We will begin our meeting shortly.

Welcome everyone to our meeting.

The date is July twenty-eighth, two thousand twenty-six.

The time is seven p.m.

This is an open meeting of the Grand Island City Council.

The City of Grand Island abides by the Open Meetings Act in conducting business.

A copy of the Open Meetings Act is displayed in the back of this room as required by state law.

The City Council may vote to go into closed session on any agenda item as allowed by state law.

Now, please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge to the United States of America.

Councilmember Sheard present.

Council Member Stelk.

Present.

Councilmember Conley.

Present.

Councilmember Nickerson.

Present.

Councilmember Brown?

Present.

Councilmember Hazi.

Present.

Councilmember Mendoza present.

Council President O'Neill.

Present.

Councilmember Pollock will be absent.

Councilmember Lanfear.

Present.

And Mayor Steele.

Present.

Also present are Jill Grenier, the city clerk.

Patrick Brown, the city administrator.

Chelsea Steinke, the finance director, Carrie Fisk, the city attorney, and Keith Kurtz, the public works director.

Individuals who have appropriate items for city council consideration should complete the request for future agenda items form located at the information booth.

If the issue can be handled administratively without council action, notification will be provided.

If the item is scheduled for a meeting or study session, notification of the date will be given.

Council members, do you wish to remove any of tonight's consent agenda items for further consideration?

Hearing none, we shall continue.

A sign-up sheet was available in the lobby for individuals wishing to provide input on any of tonight's agenda items.

If you did not sign up to speak on an agenda item, please come forward, state your name and the agenda topic on which you will be speaking.

No one has come forward, so we shall continue.

The first item on our agenda is Board of Equalization 6A.

Consideration of determining re-establishment of TAP fees for subdivided lots in Sanitary Sewer District number 530.

Council, is there a motion to adjourn to the Board of Equalization?

Mr.

Hawsey.

I'd move that we move adjourn to a board of equalization.

Thank you, sir.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second that motion.

Any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Mr.

Kurtz, please proceed.

Yes, uh, good evening.

Um so this item is fairly straightforward.

Um working through some development potential areas south uh of town along 281.

Um we began looking at uh the assessments for the TAP district that was built uh probably about ten years ago-ish, and since that time some land has changed boundaries or ownership or different things like that.

As such, we are wishing to redistribute those fees accordingly based on the new parcel sizes today and the new ownership.

Something to note on this particular assessment is there was four different tiers of assessment based on how far away from the sewer main the property lies.

So all of those original assumptions were calculated using the present boundaries.

So nothing has really changed other than we're just redistributing those those dollars appropriately for the current situation.

Thank you, Mr.

Kurtz.

Mr.

Hawsey.

I move to approve 2026 dash BE-1.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second that motion.

Any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Council members, is there a motion to return to our regular session?

Mr.

Lanfear.

I move we return to a regular session.

Thank you, Mr.

Shear.

Oh, second.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Agenda item presentations and proclamation 7A, all American City presentation.

Good evening.

Tanya Brown, 611 Sandalwood Drive.

So we wanted to do uh just an overview of our experience at All America City, and we have a delegation of folks with me that participated in the competition.

They're not all here, but we have several of them here.

Whoops.

How about that one?

Ah, it's you've got okay.

There it is.

Okay, excellent.

Um, so as you know, we made a trip to uh Denver to compete for All America City.

Uh that was based on us being uh qualified as a finalist in the All America City competition.

They um select the top 20 based on an application, and then of that top 20, you go compete, and then they name the top 10 out of that.

And we did walk away without getting a top 10.

I'm pretty sure we were number 11.

I'm very confident about that.

But um at any rate, we wanted to share our experience with you tonight.

Uh, just some historical information in case you weren't aware.

Uh, Grand Island's All America City History includes being a finalist and a winner in 1955, 1967, 1981, 1982.

We were also a finalist in 1993, and of course, now in 2026.

The theme for this year's All America City competition was strengthening civic health and building trust.

And this just gives a little quip that came right from their website as to what they were looking for.

Uh looking to spotlight communities with processes and systems that creatively engage residents to create welcoming, thriving places where trust and belonging are abundant.

So this is certainly the theme that we were working with in.

Uh, in case you're curious about who we were competing against, this shows a map of the top 20 finalists and where they are geographically located.

And then I went ahead and listed those uh cities that walked away with the top 10 title, and those of us that um remained a finalists.

So just wanted to give you a little perspective on where things were located.

I'll give you a second to look that over.

One thing you should walk away with from this slide is we were in tremendous company.

This was the 250th year, and the Civic National Civic League really played up this year, and especially the theme.

And they got a very great uh uh slate of competitors for this year's competition.

So in the application process, you not only get to brag about your community's history and a lot of other things that you do as a community to foster that civic health, but they also ask you to highlight three very specific programs.

So in our application, the programs that we highlighted were associated with uh neighboring the creative district and elevate.

And we're not gonna give an all-out presentation on those particular programs tonight, but they were they were the highlight of our stage presence.

So when we went on stage to bring our application to life, our task was to take these three programs and to give them our 10 minutes that we had.

And so if any of you are not familiar with these programs, um please do ask about them because they're there are programs we can feel very, very proud of as a community.

So what I wanted to spend the time with uh tonight, though, was to talk about our reflections of the competition.

Uh, this was our delegation that went, we had nine of us.

I can tell you that we were one of the smaller delegations.

I was absolutely shocked and and amazed at the number of people communities brought.

We weren't the only ones that had a smaller delegation.

There were a handful that did, but uh uh there were a lot of people there, no doubt.

But I can tell you every one of the nine faces that you see on that picture right now were 110% proud to be on the national stage for Grand Island.

And um, having sat through and watched most of the presentations by the other communities, uh, we truly did uh stack up very well with our programs and our presentations.

So we have a lot to be proud of with that.

And I will go ahead and and I think you all can see who is here who was part of the delegation.

I've got their names listed, but here with me tonight is Sarah Tall, Jessica Hendrix, Brad Mellimat, and of course, you know, Chief Denny.

So they were part, and of course, Jack Sheard sitting up there that didn't remember his t-shirt, and Spencer Schubert is hiding in the back.

Um but I thought what would be kind of nice would be for those of us that us that were able to make it here tonight to just give some brief comments about what our experience was like.

And so I don't know, we'll just go in kind of the order that we're standing up here.

But Sarah, would you like to comment?

Uh apparently, yes, I would.

Thanks.

Um again, I'm Sarah Tall.

I am the director of programs and operations with the Greater Grand Island Community Foundation.

The foundation is the district administrator for the creative district, um, which is why I was invited to be part of the delegation.

And it was really exciting.

I think we were one of the only organizations, um, one of the cities out of 20 that really talked about arts and culture as a vibrant part of our city.

And there were a couple of questions from our presentation about that specifically.

And so Chris Hock Settler, who's one of the board members of the Creative District and I were able to field those questions, and um it really I think put us apart.

And so I want to thank the council for your support of the creative district and how uh unique it makes our city on a national stage.

And I'm gonna take this opportunity to shamelessly plug that we have an event on Monday, the Let's Talk Creative District, meet and greet from four to six at the chamber.

So if you'd like to learn more about your creative district, please come.

All right.

Just Hendricks, executive director for Leadership Unlimited.

Our program Elevate Grand Island was one of the ones highlighted in the application.

Uh, many of you have presented for different aspects of programming that Leadership Unlimited does, and so to be able to talk about our programming on a national scale and the work that we're doing to really diversify what leadership looks like in our community, the efforts that's going in behind it, and the community support that's within that to make leadership on nonprofit on your council table here.

Um really school board anyelective seed to make it more um inclusive and looking more like our community is what we're focused on, and to be able to highlight that and kind of show a unique way that we're doing it in Grand Island was exciting.

So thanks for including us.

A few words.

Brad Melama, Grand Island Tourism.

It was an honor to help represent Grand Island on a national stage in Denver, Colorado, with some amazing communities.

It really was a celebration of civic pride, and we learned a lot about what other communities are doing.

We're able to take that in.

I also think it's uh goes without saying that we have the ability to come out.

We've done this a number of years ago, but we have the capacity now.

Thank you, Tanya, and uh for the application and the capacity to see this opportunity and get this done as a community.

So many communities may see this and like I would have a time, we don't, whatever.

We stepped up and really put ourselves out there to do that, and so I was proud to be able to be a part of that.

Uh we talked about police community engagement, especially with re respect to national night out, and so that was kind of my part in the whole thing.

And I think I echo everybody's opinion that we talked about it afterwards after we saw the other presentations, and we came away with some really good ideas about what we need to take back next time, uh, if and when we go back next time uh to win it.

Um so I'm I think I'm pretty confident about what we took away and what we learned uh for the next time we do this.

Okay, yeah, and that was one of the fun things about it is when you sit and watch other communities present what they're doing, not to mention the breakout sessions that you had outside of the actual competition.

Uh you really gain some great perspective about things that we could be doing, things that we could do better, and so that certainly from my perspective, I I took away a little bit of that, and um one of my my main takeaways, and I don't want this to come across as negative in any shape, way or form, but I'm gonna say it anyway because it was the thing that struck closest home to me, and that was that um by the time they named the the winners and I reflected on their presentations, there was a closer tie between the civic government of that community and all of the things that were happening in the community, and I think we fell short.

This is my personal opinion, we fell short in not being able to reflect that in our presentation.

And so um I I would I would love to take our fresh perspective and go back in about two years and bring home the top ten because we learned enough that I think, like I said, I'm pretty sure we're number 11.

I think we could definitely do it, and that would make uh uh Grand Island really stand apart too as a fifth time winner.

You saw the first one of the first slides I gave talked about uh some communities have earned seven, so we're right up there, we are right up there.

And uh I'll just leave you with this before we talk about uh presenting the plaque.

Uh once an all-American city, always an all-American city.

So the fact that we've got four titles and um and two finalists, uh, we should feel very, very proud of that.

Um we have a lovely plaque for our top 20 finalist status that we would like to present to the city of Grand Island.

Tanya, can I add a couple?

You can, Jack.

Can you do that from that seat?

I think so.

I think I'm allowed.

Uh I was so proud to be uh with this group representing Grand Island.

Uh I sat in on a session of elected officials who were all present, and they talked about things we all have in common, and one of the topics that was brought up was uh housing prices and some things like that that are common.

But one of the first people that speak up in that little group said uh an issue that she had was she faced uh her first or second credible death threat as an elected official, and I thought, whoa, different world.

And the moderator asked, so who else has had that issue?

And everybody who wasn't a white male raised their hand.

It was about 90% of the room, and it was an aha moment that uh sometimes we take for granted how great Grand Island is.

That we have issues, we have things that we struggle with.

Uh we tick people off sometimes.

Um we don't resort to violence, we keep it uh civil, and that's something to be proud of.

I found out uh because as I talked about our city with those folks, uh we were all America, and it was great.

So I want to especially thank Tanya for all of her effort to put this together.

Grow Grand Island contributed to it, it was fantastic.

Uh Mary Burley at uh EDC chamber was also supportive of this.

So a big thank you, Tanya.

I don't know if you want to do anything official.

If you want me just to lay it over there on the desk.

Mr.

Sheard, you participated in this effort.

Would you please accept the plaque on behalf of the city of Grand Island?

Absolutely.

I was gonna say you in there.

Sure.

Carol can send it.

Birthday girl, Carol Brown.

Okay, got it.

We will now take up the state fair presentation.

Hello, hello.

Oops, sorry, we're gonna dive right in.

Thank you so much, Mayor and City Council.

Um, thank you so much for uh allowing us to come and visit with you a little bit tonight.

Uh we are very excited.

In how many days, Courtney?

30 days.

30 days, we will open the 2026 Nebraska State Fair, and we hope you will join us.

Uh wanted to give you a little um heads up about uh what to expect, but first uh maybe just a little bit of orientation.

Um the state fair is held at Fawner Park campus, has been since 2010.

Uh what a blessing that is.

Uh other partners that are on Fawner Park campus certainly include the city.

Um you can see the field house, uh, the Big Iron Event Center, and then the Northwest Parking lot all have uh city logos on them.

We're grateful uh for your partnership on the campus.

Other partners on campus include Venue Works, who manages the Big Iron Big Iron Event Center as well as Grand Island Casino Resort.

So we are a full and active campus, and uh we're grateful to be in Grand Island.

Um projects, just a quick update on ARPA begun um the grant in 2023.

Uh it will conclude this year at the end of 2026.

So uh quite a bit of progress has been done.

Um all of the items in purple on the map are complete.

The items in green are just about complete, they will be done in time for this year's state fair, and then uh the small section in red is our last uh section to break into as well as any punch list items.

But all of ARPA is complete the end of 2026, so we're very excited.

The Great American State Fair, what an honor it was to uh be uh afforded the opportunity to send uh livestock photo ops um representing agriculture from Grand Island and from our state to the Nebraska Pavilion in Washington DC.

So our exhibits were on display there from June 25th until July 10th.

We have invited um the entire pavilion to have representation at this year's state fair as well.

So it was kind of a last uh last minute request for us, just 30 days out from the fair, but uh we hope to confirm early next week um how many of those exhibits are able to also make their trip to Nebraska State Fair.

We look forward to showcasing that this year.

Um volunteerism uh will be one of our slides a little later on in the presentation, but State Fair staff volunteers a lot in our local community.

Uh we also get uh rather rambunctious with the state representation.

Our county fair tour is well underway.

Last weekend was a very busy weekend for county fairs, including Hall County, of course.

Uh but by the end of this fair, by the time state fair begins this year, we'll be over 40 county fairs visited in the last three years.

So we're very proud of that.

We send anywhere from one to four staff members who spend anywhere from two to eight hours uh working at a county fair.

So we definitely try to work with them, help them, and we definitely learn while we are visiting those county fairs as well.

The Nebraska State Fair Board uh directors is 13 members strong.

Four of them are appointed by the governor.

Seven of them are elected from their county fair district, and two are ex officio.

One is from 4H and one is from FFA.

The Nebraska State Fair staff team is 16 full-time employees year-round.

We bolster up to more than 500 employees during our event season.

That event season includes two major events, one being the Nebraska State Fair, the second is the Xarb and Stock Show.

And so for this year's state fair, our theme is it all happens here.

The next slides will illustrate that for you.

But we are an 11-day event ending on Labor Day this year.

The dates are August 28th through September 7th.

We are focusing heavily on the patriotic theme, the 250th anniversary of our nation.

So some of the highlights of our Patriot Patriotic Illustration include six nights of fireworks and drone shows, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then a different show on the second weekend, again Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

We will have an American Heroes celebration.

That's our Veterans Day program that's hosted on Labor Day.

It's a very um, it's a very impactful celebration to honor and to recognize those who have given so much for our freedoms.

We also will have sky jumpers this year, and then our Nebraska State Fair 1868 Foundation is installing a bronze sculpture.

That sculpture will be installed at Fawner Park campus in the next couple of weeks.

It will remain there indefinitely.

So we're very excited for something that will stand the test of time to be on display out there again, honoring the 250th celebration of the United States.

Competitive exhibits, livestock contests, and equine contests are the heart and soul of what we do at the Nebraska State Fair.

So if you have a hobby, I bet we have a contest that we want to see you exhibit at.

Please do if you have a hobby, consider if you would like to sign up.

Our entries will be closing soon, but we would love for you to be an active part of the state fair.

Other ways, if you don't want to showcase your hobby, um, you might want to come and enjoy Nebraska Pella.

It's a cappella singers, multiple a cappella groups from across the state come, um, and they culminate with one grand performance on that day.

We have largest classroom days, we have puzzle contests.

Um, anybody have a good chicken call?

We would be competitors because I'm participating in that one.

We also do rooster curling contest, uh, Galaxy of Stars is Nebraska Talent.

Our community decorating will be something that you see very soon here, just a couple weeks out in front of fair.

We try to get everybody a little bit excited about the event by having decorated displays throughout the community.

Courtney has some suggestions for how you can plan your best visit.

Yes, so Jamie covered a lot uh here, even already that you guys probably did not retain.

But if you didn't, um, of course, we have the Nebraska State Fair app, and I hope that you'll take the time to download it.

It's a tremendous resource uh that has not only vendors but also scheduling opportunities.

So you can see all the events, what's happening, what day.

You can also bookmark it so that you can build your own schedule.

So when you're out at the fair and you're like, I know I wanted to see this vendor, I know I wanted to see the show.

What was it?

You can go back and reference it.

Um, a lot of resources again.

You can download it either in uh the Play Store or on Apple.

Um, and then our visitor's guide.

You guys are the first to see this.

Uh, we had some get delivered here just in the last week or so.

Our physical copies of the gatebook will go out in newspapers all across the state, and then we'll be scattered about at different businesses and such.

Uh, you have a physical copy in your hands, but we also have a digital copy on the website.

So if you need to reference it or if folks are asking what the state fair might have or where they could find more information, direct them to our website.

That digital copy does allow you to keyword search too.

So if you're looking for something specific, like last year, cattle dogs was the highest searched item in the gate book.

Um, if you're looking for cattle dogs, you can keyword search and find when they're gonna be there.

It literally all happens here, as Jamie said our theme this year.

We have five big stages across the grounds that feature all kinds of entertainment from comedy to hypnotism to uh live bands from Nebraska.

We have over 60 bands that are Nebraska-based this year performing across the 11 days.

So tons of live music that you can explore.

Uh, we also have strolling entertainers that will be out and about the grounds.

So I'm sure many of you might recognize Rocket the Robot.

He's been here before.

He hasn't been here for a while, though, so we're glad to have him back, as well as the Transformer cars.

So these giant transformers that are walking around, and then you turn back and look at them, and now they're in the shape of a vehicle.

And then we have uh the world's um world's biggest bubble maker.

Uh, this gentleman can put groups of people into a giant bubble out on the fairgrounds, so you can get a picture of yourself literally in the bubble uh at the fair.

And then a number of grounds attractions, of course, that we scatter about the grounds.

One of them that I'm most excited for is our high flying royals.

It's an 80-foot scaffold that'll be out in the Grand District.

You literally can't miss it.

It is so tall.

Um, but we'll have aerial acrobatics on that, as well as animal education scattered all across the grounds, conservation education.

Um, and then we'll have, of course, dogs back out here.

We have a dino dog attraction that'll be in the family fun zone during fair as well.

Dogs always perform very nicely for us.

Kids love them, adults love them, we all love dogs.

Um, in addition to entertainment, we have tons of shopping and tons of food, which is generally what draws people out to the fair, especially on those weeknights.

Maybe when you want to come explore it when it's not quite so crowded.

Uh, we have over 170 Nebraska businesses represented through our vendors and concessionaires this year, which is something that we take pride in.

