00:00:12,830	I’ve got 5:15. It’s May 26th. We’re in the Tom Baker room of the city County building. This will be the Board of city commissioners meeting. But first, we’ll ask Chaplain Carr for invocation and pledge of allegiance. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Commissioners. People in the audience, please bow your heads as I pray.

00:00:33,570	According to my traditions, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to serve this community in the various ways that we do. We ask God that you protect all of our city workers, all of our first responders as they fulfill their calling.

00:00:51,770	We ask, father, that you’ll be with the leaders in our nation, in our state, and in our community, that you’ll be with them and that they will guide with godly fear. I ask father tonight that you’ll be with our commissioners in this meeting. I pray that you will guide and direct them. I pray that they will look towards you for wisdom.

00:01:12,800	Be with the citizens of our community. Protect and watch over them. Thank you for providing for them. And father, may everything that is said and done this evening be seasoned with your grace, your mercy, your compassion, and your love. And may we have your heart as we govern this great city.

00:01:29,830	We pray this in the name of your son. Amen. If you can, please stand. Cover your heart with your hand. 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. Thank you, mayor. Commissioners.

00:01:54,730	If we can call the meeting to order by calling. Roll, please. Commissioner Risch here. Commissioner Zenker here. Commissioner Connelly here. Commissioner Cleary here. Mayor Schmitz here. Our first item is an award presentation. If Lauren could make the introduction and we have the award. Thank you. Mayor.

00:02:18,300	Commissioners, the Historic Preservation Commission wants to recognize the efforts of residents and businesses whose efforts support the city of Bismarck. Historic preservation efforts. This includes the education as well as the raising awareness of history and historic preservation within the Bismarck community.

00:02:38,170	This is the second year of the Historic Preservation Award and the Historic Preservation Commission is very excited to be able to recognize achievements that support and promote these efforts. The Bismarck Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Commission selected Chris Anderson for the 2026 recipient of the Bismarck Historic Preservation Award for his recent presentation on the history of the Bismarck Fire Department.

00:03:02,770	This effort increased public awareness about the Bismarck Fire Department, showcasing photos, items, and facts about the department and its firefighters that were not well known beforehand to the community. Mr. Anderson mentioned that he had a lot of support for this presentation, both from his wife, who let him practice the presentation many times beforehand, as well as from the whole fire department, who supports his efforts.

00:03:22,000	With that, I’d like to present the ward to Mr. Anderson. Would be able to get a photo as well. Certainly. That’s sure. Everybody. This. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mr. mayor. Commissioners, I just I was at the presentation that Chris made about the history of the fire department.

00:04:45,100	He just did an excellent job and explained the fire. At what? Chris was at 1898, 1888, something like that. But anyway, it was a horrendous fire. Took down most of downtown Bismarck and but I was there at the library and thanks for what you do.

00:05:03,330	And Chris is very active with the the new the old fire truck that’s being restored and he’s, he’s, he’s even driven it. So Chris, thanks for what you do. Thank you. All right. We are now to public comment. Anyone who wish to speak during this period on prior agenda or this agenda on the consent agenda or something that’s not a public hearing.

00:05:25,700	Please come forward, state your name and identify what you’re talking about and sign in. A second call for public comment. A third and final call for public comment. Seeing no one and hearing no one. The public comment period is closed.

00:05:47,530	Commissioners, what are your wishes with regard to the consent agenda? I’ll make a motion to approve is presented. Second. Is there any discussion? Commissioner Connelly. Um, I’m not going to pull it this time. Obviously on D three, but, um, my. I approve of everything else on it. Except for that. My vote will be accordingly. I think you’ll need to pull it.

00:06:09,470	If you’re not going to vote on that. I’m going to vote. But okay. It’ll be because of that. Okay. Is there any other discussion? So do I understand this right? You’re going to vote no on the consent agenda.

00:06:27,230	Well, then I think we have to pull that off, because the consent agenda has to be passed by unanimous vote. As far as. I know, it doesn’t. I voted no before. Well. I don’t think that’s right, though. Do we have a. We have we have city attorney who said it’s okay. Yeah. Yeah. Never seen it okay, okay. Let’s go. With it. Any other discussion? Hearing none. We’re going to call roll.

