City Council Worksession

Watertown City Council T Work Session Mayor Michael Walters Deborah Everson F Jim Kasheimer Fred McGuire Kay Thul A 2/25/2025 - Minutes 1. Call To Order And Roll Call R Mayor Mike Walters called the Watertown City Council Work Session to Order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Councilmembers present: Mike Walters, Kay Thul, Jim Kasheimer and Deborah Everson D Councilmember(s) absent: Fred McGuire City staff present: City Administrator Dan Tolsma, Administrative Services Director Michael Sommerfeld, City Engineer Phillip Schrupp Others present: Gerald Brunner, Raj Kumar, Patty Farber, Cody Kuske, John Weinzierl, Shannon Wetterlund and Watertown Chamber of Commerce President Kyle Jarvis 2. New Business 2.I. Downtown Parking Discussion Materials Mayor Walters opened the work session meeting to discuss the downtown parking issue and provided a recap. We went through a pretty extensive study back in the 2014, 2015 time period where we did an in-depth study and did an actual survey and determined that on the north end there is a parking deficiency. I pulled my old file, and there was a lot of options that were discussed at that time. None of them had a complete consensus and they all had their drawbacks. They were all very limited in the scope of the amount of parking they were going to add, and they were all very expensive too. City Administrator Dan Tolsma added, I think you kind of captured the background of it and certainly a lot of people here were part of that. So, our goal tonight was to kind of refresh the council's memory that these have been looked at, and certainly, if that's the direction the council wants to go, a lot of that groundwork has already been laid, and we can pick that up and kind of run with it and have some further discussions on it. I think the main reason this discussion has come up tonight in front of the council, is there was an City Administrator Dan Tolsma added, I think you kind of captured the background of it and certainly a lot of people here were part of that. So, our goal tonight was to kind of refresh the council's memory that these have been looked at, and certainly, if that's the direction the council wants to go, a lot of that groundwork has already been laid, and we can pick that up and kind of run with it and have some further discussions on it. I think the main reason this discussion has come up tonight in front of the council, is there was an initial request I think late in 2024, for some temporary signage down in front of the Crow River Liquors. I don't know exactly the history or the discussions that went on at that time, but it sounds like there was an agreement made. The city would try out something like allowing some temporary signage there to limit parking to ten minutes. Since that time, I think we've heard comments on both sides of it from the business owner, from adjacent businesses, and from other businesses in the downtown corridor. I think that was a discussion one. Tonight was really to kind of dig into that. I know that there have been some comments from the chamber, and I think they even had a meeting last night, so I don't know if Kyle would want to give a quick update on that too. T Discussion two, is some kind of an option for discussion with the council, and that's if we feel like, OK, doing the business by business, temporary signage may not be the best approach. We wanted to give you guys an option for something like a special event parking permit that staff could work on and bring it back to the council for future approval. There are parameters within that that the council could decide. F If one business has a big event going on or, they have certain days out of the year that they do a lot of business, they could request a special event for that day or a couple of days around that for dedicated parking or for time limit parking. That is kind of an option that the council would have. The third discussion, which I really don't know if we'll necessarily dive into today, but I asked Philip to just prepare a memo highlighting some of the past discussions that went on around 2015, 2016. So, we A just wanted to get that in front of the council and the public to refresh those memories and get everybody kind of looking at this. I think those are kind of long-term parking solutions that may need to be discussed if, the consensus is that lack of parking is a real issue, especially on that 100 block. Discussion open for public in attendance. R Gerald Brunner, Watertown Township and U.S. Combat Veteran, came to speak about leaving the City Center Park as is and find other parking areas to accommodate business parking. John Weinzierl, Commander of the Legion, spoke of letter he wrote regarding that issue back in 2015, so that still stands about the fact that the memorial is in a prominent place. D Raj Kumar, of Crow River Liquor Store thanking the city members to allow him to put some temporary signs over there. He spoke of his sales going up 20% have those signs in front of his store. He knows the parking spots are not only for the liquor store, it's for other business too. Thank you so much for all your concerns and I really appreciate I'm looking forward for more permanent sign over there. Patty Farber on behalf of Laurie's Salon came to speak that the parking spots have always been first come first served and it has worked. It has brought some friction to some of the businesses. Cody Kuske from Farmer's Plate came to thank the Mayor, Councilmembers, and people in attendance on this issue. He said he has not noticed an impact on his business but does feel it sets a dangerous precedent going forward that could affect his business if others have dedicated spots. Shannon Wetterlund, owner of Watertown Floral spoke about that she hasn't really had a huge issue with parking. I did put up signage for Valentine's Day. I needed those spots all day for the delivery van to load and leave I needed to be hassle-free. Then I did do two other spots, but it literally was a revolving door all day long. It was five minutes. I will need that every year, just once a year. Kyle Jarvis. President of the Watertown Area Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Mayor, Council Members, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you. We talked about three main items that evolved into four items last night at our meeting that we held with the businesses in the downtown central business district. Short-term parking, special event parking, overall downtown parking. It evolved into a safety discussion with traffic on Lewis Avenue, and the concerns that were expressed in that with people trying to cross the street, and at busy times it can be challenging. And you don't want to be taking your children to the dance studio trying to cross the street when you can't see what cars are coming and they're not moving very slowly. As far as the special event parking, everybody is in favor of some sort of process to ask for that. Having that kind of opportunity, that kind of process put in place, an opportunity for that business to say, can I please use three spots for this day because otherwise I'm  business district. Short-term parking, special event parking, overall downtown parking. It evolved into a safety discussion with traffic on Lewis Avenue, and the concerns that were expressed in that with people trying to cross the street, and at busy times it can be challenging. And you don't want to be taking your children to the dance studio trying to cross the street when you can't see what cars are coming and they're not moving very slowly. As far as the special event parking, everybody is in favor of some sort of process to ask for that. Having that kind of opportunity, that kind of process put in place, an opportunity for that business to say, can I please use three spots for this day because otherwise I'm handcuffed. We have to share these spots. It has to be fair to everybody. So, whatever it is that you guys decide, it has to be fair to every single business owner. Mayor Walters thanked everyone for coming out and speaking. 3. Adjournment T Mayor Walters adjourned the work session at 6:28 p.m. F 309 Lewis Avenue South; P.O. Box 279, Watertown, MN 55388 A _________________________________________________ Michael Walters, Mayor R ATTEST:__________________________________________ Dan Tolsma, City Administrator D