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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09 11 2017 EDA Minutes Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 / www.cityofpriorlake.com 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes September 11, 2017 1. CALL TO ORDER President Chromy called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Present were Chromy, Briggs, Braid, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. Also present were Community Development Director McCabe, Planner Schwabe, Public Works Director Wedel. Chris Chromy with Bolton & Menk, Kate Minor with Scott County and EDAC Members Wade Larson, Sandi Fleck, Lloyd Erbaugh and Stephanie Carroll. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chromy: recommend moving agenda item 8A, CH21 Corridor Presentation, ahead of Old Business. Additional items that were added to the agenda included the Amazon HQ2 Project and October EDA Meeting Date. MOTION BY BRAID, SECONDED BY SHEEHAN-KERBER TO APPROVE THE AGENDA WITH THE ADDI- TIONAL AGENDA ITEMS. Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Braid, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion carried 5-0. 3. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES MOTION BY SHEEHAN-KERBER, SECONDED BY BOUCHER-HOESE TO APPROVE THE AUGUST 14, 2017 MEETING MINUTES. Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion carried 5-0. 4. CONSENT AGENDA A. EDA 2017 Revenue & Expenditure Report (8/31/17) B. Development Update (8/31/2017) MOTION BY BRIGGS, SECONDED BY BOUCHER-HOESE TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS SUB- MITTED. Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Braid, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion carried 5-0. , 5. REMOVED CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS No items were removed from the Consent Agenda 6. PUBLIC HEARING No Public Hearings 8. NEW BUSINESS A. CH21 Corridor Study Presentation - Chris Chromy, Bolton & Menk Chris Chromy: with Bolton & Menk was in attendance to discuss the CH21 Corridor Study. Mr. Chromy provided a presentation to the EDA which summarized corridor visioning concepts and the TH13/CH21 inter- section control alternatives. The previous alternative was based on signalization and the alternatives now include roundabout options. Mr. Chromy provided an overview of the project goals, key intersections, primary intersection type overview, reviewed the difference between the concepts primary and secondary intersec- tions. Mr. Chromy reviewed the traffic signal and roundabout traffic operation statistics as well as the driver and pedestrian safety comparison between the signal and roundabout options. Chris Chromy: reviewed four alternatives for the 2019 project including alternatives A-1, A-2, B-1 and B-2, and discussed the benefits and challenges of each option including property impacts, pedestria n crossing, driver safety and project costs. 2 Sheehan-Kerber: asked if the alternatives required land acquisition. Chris Chromy: responded that the roundabout options have a larger footprint at the 13/21 intersection and less impacts leading to the intersection due to lack of turn lanes. Briggs: questioned the safety of the roundabouts initially and after a period when drivers become used to the roundabout. Chris Chromy: stated there has been a decline in accidents shown after drivers become more familiar with roundabouts. Sheehan-Kerber: asked if a single lane roundabout was considered. Chris Chromy: responded two lanes are needed to handle the amount of traffic. Carroll: asked if a roundabout near the Edina mall was one lane or two? Meiner: stated it was one lane in one direction, two in the other. Briggs: asked a question related to pedestrian gap tolerance. Chris Chromy: replied that pedestrian gap tolerance is dependent upon the individual. Carroll: asked if there was a way to track pedestrian traffic at busy times. Chris Chromy: responded that is highly variable throughout the day and year. The consultant has com- pleted pedestrian counts, which were light, except during the Farmer’s Market when pedestrian traffic was high. Carrol: questioned if large industrial vehicles could maneuver in roundabouts. Chris Chromy: stated roundabouts function well and accommodate large vehicles. Erbaugh: asked why crash severity increases at signalized intersection. Chris Chromy: stated the severity of accidents is related to 90-degree crashes as opposed to side swiping, which is more common in roundabouts. Braid: asked if the concepts that show a roundabout at Duluth/21 maintain Duluth as a collector street. Chris Chromy: replied, yes; Duluth would remain a collector if Duluth/21 intersection is a primary intersection. Briggs: asked if there is a way to attribute traffic counts on Duluth due to poor capacity on Hwy 13. Chris Chromy: stated there are more right turns onto Duluth than other intersections. Traffic will find the point of least resistance. Briggs: commented on the impacts to the Pleasant Avenue connection from CH13 with the signal option versus the roundabout options. Sheehan-Kerber: asked if the Pleasant Avenue access from northbound TH13 was necessary. 