Lots of folks ask about it.

Um, we made a special effort to um provide a decal to all of those Nebraska vendors.

So if you're out and about exploring the fair, you can see who's from Nebraska and easily identify them.

But we have shopping of all different kinds, uh, both indoor and outdoor, as well as some really cool uh new additions to our food lineup.

We started teasing them on social media, and I didn't bring a lot of them with me tonight.

Um, but elephant ears took off for us last year.

Lots of people tried elephant ears for the first time and chose elephant ear over a funnel cake.

So if you haven't tried one, uh that's your challenge for this year.

They have a caramel apple crunch funnel cake in a I'm sorry, elephant ear and a Snickers elephant ear.

So those two will be part of our new and unique foods contest.

Um, and you'll get to see all those foods right now, teasing on social media, but opening day of the Nebraska State Fair at 11 a.m.

We do a judging contest.

So you can come get the food review for all those fun foods.

Um, and then of course, nothing more Nebraskan than the Nebraska State Fair.

And what is cooler than being the only state fair that offers combine rides on a brand new combine at your state fair?

That's something that we find incredibly important to keep going.

It's a tradition that folks look forward to, and it's a great opportunity to connect our urban folks with uh the rural side of things.

You know, we we hear a lot that there's not anything out here in Grand Island, and we're really we're really proud of the work that we do to help draw people from the eastern part of the state in the furthermost west part of the state here to Grand Island.

Um, in addition to all of our grounds entertainment, we have some ticketed events that you can look forward to.

Here, of course, we have our truck and tractor pool that changed, so it's opening day this year.

Um, we're bringing in two rodeos, a rough stock rodeo in a ranch rodeo, as well as bringing back figure eight racing after a great year that it had last year, and then Demolition Derby closes out Labor Day weekend for us every year.

We also have five ticketed uh concerts, which is a few fewer than what we typically have just based on feedback that we receive from the public, just kind of tightening up our offering and making sure that we're bringing in the best entertainment that we can afford.

Uh, Phil Wickham, being our Christian artist in that show.

If you want to go to it, I am telling you, you've got to get tickets in the next two weeks.

Like we are ready to call it sold out.

Um, there's just a few tickets scattered about.

Um, so if you're interested in that Christian show, grab your tickets now.

Casey and the Sunshine Band will be here for our older Nebraskans Day show.

That's a two o'clock matinee on August 31st.

And then again, popular demand brought back a free national concert for us.

Last year we hosted Sawyer Brown for a free show, meaning all you needed was your gate admission, and you could come enjoy a nice concert that evening.

And this year it's home free.

It's an all-ocapella or it's an all-vocal group, which is real similar to a cappella.

In fact, I couldn't tell you the difference.

But uh, they're a phenomenal band based out of Nashville and Nebraskans love them, so we're excited to host them, as well as Shine Down, who follows uh second weekend, then on Saturday, Shine Down and then Hardy will close us out on September 6th.

Our volunteer program that Jamie mentioned is uh one that we are incredibly proud of.

It holds a special place in my heart as the former volunteer coordinator and Cindy Johnson, I don't know if she's here, um, can tell you all about this volunteer program because it is perhaps one of the greatest grassroots efforts that Grand Island has seen.

Uh, when the Nebraska State Fair relocated here to Grand Island, the chamber stepped up and helped to provide a volunteer program that could help supplement labor.

Understanding that a lot goes into setting up the Nebraska State Fair.

Um, from that, you know, we're 17 years in now and still maintaining uh over 800 volunteers, bringing forth 16,000 hours of manpower for our event, which is incredible, and we get calls often.

I was just talking to Florida State Fair earlier this summer, and they're like, I have 80 volunteers, and I cannot get anybody to come volunteer without pay.

How did how do Nebraskans do it?

I was like, Well, you come on down to Grand Island and we'll tell you how we do it.

We have a great program, um, and of course, they're always looking to add to it, but uh, we have the best of the best.

The yellow t-shirt brigade is kind of how they've been coined.

A number of deals and discounts that we offer are kind of listed out here on the screen.

Of course, you can find them on our website and our app as well.

I know that that font's kind of small, but we take um great pride in the amount of discounts that we offer, making sure that this is an affordable event for families.

You know, we start with these um flash sales in December, so just months after we conclude our fair.

We're planning for next year.

Um, so we've had so many deals and uh sales over the year.

Uh, we have some bundles that are available on the website currently, as well as discounted admission and wispians.

So you haven't missed out on all the sales, they're still running, you can still get a good discount.

Uh Pump and Pantry also carries those discounts throughout uh the fair.

So in if you wish to buy during the fair, your carnival wristband or your gate admission, go to Pump and Pantry and scan that QR code, you'll save a few bucks.

We also would be remiss if we left out the Exarb and Stock Show.

It's a huge livestock show that we host just 16 days after we wrap up the Nebraska State Fair.

Exarbent stock show will be to September 25th through the 27th.

Uh 14 states are eligible.

Youth age nine to nineteen can compete uh from any of those 14 states.

We have major livestock shows, we have uh challenge programs, uh livestock judging contest, uh quiz bowl, public speaking.

I should add that uh some of our contests, specifically the judging contest rivals the national judging contest.

We're very proud to host that here in Grand Island again at Fawner Park.

There's also shopping food and fun at Exarbon.

There's no gate admission, so people are invited and encouraged to come out and attend.

With that, we have some reminders about the date, and I do want to call Cindy Johnson up.

Cindy Johnson's a consultant for the state fair.

Um, she's amazing.

She helps us uh with a lot of things.

So, Cindy, did you have some words of wisdom?

Uh no.

I do have some words of praise for these two ladies.

I I'm sure you can tell from their demeanor and their voice and and uh their excitement that they are passionate about the Nebraska State Fair and that comes through in everything that they do.

I also was very pleased to hear Jack Sheridan say that he was passionate about Grand Island with the All-American City application and the presentation out in Denver.

And I would encourage each one of you as elected officials to own this Nebraska State Fair to show up during one of the events that might not be a carnival ride or a concert, but rather it might be a presentation from Senator Ricketts, and and represent yourself as a city council member for the city of Grand Island who hosts the Nebraska State Fair.

So Senator Ricketts is there with one of his economic forums, third in a row.

There's going to be a discussion debate between the Senator candidates on opening day.

We would love to show the support of this elected body at the 10 o'clock opening in Earl May Square.

Yes.

Um so think of it that way of what you can be proud of that you're sitting there making decisions that impact the community of Grand Island and make the Nebraska State Fair so attractive to the 300,000 plus that come every year.

334,383.

She said, so thank you very much.

Thank you, Cindy.

Thank you, guys.

Do you have any?

I don't know if there's commentary, but we have completed our report.

Thank you so much.

We hope to see you at the fair.

Thank you for your presentation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Council members, is there a motion on our consent agenda?

Mr.

O'Neill.

I move.

We approve the consent agenda.

Mr.

Lionfair.

Second.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

And for the folks here on the micro TIFF application, the council just approved that application.

So you can stay if you like, or you're also free to leave.

I just wanted you to know that the council did approve it.

Public hearing 9A, public hearing on request from Kevin and Kimberlyn Peterson for a conditional use permit located at 2070, Ingleman Road South to run an educational nonprofit as a private club.

Mr.

Nabity.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I'd like to go through some history and background on this piece of property to just give you a concept of where staff is at on this.

I would like to start out by saying that as we've worked on this, staff is supportive of Pete Safari and is working to get them to a point where they comply with the regulations.

And our goal is to bring them into compliance.

But there are a number of deficiencies that quite frankly could have been avoided had they applied for building permits at the time that they built things.

So now we have to go back and fix that.

So the property was subdivided, a portion of it was subdivided in 1988 with approval by the Grand Island City Council.

It has been in the zoning jurisdiction of the city of Grand Island since at least 1988.

So I know that there's well the city moved out to them.

1988, it was in the city's jurisdiction.

The Petersons purchased the property on August 13th of 2018 based on the deed to their house when the deed to their house was filed with the Hall County Register of Deeds.

Since that time, and I'd like to just jump through this real quick.

In 2016, this is what was on the property.

There was a house and a garage.

There are permits for both of those in the building files upstairs.

So those were permitted structures.

So this would have been flown in March of 2019, about six, eight months after the Petersons had purchased the property.

You can see there are additional buildings, many of which are small enough that they would not require permits.

Anything less than 120 square feet does not require a permit.

So you still have to meet setbacks, you still have to meet all of those rules, but you're not required to get permits.

Substantially more buildings.

Again, many of them are smaller than the 120 square feet and do not require permits.

2024, and if you look between 2022 and 2019, there was a garage added at the northwest corner of the property.

But that structure should have had a permit as well.

So we're going to be talking about structures on the entire property.

2024, again, additional structures, some of which are substantially more than the 120 square feet.

And then in 2025, this is what it would have looked like in March a year ago.

The Grand City of Grand Island has required building permits since the 1930s.

Building permits are required on all structures covering more than 120 square feet, and it is the responsibility of the property owner to get the permit.

So if you hire a contractor and your contractor doesn't pull the permit, it is still the responsibility of the property owner to make sure that that permit gets pulled.

The property does have an ELDA address based on the zip code.

Those are assigned by the U.S.

Post Office, not by city or county staff.

We don't decide who delivers the mail, which post office it comes from.

And every address that is not located inside of a municipality, whether that's a village or city of the first class or second class.

Every address out in the rural part of the county has an address that's assigned to a post office in Hall County.

Every address out in the rural part of the county has an address that's assigned to a post office in Hall County, that's going to be Grand Island, Alda, Donaffin Caro, Wood River, Kennesaw, Shelton.

So it doesn't even have to be in the county.

It just has to be in that delivery range.

The Village of Valda adopted zoning in the late 1960s and has enforced zoning and building codes with the aid of Hall County since that time.

Alda and Hall County building codes are identical to those used by the city of Grand Island.

Zoning questions for both Grand Island and Hall County are directed to the Regional Planning Department and have been since the interlocal agreement was signed by all entities with zoning jurisdictions in Hall County in 1968.

The Regional Planning Department did not ever receive an inquiry regarding where a zoo could be located anywhere in Hall County, whether that was in ALDA, whether that was in Hall County, or whether that was in the city of Grand Island.

Inspectors, as it says in the memo, this was brought to light when an electrical contractor came to the building department and asked what it would take to get an upgraded service at this location.

In reviewing the property, the inspectors discovered that there were many unpermitted buildings.

And sent Ed Clemick, the building chief building official sent a letter to the Petersons, stated that we could not issue a permit at this time, that there were outstanding issues that needed to be resolved prior to issuing that permit.

They contacted their attorney, Galen Stelick.

Galen contacted the city.

I had talked to Galen about it and suggested that maybe changing to a B-2 zone and adding zoos to the B-2 zone would make sense.

This property is on the intersection of two section line roads.

Our comp plan supports rezoning those properties on those intersections to that commercial zoning district.

The next week, Mr.

Mr.

Stellick invited the building inspectors out to view the property and do an assessment, see what was needed.

At that point, things hit social media before anything was ever released, other than the comments that were made by inspectors, some of which were suggestions that if you do this, and I know that it's out there that well, why did they tell us to take the roofs off?

Well, if you take the roof off of those structures, it's no longer a building.

It no longer requires a building permit.

If it has a fabric cover, it doesn't require a building permit.

So that was a suggestion.

Now there are other things that are contra-indicated that USDA may say, no, it has to be this, but you don't get to follow part of the regulations.

You have to follow all of the regulations for each entity that is regulating the variety of various things that are going on on the property.

Private clubs are allowable by conditional use permit in the large lot residential zoning district.

That would get them into compliance, at least with the zoning regulations and that section of it, and allow us to put in conditions on when they needed to meet the various other things that were deficiencies, including things like missing not getting building permits.

There are, you saw at the beginning in 2016, there were two structures there, both of which were permitted.

Now there are 39 structures there.

But that means 15 of them are large enough that they should have building permits.

And those building permits have not been applied for.

So within the resolution that is before you, we put in conditions and timelines, some of which are up to three years from now before they need to comply to give them time to actually bring this forward and come into compliance.

We've suggested ways that they can fix things like setbacks.

Currently, they've got several buildings that are built within the setbacks for the large lot residential zone, changing it to that B2 zone like I had suggested originally with lower those setbacks.

So instead of a 15-foot or 25-foot setback, they would have a 10-foot setback with the 10-foot setback, those buildings would comply.

So there are ways that we can make this work.

Those were initial conditions that were written that we thought were reasonable.

If for some reason they're unreasonable, we're willing to you certainly can say no, we think the condition should be this.

Thank you, Mr.

Navity.

Public hearing is now open.

I apologize if I get any of these names around it.

Um first one on the list is Kelly.

Yeah, you can come up and speak.

Okay.

Okay, sir.

Good evening.

I'm Galen Stelick.

I'm a lawyer in Grand Island and I represent the Petersons.

And uh you have in front of you a well thought-out, well conceived memo from Chad Nabity that I will refer to periodically.

This whole matter started with a violation notice that Ed Climick sent to the Petersons on May 18th, and he recited as Chad indicated that you applied for a building permit or an electoral permit, and we got to looking at it, and most of the buildings that you have out there aren't even permitted.

Now, 22 of the 37 structures are small enough below 120 square feet to not require a building permit.

Some are bigger than that, but they house zoo animals.

About 44, 44 zoo animals, everything from camels to lemurs, etc.

Now in 2018, when the Petersons bought this property, they didn't intend for it to be a zoo.

A quasi-public zoo.

They love animals, they love exotic animals.

And Mr.

Peterson's father did too.

And so this has been something that has been part of the Peterson family.

So over time, they accumulated or gotten animals, they build enclosures for the animals to be in.

However, you can create a Nebraska nonprofit corporation, relatively easy to do.

The assets of the zoo would be an asset of this nonprofit.

The nonprofit can hire staff, pay them a salary, and then at the gate, when people come in, they would pay what amounts to a donation.

Now, who actually comes to Pete Safari?

Well, senior citizens, families, elementary schools, church preschools, private preschools, daycare, and just ordinary citizens.

And the Petersons do it for love of the animals.

They want to comply with whatever rules and regulations you promulgate.

Whatever you want them to do that is in the public's interest and meets your needs.

We seek a mutually beneficial consensus on zoning and property usage, which serves a legitimate public purpose and meets the needs of the general public.

That's why I'm here to make sure that happens.

Now, when Chad sent the July 14th memo to you, uh Chad and I did meet, and there's some information that I think you should know.

Out of a 365-day year, Pete Safari is open about 70 days out of the year, weather permitting.

They report not only to the city, they also report to the USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture, that comes out and inspects the animals, inspects the structures in which they're housed.

The state fire marshal also.

Now it's interesting that in the last two weeks, due to anonymous complaints, the state fire marshal showed up, did a spot check and concluded that Pete Safari met or Peterson's met all of the state fire marshal requirements.

Also giving a spot unexpected surprise visit was USDA.

There were inspectors from Tennessee and North Dakota that showed up.

They also gave a clean bell of health to Pete Safari.

There were no violations.

And so if there's a concern about the care of the animals, the concern should be more than your animal control office.

You should know that there is a second level at the federal level to protect the animals, protect the general public.

That is the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and the State Fire Marshal.

So looking at Chad's memo, he proposes that there be a resolution adopted, and a sample resolution is attached to his memo.

And I want to go through that a little bit.

And of your memo, I believe this appears starting on page 10 of his memo.

Now, an expense that is a concern for my clients is bathrooms and plumbing.

Now, right now there are, for lack of a better word, the indelegate word portapodties.

One for men and one for women.

One should be, and we agree, handicapped accessible.

Those are possible.

You can rent those.

Maybe a compromise would be that there be a porta potty for men and women, but there be a unisex bathroom, actually constructed bathroom that is no longer, but a unisex also handicapped accessible.

Now the entire time that the Petersons have operated it, they've indicated to me they've never had a problem with a handicapped person asking to use the restroom.

And there are people with walkers and wheelchairs that frequent Pete Safari, never had an issue.

But we understand there is a public purpose in mind to have handicapped accessible bathrooms, and a compromise might be, and we would ask the council to potentially consider that alternative.

Also, at my direction, I had the Petersons contact local plumbers about what if we had to have three bathrooms out there?

And the answer was you can't do it, because my clients have a septic tank and a well.

There's no city water that services their area.

That would be a problem.

It talks about item B, bathrooms and plumbing.

They wanted four women's toilets and two sinks, two men's toilets, one which may only have to be a yearno, and a drinking fountain.

Agreed.

Practicing for the crowing contest classic.

Oh, okay.

Sound like my wife, you know.

Oh, she didn't hear that.

Uh we want to require, but we think that that's a little excessive, especially in light of the fact that for many years he's only had two porta potties, never had a problem.

So we would suggest that maybe, assuming that plumbing can accomplish this, that we have a unisex toilet, which is also handicapped accessible and two porta potties.

Parking.

That's a big expense.

Section C.

So we'd ask the court that we'd ask the council to consider that as an alternative to this.

The setbacks you will note, this is on again page 10, subsection D says buildings 2, 3, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 are all located in the front or side street that violate the setback requirement.

One of those buildings has been uh they didn't even complete it, they demolished it, they took it down.

Okay.

Now on the next page, page 11, uh the requirement that Chad suggested as part of this resolution is that the Petersons provide the city with a complete list of all animals permitted by the United States Department of Agriculture will provide the city and Mr.

Navity with the complete list of every animal that's out there, but that'll be duplication because that number has already been that list already has given given to the USDA.

They regularly inspect the property middle paragraph.

You need to insert chips into these animals, zoo animals.

Now every veterinary in town will tell you they can easily insert a chip in your dog or cat, but a camel.

Okay.

That requires sedation of the animals.

I don't think that's necessary under these circumstances.

If a citizen in rural Hall County sees a camel walking about, I think you know where it probably came from.

You know, it doesn't need to be chipped.

The biggest thing is I think that there is uh immediate community response would be available through USDA and the state fire marshal.

So having oversight by the animal control officer, and I think the city contracts with the Humane Society, the Central Nebraska Humane Society, uh, I don't have any trouble giving them a complete complete list of every animal that's out there.

If they want to come out and inspect, I guess let them.

They're just like part of the public as far as I'm concerned.

So these are things that uh Chad and I have discussed.

We're willing to work with the city.

Again, I emphasize we're looking for a mutually beneficial consensus that serves my clients' heartfelt needs and the public's needs.

Are there any questions?

They may have questions after the public hearing is done and they make a motion.

They can't speak on it now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, Kelly, would you like to speak?

And I am actually from the eastern side of the state, close to between Lincoln and Omaha.

But I frequent here, I used to work here in Grand Island.