00:06:50,600	Commissioner Zenker. Yes. Commissioner Connelly. No. Commissioner Cleary. Yes, Commissioner Risch. Yes. Mayor Schmitz. Yes. Motion carries. Next we move to the regular agenda, and it’s to consider a request to receive a presentation from the Bismarck Mandan Leadership Program group on a downtown beautification project. And I don’t know who is I.

00:07:17,900	I’m told Whitnie is not. She handed it off. Mayor Schmitz you have that correct? She is definitely a huge part of our group though, so I want to make sure she gets recognition that she deserves. Um, before we get started. Um, mayor Schmitz commissioners, uh, just want to briefly introduce our team here really quick. My name is Alex Koski.

00:07:39,700	I’m the new VP of economic development over at the Bismarck Mandan Chamber. Good evening. My name is Sidney Helgeson, and I’m the talent attraction specialist at the North Dakota Department of Commerce. Um, and then, like we mentioned, Whitnie is here from the city of Bismarck on our team.

00:07:54,630	And then we also have Emily and Matt that are both with MDU resources and then Charles Reichert, who couldn’t be with us tonight, but he is representing Aspen Realty.. And on top of all of that, we’re all members or should say graduates of the Leadership Bismarck Mandan program that recently graduated here in the middle of May.

00:08:13,370	Um, getting started here. So yes, here today to talk about the downtown Bismarck beautification project. Um, project overview. Um, part of that leadership program is to identify a project as a group and see if you can kind of take that to the on something that promotes Bismarck, promotes economic development in the area.

00:08:37,630	And when we were looking at a lot of ideas, there’s so many ideas that come out of that, some hundreds of millions of dollars that I wish I could stand up here today and ask for. But we have to be realistic, right? We have to start somewhere.

00:08:51,770	So our group wanted to really focus at something of where can we start and what can we take that idea to. So our project, we feel really supports that economic growth for Bismarck, while also improving the residents of Bismarck and visitors experiences while in Bismarck.

00:09:12,030	So getting to our project description, as you can see here, that lovely planter box, we’d like to do a lot of that in. Our goal is to enhance downtown appeal and vibrancy in Bismarck, with the planter example shown on the slide. In a perfect world, we have all the funding we need and we ask for hundreds if not thousands of these spread throughout Bismarck. The Bismarck community.

00:09:26,670	That’s not realistic, right to start. So we really had to find an area to start. And that’s where you’ll see in the next slide. We’re not there yet, but our kind of our scope of our phase one project.

00:09:43,000	Um, we also didn’t want to rush this project through, and that’s why we wanted to start and make sure we do everything the correct way. We start with a small scope and see where we can get that project to grow. Um, hopefully the feedback on this is good.

00:09:59,100	Hopefully the community sees the value of having something as small as these planters added to bring downtown Bismarck kind of revitalize it a little bit. And more importantly, right, show that we have one heck of a good city and something like this. Just further promotes how great of a community we live in.

00:10:17,230	So like Alex mentioned, we feel really strongly about the city of Bismarck, and we want to do what we can to enhance the experience for residents, visitors, businesses. So to start out this project, we’re looking at Main Avenue from sixth Street to First Street. So of course, a lot of people have a different vision of what downtown Bismarck is.

00:10:33,870	But with just talking to community partners, you know, people at the city of Bismarck, the Downtown Owners Association, we really wanted to compliment some of the other efforts being done in downtown Bismarck.

00:10:51,470	And so between some of their existing efforts with native grass plants and some of those efforts on third to first, we decided from six to First Street would be the area where we could have the biggest impact along Main Avenue. Um, so like like Alex mentioned, this is the planter that we’re looking at.

00:11:10,170	Um, one one big reason we were drawn to these planters is that it has a 30 gallon of water reservoir, which saves 50 to 80% of that traditional labor and maintenance expense. And so that’s really why we were drawn to these. We don’t want something that has to be watered every single day, because that’s not necessarily reasonable for the Forestry Department to take on. So with these planters, it has that built in reservoir system a lot of great benefits. You can see the specs here.

00:11:25,670	I obviously won’t go through all of them. Um, because we want to keep you guys on time. But they’re a good size. Um, they’re winterized, they’re stackable. Um, so really feasible for downtown Bismarck. They’re made for downtown areas.

00:11:43,100	So we want to just show a quick snippet of, of a small area of downtown before, and then what it might look like when we add in a planter. So it really enhances already that that one piece of sidewalk. And we’re looking to do approximately 30 of these on that Main Avenue strip. And so we’re really excited about what that could look like.

