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Record of Proceedings

Blaine City Council Meeting - February 18, 2026

City Council — Wednesday, February 18, 2026
BodyBlaine, Minnesota
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, February 18, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
Meeting Thumbnail
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Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

4:47

Good evening, everyone.

4:48

We're gonna call the city council meeting for February eighteenth, two thousand twenty six order.

4:53

Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

Speaker 2

5:04

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for

Unassigned speaker

5:09

all.

Speaker 1

5:12

Thank you, everyone.

Unassigned speaker

5:14

The

Speaker 1

5:14

clerk will take the role.

Speaker 3

5:15

Council members Fleming.

5:17

Here.

5:17

Ford?

5:17

Here.

5:18

Larson?

5:18

Here.

5:19

Missolia.

Speaker 1

5:20

Here.

Speaker 3

5:20

Newland.

5:20

Here.

5:21

Robertson?

5:21

Here.

5:22

Mayor Sanders.

Speaker 1

5:23

Here.

Unassigned speaker

5:24

All

Speaker 1

5:24

right.

5:24

Good evening, everyone.

5:25

Welcome to this city council meeting.

5:27

We appreciate each and every one of you being here this evening.

5:30

We really enjoy these opportunities right now to uh uh see all of our amazing public safety uh uh personnel here this evening.

5:40

Uh and in particular, uh we have a couple of uh citizen award recognitions uh it's a handout, and so uh really enjoy these moments of these meetings to uh really talk about what's good and what's right uh in our community.

5:53

So, Chief, turn things over to you for a few minutes.

Unassigned speaker

6:07

Well,

Speaker 4

6:07

thank you, Mayor, members of the council, and thank you to members of the public that are able to join us here tonight, especially given the nature of the roads.

6:13

I think we got spoiled a little bit this week, and we're paying for it tonight, I think.

6:17

So, but we could live on highway 61 too, so this this is a little better than that, right?

6:22

So anyway, um well, in conjunction with our swearing in and promotion ceremonies and recognizing our own staff, this is probably the greatest honor that we have.

6:31

Uh you have seen many times, and uh I hear so frequently from our officers how appreciated they feel by members of our community, and how they are much more likely to be waved at with all five fingers and in a lot of other cities that we hear about.

6:46

So we're very fortunate for that, and we don't take that for granted.

6:48

But tonight we get to flip the tables and thank people back who've been able to help us out and help their neighbors out.

6:54

Uh so tonight we're actually fortunate to thank two of our community members that we are able to call our partners, um, Jesse Frazier and Eric Knight.

7:02

Uh now, Eric Knight, I'm not sure if he's running late or not, but um, yeah, I know at least Jesse's here.

7:08

So we'll get to that in just a minute.

7:10

But even if Eric doesn't make it, we are still gonna go through his uh his award as well.

7:14

So

Unassigned speaker

7:15

as

Speaker 4

7:15

you know, our Blaine PD mission statement reads as proud members of our community, we the members of the Blaine Police Department strive to enhance the quality of life in Blaine by serving with integrity, respect, and professionalism.

7:26

And one of the key parts of that mission statement is members of our community, something we commit to being every day.

7:33

The beauty of tonight is we get to recognize other members of our community, those who chose to get involved, who chose to make a difference and who chose to get involved rather than stand by when others around them were potentially in their darkest hour.

Unassigned speaker

7:45

You

Speaker 4

7:45

know, in a world where every day it seems like everybody gets more entrenched in their own lives and and not paying attention to what's going on around them or helping other people out.

7:56

It seems like it becomes more and more rare to get involved in helping our neighbors as a matter of our team.

8:03

Helping is really should be a way of life and not only for when the chips are down.

8:07

Something we should look out for all the time, and that's what makes really tonight so special.

8:11

So we have two citizen awards tonight, and uh, like I said, we are gonna present them consecutively.

8:16

So the first one I'm gonna do is I'm gonna call up uh Jesse Frasier.

8:21

And after we do the word, I'm gonna ask the uh mayor and members of the council to come down for a photo op, too, if that's okay.

8:27

So, Jesse, you want to come on

Unassigned speaker

8:29

up

Speaker 4

8:31

and go ahead and just stand right here and face the council.

8:34

All right.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████33%
Procedural██████████████████████22%
Public Safety████████████████16%
Public Engagement█████████████13%
Transportation Safety█████████9%
Signage Regulation████4%
Affordable Housing██2%
Pending Litigation█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Blaine City Council Meeting - February 18, 2026

The Blaine City Council met on February 18, 2026, at 7:00 PM at Blaine City Hall. All seven council members were present. The meeting included citizen award recognitions, approval of consent agenda items, public hearings for an interim use permit and a conditional use permit, development business for a 32-lot single-family subdivision, and administrative items including a crack sealing contract and easement acquisitions for the 105th Avenue roundabout. The meeting adjourned at 7:58 PM.

Consent Calendar

  • The consent agenda (Items 7.1-7.6) was approved 6-0-1 (Councilmember Newland abstained on Item 7.1 due to a potential conflict of interest). Items included approval of bills paid, meeting minutes, a part-time engineering intern budget amendment, commitment to the Trunk Highway 65 financial plan, fund balance designation and budget amendments, and a payment for Sensus Analytics and RNI SAAS license renewal.
  • Item 7.7 (Resolution authorizing interfund transfers for a new printer in the Sign Shop at Public Works) was removed from the consent agenda for discussion and later tabled to the March 2, 2026 meeting by a 6-1 vote (Councilmember Ford opposed).

