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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/04/2001 EDAC Minutes 1 APPROVED CITY OF LINO LAKES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES DATE: Thursday, January 4, 2001 MEMBERS PRESENT: H. Juni, T. Vacha, J. Schwartz, J. Milbauer, D. Gorowsky, F. Chase, K. Hansmann MEMBERS ABSENT: J. Jensen OTHERS PRESENT: M. Divine, B. Wessel, D. Carlson, J. Bergeson GENERAL/MINUTES The December 7, 2000 minutes were approved. EDAC APPOINTMENTS Committee members introduced themselves to in-coming member Kathy Hansmann. Ms. Divine explained that the council tied when voting on the other vacancy and will readvertise for the position. Mr. Juni nominated Mr. Chase to remain chairman of the committee. Mr. Vacha seconded the motion. Motion passed, with Mr. Chase abstaining. Mr. Vacha nominated Mr. Gorowsky to remain as vice-chair. Ms. Schwartz seconded the nomination. Motion passed, with Mr. Gorowsky abstaining. Mr. Gorowsky moved that EDAC request a liaison from Planning & Zoning to replace Bill Johnson. Ms. Schwartz seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. PROCEDURES FOR TAPING MEETINGS Ms. Divine stated a complaint had been made that Mr. Wessel requested that she erase a part of tape at the last meeting. Ms. Divine and Mr. Wessel stated that no portion of a tape had ever been erased. Mr. Gorowsky asked if there was a city policy for how long tapes are retained. Ms. Carlson stated the council has a policy regarding that. Mr. 2 Milbauer moved that the procedure for retaining EDAC tapes conform to city policy. Mr. Gorowsky seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. TOWN CENTER UPDATE Mr. Wessel stated that he and Ms. Divine were teaming the Town Center. Mr. Wessel is the lead on the Dellwood LLC (Ryan/Target) project; Ms. Divine is the lead on the Village. Mr. Rolek, the finance director, is hiring a consultant to conduct a Town Center economic feasibility study, which should be completed in March. Private/public participation is one aspect of the study. Dellwood LLC has indicated it will request public participation in the project. Village development, YMCA, and the Dellwood proposal will all be a part of the study. Ms. Divine said the 1997 Livable Communities grant may be able to pay for the study. Mr. Bergeson said this study is high priority for the council. Mr. Wessel said he will have Mr. Rolek come to EDAC and share the information and get EDAC’s input. Ms. Divine stated that seven cities received Livable Communities grants. Lino Lakes was awarded $450,000. The city won’t receive the grant until the Comp Plan is complete. The committee made a condition of the grant that it be used for site acquisition for rental housing. Staff will be going back to the committee to ask for more flexibility, since the Tagg property cannot be required with that amount of money. Other conditions on receiving the money include the completion of a stop light on Town Center Parkway, an average of 3 units/acre of housing in the Comp Plan, and making an exception of the housing in the Village. Ms. Divine said staff was meeting with the development team to put together other options for moving forward with the development of the Village, since the partial grant award does not allow the implementation of the original scheme. Mr. Chase stated that the Target proposal reinforces his contention that the design standards for the Town Center should not be a zoning issue, it should be a part of the property plan. If the standards were approved, it would be a problem with the Target proposal. Mr. Wessel stated that Calthorpe’s plan was the impetus for the development in the Town Center, and the name and reputation have helped. Carolyn Krall, who is working on the Village plan, is working with Calthorpe, and Calthorpe supports what she is doing. It is a collaborative effort. Mr. Milbauer asked about approval of the Comp Plan. Ms. Carlson said the council was continuing to meet. Mr. Bergeson said too much time had been spent on it, and it was getting time to call the question. Mr. Milbauer asked if the developers had contacted Taggs. Mr. Wessel said as far as he knew they had not contacted the Taggs since the full grant was not awarded, and an effort will be made to re-strategize with them. 3 Mr. Bergeson stated he went to the awards ceremony and he had not realized the politics involved in the grants. He is surprised the city came out as well as it did, since he believed the odds were stacked against the city. Ms. Divine said there was no representation for Anoka County. The committee is comprised of politicians, planners, county