2009.05.18 EDA Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 2 Rachel From: Bryan Bear Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 9:42 AM To: Mike Ericson; Rachel; Dennis Fields; Michele Lindau Subject: FW: [NEWSENDER] -A couple of quick thoughts- Message is from an unknown sender Let's copy for EDA and Council -----Original Message----- From: Boeke, Phil [mailto:Phil.Boeke@tennantco.com] Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 8:58 AM To: Bryan Bear; Tom Weidt; charles.haas@lpl.com; Phil Klein Subject: [NEWSENDER] - A couple of quick thoughts - Message is from an unknown sender Good morning, After reading the article about Carpenter's and Hugo in Saturday's St Paul paper and talking to a few neighbors over the weekend, I had a couple of thoughts I would like to share that I believe are consistent with many Hugo residents. First off, I am a big supporter of the current and past city council including Mayor Miron. You all have really tough jobs and I appreciate how difficult some of the decisions are that you are faced with. I am a 10 year resident of Hugo and have really enjoyed watching all of the changes that have happened throughout town. The development out towards 35E has been great and I especially like the design standards that were established and adhered to, bringing a unique feel as you enter our great city. The purpose of my e-mail is to urge everyone to continue with those same standards as the redevelopment of downtown enters an important stage. You all have a "once in our lifetime" opportunity to lead the efforts in developing a downtown that attracts people to Hugo for years to come. The recent plans that were revealed for Carpenters and the area just north of that were somewhat disappointing and I felt lacked critical pieces to attract people to our downtown. • The St. Paul paper said Carpenters will have a French contemporary style. Although this may be true inside the building, the design plan that I had recently seen of the view from Hwy 61 looked like a flat strip mall. I am sure the building will be beautiful once inside, but if this is the first opportunity for residents to see what future downtown development will look like, I found it boring and lacking the charm that buildings like the Blue Heron and others have with their peaked rooflines. • The Finn-Daniels plan for the area north of Hugo is said to include two office buildings, two commercial/retail buildings and a senior living complex. I also noticed that the buildings didn't even seem to face hwy 611 1 am sure we could use additional office buildings and I love the idea of a senior living complex, but are those our top needs as a city? In that location? The residents that I talk to are all hoping for retail and restaurants downtown. A new Carpenters is great, but how about a couple of other/new options? I realize that due to the economy their may not be a lot of those types of businesses ready to move to Hugo, but once you build office buildings in that space it will be too late. Since the End Zone property is no longer zoned for restaurants and bars, that seems a much better spot for offices and even senior housing. I can understand that we will never have a downtown as large as Stillwater or White Bear Lake, but couldn't we at least compete with Willernie for places to go after 6pm? As I said, the development out by 35E has been great, but I agree with Mayor Miron when he says the core downtown area should be the heart of Hugo. I would prefer to spend my money in the heart of Hugo than driving to the surrounding 5/4/2009