00:11:59,630	Um, of course we’re from the Bismarck Mandan program, but for this to be a long term sustainable project, um, the 5 or 6 of us can’t keep this going. Um, and so to really enhance the sustainability of this project, we wanted the city of Bismarck to be our key stakeholder in this.

00:12:16,430	Um, so we’ve been working with them every step of the process to determine what that scope was going to be. Um, to determine exactly where those planters will go along Main Avenue to make sure we’re following Ada compliance and any regulations. So not only will we will we be going to the Budget committee, um, next month, um, to ask for funding for this project.

00:12:32,400	And we’re also hoping to work with forestry to water the plants, as well as store the planters at public works in the winter months. Another important stakeholder in this project is the Bismarck Mandan Garden Club.

00:12:46,100	Um, they have a they have a really good club here in Bismarck, and they were excited about this project and giving us insight for the actual design of the planters. Um, because we’re not experts on, on flowers. So they gave us great insight there. Um, and also plan to assist in helping coordinate volunteers to actually do the planting, um, which includes outreach to Ndsu Extension Master Gardeners group as well.

00:13:04,670	Um, then of course, getting support and insight from Bismarck Parks and Rec. So like I mentioned, the Bismarck Mandan Garden Club actually provided a design for the plants. So they took into consideration, you know, the sun and the shade ratios in downtown Bismarck.

00:13:20,300	They chose plants that wouldn’t be toxic if a if a child or a pet were to take a bite out of a plant. So they really put some consideration into that and helped us out in supporting the project.

00:13:31,500	So with that, I’m going to turn it back over to Alex, but we’re really excited to see what this could look like and what it could bring to downtown Bismarck. Now, when we talk timeline as a group, we wanted to roll this out this year.

00:13:48,700	We also didn’t want to end up on Bismarck reporting news and have a non good thing be said about our idea for the project. So we really wanted to take a step back and make sure. Nope, we’re going to try to think of everything before we have to actually put this in motion. So you can see just the snippet here of the timeline.

00:14:02,500	And we’re at that, uh, city commission meeting piece of it now looking to order materials sometime this fall in preparation for implementation in May of 2027. Uh, looking here at the budget and we could talk for hours on this, Matt created all of our budget stuff for us, but just briefly hitting on upfront cost all in to start is about 16,000

00:14:23,870	265. That kind of gets the project off the ground, gets the planters, ordered all of those start up costs, and then roughly a $6,000 ongoing annual cost. Um, you can’t plan for everything.

00:14:42,000	So at the same time, while we recognize we’re going to have those fees, we also have been looking for community sponsorships that can help us get more of the project done, or maybe help the project get underway. If we run into some other financing troubles. So all in all, this was a 45 minute presentation when we gave it. Originally, we wanted to keep it very short for you guys and just go high level.

00:14:59,070	Um, our main ask to the city is we’re just asking for the initial funding and possibly a future budget item. If the city wishes to remain a partner long term. So with that, I know there’s not a lot of time. Charles Reichert email is listed there. If there’s any questions, follow up questions.

00:15:16,170	I can answer a few here, but I know there’s a lot of other items to get to today, so I’ll open it now for any questions. Commissioners. Commissioner Conley. So I believe we give the chamber EDC from this table, 200 to 250,000.

00:15:38,870	There’s an ask to increase the funds that are going into the Vision Fund, which would also bolster things around, um, I would say take it out of those budgets that we’ve already allocated and that our form a business incremental district, because I’ve been in conversations over the last couple of decades about that, that it’s been talked about,

00:15:55,900	but hasn’t been formed in the downtown area. But just my thoughts. Good presentation, but thank you for that. We, uh, taxpayer dollars can go in other places, in my opinion. Other comments. Commissioner Risch. Personally, I love flowers and I think it’d add a lot to downtown.

00:16:17,500	Um, I was actually walking around downtown today and I met this Miss Hofer. She’s a new employee for us with the forestry, and she was weeding and watering. We have a number of planters around on there. Um, but I don’t think it’s a crazy idea. I it’s not in our existing budget. Right. The the $22,000.

00:16:35,100	I mean, where would we get the money from? Not that I’m opposed to it. I’m just. So in the current budget, there was for call for projects. There was money set aside for signing. Welcome to Bismarck that nobody grabbed on to. So those would be dollars that are available there.

