pictures are from the intersection next
to Heritage uh, Park. Uh, and then kind of looking out from
there, um, these are to the south there. This is uh, that area if you remember
about a year ago that a bunch of those trees were cut down. Is that correct,
Matt? Um, kind of looking to the north.
Uh, and then these ones are surrounding I
believe from the uh, east side of the area.
So, ultimately staff's recommendation, uh, the city does not take any formal
action on concept plans. This is more of a provide and the the ability for the a
developer to get feedback short of sub- having to submit formal plats and
storm water and all those other various uh, much more expensive plans
to get some high-level feedback. So, we are just looking for feedback from staff
um, uh, uh, to the developer as well as city
council. Um, a a hearing is not held on concept
reports, but the city council, similar to what the planning commission did, may
certainly open up and take public comment from anyone who is present.
And then the next step in the process would be to annex the property
and then review the zoning that would go along with annexation as all land must
be formally zoned. Part of the zoning process does include
a traffic impact study, so it's at that point that we'd get a lot more
information on how these roads would be affected. And then platting would follow
that, both preliminary and final.
So. We'll certainly stand for any questions
at this point and as I said, Lucinda
Spahnier is certainly here and I know she had a small presentation if the
council wishes to hear it, just kind of introducing the company and herself as
well as any other thoughts that she may want to share about the concept review.
» Okay. Does anyone have any questions? Just to clarify on the southwest corner,
that open space, is that actually going to be a water retention area or just
left as a wetland area? >> Uh
you know, I am not 100% sure. I can I think it marks it on the map if I could
zoom in on it right now, but >> I think it says wetland, but I just I
» It does. >> Not seen that before.
» It says open space with wetland and it may just be maybe Lucinda could
speak to that. She's certainly She's shaking her head
that she can, so. >> Okay.
And they had a great presentation, so. >> Yeah.
I'm going to give the floor to you and you can kind of
give us a who JBP Land LLC is and uh
» Thank you, Mayor. >> I do think she has a presentation if you
if she'd open the podium.
» Do I need to do anything on my end? Besides putting
» Mitch, does she need to do anything on her end?
Oh, yeah, sure. Typical IT guy. Just control
[laughter and clears throat] alt delete. Just unplug it now. It'll come back.
» [laughter] >> It's not turned on.
Yeah, maybe you need Are you off it now?
» Yeah, you can find it there.
Okay. Thank you. Um but Council member Wolfe, to answer
your question, the property has gone through a wetland delineation process
and it has a total of four wetlands. Um all quite small.
Um and the the area that you are inquiring about is indeed a wetland.
It's not planned for any man-made water storage anything like that.
» Thank you.
» Yeah, there are a number of different types of wetlands and sometimes it's for
the untrained eye it may not appear to be a wetland. You know, it doesn't have
the canary reed grass growing and visible water, but if it has hydric
soils and vegetation that grows in hydric soils, then it is
classified as a wetland.
Here we go. Yes, okay, wonderful. Thank you.
» All right, good evening mayor members of the city council. Thank you for your
time this evening. Um, we are very excited to present our
project to you um and hopefully get some valuable feedback that we can take back
to our engineering team um and my colleagues back at JP Brooks
Land um and um get started on our engineering
um drawings and um proceed as um Josh mentioned with the next round of
applications which are a petition for annexation of the parcel into the city
limits as well as um the PUD rezone that we are requesting.
My name is Lucinda Spanjer as introduced. I'm here tonight with JP
Brooks Builders and JP Brooks Land LLC. We are a local builder and land
development company based in Maple Grove. Um all of the decisions that we
make are made locally um and they all um ensure that there's a consistent and
unified community that's constructed because we are starting it from land
development all the way through the construction of all of the homes on all
of the lots.
Um JP Brooks has been in business since 2013 and has constructed over a thousand
homes in over 45 communities. We are currently building 19
neighborhoods in 16 jurisdictions within the Twin Cities Metro and Western
Wisconsin. We have averaged 188 closings um between
the years of 2024 and 2025. And we are consistently ranked for the
last seven years as a top 15 builder in the Twin Cities market.
And last but not least um we are certified by um the
Green Path or actually I'm not sure who does the
certification but um we are a certified Green Path builder which um speaks to
our dedication to um, energy efficiency and efficiency in building materials.
Oh, it's you, not me. Okay. Okay. [laughter]
All right. Um, >> You got to deal with the monkey, okay?
