What do the historic church building downtown and the city's animal ordinance have in common? Both topics were centerpoints of discussion at the Monday, June 22, 2009, Chanhassen City Council meeting.

During their work session meeting before the city council meeting,councilors preseted a Maple Leaf Award to Kurt Papke from the planning commission. He is the current chair of the planning commission. Papke accepted a job opportunity in Arizona and will be moving south. Councilors also discussed appointing new members to the planning commission and agreed to Tom Doll.

Perhaps of greater interest was a discussion about the historic St. Hubert's building with St. Hubert's Catholic Community and the Chanhassen Historical Society. The meeting went beyond 7 p.m. with city councilors asking the historical society to bring back a more detailed plan soon. The city's lease on the building is set to expire at the end of July.

Check this week's edition of the Villager for more on this story.

Presentations of the 2008 audit report and preliminary discussion about the city's 2010 budget were delayed. The process of forming a budget for 2010 and discussions about what should be done in the face of significant permit revenue shortfalls will begin before the next meeting, July 13. Councilors have already been warned they may need to trim between $600,000 and $700,000 from next year's budget.

The city forbids residents from keeping farm animals on land that's zoned residential, and during the meeting they clarified language to the city ordinance, defining farm animals and wild animals and household pets. For more information, go to the story.