And come back every September for my birthday for the state fair.

So I'm familiar with the community.

And I just want to thank everybody here for coming.

And I think everybody has read a lot of the social things on the social media.

Um have heard that over 5,000 people signed the petition for pizza Fari to stay in business.

I know there's numerous um items on their social media supporting them, a very few that are negative.

And probably some of my favorites are the little kids, and especially handicapped, and there's a lot that go out there.

It's just emotional because I have seen it firsthand.

How maybe that somebody is nonverbal, that never speak, and when they come in contact with the animals, they speak for the first time because animals have a way, whether it's with kids, elderly people that have maybe um uh disability and ability, and the animals have a way of sensing that, and they handle them and a lot different than let's say you or I that went there.

They realize that there's some reason that they need to be gentle and a lot calmer around them.

So that interaction I think is very important, and whether it's for the little kids, for people that have a um a condition, or whether it's elderly people.

I know a lot of elderly people have gone out there from nursing homes, and they always comment.

And I don't know if you have been on the website, but there's pictures of all over of the facial expressions on these people's faces when they come visit and interact with the animals.

And as I mentioned, um I live near Omaha, and so I have an annual membership to Omaha and Henry Dorley Zoo, which is one of the top zoos in the whole country, but not just the country, the whole world.

And so I go there fairly often, and my grandkids enjoy it when we go there, but one place they enjoy more is pizza fart.

Because at the zoo, they see the animals at Henry Dorley, but they don't have any interaction with them, and I think that's something that's very special that they provide.

I know that the last few months have been very trying, and they were trying to work with the city of Grand Island to comply, but as mentioned before, some of the things are um maybe need to be changed a little bit.

Like you said, the restrooms.

Um, I've been to zoos all over the country and to um pumpkin patches and festivals, and not everyone has a six-stall restroom.

In fact, most of them have outhouses and or quarter potties, and as far as the you know, having to pave the whole parking lot where people park.

How many of you have gone to a pumpkin patch and where it's it's not paved?

A lot of us do.

In fact, even places that are paved doesn't mean that it's going to be a benefit.

Um, in fact, my sister here can tell you attest that she broke her ankle and it was on pavement, and I think everybody has you know seen somebody fall on pavement, and just because it's paved doesn't mean that there's gonna not be an injury or an incident that happens.

Um I would like um to ask you to please consider approving them for um the conditional permit.

I think they're a great asset, and as you see on social media, so do a lot of the other people in Grand Island, and they don't want to lose that.

But one of the good things about their place is that it's not something that's super fancy with super buildings in and all this fancy stuff because that wasn't their intention.

Their intention was to share their love of animals with the community.

And by doing that, they were able to keep the prices you know for admission low so that every family that wanted to bring their kids there could bring them.

They could afford it.

Same way with schools and nursing homes and all the other places that you know it's affordable so they can come there and enjoy it.

Um I know a lot of people have said that you know we'll pitch and we'll donate money to get you into compliance, and that's good as long as it's you know reasonable, but if it's unreasonable, it's going to price it so they would have to charge so much it wouldn't be affordable for many families anymore, which would defeat the whole purpose of having it.

And it's a very educational life, as I mentioned, you know, people visiting there.

Um, and like I said, something that's irreplaceable is just that bond that they have, and you know, with the interaction with animals that you don't get any other place, definitely not at Henry Dorley Zoo.

You can see the animals from a distance, but you're not going to really have any interaction with them.

In fact, sometimes the pins are so big you don't even see the animal because like I've gone there to try to see the zebras.

I don't know how many times it's like they keep saying they have zebras, but you never can see them, but I'm guessing they're there somewhere.

But please please consider granting that conditional permit to them so they can continue sharing their loved animals with the rest of the community.

And I know I heard in the All American City awards, you know, talking about um showing you know support and you know improving um different things in Grand Island to help get that status of all American City, like in two years from now.

Um, I think with Pizza Safari being a part of that, they just might get that award in 2028.

And I also wanted to mention that you know, in the Nebraska State Fair presentation, that you know, they mentioned the city of Grand Island partnership and partnering with them, and I would like to see that with Peace Fari, you know, the City of Grand Island partnering with them to expand to be able to provide that service and that interaction for generations to come because again, like I said, it it's something that is very valuable, and I think is um a very positive thing for Grand Island if you look at how many people have commented on their social pages.

I'm not the only one.

There's thousands and thousands of people who have commented or signed a petition that they think that piece safari should remain a great part of the Grand Island community.

Thank you.

Uh Bobby Joe.

Hi.

My name is Bobby Joe Mittler, and I live in Omaha.

Um, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight.

My family and I travel to Grand Island frequently to visit family friends and spend quality time at Pizza Fari.

However, our visits do not begin and end at the zoo.

Every trip creates multiple revenue opportunities for the city of Grand Island and the surrounding community.

We purchase fuel here, dine at restaurants, go shopping at local stores, and attend numerous community events and attractions.

Concerts, the Grand Island Kite Festival, Island Oasis Water Park, West Side Bowling, B Theaters, the DC Lunch Carnival, the Nebraska State Fair, Fawner Park.

We've stayed at Grand Island Casino Resort, as well as other local hotels.

Pete Safari is more than just a zoo.

It's a place where families can gather and take a break from the rest of the world.

And it gives them an opportunity to develop love and knowledge for a variety of amazing animals, and make lasting memories with their family.

Life is hard enough, and this place is a place for family serenity for the community and beyond.

The issue before the community, I think is larger than one property owner.

The condition and requirements that the city officials have listed on the CUP have raised many serious questions.

Are local requirements that the city has listed.

Are those officials exercising their authority in a manner that is lawfully supported?

And are they focused on achieving compliance rather than creating unnecessary obstacles?

It's about the community members and Nebraska residents having questions and so far not getting clear answers.

What concerns me is not simply the outcome of this case, but the process.

Yes, it's something like a farm.

A little rough, a little rustic, but that's part of the charm.

That's why my family, when they come back to Grand Island, put Pizza Fari at the top of the list as the one place they'd like to visit again when they're in town.

And we go.

And that lesson is about the value of the jury in the American justice system.

Yes, we have prosecutors.

Yes, we have rules.

Yes, we have police departments and FBI and all kinds of enforcement agencies.

But our justice system also has juries.

An adjustment to the rules when the case is appropriate.

That doesn't mean throw the rules out.

Rules are important.

But it does mean that the jury has the ability to make a decision based upon the needs of the case at hand.

And the jury in that case that I was involved in found that they had to make an adjustment.

They recognize the rules.

But they determined that the young man should be found not guilty.

Now this isn't a jury.

You as city council have decision to make, and you sit much like a jury does, to make a decision, and you have the ability to take into account not only the rules, but also the total facts of the case to determine what is right and appropriate.

Again, I'm here because I believe that pizza fire is important to our town.

Just as important as some of the other things that we've heard about here tonight that are great things for Grand Island.

It's a unique and important structure for the city.

I encourage you, as a jury, to try to make it work.

I don't know how you do it.

I see big wealthy corporations get big checks from government at all levels.

They're not asking here for big checks.

But sometimes a little help is just what's necessary.

How they do it?

I don't know.

That's up to you to decide.

I would just like to say that my family supports them.

I think they're worthwhile.

I think it's unique.

I think that having a sterile environment would not be in its best interests.

Paved parking lots, big bathrooms and uh trains and whatnot.

Yeah, they're nice.

They're appropriate, they have their place.

But we're a small farming community, and this operation, in my opinion, has a place also.

And I would ask you to think about it.

Thank you for your time.

Kevin Peterson.

My name is Kevin Peterson.

I operate Pete Safari.

I want to thank everybody for allowing me to be here this evening.

Galen Stellick kind of went over some of the things.

We have a lot of private groups that uh come out to the zoo, a lot of special needs groups.

Integrated life choices, mosaic, goodwill, mid-Nebraska individual services, not just Grand Island, all of Central Nebraska.

They love coming out.

And people light up.

Some of the workers that bring them that they've never seen them individuals smile if they came out there.

It's not profitable, you know, it's not a big profitable thing.

We wanted to offer something spectacular to the Hall County, and we have done it.

You can look at our reviews, uh reviews on Google or Facebook.

We are five star people think it's amazing.

Um people come out to the zoo, they will personally find me and thank me for what I've done.

Um if I go somewhere to an event or to a grocery store anywhere, I'll have kids come latch holding my leg to say hi or thanks.

It's just gratitude, and I don't even know who them kids are.

Um it's just a whole different atmosphere.

It's a spectacular thing uh for Grand Island.

Um just a couple of the things like the permanent bathrooms, um the paved parking, uh it's just a financial burden.

Um, we come in for uh income for the year.

Um I've talked to some plumbers, they said to set up a major bathroom system like that.

It would take a lot uh too large of uh capacity of a leech field and not to get it to drain away to allow something like that.

Um we have had one porta potty for six years, and I couldn't count the thousands of individuals that come out there, special needs individuals that are in wheelchairs, crutches, all that.

They use it, and that's just a regular porter potty, not one has ever complained.

I mean, I've never had a uh line at the port of potty.

I think it would be sufficient if we added another handicap accessible porta potty and maybe like two other ones would be more than efficient to to accommodate our crowds.

Um I don't know how many people have been out to even see what the zoo is actually like.

I know a couple of the uh council members have been out there uh that know have a visual and know what it looks like.

Um if anybody else would like to come out, I'd be honored to show them around and and uh show them the things that we're up against uh in uh in uh we bring a lot of people to Grand Island, uh a lot of rural people.

Um when they come to Grand Island, they eat at the places that they don't get to eat at the shop at the places they don't get to shop at.

Uh, we are on Nebraska tourism, we are on national tourism.

There's a lot of out of state people now.

They they they book their uh traveling through for a stop in Grand Island so they can come out.

Um I just uh it's not we're not trying to get away from doing anything.

Upgrades are always awesome.

Uh we're in favor of it.

It's just that the uh the money that we bring in doesn't uh support a couple of them items um that we're working with.

Um, and I like everybody to take it into consideration.

Thank you.

Levo carr.

I want to say thank you for letting me talk.

Um we have all night, don't we?

And uh Jack, you seem like a pretty good guy.

I had hair like you for the last four years till recently, so you're on my friends list now.

So um a couple things I want to bring up.

Um I like to be a little bit of devil's advocate.

Um I'm not here to beat you guys up, I just want you guys to think outside the box.

And uh, you know, we I've sat here and listened and I've taken down some notes as I listened.

Um been to the state fair almost every year out here.

I parked probably every year on some sort of dirt driveway.

And I don't want to disrespect them because it's a big venue.

But they also have a big budget.

They also get tax money.

They get a lot of things.

And you know, if they don't have to comply with the exact same thing you're asking Mr.

Peterson to comply with, that's hard for me to kind of rationalize.

Because, you know, the state fair should have plenty of money.

I know there's been crises.

I'm not gonna knock them because we all know how it works.

But some of the things I want to bring up is had a lady sit here and talk about the arts and credit districts.

What do you think Pete Safari is?

It's just another branch of it.

You know, I I challenge everybody to go out there once.

Um I loved it.

I got kissed by a camel again.

It's been almost 40 years, so you know.

Um we're not dating yet, but you know, it's uh it's a wonderful thing.

I grew up on a dairy farm, and I don't know how many times I've been licked by a cow or or any other animal.

Um the bathrooms, um, being in rural Nebraska, I understand when you don't have you know, city water or even some places have county water and sewer, it is a struggle.

And I don't think people really realize, unless you've lived on a farm or or grew up around one, how big of uh of a burden it does bring to do that.

You know, the other thing is I've gone to many places here in Grand Island, and me having a lot of medical issues.

Do you have many times a public area don't have a bathroom I can use?

I mean, what's the difference if they don't, or if I mean I was just somewhere earlier today, and I think I had to cross my leg and run next door, you know.

But it you know, it's you know, I'm just asking, you know, to work with these people.

Um we talked about what it does for special needs.

Um grew up in Southeast Nebraska, um, most of my life on a dairy farm.

I joked we had probably just as much as a zoo, it's just we had 300 chickens and a couple hundred cows and turkeys and ducks and salamanders, and we had rattlesnakes on our property, even and I mean you named it, we played with it.

Um, you know, there was never a whole lot off limits.

Um my uncle's down syndrome, he would have been 82 this year.

Back then, if anybody knew anything about handicapped, they would have been placed in a state facility and never saw again.

My uncle, we called him Uncle Shorty, um, because obviously down syndrome is not very tall.

He he worked on that farm.

He could overhaul a farm all engine tractor.

He could do things that was amazing, but one thing he could do was work with those animals.

It was always funny.

If grandpa couldn't figure it out, or my mom or whoever worked on the dairy, go get Uncle Shorty.

There's something about a bond with people with special needs that is so unique, and it's a two-way street because for some reason they bond to them, but the animals bond to them, and it's unbelievable.

And we've seen it all over.

You know, if you get on social media, we see a lot of those things, and it's absolutely awesome to see.

And then um, you know, we're in Nebraska.

You know, I sit here and watch politics.

In Nebraska, we work together.

We don't work against each other.

You know, if we want to watch working against each other, turn on CNN, turn on Fox, turn on anything.

We're in Nebraska.

We got to work together and and and figure this out.

Not easy, boys.

And I'm not knocking you guys for having to do your job because you know, there's things that we have to do that we don't always like.

Believe me, I've been married 31 years, I do a lot of those.

So I want to ask you one question, and you think about this.

Where do you find a petting zoo or anything like Pete Safari in Nebraska?

Anything close to it at all.

How far do we have to go out to see anything like this?

You know, it's it's shocking when you start thinking about it.

I don't think Kansas has anything like this.

Iowa, you know, Colorado.

You know, if it's you know, it's awesome.

And you know, um, you know, being new to the town, I see things a little differently.

You know, I'm not gonna knock any of your jobs.

I've been in a public office at once, and it's a tough job.

That's why I never did it again, you know.

Um so, you know, always say stuff like this needs to bring a community together to work together, not divide us.

Because at the end of the day, you know, this is a Grand Island.

You know, my uh cousin was a principal at Grand Island High for a long time, and you know, he always talked about how great Grand Island was.

So let's work together and solve these problems, not make it a bigger problem.

Work together.

Come up with some, hey, thank out the box.

I mean, we've always seen some crazy things that you know, whether social media brings it, whether it's a donor brings it, or maybe just people coming out and helping.

You know, you never know what's gonna happen.

And you know, I know the building inspectors have a tough job.

You know, I've talked to them a lot since I moved to Grand Island, but I've never had a whole lot of issues.

Sometimes I wonder, but you know, I get it, they also have a job.

And you know, probably the worst thing for me is you guys are telling, not just me, but the Petersons that we have to do something, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but we have no representation in Grand Island because we don't live in Grand Island, but we fall in that two mile area.

I want to ask you if I come to your house and say you have to do something because I said so, and you can't represent because say I, you know, I have an elder address, but Alda am next or a next year.

How would you feel?

That's why, you know, I'd rather see you guys work with them.

Make it a better community.

You know, make Grand Island proud, not you know, as I call the crap show, you know.

You know, social media can get ugly, but you know, I I think most people want to see this.

I I feel deep down you guys want to see this.

And if you haven't been out there, get out there.

If you bring food, that camel probably kiss you too.

I mean, I don't think there's a doubt in that.

I mean, that that guy, and you know, the state fair, you should invite the camel out.

I I think I think that'd be a heck of an attraction out there.

I don't care what anybody says.

Um, he is quite a character, so and you know what?

And ain't we in rural Nebraska?

Ain't this about animals and people?

At the end of the day, it's about animals and people.

And uh, you know, I want to thank you for your time, and I hope we get to know you guys better in a positive way.

You know, I hope I don't have to come up here and complain about something.

Um, I don't like to do that.

Um I complain to my wife, and she tells me how it is, and then we're fair, but but anyhow, but thank you guys.

You know, I want to see Grand Island thrive, do a great job, and and most of all work together because we we see outside world of outside of Nebraska, how hateful, bitter, I call it chaos.

We were I I wasn't raised that way.

I don't think most of you were raised that way.

So, and thank you very much for your time.

Richard Finch.

Good evening, my name is Richard Finch.

Um, you some of you may recognize me from the train at Sally Park.

Others may have seen me at uh Third City Christian Church where I work at full time.

Um I'm here just to speak about how appreciative I am to have such a place where my girls can have birthday parties, and that in the past two weeks, the summer connect program at the church has been down there.

Um, probably between 80 and 100 kids split between two groups.

Um it's we talk about wanting to include people.

We talk about wanting to have families.

We're growing more than 53,000 residents strong.

We want to keep all these things, whether they're Island Oasis or a swimming pool or something where it's family-oriented.

Family-oriented.

It's not just our families, it's their family directly impacted by this.

Where else, other than here, if you wanted to drive to Lincoln or almost double up that amount to go to Omaha to go to a zoo and enjoy being up close and personal with an animal, having an encounter, having a fantastic feeling for a young child, to take that in and enjoy that moment.

Go buy some food, get some frozen some of the uh treats for the animals, get some treats for yourself to bring home their dried food.

And it's not just oh, it's we're we're looking at a paved parking lot.

We're looking at one or two stalls.

As the gentleman said before, we have a state fair that has mostly been unpaved since the entire time.

And we're worried about the small patch that is in front of their house when we've had hundreds of thousands of people walking across to get to a fair.

They've got closer parking for handicapped accessibility than the state fair has had.

We want to be inclusive.

We want to be Grand Island is supposed to be the good life.

This is Nebraska, it's supposed to be the good life.

This is a great thing for Grand Island, Nebraska.

I understand we have things we need to work on, as was mentioned.

Um I don't see why we can't come through to a compromise on this, honestly.

Um, I think it would be a huge loss for our community if we did not have Peterson's and we didn't have Pete Safari.

So let's think of it as Nebraska should be for everyone.

Not it's this is this is the greatest place to be.

This is a great time to be here.

And I'm from Connecticut originally.

So to me, this is this is nice.

I mean, you can be city bound, stuck in traffic and having to go everywhere.

I'm right here in rural Nebraska, enjoying rural Nebraska.

This is what it should all be about.

You're local, you're family oriented.

And I hope we all take that into consideration today.

Thank you for your time.

Joyce Hazi.

Joy Sazi 3024 Colonial Lane.

I had to come and speak today.

I have to say what a blessing this family is to this community, far and near.

We had a city zoo until they asked for more than a hundred thousand dollars.

That's when they closed it down many years ago.

Now it comes along Kevin and his family, and they wanted to bring a zoo-like environment back to this community, but it's way beyond what the city had.

The experience that these children have while visiting Pete Safari is way beyond what our kids ever experienced at the City Zoo.

