04-13-2005 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Increase Number /Frequency of Fire Inspections for Multi - Family and Commercial Properties — We have an excellent Fire Marshal in Duane Williams. However, he is limited in the hours he can work due to pension concerns. In the past, we have attempted to supplement his services with other part time help. We will review this internally and schedule this topic for an upcoming Update Workshop to get some direction as to how to proceed. Revitalize Business Revolving Loan Fund — Revitalize is probably not the right word. Implementation is still needed and failure to do so rests with me. I need to make some final revisions to meet US Banks requirements. Then we simply need to finalize the promotional materials and distribute them. I will attempt to have this done by mid -May. Unweave the Weave — Manage Impact to Little Canada — Staff continues to monitor this important project. We will have additional traffic enforcement in place for this summer to address the Edgerton Bridge /County Road D detours. I am also anticipating our Contracting Group will recommend the hiring of another full -time traffic car for 2006 (implementation in May or June). Initially this will help with Unweave the Weave, but I believe the majority of the group feels traffic enforcement needs additional effort beyond that project. We are also working with Ramsey County to address possible traffic control mitigation issues such as retiming of signal lights at Centerville and LC Road, right turn lanes at a number of intersections, temporary traffic signals at LC Road and Edgerton, etc. Investigate Development of Skateboard Park — We have had requests by some of our younger citizens for a Skateboard Park. The League of Minnesota Cities has some guidelines for constructing them to minimize liability concerns. The biggest concern I have is that unsupervised or unattended parks can be problematic. Therefore, location and possibly staffing will need to be considered. I believe the Parks & Recreation Commission is investigating this possibility. Apply Architectural Guidelines to New Buildings — I believe this goal arose out of dissatisfaction with the Mendota Homes town office project. While my recollection is we did apply the guidelines in that case, hindsight says we could have been tougher to allow fewer units and perhaps even a different layout that could have been more aesthetically appealing. We also could have pushed harder on construction features and materials. Perhaps a review of our guidelines is order to see if we want to tighten or revise them. Another alternative is to just agree that we will be tougher on future projects. Your direction is needed. Proactively Work to Attract New Business — This is a goal that on the surface is tough to argue with. In our case however, there are limiting factors. Land severely limits us, especially in the industrial and office /warehouse areas. From a retail standpoint, we would need to discuss our specific role. Our land in the redevelopment area is under the control of a private developer. We will (and have) assisted them whenever asked in terms of talking about our "vision" for the area with prospective businesses and providing them with any information we possess. If we believe a specific type of business is needed, then we should discuss that with the developer to review possibilities and constraints. If we are thinking outside of the redevelopment area, then we should discuss types of businesses desired, possible locations, and our willingness to assist. This may be worthy of a workshop topic. 3