Summary of Shorewood City Council Meeting – April 28, 2025

To increase transparency and resident education, SCA is providing a quick summary of Shorewood City Council meetings. Links to the meeting video are included with each item.

Present: DiGruttolo, Gorham, Sanschagrin, Labadie, Maddy, Nevinski, City Attorney, Clerk/HR Thone, City Planner Griffith, Finance Schmuck, Engineer Budde, Public Works Morreim

Absent: None

2. CONSENT AGENDA

The Consent Agenda is a series of actions which are being considered for adoption this evening under a single motion. These items have been reviewed by city council and city staff and there shall be no further discussion by the council tonight on the Consent Agenda items. Any council member or member of city staff may request that an item be removed from the Consent Agenda for separate consideration or discussion. If there are any brief concerns or questions by council, we can answer those now.

Motion to approve as modified: 5-0

A. City Council Work Session Minutes of Apr. 14, 2025

B. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes of Apr.14, 2025

E. Parks Master Plan Contract  (Sanschagrin moved to 8b)

F. Freeman Park Trail Head Amended Agreement

DiGruttolo asked for clarification of the amendment. Contract Engineer Budde said the agreement amendment allowed for money for two other small projects.

G. Building Permit Escrow Agreement for 6140 Apple Rd

H. Turf Maintenance Service Agreement

I. Eddy Station Concession Agreement

Sanschagrin asked why there was not a damage deposit. Nevinski, said it was not necessary because Tonka United is a good tenant.

J. Code Enforcement Mowing Contract

Used approximately 5 times per year to mow neglected private lawns. Charges are assessed to property if not paid by owner.
K. 2025 Strategic Work Plan (DiGruttolo moved to 8c)

MOTION TO APPROVE: 5-0

3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR

This is an opportunity for members of the public to bring an item that is not on tonight’s agenda, but related to the governance of the City of Shorewood, to the attention of the City Council. No discussion or action will be taken by the Council on any matters. If requested by the Council, City staff will prepare a report for the Council regarding the matter and place it on the next agenda.

• Duane Laurila:
  • Does not like the idea of forced hook-up to municipal water.
  • He asked several times who made the decision to not assess the homeowners for the water pipe installations, particularly Glen, Birch Bluff and Strawberry. during the respective reconstructions.
  • He emphasized that for previous projects residents had to pay $5-8,000 assessments and noted that when water was put in in Eureka North, even though no other residents on Eureka wanted it, all residents were assessed.
  • He reminded the council that the hook-up is expensive and an undue burden.
  • Labadie responded by asking Nevinski to do a memo to Laurila explaining the decision not to assess.
• Sarah Eggeman:
  • Advocated for the city to adopt curbside organics for all residents.
  • She learned through door knocking about 100 homes that there is interest in organics recycling in the city.
  • With education the city should embrace organics for the future.
• Mike Sharratt:
  • He explained a scenario where a simple subdivision by a property owner he represents would require $75-150k for water installation to the lot, which would be a substantial portion of the value of the lot.

4. REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS

None.

5. PARKS

None.

6. PLANNING

A. Report by Commissioner Magistad on 04-01-25 Planning Commission Meeting

• • Regarding the revision to Ordinance 617, several residents spoke with “spirit” against this change. As a result there were several failed motions brought forward by commissioners.
  • The commission had reservations about the update to the ordinance based on the public hearing so they approved a motion that did not include reference to the municipal water component.
  • The Planning Commission settled on a motion amending Ordinance 617 with the exception of 903.15 which discusses adequate water supply and any other portion relating to water hookup. The commission had reservations about that piece of the ordinance based on the input at the public hearing.

B. Rezoning Three Parcels to R-3A

Applicant: City of Shorewood Ordinance 618Location: 24560, 24590 and 24620 Smithtown Road

Described as city “housekeeping.” Because of the 2040 comp plan and other code amendments, the city must move to comply with them. Planner Griffith said the comp plan currently provides just enough density to meet Met Council requirements.

Public Hearing:

There were no comments from the public.

MOTION TO APPROVE: 5-0

C. Rezoning Three Parcels to R-2A

Applicant: City of Shorewood Ordinance 619
Location: 6055, 6065 and 6067 Lake Linden Dr

This was an administrative change to give owners of these lots more flexibility and would require fewer variances.

MOTION TO APPROVE: 5-0

D. Public Hearing: Subdivision Ordinance Update

Applicant: City of Shorewood Ordinance 617
Location: City-wide Resolution 25-044

See the detailed presentation from Consultant Rita Trapp, of Consultant Hoisington Koegler regarding the updating of the Ordinance.

Resident comments:

• • Mike Sharratt, Woodside Road: spoke about clients who own a property on Shorewood Lane who want to subdivide. If the ordinance is approved, his clients would spend half the sale value of the lot to get water to it.
  • Duane Laurila, Eureka North: Spoke again saying he “can’t believe” the city is considering this ordinance. He reiterated that it is an undue hardship on many residents who have relied on a division of their property for financial purposes.
  • Planner Griffith explained the considerations for not pushing costs down the road by shifting them from the developer to the city. He shared frequent talking points of small well contamination, increased home values with city water and lower insurance costs, among other things. No supporting data was provided

Council discussion: The council talked for over 2.5 hours about this one piece of water policy as included in the subdivision ordinance. The debate centered on the timing of approval and having a “cart before the horse” situation. DiGruttolo suggested a slower approach to allow for resident involvement, thus being transparent with them about how the choices were made. Labadie was skeptical that residents would be willing to participate at meetings. View the conversation here.

7. ENGINEERING/PUBLIC WORKS

A. 2025 Mill & Overlay and Eureka Road Bid Results and Contract (start at p. 208)

MOTION TO APPROVE CONTRACTS: 5-0

8. GENERAL/NEW BUSINESS

A. Security and Camera System Initiative

Morreim gave an overview of the Grove System and its features. Costs for the access control and camera systems with installation, support fees and contingencies are $283,934.71 (start at p. 221)

MOTION TO APPROVE CONTRACT FOR SECURITY SYSTEM: 4-1 (Maddy opposed)

B. Parks Master Plan Contract (formerly on consent agenda)

DiGruttolo asked for confirmation that city staff would provide oversight of the process and asked for an explanation for how Bolton & Menk was chosen. Czech will oversee the project and he said B&M was the interview team considered Bolton & Menk to be the most qualified of the applicants.

MOTION TO APPROVE MASTER PLAN: 5-0

C. 2025 Strategic Goals (formerly on Consent Agenda)

DiGruttolo asked for items to be reprioritized.

9. STAFF-COUNCIL REPORTS

• Parks Czech: Volunteers are planting trees in Freeman Park on May 3
• Public Works Morreim: Spring street sweeping complete
• Consulting Engineer Budde: No report
• Finance Schmuck: No report
• City Clerk/HR Thone: Interviews for planning director will be starting on May 5
• City Attorney Shepard: No report
• City Administrator Nevinski:
• Council members:
  • DiGruttolo: No report
  • Gorham: No report
  • Sanschagrin: LMCC has an offer from a potential buyer of their building.
  • Maddy: Financing options for mandated upgrades to fire department equipment
  • Labadie: Summarized meeting activity of the last two weeks.

Additional Resources

View the meeting anytime at LMCC-TV.org
Watch all meetings live on Zoom
Read the packet (the public background materials provided to the council)