00:16:53,400	Um, my my comments related to this is I think that this is a great program that Bismarck Mandan Chamber puts on for leadership. Bismarck, Mandan and getting people involved in leadership. And I believe it deserves support on a regular basis beyond the economic development money.

00:17:16,030	To me, this is truly trying to inspire young people to get involved in our community, which is the future of our community. But I think it’s appropriate to put it through to the Budget Committee for 2027. As far as the planters for this year, I think they’re because nobody has brought a sign. Welcome to Bismarck project forward.

00:17:35,730	There probably is dollars available if we wanted to make that as part of our action item today or not. Well, Mr. Mayor, I got a question for Alex. Logistically, even if we said yes, you get the full amount right now. Is it too late? I mean, by the time you buy the planners, get them set up.

00:17:51,000	You know, people have got their flowers pretty well planted right now. Or what were your thoughts there, Commissioner, for the rest of this year, we’re not focused so much on getting the planters set up and the plants in for this year. It would be something that we would look to implement come spring of 2027.

00:18:05,470	Again, selfishly, yes. I would like to get some planters and some plants in there. I also want to make sure this is done the correct way, and that we don’t rush through anything.

00:18:23,670	So I mean, I, I think you should put it through to the Budget Committee and the Budget Committee will or the budget will be heard this summer. And if all of that is approved, I think then you’ll have the opportunity to secure the planters this fall. Most likely because we could probably figure out how to handle that at that point in time.

00:18:39,030	Yeah, if you’re not going to do anything with this year’s budget, there’s nothing for us to amend or approve. If you’re going to go through 27, the process is in place. Have at it. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation.

00:18:56,800	I, uh, again, I want to encourage leadership group teams to bring ideas for the entirety of our community, not just downtown, but the entire. So, like, if this could be done elsewhere and maybe we get somebody who’s willing to sponsor it. Besides, the city. So thank you, mayor. Commissioners. Thank you guys. Thank you. Moving to item four, be consider a request to receive an update on the appeals from the April 7th Board of Equalization meeting. Allison.

00:19:27,000	Good evening, Mayor and commissioners. Um, at our City Board of Equalization meeting that we held on April 7th. Um, it was a request of the board that evening that I come back and give you an update on what happened with the appeals. Um, for the appellants who showed that evening.

00:19:50,170	Just a little bit of history on it for 2026. Um, North Dakota Century Code did change. So everyone received a, um, a valuation notice this year. Previous years property owners only received those if their value increased by a certain amount. So everybody should have received a notice of increase.

00:20:12,130	Those were mailed out Friday, March 13th. And we did hold our board meeting on April 7th. Before our meeting, we spoke with roughly 200 property owners via phone or email.

00:20:35,370	Um, and 60 plus properties were reviewed and we adjusted 61 of those seven of those we recommended no change on, and then we had 24 different property owners attend our meeting on the seventh. And with those we did not have information from them prior to the meeting to be able to make any recommendations other than no change on their value.

00:20:55,630	So we reached out to all of the property owners who attended the meeting that evening. And from that, we did have, um, eight that scheduled the review of their property. And we did recommend a valuation change on those to the County Board of Equalization, because we found an error in their property information that we did have in our data.

00:21:16,670	Um, we had five different property owners that did not return our call. So we have not had a chance to visit with them any further than the meeting that evening. Eight different property owners visited with our appraisers. Um, talked to them about their concerns, visited about things, and chose not to have an appointment.

00:21:34,570	And we’re comfortable with the information they received from the appraisal team. After that, we did have one property owner who scheduled an appointment. Um, but we did not find any errors in our property data and were able to show them sales to support their valuation.

00:21:51,000	Um, and so we we’ve made no recommendation to change on that. And then two, um, I’m sorry, it was two people that scheduled the review, but no values were changed on. And one property owner, we called back and they didn’t like the information we had to share, and I’m unsure if they’re going to appeal at the county level or not.

00:22:11,370	Um, in speaking with the county, I have not heard that they’ve reached out to them at this point, but we did have the appellant with all the land parcels. They contacted us before the meeting, but scheduled scheduled a meeting with us afterwards.

