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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-26-26-WSApproved: June 8, 2026 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MAY 26, 2026 5:30 P.M. - ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Grant called to order the City Council Work Session at 5:30 p.m. Present: Mayor David Grant; Councilmembers Tena Monson, Emily Rousseau, Kurt Weber and Brenda Holden Absent: None Also present: City Administrator Jessica Jagoe, Public Works Director/City Engineer David Swearingen, Finance Director Joua Yang, Assistant to the City Administrator/City Clerk Julie Hanson and Community Development Director Jake Reilly Councilmember Rousseau said during the discussion of Work Session Start Time, she would like to put a hold on a date on the calendar for a special work session in the fall. We can cancel if we don't need it. 1. PUBLIC INQUIRIES/INFORMATIONAL None. 2. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES None. 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Work Session Start Time ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 2 City Administrator Jagoe said this was a carry over from the May 11 work session discussion. At the end of that meeting Staff was asking Council during staff comments if there was interest in doing the temporary work session start times begin at 5:00 pm. Those would be special agendas. The agendas cannot be amended. Staff will try to put as many items on the agenda as we can to ensure we are utilizing that time. She asked Council to discuss and provide next steps. Councilmember Holden said whatever we vote on will be set in stone. We can't change it later so we can amend the agenda. City Administrator Jagoe said if Council were to do a temporary special work session start time of 5:00, the agenda is set and can't be amended. Councilmember Holden said she understands that. If she comes in and says she wants all of her meetings on Monday and something happens and now she wants Tuesday meetings. We can't change that halfway through the year? City Administrator Jagoe said we can. We can either do it temporarily and do special meetings or we can change the ordinance. Councilmember Holden said we can change the ordinance at any time. City Administrator Jagoe said correct. If you change the ordinance those become the regular meeting dates and times. Councilmember Weber said when we had this discussion it was an oversight on his part. He had the assumption that we were shifting the whole schedule ahead a half an hour rather than just the work session. Coming into budget season we can take up the time. As a standing time frame, he would rather see both shift a half an hour. Including moving the Council meetings up. He would prefer a more permanent basis but he doesn't know if just moving the work session up a half an hour does that much for us. It's good for Staff, if we get out of here at a decent time. If the Council meeting is still starting at 7:00 it doesn't really save us anything. It might allow us to get a little more discussion in, if there is a lot of stuff. We have recently worked through a lot of items in our backlog. He would prefer we shift the whole schedule a half an hour. He understands we probably can't do that in this discussion. Councilmember Monson said we did this last summer and the extra half an hour does help, particularly when we get into budget season and get into the depth of things. She would hesitate to move the Council meeting up. One because it eats away at the advantage of giving us that thirty minutes but also because the public has always known the City Council time is 7:00 pm. She is less inclined to change that time. Councilmember Weber gets that. Mayor Grant agrees with the comment that people in town are used to a 7:00 City Council meeting. It is probably best to keep that. That takes us to work session start time which is the item we have in front of us. Councilmember Rousseau would be interested in doing the 5:00 now and just keep that going forward. She thinks those nights when we're here until 10:00 or 11:00 are not ideal. She thinks we ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 3 have to balance a little bit. We don't want to go too early so we're interfering with people coming to the Council meeting. We don't want to stay too late where people are unable to stay and attend the meetings. She would like to do the 5:00 going forward. She likes 7:00 for the Council meeting. Councilmember Holden said 5:00 forever. Councilmember Rousseau said yes. She is fine with that. Councilmember Holden said she can't make it at 5:00. She was elected. People want to hear what she's going to say. One of the things that happened when her husband was hurt was a sense of community and how people all pulled together and helped them. She thinks by changing this so she can't be here during a meeting, deliberately, is really breaking a sense of community for her and a lot of people. Why don't we start at 4:30 in the summer if it's so important? Why don't we have three meetings a week? City Administrator Jagoe said one of the comments she has heard, the number of work session items that we have checked through on the Agenda Planning list or other items that needed to be brought forward. One discussion that Council could consider is to move forward with the temporary work session start time of 5:00 pm, as we've done the past two years. We've done that through August. That would afford us five meetings where we could do the earlier start time. Staff will get as many items scheduled to keep working through the agenda planning list. As was mentioned, we have budgets coming up. We don't have any other topics for June so she can work with directors to see what can fill in to start to bring forward those items. Then we can revisit it at the end of August and see how many of the items we have gotten through. If there is a need we could continue on with that half hour earlier start time, after that. That would be temporary and moves this discussion to a later date but allows Staff the time to keep making progress through some of these items. Mayor Grant said he heard from one Councilmember who's not able to make a 5:00 start time. He has always been of the mindset that Council is a five member Council and that everyone should be present. Everyone is heard. Because everyone is elected. If we want to have another work session, we can talk about that. But switching the time when a Councilmember can't attend, he doesn't care which Councilmember, that's an issue for him. Councilmember Rousseau said just to be clear, if we have a Councilmember who can't be here until 11:00 or midnight, that's appropriate. For us to have a council meeting that starts at 5:00 is not appropriate. Mayor Grant said we're talking about start times. Councilmember Rousseau said okay, but at the other end of it when you have other people who have other things that they have to do in the evenings and they have things to do bright and early in the morning, that's not acceptable. Mayor Grant said to change it specifically for a councilmember not to be present, that he has an issue with. He would prefer to have a five member council during council meetings. He really would. Do things come up? Are there necessities or whatever? Eh. But you don't plan for it. And hopefully it's not a consistent thing. During our council meetings you need to use a little bit of discretion. Do you need to talk about everything? But no. Let's not plan to exclude someone. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 4 Councilmember Weber said it's not planning to exclude someone. It's changing the start time. Mayor Grant just said what we are talking about is start time and he would disagree. He thinks what we are talking about is consideration of a particular councilmember and their wishes. It has to do with the start time. But your issue with it is that you believe it's inconsiderate to a certain councilmember. Mayor Grant said wait a minute. Councilmember Weber said he has the floor. If he can continue. He didn't ask a question. There have been times when we have run until 11:00 or midnight and councilmembers have expressed they have kids at home. I want to get home. This is the same thing. We have dependents. We all have dependents. His wife works third shift. A lot of times he has someone at his house waiting for him to get home because his kids are home. He would like to get home to them. So what it comes down to is we all have things in our lives. When we signed up to run, there was an understanding that it's the Council that decides, not one person's needs or wishes. To that end, he is perfectly fine with starting at 5:00 pm permanently. Mayor Grant said to do so would be to not include the full council. Councilmember Weber responded with time... Mayor Grant said he has the floor. He thinks Councilmember Weber mischaracterized a few of his comments. We did have one council meeting that went really late because it was a really big topic. If you set something at 5:00 such that someone you know can't be here, and your work sessions have previously been slated for 5:00. He asked if that is right. This is our regular time. City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Mayor Grant said it's in City Code. City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Mayor Grant said that was the City Code when people were elected. That was the expected start time. He does believe, regardless of what someone's views are, that the public would not want us to exclude a member of the Council. And if he understood Councilmember Holden's comments, 5:00 is simply not doable. Why would we consider that? That is his take. Councilmember Weber doesn't know about the specifics of availability for whatever service or care that needs to be provided. That's also not his problem. As someone who has their own things in their life, are we going to set a hard stop for 8:30 when he has to go pick his daughter up from dance? Are we going to do that? We're not. It goes both ways. Councilmember Holden said we used to have a drop dead time at night that we would end by. Mayor Grant said 10:00. Councilmember Holden said people respected that and didn't repeat themselves over and over again and try to do weird stuff. That's fine. We can start at 5:00. She doesn't see how it's going to ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 5 help with the agenda because any issues that she's not available to talk about at -the Planning Commission, she can pull off consent and ask all her questions at that time. Mayor Grant said it's more than asking your questions. You don't have an opportunity for input. Councilmember Holden said right. That can be her input. She was told she was gonna get even with. People were going to get even with her so this is it and that's fine. She doesn't have an issue. Let them start at 5:00, she'll just deal with it on the back end with all the issues she has. Mayor Grant said to provide a little bit of clarity that Councilmember Holden made. We did have, it wasn't a written rule, in past years. Yes, he's been on Council for a while. We hit 10:00 and we would either vote to continue or vote to adjourn. That's what she's referring to. Councilmember Monson would like to start 5:00. She agrees with the comments that Councilmember Weber stated this evening. Her hope is that we give enough time that there is possibility for adjustment of people's schedules, as needed. Maybe that doesn't work, maybe it does. But it is months into the fall so hoping that is helpful. She is fine if we want to vote at 10:00 pm. She hesitates a little. That's fine if we want to vote at 10:00 that's fine, she also would like to have some sort of built in recess time so that we aren't sitting there for five hours and having to self -excuse to take the break that we need. She doesn't know what that looks like and she's not sure if that is a topic for tonight. If there is a built in recess time for everyone to take a break, she would appreciate that. Maybe 9:00 maybe 10:00, maybe it's on the hour. She doesn't know. We can decide in that moment, depending on how close we are. City Administrator Jagoe said in regards to the 10:00 pm end time, for work sessions we used to have the regular meeting on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. The work sessions were on the third Monday of the month. Those were typically limited to three hours. When the ordinance change the work sessions to be prior to the regular meeting on the second and fourth Monday, we established the 5:30-7:00. We took that one three hour work session and broke into two hour and a half sessions. That's how the 5:30 timing was arrived at. Councilmember Holden said it worked good because we weren't exhausted by 9:00 when you're working on big issues and trying to decide things at the Council. You had a work session. You were able to think about it. You gather more information by the time the work session is done and by the time that it comes in front of the Council. It isn't all slammed together. Three meetings a month really worked well. Councilmember Monson has