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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007.05.21 EDA MinutesMINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF MAY 21, 2007 EDA President Fran Miron called the meeting to order at 8:30 am. PRESENT: Jan Arcand, Jim Bever, Tom Denaway, Phil Klein, Brian Thistle, and Fran Miron ABSENT: Mike Granger City Administrator Mike Ericson, CD Director Bryan Bear, Associate Planner Rachel Simone APPROVAL OF MINUTES EDA MEETING OF APRIL 16, 2007 Denaway made motion, Bever seconded, to approve the minutes for the EDA meeting of April 16, 2007. All aye. Motion carried. DISCUSSION ON NOR LAKES The City has been notified that Nor Lakes has sold their building to Cenex Harvest States. Cenex plans to close the facility. A Fax was presented from John Gohmann, president of MN Commercial Railway, with concerns that the rail will no longer be used. Mike Ericson introduced Jim Taglia from Nor Lakes to talk about the issue with the EDA. Mr. Taglia gave an overview of what products Nor Lakes make such as liquid lubricants and specialty mining products. He explained that Cenex approached Nor Lakes with a plan to get into the business that Nor Lakes was doing for them. Cenex will be making specialty lubricants in the building and Nor Lakes will be renting out office space in the building. Klein asked if any new employees will be added due to the change. Mr. Taglia stated that there may be a few new employees added because of the change. Miron thanked Mr. Taglia for coming to the EDA meeting and that the City will keep in contact with Mr. Taglia and Mr. Gohmann. The rail is very important to some companies in the Bald Eagle Industrial Park. RED'S SAVOY PIZZA Staff invited the owner of Red's Savoy Pizza, Mike Kinsella, to the EDA meeting to present his new business. Savoy's opened in April and is located in the Festival Foods retail center. The EDA welcomed Mr. Kinsella and his business to the City. Mr. Kinsella was present at the meeting and gave an overview of his business. He stated that he employees 19 people. Bever asked if there were any plans for expansion of Savoy's in Hugo. Mr. Kinsella stated that he would like to expand at a later point. Miron asked if there was going to be a grand opening. Mr. Kinsella stated that he is planning a possible grand opening the weekend after "Good Neighbor Days". CARPENTERS RESTAURANT SKETCH PLAN Mike Anderson the owner of Carpenters Restaurant located at 14583 Forest Boulevard has started to get plans ready for redevelopment of his property. Bryan gave an overview of the downtown area and the Carpenters site. He stated that the downtown area should be thought of as a whole. Bryan showed a concept plan for Carpenters that shows the parking lot in the front and the patio area in the back. He also showed other concepts for the downtown that planned for the whole area. Staff recommended that the EDA review the sketch plan and give feedback to Mr. Anderson on whether it relates to the downtown plan and design guidelines. Mr. Anderson and his development team presented the sketch plan for the redevelopment of Carpenter's. Josh Kobb from Milcon talked about the new concept for Carpenters and presented the redevelopment plan. Miron asked about the square footage of the building. Kobb stated that it is proposed to be approximately 4,500 square feet, but may be larger. Klein stated that when he looked at the plans he started to think about how the EDA could help with planning by tying the plan to the northern properties that the City owns. He stated we need to take advantage of the lake view and start thinking about shared accesses and parking. Kobb stated that Milcon may be interested in working with the City on the northern properties. Miron asked if Mr. Anderson had approached the property owners in line with 145th Street to possibly acquire those properties. He stated that we may be able to assist Mr. Anderson with that process. Mr. Anderson stated that he is planning on talking to those properties owners. Arcand asked about the shoreline setbacks. Mr. Kobb stated as of now it is being planned with the shoreline setback. Klein asked about the trail on the shore line. CD Director stated that there is a walking trail planned for the shoreline. Bever asked about the expansion plans for Highway 61. CD Director stated that the highway will be expanded at some point and it is proposed to expand west instead of all on the east side. Bever stated that he liked the idea of having the buildings upfront and parking in the back and liked the concept for Carpenters with the building pushed back at the 145th Street site. Klein asked about the timeline for the redevelopment of Carpenters. Kobb stated that they would like to get moving as soon as possible but he understands that there are some issues to work though. CD Director stated that the EDA should recommend to Mr. Anderson either to go ahead with what he has and apply for TIF now or to ask the development team to continue to be patient and start to think about planning for the whole area. Miron stated that they should talk to the property owners on 145th and start planning for the whole area. Arcand stated that we have to think about details when we move forward to think about the whole area. Bever stated that he wants to see what other projects Milcon has done and he thinks the 145th Street plan will work the best. Thistle stated that he agrees with Miron and Bever and likes the idea of a pedestrian corridor in the downtown. Denaway agreed. Miron stated that the certification of the TIF district will be closer when realistic plans come in. Bever stated that the Anderson's should come to the June EDA meeting and presents a revised plan. ONEKA SQUARE —120TH STREET & TH 61 Terry Thompson and Jason Brown have been working on plans for a retail center at the intersection of Highway 61 and 120th Street. Staff has been working with the applicant on a "Welcome to Hugo" monument sign for the south entrance to Hugo. CD Director talked about monument signs being part of the EDA's goals. He gave an overview of the plans for Oneka Square. The monument sign is proposed to have the name of the retail center there and the reference to the City of Hugo. The sign could go on the corner of 120th and Highway 61 or on some upland north of the site. CD Director asked for some feedback from the EDA on the monument sign design and location. Bever stated that "Welcome to Hugo" should be a big part of the sign and it could look somewhat like the one to the entrance to the City on County Road 8. Denaway asked how much money the monument sign was on County road 8. CD Director stated that is was donated by Len Pratt and CPDC and is estimated at $100,000. Arcand stated that she does not like the proposed sign for Oneka Square and that it should only say "Welcome to Hugo" or "City of Hugo". She does not want to advertise for the retail development. She stated that having the monument sign look the same as the one on County Road 8 may not be feasible for the City or developer and there may be a design that will work economically. Thistle agreed. Klein asked about the expansion plans for Highway 61. CD Director stated that it will be taken into consideration with this project and will be on a future EDA agenda for discussion. Miron made a motion, Klein seconded, to notify the developer that the EDA looked at the plans and does want a sign and would like to review the design of the sign prior to any approvals All ayes. Motion carried. DISCUSSION ON WASHINGTON COUNTY CABLE COMMISSION On May 1, 2007 Mike Ericson and Nate Ehalt, the Administrative Intern, met with Ted Arbeiter and Suburban Community Channels (SCC). During the tour and visit of the studio we had the opportunity to learn more about public access programming and how the City of Hugo can use public access to further engage citizens. Attached was a memo from Nate Ehalt in regard to the City of Hugo setting up a cable access show. Staff suggested that the EDA discuss this idea and give feedback. Miron stated that he thought that this idea was a good thing and a great way to stay positive. CD Director talked about the EDA Marketing Strategy and how the EDA wanted to handle the promotional portion of the EDA. Denaway stated that the City should talk to other cities and find out what works for them. Denaway made a motion, Klein seconded, to recommend to the City Council the possibility of a cable access show. All aye. Motion carried. MISCELLANEOUS Thistle made a motion, seconded by Denaway, to table items 8 and 9 which were Discussion on EDA Marketing Strategy and Discussion on Downtown Redevelopment & TIF District. All aye. Motion carried. ADJOURNMENT Klein made motion, Denaway seconded to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 am All aye. Motion carried.