00:22:28,670	We have made a recommendation on seven of those lots and they’ve agreed to those changes. Um, I believe the rest of the parcels on their list, they are taking to the county board, which is next Monday, the 1st of June.

00:22:45,200	But I’m I’m not for sure because speaking with the county, they haven’t received any other information from them in a in a couple of days. I know they’ve been in contact, but they were going to provide them with some more information. And as of this afternoon, I don’t think the county has received any additional information from them. So I’ll have to wait and see on Monday.

00:22:59,130	Um, what they might show up with. So with that, we had roughly 171 parcels that appealed. And that’s like 6/10 of a percent out of our total parcel count, which was 26,875 taxable parcels for 2026. So did you have any questions for me on any of those appeals specifically or.

00:23:27,270	Any questions? Not really a question. I just appreciate the extra time. I know that, um, it’s a lot of it’s a heavy lift for you guys. And so going back after the meeting and then I appreciate you coming to us and giving us an update. So thank you. Not a problem. You’re welcome. Thank you. So glad. Commissioner Connelly.

00:23:42,200	I’ve seen it too, where some people have posted it and things to where their valuation increased so much that it chewed up their entire, um, $1,600 credit. How many of those are there? Approximately? If you know.

00:23:59,370	I, I wouldn’t know off the top of my head and I wouldn’t know if it’s going to eat up their their credit either, because the taxes that that credit will be applied to don’t come out until this December. Okay. So could we get that like in an email for all the commissioners at the table at a later date or.

00:24:13,770	I, I would only be able to use the most current mill levy. I don’t know what this next year’s mill levy is going to be.

00:24:27,870	Okay, so until all budgets are set and everything I can, I can tell you how many people’s valuation changed by a certain percentage. But I, I can’t say how many of those would be more than what their credit they’ll receive. But the valuations changed because of the market or an improvement they made to the property.

00:24:45,970	Um, it wouldn’t be because they applied for the credit, and our office has no idea who applies for those at all. That strictly goes through the county. Okay. And I think it’s also, you know, the mill levy is probably going to go down because the average value of property went up in more than 3%. So I don’t think it’s it’s not I get it. It could happen. As you’ve described, Commissioner, but it’s. There will. Be there will.

00:25:07,300	Be, there will be properties that not just in Bismarck. Right. This is a state issue. There will be properties that, based on their valuations and those and those, um, sales, um, that will be between us, the county schools and parks. When those valuations come out, will absorb that $1,600 credit. But write it down right now.

00:25:30,270	I told you. Sal, I’m not disputing that. I think the math is entirely possible. And you’re going to have to at budget time. I will be here at budget time, but you will have to look at a mill reduction to be able to offset what the what the max is with the 3%.

00:25:44,500	Mathematically, it just doesn’t. I don’t see how it works by holding steady. Yeah. So. Um, the only request I would have is that we get the letters out to the property owners, and you and I talked about that earlier so that they actually have it more than a week before

00:26:02,700	our hearing, so that if they really want to come and visit with us, they can do that along with making sure they know what to bring. to sure, to that adjustment hearing. Basically. Yeah. And we did mail those on the 13th, and our meeting wasn’t until the 7th of April.

00:26:19,970	Fortunately, we can’t control the post office, but, um, we will look at our schedule for this next year. We’ve scheduled our 2027 meeting for April 6th, and so we’ll look at making sure we can get them out as early as possible again this next year.

00:26:36,300	And we’re working on an insert to put with those notices. So hopefully we can encourage property owners to contact us before the meeting. Mayor Commissioner Ellison, but that form is determined by the state, right. The form is a. State right.

00:26:53,500	So, I mean, there was there was some miscommunication on the form just because of what was supposed to be on there. Did you take those concerns that we had at that Board of adjustment or that that meeting back to the state about changing up that to give us give those homeowners more information? Yeah, we we will be sharing that with the with the state.

00:27:08,470	I don’t know if they’ll be updating the form at all, but it doesn’t hurt to share with them that information. And it could help in the future. So thank you. Anything else Allison. Thank you. Thank you. Item C. Public hearing on ordinance 6662.

00:27:33,100	The Land Development Code and Repeal and replacement of title 14 Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance in the Bismarck City Code of Ordinances of Public Hearing and Ordinance 6663. A new zoning map corresponding to the districts of the Land Development Code. Daniel. Good evening. Mayor. Commissioners. So as you called out, uh, ordinance 6662 is a land development code. Uh, this is our zoning and subdivision ordinance. That is entitled 14.