Us as older folks enjoy going out there due to health reasons, whatever.

We can handle it.

And I won't mention them to put hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So with his own money, he has created what he created.

We give hundreds of thousands of dollars to the golf course, to Humane Society, to the shooting park.

I found it unreal of saying he doesn't bring any money in.

Yet when I talked to my neighbors, the first thing she said was her little grandkids from North Platte wanted to go to Pete Safari, which afterwards they went shopping and out to eat.

The other neighbor, his kids are from Omaha.

Well, guess where they went?

Our son-in-law, who is from Florida, he was so impressed with Pete Safari that he said, I have to go talk to this man.

Uh I've never seen a zoo like this ever.

And he was so impressed that before we left, he went and gave whoever was in the office, and I think it was his wife, a hundred dollar bill, because that's what he had in his billfold.

So that's when he left, because he was so impressed.

I think about the people who do come here, and what they tried to figure out what to do with their kids.

If they're staying at a hotel, it's like, okay, what can we do with the kids?

Well, you know, going to Pete Safari is pretty special.

This place brings everyone around, and you can tell you can't tell me they don't go shopping, get gas, or go out to eat.

The things that we are asking of them to do is unreal with the bathrooms when he's not on city water or enough land.

And we don't even require our own city golf course, which I would love to have paid because when my husband comes home, he has more dust in my door wells, and he has to go to the car wash.

We don't have it at the shooting park.

So why we're trying to make this man do what we're doing is beyond me.

If they're going to continue, I'm trying to find ways to shut him down.

We've been out there many times and have never felt he doesn't have a safe place.

I wish I could show you all of the fun videos I have that I have taken of the kids, the grandkids, the niece, the great, and the great great niece and nephews.

And if you ever want to get a cool picture, he was right.

Go stand where Willie is and he'll come up and he'll photo bomb you because he loves getting his picture taken with you.

The kids won't remember the buildings, but they will have the special memories from Pete Safari.

What they will remember is who took it away from them.

Today is my birthday, and they say you get to make one wish.

And I bet you can't guess what it is.

Christy Schleichert.

Hello, my name is Kristen Schleichert.

Um, I've known Pete and Cam for years and years.

I truly appreciate what Galen brought forth.

I had not seen the memorandum, but I'd heard words about what it contained and what was required and what should be done.

Um I point out many things.

We've talked about the port-a-potties.

I've gone to how many venues, I'm sure every one of you has been to venue that had a port-a potty.

Glad to have it.

They pick them up, they take them off, they're clean, they're sanitary.

To ask him to put in bathrooms, someone suggested he's on a septic system.

I just installed a septic system for a house with four bedrooms.

It cost me over $13,000 to put that in for four people.

Four bedrooms, maybe six people.

So, what is he going to have to spend to have 16, 80 people?

Now we're gonna end up with leaks.

Now we're gonna have underground issues.

Port-a potties taken off, it's sanitized, it's brought back.

We have a clean system that way.

I've gone to state parks where the port-a potty is nothing more than a shed over a port-a-potty.

Now they have to empty those, or they're up on a hill, or there's something else.

So if there's a handicapped one, I've never seen it, but good grief, this solves a lot of issues.

I don't have plumbing issues, I don't have leaking issues, I don't have sewage containment issues that we have all over the city.

I know of Martin Acres and the sewage from New Holland and all over our city.

We have a lot of bad issues.

So now we're gonna take this win on a septic system, make him compliant for 80 or 100 people.

Porta potties taking care of that issue.

I think that's a marvelous idea that should be allowed in this memorandum to be put forward to not push him off in two bathrooms.

Let's talk about the fountain.

Where are we gonna put that fountain?

How many thousands of dollars is he gonna spend to put a fountain in?

My God knows, somebody's gonna come out there and say he can't have a fountain on a public well.

That's got gonna come up next.

So the fountain issues.

If you go to an outdoor venue, you're bringing your bottled water, your water, everything, you're bringing your own water.

That is not even a shouldn't even be a thoughtful list.

We have so many unnecessary regulations are being thrown at Pete that he's gonna try to comply just because if I get this list up to half, I'm gonna be happy.

But we're forcing him into compliance because we set that limit so high.

I know a gentleman who had a fire, it had black smoke come out of it.

He did not know that there was a tire inside this building that he burned.

He got threatened by the state that if he didn't comply and pay the fines on this, he's now gonna have a state coming in for a sales tax, and the list went on and on and on.

He was like, get me out of this mess, I'll pay whatever you want to get out from under it.

I think we're doing the same thing to Pete.

We're trying to make him comply to be the best thing in the world.

He's a little venue that is active for less than 20% of the time.

And if you take that by hours, that's probably 7% of the entire year.

He's active.

He's got some compliance issues with permits.

Help him fix those issues.

Why not find him?

City of Tourism, Grandad on Tourism gives grants to run horse shows out at the state fair, gives grants to run other things.

We've talked about all the money we spend.

Let's find a way to help Pete become in compliance with some grants that just hit the minimum standards.

Porta potties.

We talked about septic is too unaffordable.

I just put in cement at my own home.

I poured patios in front of my house and whatnot.

I couldn't park 12 cars on my house and all the cement that I've just poured this year.

That was in excess of $20,000, and I couldn't park 12 cars.

We want to make him park a parking lot a parking lot to what end.

It's pretty.

So now you're going to raise his taxes because he's going to pour some cement for parking.

Um the next one is the safety of the buildings.

If they didn't have foundations, some other things on there, storms, he's not open anyway.

We're not trying to put public protection and storm shelters out there.

He just needs a building to cover shade in the summertime, covers animals.

Um handicapped people.

I've been on specific hunts in other states, and actually in old Mexico, I was in on some veterans' hunts.

The guys are in wheelchairs, and we're pushing them around in the sand.

They are happy as they can be to go on an event that they are thrilled to be a part of, and we're all doing our job.

And I said, You want to find out what it takes to push someone through four inches of sand because that's what's on the road.

That's where we want to stop to hunt.

But these guys are ecstatic.

We built some ramps.

We had some hunting sheds for them.

We literally picked them up and put them over the top of them in their wheelchairs.

Everything's possible.

People, we can make it possible without making it so fancy that it's unaffordable.

If you make this 20, 30, 50 dollars to pay for all this stuff for every venue, he's not going to get customers to come out anymore.

Because I'm all about, I can't pay for parking to some of the venues at upstate fair.

I don't go because I don't want to pay 20 bucks to park and 20 bucks to get in, another 20 bucks for a you know, 10 or 12 dollar bottle of water.

These are things become doable.

So going back to Galen, he brought up the thought about the gravel.

If that's absolutely necessary, does it have to be on the entire parking lot?

We actually put down some of that crushed rock for 500 bucks.

I put down enough that I could park four cars on.

Very affordable, not cement.

You know, we're asking his the list of memorandum that's asked for is the sky to build a multi-million dollar facility.

Pete doesn't have that kind of money.

He wants to be profitable, he wants to enjoy his animals.

You know, his feed bills probably takes over 50% of his entire venue of money or income that he brings in.

So can we find a way to grant him permissions, help him fix things that do evidently some things do need to be fixed, the permitting things like that one.

Um but we've got to find a way to make those things happen, to keep something that is drawing people to build our city, just like the grandad on tourism brought in horse shows to the state fair, they're bringing hundreds of people in.

They buy hotels, they buy meals, they go shopping, other things, they're buying their saw.

I mean, all the different stores that are generating an income because these people come in.

We've got the same thing with Pete.

We've got to find a way to keep him open.

We couldn't keep one out at Stolly Park.

That was already mentioned.

Cost too much money, but we've, you know, threw money hand and fist at it for years and years and years to no avail.

Let's find a way to help Pete out, keep his facility, keep his zoo open, keep entertaining people, keep building our tourism to Grand Island.

There's got to be some way.

So it's not a list of undoable, forcing compliance with an undoable list that's unrecognizable.

Well, it's like, you know, um, because you might have a friend that's handicapped.

Oh, your permit says you have to have a rolling ramp up to your deck to your house.

That's kind of things we're trying to throw at him.

That you know, why how do we ask him to do something more than we would ask anybody else?

And the amount of time he's out there, um other things.

You know, we just we're trying to throw out some grand ideas to force compliance, and I think we need to find a better way to keep a very important piece of this town open and available to the people and create an asset to the town that brings tourism, that brings money.

So let's find a way to help him meet the requirements, but this brand, those requirements can't be up here.

What you're asking him is probably hundreds of thousands of dollars to do everything you want.

I was just at a venue, and they house three max capacity is 350 people, and they have four bathrooms.

Yeah, the gal from Omaha is asking, where did we come up with the numbers that has to be this?

So, and asking him to put in septic systems that aren't going to function for the amount of people, porta potties are gonna be clean, sanitary, taken care of.

A little bit of gravel for a few places.

We don't have to make him do the whole thing.

Something's got to come.

Something's got to give.

There's a medium here that you guys can figure out that we can keep him open, we can keep him operational, keep people happy.

The people aren't buildings when there's storms, so having a storm snow load, something something of this one is like nobody's gonna be there in the winter.

Nobody's gonna be in there in storms because he's not open, weather permitting.

So a lot of those things.

Um I had to build a building in cities within cities two-mile jurisdiction.

I had to build a commercial grade.

It cost me an extra 10 grand to make because somebody might walk on that barn.

There's a storage building, but somebody might walk in it.

So I had to do this.

I said, I'm not gonna be in it when there's snow load on it.

But the thought is find a way to reduce the undoable mandates that have been given to Pete to keep him open, keep him operational, and you know, um, change the coding, change this, do some things to find ways.

We've given people your jackrabbit run is county owned, so it pays no real estate taxes.

Um Veterans Club is county owned, pays no real estate taxes.

Um Hornaday, as I understand, is county owned, so it pays no city taxes.

There's so many facilities in this county that we've given special opportunities to make their lives better and easier and more affordable.

There's got to be a way to do this.

So thank you, gentlemen and women.

I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I hope you suddenly see that we can do something to help him out.

Thank you.

Annie Bittensen.

I'm a I was a native California up until 2005.

So I missed that the zoo was here at one point in time because it closed in 2001.

Um my children grew up without knowing what it felt like to touch an animal.

I personally didn't get to touch a cow until I went to Husker Harvest Days a few years back.

Um we finally were able to save up enough money to go out to the Omaha Zoo, but that wasn't until 2012.

And knowing that they were not able to touch animals was a big deal.

I mean, you could go out to uh Fort Carney and touch pelts and learn about the different activities out there, but to actually feel what an animal touched like dogs, cats, rabbits, okay, who cares?

But a zebra, a camel, an elephant.

And back home in California, um, we had uh a sanctuary for peacocks.

Good God, they're messy, but they're so beautiful.

And I applaud you for keeping them because they are beautiful, but I don't want other people's children to go through what my kids had to go through to not have that experience of picking up that baby animal, Mila is my favorite.

Um I ask that you please extend, give them any opportunity that you can allowly to do the things, the tasks that you have asked of them.

Everyone here has commented and said so many wonderful things and in support of them.

And I ask that you please, please, please consider extending out and helping them in any way, shape, or form that you can.

Um, one thing I do want to add is the um the portipot issue.

I work for Cow Valley Greenhouse, and we are open for three and a half months out of the year.

We have a porta potty when we're on when we're on the site.

Um they come each week, they suck it out, clean it out, make it all nice and pretty, and it's great.

Um problems there.

We use Pete's uh porta potty with no problems.

Um anyways, that's enough.

I thank you for your time and God bless you all.

open for three and a half months out of the year we have a porta potty when we're on when we're on the site um they come each week they suck it out clean it out make it all nice and pretty and it's great um no problems there we use peats uh port a potty with no problems um but anyways that's enough I thank you for your time and God bless you all is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item you can come on up and state your name uh Michelle Anderson um I am actually I know a lot of visitors but I live right next to our dorm um first comment people ask doesn't it stink no they're out there every single day rain snow shine cleaning that place working on it whatever the case is but the feed lot that's a mile and a half north of us you know what I could smell that um they're constantly working on it I I know they've made comments about the parking lot state fair it's been here since what they say 2006 ten years so we've had 10 years with no parking lot at the state fair but a family owned business we're expecting them to pay for a parking lot um I've heard that the lean twos that are they're expecting covers over the building for shade that the USDA said it's part of the structure so it needs to have cement how many bars do we have in Grand Island Nebraska that have lean twos which are buildings the roofs for shade for smoking areas for smoking areas if they're smoking in those areas and they're part of the construction it's actually violation so I mean it's kind of looking at that part um I don't there's other stuff but I can't remember the way well as far as Mr.

Nabity said you know if we have the laws we have to abide by them I build a house in Hall County out in the county pull the building code building permit I called the city electrical inspector or county inspector when I was done and I got this do the plugins work do the lights come on sounds good to me never bothered to come out I call the plumbing inspector got any leaks water come on does the water get hot sounds good to me no inspections but I thought we abide by all the rules so instead of making things harder for the Peterson family move your buildings all five feet to get them a little further away from the road why don't we change the boundary to let the buildings stay where they're at to move the buildings a few feet remodels the whole zoo and where we live Willie's my neighbor did you find a cucumber this morning I missed getting it all the way over the fence to the porcupines I thought living here next to the zoo was gonna be horrendous we moved in five years and 13 days ago but this is where my wife wanted to live there is zero issues with the zoo there's no stench the animals don't make a lot of noise sometimes you hear a peacock at night but you hear a lot of other things at night too and another thing about parking have you ever been to the alibi the peacock flies bar cow palace those are all businesses in Grand Island with what kind of parking lots they're not paved I can tell you that fell in them many times so there's no point I mean you go into a zoo your shoes are gonna get dirty whether it's in the parking lot or in the zoo are they supposed to pave the whole zoo inside and out makes no sense to have a paved parking lot you need a paved walkway or a sidewalk that makes a lot more sense than paving a parking lot in somebody's front yard I think I'm getting interrupted I just wanted to point out about that are we gonna start inspecting all the dog houses these are we gotta remember that these are animals that are living in these buildings they don't need electricity they don't need water they don't need a concrete foundation they need shade they need a clean area to live in whether it be food they're fed there's people there are people I know for a fact there are people in this town that are living in storage units no electricity no plumbing when they're still living there you know we so I don't know I just these are animals that are here I don't know why we're needing my dogs don't have a whole concrete backyard one that can afford that but we're gonna start looking at everyone's dog houses for structures because you're animals living here my doghouse is over 120 square feet do I need a foundation yes I do for my doghouse it's over a hundred and twenty square feet I could probably find you a lot more dog houses in Grand Island I didn't need a building permit to put it up either point being made just like the sheds they all have metal roofs

One, I couldn't afford that, but we're gonna start looking at everyone's dog houses for structures because your animals living here.

Yeah, my doghouse is over 120 square feet.

Do I need a foundation?

Yes.

I do for my doghouse.

If it's over 120 square feet, I could probably find you a lot more dog houses in Grand Island.

I didn't need a building permit to put it up either.

Point being made.

Just like the sheds.

They all have metal roofs.

Oh, if you take off the metal roof and put up a tarp, then it's not considered a building.

What kind of sense is that make?

Let's have a tarp flopping around in the wind where we could have a stable roof.

We had what?

Two months ago, we had that 40, 50 mile an hour wind, trees were blowing over.

If they had tarps on the roof, those animals would it'd be pointless to even have any cover whatsoever.

They would have nothing.

Because there wouldn't be a roof, they wouldn't be protected from the rain, the snow, whatever elements that those roofs are made for.

And the last thing I have to say is if the United States had half the workforce that worked as hard as Kevin does, you wouldn't need the other half.

There's nobody I see work harder.

Unless I'm in my shop until 11 o'clock at night till four or five in the morning.

That's the only time I don't see him out there.

Otherwise, it never stops.

I've never ever seen him not working somewhere to make things better for the animals or the people that come and see.

Thank you.

Sir, could you state your name?

William Anderson, 2180 South England.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

You can come on up and state your name.

And I was here about five years ago on a similar business business zoning issue.

I came here prior to starting the project.

I applied for the proper permits, and my project was shut down.

That project was the Harmony Hall down on Sealy Mile.

So I see now like you're down if you do and damn if you don't, because what I hear tonight is he should have asked for permits a while back before all this started, but I wasn't in those shoes, those scenarios, and I still got shut down.

So I just want I don't know this town to be an all-American town.

And for a business to be welcome in town.

That's all.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item?

You can come on up and state your name.

And for our love of animals in our family.

You know, this is a big hobby.

You know, we should open up to the public and share it and let it support itself.

Um he works very hard.

Not only do we try to bring something to the community to share with everybody, we try to make it reasonably priced for the families.

We have a large family, six children, and working on 11 and 12 grandchildren.

Um, so we know what it's like to take your kids out to something, have fun, get them outside off the computers and and making memories.

Not only are we governed by USDA, the US Day is do the USDA is actually really strict.

When they come, there's no call saying we're coming.

They show up.

These guys regulate all our buildings, the food and water situation where everything is stored, um, the shelter that is provided to the animals, the space that is divide provided to the animals.

These animals, just because it's a camel, you think it would need a lot more room than a spider monkey.

A spider monkey has a lot more energy than a camel and needs the extra space to swing and move and do what an animal does.

We are required by the United States Department of Agriculture to keep these animals entertained, give them things to do, keep it so they're not bored, um, so they you know have good energy, they're doing some scavenging for food, getting treats, doing things like that with these animals.

Uh, we spend a lot of one on one time with them.

Also, uh, when they do come up to an inspect, you you have one chance.

We've been licensed for eight years now.

When they come, if they find one issue, any issue, you lose your license, you're done.

You have to then reapply, fix that issue, reapply, go through the whole process again to get your license back.

We have not failed one inspection, and they just show up at your door.

There's no warning, nothing.

Also, Kevin is great with kids.

He loves kids.

And we've been working with some children.

There's children that get in trouble and they need to do some community hours.

We've been working a lot with children that come in that are on probation.

A lot of kids have to do community service to graduate.

We've had a lot of kids come out and get to work with the animals, learn what it takes, cleaning pens, scoop and poop.

I mean, what goes in must come out.

And it's it's great to see some of these kids just kind of get excited just to even be there.

We've had them ask, well, if I don't have any community service, can we just come back to help?

Um, you know, can we just you know feed them, you know, scoop.

We don't care, we just want to come back and be with the animals.

So we're we're trying to give and and do as much as we can for the whole community.

It's not it's not just for us.

We're we're not Chris, she does all our book work, all our taxes.

We're not making a mint out of this.

We did it to be the cheapest in the nation.

And if you look right now, Grant Pizza Safari is the cheapest in the nation.

