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Council Meeting Minutes for May 6, 2024 Page 10 of 12 there was a law that required electric companies to purchase electric from these types of facilities, which had created a market for them. There was no mandate that requires cities to approve these applications. John Udstuen requested Council show the video and pics they put together. Arnie Triemert, 1522 Everton Avenue, said he wanted Council to consider how it did not fit in the neighborhood at all. The Mayor granted Udstuen’s request and the photos were shown to Council. Laura Syring explained they hired a drone company to take these pictures depicting the feeling and flavor of the area to show that the solar farm does not fit the character of the neighborhood. A drone video was also presented. She thanked the Council for viewing them. Evan Carlson commented that the image does a good job demonstrating what people are concerned about, but that was not his plan. He said his plan preserved the trees and had setbacks and greenspace. Had the City not done such a robust job enacting its ordinance, he said his project may have looked like that. Bear noted that the photos and video would become part of the record. Weidt talked about the neighborhood being unique and set aside after multiple discussions in 1989 and again in 2006. It was the largest undeveloped piece of land in a high and medium density residential neighborhood in that part of town. He said there can certainly be a case made on the effect it would have on a neighborhood, and it would change the intention of why it was set aside. He talked about not knowing if a solar farm would have met the intention of the Council so many years ago, but he has seen many examples of how the character is changed by a project like this. He talked about the solar ordinance and the original intent of having solar farms allowed in agricultural zones was to have it on larger open pieces of land that make it easier to hide solar farms from neighboring residents as compared to what it does on this long narrow strip of land. A lot of townhomes abut this project, and he said he was not sure how you would screen the solar project from tall buildings. He said it would alter the area for the next 20 years. Klein agreed the ordinance was very robust. He sat on the Ordinance Review Committee with Council Member Miron, and they wanted it to be more robust. He said he agreed with the mayor; it was a unique area with residential buildings all around it. The MUSA was also close by, and that could be hooked into very quickly if the property owners decided to change the zoning. He recalled discussions at the Ordinance Review Committee, and it was not the intent to have a solar farm in the middle of town. He said it was a unique property and thought a solar farm would be better located somewhere else in the community. He said Evan did an excellent job preparing his site plan, and he could understand why the Planning Commission recommended approval, but from a characteristic standpoint, he thought the developer should find a different location in the community. Petryk was around in 1998 and said it had been a struggle for the residents. She said they sacrificed a great deal of money by being removed from the MUSA and did it because they believed in the area and believed it should be kept preserved. It was very generous with the townhomes for their views. She talked about the green corridor and said 160 acres goes a long way for animals. She said the area has history, functions as parkland for a lot of people, and has done exactly what she hoped it would do. She stated it was not the intent to have something like