00:27:54,230	It is a complete rewrite of that section. So it’s not a strikeout and underline. It’s a new a new ordinance as well as a new zoning map, which is ordinance 6663.

00:28:10,430	Uh, as your previous presenter mentioned, we did have a 45 minute presentation that we gave the the Planning and Zoning Commission. However, this will be the executive summary for, for this board. Uh, but we are certainly available for any questions that you may have or from the public that may come up through this. Uh, Elizabeth Garvin from Clarion Associates is lead consultant who has been helping us with this.

00:28:24,400	And she’ll give the project summary, uh, and I’ll be available as well to answer your questions. Okay. Thanks. Daniel. Commission members. I’m Elizabeth Garvin with Clarion Associates. We’ve met a few times in the past. Um, I have a really brief presentation this evening. Um, so we have a new unified code. The new Bismarck code.

00:28:51,300	Um, our big instruction as we started this project was to implement the city’s policies expressed in together 2045. Um, so the city set policy guidance for us and the project was to put in place regulations that result in development that implements the plan.

00:29:11,100	So we had some outcomes in the regulations that we think are pretty important to point out at this point in time. Um, starting at the top, the new code increases the range of housing types allowed in all the zoning districts, all the residential zoning districts, um, within the new code.

00:29:28,700	And we reviewed and expanded the types of uses allowed in most of the districts. And also created an updated use table to make the code easier to use for applicants. Um, we set regulations, form based districts for downtown that reinforce the character of downtown Bismarck.

00:29:51,630	Um, not stopping development or redevelopment, but more so, um, putting some bumpers on that development to make sure that it fits within the character of the area where it’s being developed. So it works with the downtown, but it doesn’t have to be mimicking things that already are downtown.

00:30:14,770	Um, we resolved 85% of problems with nonconforming parcels, um, which is really like small in the weeds zoning thing, but nonconformity are an issue for property owners that want to redevelop. Um, and we wanted to use changes to the code to get some of that out of the way. So now, um, it’s easier for those property owners to make changes as they go forward. Um, we eliminated the subdivision public hearing requirement.

00:30:33,830	Unless a subdivision application is submitted with a rezoning application. We work to make the code more user friendly and not for people who use it every day for their jobs, but for people who are in it once or twice, maybe, um, have an application, something to do with their property, and

00:30:51,030	they want to be able to answer some of their own questions. Of course, staff is always available and really good at answering questions, but the code can do some of that work also. So you’ll see more tables and more charts and more plain language.

00:31:08,030	Um, it’s a legal document, but it doesn’t need to be written in a way that sounds like it was done by a committee of attorneys. No offense to all the attorneys in the room, but it’s okay. We can do this this way. Um, we look for opportunities to balance objective or measurable standards with flexibility.

00:31:28,830	Um, the objective standards set the expectations, what the city expects to see, what the community expects to see for development. But the flexibility recognizes that each property may have some site specific challenges. So we don’t want to say in the code, here’s what the city wants to see and then say, oh, sorry, you can’t develop it.

00:31:49,630	So there are ways to take different applications through the code. We focused on creating a code that’s fair and predictable for applicants and the city. And that again comes back to expectations. We spent a lot of time with our working group, which represented a broad range of citizens and developers and business owners in the community.

00:32:11,100	And we had a conversations about what sort of outcomes will this code lead to? And are these outcomes that are what the city wants to see and what together 20, 45 calls for? Um, and then finally, just at this really high level list and you have a summary memo in your packet that gives more details about the changes.

00:32:30,770	Um, we looked at the current process. I’m looking for improvements or for updates or even opportunities just to make small fixes along the way.

00:32:49,430	One of the one of the adjustments we made was a small change to the Planning Commission composition, just to eliminate one of the county seats on that. So it was pretty wide ranging, holistic, and we wanted to look at both the words and the outcomes and the people involved, and make sure we were lining everything up properly. There is also in your packet a summary of the outreach process.

00:33:08,630	And but we just want to hit on some of the highlights. So I mentioned that our working group, um, working group, our steering committee had a fairly broad membership, um, of people who do development, who understand development and were able to say, well, if we do this, then this.

