View the meeting (click to open)
Current Events
- If you or people in your area want to meet with me and discuss any topics on your mind, I am willing to find a time that works.
- The Dayton Lions are planning a Music activity this fall, Sat Sept 9th in Central park. The band is XPEDITION. They're a Journey, Foreigner, Kansas, and Styx cover band. You can check them out HERE. Contact me if you have questions!
- Heritage days is planned for Sept 15-16 at Stephen's Park and the Old Village. The Lions and Dayton Community Foundation (DCF) is putting this on and the city will be a sponsor.
Work Session (Long Term Plan)
This was a continuation of the budget / long term plan we started at the last meeting. It's a council and staff update to the long term plan for capital purchases over the next 10 years (realistically it's 3). The earlier discussions tend to include needs AND wants. It can be difficult to sort out which is which but needs are those things that we should get into the budget and wants are those things that we might put in if the budget has the room.
If you're ever curious about what the city has for plans as far as equipment, buildings, or parks go, let me know and I can get you a copy.
Item G (Approval to Hire a Community Development Director)
This position has been discussed over the past couple years and we finally put out a advertisement for the position a couple months back. The advertisement ran for a month and from what I gathered from staff there was only 1 realistic candidate. There was another candidate but it sounds like staff was not interested in that person. The one candidate we did get was from our planning commission. I have concerns about the direction I see him going and I was a hard no. My opinion was that we should try to get at least 1 or 2 more candidates. He was approved by 4-1 with me being in the minority.
Item J (Historic Village Framework Plan)
In the 2030 Comprehensive Plan (released in 2008) was a "Framework Plan" for the Old Village. What that Framework Plan did was to put a pretty picture on what the old village could look like if it was developed from scratch. In keeping with plan, the "Guided Use" for the Old Village was all set to "Mixed Use".
Guided Use means, what the city wants to exist there in the future. Mixed Use means a mix of commercial and medium density housing. Medium density typically means condos or town homes. Commercial means some type of retail such as a hardware store, coffee shop, restaurant, etc. Currently it's almost all single family homes and can stay that way unless a property is completely redeveloped.
Early on with these discussions I asked staff to hold an open house to get resident input. The Open House was held about a month ago in the Activity Center and I think it was pretty clear the residents thought much of the plan was unrealistic (trail placement, pedestrian bridge, etc.). They were also not overly impressed with the mixed use though the bulk of the comments were on the "Framework Plan" itself.
So this agenda item was on that "Framework Plan" and to accept the plan with the trails removed, pedestrian bridge removed, and roundabout removed. What that left was basically nothing other than a reflection of what the guided use should be. So I suggested the plan was meaningless at that point and we should simply focus on the guided use for the old village. So we agreed to the amendments to the "Framework Plan" but that the "Framework Plan" wouldn't be used for future discussion on the Old Village guided use.
At this point regarding guided use I think we could keep the medium density on Levee street but the other roads should stay guided single family homes. But... more input could sway my thoughts.
Have some input? Contact me!
Item K (Concept Plan Dayton Parkway Neighborhood)
This proposed development is located on the south east corner of I-94 and Dayton Parkway. Unfortunately that property is a difficulty piece to deal with because roughly half of it is in a flood plain. That not only limits the amount/types of buildings but also the access.
For a long time (due to the Met Council mandates) I believe we need to put high density housing next to high volume traffic areas such as this which helps us to lower the density in the rest of the city.
We've had an apartment proposal on this property before but they wanted a massive subsidy for what is called "work Force" housing. The council voted 5-0 against that. That subsidy would have taken ALL of the property tax (city, school, and county) and given it back to the owners to subsidize the housing for around 27 years (from what I remember).
This concept was for apartments, townhomes, and quads with no subsidies. There was little in changes requested so I would think a preliminary plan won't be far off.
It's pretty clear rejecting the earlier plan was a good move for the city.
Item L (Event Center Text Amendment)
This was a change to our zoning ordinances to define and allow "Event Centers" on agricultural land of 30 acres or more.
There were a lot of details here. What it boils down to is, current "event Centers" are grandfathered in (and yes that starts the mess) but new venues will need to get what is called a Interim Use Permit (IUP) in order to hold events.
My main hang up here is I think it's hard to define when a use will constitute an "event center" versus someone holding events on their farm land. There are no specifics on number of events or types of events (other than a finite list).
However, staff was pretty confident it would work out and we could put details into the IUP. So... we'll give it a shot. It was approved 5-0.
For those of you already holding events and believe you should be "grandfathered in" contact City Hall.
Item M (Fisher Farms IUP for Event Center)
No relation to me as far as I know.
This was the first application for an Event Center. The property is a 66 acre piece on on the north east side of North Diamond Lake road and Lawndale. The intended use is for produce sales (sounds like primarily apples) and events on weekends such as weddings. Given this was a specific permit, there were a lot of details discussed such as where the entry was, where temporary bathrooms would be, etc.
This is likely a short term permit because the applicant won't have any buildings in place for a few years and at that time another permit will need to be approved. This was approved 5-0.
Item N (Additional Command Vehicle)
This clearly falls under the "wants" versus "needs" in my book, but... the current vehicle isn't nearly as useful as the proposed vehicle so I was ok with it. It passed 4-1.
As always feel free to contact me with opinions, ideas, etc.