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Introduction of the 2008 Falcon Heights Comprehensive Plan: • Staff Liaison Jones presented a brief overview of the comprehensive plan draft, with particular attention to the land use section. The transportation, stormwater and wastewater sections were written by Short Elliot Hendrickson, Inc.; the remainder was written by city staff with input from Dan Cornejo of Cornejo Associates. All of the sections are available to the public on the city website. There will be two open houses, one on March 13 and one on Apri13, at 6:30 p.m., for people to come and learn about the plan and ask questions. The required public hearing before the Planning Commission will be in March, and the City Council will conduct its approval process in April. After that the draft will be sent out to adjoining cities for asix-month review process, after which the plan will be submitted to the Metropolitan Council. The plan covers the period to 2030 and must provide for the city's share of population growth and the need for affordable housing. Falcon Heights is expected to need about 250 additional housing units by 2030, of which about 20 will need to be affordable. Jones said that since Falcon Heights is fully developed, and since the University of Minnesota and State Fair are not expected to sell any of their land for private use, changes in Falcon Heights are expected to be limited to larger private commercial and multi-family properties along Larpenteur Avenue, west of Snelling. Since Larpenteur is a transit corridor, this is a good location for multi-family housing. Existing uses will continue until owners are ready to redevelop, and change will be market-driven. If mixed use residential development is allowed at the city's present average of 28 units per acre, than only a quarter to a third of the commercial land in the Larpenteur corridor will be needed. This density is considered to be sufficient to allow the • market to develop affordable housing. Some of the sites where redevelopment could take place are the Hermes Nursery property, the west end of TIES (the old city hall), some portion of the Twin Cities Co-op property and Larpenteur Manor, the largest of the city's older apartment complexes. Some of the small, older apartment buildings might be redeveloped also, in this time frame. The Commissioners had a number of questions and concerns for staff, especially concerning requirements for affordable housing. Commissioner Anderson was concerned that the kind of low wage jobs generated by local retail businesses in mixed use developments might not be matched by appropriate local housing for those workers. Commissioner Lukermann felt that the implementation section does not go far enough in mandating a certain proportion of affordable units in new developments above some minimum size, that the implementation depends to much on other kinds of incentives. Anderson pointed out that a developer with sufficient funding could bypass the financial incentives, and with closer-in locations becoming more desirable, Falcon Heights might become much more desirable to developers of luxury housing. Lukermann gave Forest Lake as an example of a city that put in stronger language. Salzberg pointed out that there is applicable language in the Goals and Policies section. Commissioner Lukermann asked about the status of the old schoolhouse at the southwest corner of Cleveland and Larpenteur, if it had not been identified as a one of the city's historical and cultural resources. Jones responded that the school, being on University land is • beyond the city's control, and the city has no say in what happens to it. Kuettel added that the building is full of asbestos and may be too expensive to salvage. City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of February 26, 2008 -Page 2 of 3