We want people out making memories and having fun with their kids.

Uh please support us and to keep it going.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item?

You can come on up and state your name.

My name is Alex Winchester.

Um, I'd like the council to consider the educational value that Pete Safari brings to Grand Island.

Not everyone has the opportunity to visit large zoos or wildlife parks, but Pizza Safari gives children, families, schools, and even adults the chance to see and learn about animals up close.

Experiences like these can spark curiosity, encourage respect for wildlife, and inspire future interest in biology, conservation, veterinary medicine, and even environmental stewardship.

Learning doesn't only happen in classrooms.

Seeing the animals of pizza safari in person creates experiences that books and videos simply can't replace.

For many children, a visit to Pizza Safari, maybe the first time they've encountered animals like the ones at Pizza Safari, creating memories that last a lifetime and fostering a greater appreciation for the natural world.

Losing pizza safari would mean losing a unique educational and recreational resource that has become part of our community.

It would reduce opportunities for families to spend time together, for children to learn through firsthand experiences, and for visitors to discover another reason to come to Grand Island.

I understand the importance of zoning regulations, and I respect the city's responsibility to uphold them, but my hope is that the council will look for a solution that allows Pete Safari to continue serving our community while addressing any zoning concerns.

Finding a path forward would preserve the educational, economic, and community benefits that Pete Safari provides while still respecting the city's zoning rules and regulations.

Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item?

You can come on up and state your name.

Hi guys, my name is Mariah Ramirez.

Um I'm a Grand Island native.

I visited Pete Safari previously, and I understand Chad's role in the community is to enforce rules.

Um of his bullets wasn't safety.

If safety was a concern, I feel like he would have shut down and not let people go in or out of the structures.

So considering the structures are safe, and Pete and his family do a lot for the community.

Um I would like for you guys to take that into consideration when making this conditional permit for them.

Thank you.

Did you want to come up and speak?

Come on up and speak um state your name.

Thank you.

Uh good evening, uh ladies and gentlemen.

Uh, my name is Corvozeroboros.

Um, I've heard a lot of great points up here, so I'll just make this rather quick.

Um, I think the Pizza Fari has a real value to us because I think as native Nebraskans, we have a slightly better connection with nature.

I mean, we're still, you know, a city, but if you go to Los Angeles, uh, Miami, Chicago, there's a lot of people up there who have never seen a deer in real life.

They've never seen animals apart from zoos.

We as Nebraskans, we have a deeper connection with nature.

A lot of us grow up on farms, a lot of us have gone hunting and actively do participate in hunting.

We know what animals are like.

Um, having Pizza Fari here, I think helps us have a little bit of the outer world and bring it here locally that our kids could experience.

Um likewise, too.

I think that sometimes regulations, while they certainly have their place, can sometimes have uh uh you could say obstinate view of the way that we treat smaller businesses.

I mean, I think you would all agree that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy here, and likewise uh essential part of our culture.

Sometimes I think the technocratic kind of purist buralistic uh legal perspective can sometimes get in the way of having a more human connection with our small business owners.

So I would just ask to you know help him help you guys to both serve the heartfelt interests of our citizens and of our city itself.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item?

If not, public hearing is now closed.

Council members, is there a motion, Mr.

Sheard?

I move that we uh approve the request uh or 20 26-189.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second Mr.

Shear's motion, Mr.

Hawsey discussion.

Thank you, Mayor.

So, first of all, I want to thank everybody for coming out and sharing all of your thoughts because I I've been hearing them or reading them on social media, and so I'm appreciative of everybody showed up because so often the business of the public gets conducted in this room with nobody showing up, and city government runs by people showing up, and so that's how business is run in the city.

I do appreciate Chad and Ed for bringing the code to us unfiltered.

So they I appreciate them for doing their job to bring it to us.

But now it's in the political realm.

Now, Chad and Ed, you guys just need to sit back and let the council do.

Just less we went through the police budget.

The council gets to decide these things.

We are the jury, and I think we have heard and I have we've heard what they want to do.

We've heard what it doesn't quite work.

What I heard tonight was pizza for the jewel of Grand Island.

It's a great asset, it's an economic benefit.

It's all about tourism.

It's unique, it's a number one attraction for family.

I have a unique perspective in that I was actually the treasurer for the Grand Isle Heritage Zoo.

So a bunch of years ago, we had a zoo in Staley Park.

The only remnant now is the train that is that is there.

That's what we donated back to the city.

When the Heritage Zoo was there, it wouldn't have been able to comply with these same standards.

You understand is the same animal cages didn't have footage.

You know, and so the same standards aren't being applied today as they would have been back when the Heritage Zoo was here.

And so I'm pretty familiar because I volunteered and my kids volunteered at the Heritage Zoo.

We loved it.

At that same time, well, the city of Grand Island was contributing a hundred thousand dollars a year, by the way, to the Grand Isle Heritage Zoo.

At the same time, the Scots Bluff Zoo was going on, and the city budget for the Scots Bluff Zoo was a $600,000 a year.

And I went out to Scotts Bluff and I saw their zoo at that time, and it wouldn't have complied with all this either.

You know, and so it's just not meant to be the rules.

The rules are there, they're there for one purpose, not for every purpose.

And that's why the situation matters.

That's why Kevin matters, what he does out there and what he does for the community matters.

When the mayor has this tree lighting ceremony, who's downtown?

Kevin.

He's he's downtown with his little train pulling kids around.

He he's here, he's working out there, he's doing all kinds of things.

So I see problems, what was brought up here, and what I everybody has already known.

Consistency in the application.

You know, just like the parking lot or the bathroom.

Nobody has paid parking.

I mean, there's a lot of places you can go to.

There was a number of bars that were mentioned.

There's a couple of city facilities.

Heck, Ryder Park for the first time in almost a hundred years, it now has free parking, but it took a hundred years.

You know, so I'm like the paid parking thing.

What we need to do is look at all of these conditions, and here's I I read the the email for the first time when it went out public because I hadn't had a chance to speak about this until now.

Uh there's 13 whereas in the resolution that's in front of us.

Each one of those has meaning, by the way.

There's 12 primary conditions.

There's 21 paragraphs, and there's only a five-year term.

I I don't know that I've seen a five-year term on any conditional use permit before, but I'm sure there probably has been that I just don't remember.

But I think there's a time that we need to sit there and take into consideration all of those things, the things that you do for the community, because that's what this is.

This is where the political will.

So he's already replaced cages out there because he was asked to.

He's already pulled the little merry-go-round for kids.

We they can't run a drop court out there, so he's already pulled that.

The American round doesn't work now because we he doesn't have the electrical.

One of the other consistencies is when he goes in and asks for an improvement with an electrical, he's he's going to improve the electrical service.

We go back and look at all of the facility and say, geez, you can't go forward without it doing all this other stuff.

I could only imagine when the Masonic Temple came in for their very first permit.

I'm pretty sure that whole facility was not in compliance.

That's why we're doing these grants for you know for these downtown public safety compliance.

So I have I quite frankly, I don't didn't recall that every building had to be totally in compliant in order to issue one permit.

So I think there is legitimate reasons that I've heard regarding the consistency of the applications that were asking in those 13 whereas in the 12 primary, you know.

I think there's a lot of stuff in there.

I think that's stuff that is in there.

Some of it is some of it is kind of overreach.

I don't know what the right it's unreasonable.

The bathroom situation, unreasonable.

Now we know that in a place in Grand Island, it's not even in Grand, it's in the two-mile zoning jurisdiction, so that makes a little bit of difference.

He doesn't have city water, he doesn't have city sewer.

We just put in a bathroom down in a mirror plaza.

I don't remember what the number was.

I'll just say it's 100 grand.

And it has city water and city sewer.

I'm like the leech field that you would need in to put one out that same facility on your land, you don't have enough land.

You'd have to run it into the staless trailer park right across the street.

They wouldn't want that either.

You know, there some of these things are just not, they're just don't make any sense.

So I know that there's a motion on the table.

You know, I I think what needs to happen is, and it's in our sample motion, an amended resolution needs to come back to the August 11th council meeting.

I think that the attorney that spoke to start with, he had some very common sense things.

I think that other people had some very common sense things.

I think it's too much to go through tonight line item by line item.

You know, we'd be here probably till midnight and we'd have to adjourn and reconvene.

But I I think I'd rather take everything that everybody has said.

I'd rather amend the resolution to something that is doable and workable, and then bring it back to the August 11th council meeting, and maybe I need some legal advice as to can I make that in a motion or what how do I override the existing motion on the floor?

Mrs.

Fisk, your speaker's light is on the as to Councilmember Hazi's question.

Um that we'd have to figure out exactly what your motion is and make that motion.

Um if I have a different kind of guidance to speak on if I could be permitted.

Um I just wanted to remind council that what's actually before you today is whether to approve or deny a conditional use permit, uh, which applies only to zoning regulations.

It does not apply to building regulations, animal regulations, any of those items.

Conditional use allow would allow in this case Pete Safari to operate as a private club.

Right now, zoos are per se not allowed andor are legal in a residential zoning district.

This conditional use permit allows them to convert from a residential use to a private club, which is allowed by conditional use permit in this particular zoning district.

Uh your ability to grant conditional use permits simply allows you to allow a use, in this case a private zoo, a private club that would otherwise not be legal without restrictions.

Um can only grant conditional uses in cases in which minimal protective characteristics are required to protect public health safety and general welfare.

That means you can add conditions.

The items you're allowed to address in a conditional use permit are contained in Chapter 36, Section 89 of City Code.

The first of which, and what you're here today on, is to allow a use the zoning code only allows by condition in a particular district.

Is because this this use is kind of difficult to thread.

You can make a couple of other limited conditions.

You can relax parking by no more than two spaces or 20 percent of the required number.

I am not familiar with what that number is.

You can allow temporary buildings in a developed portion for up to six months.

You can permit the construction of a private wastewater treatment system.

Um or allow a septic system under 2,000 gallons per day, um, and you can permit the keeping of livestock on a residential property with less than half an acre of enclosure for up to three years.

That's really all you can do today because conditional use permits are very much tied to zoning.

I I think as has been highlighted today, there are other issues that the the Pete Safari has to tackle ahead of them.

All that's before you now is whether to grant or deny their conditional use exception to zoning regulations only.

So I just want to make sure we kind of know what our scope of what you can and can't grant in a conditional use permit.

You you do not have the authority under state, federal, or local law, to relax other rules and regulations, just this zoning regulation.

So I I think when I look at this, there's some showstoppers in some of the conditions that are in the attached resolution.

Absolutely a no-go for me.

You know, so I would make an emotion to uh for a continuance to the August 11th meeting where an amended resolution would be provided.

Mr.

O'Neill, are you going to second that or somebody else?

I'll second that.

Thank you.

Any discussion on the amendment.

Pardon.

It shows Mr.

Neckerson.

Yeah, so I just want to make sure we're clear here, Carrie, and thank you for clarifying that, because I think there are a lot of things that need to be discussed tonight that we'll turn around and be discussing in two weeks.

And I think what Chuck is wanting to do is exactly the right thing to do.

But I think that should occur after we've had a chance to discuss kind of the laundry list of things that would be important to us to have come back to us in that final condition.

So I think we're what's going to happen tonight is if we vote for this right now, we push all this back to two weeks, and I'm not sure we're any better for where we are tonight.

I would sure like to have time since we've spent you have spent the time to share with us.

We've had the time to hear it.

I would like to be able to let the council give you feedback on what we've heard so that Chad and City Attorney and everybody that does all this has a chance to pull that together so that now we can have a final product in two weeks.

I think what's Chuck, what Chuck has recommended is exactly what has to happen.

But we have to have a chance to talk about all this before that happens.

So I'm I don't know what to ask Chuck to do, whether he's asking if we ask him to just postpone this motion until after we've had discussion, because I see we have me, Jack, Ryan, Doug, and maybe Chuck will have some more comments on that.

And who knows, other council members, but I'd like to give us all a chance to talk and ask questions so that we know where we want to go next.

That's really what I would like to ask.

So, Chuck, I don't know about the question.

I would withdraw my motion for now.

Good.

Good.

If Ryan's okay with that.

Yeah, why is this if you want us to discuss before we go to either?

Well, we have to discuss this part.

That's all we can talk about.

Oh, we're talking for now.

Okay.

So I would just ask if since Chuck had the floor initially, if he has anything else that he'd like to share based on what he what he presented.

Otherwise, I'll do my spiel, whatever there is.

No.

Okay.

All right.

So thank you.

Just as Chuck said, thank you all for being here tonight.

I am sorry that I've not had a chance to get to Pete Safari yet.

I did drive out there the other day, but I can't tell you a thing about what's inside it.

I didn't even know if you were still open or not.

But it sounds like it's a very great asset to the community.

And I I think we could have diffused a lot of what you presented to us tonight.

I'm speaking for myself.

Where the assumption was that we were trying to shut down or that the city wants to shut this establishment down.

I don't know where that came from.

Just because we see conditional use permits come forward or we see people questioning what is doesn't mean there's anything behind that that's trying to shut a business down.

Maybe that's maybe that's the first thing we do.

We're in that defensive mode.

I'm not aware of any person on this council that would want to see the shutdown.

What I do want to see, and I think everybody on this council would want to see, is to ensure that Pete Safari is safe, and that people who go there are in a safe environment.

I mean, to me, having never heard of Pete Safari before tonight, just reading about it on the internet and few headlines on the news.

Um I'm glad I'm hearing about it this way.

Then if I would have heard that there was a catastrophic fire, and the buildings were gone and a lot of exotic animals were lost.

I wouldn't want to, because then all these questions are gonna come back.

How did that happen?

Why did we let this happen?

What we're trying to do is make sure that the questionable things that are out there need to be addressed.

They really are important.

They're important not just for the animals, they're important for everybody that goes.

You talk about kiddos with special needs that are going out there.

If there's ever anything that would happen, it would God forbid would be a fire, anything, electrocutions or anything due to things that were installed electrically improperly.

That population has a tough enough time just getting through a zoo like that, let alone being able to escape in an emergency.

So I would certainly hope that that uh that the Petersons and Mr.

Stellick clearly understand that the safety things are what's really of importance here.

I'm not talking about bathrooms, I'm not talking about parking lots, but I am talking about electricity.

That's dangerous stuff.

And I read where it I don't know if it's exactly right, but it looked like maybe an electrical cord, electrical cord had been buried underneath the ground and probably plugged in maybe 20 feet away.

That's not the way you do things.

I'm gonna tell you, that's not the safe way to do things.

So the those things need to be addressed.

So when it comes to things like, and I don't know what all the problems are, I don't know about the roofs, I don't know about all that, but I think there are things that we have to use good judgment on, reasonability, which we've talked about tonight, needs to be reasonable.

And the the thing that we have to be careful of as a council and as anybody, that if we turn a blind eye to things that are not right, we set a precedent that's hard to defend for future situations.

We have to make sure that we are doing things right, that we're doing them safely, because if we say, Oh, it's okay if you just bury cables over here, just bury extension cords, that's okay.

The next guy or gal that comes along with the project says, Pete Safari got to do it.

Now, how can you tell me that I can't do it?

That's just one little example because I don't know all the things that are being discussed here.

But the safety aspects are huge.

The structural safety, I don't know how nitpicky we get on that.

Uh, but the things that are electrical in nature are very important to me and to those patrons who go there.

So that's important in my mind.

When it comes to statements made tonight, I really I don't even know who to ask because it really perplexes me.

That the statement is made that a state fire marshal comes and looks at our establishment and says everything is okay.

I find that hard to believe, and I'm just curious.

How would that be possible?

Chad or somebody.

How could that be possible?

Is there is there a totally different set of standards that a state fire marshal is going to look at in an environment like that?

And we don't interact directly with the state fire marshal.

Ed may have talked to him.

Um, and I let him I did.

So I did get contacted by the state fire marshal that uh move a little closer to the mic in the middle, would you?

So the state fire marshal call uh contacted me uh a few weeks back, said that they had a uh anonymous complaint about the electrical issues out there.

I said, Yes, we're addressing those.

I said, Do you have any concerns out there?

I'm gonna stop by and take a look.

Um I did not hear back from them.

I did send them an email, I get a response back today, he says that they did an inspection out there and they didn't have any concerns.

I don't know what they were looking for, what they're looking at.

So that's what would the statement saying that the state fire marshal did not find any concerns.

That's a true statement.

They did say that.

They emailed me back saying that.

But we don't know what they looked at.

I do not know what they looked at.

They they did have a concern with the electrical issues, but the state fire marshal does not have jurisdiction on electrical issues.

Uh City of Grand Island does.

It's uh the state electrical division um has jurisdiction on that, larger jurisdictions, they grant them um delegated authority, and we have our own program, and we're required to meet their standards.

So we're handling the electrical issues, not the state fire marshal.

Now, as far as any of the other issues with the buildings, the state fire marshal may not have had any concerns because they were animal enclosures, they're more for life safety in the occupiable buildings.

The occupiable buildings have minimal issues in there, and we have seen some of those, and I think we can get those into compliance fairly easy.

It's the animal structures that the concern of those is if something was to collapse or flying debris or things that I think there's not huge issues with those, but I think those would be can uh be corrected relatively easy.

Yeah, and and that's what we're really trying to do tonight.

And I've heard it from Mr.

Stellick, I've heard it from many people who've come forward saying let's just see what we can do to try to make this work.

The whole reason that we're here tonight is we're trying to make it work, and even with some of the zoning, we're trying to make it workable now, ultimately looking for another change down the road.

And and I think that's a positive step.

Now, I don't know if Pete Safari is still open.

Are they still open right now?

As far as we know?

Okay, so they're still operating, and the conditional use permit tonight was going to be to allow them to be claimed as a private zoo.

Um, and I don't know again, I think this is something we can postpone.

I don't think we have to make that decision tonight.

But and I'll let Chuck entertain his motion after everybody's uh spoken.

But I think we've got to use common sense.

I'm gonna say common sense is not necessarily the right thing, but a sense of reasonability when it comes to things like parking for the very reasons we heard tonight.

How do how can we ask these folks?

Or and I'm saying we're asking it or we're not demanding, maybe we're asking, maybe we're demanding.

When we have business after business, a municipal golf course, shooting park, all the things that we've talked about tonight that we have not required to do that, that have more people there at any given time than what this place would have.

Why would that be a great question?

And a lot of those parking lots existed prior to the requirement for paved parking.

And if they haven't made significant changes to the business operation to the building to those kinds of things, they're not required to upgrade their parking.

Um Cow Palace, some of the bars that have been operating for 70 years and didn't have to have parking 70 years ago, don't have to have parking, paved parking today, but a brand new business.

If Chick-fil-A had opened up without paved parking, that's not gonna happen.

