09/02/2008 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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amenity location that improves the community's quality of life. There are currently improvements being made to CSAH 14 to assist in the 35W to 35E circulation, however, the long range solution is a new interchange at 80th St. and a more direct connection between the interstate highways. The regional bypass is the preferred environmental alignment rather than adding additional lanes to CSAH 14 that meanders through the regional park. These transportation improvements will one day address the regional park's role as a traffic constraint in the community. By building on these advantages, the city has made the economy more robust and Lino Lakes is significantly more competitive with surrounding communities, has enhanced its quality of life and is developing its quality of place which is critical to position a community as a destination location. The next challenge for Lino Lakes will be creating spinoff efforts throughout the community from these, largely greenfield development successes. Improving a community's quality of place can assist in capturing a greater proportion of the talents of its local population because residents seek to find employment within a high quality community, even if they must become an entrepreneur to do it. Businesses also are willing to overlook minor location disadvantages or pay slightly more to locate in a high quality community, particularly in some high technology and financial service sectors, which are currently underrepresented in the community. Lino Lakes has already taken significant steps towards this effort as the city has initiated long range planning efforts to integrate the new development with existing construction through mixed use development, connecting pedestrian walkways, landscape improvements and compatible architecture. The city has also identified target improvement areas, such as the development along Lake Drive (north and west of the Town Center) where redevelopment opportunities exist due to use conflicts and site under - utilization or the Apollo Business Park, where aesthetic enhancement particularly regarding outdoor storage, dumpsters, signage and landscaping should lead to a more attractive and fully developed project. Development Areas The following provides a description of some of the key commercial and industrial areas and some considerations that will be important to their continued success. Town Center /Legacy at Woods Edge — this development area is the focal point of the effort to develop a mixed use node for Lino Lakes and includes the Legacy at Woods Edge mixed use development, City Hall, a new YMCA, the city's first high density apartment project, and existing medical and financial services. The project contains a mixture of dense, pedestrian oriented uses connected to large amounts of parks and open space. This project will be receiving a significant boost as the highway improvements at the nearby interchange will soon be complete and provide needed traffic and safety improvements. I -35E Corridor — this area was recently planned to ensure that the necessary tools and development standards were in place to develop a high quality commercial /industrial area. The City will work closely with landowners and developers to ensure this "gateway" to Lino Lakes will develop with high quality uses and design standards. Lake Drive — this potential redevelopment area stretches from Hodgson Road on the south to north of Main Street. Some of the development in this area is characterized by older freestanding commercial /industrial uses. Construction materials, uses and site utilization are not compatible with contemporary development, especially the Town Center at the center of this corridor. Redevelopment efforts in this area will likely be gradual and in some cases, require economic development financial assistance. 5 -16 • • •