a different opinion. She didn't like three meetings, she likes two. The one and a half hour split is fine, in theory, but we come back regularly. The three hours was not sufficient in terms of having an hour and a half in front for two meetings because we regularly come back. Mayor Grant said we don't make decisions here. Formal decisions. But he thinks he heard three councilmembers say 5:00. He heard two councilmembers say stay at the regular time of 5:30. City Administrator Jagoe heard that as well. She would ask Council are we establishing this as a temporary work session start time to see what items we can get through, through the August period. We can see what we can check off through the agenda planning, what additional items we still have. We talked this evening about a potential hold for a special meeting. We can come back to the topics ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 6 we have, going forward, before establishing it permanently. She would put it on the list to bring back in August. Or Council can give direction to make that permanent. We could reevaluate the need at the end of August. Mayor Grant said the City Administrator tossed out the possibility of having an extra work session in the middle of the month. That would more than make up for the half hour. City Administrator Jagoe said she did not. There was talk, under 3A, for putting a hold for a special meeting in the fall. Mayor Grant said a special meeting whenever. That special meeting would more than make up the 30 minutes. Councilmember Weber said that special meeting in the fall would be to determine if Council wants to make that permanent? Councilmember Rousseau said no. It would be so we are keeping on track with our road map and if we have any budget issues that we're going to have this year, we can make sure we are on top of the things that we had planned to accomplish this year. Councilmember Weber said okay. He believes the idea was raised to readdress the permanency in the fall. City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Councilmember Weber thinks that's a bad idea just because if Council goes that route, he would prefer that anyone who is unable to make the 5:00 pm start time has plenty of notice, rather than it being unknown until that date. Mayor Grant said he doesn't think the councilmember indicated it was an issue of being known. It's an issue of not being able to attend. Councilmember Weber gets that. Mayor Grant said it's not an issue of being known, it's an issue of not being able to attend. Councilmember Weber clarified that right now, we're being told that someone can't do it. He doesn't want to do that again in August and have this whole discussion again about how inconsiderate of a decision it is, from your perspective. He'd rather establish it now and be done with it. Councilmember Monson agrees with that. Councilmember Rousseau said what she was good with. Mayor Grant said it hasn't changed. He disagrees with that but that's another story. Councilmember Weber asked what he disagrees with. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 7 Mayor Grant said he is on the other side of the fence, as they say. He thinks we should remain at 5:30, that's the minority. He understands that. If we move to 5:00, they are all specials all summer. City Administrator Jagoe said, if temporary, that's correct. Mayor Grant said unless we change the ordinance. City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Mayor Grant asked Council if we can go 5:00 through the summer. Councilmember Rousseau would also not want to have to come back to this conversation again. She would like to move forward and make it permanent. Councilmember Monson said now. Councilmember Rousseau confirmed. Just do it now. Mayor Grant said that would be an ordinance change to make it permanent. Right? City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Mayor Grant said we may have this discussion again, at some point. Tee up an ordinance change. City Administrator Jagoe said okay. Mayor Grant was hoping for a more inclusive council but we will have one councilmember short for 30 minutes. Councilmember Rousseau asked if we are going to discuss holding a date in the fall. Mayor Grant said we can hold a date. City Administrator Jagoe said the earliest Staff could bring the ordinance amendment would be the first meeting in June. Should that June 8 meeting be a special work session to start at 5:00. Or is that still a 5:30 start? Mayor Grant said technically the ordinance change would not be effective. City Administrator Jagoe confirmed. Is June 8 a special work session for a 5:00 start or just the ordinance review on June 8 that would be effective at the next meeting. Mayor Grant said okay Council, what's your pleasure? Councilmember Rousseau said her understanding is that Councilmember Holden's person comes in at the end of June so she'd rather wait until the end of June. City Administrator Jagoe said there was something. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 8 Councilmember Holden said that's not true. As soon as school lets out. That's why she brought it up at the last meeting that we could start in June. But why should she volunteer? Mayor Grant said so you want it as a special. Councilmember Weber doesn't care either way. Councilmember Monson agreed. Councilmember Weber said he is available at 5:00 and available at 5:30. Mayor Grant said he is hearing either way. His understanding is that if it's 5:30 Councilmember Holden is able to attend. Councilmember Holden confirmed. Councilmember Weber said and 5:00. Mayor Grant said not at 5:00. Councilmember Weber is asking Councilmember Holden if 5:00 is doable on June 8. Councilmember Holden wanted to know who has the floor. Things are getting out of control. Who has the floor? Who's asking questions. Go through the Mayor to ask me a question. There's policies and procedures. Apparently we don't stick to those here, or what? If I'm gonna be screwed, I'm gonna screw everybody in the way. Mayor Grant said Councilmember Weber raised a question. His question is for Councilmember Holden. What time is Councilmember Holden available on June 8? Councilmember Holden said she is available at 5:00. Mayor Grant said on the 8 h9 Councilmember Holden said yes. Graduation. Councilmember Monson said let's do it at 5:00. Mayor Grant said okay, 5:00. It's a special. He will work with the City Administrator to make sure there is plenty of stuff on that agenda so we have stuff to talk about. Save the date. Any recommendations? Councilmember Rousseau would be interested in holding a Friday afternoon after Labor Day where we come in and if we have a list, whether it's getting ready for the budget or we have some of the other items that we've roadmapped. If we at least have it on our calendars we can make arrangements and know that we can come in and take care of that. It always seems like budget season things start to get really tight. We have some really in depth conversations around budgeting and often a lot of other things get pushed back. