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WS — Item 6 WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT Work Session Item 6 Date: May 2, 2011 To: City Council From: Mary Divine Re: Redevelopment Task Force Background The Lino Lakes City Council requested that the Lino Lakes Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) act as a Redevelopment Task Force to study issues surrounding underused and nonconforming properties in the City. EDAC studied the issues and completed the attached draft workbook with recommendations. In formulating a direction to study underused, nonconforming and vacant properties in Lino Lakes, it was necessary to: 1. Identify the properties 2. Determine the impact these properties have on the City's tax base 3. Determine the impediments that prevent the properties from being used or redeveloped 4. Determine what actions — whether through regulatory change, financial incentives, public investment, or marketing assistance —could be proposed that would benefit the City and create an environment that supported continued stabilization of the City's commercial /industrial tax base. Property Identification Staff completed an initial inventory of commercial and industrial properties on Lake Drive and Hodgson Road, the two major corridors where the majority of properties are either guided, zoned or historically have been used for commercial /industrial purposes. An initial inventory resulted in 163 properties. After eliminating all vacant parcels and single family homes, 83 parcels remained. Of those, only six are developed with an existing use that is currently nonconforming to the zoning ordinance. More notable is that fact that 38 (46 %) of those properties are served by private wells. Since access to water is key to installation of a fire suppression system, and such a system is required if the use in a building changes, the lack of city infrastructure is a greater impediment to reuse or redevelopment than the issue of nonconformities. Therefore the final inventory focused