08/02/1999 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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identifying the right types of residential uses for this area, and the types of businesses that will prosper in this location. A special success story for Town Center in Lino Lakes is approval of the YMCA. Improved analysis makes economic development evaluations more thorough, and helps council base our decision on a contribution to the overall balance in Lino Lakes. The YMCA was a project recommended in the 2020 Vision, supported by the Quality of Life Survey and various marketing surveys. The Y was important as well because of its impact on economic development. We expect the Y will help draw a customer base for the rest of Town Center. We were able to bring the Y in at a tax cost to the citizens of approximately $ 22/HH a year for 3-5 years. We expect that the offsetting tax revenues from the additional commercial development will start coming in within 3-5 years. What's different than before is that we close the loop in this planning effort. We invested in the future, but we know when we expect that investment to start paying off, and will watch for it. THE TOWN CENTER IS ONE QUALITY PROJECT for the citizens of Lino Lakes. It's interesting to note that when the Economic Development Department was organized about 6 years ago, their costs were limited to 4% of the city's overall operating budget. Today, their costs are approximately 3.5% They are the only department for which we track expenditures to revenues as a department. For an investment equalling 3.5% of the budget, we expect economic development revenues to continue to expand by $8 million per year for the next 5 years. EXCELLENT RETURN ON INVESTMENT. 11