You're going to You're the organ grinder.
» So, uh, here's a look at our site plan. Um, Josh did a nice job of summarizing
what we have uh, presented here. I'll just add a little bit more detail. Um,
but that's been a whole lot of time um, so the four different lot sizes for us
work really nicely as a life life cycle community. Um, you have an entry-level
lot, which is the 42-ft wide lot. Um, I'll I'll get into the product that
we're proposing to build on those lots here in a minute. Um, but that is for an
entry-level buyer. Um, and then the lot scale all the way up to 72-ft wide,
which is going to be a more executive home site. Um, we can do four four-stall
garages on those homes. And so we really have a nice mix of um, different
households that we like to integrate into a single neighborhood. Um,
different [clears throat] income brackets and so forth. And we've
uh, really thoughtfully designed the layout of integrating these four
different lots in this 63-acre parcel um, with the the smaller lots um,
adjacent to other lots that are of similar size to theirs. And um, not
having those up against the existing neighborhood that does have a little bit
larger size lots.
We are asking for your consideration of a planned unit development. Um, this
slightly deviates from your unified development code standards. Um,
these setbacks are the same um, in the R3 district and in
the PUD district with the exception of the side yard setback. Your R3 zoning is
a 7-ft minimum and we're proposing a 6-ft minimum. But otherwise meeting
those setbacks as you have in your R3 zoning standards.
And then for the area, like we have quite a range here. So our
smallest lot would be 5,880
sq ft. Whereas your smallest lot in the R3 zoning is 6,200 sq ft.
However, it is important to note that the other three lots
exceed the minimum standard and they are the the majority There's of the lots
that we're proposing are exceeding the standards.
And lastly just noting that those 42s make up 28 total of the 185
lots and then 52 we have 34 of those. The 62-ft wide lots are um
our most popular lot. So we are proposing 100 in that size and then 23
of the 72s.
This slide is simply acknowledging that we have reviewed your comprehensive
plan, familiarized ourselves with your goals and what you are seeking to
achieve with construction of new subdivisions, neighborhoods, integrating
trails, natural amenities, parks and so forth into them.
And so we wanted to acknowledge that we feel that the proposal here incorporates
the life cycle housing approach that you are
explicitly seeking also which was really exciting to see that our
our goals were aligned on that housing goal.
And then we are proposing to preserve existing wetlands and in fact
incorporate one of the wetlands into an open space to be dedicated to the city
that is adjacent to the trail Um the expansion of the Greenway Trail.
And then um we are also expanding upon your
multimodal transportation network through the expansion of the Greenway
Trail and um local roadways as well as minor
collector roadways. And lastly
um just highlighting that there is um
been a lot of thought put into the streetscape here with the curvy
curvilinear roads, the varying lot sizes with a variety of different views for
each um each area of the plan and then providing
those important links to the existing neighborhoods and infrastructure.
All right. And then this slide touches on the PUD benefits that are proposed.
Usually there is um you know, a bit of a give and take with the city allowing for
some flexibility in their lot standards and then a developer providing some um
enhanced enhancements in the neighborhood. And so we are proposing
you know, the dedication of uh an acre and a half of Parkland to expand the
existing Heritage Park. We are looking to extend the Greenway
Trail from Bohemia Street to 7th Street Northeast.
Um we are also going to be contributing to your park dedication and improvement
fund as mentioned in the presentation. We are preserving existing wetlands and
uh incorporating them into the Greenway Trail corridor.
Our architectural standards that are um just that come standard. Uh they are
they exceed the city's standards. So we will have enhanced architecture and
we'll get into that in the next slide. Um
each one of our floor plans does offer three distinct elevations and color
schemes um to allow for some nice variation at the streetscape.
And um the
same Let me word this properly.
These same um uh
elevation or color scheme cannot be built um across the street or next door
to one another um because we do observe uh an anti-monotony self-imposed
anti-monotony code to make sure that um there's a lot of interest from the from
the streetscape.
And I'm not going to go through all of our architectural distinctions um but
they are um provided in your packet if you are interested um but we do a lot
just as standard and basic that the majority of builders [clears throat]
aren't going to incorporate at a base level but would do, you know, um added
charge ups for.
And then this is just a look at the anti-monotony code um as was discussed
at the planning commission meeting last week. Um the same floor plan can be
constructed. However, um this the elevation must be different. So, each
one of our homes comes in three different distinct elevations.
Um and then it would have have to also have a um different color scheme.
