08-10-88 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MI~IUTES City Council August 10, 1988 Countr~y Dr. The next recommendation the Committee made was that the City Engineer & Bwana study the level of Condit Street and Countr•y Dr•ive and make a r•ecommendation Ar~chery for~ how low the elevations of these str•eets could be and still r~etain (Cont.) developable property between them. The Committee also r•ecommended that the Engineer• look at a connection of Bur•ke Lane to Country Dr•ive. Fahey pointed out that if Country Drive could be moved closer• to the fr•eeway, a lesser• slope would be needed in the ar•ea between Condit and Country Drive. The City Engineer• suggested that he contact the Highway Depar•tment to deter~mi ne how cl ose they woul d al l ow Countr•y Dr~i ve to be moved towar~ds the freeway. Scalze r~epor•ted that another r~ecommendation made by the Committee this mor~ning was that the City obtain cost estimates fr~om consulting fir•ms for feasibility r•epor•ts on the Country Dr~ive and Rice Str~eet ar~eas. The feasibility r~eports should indicate the types of businesses or development that would wor•k in these ar•eas. Fahey stated that he was not in favor~ of spending City money on behalf of developers to do market surveys. Pelstr~ing r~epor•ted that market sur•veys ar~e a two step pr•ocess. The fir~st step would identify the type of development that would wor~k in an ar•ea so that the City could set its expectations. This data would then need to be fur•ther~ defined by a developer to justify his development to a lender~. This same pr•ocess has been done by the City of Vadnais Heights. Pelstr•ing stated that the process was a complicated one that is necessary to generate some interest and show there is market potential for• a pr•oject. Pelstr~ing stated that the City would want to target the r~ight kind of developer. Blesener• pointed out that the feasibility r~eport might r~esult in the Council's decision to leave Countr~y Drive the way it is. Blesener• felt the study was a necessity, and pointed out that at this point the Committee is only r•ecommending that cost estimates for• such a r~epor•t be obtained. Scalze pointed out that the next meeting of the Economic Development Committee is scheduled for~ September 15 at 7:30 A.M. These reports should be available for• the Committee to review by that time. Scalze also r~eported that the Committee felt that the City Cler~k should communicate with the proper•ty owner•s in the ar•ea and explain that the City is getting outside opinions on the r•edevelopment of the ar•ea and once this information is available and has been r•eviewed, the City would communicate further with the pr•oper•ty owner•s. Fahey asked BDS their• opinion on the Bwana Ar~chery pr~oposal. Page -12-