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 9 Councilmember Holden asked if the purpose of this would be purely budget related. Mayor Grant said it has been brought up that it could be budget related. Councilmember Holden said her question is if there will be enough time in September. When does the preliminary levy have to be introduced? Finance Director Yang said it has to be adopted by the end of September. City Administrator Jagoe said that would be the September 28 meeting. Councilmember Holden said her question is will there be enough information? Will we know if there's a surplus? Will we have enough information there? Or would we want it closer to October so we can know what the data shows and where we are after the preliminary data. Mayor Grant asked if there is a preference. Councilmember Monson thinks last year we had a special before the preliminary. We needed an extra meeting. She was looking at Monday the 21" in the evening. She tries to hold Mondays. That would be one week before it's due. That's not a ton of time for staff to make any changes but that is maybe a good spot for final discussion. Mayor Grant said he holds open Mondays, as well. He would encourage everyone to be present so he wants to find a date that works for everyone. Councilmember Weber is good with the 21" Councilmember Rousseau said she is available the 14tt' or the 21" Mayor Grant said he heard yes on the 21 st Councilmember Holden can do it on the 21" but if it starts at 5:00 she will have to have all the information repeated to her between 5:00 and 5:30 so she knows what we're talking about and what the status of the budget is. Mayor Grant said our budget is scheduled to be preliminarily approved on the 281'. That gives Staff a week. It sounds like the 21 st is the date. Not all Councilmembers will be present for the full work session. Councilmember Holden asked why not. This is a special meeting. We can hold it at a special time. Mayor Grant said we can. Councilmember Holden said or we can just spin our wheels when she gets there. Mayor Grant said he was reacting to something she had said. He asked Council if they want to start at 5:30 on the 21St since there won't be a Council meeting after. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 10 Councilmember Monson asked if we have to pick a time. Can we just block the night and if we do it, we can have discussion on timing. We may not need it. It may not be about budget. Maybe the topic isn't one that we feel that we need to have repeated. Councilmember Holden would like to decide it now so we don't have to discuss this again. Councilmember Monson said that's fair. Mayor Grant said he will toss out the 21St at 5:30. Councilmember Weber said meetings are going to start at 5:00. Mayor Grant said this is a special. We can start it anytime we want. Councilmember Weber understands that. Councilmember Rousseau said if it's challenging to log on before hand she's fine with 5:30. Mayor Grant heard three for 5:30. Make it 5:30. City Administrator Jagoe said understood. Mayor Grant asked if there is anything else under work session start time. City Administrator Jagoe said Staff had notes about holding a June 4"' date at 8:00 am for a special meeting. There aren't any topics. Mayor Grant asked who has it on their calendar. No Councilmembers had that date on their calendar. City Administrator Jagoe said that date is not needed so Staff will cross it off the list. B. Sign Code Revisions Community Development Director Reilly said the consultant team has been working on zoning code updates. The primary focus of today's conversation is updates to Chapter 12 - Sign Code. The Economic Development Commission (EDC) recommended sending it to Council for adoption. The packet includes the current and the proposed new language. Community Development Director Reilly noted some changes that were recommended by the EDC. They proposed to reduce the number of sign districts that have different rules applied to them. They would like to associate allowed sign area with the building size, establishing a consistent minimum size and a maximum size relative to building size in order to create more equitable outcomes for business owners. Community Development Director Reilly said the draft table, provided in the packet, retains the same information for residential districts. The draft code revisions change the total permitted sign area for wall signs to be a percentage of the wall area for non-residential uses in a residential district. It identifies the total permitted sign area for freestanding signs and indicates a minimum sign area ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 11 for signs so businesses with smaller buildings and/or within a multi -tenant building can have the same relative amount of sign as anyone else. Community Development Director Reilly said the sign districts previously known as Districts 4, 5 and 6 are combined with the B 1 district and commercial, institutional or industrial uses fronting on the main roadways indicated in other sign districts. No changes are recommended to sign districts for I -FLEX and Gateway Business zoning districts. The Neighborhood Business district and sign District 9 stay the same. The calculations for a percentage of wall area are aligned with the typical uses. Retail uses tend to have smaller buildings. The maximum amount of sign area is smaller than those associated with industrial buildings which tend to be larger. Community Development Director Reilly said graphics have been added to the code. We didn't have that before. He shared examples of ways signs can be attached to buildings. He asked if Council is agreeable to the revisions proposed. Mayor Grant noted language in the packet about lighted signs and measuring impact on neighboring properties. He is wondering if it permitted LEDs for signage. Community Development Director Reilly said the measurement is about the light emitted from the face of the sign, regardless of what the lighting instrument is. There would still be provisions about light spilling over onto other zoning