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City of St.Anthony Village-Livable Communities Demonstration Account Award Application 2000 44 • Funding What will the Demonstration Account award fund? The grant will pay for planning and market research consultants to conduct research and lead community visioning workshops to develop a master plan for the northwest quadrant of St. Anthony Village.The City intends to apply for a Livable Communities grant in 2001, preferably under Category A. Benefits or value of a grant award and what would not be accomplished without the funds. Final products include a master plan for mixed-use redevelopment, recommendations for the City's CIP, and knowledge of life-cycle and affordable housing needs, design standards and innovative affordable housing tools, such as location-efficient mortgages. The City of St. Anthony Village is committed to redeveloping Apache Plaza and the Salvation Army Fresh Air Camp property. A developer has expressed interest in developing a portion of Apache Plaza. With funds from the Metropolitan Council, the City will be able to study the entire redevelopment area. Rather than waiting for other developers to approach the City and impose their vision for redevelopment, the City, with the help of its residents and consultants, can assess the needs of the entire community, taking transit, affordable housing, urban design and environmental concerns into consideration, and determine the best uses that will strengthen neighborhood identity and alternative transportation modes. One of the City's greatest concerns is the environmental degradation of Silver Lake. Analysis.of the watershed and options available for its improvement so far have not been adequately pursued. This grant money would allow the City to determine ways to improve lake quality rather than continue to use band-aid remedies when development proposals are introduced. The City is interested in providing an integrated mix of housing types and prices/rent ranges throughout the community. Community leaders realize the importance of life-cycle housing to retain residents and that affordable housing choices are somewhat limited in St. Anthony Village, as is the case throughout the metropolitan region. Since the City has not been • approached by housing developers, the City would like to determine its needs and aggressively pursue opportunities, if market research determines that housing is a viable option for this redevelopment area. This planning process will require the City to develop several partnerships to arrive at a successful redevelopment scenario. For instance, the City will need to work with a variety of public and private interests within the city, with adjacent communities, the County and the Watershed District. Columbia Heights owns a park adjacent to the Salvation Army site. The environmental sensitivity of Silver Lake will require the City to work closely with the Watershed District and perhaps the County if it is decided that the City should purchase all or a portion of the Salvation Army site for green space. Because the City is desirous of a higher level of transit service in the northern half of the community, the City will need to work-with MetroTransit."St. Anthony's citizenry was-involved in the development of the Comprehensive Plan, which supports redevelopment of Apache Plaza, increased use of transit and other alternative modes of transportation, the development of higher-density urban villages, and a stronger identity for the city. The City will continue to involve the community during the redevelopment planning process. This project has the potential to serve as a replicable model for other communities in several ways, especially aging, first- tier suburbs with transit nodes already in place that are in need of adaptively reusing aging, outmoded commercial buildings. For instance, St. Anthony's zoning ordinance traditionally has prohibited a mixture of uses. The City now desires to amend its local controls to encourage the use of alternative transportation modes and create a more compact, pedestrian-oriented urban village. Other Cities could use these local controls as models for more compact, mixed-use development. The City supports the use of location efficient mortgage programs, which make inner city housing more affordable when transportation cost savings are subtracted from monthly housing payments. This Fannie Mae Program already operating in Chicago, Seattle, and the Bay Area of San Francisco, fits the Metropolitan Council's goal of directing more housing into transportation corridors. A pilot project could easily be instituted in St. Anthony Village, • where transit already exists. In addition, master plan will integrate innovative surface water management, urban design patterns that create a sense of place, a planning and design process that involves various interests of the citizenry as well as other units of government,and determines the best use of a rare, open space amenity. Amount of funding requested.$150,000. To be matched by the City of St. Anthony.