04-20-2023 City Council Listening SessionCHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
MINUTES
APRIL 20, 2023
Mayor Ryan called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge of
Allegiance.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Ryan, Councilwoman Schubert, and Councilman Kimber.
COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Councilman McDonald, Councilman von Oven.
STAFF PRESENT: Laurie Hokkanen, Community Development Director.
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Bryan Harjes Hoisington Koegler
Heather O’Neill
Sandra and Reuben Kelzenberg 7604 Iroquois Street
Dick Shell 880 Lake Susan Hills Drive
Steve Wanek 6615 Horseshoe Curve
Ruth Lunde 6721 Hopi Road
James Hastreiter 6990 Tecumseh Lane
Laura Baumtrog 7605 Huron Avenue
OVERVIEW OF LISTENING SESSION
Mayor Ryan explained the order of the listening session as follows:
1. Bryan Harjes, HKGi, will give a brief (5-10 minutes) overview of the project.
2. Laurie Hokkanen, City Manager, will share results from the FlashVote survey.
3. Members of the public will be invited to ask questions and share feedback. Each speaker will have
three minutes. If time allows, speakers may be granted an additional three minutes after each person
has had an opportunity to share.
4. Following public comments, staff will verbally respond to as many questions as possible. Any
unanswered questions will be followed up with in writing by Wednesday, April 26.
5. Members of the City Council will not respond to questions or participate in discussion during the
Listening Session.
Bryan Harjes gave a presentation noting the existing City Hall was built in 1981 and with the facility
study and anticipated growth of the city, it no longer serves the population today. There are significant
deferred maintenance needs and the building lacks operational efficiency throughout. He showed maps
and concepts on screen and said due to the cost of overall renovation, the City Council decided to move
forward with building a new Civic Campus, Senior Center, and park amenities as a focal point
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downtown. At the start of this design phase, they are looking for feedback from the community and Mr.
Harjes noted next steps will include the selection of an architectural firm and a contract for a
construction manager on the project. The phase 1 schedule (City Hall building, parking, and streetscape)
would happen in 2023-2024, and phase 2 (park improvements and demolition of existing building)
would happen in 2025-2026.
City Manager Hokkanen gave an overview of the FlashVote survey from the previous week noting 440
participants answered five questions. Results regarding the most important park features to retain at the
Civic Campus include the plaza space, surface parking, and skate park/hockey rink; the new park
features most likely for the public to use include permanent bathrooms, performance space, playground,
pickleball courts, and a splash pad. Regarding summer events and programs in the space, people were
interested in seeing outdoor concerts, farmer’s markets, and food trucks; winter events included
holiday/seasonal displays, Christmas Tree Lighting, winter skating, and seating around fire pits. Ms.
Hokkanen noted the survey will be available on the website for a couple more weeks for feedback from
the public.
Reuben Kelzenberg’s first thought is that the city is trying to put the proverbial 10 pounds of stuff in a 5-
pound box, noting many things are proposed to be placed onto the property and it may be getting too
condensed. It looks like the skate park will be one-third the size of the current to allow more room for
pickleball and parking. He asked if the pickleball courts could move somewhere else such as Lake Ann,
the Rec Center at Bluff Creek, or Avienda. He asked about the square footage of the current City Hall
versus the new building, and whether they need to have a Senior Center in the same building as City
Hall. Mr. Kelzenberg noted the current building has been added onto once or twice so the average age of
the building is more like 25-30 years old rather than 40. He would hate to see a building of this vintage
knocked down to build a similar building half a block away.
Dick Shell commented on the new building noting he would like to see it maximize energy efficiency in
any way possible, which may include solar cells on the roof and heat pump heating rather than gas
furnaces. He believes electrical costs will continue to rise over the next 50 years and that may become a
real burden for the City.
Steve Wanek asked about the Fire Station with the on-duty crew, the size of the station on the campus,
and whether there is a need to add onto that station which would impact the project. He asked the same
question regarding the Sheriff’s department. To Mr. Kelzenberg’s comments about packing a lot of
things into the space, he asked if there was a way to mitigate that. Roughly, he calculates about
$35,000,000 for the project and stated if that is the estimate today, in his experience on projects, the final
costs never came anywhere near the first budgets.
Ruth Lunde thinks there are many good things in the project and is curious as to whether trees on the
property will have to be taken out. If she is interpreting properly, it looks like trees may be added to the
property.