So, we've found a lot of success in doing that.
Here is a list of the floor plans that we are proposing to offer in the
community. As you can see, um they range from two-story
slab-on-grades, regular two-stories, villas, split-level, multi-level,
ramblers, um and it and a variety of options for all
three of those lot sizes there. And then for the um smaller lot size, which is
not pictured on this um table, the 42-ft wide lots, they will accommodate a newly
designed 30-ft wide two-car product with a two
or sorry or sorry um with a two-story garage. Um
and I'm going to you can take a look at those on the next slide. There's a
Yep, elevate um rendering of those. So, these are currently in the process
of design, so I don't have um all of the specifics pertaining to square footage,
um number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but it's estimated to be between 1,800 and
2,400 square feet. It is a slab-on-grade product with um two, possibly three
bath- bathrooms, and uh three possibly four bedrooms. And then these are
» And this is for the smallest lots, correct?
» That's correct. Yes. Yep, so this this home is 30 ft in
width, and it would sit on a 42-ft wide lot with 6-ft side yard setbacks.
Um and have the um attached garage.
All right, and then I won't spend too much time going through our repertoire
of homes that we have curated for the neighborhood, um but I am more than
happy to ask answer any questions, address any concerns, um but most
importantly just receive your feedback this evening.
» You could um the the there was really only one
big question that was presented, and that was the deforestation that happened
already and anything that'll happen in the future, and you can go ahead and
answer that. Because the deforestation that did
happen, that was by a previous owner, and I believe your plan is more
environmentally friendly.
» Yes, Councilman Burseiler, so that that was a focus of the discussion at the
planning commission meeting. Um there was a lot of concern that was voiced by
residents of the community pertaining to uh the removal of some trees on the
property, and um that was done um
prior to our involvement with the um with the property and um entering into a
purchase agreement with the seller. Um so we understand that that was rather
devastating to the neighborhood and um, our intention
for landscaping um, would be to adhere to the city's standards for um, required
trees and um, any landscaping requirements that the that the city has.
Furthermore, um, we are um, we will be needing to um, potentially mitigate of
about .13 acres of wetland at a two-to-one ratio. So, we would be
» [clears throat] >> creating uh, .26 acres in another
location to um, allow for some fill for a very, very small area of the wetland.
Um, that just so happens to be in the middle of a planned road. Um, so in
terms of uh, environmental um, um, consideration for this project, we
um, will be mitigating those wetlands, but
outside of that, it's it's a farm field.
» I think >> So, if this goes forward, do you build
a house once you have someone a buyer or are you going to be building some spec
homes or how's the process work for you guys?
» Sure. Um, Mayor, we do both of those. So, we like to obtain model home permits
and have the ability to get constructing as quickly as possible. Um, ideally one
model home on each lot so that folks can have an idea of the offerings that are
available for each one of those price points. Um, excuse [clears throat] me.
And then we certainly do build spec homes and also uh, we do have um, lots
that are for sale and an individual can come and select the lot of their choice
and then come into our um, design studio in Maple Grove and select all of their
finishes and cabinetry and so forth unique to their home.
» Okay. One question I have as I look at this,
um, since I wasn't at the planning
commission meeting, for the lots down in the southeast corner, [clears throat] it
looks like they're double frontage lots. Um,
are they exiting onto the existing road or they exiting onto the new road?
» Thank you for bringing this up. I I do think it's an important part of this,
uh, design here that we have considered. And the proposal is for the new lots
that have the double frontage to not front on the existing 7th Street, but to
instead have frontage on the new road that we are proposing. We are showing
an, um, a
added depth to those lots so that we could have some vegetative screening,
um, along the rear yards and along 7th Street.
» So, I'm not sure if I got you correctly on that on the south south portion that
road is that written on the concept plan there, but it's not going to be there.
Is that it? >> No, my question was those lots down in
the southeast corner are double frontage lots, which means they're touching a
road on two sides of the property. 44 and 45.
» Can you point them out? >> The these right down here. So, they're
yeah, they're touching a street >> and they're touching this street.
» Yep. >> And so, she just mentioned that they're
going to be slightly deeper so they can put vegetation on one side to help kind
of create that buffer. >> Okay.
» And and that they will not front the existing roadway. We did consider that.
However, we didn't want to tear up that road.
» So, they're all going to be face north. >> Correct.
» Okay. >> Yes.
» Could you, um, have you uh,
already conceptualized how you're going to phase this in?
