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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 19, 1997le e 0 0 . . . MAY 19, 1997 Meeting of the Prior Lake Economic Development Authority Fire Station City Council Chambers CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 5:45 p.m. Present were: Commissioners Barsness, Schenck, Campagnoli, City Attorney Pace, City Manager Boyles, and Recording Secretary Oden. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance was skipped. MINUTES: Commissioner Campagnoh said on page 3, it should read "too" instead of "to". MOTION SCHENCK SECOND CAMPAGNOLI TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE APRIL 28, 1997 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING. Upon a vote, ayes by Barsness, Campagnoh, and Schenck, the motion carried. CONSENT AGENDA: There were no items on the Consent Agenda. PRESENTATIONS: There were no presentations. PUBLIC HEARINGS: There were no Public Hearings. OLD BUSINESS: A) Review purpose and format for the EDA Forum scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, 1997. City Manager Boyles reviewed the materials for the upcoming forum, and the preparations that had been made. He asked for comments on the materials for the forum. Commissioner Schenck asked who would be facilitators. City Manager Boyles said Planning Coordinator Jane Kansier, Planner Jenni Tovar, Planning Director Don Rye, Consultant Roger Guenette, City Attorney Suesan Pace, and himself. Consultant Guenette said the members of the EDA should split up and participate with various groups. He said the format is conducive to soliciting 16200 Ee~gM~~.~~g.O~ri~w~q~II)m~sota 55372-1714 / Ph. (612) 447-4230 / Fax (612) 4~17-4245 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER participation from all parties. He said the way he envisioned they would operate the forum is that Commissioner Barsness would welcome the people and indicate the purpose of the forum, and explain the ground rules. Consultant Guenette indicated that he was interested in soliciting the ideas and input. Facilitators will be responsible to present at least one idea which they had written down. The people at the forum will vote on top three. Consultant Guenette went through each question. After the activity, they will recess, and facilitators will get together. Each group will elect a representative. They will reconvene and share results. They wi]] take names and addresses of those in attendance. Commissioner Kedrowski joined the meeting at 6:15 p.m. Commissioner Schenck suggested that sign up sheets be available in the break out areas. He wanted to know what happens if a participant's suggestion does not work, will they let them know ahead of time? Consultant Guenette said they don't want participants to be confined or restricted in ideas. Commissioner Campagnoli said you are front end loading the process if you are looking for anything in particular. Planning Director Rye said they should not restrain the group Commissioner Barsness said he would turn it over to Consultant Guenette, and doesn't want to get into the discussion of the mall. Consultant Guenette said it would be valuable for him to sit in. Afterward, they will move from idea stage to implementation. Commissioner Kedrowski asked what if very few people showed up? Consultant Guenette said there was an open invitation, it could be 5 or 500. If the group is really small there would be no break out. Commissioner Kedrowski said his concern was getting enough people for a fair opinion. Commissioner Campagnoli said if Prior Lake chooses not to show up, then they leave the decisions in the hands of the Commissioners. Planning Director Rye said regardless of who shows up, they can participate. Commissioner Kedrowski asked about the role of the facilitators. C: \MS OFFICE\WINWORD\ED.A",ED A 51997. DOC 2 Consultant Guenette said the facihtators are to encourage interaction and safeguard against someone dominating a group. He said the handout talks about the purpose and groups would be given direction. Planning Director Rye said if people were going to come, they would have their own ideas. · Commissioner Barsness asked how long discussions would be. Consultant Guenette said it depends on the number of people and flow of the discussion. Large group discussions will probably be for 15-20 minutes. He asked the EDA members if they had talked to anyone who is coming. · Commissioners Barsness and Kedrowski said yes. Planning Director Rye said they used the Chamber's mailing list to publicize in addition to other measures. Commissioner Schenck said the next EDA meeting was set for June 16th, would they convene earlier? The Authority agreed that time would be required to prepare minutes about the forum so June 16 appeared to be a reasonable date. $) NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business. 