Citizen Award Recognitions

  • Police Chief Brian Podany presented Life Saving Awards to Jesse Fraser for assisting in rescuing a child from a pond on May 10, 2025, and to Eric Knight for performing CPR on an elderly woman in distress on June 28, 2025. Both individuals were recognized for their exceptional courage and life-saving actions.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public spoke during the Open Forum or the public hearings.

Public Hearings

  • Interim Use Permit for Concrete Crushing (Item 8.1): The council held a public hearing and unanimously adopted a resolution granting a three-year renewal of an Interim Use Permit for Park Construction Company to operate a contractors' yard for concrete crushing at 10101 Naples Street NE in the I-2 Heavy Industrial district. No changes to the site or operations were proposed, and no complaints have been received.
  • Conditional Use Permit for Fitness Center (Item 8.2): The council held a public hearing and unanimously adopted a resolution granting a Conditional Use Permit for Elevate Strength & Nutrition to operate a fitness center (2,650 sq ft) in a multi-tenant building at 1630 101st Avenue NE #100 in the I-2 district. The facility will offer infrared sauna, red light therapy, and 24/7 access.

Development Business

  • Rezoning, Preliminary Plat, and Conditional Use Permit for Flowerfield (Items 9.1-9.3): The council unanimously approved three related items for the Flowerfield development on the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and Flowerfield Road NE: (1) second reading of an ordinance rezoning 31.92 acres from Single Family Residential (R-1) to Development Flex (DF); (2) preliminary plat approval to subdivide the land into 32 single-family lots and 4 outlots; (3) a conditional use permit to construct 32 single-family homes (18 villa-style and 14 two-story) with lot sizes ranging from 6,250 to 20,291 sq ft. The development density is 2.56 units per acre, compliant with the comprehensive plan. A petition from residents along Flowerfield Road regarding road conditions was received but will be addressed at a separate council workshop on April 14, 2026. Councilmember Newland noted that many comments at the planning commission were from non-Blaine residents, and the road issues are separate from the development.

Administrative Items

  • 2026 Crack Sealing Project (Item 10.1): The council unanimously adopted a resolution accepting a bid of $236,957.50 from SealPros of Hopkins, MN for the 2026 Crack Sealing Project (Improvement Project No. T2602), with a 5% contingency bringing the total to $249,000. Seven bids were received; the engineer's estimate was $245,000.
  • Easement Acquisitions for 105th Avenue Roundabout (Item 10.2): The council unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing permanent and temporary easement acquisitions on 105th Avenue to construct a roundabout as part of the 105th Avenue Redevelopment Project. The city will pursue voluntary negotiations with property owners (including the developer and the Metropolitan Airports Commission) and use eminent domain if necessary. Legal fees are covered under the master development agreement. Discussions are ongoing with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission regarding access to the National Sports Center campus.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent agenda approved (6-0-1), with Item 7.7 tabled to March 2 (6-1).
  • Interim Use Permit for concrete crushing renewed unanimously.
  • Conditional Use Permit for fitness center granted unanimously.
  • Rezoning (second reading), preliminary plat, and conditional use permit for Flowerfield development approved unanimously.
  • Contract for crack sealing awarded to SealPros unanimously.
  • Easement acquisition resolution for 105th Avenue roundabout approved unanimously.
  • Meeting adjourned at 7:58 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening, everyone. We're gonna call the city council meeting for February eighteenth, two thousand twenty six order. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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, everyone. The clerk will take the role. Council members Fleming. Here. Ford? Here. Larson? Here. Missolia. Here. Newland. Here. Robertson? Here. Mayor Sanders. Here. All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this city council meeting. We appreciate each and every one of you being here this evening. We really enjoy these opportunities right now to uh uh see all of our amazing public safety uh uh personnel here this evening. Uh and in particular, uh we have a couple of uh citizen award recognitions uh it's a handout, and so uh really enjoy these moments of these meetings to uh really talk about what's good and what's right uh in our community. So, Chief, turn things over to you for a few minutes. Well, thank you, Mayor, members of the council, and thank you to members of the public that are able to join us here tonight, especially given the nature of the roads. I think we got spoiled a little bit this week, and we're paying for it tonight, I think. So, but we could live on highway 61 too, so this this is a little better than that, right? So anyway, um well, in conjunction with our swearing in and promotion ceremonies and recognizing our own staff, this is probably the greatest honor that we have. Uh you have seen many times, and uh I hear so frequently from our officers how appreciated they feel by members of our community, and how they are much more likely to be waved at with all five fingers and in a lot of other cities that we hear about. So we're very fortunate for that, and we don't take that for granted. But tonight we get to flip the tables and thank people back who've been able to help us out and help their neighbors out. Uh so tonight we're actually fortunate to thank two of our community members that we are able to call our partners, um, Jesse Frazier and Eric Knight. Uh now, Eric Knight, I'm not sure if he's running late or not, but um, yeah, I know at least Jesse's here. So we'll get to that in just a minute. But even if Eric doesn't make it, we are still gonna go through his uh his award as well. So as you know, our Blaine PD mission statement reads as proud members of our community, we the members of the Blaine Police Department strive to enhance the quality of life in Blaine by serving with integrity, respect, and professionalism. And one of the key parts of that mission statement is members of our community, something we commit to being every day. The beauty of tonight is we get to recognize other members of our community, those who chose to get involved, who chose to make a difference and who chose to get involved rather than stand by when others around them were potentially in their darkest hour. You know, in a world where every day it seems like everybody gets more entrenched in their own lives and and not paying attention to what's going on around them or helping other people out.

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