districts. Measuring at the face of the sign is more accurate and aligned with current technology. Most signs today are made with LED lights. Mayor Grant said there is a gas station in New Brighton who have lined their canopies with LED lights that are visible for miles. That's intentional. Are we permitting that kind of thing? Community Development Director Reilly said that is not our intent. He will make sure the code aligns. Mayor Grant said there are drive-thru menu boards that are dynamic. Is that accounted for in this new document? Community Development Director Reilly said the drive-thru menu signs have a restriction on how many times they can change. It states it can't change more than three times. He noted there are brightness standards for all illuminated signs. Councilmember Weber said there have been a significant number of sign variance requests heard at the planning commission. He asked if most of those common issues have been addressed and if the City can expect to see fewer requests for sign variances. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed. He noted Staff created a list of variances applied for over the past 20 years. That information was shared with the planning consultants to ensure there will be fewer variance requests. Councilmember Holden asked if portable is defined in the materials. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 12 Councilmember Holden said she is concerned about the increase in the size allowed in the neighborhood businesses. We don't have a lot, but most of them are in residential areas. She asked if anyone completed an evaluation of the neighborhood business locations. She asked if the effect on the area has been considered. Community Development Director Reilly will do some research and provide more information. Councilmember Holden said in the past people have brought in dynamic signs. We don't have the equipment to measure the light. How will we enforce that? Community Development Director Reilly said the only solution is for an entity to own a light meter. They have come down in price. It can be considered in the capital improvement budgeting process. Councilmember Holden noted that there are running signs. She asked if those are addressed under dynamic signage. Staff confirmed. Councilmember Holden said there is a running sign at a local business that displays multiple messages a day. Are we now saying he can only do three? Community Development Director Reilly said the new code language identifies how much of the sign can be dynamic. Flashing and scrolling are prohibited. If it changes, it must stay still for at least 10 seconds. Councilmember Holden said the business she is talking about has a scrolling sign. Are we going to tell him he can't do that anymore? Community Development Director Reilly said there is a provision for existing signage that, if this language is adopted, it will become a non -conforming sign. City Administrator Jagoe said she thinks they were granted permission under the PUD approval. Councilmember Holden asked if they change that sign, is it still non -conforming. Community Development Director Reilly said if they remove the sign, any sign replacement must be conforming. Councilmember Rousseau said we mention that Mounds View High School, Bethel University and Northwestern College banners signs. She wondered if there is a need to include Valentine Hills. Community Development Director Reilly had intended to ask if Mounds View High School should be changed to Mounds View Public Schools. Councilmember Rousseau asked if the freestanding temporary signs includes campaign signs. She asked what can be done to prevent having Public Works Staff running around to pick up signs. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 13 Community Development Director Reilly said the proposed language has changed to be more clear and less likely to impact clear zones and the right of way. He said this aligns with the neighboring communities. Councilmember Rousseau asked if a sign was off by about three inches, does that mean the Public Works Staff will have to go pick them up. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said if they are in violation of the ordinance they will be removed. Community Development Director Reilly said this outlines they are not allowed in a right of way so they must be on someone's property and that property owner must give permission. City Administrator Jagoe said current language says they can be five feet from the edge of the pavement and they can be within the right of way. This is moving it to six feet from the edge of the pavement. Essentially, we're moving it back one foot. Councilmember Rousseau does not want to spend staff time measuring to determine if a sign is 5 feet, 10 inches from the pavement or 6 feet. City Administrator said Staff discussed having a provision that addresses placement of election signs. Looking at adjacent cities, it's standard to have some distance, as measured from the road. She asked if Council has direction on the code enforcement process as it pertains to campaign signs. Community Development Director Reilly said we don't have sidewalks in much of the city. He said the language outlines that temporary signs must be placed solely on private property and must maintain a minimum two foot setback from public sidewalks. There is also language stating that additional signs during election periods must be six feet from the edge of the roadway. If there is no sidewalk or boulevard a resident may not be sure where their property ends and where the right of way begins. This draft would not allow any temporary sign to be placed in the right of way. Councilmember Rousseau asked if Public Works can track how many calls we get. City Administrator Jagoe said Staff can track that. Public Works does typically pick up temporary signs along roadways. However, elections signs were tasked to the Code Enforcement Officer because there was an outreach effort to residents to educate where signs are allowed to be placed. Code Enforcement can track those calls this year. Councilmember Monson agrees the neighborhood business signs should be reviewed for size and lighting to ensure there is no impact on neighbors. She thinks a scrolling sign can scroll and hold for 10 seconds at the end of a message before beginning another message. We can't avoid LEDs. We just have to write this in a way that would apply to any technology. We don't want to restrict businesses too much. She thinks for the temporary and campaign sign section we should just have a policy that says it will be enforced if it's an egregious violation or a safety issue. She isn't sure if that can be written in code or if it would be a policy. She agrees we shouldn't be spending significant Staff time measuring if a sign is placed a few inches too close. She spoke to a business along 694 who said they can't get a sign high enough to be visible above the trees. She would like to look into an exception for allowing taller signs along 694. She doesn't think we need to be that specific regarding Mounds View public schools. We could just say "public schools" to include any school. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 14 Mayor Grant said there are two rather large signs along 694. They're more like billboards. He asked if those can now be dynamic. Community Development Director Reilly said the term billboard is not commonly used anymore. Where the term billboard was used in the current code it is now an "outdoor advertising sign."In the description of outdoor advertising signs it states that they are commonly called billboards. Mayor Grant said it's an outdoor advertising sign, but so is a sign on a truck or mounted on a trailer. Community Development Director Reilly said he hears that, however that is not how the code defines outdoor advertising. Outdoor advertising sign has always been in our code stating outdoor advertising signs are commonly called billboards. However, we don't have a provision to prevent the conversion to a dynamic sign. He will work with the City Attorney to add that language if possible. Councilmember Holden said she has heard the same thing from businesses on 35W and County Road E2. They would like a tall sign. If we're looking at sign heights along 694, it will have to be blanket for everyone. As for the scrolling sign, it can scroll and stop but can't have a continuously changing message. Community Development Director Reilly said the limit on the number of times something can change a day is only for menu boards, not for signs with dynamic displays. Councilmember Holden said election signs are really difficult for her to figure out. If we say "edge of the roadway" does that include the curb? Or is it the asphalt? She doesn't think now is a good time to be changing the rules because it's an election year. It may impact some people who are on the Council. What if the sign is an H stand. Is the measurement taken six feet from the edge of sign or is it six feet from the stand? Those are the kinds of things people start nit-picking about. She thinks saying "the closest edge of the sign needs to be at least six feet from the asphalt" would make it clear. She said we want to encompass technology even beyond LED into the future. Councilmember Weber said the former code on election signs was five feet, now it's six feet. He said the questions raised about pavement vs. sidewalk highlights how miniscule these details get. That's what we need to stop. He said a curb is included in a roadway cross section. The back of the curb is the edge of the road. The right of way is for transportation. If you aren't obstructing a clear zone, a trail or a roadway, there has been discussion at the supreme court level that the right of way is the homeowner's property. It's just an easement through the property for transportation. If you aren't obstructing transportation, it's yours to use. He doesn't necessarily agree with changing it to six feet. He doesn't want to be sending our code enforcement officer out to look at signs all over the city. If it's five feet, drive past it. If it's right next to the roadway or obstructing a trail then we'll do something about it. He would prefer the city Staff avoid the pettiness that occurred in the last election. He is fine with the number of sign districts proposed. Councilmember Monson asked if we are asking Staff to write a policy for Council to approve in regards to election sign enforcement or are we writing something into the ordinance? She would prefer a policy. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 15 Councilmember Holden said if five feet is good enough, it should say five feet in the code. If code says six feet, we can't say five feet is good enough. Then five feet turns into four feet. Mayor Grant said the place for election sign code stuff is in the sign code ordinance. Councilmember Monson clarified her question was about how we want Staff to enforce it. Do we want to have a policy or do we want to write enforcement language into the code? She is advocating not to change what is already written but how we want Staff to enforce it via a policy. Councilmember Holden said we should put it on the work session calendar to discuss. Community Development Director Reilly thinks the code language should be clear and we should have a policy for how to enforce those infractions. City Administrator Jagoe said the existing sets the districts by area. We are just doing the zoning districts that are applicable to Chapter 13, not to include the TCAAP area without frontage on Highway 96. We can eliminate that line because the TRC has it's own provisions for signage. Council recessed the Work Session at 6:50 pm. Council reconvened the Work Session at 8:45 pm. C. Zoning Code Updates Community Development Director Reilly said the memo for this item identifies where we are in the process. The work session on June 8 would have a red -line version of a draft Chapter 11 in its entirety. This will be heard by the Planning Commission and Council in early fall with the goal to be complete and adopted in October. Community Development Director Reilly said the primary changes to Chapter 11 is making things more clear and aligned with current professional practices and standards of surrounding communities, along with some recent legal interpretations by state and federal courts. Councilmember Holden said surrounding communities are larger. What is Staff referring to when he says surrounding communities? Community Development Director Reilly said that includes the nine cities that we regularly survey, along with other similar cities in Ramsey County, outside of those nine. He said Staff ensured definitions in the subdivision chapter align with the Public Works Street Design Manual. This was included in a proposal from HKGi ensuring the application process, updating language associated with variances to match state statutes. Those variance changes were amended in other chapters but was missed in this subdivision chapter. Community Development Director Reilly said the consultant can't finalize the draft until he gets input on a few questions. The code