9) OTHER BUSINESS: A) Finalized EDA Priorities MOTION BY KEDROWSKI SECOND BY CAMPAGNOLI TO APPROVE THE 1997 OBJECTIVES Upon a vote, ayes by Barsness, Campagnoli, Kedrowski, and Schenck, the motion carried. B) Finalized process for EDA review of Purchase Agreements and Tax Increment Financing Proposals. The authority agreed that this copy of the process was in accordance with their desires. Commissioner Barsness read a letter of resignation from Commissioner Schmidt. C: \MSOFFICE\WINWORD\EDA XEDA 51997. DOC 3 MOTION BY KEDROWSKI SECOND BY SCHENCK TO ACCEPT THE RESIGNATION OF COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT Upon a vote, ayes by Barsness, Campagnoli, Kedrowski, and Schenck, the motion carried. Commissioner Campagnoh said Commissioner Schmidt's resignation letter raised good points. She said the time commitment was a concern. The time commitment was more than originally discussed, and the EDA should look at it. Commissioner Barsness said as the City changes then the EDA would require different commitment. Commissioner Campagnoh said she was very concerned about the resignation, and regretted the loss. She said volunteer service should be made as easy as possible. City Manager Boyles said there was lots of catch up work for the EDA to do. He asked what the staff should do to make the EDA job easier, including changing meeting dates and times. Commissioner Campagnoh said this was the time that was agreed upon but it seemed difficult to get here from downtown. Commissioner Kedrowski said that rush hour traffic makes getting to meetings difficult. An alternate meeting time was a consideration. Commissioner Barsness said they need to understand that there will be more than one meeting per month. · Commissioner Kedrowski concurred. 10) ANNOUNCEMENTS Consultant Guenette said Jenni Tovar took a call from a manufacturer who is interested in Prior Lake as a site. They will meet to show Wensmann and Waterfront Passage. It would be a 60-70,000 square foot facility, with wages $9.00 per hour and up, and would be a good addition to community. He said they would not begin construction until 1998. · Commissioner Kedrowski asked why is Wensmann delayed a year. Consultant Guenette said Wensmann does not believe the project works on the site because the slopes and wetlands limit him to productive use of less C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\EDA\EDA51997. DOC 4 than 25% of the site. Economically it does not work unless one major tenant takes the whole site. Commissioner Kedrowski asked about the possibility of developing the front 1/2 of the property. Planning Director Rye said that the 35% development maximum on industrial property as set forth in the ordinance seemed artificially low. City Manager Boyles said he thought the constraints with the Wensmann site development had to do with the topography of the site. Commissioner Kedrowski said the City should look at some alternative to generate development. City Manager Boyles said that would require a Comp Plan amendment, and the City Council said they did not want to reduce acreage available for commercial industrial. Commissioner Kedrowski said there are constraints in that parcel. Consultant Guenette said it would be less of an issue with only one user. Commissioner Kedrowski said not the whole forty acres, but it could be split. Planning Director Rye said it is not well-suited for large scale industrial users. Commissioner Kedrowski said just to have land zoned commercial, does not mean it has to stay commercial. Planning Director Rye said there was a time when the best way to save land was to zone it industrial. City Manager Boyles said one of the City Council top priority goals was working with at least one redevelopment consistent with the goal of getting together with property owners and developers. City Manager Boyles said the danger is getting answers they don't want to hear. Consultant Guenette said he would contact Wensmann to inquire about strategies for development. Commissioner Kedrowski said then the City Council could analyze the proposal. C: \MSOFFICE\WINWORD\ED A',,.EDA 51997. DOC 5 Consultant Guenette said Mr. Wensmann has looked at the concept. He is not comfortable and is not promoting it at this time. Commissioner Schenck said Mr. Wensmann could be invited to the June 16th EDA meeting to discuss. Commissioner Kedrowski asked if EDA was meeting with Planning Commission to discuss HRA. · Commissioner Barsness said that was a goal. Commissioner Kedrowski said it is important that there is affordable housing. Planning Director Rye said it might be worthwhile to get Bill Jaffa from Scott County HRA to discuss HRA activities. Commissioner Barsness suggested that this be placed on the agenda three months out? City Manager Boyles said that they had just adopted the 1997 Objectives and this was not one of them. Commissioner Kedrowski said the purpose of placing this item on the agenda is not for action just for education. 11) ADJOURNMENT: MOTION BY KEDROWSKI SECOND BY CAMPAGNOLI TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. Upon a vote, ayes by Barsness, Campagnoh, Kedrowski, and Schenck, the motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m. City Manager Recording Secretary C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\EDA\EDA 51997. DOC 6