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/14/12 StarTribune-Print Page <br /> ^JL <br /> StarTribune <br /> As Scott County's growth stalls, hurdles <br /> arise <br /> Article by: DAVID PETERSON <br /> Star Tribune <br /> June 10, 2012 - 10:02 PM <br /> The leaders of what was once one of the nation's fastest-growing counties are being warned they are not well-equipped to <br /> join a recovery that's slowly taking shape. <br /> And consultants say the issues Scott County faces are common to many others as well. Among the sobering realities: <br /> • While suburbs often cringe at the thought of big multifamily housing projects, that is what the market now demands. <br /> • Meanwhile, the big corporate headquarters campuses they dream of? Mostly a mirage. <br /> "Corporate campuses are tough," consultant Matt Mullins of Maxfield Research Inc. told a gathering of mayors and other <br /> civic leaders from across the county on Friday. "Everyone wants one. But there are only a handful of companies looking for <br /> that and it's a very competitive process. Ideally, it would be excellent for Scott," plagued as it is today with lots of lower- <br /> wage jobs versus the better paying offers in nearby Hennepin County. "But it's challenging." <br /> Developers are keen on multifamily projects such as apartments and senior housing, he said, while for the moment <br /> "builders can't cash-flow single family subdivisions" of the type many suburbs prefer, "though I expect we will see more <br /> activity there soon." <br /> Civic leaders spent more than two hours at Prior Lake City Hall viewing numbers showing the slowdown within the county in <br /> recent years and the immense gap between their goals for job growth and their ability to attract new firms. <br /> Consultants warned of a limited supply of the kind of land firms seek: parcels ready to build on, with costly water services, <br /> sewer and the like. <br /> The leaders also heard that in a competitive marketplace, Scott County is not blowing the pri\rate sector away with quick, <br /> well-informed responses to inquiries from companies seeking sites with certain amenities such as fiber-optic cable. <br /> "Does each of you want to spend $80,000 to $100,000 for every city to hire and equip an economic development <br /> coordinator?" asked the county's soon-to-retire community development chief, Mike Sobota. "Can you do that? Probably <br /> not." <br /> Indeed, in tight budget times, it was clear that elected leaders will be skeptical about spending the money that adwcates <br /> say it will take to fix those dilemmas. <br /> Said Prior Lake Mayor Mike Myser: <br /> "We, as a county, had phenomenal growth for a while and then no growth. I'm not convinced we know what trajectory we're <br /> on right now. I don't want to spend the money and then have nothing occur for five or 10 years, and we know that happens <br /> all over the Twin Cities. We only have so much gunpowder, and we need to do it right." <br /> Others spoke of it as a chicken-and-egg problem: Without attractive sites, no one will come. <br /> "A lot of us want to jump to marketing," said Savage City Administrator Bary Stock, "but we have nothing to market! We <br /> have no land" --or not the kind that's ready to be built on. <br /> David Peterson • 952-746-3285 <br /> @2011 Star Tribune <br /> +ww.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=158385075 1 <br />