identifies developments established before 2008. It states in certain developed sites with approved plats and development agreements placed prior to 2008 go through the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process for future changes to the site. The consultant has recommended that any changes to development established before 2008 use a site plan review process. There are some options outlined in the agenda. We could list all of the different ways to ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 16 amend a development approval so Staff has a choice. The consultant recommends allowing a single way. Councilmember Monson said the consultant is recommending we use one tool for anything that was developed before 2008. So anything developed in 2009 and later will use a different tool? Community Development Director Reilly confirmed. He said from that point forward everyone used a PUD. So they would use a PUD amendment process. Councilmember Monson said basically it is for consistency. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed, for larger developments. If they were developed without a PUD, code directs them that these are their choices. Councilmember Monson said the recommendation of a site plan review is because the types changes we will see are flexing within their footprint. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed that is the reason for the consultant's recommendation. Councilmember Monson asked if the question is should we use a site plan vs. a PUD. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed. Do we want everything in that time period to follow the same path forward? Right now B2 and B3 follow a different path than B4. Councilmember Monson wants them all to be the same. She thinks the site plan seems appropriate as long as CUPS are still available. Councilmember Weber said if the sound wall at Boston Scientific had gone through a site plan review, rather than a PUD, where would we be? Would it have been a more streamlined process that wouldn't have had to go through Planning Commission? Community Development Director Reilly said no. In Arden Hills all site plan reviews would still go in front of the Planning Commission. Some things require public hearings and some do not. We allow public comment, regardless. Councilmember Weber asked if they would have been able to request a site plan review for a wall construction on the property line. There may be niche cases where something gets streamlined, it's not wanted but the city won't have much say in the decision. That's not always bad, but it could be in certain situations. Community Development Director Reilly said with no changes to the site plan review policy, the same result could have happened if it simply went through site plan review. There is a provision in the code that allows the zoning administrator to decide whether something needs to go before the Planning Commission. Councilmember Weber asked would Staff have been able to make that unilateral decision or would it have been forced to go to the Planning Commission. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 17 Community Development Director Reilly said he would have chosen to take that to the Planning Commission. Councilmember Weber said that ended up being a bigger deal than he anticipated it being. He just wanted to ensure those types of proposals are getting the daylight that they need. Councilmember Holden said Director Reilly may not 'always be here and the next person may have a totally different view. We have to balance that. She said in a PUD we are able to get something from developers. She said we lose a lot with a site plan review. How does that balance out so the City can get something that benefits the City or is advantageous to the residents? Community Development Director Reilly said the distinction is these are properties and parcels that have already been developed and they are coming to us to request changing the use of the building from one permitted use to another. That may affect the number of parking spaces required or signs. It's limited to existing developed areas. Councilmember Holden said Arden Plaza was developed under a PUD. If they want to change something, with a site plan review we are losing the option to have them build an additional sidewalk to somewhere else. Community Development Director Reilly said if something is operating under an existing PUD, that will be a PUD amendment process. This is only for sites developed without a PUD. Many locations have already been turned into PUDs. There are still a handful that aren't under a PUD. The consultants believe having one path for those properties to change may be less complicated for Staff and property owners. City Administrator Jagoe said we would still look to our land use table to determine if it's a permitted use. We may be able to do a site plan review to permit it at that location if it's a permitted use. If it is a change in use that triggers a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) they still have to go through that process. If they are doing a building addition where everything complies with code, that would be a site plan review. If they can't meet certain requirements like setbacks or building materials and are seeking something that doesn't comply with code, it would still trigger a PUD. Community Development Director Reilly said changes are consistent with the way the area was zoned, it could continue to go through site plan review. Conditions can be added to site plan reviews. Councilmember Holden said the example she is thinking about is Frattalone's. That isn't a PUD so it would be a site plan review. One of the things she wants out of that, is a sidewalk. If they're doing limited changes they're going through a site plan review. If it had to come back as a PUD we could get a sidewalk there. The City won't have any leverage. We're limited on what we can require with site plan reviews. Community Development Director Reilly said you can condition the approval of the site plan review on their willingness to install a sidewalk just like you can in a PUD. Mayor Grant said PUDs are used to get some kind of trade off. He thinks it would be helpful to establish a grid that outlines which properties were developed before 2008 and which properties have a PUD. The city should be using a PUD. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 18 Councilmember Monson is hearing that if a business existed prior to 2008 most of the changes will be minor. She doesn't want to see our businesses be required to do a PUD if they want a second sign or for some other permitted use. She wants our businesses to have the flexibility they need. If they have to come in for something, she wants it to be appropriate based on what the request is. She thinks a site plan review gives us flexibility. Also, the City should be asking for things that are proportionate to what the business is proposing. She understands Councilmember Holden wasn't suggesting this, however, she wouldn't want to see Frattalone's be required to install a sidewalk if they are just proposing one additional sign. She is supportive of a site plan review because it will mostly be minor changes. She does like having the PUD where we can ask for things from bigger developments. Councilmember Rousseau asked if requesting a sidewalk is competitive with what surrounding cities are doing. Are we squeezing too hard? Community Development Director Reilly said we are aligned with our neighbors when it comes to new development. He doesn't have enough knowledge of surrounding cities codes prior to 2008. Based on the consultant recommendation, having multiple paths towards minor changes is not recommended. They would like us to use one approach. Councilmember Rousseau said the perception of Arden Hills is such that businesses outside of Arden Hills are reluctant to come here. They know we can be burdensome as a council. This has been a long-standing issue here. Her preference would be to use the site plan review process. Councilmember Weber agrees with a site plan review. Councilmember Holden would like to see the grid before she makes her decision. It's fine on small changes. The Gradient Building changed significantly when they did it. It would have been a site plan review. She keeps hearing that people don't want to do business here but that doesn't seem to be a problem. We haven't had any issues because we provide great service, we plow the streets and our taxes are low. Part of the problem is we need to be a little decent on the Planning Commission side and make sure our ducks are in a row there. She doesn't mind the site plan review. She understands the consultants want one option but she wants to be able to maybe get a couple more trees. If they are adding on, we can't hit them up for a parks fee because it's all established. How can we make sure we can still get what we want? She asked if Director Reilly is saying we can ask for something additional with a site plan review. Community Development Director Reilly confirmed. We can put conditions on the approval. Mayor Grant said he wants to see the grid before he makes his decision. Community Development Director Reilly said the consultants are proposing a parking maximum 1.5 times the minimum. The minimum number of parking spaces stays associated with use. This says that we know what the minimum number a use requires. If the business wants more, they can have more but only 1.5 times more than what is required, unless they apply for a conditional use permit, and not as much as they want. Mayor Grant said Catholic Aid Financial is another example. They have a small footprint. They have a lot of parking. They initially thought they would have other buildings. We've seen it go the other way, too. Boston Scientific has continued buying and remodeling buildings. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 19 Councilmember Monson asked how big of a problem this is. Do we need to set a maximum? Community Development Director Reilly said the intent is to avoid impacting established enterprises. It won't apply to those larger entities retroactively. It is not that big of a problem and this can be removed from the draft, if Council wants to. He would prefer to either eliminate the maximum or have a maximum that is a maximum. We don't need it and this would only apply to new developments. It may depend on what kinds of proposals we get for redevelopment south of Highway 96. The PUD process would allow us the opportunity to limit the maximum. Councilmember Holden said warehouses are the ones who request more parking than needed. Then the parking spaces are used to park semi trucks. That may be a reason to leave it in there. Councilmember Weber said there is an argument for maximums. As an example the Trident development is being constructed next to North Heights Church. What if Trident asked for 150 extra spots so North Heights Church can use some spots during their services and events. That would give North Heights additional spaces, freeing up a corner of their existing lot for something else. He said obviously this is a hypothetical, and it's not a huge issue but it could be an argument for maximums. He doesn't see an issue with having a maximum. If someone wants to go above that, there is the variance process available. Mayor Grant said a residential developer won't want any more than the minimum number of parking spots. He thinks this would only affect commercial development. Most of Arden Hills is already developed. He's not sure we need it. Council agreed to keep the language regarding maximums in the draft. Community Development Director Reilly said rather than establishing a maximum we could require people to go through a process and demonstrate that they need more than is allowed through a CUP. Then we can condition it for additional landscaping or other opportunities. Councilmember Holden said the point of this is we're trying to make this process easier and more streamlined. Creating a process to make businesses jump through hoops to show us that they need more parking doesn't make sense to her. Council agreed they didn't want to make an extra process. The language regarding maximums will remain in the draft. Councilmember Holden said we have an aging population. Why can't we require more handicap spaces in our ordinances. Community Development Director Reilly said the building code dictates the number of spaces, directly related to the provisions of the ADA. He will ask the City Attorney if we can have more. Councilmember Holden said we can't have one handicap space for a medical facility. Councilmember Monson said she would like to require spaces for veterans, expectant mothers and families with small children. D. Code of Conduct ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — MAY 26, 2026 20 Not Discussed. E. E1 Use of City Property and E2. Immigration Enforcement Discussion Not Discussed. F. Rice Creek Commons/TCAAP Discussion Not Discussed. G. Agenda Planning Not Discussed. 4. COUNCIL/STAFF COMMENTS ADJOURN Grant adjourned the City Council Work Session at 9:25 p.m. Clerk /Ailul David Grant Mayor