12-03-2019 City Council Meeting Minutes

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City Council Minutes December 3, 2019 Page2of14 ----------------------------- He noted the traffic that will come from the proposed church is going to cause major problems at that intersection. Mr. Gerhardtz stated he has discussed this with Chief Klang. He noted the Pequot Lakes Police Officers will be responding to crashes there as well as the State Patrol. Discussion ensued about the poor design of this intersection, discussions that have been had with MnDOT about these safety concerns, the increasing traffic at this intersection on Sundays, and how much traffic the intersection can handle. Mr. Gerhardtz stated he preferred that the church not be built on County Road 29 due to the traffic issues it will cause. 5. Presentations 5.1. Communitv Enhancement Proiect Update Ryan Buell, Chair of the Community Enhancement Project Steering Committee, and Nathan Norton, ICS Consulting, presented an update to the Council on the Heart of the Good Life Development. Mr. Buell summarized the Steering Committee meeting results to the Council. He stated that at the first meeting they went over the listening session results. At the second meeting, they conducted an exercise to prioritize the Steering Committee's thoughts on what should be included in the project, estimated costs, tax impacts and set some preliminary estimates. He noted that at the third meeting they discussed more complete and in-depth costs related to building some of the projects and also potential funding sources. Mr. Buell stated the Committee's goal is to define a final project and in the final report to include capital outlay and estimated ope�ating costs for the project. He said the report will also define how much money is needed and sources for raising the funds. He informed the Council that the big questions the Committee is facing is what should be included, what are the costs, who are the partners, what is the potential return on the investment and where in the Heart of the Good Life should the project be located. Mr. Buell stated the big take away from the listening sessions is the community agrees that it needs to be done right the first time and because of this the ICS team feels more meetings than originally planned are required but there will be no additional costs to the City. Council Member Swanson questioned if the Steering Committee is talking about a community center. Mr. Buell stated there are also other possibilities, including ball fields. Council Member Pederson asked about a timeline on final decisions. Mr. Buell stated that they are trying to get everything done by the end of year so they can bring a presentation to the Council in the beginning of January. He stated that one of the tax implications needs to be considered by the end of January so if they want to get started next summer they need to get the ball rolling.