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Mr. Wessel stated that he considered this meeting a discussion that will carry over to the <br />next meeting. A developer interested in the north side of the Town Center may be present <br />at the next EDAC meeting. <br /> <br />Ms. Divine presented a slide presentation to reinforce the original vision of the Town <br />Center as a mixed use, human scale, pedestrian oriented community gathering place. She <br />showed examples of conventional suburban housing and commercial development <br />currently allowed under city zoning ordinances. She compared them with the city’s <br />objective in the Town Center for a Traditional Neighborhood Development that would be <br />required under the new design standards. <br /> <br />Mr. Gorowsky stated that he believes a balance needs to take place. EDAC’s role is to <br />increase the tax base, but not at the cost of quality. The standards accomplish quality, but <br />if the city is too specific and ordinance oriented, will developers be able to work within <br />them? <br /> <br />Mr. Ross Fefercorn stated he was proposing a development plan for The Village site, and <br />told members of his background with townhome, office and commercial development. He <br />noted things he had learned from past development that led him to want to do mixed use, <br />pedestrian oriented development. He stated that the Calthorpe design standards spell out a <br />narrative to go with the Master Plan to put housing and commercial together. He noted <br />that traditionally there is a disconnect between conventional housing, commercial and <br />engineering standards. He stated he believed the city should look at the Calthorpe plan as <br />the seed that will get the city its mixed use, pedestrian oriented community gathering <br />place. He showed members examples of design guidelines from around the country that <br />make developments more valuable in the long run. Mr. Fefercorn also talked about his <br />Mendota Heights plan and that the plan was created first, and now the city is creating <br />guidelines to develop the plan. <br /> <br />Mr. Smyser stated he had no faith in guidelines since they cannot be imposed on a <br />developer, and that the city must decide what it wants and then create ordinances to <br />ensure that vision. He said variances can be avoided by deciding what the city wants to <br />change in the standards before they are adopted. He noted that the entire city is now <br />governed by design standards, and these are just new zoning ordinances that allow the <br />type of development currently not allowed. <br /> <br />Mr. Chase stated he doesn’t think the city should make the design standards the <br />ordinance, but that the developer and the city should enter into a PDO and the design will <br />be a function of the development agreement. <br /> <br />Mr. Smyser asked if EDAC bought into the vision for the Town Center, and members <br />agreed that they did, but the debate was how to get there. Ms. Divine stated she thought <br />EDAC needed to make a decision regarding whether EDAC believed it was worth taking <br />the risk to wait for higher quality, which may cost more, but leads to higher long term <br />value.