» We are currently having those discussions. We have some informal ideas
that we're generating. Um, it it sounds like, um,
sewer and water will dictate the first phase in particular where that starts
and it's looking to be about the northwest corner area. And if public
works wants to comment on that. >> That is correct.
Sewer has come off of Bohemia Street. >> That doesn't have to but that's how we
envision it. And then Bruce said the same thing for power I
believe and water would need to come out of that northwest
corner.
» So near the existing Heritage Park. >> So would it follow up Ironwood then?
Or down Ironwood? >> That would be a tie-in yes. So for the
water wise the water is a big
for a looping water you don't like to have dead end services
uh if you don't need to so I know Bruce
mentioned at one time that Ironwood would come up to north and it would tie
into Bohemia. Sanitary that would work fine for
sanitary once you get further to the east
this lot or this development would kind of get split where sanitary most likely
would be going down to an existing lift station to the south.
But we haven't really dug into those fine details of
the first 20 lots where you guys proposals yet or anything but yeah the
northwest corner is where we envision the sanitary and water and electric
coming from.
» This isn't a question for you so much but for you guys
I I see that Alton is uh presumed to have this
look to it. Is that we haven't seen the study yet so is this from the study?
That's and is this feel like the county's approved this?
» This yeah so this is the study that's kind of been high level presented and I
believe we may have even got a draft in our emails here today for us to review.
And this is kind of the alignment that is being proposed both
basically from the feasibility study from the engineers. So, the county has
seen this as well, yes. >> And then how does that work when you're
looking at Alton veering to the right from the left?
That property owner's now going to have land on the west side of Alton.
And to get that road connector in there, we would need cooperation from that
owner. >> Correct, yes. So, let me put part of
this process now with the feasibility study and we've been talking with the
county of kind of revising the MOU. And part of that MOU kind of lays out how is
property going to be acquired, who's going to be kind of the lead on that,
who's going to be the support. So, yes, for property with Alton that is not
currently there and that's a good kind of veers off of it, there will be some
sort of acquisitions that are probably going to be made. Whether it is due to
development of the land around there and it's dedicated as part of the
development similar to the dedication of E streets, or if we get to a point where
the city and or the county says, "Hey, it is in everybody's best
interest if we move this along faster than maybe where development is in this
one spot, then we'd be talking about acquiring right of way
to make that happen. But yes. >> And just so I'm clear then, for this
plat and I'm totally supportive and conceptually of
what we have got going here, but there will only be three exits then on
the plat then. Or not only, but there will be three basically exits from it
until Alton is constructed. >> And so, that mean part of part of it
will be the traffic study will kind of help bear
that out. If the traffic study says that they're going to need more,
it could be something too where we start having to talk about do we need to go
north and get one or two in there sooner even if it's more of a
temporary road knowing that it might change a little bit depending on how it
pokes out. But yes, that's That's The traffic study will help bear out
exactly what what is needed for this and whether three is sufficient in the short
term. >> Okay, thank you.
» Okay. >> So, is there We don't have to take any
action at this time, do we? >> That's correct. There's no action to be
taken. It's really feedback and um for some of that, I would actually um
look to Ms. Spanier to say, "Have Have you gotten
feedback you're looking for? Are there questions that are unanswered that you
would like from the City Council and or staff at this time
um as this concept review is really for your benefit or JPB's benefit um with
this?" >> Yeah, I appreciate that um
prompt because I would love to have um
my engineers start work tomorrow, but um I would like to know that you are in
fact supportive of the project um at least conceptually uh at this point
before we go ahead and make that next step. And so, that would be um
essentially what I'm looking for here tonight.
» And this would be I would I mean, I'd like to remind like it would be a
high-level support, obviously, until we dig into the zoning and the specifics
and all that. And things could change a little bit um
as we get into all that lays out. So, >> Yeah. So, from what I've seen and have
read, I am in support of the concept. Um I would be very interested to understand
the traffic study um
just because traffic in this area will be altered significantly. Um I mean,
it's a a neighborhood that sees a little bit of traffic like on Heritage going
out to 15, um but this is definitely going to change those patterns a bit.
So, that would be my only request is to to understand the traffic flow.
» Sean, you >> Yeah, I'm very supportive. I think it
looks nice. I like the style of houses and um
looking forward to seeing when it's completed what it ultimately
looks like. >> Okay.
» [cough] >> Rick?