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James Hastreiter noted regarding Mr. Kelzenberg’s comment about packing too much into the space, the
performance space is currently larger than what is proposed. With an increased population and better
performances, more people may be looking to share the experience; it seems a little small in the plan.
Laura Baumtrog has not seen or heard anything about numbers and costs yet. As someone who is new to
a fixed income and needs to pay attention to that, she asked what her additional costs will be, and what if
her road is done at the same time. She asked how many seniors will be impacted noting they want to
keep them in their homes which may be a challenge. Ms. Baumtrog is new to the Commission on Aging
and will pay attention to those at risk of staying in their homes, noting they do not want to hurt people
by pushing them out of their homes. She asked how much taxes would go up on a $350,000 or $400,000
home.
Mayor Ryan thanked everyone for their comments and questions noting the city would work through
those at this time.
Ms. Hokkanen pulled up the website to show a resource on the 2022 facilities study page, which
addresses comments on the age and condition of the building. In 2021 the City Council did an in-depth
study on facilities within City Hall, and to address the deferred maintenance needs and make it
operationally efficient, it was found that the cost would be $17,000,000 to $19,000,000. The cost of a
new building would be $22,000,000 to $25,000,000. The City Council thought it made more sense to
invest in a new City Hall and to look at options that would be transformative downtown. The Fire
Station has some deferred maintenance needs but is not to the point of divestment or critical, and they
will program some of the remodeling and maintenance needs through the building Capital Investment
Plan. Ms. Hokkanen noted the city owns some land that could potentially be a third Fire Station in the
future. Ms. Hokkanen appreciates all the comments and noted they will be compiled into a document for
the City Council to consider. Regarding whether the Senior Center needs to be at this location, Ms.
Hokkanen has heard from the Senior Center patrons that they like being downtown as they are able to
walk or carpool with neighbors, as well as combine a trip to the Center with other daily errands that they
have. The estimate for the City Hall, Senior Center, and park amenities the City Council looked at in
February was about $32,700,000, which included looking at the dollars during the timeframe the project
would be built. If the project stays on the current schedule and there aren’t unforeseen market
conditions, $33,000,000 to $35,000,000 is a realistic estimate. They anticipate phasing in the debt for the
project over three years starting in 2024. The overall levy increase is estimated to go up between 7-8%
each of those three years and then taper back down. Estimates on average homes in Chanhassen will be
included in the written follow-up the city puts out the following week.
Mayor Ryan asked about the size comparison between the current City Hall and the proposed City Hall.
Mr. Harjes noted a 17,000 square-foot floor plan and if there were two levels it would be 34,000 square
feet, and a third level could be any width/dimension to get the desired square footage needed. The
facility study talks about 37,000 to 40,000 square feet as desired, however, it has not gone through
programming with the building on the architectural side yet.
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Mayor Ryan asked about the size comparison of the skate park.
Mr. Harjes replied the proposed skate park is roughly half of what exists today. He clarified it is an
ongoing question in the project with the pickleball courts or the larger upper park space and how it is
defined.
Mayor Ryan asked about landscaping, tree loss, and tree gain.
Mr. Harjes noted there will be some disturbance to the site, and the edges around the library are
candidates for retaining existing trees. Other areas may require more mass grading that can affect tree
canopy but will be investigated as they get deeper into the site planning. He showed a graphic with 100
to 110 trees on the plan as part of the overall Civic Campus.
Mayor Ryan asked about energy efficiency, lighting, and water re-use, and noted those would be part of
the next phase and analysis of the project.
Ms. Hokkanen stated the city is suggesting bringing a construction manager on early in the process for
advice about the cost-benefit of those investments. She pointed to the website facility study page, noting
on the left is a building assessment where people can find the narrative, including pictures and notes of
the different issues.
Laura Baumtrog asked whether the new proposed building will meet the needs of the city totally or
whether they will outgrow this plan. She asked what percentage of the city is developed now and
whether they are at 75%.
Ms. Hokkanen noted the ultimate build-out in the city is at about 27,000 currently and they anticipate
the population being about 35,000 when they are at full build-out. The goal all along has been to meet
the needs of the city when they are at full build-out so the building lasts.
Mayor Ryan said as the city continues moving through the process, she encourages the public to stay
involved and continue reaching out with feedback for consideration on the project.
Councilwoman Schubert moved, Councilman Kimber seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted
in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 3 to 0. The City Council meeting was
adjourned at 7:52 p.m.
Submitted by Laurie Hokkanen
City Manager
Prepared by Kim Meuwissen
City Clerk