The Cottage Grove City Council met Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 pm. in city hall. On the night's agenda were several items, including garden awards, an EMS service change for Newport and St. Paul Park, and variance denial for 10590 East Point Douglas Road South.
Back from surgery, Mayor Myron Bailey led the meeting out with the pledge of allegiance.
From there it was into the meeting agenda, starting with garden awards. The city presented its annual 2026 Green Garden Awards, recognizing residents for both residential landscaping and environmentally sustainable gardening.
Parks and Recreation Director Zac Dockter said that city staff maintain more than 400 landscaping beds throughout Cottage Grove, but the work residents put into their own properties also contributes to the appearance and character of the community.
“The only thing better than having beautiful garden and beautiful yards is having a neighbor with one better than yours,” Dockter said.
Dockter than turned the presentation over to parks staff, who gave the larger presentation. About 25 properties were nominated this year, an increase from previously. Residential entries were judged on appearance, plant variety, uniqueness, creativity and upkeep, while sustainability entries were evaluated for such features as native plantings, prairie areas, water conservation and pollinator habitat.
Joy Stahosky was named runner-up in the residential category. Her garden included black-eyed Susans, hydrangeas, lilies and other plants, many of which came from family members, friends and her mother’s home.
Kate Hoelscher received runner-up honors for sustainability, with highlight given to her water-conservation system, a natural prairie planted over a septic tank and a natural forested conservation area that she maintains without eliminating its natural character.
Vicky and Jeff Maus received the residential Green Garden Award. 
One of the horticulture staff members said visiting the property felt like walking into the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, praising its mix of annuals and perennials, cleanliness and use of space. The property also included a veterans garden featuring plaques and plantings.
Ekaterina Peterson received the sustainability award for a property featuring composting, a pollinator garden, vegetables and reused wood pieces serving as a natural weed mat rather than plastic or other manufactured materials. Pollinators had given their stamp of approval to the garden as well, making frequent visits.
Mayor Myron Bailey thanked the garden award winners for their work.
“From the council and everyone in Cottage Grove, thank you for beautifying our city,” Bailey said, adding that he particularly appreciated the veterans memorial garden as well as the sustainability work represented by the awards.
Also from Aug. 5, the council unanimously approved a change to Cottage Grove’s ambulance Primary Service Area that is expected to shift primary emergency medical service responsibility for Newport and St. Paul Park to Fairview EMS beginning Sept. 1.
Bailey pulled the item from the consent agenda so he could publicly explain the decision and the circumstances leading to it.
Cottage Grove currently provides ambulance service to Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park and Grey Cloud Island Township. Bailey said rising health care and medical costs combined with inadequate Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements have increasingly left Cottage Grove taxpayers subsidizing ambulance calls to neighboring communities.
“Over the years, as healthcare costs have risen, as communities have grown and medical costs have increased, and as federal reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid has fallen short, Cottage Grove residents have been subsidizing the increased cost for ambulance runs to our neighboring communities, who have in turn had to pay nothing for the benefit of our service,” Bailey said.
Under the approved proposal, he said, Cottage Grove residents will no longer provide that subsidy.
Bailey said the change followed more than a year of meetings over shared EMS funding and discussions involving Cottage Grove, Newport and St. Paul Park.
Cottage Grove has invited Fairview EMS to become the primary ambulance provider for Newport and St. Paul Park, with the change subject to authorization from the Minnesota Office of Emergency Medical Services.
Bailey said Cottage Grove will continue providing EMS to Cottage Grove and Grey Cloud Island Township and will continue providing fire and EMS mutual aid to surrounding communities. Residents will continue receiving the same city EMS service, including an advanced life support response with EMT and paramedic personnel.
“I am confident this proposal, pending approval by Cottage Grove City Council and the state, is the best path forward for the long-term health of Cottage Grove’s EMS service,” Bailey said. “It balances the needs of providing quality EMS services to our residents and the realities of a negative budget impact caused by insufficient Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.”
Pending state authorization, Fairview is expected to assume the Newport and St. Paul Park service area Sept. 1. Bailey said there would be no lapse in coverage.
“What matters most is that all residents can continue to call 911 and trust they will have someone showing up to help them in their time of need,” Bailey said.
Council Member David Clausen said the change was not a quick decision, noting that officials had worked on the issue for nearly a year and a half.
Clausen, who said he had experience working with EMS systems and responding to calls in Newport and St. Paul Park, sought to reassure residents that mutual aid relationships would continue.
“The thing that’s going to change for them is just the color of the ambulance,” Clausen said. Residents will continue calling 911, he said, and Cottage Grove will remain available to provide backup just as neighboring departments provide assistance to Cottage Grove.
“For me it’s sad to see it go, but I understand that it has to be done,” Clausen said.
Revisited from the previous council meeting, the council denied a variance request for 10590 East Point Douglas Road South, ultimately voting 4-1 in favor of a resolution denying a request to use metal exterior materials for a new accessory building on the residentially zoned property.