» Yeah, it's great project actually the and they put in a great presentation and
I'm looking forward to the traffic many or the traffic um
study as well and um oversight on
assembling the roads is what I I really we don't want no contractor roads. We
don't want no temporary roads. Um >> And and and when when I had mentioned
temporary talking about Alton Avenue there for some reason say you right now
Alton swings to the west and the proposal is to swing to the right in the
future. We wouldn't make them build some sort of
road out to where it'd be sticking out into the future farm field that Alton's
not currently there and so you may temporarily have it pause at the
gravel road or something like that. That's That's what I mean by not I don't
mean throughout the whole neighborhood we're building gravel roads and and that
sort of thing. It was trying to do it in a way that I
know government routinely gets um
and maybe rightly so we build roads that we tear up two years later. So trying to
think smartly about how we design stuff if we know that it is temporary in
nature. Okay.
Bruce? >> Uh no, I support the concept. I
appreciate all the work that you guys have put into it and I I think it's it's
seems to be a lot of thought put into it. So I really appreciate the work that
you guys have done. >> I also support the concept. I think it's
something that is needed for the city of New Prague
as we continue to figure ways to get more kids in the school district. I
know that's a big issue that superintendent does say, "Hey, we need
more housing and things like that too so that we can fill our schools up, so.
» And >> Appreciate the project and
good luck. >> Yeah, and also our businesses, you know,
with the EDA going out and talking to our various businesses, it's, you know,
housing is needed to draw employees into the
the area. >> Absolutely.
» All right. >> Again, I really appreciate your time
this evening and your support as well. So, look forward
to seeing you soon. >> All right, thank you for coming and
presenting. >> Thank you. See you on the next one.
» Yep.
» Next on the agenda is miscellaneous. So, we're at this point. Rick, do you have
anything to add? >> No, I'd say no.
» Okay, Bruce. >> I can't believe we had 7 in of rain in
Lee County this fall. Um
» And Henderson didn't flood? >> [laughter]
» Yeah, and Henderson didn't flood. Um earlier on you were talking about
elections at the new city hall. Uh technically it won't be the city hall at
yet at that time. I guess I've had questions, will will there how will that
all going to be laid out and things, but I don't know that really matters that we
have any more information on that. You figure it out how that will work.
» Yeah, I mean that's part of it too. Um and I'd kind of mentioned in my weekly
update to you all um on Friday that we we begin we begin conversations with
the architect. And I think part of that conversation will be how how do you
recommend we temporarily lay this out like
there's on certain areas or certainly locked doors in certain areas, so kind
of just shut just the building down into two areas that we work out of.
Um I believe the name that we submitted to
the um state was new city hall {slash} election center or
something like that cuz they wanted us to name it, but we tried to make it
obvious and as obvious as possible to people when they read the name that they
knew what we were talking about. >> And if if we're not going to have them
come through the front door, then we should make sure we communicate that
somehow in the future too. >> Yep.
That's all I got. >> Okay.
» Maggie? >> No, sir.
» Sean? >> Nope.
» Josh, you have anything else? >> I did have one thing that I wanted to
mention. It sounds like we're going to be two down, but if the three
who will be at the city council meeting on the 17th, we did actually receive an
application for a planning commissioner. I know that
we've been short one. And um
Rick has graciously stepped up to fill that role, but we did actually get an
application here at the end of last week.
And so, if possible for the three that will be here
to have maybe an interview 15 minutes 10 minutes before the meeting on the 17th.
» And then we're going to move the budget meeting to a different date.
» Correct. Yeah, we're down to three. It doesn't make sense to have a budget
meeting when half the team's gone. >> Right.
Yeah, that would work. We're room for you guys.
» I should be able to hear you. >> Yep.
» Oh, that's fair. I didn't even think about that. Um
as we were trying to get to the end knowing that we usually on that second
meeting in September, we have have approved our
preliminary in the past. Um we do have an extra meeting and with
labor Labor Day being late, it kind of pushes everything back. And so,
I guess the other option would be to say on the Monday before Labor Day, we don't
have a meeting. The 31st, we could also do a special budget meeting too if we
don't want to push all the way back, but I guess that would be up to you guys if
you're available for the 31st.
Then I know we can come in and just kind of
tackle it out and see if we could get the preliminary kind of set from there.
» Yeah, it works for me. >> I'm available.