commissioners, non-profits in housing, etc. It is weighted toward Minneapolis/St. Paul, but they spread the funds through the metro. Mr. Juni recommended staff pursue getting a representative on the committee. Ms. Carlson suggested that the city should send the Metropolitan Council the parts of the Comp Plan that are completed to move it forward. Mr. Gorowsky said it was unlikely they would look at it piecemeal. Ms. Divine said Met Council staff indicated they had never done more than a cursory review of the first submitted plan since it wasn’t complete. Ms. Hansmann asked for background of the site acquisition, and what the next steps would be. Ms. Divine responded that staff and developers would revisit the options with the partial grant, since the Tagg parcel cannot be secured now. A strategy is needed to develop the city owned piece without compromising the plan or piecemeal development. Discussion continued about what options might work, including further discussion with the Taggs. Mr. Wessel said the design standards are beginning to create a market. People are becoming familiar with this type of development and seeing successful projects. DELLWOOD LLC Mr. Wessel showed members the schedule that puts Target in the ground in June, which is an aggressive schedule. Target has presented a site plan that includes retail that has some architectural characteristics, streetscape, etc., like the Village. There has been an effort to try to tie the architectural design, use of materials, scale, etc. with the rest of the Town Center project, but this project, with council support, ignores the real design standards. Mr. Chase said it showed that it was a development issue, not a zoning issue. Ms. Divine said that because the design standards were not in place, that type of development did not occur. Mr. Chase stated that if it was a PDO and the city had a concept of standards, the city would be doing what it’s doing with the developers and would have approved design standards. The city has to work with the developer and negotiate. It needs flexibility. Mr. Milbauer said the design standards in theory are fantastic until a project of this magnitude comes in. This is what the city has been striving for. Ms. Carlson said if the city provides a public subsidy and moves this far away from the design standards, there is a question about the design standards on the south side. Mr. Chase said they don’t belong in the ordinance. It belongs on the property in a PDO situation. If a developer presents what the city wants, then the city can make it work. And if a developer doesn’t present what the city wants, the developer is told to go away. 4 Ms. Divine said because there were no design standards the city is getting a conventional suburban development. If the city wants the Village, with a mix of uses, and civic spaces, the city will not get it without the teeth of an ordinance. Mr. Chase said the standards need to move ahead, but not by putting them in the ordinance. He suggested again the use of a PDO, with development agreements. He said the city should adopt the standards and then eventually put them into the ordinance, especially for a rebuild. Having zoning standards so that the council has to make an exception is a bad deal, but if the council was happy with negotiations, exceptions wouldn’t be needed. Mr. Bergeson said the city has some leverage because of road issues, etc. A traffic study is underway that will look at the whole interchange. The developer has asked for a second entrance north of Apollo Drive and claims the project can’t go without it. A neighborhood meeting was held to discuss issues related to 77th Street, and the developers felt it was positive. The site plan will be submitted for formal review in January. APOLLO BUSINESS PARK Ms. Divine said Summit Fire Protection is applying for a site plan review on for a 4-acre site. The company manufactures fire protection systems and will build 30,000 SF. KAISER PROPERTY Ms. Divine explained that the city purchased this property on Birch Street and Hodgson Road from the County several years ago. The county wants to purchase it back because it needs a majority of the site for right of way for Hodgson Road expansion. The remainder of the parcel that won’t be right of way will be sold to Apitz Garage. A developer has purchased the entire Apitz farm and is proposing a housing development with some commercial. MEETING DATES It was noted the list of meeting dates had an incorrect February date. The meeting will be February 1. Mr. Gorowsky suggested the July 5 meeting be removed because of the holiday. Meeting adjourned at 8:30 a.m.