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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-07-10 EDA MinutesCITY OF COTTAGE GROVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A MINUTES July 10, 2007 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a regular meeting of the Economic Development Authority was held at City Hall, 7516 80th Street South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota on the 10th day of July 2007. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. by EDA President Bailey. ROLL CALL Members Present: Myron Bailey, EDA President Gerry Weingartner, EDA Secretary /Treasurer Paul Poncin, EDA Member Tony Jurgens, EDA Member Sarah Westall, EDA Member Jim Wolcott, EDA Member Members Absent: Pat Rice, EDA Vice President Others Present: Howard Blin, Community Development Director Joe Fischbach, Management Analyst Ryan Schroeder, EDA Executive Director Kenneth Smith, Management Analyst Jesse Swenson, Management Analyst Ron Hedberg, Finance and Administration Director Jim Lockhart, PariPassu Jonathan Lockhart, PariPassu Kathy Anderson, Architectural Consortium Miles Lindberg, Westwood Professional Services Gerry Herringer, property owner APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by EDA President Bailey to approve the June 12, 2007 Economic Development Authority minutes. Seconded by EDA Member Wolcott, All Present in Favor. Economic Development Authority - Minutes July 10, 2007 Page 2 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE EDA Executive Director Schroeder gave the monthly development update. He emphasized that work is underway on the Ice Arena /Pine Tree Pond Park projects. The play ground has been moved and there is a July 17 meeting with the architect. The Jamaica roundabout bids came in on July 5 The new bids did not save the City any money. A decision has to be made to do the project under traffic conditions which would take about 16 weeks or do the project under closed traffic conditions which might take around 8 weeks to complete. There was a neighborhood meeting held about Hamlet Park on July 9 EDA Executive Director Schroeder noted that building permits were slightly better than last month but we were still down by around 65% from the average of the past six years year to date. The Presbyterian Homes project and other developments have kept total permit values up including commercial and institutional permits, without them we'd be down 35 %. He noted that the bid date for the second portion of the East Ravine Trunk Utilities project is July 12 The project is currently estimated at 1.3 million dollars. EDA President Bailey asked Mr. Schroeder if there is any word on the BP gas station coming down date. Mr. Schroeder reported that the lease has been terminated but paper work is not completed yet. EDA Member Wolcott noted that the development map, included in the packet, was very helpful. 2007 EDA GOLF TOURNAMENT UPDATE Jesse Swenson gave the EDA updated tournament registration numbers for the 2007 event. She reported that 77 people have registered for the tournament which includes 19 groups and one floater who needs to be put with a group. So far there are 2 Bronze, 11 silver and 3 gold sponsors. She noted that the goal was to have 132 golfers. Mr. Schroeder commented that this was a good turn out and that he hasn't made calls to prospective golfers yet. EDA President Bailey informed the board that he has a foursome. EDA Member Wolcott stated that 132 golfers is the right number for a successful tournament. Mr. Schroeder noted that many of the registrants were banks and bank -like organizations. EDA President Bailey asked how many registered for last year's tournament and Ryan replied that it was in the 120's. COTTAGE VIEW SITE Members of the PariPassu group were introduced and a project overview was presented by Kathy Anderson of Architectural Consortium. PariPassu's concept plan was for a potential retail development at the 94 acre Cottage View Theatre Site, located at Keats Ave. (CR -19) and East Point Douglas Rd. Some highlights of the plan included: • Rezoning to General Business (B -3) Zoning District • Extensive grading of the site • Sanitary sewer and water utilities are currently in place to serve the area • Storm sewer improvements would be necessary • Adjacent roads would need to be improved • Two anchor stores are shown with 193,000 and 93,000 square feet 2 respectively • Between these stores 151,000 square feet of in -line stores are proposed with the remainder being a variety of retail, restaurant and service uses on individual pads No EDA action was requested. This was only presented for informational purposes. Howard Blin, Community Development Director asked the Authority for their input and comments concerning the proposed plan. Kathy Anderson of Architectural Consortium has worked on several similar projects throughout the Twin Cities (i.e. Arbor Lakes Village, Woodbury