00:33:26,570	Um, and so we had nine formal meetings with that group, um, across the project time frame. And it also had, uh, steering committee members involved in some of our other stakeholder meetings and our focus group meetings. And we wanted to really spread their knowledge and talent across the project. We posted the entire document in segments for full community review.

00:33:50,300	Anybody could go on the project website, review it and comment on it. Um, so that was out there and has been out there in chunks, um, for over the last year ever since we’ve finished drafting that first piece of it. Um, so that wasn’t just open for steering committee members, but anybody could comment on that.

00:34:06,370	We did some community wide open house meetings, so those were open ended. People could come in and talk about whatever was on their minds. And we did a series of stakeholder and focus group meetings. So those are more specific, um, talking about different topics and kind of getting feedback on that.

00:34:22,900	Um, enjoyed ourselves at the street fair, um, twice during the project, in addition to some other, uh, broader meetings. And then we updated you, um, we updated planning commission and we went to a joint commission meeting for one update.

00:34:44,900	We also kept a project website current throughout the project, so it had the calendar and the documents, and it explained opportunities for folks to be involved in the project and submit their comments. So, um, the goal was to make room for people to be involved. Um, we did get public involvement and, we are building on the extensive involvement that you saw in together 2045, because that’s the document we’re implementing.

00:35:10,070	So the two projects, the two, um, the policy and the regulations go together. Um, on April 22nd, we went to the Planning Commission for review, and Daniel did a more extensive presentation, um, which is available if anybody wants to take a look at it.

00:35:32,070	We came through Planning Commission, um, with a unanimous recommendation to come to city commission and for approval of the document. And we’re here tonight for your questions, for your review and your decision making. I’m going to skip ahead just a little bit before we jump into any questions you might have.

00:35:46,770	Um, because usually at this point in time when when we’re doing a code update at clearing, we hear what happens next. So, um, what happens next is after adoption, um, we work with staff to do one final cleanup on the document. It may have some small typos in it. It may be glitchy because it’s a Microsoft word document. And try our best.

00:36:08,170	Word still does weird things, so we’ll make sure that we have a clean lockdown document that doesn’t change, and we’ll give that back to staff. Um, we will, um, let staff do the work they’re already doing on implementation. So that might be changes to forms. It might be changes to, um, timing on conversations with applicants.

00:36:27,300	And we talked about that. How do we do this through the project. But now they’ve reached a point where they need to put some of that in place.

00:36:43,300	Um, and then the recommendation that we typically make is, um, let the code as, as is with maybe some minor cleanups run for about a year. Um, give it that time so people can test it, can see what’s going on. You may come up with 1 or 2 things in there that you think as city commission. Wow. We have to, you know, make an amendment right now and fix this thing that we’re missing or something new that comes up.

00:36:59,770	Right. All of a sudden we don’t have enough in there. Um, you know, about some hot topic data centers or something along those lines, the changes, and you want to address it. So do that. Um, but otherwise, um, we recommend set some expectations.

00:37:15,530	Maybe it’s that you go a year or maybe that you at least tell people you’re going to live with it for six months. Um, so everybody who has been waiting for it to be adopted, um, will put their effort into figuring out what’s in there, um, and then can come to you with recommendations for thoughts and changes.

00:37:34,030	We want to say, um, we, we would like at Clarion and with your staff to leave you with what you consider a living document. Um, it’s open for changes, and it should be changed over time as situations change in Bismarck. And so, you know, it may be down the road.

00:37:51,870	You want to put those, um, flower planters in as an expectation for downtown business owners. That’s fine. That’s something you can do. Um, so don’t don’t kind of let it sit and stagnate, but go ahead and dive in and make changes as you go. It works better if you do it that way.

00:38:07,300	Um, so you know, don’t go another however many years we want this time. Um, go ahead and make the changes to it. So that’s kind of the overview. I know you had plenty in your packet.

00:38:24,370	I don’t know if you got big picture philosophical questions or, you know, teeny tiny nitty gritty detail questions or if you’ve heard so much about the new land use code that you’re ready at this point. Questions? Commissioner Risch. Mr. mayor, commissioners, um, I really like the part you added about lighting because that’s been an issue for things.

00:38:44,670	But my question is, I like I have one of the constituents is neighbor put up this light pole shines into his bedroom and he’s got to keep his shades pulled at night. This goes into effect in October. What practical impact would it have on an existing lighting? Can anything be retroactive? That’s a that’s a two part question. Um, for lighting sections, that is one place where we see communities.