» Sounds good to me. >> Say all this as you speak. I'm sure I'm
available. >> Yeah, the only thing I have is a utility
commission meeting at 3:30, so but that's the 24th. Are you talking about
the 31st? >> talking
» the 31st. >> Can are do it on the 24th instead?
» Do the budget meeting on the 24th, you mean?
» Yeah, you mentioned you told me that's the 24th, isn't it?
» Well, I got >> the 31st?
» So, for 31st at 3:30. >> That's the utility.
» Okay. It is the utility commission. >> Right.
» Yeah, the 31st at 3:30. >> Glad you said that. I must have said the
wrong date. >> Yeah.
» So, it like So, we did the 31st like 5:00. I guess I don't know how long the
utility commission >> It could be done by 4:30.
» Yeah, I don't think we had any major on there. Usually we're done within an
hour. >> And I yeah, I find I mean I guess I know
four people are retired. I guess John, would you be available at 5:00 on the
31st? >> Yeah. Yeah.
» Don't assume things because someone's retired.
» Yeah, fair enough. That's fair. >> That's right.
» That's fair. >> [laughter]
» Sorry, Bruce, are you available at 5:00 on the 31st?
» Our days are busier than you think. >> No, I know. It's amazing how that
happened. [laughter] >> Become my staff and
» Yeah. Yeah, I got people. I'll take a look at it.
So, right now it's tentatively on Monday the 31st at 5:00
our second budget meeting. Rescheduling from
the one that was going to be handled on the 17th.
» Correct. >> Okay.
So, let's put it on the calendar. >> Got that, Patrick?
5:00 on the 31st of August.
Show up in October, you might be late.
That's all I have, then. >> Okay.
Robin, you have anything? Tim? How's the new uh police station?
» When my turn go? >> I didn't I I said Robin.
» He said Robin. >> Did he say 5:00?
» I know I was finishing updating on the budget meeting.
» you got to be >> Okay, Tim.
» No, no. Robin, do you have something? >> Or are we on to Mitch already?
» No, we're on Robin. >> I think we're on to Patrick already.
» No, I'll put you in before Patrick, okay? But Robin, do you have something?
» need like an hour of your time. >> That's all?
» Okay, since elections has been a hot topic, I just wanted to clarify that we
do have early voting here at the building we're in right now, 118 Central
Avenue. Um for Scott County residents, Le Sueur
County residents can go to the Le Sueur County Government Center.
Um >> That is by county design, not ours.
» County design, correct. Not our own choice.
» Sure. Dennis Sneak Outta Here, you know. >> Um this Saturday from 9:00 until 3:00,
this building will also be open for early voting for Scott County residents.
» Primaries. >> As well, for primary.
» Yes. And primaries on the 11th.
» Yes. >> And that will be handled
» at the new city hall. >> Yes.
» Building, correct. >> So that'll be a good test.
That'll be a good test for our general election
to make sure >> Correct.
» All right. >> Yep. And of course we'll be spreading
the word during that primary election as well. That the general election will be
occurring there as well, so. >> Are you done now, Robin?
» Thank you, yeah. >> [laughter]
» Okay. Tim.
» Matt. >> How's the new police station?
» Uh it's really good. Um really thankful and we're getting settled in there, so
figuring out how everything works and uh boiler inspection tomorrow morning that
um shouldn't be any issues with that, so.
And we've got a lot of positive feedback from folks that we've already served out
of that building, and so very good, positive feedback, so.
It's great. >> Okay, good. Matt, do you have anything?
Mitch. Patrick.
Hello, are you there? Brian, anything else? All right.
Uh the only thing I'd like to say is I know Dennis mentioned it that in a
couple weeks we're going to start the state amateur tournament. We are looking
for volunteers. Um I think there's a sign-up genius out
there that if you can get a hold of Nick Sheneker or I think the Facebook
page is Memorial Park rebuild or something like that. It's I think that's
the Facebook page that you can link up for uh
volunteering on the different uh committees that they have going there.
So. I don't have anything else. I'll make a
motion to adjourn. >> Second.
» Second by Rick Siler. All in favor, say aye.
» Aye. >> Aye. Any opposition? Okay, we're out of
here. Thank you, everyone. Couple minutes and uh we'll go into our
closed session. >> You're just full of humor today, aren't
you, Chuck? I heard you on the radio this morning. It was like
» Well, gets a I come here and >> [laughter]
» there was cars all over. They had the uh Lonsdale people there. Holy mackerel.
Junior royalty and the royalty. >> Yeah, well, yeah, that's right.
» I could