The council had previously reviewed the request July 15 but sought additional information about surrounding properties before making a final decision, after the vote tied 2-2.
Cottage Grove Community Development Director Emily Schmitz said the owners proposed replacing an existing temporary structure with a 1,200-square-foot accessory building. Cottage Grove residential zoning regulations require materials such as block, vinyl siding or steel lap siding. The owners instead sought to use the type of steel siding commonly found on pole barns and agricultural buildings.
Schmitz said the location along the Highway 61 corridor also has to be considered in light of Cottage Grove’s future development and upcoming 2050 comprehensive plan.
Staff examined surrounding buildings following the July meeting. Schmitz said some nearby structures are on agriculturally zoned properties where the materials are permitted. Others remain from a time when their properties were agricultural.
The city updated its code in 2023 to establish more consistent exterior-material standards across residential districts. Schmitz also pointed to previous variance requests in which the city required accessory buildings to comply with those standards.
Council Member Dave Thiede questioned what would happen to the existing hoop-style structure if the variance were denied.
Schmitz said the legally nonconforming structure could be maintained but not expanded.
Property owner Colleen Millard told the council she and her husband, Gary, would likely have to retain the hoop structure because constructing the building with materials required under the residential code would cost an estimated $20,000 to $25,000 more.
“We can’t afford that amount of money,” Millard said.
The couple sought permission to construct a 30-by-40-foot steel pole barn on their more than five-acre property, similar to another building that has stood there since 1985.
Millard argued that although the property is zoned rural residential, it remains agricultural in character. The property lacks city water, sewer and streetlights and is bordered by agricultural or similar uses. She said approximately 90 percent of nearby properties have older steel pole barns or similar agricultural structures.
The new building would store equipment, machinery, tools and a stock trailer.
“We take pride in keeping our property neat, orderly and well maintained,” she said.
Council members expressed sympathy with the request but differed over whether the circumstances met the legal test for granting a zoning variance.
Council Member Justin Olsen said council members must identify a “practical difficulty” connected to the property and cautioned that variance decisions can guide how future requests are handled. A property at 6355 Hadley Avenue had requested variance as well and been denied, while one on Kimbro Court had been able to meet the definition of state law and would use materials in line with city ordinance.
City attorney Cynthia Kirchoff explained that state law requires several findings for a variance, including that the proposed use is reasonable, circumstances are unique to the property and the variance would not alter the character of the locality. Economic considerations alone do not establish the required practical difficulty.
Olsen said the difficulty presented by the owners appeared primarily financial rather than tied to the physical property.
“The challenge with these sorts of circumstances is you have the rule of law, and then you have what seems to be common sense,” Olsen said. He said council members nevertheless have a responsibility to follow the legal standards governing variances.
Thiede reached a different conclusion. He said the particular circumstances made the property distinguishable from other variance cases. The proposed building was not readily visible from major roads, he said, and surrounding development made it unlikely that the building would remain if the land were eventually redeveloped.
He also argued that denying the variance could have the opposite aesthetic result from what the ordinance was intended to accomplish because the owners could simply replace the covering on the existing hoop building.
“It’s definitely going to look worse, in my opinion, than the metal building that would get put up,” Thiede said.
He said he favored allowing the steel building.
Council Member Monique Garza said she had driven through the area several times before the meeting and struggled with the decision. Ultimately, however, she said the city had to consider the future of the Highway 61 corridor and the likelihood that residential development would continue moving toward the property.
Mayor Bailey reached a similar conclusion, saying approving the request could create a precedent cited by other property owners seeking similar variances.
“I guarantee you, we would have multiple homeowners or landowners in here in the not too distant future, that would actually come back and say, ‘Well, you granted it for them. What are you saying to me?’" Bailey said.
He said he could not support the variance because the financial hardship described by the applicants did not satisfy the legal standard.
Clausen said he empathized with the owners and had extensively researched zoning law while trying to find a way to support the request.
“I’ve read more zoning laws in the last month trying to figure this out,” Clausen said. “I just wish we could grant the variance. It’s so hard.”
Olsen then moved to approve Resolution 2026-104 denying the variance request. Garza seconded the motion, which passed 4-1, leaving the city’s residential exterior-material requirements in place for the proposed accessory structure.
In other business, the council approved the sale of $5.035 million in general obligation bonds to finance the city’s 2026 pavement management plan, reimburse costs associated with improvements at Oltman Park and pay for capital equipment. The city retained its AAA bond rating, and the bonds drew 10 bidders, with Stiffel Nicolaus and Company from Birmingham, Alabama submitting the lowest responsible bid at a true interest cost of approximately 3.5 percent.
The meeting closed with council comments, members highlighting progress on the 80th Street project and thanking residents, city employees and public safety personnel who participated in Night to Unite events throughout Cottage Grove.