00:39:07,430	And instead of saying, hey, what you have is fine until you make changes to it. We do say communities say you need to be in compliance with the lighting section in a year or in two years. So we’ll give you a heads up.

00:39:19,570	Um, but we’re going to say you need to roll this out fast because you could be doing things purposefully or inadvertently that are causing harm to your neighbors. Um, when it’s when it’s in place, you can certainly send, um, code enforcement out to have a chat to see if it’s adjustable. Um, in any way.

00:39:39,430	You could probably do that now, honestly, but you’ll have a code section to enforce at that point in time. So, um, I would say a little, you know, neighborliness maybe followed up by, hey, let’s kick this in in two years instead of whenever someone changes their fixture. Yeah. Other questions. Commissioner Zenker.

00:40:01,100	Yeah, this is probably this is for Daniel, to be honest with you. So, um, few meetings back, we had, uh, we had a weld building. That was a hot topic. Did that, uh, exclusion get put in there? Absolutely. So it’s just. Okay. Oh, I’ll. Find the page number in a minute. Here. Um, yeah, it’s it’s a use.

00:40:19,330	Well, cover is listed as a use, so it would be allowable in any district if it’s covering a groundwater. Well, so yeah, we after that meeting we. Made that change. Okay. And just to expand a little bit on what was told to us, um, I mean, this was a huge lift, right? So a few years in the making, probably if we had Mr.

00:40:34,430	Tomanek come up here, he’d give us a 20 minute dissertation as to what was really supposed to happen 20 years ago. But, um, I just want to make sure that there’s that you’re going to put in, um, methods and means to make sure that this is continue to be flexible and continue to be updated, because as we can see,

00:40:49,900	um, things change, just like Commissioner Risch talked about, the neighbors lights, LEDs have changed that type of thing. Um, you’re going to you’re going to have other issues, nosy cars or whatever type of thing could come up.

00:41:06,630	So, um, I’d be curious to see what you’re going to do, um, to make sure that those things stay modifiable and and flexible. Sure. Thank you. Commissioner. Mayor. So, so and that is one of the main changes we’ve made, that there is a lot more flexibility built into this code that allows certain adjustments to be made for for good reasons.

00:41:25,330	There has to be review criteria and if those can be met, some things can be just changed by by staff. And some things that are bigger need to go to the board of adjustment for a variance. So there’s a lot of that is spelled out. But of course the whole ordinance can can change itself through your, your decision.

00:41:38,800	Um, I will say one thing to you about the transition process, uh, starting some if it is approved, starting tomorrow, anyone will have the option of applying under the under this code, we’ll have to scramble to figure out how to do it, because our forms don’t all reflect this new code yet.

00:41:53,030	Um, but anyone will have the option to do it right away, but it won’t take full effect until October 1st. And so that’s when we’ll start enforcing it and when everyone will be following the same code. Any other questions? If not, I will open the public hearing.

00:42:15,370	Anyone who wish to speak on this, please come forward and sign in and tell us the topic. A second call for public comment. A third and final call for public comment. I don’t see anyone running forward, and I don’t hear anybody. So public comment is closed. Commissioners. I’ll move. We approve as presented. Second.

00:42:49,500	Is there any discussion? I just want to say, I know that Daniel your team and Clarion met with stakeholders and certainly engaged the developing community development community and ad nauseam, almost. And that was very important and getting all their feedback. So I appreciate that. If there’s no other discussion, I will call roll. Commissioner Connelly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes, Commissioner Risch. Yes. Commissioner Zenker. Yes. Mayor Schmitz. Yes. Thank you.

00:43:20,470	Good work. Good work. All right. We’re the other business. Is there any other business tonight, Commissioner. Risch, I just want to comment that I attended the petroleum conference at the event center last week, amazing. 2800 people from 40 states, four Canadian provinces. And it was it was.

00:43:40,570	I learned a lot about, um, oil production. But I talked to the head of the Petroleum Council, Ron Ness, today, and he said they had a very good experience. The event center staff were excellent, and they had a great conference, and they’ve already booked again for 2028.

00:43:56,470	So that’s a big thing. 2800 people coming to Bismarck for a conference like that. So I just want to give the event center staff a shout out for doing a good job. And we got them lined up again. For any other business. Not we