When Pete's opened up six years ago, those regulations for paved parking were in place.

When Staraskas built the um buildings on highway 30 in Engelman, just three quarters of a mile south of here, they put in paved parking because that was the regulations that were in place at the time that they were creating that use.

Now the state fair was mentioned.

If you remember back in 2009-2010, this city council amended the parking ordinance to allow parking on grass up to four times a year for a period of up to two weeks if you had at least 30 acres of property.

So for those large events for those large specific uses, the city council amended the regulations to make that legal based on what you can you do that, yes, right.

So you just gave us a segue to that to where that is something that we could do based on something that's open X number of months a year.

I mean, it's possible.

It's possible that if you wanted to do that, you could you could potentially look at amending the regulations to do that, or to add crushed rock versus.

And that's would be future things coming before us that I think the council needs to be flexible that would not be unrealistic for a future business that might be in that situation.

Because again, we have to we're setting precedents, but again, everything is its own little animal by itself, anyway.

You talk about state fair, it was its own unique situation.

This would be a unique situation, and that's what conditional use permits are.

Uh and so we'd have to be able to defend ourselves in the future why this was accepted.

And we don't know where we're going with it.

But what you have said tonight is exactly right, is that we have the ability to make some of this okay with the crushed rock versus I mean, which is still be nice, which should still be safe.

Uh the port a potties versus you know that gets on the plumbing code.

Right.

So then we have to we have to talk through some of those and see what the solutions are there.

Um so I see our attorney has something to interject at this point too.

I think it's just very important for counsel to remember that you have the authority to grant conditional use to accept from the zoning violate the zoning violations and the zoning use only.

You do not have the authority to relax state or federal laws adopted building codes, those all have different processes to um to relax.

So things like handicapped accessibility of parking is governed by uh federal ADA regulations and adopted back through plumbing code and and electrical code, um, our authority to regulate those only flows from the state authority, so you have very limited ability to relax and make any exceptions.

The only one that is before you right now is do you want to grant them the right to exist in this zoning district as a private zoo?

Um right now, their mere existence is illegal in a residential district as a zoo.

This would simply allow their existence to be become legal as a conditional use.

The rest of the how they operate, how things are constructed, how changes are made is not before you, and likely won't come before you.

It's mostly regulated by other entities.

You're just asking the question of do you grant their application to exist as a private zoo in the Large Lat residential district?

That is all that is before you is yes or no on their application, subject to your ability to add conditions related to public safety, health, and welfare.

You cannot relax public health, safety and welfare or other laws.

All you can do is add conditions.

Um most of the conditions contained in this permit are merely just recitations of what lawful operation will have to look like eventually.

Um you're not actually requiring any new uh obligations that don't already exist for this type of operation.

This is just really to make sure they're on real clear notice about exactly what lawful operation looks like.

So frankly, even if you were to delete all of the conditions, um you'd be playing in some legal gray areas with your authority to grant conditional use without conditions, but those same rules would still apply whether they are written down in this permit or not.

Um so I just want to make it very, very clear that we manage expectations that you cannot add an exception to to most of these laws, the one exception being the zoning laws that you've adopted to allow them to operate as a conditional use.

Everything else is just past your purview, Mr.

Nabity's purview, the building department's purview, um, I mean, frankly, all of ours, they're governed by other rules.

So I just want to make sure um everybody is really aware of the limitations about what you can and can't do today.

Okay, I want to today or ever, to be honest.

Yeah, or two weeks from now or whatever.

So I we're gonna have to trust your guidance for that.

But I think ultimately tonight, I hope we'll just say let's let's get this thing down the road a couple more weeks or whatever and work through the things we know that we can do just to make sure.

Um it sounds like it puts us in uh kind of a tough predicament based on what you just said, but we have to take a look and see what we can do and can't do.

There might be some other options there.

I don't know what that might be.

But I just think it's important that we work with the Petersons, which is proposed that we do that, and I think the timeline seems to be pretty generous with trying to get a lot of these things done.

We know that the plumbing thing is kind of its own unique problem because of the type of system they have.

So that has to be talked through, and there's probably people we can talk through.

So uh there's a question, how was the the requirements calculated on that?

So that's that's based on what the requirements are in chapter nine of the international uh building code.

There's a chapter 29 is the plumbing fixture count code in there, and that's based off of occupant load.

Now, this is kind of unique with Pete Safari, it's all an outdoor area, nothing really fits in there, so it leaves it up to the interpretation of a building official to determine what the occupant load is.

So we take the public areas that's open for circulation to see the exhibits took and calculated a square footage of that, and then the most close thing would be like exhibits, which was 30 square foot per person, which uh came to an occupant load, which would require was four women's fixtures and two men's.

Now taking a closer look at that, then being proposal as an educational facility nonprofit.

Okay, now we're looking now starting to think outside the box what is more appropriate.

Maybe we call this as educational and vocational areas.

I can literally cut that requirement in half.

Um and then there's other things you can do, like say, okay, get statistical date uh statistical data from uh Pete Safari.

What are your um numbers of uh uh attendees that you have on an oral basis?

Take a look at that too, and what's more appropriate in reality?

I would say yes, with an occupant load of 430 at any given time, probably not realistic, but that's what we had for face value with the code to establish requirements, and with outside areas do have the do have the ability to reduce those on something that's more appropriate there because the code just doesn't give it, it says take what is most closely fit in the chart that is provided in the building code, so that there we can fine-tune that to something that's gonna be a little bit more appropriate.

Now, as far as the handicap accessibility, that's a federal standard, that's the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It's kind of hard to skate around that and not provide some level of accessibility for facilities, and that's for entrance um accessibility around there and for the bathroom facilities.

But the numbers there, yeah, they look a little bit alarming, but I think that we can take those and come with something that's a little bit more reasonable and bring that number down.

That's something that could be something a little bit more manageable.

Good.

I appreciate that too, because I think we need to be flexible and and be creative, maybe in some ways.

I see we've got somebody, I don't know, it's be the mayor's thing.

Yes, it's up to the mayor.

I can't I'm I'm gonna it's actually the council's time to talk, but I'm gonna relax the rule, and you're welcome to come forward.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Um I just wanted to comment on um Mr.

Nickerson's comments about the safety, and I just wanted to remind the council that that's what how this whole thing started because safety is important to Kevin and Kim too, and that's why they wanted to upgrade the electrical, and that's what got this whole thing started, was they're wanting to upgrade the electrical and get that up to code.

So I just wanted to remind you that yes, that's important to them too, and that's why this all started.

Right.

But I'm not sure if if it was for the very reasons we're talking about.

They wanted sounds like they wanted more power there, and in the process, they found some things that were done improperly.

So anyway, it's we're hopefully we're gonna get there regarding the plumbing.

Uh my husband is a master plumber in Omaha, and I um I know that we have talked about this, they're only open approximately 70 days a year.

Um, they're averaging about a thousand visitors per month, and that fluctuates.

That's not a lot.

Um, so for to have four uh stalls for the women's is um it's excessive.

Um it's been open since 2020, and I'm not sure why there wasn't a building inspection before now.

Um, but that needs to be addressed.

Um because there were no permits applied for.

If there had been permits applied for have aerial view pictures, yes, and 20.

We have 29 square miles in the city limits, and another hundred and ten outside in the do you notice there were buildings coming up?

No.

But we don't look at every single property.

So then who's can we get can we it is the response point of order?

Sorry, this is Fisk.

Um just like a point of order.

I want to make sure we fell cross into a line here because some of the zoning violations exist can be criminal of nature, and I want to make sure we're not stepping into accidentally condoning or supporting failure to site for criminal violations.

So just we want to make sure we keep this train on the tracks and related only to the conditional use permit and zoning issues before our council, so we're not accidentally creating a record of things we don't want to address today.

And as you said, the conditional you use permit pertains to allowing Pete Safari to exist, and it's and that's essentially all that's at issue with this vote if if there's a motion, correct?

Correct.

Subject to conditions related to health safety and welfare, the addition of conditions.

All of those conditions that are listed include building situations and all the other things.

So I think that we deserve some very extensive detailed uh descriptions of the or origins of these where you're getting these this information.

Like give us the ordinance, give us the regulations.

I like just the address each other.

The large lot residential zoning district requires setbacks that have not been managed.

Right.

And all of that should be in writing in detail, and I want we should have decided regulations.

I think that's fair to ask for the question.

I think we're we're gonna get there.

I think I think we're gonna get there.

And I I think the more we talk about this, I'm not sure that all this is gonna even be done in two weeks.

I think uh we'll have to discuss that, Chuck, in your motion.

Uh in the interim, can Pete Savari continue to operate until this is decided.

I'm assuming they can and not lawfully.

Okay, but they have up till today.

Kind of like kind of like speeding.

If I speed just because I don't get caught, doesn't make my speeding legal.

So no, they they can they they are not currently operating lawfully.

Um we basically have negotiated that they won't occupy the buildings while this is pending, um, but they their continued operation would be um unlawful even with a postponement with us not coming to a concrete decision tonight.

Correct that messes it up even more.

Can I just say I'm Courtney Peterson and I'm his daughter?

Not only does this take a huge impact on the community, we didn't have to share this with any of you.

We didn't have to.

We chose to share it with all of you.

The longer you guys string this along, the harder it is on my own father.

He has to go each day thinking you guys are gonna cancel him the next time he opens that door or the gate.

That's gonna take a lot of toll on one person who's trying to do a great thing for the city of Grand Diamond.

That's gotta mean one thing to one of you that matters.

And she sits here and it's they keep saying you guys have no call on anything.

Then why are we all here?

If we're we're here for you guys to be in front of you so you can see how personal this is, not only for my father, but this whole community who's got came together, who's done community service, who's built the inquariums out there, who come together on all the businesses, all this children that he has.

We all volunteer to keep this wanting to grow, but if you're gonna sit here and tell us we're extending it for two weeks, I mean kind of rip the band-aid off in a way.

Well, it's it's very complex.

Because you're dealing with laws, you're dealing with safety things.

We we don't make the laws.

I we don't make them.

I do.

But we have people that have to enforce them.

Right.

And ultimately, we want the safety of everybody that goes to Pete Safari to be number one priority, and so do you.

So I'm gonna ask one more question of our city attorney and the group that's here tonight, because things can be changed.

I know things can be changed.

So if we were to go forward with this tonight in the framework that we have, Pete Safari can operate for the time being.

But some of these conditions or some of these other things could come back for further discussion once they've been thoroughly investigated deeper, some of the other things.

I mean, this what keeps them operational is tonight saying we're gonna go down this path, the way we are structured, because this is all we have tonight.

I mean, we don't have any other really way to change things that that take time to study.

If we start the process and they they're continuing to operate as a private zoo and whatever changes tonight, we can still come back as a counsel and just study these issues other issues more deeply to come back for a discussion at a later date.

I know you're gonna love my answer, but it depends.

The reality is this bites the biggest issue off on the biggest issue, just the sheer existence in violation of zoning code.

There are some of these issues that may come back before you.

For example, the condition that they uh seek amendment to add zoos in a B2 district and then seek rezoning in the B2, that would come back before you.

Some of the items will always escape your review.

Federal ADA compliance, for example, is always going to be beyond your scope.

So there would be other issues that would come back before you.

Part of the conditions that are proposed is to ask planning commission and then um and then you to add zoos as a permitted use in the B2 district.

Right now they are not allowed in the B2 district, and then would be to consider their application to move their property from residential to B2.

So this would come back before you as granted.

Granting this conditional use permit would simply allow them to eliminate the biggest issue, which is the impermissible use of the property right now.

Um it it doesn't fix everything.

There is nothing you can do that will fix all of the assorted issues, but this is the big issue your that your approval or denial will address.

Um it is a necessary very large huge step that you get them an answer to whether or not you will or won't grant their conditional use.

Well, I I do understand that and appreciate that.

So Chad, as is tonight, as it is tonight, if this goes forward, what are the things that are expected of Pete's?

If it is approved as it is written, everything in there is what would be expected.

All of those conditions.

Right.

But they each have timelines.

All of them have timelines.

Um Kerry, don't shoot me.

Um I think you could potentially pass this with a motion that also includes revisiting the conditions at a future meeting, which would not require a new application, would not require another public hearing, but could be just to revisit those conditions at a time certain and uh and make change and allow staff to have time to work with Mr.

Stalek and the Petersons to come up with something that is workable for everybody.

Yep.

But it would also give them the ability to continue operation tomorrow, because this resolution would go into effect tonight upon passage.

Mr.

Nabdi is correct, you could do a short-term temporary conditional use permit.

It would require a new public hearing when you add or change conditions because neighbors are legally entitled to notice whether they use it or not.

But but a short-term, you know, maybe six-month conditional use permit until we can get more in-depth would would probably be a good compromise between a full-blown continuance and um putting uh Pete Safari in a situation of knowingly being out of compliance.

So yeah, that would probably be the best solution.

It it would require a new public hearing, though.

I can I was thinking in two weeks or four weeks.

Well, make it longer than a reasonable time certain.

Yeah, let's make it longer than that, though.

If you're gonna you could remove most of the conditions, make it a temporary use for three months, six months, all right, is a new public hearing.

Yeah, their season is probably over when come September?

October.

So okay, so October.

So here we are in the almost the eighth month.

Uh so we're not talking that much longer.

So this is what we want to get to tonight.

We want Pete Safari to stay open, but we also want to work through some details.

If we push this back two weeks, it sounds like they can't open tomorrow.

But if we look at wording it to where we're able to uh do this for a shorter period, you know, you guys have to do the wordsmithing for that, so we do it right.

But make sure that we're we're gonna come back and revisit it, that we give Galen time, that we give Ed time to go through the details.

What can we really do that makes it reasonable?

This parking thing, there might be some things that come that says, okay, maybe we can do this differently.

But there are things that we have to work through that we can't do tonight.

And we got to give you the time to sit down and work through this, get the Petersons time to work through it.

But ultimately, we want them to be open tomorrow if at all possible, because now I'm gonna want to go see the place because I've I've already been in the driveway, but I haven't been inside.

But I think we can, I think we can get there.

Just we just need the advice from legal again to make sure the words are correct, and then I'm assuming Chuck would be on board with this to make this go forward.

So I I don't want to muddy that up because I don't want to keep them from speaking.

But I say that's really make what makes sense tonight that is the ultimate compromise and gives us a chance to revisit the details.

Mr.

Shear.

I think Kerry has another thing here.

If you wanted to make that motion, you'd simply move to approve the conditional use permit as applied for, but you'll notice in section L there's an expiration date right now that's set for December 31st to 2031.

You would just want to move to approve the conditional use permit, changing the expiration date to whatever day you want it to expire to.

So if you want to go December 31st of this year, whatever you might choose, that's what you would need to change.

That would let them have this conditional use permit until whatever date you select.

I see.

I'm gonna let Chuck work on that.

Mr.

Shear.

Thank you.

Government is messy.

I have been on the record in this group in the past of saying I think the two-mile jurisdiction outside of Grand Island.

For some of you saying this, I can't stand it.

I think there's a talk at the legislature the last couple sessions, potentially, of giving you the right to vote uh in in city council.

I don't like making decisions uh for people who can't vote against me.

Uh that said, that's where we live right now.

It's messy and it stinks.

Sorry.

Um I like the direction we're starting to get to.

I have some questions about specific things.

Uh but I'm gonna call you Pete.

I forget your first name.

Yeah.

Come on up.

Can you answer a couple questions for me?

Uh you have an army of fans here tonight.

Um that's awesome.

You obviously do some cool stuff.

Uh it's it you you mentioned the tourism things, all those things.

That's awesome.

Uh what was your original intention?

You said, I think Kim said you never intended to do this.

I didn't.

Um, I've been around uh exotic animals my whole life.

Um when we moved on to the property, um Willie, the camel, he was the first one out there.

He was just a little guy on a bottle.

I convinced uh we were renting from our neighbors uh to the west of us.

Um I convinced him it'd be a good idea to have a camel next door.

Our lease set no pets.

Yeah, or at least with no pets.

Kind of screwed that one, didn't you?

Yeah.

That was against that was against mural wheeland.

But uh, but uh but we did get a couple of the other animals, just a couple of them.

Um, and we started having people that knew and they could see the camel from the road.

I wanted to come and and and uh see them well, the with government and government rules, you have to have a USDA class C license to be able to let people see an animal, whether you charge them or not.

Um in with the zoo that we used to have in Grand Island.

Um we decided we that we wanted to try and put a petting zoo back in Grand Island.

Um we got quite a bit of ways into it before uh I was told that you know we had some zoning issues and stuff.

Uh, and that's that's the thing that I I want to point to here.

You have a good heart, and you want to do something awesome.

That doesn't mean we have we have the ability to skirt rules.

Yep.

You know, the best of intentions.

We've never had an issue yet until we do.

And these rules are in place.

God forbid something happens to an animal or a kid, and you know who that comes back on.

All of us who let things happen.

There are reasons for all these rules.

Some of them suck.

I agree.

I think as we talk through some of these things, we can come to some some different ideas.

But I'm a small business owner myself, and there's a ton of rules I have to follow, whether I like them or not.

The good heart part, and having all these people love you is good for business, but it it doesn't it doesn't skirt the rules.

So as we look through this list, I know your lawyer, your attorney said you didn't want to be a 501 C3, or you do want to be a 501c3.

I do not know.

And that's one that after speaking with Galen this morning and Kerry this afternoon, a Nebraska nonprofit would be perfectly acceptable as opposed to a 501c3.

So that's literally in here that you have to apply by September 1.

So that's one of those things that we're gonna have to fix tonight.

That's why I suggested essentially stripping out almost everything and going with the six-month.

The condition is they can continue to operate as is for these six months.

They have agreed to not use the visitor center and the other buildings that have electrical to them for public use until they get permits and occupancy certificates, because that we can't let them do that.

But can they use the property?

Yes, they could.

So some of the things we've heard tonight.

Okay, Chad, you're good.

Uh moving the buildings, we don't need to move the buildings.

Some of them we'll get to that part, but it sounds like the parking is a real deal.

Like I agree, we have rock lots on things.

It doesn't bother me.

Yeah.

But legally, Carrie, there's no way around that.

They have to be paved.

The handicapped stalls do, there's no ability to relax that they're going to be able to do that.

And not all of them.

It would require a change to building code.

Um right now, everybody who has those are grandfathered in.

So no, there's no possibility right now.

If you used every authority you have available to you, you still can't relax some portions of it.

But we um but is it they have to have the entire lot paved forever?

That's part of why this this condition phases things in is is to try to limit the impact of those those building codes.

Permanent operation, though, yes, it would have to be paved uh the entire.

I I don't know the parking lot math exactly under building code, um, but that's all contained in in the adopted building code.