Lakes) sites that required ponding and wanted national high -end retailers to come to area. She described the proposed product as a Cottage Grove show place with strict attention to design. EDA Member Westall asked, how will this project be unique to Cottage Grove? Kathy said that hearing from the Authority would help with establishing what is unique to Cottage Grove. EDA Member Wolcott said he would like to see a 360 degree architectural product that was unique and put Cottage Grove in a good light. He said he does not approve of white buildings incorporated into a design. He would like to attract people from Woodbury and other areas. Kathy Anderson acknowledged that Cottage Grove is in direct competition with other areas and said the project would not be a clone of other retail areas (i.e. Ponding and method of moving water). Miles Lindberg of Westwood Professional Services added that the proposed series of ponds that will re- circulate the water is similar to that at Oakdale Village that uses artwork and a footbridge to create a sense of place. Mr. Schroeder asked where is the gathering place? Kathy said the heart and soul of the site is the central core area. The larger stores will have benches in front on sidewalks. Miles Lindberg pointed out that they've shortened distances between stores. Kathy Anderson noted that gathering depends upon the community. (i.e. access to trails and bike usage) EDA Member Westall asked what kind of fast food restaurants did they have in mind? Kathy replied that ideal would be drive thru and coffee shops. She acknowledged that key to landing a particular restaurant is who the main anchor store is. EDA Member Wolcott asked what is going in on the top right hand corner of the plan? Kathy said this is for non - traditional office use like clinics, doctors, chiropractors. EDA President Bailey asked what kind of reception did the plan get at the conference in Las Vegas? Jim Lockhart replied that the plan received a positive reception because of its high visibility and high traffic set up. EDA President Bailey said he agreed with EDA Member Wolcott that we need to be unique but that we need to court certain retailers to Cottage Grove to bring Woodbury residents. Jim Wolcott asked about getting a Talbots? Kathy replied that there are just so many retailers out there and Talbots are ending up in lifestyle centers in Edina, Maple Grove and Woodbury. EDA Member Westall asked Kathy how are they marketing to high end customers? Kathy explained that they are dependent on income demographics of a community. EDA Member Westall said she felt this was a chicken and egg approach. Jonathan Lockhart exclaimed that they are pro Cottage Grove in their approach to marketing. Retailers ask them if the city is behind these kinds of developments and they say yes but the city is free to impose its style demands on a project and the retailers are ok with this. EDA Member Jurgens stated that he liked the main street feel but it doesn't seem different than any other place. He suggested incorporating a smaller scale drive -in movie theater to the site as a way to make the development unique compared to others in the area. EDA Member Westall asked what is the process to bring this forward to retailers? Kathy Anderson explained that retailers will follow the big anchor store. Jim Lockhart explained that there are some stores that are not interested and others are excited but he couldn't go into details at this time. EDA Member Westall asked if the big stores make restrictions and Jim Lockhart 3 explained that the developers do. They know they have to fit in with our guidelines. Jim Lockhart explained that the size of the site dictates economic reality of having two big foot prints. EDA Member Jurgens asked if the anchor store has a say in who the other tenants are? Jim Lockhart told him yes. EDA Member Wolcott explained that he liked what he'd seen and he believes he can work with them. He believes incomes' in Washington County are high enough to attract nice end users. Jim Lockhart explained that they are pushing for anyone who fits the footprint. EDA Member Jurgens said he would also like to see some locally owned Mom and Pop type stores that are not chains at the location. EDA President Bailey asked if they envisioned any type of movie theater at the site? Jonathan Lockhart said they had spoken with Mann theaters who claimed it wasn't feasible given the current state of theaters in the area. EDA STRATEGIC PLAN The final EDA strategic plan was handed out without comment. MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS EDA President Bailey asked if there was any miscellaneous business. No one replied. ADJOURN EDA Member Wolcott moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by EDA Secretary /Treasurer Weingartner, All Present in Favor. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 A. M. Respectfully Submitted, Kenneth L. Smith Management Analyst 4