How those are it's actually in the zone.

Oh, yeah, how does yeah, that parking lot math is not one of my lawyers.

Is in the zoning regulations.

We require one parking spot per thousand square foot of space in a private club.

We looked at this, eliminated all of the animal pens, because those are not places where people are just the path walking pathway.

We get 15,000 square feet of path.

15 spots.

15 spots, and we have asked for four spots initially, and then over the next couple of years, adding five additional spots each year.

The paving materials are something that is also in the zoning regulations, and specifically says that it's a dust-free concrete, asphaltic, concrete, or paving block, that that's the acceptable materials for parking lots.

So right there, I just have to ask, is that a detriment long term?

That one item right there.

Oh, it's it's it's it's it's tough for us, so we're gonna have to get some help from uh uh some of our supporters to get you to be able to do that.

Um because uh I don't want us to say, well, we can go 60 days, we can just wipe all this stuff out with a conditional, but it's not gonna make a difference.

Like I want to keep you open for the rest of this year for sure.

I don't want to shut you down at all.

But like some of these, if they're non-negotiables, are you gonna be willing to sit down with us and talk through?

Okay, this is what we're going to be willing to do.

I think the plumbing, you already have some ideas.

I uh again, I think we're on a good start there.

I I wish some of that stuff would have taken place before we all got together tonight.

Uh but if we change all this and come back, are you gonna have the the ability to do some of this stuff?

Uh yes.

Um a couple oops, sorry, a couple of the big ones.

Um was the plumbing, putting in that many permanent bathrooms and then trying to put a leach field that we don't have space to even put a leach field like that, and take the chance of uh contaminating our neighbors' wells uh was a setup like that.

That's why uh to be able to go ahead and be able to still use uh porter parties.

Um then and then the the 5013 C3 um is it was the other big one.

Um you want to be a nonprofit?

I I didn't understand exactly.

Do you still want to be a nonprofit, just not that type of nonprofit?

It's correct.

Just just not the the other route.

Uh just gonna be uh so it sounds like you're gonna try to do some of these things, you're gonna look into them.

If we strip all this stuff out, give you the ability to stay open for the next sixty days, ninety days.

Well, six months puts us into the next season, and we're gonna be in the same situation where they're just too.

Yeah, so four months, December 31st is what you suggested.

Like if we strip all that out.

Pat Kerry, what's our next step to keep this conversation going?

So we make movement.

31st, the Nebraska nonprofit corporation checks that box.

So whether you whether we go with fit federal organizations or state, either way, they'd be fine as long as they finalized nonprofit status in some capacity by the end of the year.

So this says the type, yeah, that's applying for that status, but what they actually have to get the state one will cover um just as well as anything else.

So that would that would not be a particular issue.

Um as to what would you once told me we can only we can only uh go by what's written, and that's exactly what's written.

Yeah, that finalized nonprofit status um that will that will cover the Nebraska nonprofit corporation act will accomplish that.

Next word is 501c3.

That's just that's just applying the the actual obtaining is state one will be fine.

So they have to apply for a 501c3.

And then they have to get nonprofit status, federal state law doesn't really matter.

And so Mr.

Stellick's proposal to use the state act will be fine.

Um that's that's totally acceptable.

You'll find that even though I own a business and I'm a city council member, I don't know anything about this legal jargon, and it's just as confusing to me as it is to everyone in this room except for her and maybe him.

Yep.

Uh so I ask a lot of dumb questions.

I'm the same way.

Don't be afraid to ask the questions.

Uh so Pat, then when would we what would the next course of action be?

Well, if it was me, I would make sure that we have enough time where they can apply for an LB 840.

Which there will be money in that fund October 1st.

Their business model fits that very well.

And so they could apply, and then it's up to EDC for that decision.

But it's an avenue to get this stuff done quicker.

Okay.

Are you good with that idea?

Yes.

Okay.

So I'm gonna not make a motion yet because I know Ryan and Chuck want to talk, and I don't want to stifle that, but I think Chuck, I uh your motion was gonna be to delay, but I think this is a better one.

We all make a different motion.

I alright.

Thank you again for public participation.

Mr.

O'Neill.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um it's been a long night here, and I'll I'll try and be uh fairly brief here as well, too.

Um overall, I think helping Pete Safari succeed um and bringing the property to reasonable compliance shouldn't have to be a competing goal uh to the family.

I know this is a really emotional time for you guys.

You build a great thing out there.

I've been out there a couple times.

I like it.

I've taken my grandson out there, he likes it too.

Um your love of your animals is is very apparent.

I think they're well cared for.

Um I love animals too.

I think I'm almost at my legal limit in my house, which is much smaller.

Um, I think you guys have a lot of uh good intentions out there as well.

As you can see, it's government's a very difficult process that we have to navigate, and there's guardrails, and I think um us and the staff are trying to like to help you narrow navigate the guardrails in the path of least resistance.

Um you know, with our staff, um, you know, Ed and Chad, um, you know, they have a very tough job, but they're good and decent men with high integrity as well.

They have a very difficult job, and we end up with some real pickles to deal with here sometimes, and that's when it comes to council.

Um couple of things I want to mention.

I don't think got discussed a little bit earlier.

I know uh Mr.

Stellick brought up something about shipping the animals, and um, I don't know if that's that might be one that's not we don't have as much uh legal restriction on.

Maybe that's the item that could be reviewed more.

Did the animals have to be shipped out there for any other compliance reasons, Carrie?

I know your spot here.

Yeah, no, right now in residential district um there's a lot more cumbersome restrictions on animals in a residential district, so getting them out of the conditional use permit gives you more flexibility with the animals.

So getting them out of the conditional use permit gives you more flexibility with the animals.

Um otherwise right now there's even more limitations there.

So I would I mean can we remove the requirement that they chip them right now?

Yes.

Um it is what slides them out of other applicable animal regulations, though, so it it might be worse.

Maybe pros and cons of that.

Yeah, um, and I and I don't want to provide it it's it's complicated.

That is probably one of the better solutions we were able to come with up with to avoid some of the other applicable issues, um, largely dealing with animals at at large and the risk that without uh building permit compliant enclosures, there's a a need to identify where animals belong.

Um some of the animals aren't aren't, I think as they point out, capable of being chipped, they don't fall within those those parameters.

But with every relaxation comes a different problem.

So I don't know if Mr.

Peterson wanted to I just wanted to note that uh US enough to approach the podium, sir.

USDA you have to approach the podium, sir.

Sorry, uh the USDA does not require chipping of animals.

Okay.

And uh I think the earlier thing, which it sounded like you were um agreeable to is to provide the list of the animals as well.

And I I know there's probably not a whole lot of camels in Hall County, Grand Island, but uh but it's still it's probably just for everybody's interest to know what you have out there.

So yeah, and and also USDA uh they they have uh moved to its public record, our inspections, the amount of our animals that we have those are public records.

They're all public access.

Okay.

Uh thanks for clarifying that as well.

Um and I think Ed may have talked about this earlier too.

Um so with the the restroom usage.

I know you said it's kind of difficult to calculate that, but you thought if you had some more detailed uh attendance records, it sounded like the attendance might have had some peaks and values in some months, but the attendance record could maybe help.

That would certainly help if if we can uh justify reducing those requirements.

If we knew what your actual um attendance was, that would be helpful.

Yeah, yeah.

So do you provide me something like that?

I'll take that to consideration, take that and apply to the building code.

What can we actually do?

Maybe maybe we do something.

Um you can only do it, but maybe it's only two restrooms about actual right now.

So the reducing in half uh uh down to occupant load to 250.

I was uh looking at that today, and it was to calculating to something that would be uh three fixtures.

If you did three individual restrooms, one handicapped, and then stand two standards, one men's one women's.

Um I don't know, it could be something like that.

I can be creative on that, but it's got to be justifiable and it's gotta meet the plumbing code.

Here's the here's the problem with the plumbing code.

The building code and the plumbing code are state codes.

By state statute, we have to enforce the state the what the state adopted building codes, either the current edition or a newer edition.

We can't do anything less than that.

We can't be less restrictive.

And you might um be able to answer this too, as far as if there were some paving required out there.

I'm sure some materials are cheaper than others.

I don't know what the least expensive options are.

Um maybe that's probably general knowledge and contracting, but um I I'm sure there I thought I saw maybe even block or something else might have been an option too.

I I can't remember how strict the code was on that.

As far as building the structure, there's I mean, then the possibility.

Oh, for parking, yeah.

Uh part of the thing.

So like what the surface would have to be.

The surface, yeah, it's gonna be concrete, asphalt, um, or or uh or papers.

Something is uh required to be dust-free.

Okay, so there's other stuff than the concrete as well.

Correct.

Um and I I thought Pat mentioned an interesting idea too.

You know, there maybe there could be some other types of funds or grants that might be available to help you.

I don't know what all those are.

I know Pat kind of mentioned one possibility.

I'd speculate there might be others.

Um and I hope there are um I don't know whether resources could be referred to help you find what some of those are, but I'd be hopeful there might be something out there along with private donations as well.

Um I think you guys have a great operation out there, you know, it brings a lot of good things to Grand Island.

Um, you know, I don't think anyone wants to see anything bad happen with your animals or anything else, and um just trying to find what avenues we can do to help you, and maybe for now the best thing is to have something temporary get you through the end of the year, and then we can kind of fine-tune it.

That's sound like you were agreeable to that, but uh overall um it's a very difficult thing to navigate, and we want to make sure that we're uh going as careful as we can.

So, but I uh glad uh to hear from you guys as well and uh appreciate what you do, and I'll pass the mic over to Chuck.

Mr.

Hossey.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh there's already a motion on the table by council member shared and seconded by council member O'Neill.

So I will make a motion to amend the resolution by removing all conditions except number F, which is the nonprofit status request, and number L, which was the five-year term, which I'll amend to April 1 of 2027.

I'll second.

And what that would do was uh give them not only the couple of months to get the the negotiations done, but also if there's applications for funding, maybe you know, however it gets done or through LB 840, it'll give you till April 1 if the funding comes out October 1.

This is never a fast process, so I want to give you before the next season, but give you plenty of time to try to get everything negotiated, any funding sources available, and that's what I think going to April 1 achieves is it gets us through this season, gets us into the next season, and then gives us time to listen to the lawyer stale stelic and and just get everything figured out, get the funding in place and make this thing continue to be the great place that it has been and continue, hopefully continues to be, Kevin.

So thank you for you and your family for helping doing everything for Grand Island.

You said except for item F and L.

And L changes to April 1 at 2027.

And your lights still on Mr.

Hossy.

Do you anything to Mr.

Nickerson?

Um Carrie, did you heard all of that?

Chu or Chad, you've heard all that.

I just want to make sure that this is a good solid motion that we don't need to wordsmith a little more just to make sure it's right.

I um just to point clarity that Mr.

Mr.

Neal had asked a question about the chipping, and I had not gotten to the right pages in time.

I wanted to clarify that the current conditions would allow a vet to override that.

So if if chipping of any particular animal is contraindicated by a veterinary who knows what they're doing, that application would not apply.

So I didn't get to that page turned quite in time.

So for the concern about animals that it would be harmful, a licensed vet would have that full that full discretion there.

As to the motion in front of you now, um removing all of those conditions would leave Pete in a in a still maybe in a precarious position.

It's better than nothing though.

Um so it uh I'd probably suggest that that some of the rest of those conditions stay in place to help get them out of limbo as much as possible, but it would be which ones I would say that there's some things they could do anyway, whether they're in this condition or not.

Again, yeah, like Mr.

Nickerson pointed out, some of these would apply whether they're in here or not, the need to get building permits, um, the need to not occupy some setbacks, some of those um the general property maintenance provisions are going to apply whether they're there or not.

Clarity and and knowing what the expectations are is always better for a property owner under a conditional use permit.

Um giving them the clarity so they can know whether what they're doing is okay or not.

Um, but it would be legal without those those restrictions, just would not um probably help them with other issues they're facing now.

Um I would ask Mr.

Peterson what Chuck Chad's got something he wants to add here.

I I would just suggest adding the bottom two paragraphs on section A under permits, that the entrance building 17.

Um that they need to apply for permits.

We can just say that they agree not to use it until an occupancy certificate has been granted, and the same with the accessory structure, building number seven.

Those are the two with electric electricity that I can uh where there were cords there powering.

That wasn't going to be um the the number seven is a carport building just set up with tables and chairs.

That's all it's ever been there.

It's never ever had electricity, and it still doesn't.

Uh the cord that they did see went to a carousel that was coin operated, and it is no longer it's out of service, not no longer you.

So I guess my question for Mr.

Peterson again.

I think Chuck's motion stands.

The things that you know that need to be addressed, even though they're not itemized tonight on what we're voting for, you know those things really need to be done, right?

So it's not like this is you it's not in writing, I don't have to do it.

So your intention is to do the things you know that would need to be done, applying for permits.

We don't necessarily have to spell it out tonight to the city attorney's point.

If it's not spelled out, you technically don't have to do it.

But I think we're gonna trust you tonight that you're gonna do exactly what we're doing.

Yes, you need to do that.

And I've already started uh when the building department was out there, they mentioned a couple of things that they knew was gonna, you know, that they were wanting to change.

We've already done so and uh we want to get a start on it.

Do we want to get to where we need to be?

Okay, very good.

I just need that assurance.

And want to as far as the building permits on there.

I I think you have to approach the podium.

I I think it'd be best if I came out there and we kind of would build my building.

My inspectors out there where they kind of just did a brief overview, and we can say, okay, this building here, this, this, this, and this, and we can get a very detailed, and then we'll apply for a building permit and say that these items need to be corrected and then move on to the next one.

So if we could schedule some time that I can come out there personally, I I wasn't out there for the initial inspections, I was out of town.

So we can do that case by uh building by building, and we'll go ahead and say this is exactly what needs to be done to this one to to comply.

You know, a lot of them have just minor issues, so they're structurally sounds they don't so they don't collapse under wind or snow or things of that that sort, because we don't rebuild something because of snow over there, but work out some time where we can do that and at least get that process going.

Because I think the conditions in there is to get building permits, that goes without saying, regardless.

Okay.

Very good.

Okay, thank you, Ed.

And I I certainly hope that you understand everybody that was here tonight in support of Pete Safari.

Understands it's not the city's intent to shut them down.

We're trying to all work within the framework of this thing called the law.

And some things we have flexibility in and some things we do not.

And I'm sorry for all the hassle, but it's what we have tonight to deal with, and our intention is to help you be as successful as possible.

But again, you have responsibilities that you have to do.

So that's not our intention to shut you down.

Yeah, and I think tonight we've shown it.

And I never I never ever said that uh you wanted to shut me down.

I just proposed that the things that I had to do would would would force us to shut down financially.

Right.

And I think we've got some opportunities there, it sounds like as well.

So thank you for being here.

And we only have six more things on our agenda after this, so we'll still have work to do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so on the amendment, are you adding what Chad recommended?

No, I'm not I'm not adding the two paragraphs as okay.

So then this is on Chuck's motion to amend removing all conditions except F and L and changing the L date to April 1st of 2027.

Please vote.

Motion adopted line B public hearing on acquisition.

We haven't finished that items.

That's just the motion to amend.

We need to vote on the actual motion.

Or the actual resolution as amended.

So we need a motion on the uh nope, never mind.

Let me go back to it.

Please vote.

Motion adopted public hearing on acquisition of permanent easements for state street deers avenue improvements.

Mr.

Kurtz.

Uh yes, this is for uh permanent easement acquisition for the state street project that we're currently working on.

Uh needed to construct uh sidewalk and and utilities.

Thank you, sir.

Public hearing is now open.

Is there anyone that would like to speak on this item?

If not, public hearing is now closed.

I move to approve 2026-202.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second that motion.

Discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Resolution 10, a consideration of approving re-establishing re-established tap fees for subdivided lots in sanitary sewer district number 530 Twitter.

Mr.

Kurtz.

Yes, this is for the uh assessment fees that were established during the Board of Equalization earlier in the meeting tonight.

This is just updating the resolution uh so that they can be filed against uh property deeds.

Mr.

Hossey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve resolution 2026-203.

Mr.

Shear.

Thank you.

I uh second that any discussion.

Mr.

Nickerson.

Yeah, Keith, on this, I want I couldn't ask on the other one, I don't think, but these are some pretty hefty tap fees.

And do you ever get any pushback from people that we're gonna need to pay this fee?

I I kind of assume we'd have people here tonight complaining about that, but is that just typically normal?

They just know that that's going to happen because these are no small sums.

They're large sums.

I I won't disagree with that.

Um these particular ones.

We did uh well, this was done back in 2015 or whatever, but there was there was distances away from the sewer main itself.

The further away you got the less uh value was assessed to that because there would have to be sewer bill to that.

Um again, it's based on the project cost.

Um I'm sure that there could be some pushback, um, but there's been properties that have been developed.

Uh again, you look at that big area, that's that's a lot, but if we break it down into let's say I want to build a commercial business on an acre or two, uh obviously that fee is a lot less on those subdivisions.

So keep in mind we did the wild woods subdivision out there, Bossman's is part of this as well.

The lot fee is way more acceptable in terms of development cost when you look at it like that as compared to a hundred acres of of croplands.

So those numbers do look pretty big, but I I can't say that we really had any concern.

Everybody on that list was mailed the notification.

Yeah, when I see the price tag on some of those, I thought people would be here hollering about it, but it's not assessed until they tap into it.

So this is a tap district, so yes, until they hook to it, they're not they're not gonna pay it.

Uh it gets transferred to the next owner, unlike an assessment district where it would be settled up if the property changed hands.

So again, uh over time that number doesn't look as big as it might today or 10 years ago.

It's still a lot of money.

I won't I won't deny that.

Very good.

Okay, thanks, Keith.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Resolution 10B, approving update to resolution number 2018 dash 240.

Designated truck routes within the city of Grand Island.

Mr.

Kurtz.

So yes, uh, this is similar to the speed limit ordinance that you'll see later on.

Um there was some changes uh in development again.

The bigger biggest driving uh aspect to this was the new highway 30.

We need to go in and and update code to reflect those roadway changes again.

As you can see, there was a couple other things that we looked at.

For example, on this one, you know, we cleaned up some of those those uh wordings uh based on just trying to simplify things.

So again, I'm gonna call it more of a maintenance housekeeping type item uh for updating that.

Thank you.

A motion is in order.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I move we approve 2026-204.

And Mr.

Lanfear.

I'm sorry, any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Resolution 10B, approving fiscal year 2026-2027 annual budget for Fawner Park Business Improvement District and setting date for board of equalization.

Mrs.

Steinkey.

Thank you, Mayor.

On February 14th, 2017, the City Council adopts adopted ordinance number 9622, creating the Fawner Park Business Improvement District.

The created ordinance requires that a proposed budget for the district be approved by the BID board and forwarded to the city council for consideration.

Assessments are paid by property owners based on the front footage of the property.

Owners will be billed for the assessment after approval by city council sitting as the board of equalization on September 8th, 2026.

Notices will be published in the Grand Island Independent on August 6th, August 13th, and August 20th, 2026.

Um copies of the notice will also be mailed to the property owners after the first publication via the method required by state law.

The bid the BID pays the city a fee of 1200 for accounting services.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Brown.

I move we approve 2026 TAC 205.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second the motion.

Discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Ordinance 11A, consideration of amendments to grand is to grand to Grand Island Chapter 22 of the Grand Island City Code relative to snow emergency routes.

First of all, is there a motion to suspend the rules, Mr.

Landfear?

I move we suspend the rules considering ordinances.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second his motion.

Any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Mr.

Gertz, please present.

Yes, as mentioned before, this is uh some updates to our snow routes.

Again, uh one of the big driving fact factors was Highway 30 or even new roads.

For example, Claude Road was added to this, uh a road that uh didn't exist when the old uh ordinance was in place.

So again, we're trying to clean up some language and and uh make sure uh things are accurate.

Thank you, Mr.

Hossey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve ordinance number one zero zero eight three.

And Mr.

O'Neill.

I second the motion.

Any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

12A resolution to offer certain real property known as Veterans Village for sale.

Mrs.

Fist.

Mayors, member of council.

Um, I'll try not to revisit everything that's in your packet in hopes that maybe we can uh exit before midnight.

But the resolution before you first is a resolution to offer property for sale by the city, it's a necessary first step for you to make an uh second offer to Woodsonia to sell um property that we've referred to in this resolution is Veterans Village.

Um since we met the last time, we've had additional meetings with Woodsonia and have identified kind of a different approach to uh the good life district agreement.

Uh previously we've been looking at a situation where we would enter the what I'll call the big agreement, the one for the large amount of funding, and then it would have exit points if things didn't happen later.

Instead, what we're working to do is to get all of those kind of ducks in a row to use an animal pun to keep with the theme for the night before the big agreement.

Um so in the memo, you'll see a a series of what we're calling operative events, things that we want to do beforehand so that way by the time the big item for funding comes to you, um, both you and and the developer know what commitments are and aren't there to the maximum extent we can.

Um, one of those big operative events, uh well, two of them really uh uh require property ownership or an ownership interest to um be effective.

One is actually owning the property, um, and the other one is the ability to make progress with tax increment financing.

Um, because that property is currently in city ownership, that has to start with the city making the offer to sell.

So uh we have made some changes since the last offer you saw to try to close the gap um between where uh where our last offer was and and the terms and conditions that um are maybe more palatable to Woodsonia's acceptance.

Um since we prepared this resolution, we have gotten some feedback from uh Mr.

Seacrest Woodsonia's attorney.

Um we are far closer than we have been in the past.

Um I do anticipate you'll likely see a counter offer um about some of these terms and conditions, but before Woodsonia can make a counteroffer, you have to have made an offer to sell.

Um so moving forward and making this offer lets that uh ball get rolling.

I think based on the feedback um that we've received, we still have a few gaps to close um about uh the deposit and some closing dates, but the the gaps are relatively minor, and this at least uh gets us going.

So we had asked that you uh consider uh resolution 2026 206, which would authorize an offer to sell subject to the terms and conditions uh outlined in that resolution.

Um so that way we can uh take a step forward.

So for instance, for would Sonia to apply for tax increment financing, they have to be an owner of the property.

So this is a this is to remove that impediment to them applying, or have an ownership interest.

So being under contract would also give them that same that same authority, but um we kind of have to line these these balls all up in the right order.

So um thank you.

Mitch, did you want to speak on this item before they do a motion?

Yeah.

Uh Mitch Holan, uh 21160, C Street, Alcorn, Nebraska.

Um I think Carrie Graver Great kind of overview of where we're at.

We had a meeting on July 17th, I thought was really productive.

Um and per that meeting kind of laid out.

I think your memo does a really good job playing out kind of where we need to go from here to hopefully in October.

I think tonight, the only thing that I wanted to talk about, and maybe I don't know if this is the right forum or not, but we we do have a few minor changes that we do want to make to this resolution.

So I don't know if that's a formal counter or not, but my goal for this evening was to leave with a resolution that you were supportive of, we were supportive of, and we could ultimately accept.

So I guess my question is maybe for Carrie or Pat, you know, is it appropriate to talk about those?

I'd like to.

You know, they're again minor in nature, but my goal for this evening would be to leave with a resolution that you folks support and we do, so that we can move forward with these other kind of operative steps.

I think the ball's in your court, Mrs.

Fisk.

So what's before you now is just the resolution to ask you to make the offer.

Um, working out those fine details would either be um part of a counteroffer or part of negotiating the final sale resolution, depending on the nature of of the changes.

Um so that um we anticipate working out with Mr.

Seacrest.

He's um on vacation, I think for about he's got about a two-week vacation here in the middle and is uh been uh offline with no email access, so we haven't been able to do that.

But we would anticipate that if there are those changes, um, Mr.

Seacrest would either present them through a counter offer or we would address them in the final sale ordinance, depending on the changes.

Um he just wasn't able to be here uh to do that here.

So um I'm I'm here and I'm ready to do it.

And we did give the city a red line of these documents on Sunday.

So they're in the city's possession.

I'm here, you know, I'll I'll waive whatever legal representation I need to have.

But I would like to I would like to try to move this forward tonight.

I think council probably would too.

So if we can, I I can run through these, but I'd like to get these terms implemented so we can hopefully move forward with this resolution.

Well, we've had about 20 speakers tonight, so who am I to say no that you you can't talk?

So please proceed.

Okay.

Um is there a way for me to share this?

Any version of this?

Can I pass out?

You can talk about it.

Could I give out hard copies?

No.

It's not a part of our agenda packet, but you're welcome to speak to your uh proposals.

Okay.

Well, again, we we did provide these on Sunday, so the city does have copies of these.

I I think the main objective is since this my understanding is this resolution is basically an LOI for the ordinance, right?

This sets the the groundwork for what that ordinance is going to entail.

So I the main things that we are coming back with requested modifications on.

The first would be the earnest money.

We're we're happy to put up an earnest money amount that's contemplated in section three of this resolution.

Uh, that we would put that up, I think August 19th.

What we would like to have though is that money be non-ref or refundable to us in the event that we don't execute all these documents and ultimately aren't able to close on the property.

What we don't want to do is put 150,000 up and then ultimately not close on the property.

So I that's a standard real estate practice.

I I hope that would be one that would be acceptable to council.

But these other documents that that Kerry addressed, those are documents we're gonna have to work through.

A lot of those are gonna be in the city's court.

If we don't end up crossing the line, we want to make sure that we can get our earnest money back.

So our request is that the earnest money would be would be refundable in that event.

I think the second again, this is these are really minor.

I don't think these are big contentious items to talk through, but in section four, the acceptance uh deadline, we did contemplate an October 30th execution date on this.

We just wanted to clarify that if these definitive documents are not prepared at that point, we'll continue to work on uh closing, even if that needs to be extended a couple weeks.

So that was another clarifying point.

We just didn't want to have a hard date in the case we're still working on documents.

You know, we have to go through this whole process again.

So I think we'd like to build some flexibility in there.

The second um this was a new insertion from the previous uh resolution that we saw, but there was a a tax exempt uh exclusion that no future user within the project uh would be a tax exempt user.

Uh and that would be really problematic for us.

We've got 72 acres to work with up here.

I'm all but certain that some users are going to be 501c3s or tax exempt, and that could be anything just by example.

You know, that could be civic uses, performing arts, museums, galleries, churches, child care, urgent care, nonprofit health care centers.

I I'm confident we're gonna have users like that within the mixed use here.

Um so we did want to flag that.

Uh the other was section, I think this is Section E real estate protest.

We've got 290 single family lots within the development.

I don't want to create you know 80 burdens that are going to be problematic to selling those lots, and ultimately I'm sure some of those folks are going to want to make sure they have reasonable protest abilities.

So that's that's another point that we pushed back on.

And I think the last point, which was in section six, the reversion clauses.

We had talked about not having clawbacks.

Um we're ultimately okay with some form of clawback.

What this agreement stipulates is within 36 months of closing, some of the critical items will be done.

As we've contemplated in the development agreement, I think we want to keep this consistent with the development agreement, and that we're tying the completion of these critical projects to having the funding that we need to complete them.

So if the city doesn't do a bond issuance for 24 months post-closing, well, that's really when the time periods would start for us to complete these critical projects.

So again, we just want to clarify that hey, we're agreeable to completing these critical projects, but we need to make sure that the funding is there in order to do that.

So overall, I think these are clerical in nature, and again, are just trying to conform to what's ultimately going to be in the development agreement.

But we wanted to kind of set the right foot here on what the ordinance would be drafted off of.

You know, my my reaction is, and I'm glad you laid all of this out.

But we we have to make sure that our attorney has a chance to wordsmith this.

So I think I think it's important for you to present this to us.

But it's very difficult for us to rewrite um uh a proposal to sell land.

Uh so I guess I guess what I'm asking is uh you're making this in the form of a counter offer, and that's that's fine.

But I I don't know if we can rewrite our offer to sell tonight.

I do think it's good you discuss this items, these items, so our legal team can then get look at it and see well, how would the language work?

Is it's difficult for us to go in and buy interlineation change and offer to sell real estate.

Yeah, and as Mrs.

Fist said, uh, we're making an offer, and and with Sonya can make a counterclaim, and you just gave us a head start on your counterclaim, is what you did.

We just want to make sure that you know this document wasn't interpreted as hey, we've accepted this, and then again coming back with well, why aren't these guys executing that?

So we just want to be really clear on these are items we'd like to have in this resolution.

So I think it's I think it's important you made that clear.

And uh but uh I think we have to proceed with the offer as written with the understanding you're making a counter offer of proposed changes.

Then our legal team can get together and analyze how that would work, yeah, and what recommendations we could make to the city council.

Does that work for you?

Yeah, yeah, it does.

In terms of timing, do we want to kind of lay out what that might uh look like?

I'd like to quite frankly, I want to keep the pedal to the metal, but I you know uh we we do have city staff that need to work through these things, so I can't get you know, we've we've tried to be very swift.

Um one issue, and I'm not I'm not yelling at anybody, but your attorney is gone again, so that makes it kind of tough for us.

And I don't know how I don't know how accessible he is to a telephone because he seems to go to wilderness areas or places that I mean, mayor, I will say we got the agreement Friday afternoon at 420, and we turned the red line back to you Sunday at 3 o'clock.

So I think Kent Kent Kent's on top of it, and I think we're as responsive as we possibly can be on the we'll be as prompt as possible.

I mean, we're not looking to uh we're not looking to delay this.

Okay.

Uh I think we're gonna take up anything else you'd like to add before we take up a motion.

I would not, I just appreciate your time.

All right, thank you.

Mr.

Hawsey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I would move to approve resolution 2026-206.

And Mr.

Lanfear.

Any discussion discussion, Mr.

Nickerson?

Oh, wait.

I need Carrie and Mitch here.

My first question is for Carrie.

She's in conversation.

I apologize.

I would say that.

So Carrie, my first question will be can we discuss any of the things that Mitch shared us with us tonight since it was presented to us?

As to the contents of their counter offer, um, what I was just advising Mr.

Holand is we've we've reminded Mr.

Seacrest that he'll need to present a formal counter offer for your consideration.

Ideally, we can get that before you on uh August 11th uh with that packet deadline.

So I think what he sent over to us right now is is a redlined version of the resolution.

Um he'll we've provided him some instruction that instead he'll need to make a formal counter offer that we can then place on the agenda for your consideration, at which time you can kind of make those nuances.

But procedurally speaking, we can't consider a counteroffer until we make the actual offer first.

So this is the first step, their counteroffer, presuming that they're gonna make one.

Um would they would need to present that by and through their attorney for your consideration, and we would put that back in front of you ideally at the August 11th uh meeting.

Um they have to get that counter-offer to us in for the packet inclusion.

Um and we've reminded Mr.

Secrest to um of those those deadlines and dates um to make sure it gets into the packet in time um for your consideration on the 11th.

But that would be the goal, I think both of the city team and uh Woodsonia's team.

But the short answer is we can't even discuss in generality the things that were.

The stuff that's in the package, you're welcome to, but anything that wasn't properly noticed.

So have fun splitting that hair.

Uh well, my here's here's my comment, let it fall where it may.

Uh, if you want to ask the question, yeah, I can't.

I didn't consider anything that I heard tonight unreasonable.

And I think we need to to entertain those options.

Might need a little more clarification on some other things.

But that that would just be my general comment based on what I heard tonight.

Seems fairly reasonable.

Yep, so procedurally speaking, that would just would Sonia would need to present that in a counteroffer.

We would then place that on the agenda, provide any sort of nuanced analysis that might be necessary.

I think as is Mr.

Holm indicated, a lot of the terms um are probably more form over function.

Um so we should be pretty close.

The issues are are relatively narrow, but that would need to come back in front of you in whatever final form you could then vote to accept or reject then.

Um you picked these nights when it's 1052 and you're up here talking.

I mean, you just are lucky, you just get these nights.

I'm not sure how that works.

Yeah, it wasn't on purpose tonight.

Let me tell you, it wasn't on purpose.

Um what else was I gonna say?

I I think yeah, I'm okay with where we're at.

Oh, my other question to you was uh with Kent being gone for another period of time.

Do you see that being an issue?

Because you know that August 4th deadline, and that was really pushing the deadline was when we wanted to get everything compiled.

Thursday?

Yeah.

Okay.

So you don't see that being a hindrance to anything on your negotiation.

What is the date that you need that I guess that formal counter key?

Okay.

Okay, I just want to make sure it wasn't gonna hinder your progress because I know it's important to you as well.

No, and I think we have a meeting set up next week as a group too.

So I I think we'll be able to meet hopefully then and talk over the yeah.

We we just don't want to push these deadlines because as you know, this whole government open meetings thing, it's gotta all be done just right, or we're in trouble.

Okay, thank you, Mitch.

Thank you.

And Mr.

O'Neill.

I'll I'll keep this real brief.

It's been a long night.

Uh and Mitch, I don't know if you were here earlier, but um it's probably good this might go to another uh little cleanup process.

Chuck had to take two cracks at amendment earlier tonight.

It was kind of tough.

Um yeah, I think the overall the whole goal of this is just trying to really get the ball rolling on this process.

And um, yeah, if we can come back and get it for the next meeting, that'd be excellent.

I'd love to have that goal with everybody and um really hoping we can do that.

But um I'm glad to see that things are taking a good constructive uh turn in the process for this as well.

And uh just hope every meeting can be uh productive.

Love getting the open honest answers out of you out here tonight, too.

And hope we can uh get this approved tonight and uh see you come back with for next meeting.

So thank you.

Please vote motion adopted.

An ordinance to amend Chapter 38, Article 2, Sections 14, definitions, and Section 16, Good Life District Occupation Tax, a provision of the City of Grand Islands, a good life district economic development program to create an additional good life district occupation tax over portions of the good life district program area as defined therein, and to provide for publication and an effective date of this ordinance.

Mrs.

Fisk.

Well, first of all, we need to move we need to uh suspend the statutory rules.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I move that we suspend the statutory rules.

Mr.

Landfeer.

I'm sorry, any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Mrs.

Fisk.

Mayor's member of council.

Uh, like with the last item, the creation of an occupation tax on the northern half of our good life district, that property we're calling veterans village has been identified as Woodsonia as a as a key critical task that needs to be accomplished before they feel comfortable entering into the rest of the kind of larger commitments with the good life uh district agreement, the larger funding agreement.

Uh this ordinance serves to be that affirmative council action to establish that occupation tax.

Um what's before you is adding an area um to the definition section, what we've called the veterans village occupation tax area, which is that northern portion, and it then establishes a 2% occupation tax on any taxable transactions, same as the last occupation tax you had here for any uh taxable transactions that occur within that those northern boundaries.

Uh as you're aware right now, that uh is a cornfield, so there's no taxable transactions uh occurring.

Um this ordinance would become uh effective on October 1st of 2028.

Um so it gives some time for development to actually exist, but lays that framework so that way Woodsonia knows that when development occurs, there'll be an extra two percent occupation tax going into that uh local sources of revenue available for uh use in that veterans village development.

Um so this uh ordinance would would serve to accomplish that.

Otherwise, it functions exactly the same as the prior occupation tax we had over the entire Good Life District before the state took over collections, except this would be back to being administered uh by the city.

Um it would, and I I don't know the exact percentages, but it would create a fairly comparable taxable situation between what exists with the state sales tax and the EEA in the southern portions of the district up in the northern portions of the district.

So would not tax any new users that exist right now.

Mitch, did you want to talk on this one?

But we were good with the ordinance, but in terms of the remnants of the funds pursuant to this ordinance, will that be addressed in the the good life district agreement then, or what agreement will that be contemplated within?

Because I don't think that was in the ordinance so after October 21st of 2028, any money collected would be deposited into um the right now it's the current good life district fund into a special allocated account that just contains this veterans village uh occupation tax.

How that money comes out of the account would be uh handled probably through the main good life district agreement, um, but for now this just creates how the money gets in.

Um another agreement will deal with how it comes out.

Anything else uh you wish to add Mr.

Hawsey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve ordinance number one zero zero eight four.

And uh Mr.

Stelk.

Second the motion, Mr.

Mayor.

Discussion, Mr.

Hawsey.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, this is this financial piece has been part of the plan for the last several years, and so we've seen this coming, and I'm glad we're eating this, you know, this elephant one bite at a time, as we'll keep the animal references going.

And Mr.

Sheard.

Thank you.

Um what is the reasoning, and maybe this has already been covered, but for the October of 28 largely right now, there's a cost to uh administering the occupation tax, and since right now there's no uh there's nobody to tax it on, it would be just spending bureaucratic money for no benefits.

So um that date we've kind of looked at for when it's at least possible some development might exist to make it worth spending the money to pay the finance folks to send letters to businesses.

Um so it is kind of a the October 1st, 2028 date is kind of a guess as to when there might be taxable development, but there could be some before that.

And and this would this ordinance would miss anybody who did a taxable transaction before that, but by the time we backdate our guess as to when development will show up and the required notices to property owners.

But by the time we backdate our guess as to when development will show up and the required notices to property owners, this was um as close as we could get to not too early, not too late.

Um it is a bit speculative.

That's a fantastic answer that I can actually understand.

Thank you.