3 Chris Chromy: stated that if the left hand [southbound] movement at Main is lost then other alternatives to access south downtown may be available. Carroll: asked why the options included two lights or two roundabouts and do not have options with both a light and roundabout. Chris Chromy: replied that is a signal is installed at Main, a signal must be installed at 13/21 because traffic would back into a roundabout. Braid: asked if a stoplight would function properly at Duluth Avenue with the B-1 alternative. Chris Chromy: stated a traffic signal may work at Duluth but impact would be minimal; under this alternative, the roundabout works better. Carroll: asked when a recommendation would be given. Chris Chromy: stated not until November and they still need to gather more public input before a recommen- dation can be made. Dave Chromy: Commented that the Arcadia Avenue extension to Pleasant was only proposed in one alter- native. Chris Chromy: replied there are benefits to the extension in other alternatives. Erbaugh: asked if the type of intersection had positive or negative impacts on adjacent businesses based on the type of business. Chris Chromy: responded that varies by type of business. Briggs: stated it is important to weigh in on the survey and encouraged all in attendance to keep discussion and input going. Mr. Briggs commented on the process of Municipal Consent and requested the Chair of EDA and EDAC to deliberate with their committees and bring forward a recommendation to the City Council that they would like to see move forward. Mr. Briggs would value input from both committees. 7. OLD BUSINESS A. Resolution to Approve the Proposed 2018 EDA Tax Levy and Budget McCabe: introduced the agenda item and presented the proposed EDA budget and tax levy. Mr. McCabe highlighted the primary budget items and summarized the budget. McCabe: stated the City Council has established guidelines to ensure the city maintains a sufficient general fund reserve balance. As has been discussed by the EDA previously, the committee may wish to request a percentage of the reserve funds to build an EDA fund and be better positioned to acquire property on behalf of the city, establish storefront façade improvement programs, provide financial assistance to encourage de- sirable commercial (re)development or other economic development initiatives. Briggs: stated the council has a reserve target of 40 to 50 percent. The EDA could request a reserve alloca- tion if the city reserve fund exceeds a certain percentage, up to a specific amount, be allocated to the EDA for property acquisition or other improvements consistent with the comprehensive plan. Mr. Briggs stated the request would be contingent upon an annual city council approval. Mr. Briggs suggested that if the reserve exceeded 48%, the EDA may request the council allocate up to 100% of overage. 4 Sheehan-Kerber: stated the EDA could establish a floor for the percentage. Ms. Sheehan-Kerber suggested 47% is the floor and the EDA could receive a minimum 50%, up to 100%, of the reserve above 47%. Ms. Sheehan-Kerber felt it would be important for the EDA to stipulate what the committee would do with the funds; property acquisition, dislocation disruption assistance, streetscaping, beautification, legacy/history signage, etc. MOTION BY BRAID, SECONDED BY BOUCHER-HOESE TO APPROVE A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PROPOSED 2018 EDA TAX LEVY OF $140,000 AND BUDET OF $153,597. Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Braid, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion carried 5-0. 8. NEW BUSINESS B. EDAC Update & Business Event Funding Request McCabe: stated the purpose of the agenda item is to provide the EDA with an update of EDAC activity and request the EDA allocate funds from the 2017 Professional Services Fund to support the EDAC’s fall business event. Mr. McCabe added that the EDAC has requested their committee change its name from the Economic Development Advisory Committee to the Business Engagement Committee to better identify the purpose of the committee and eliminate confusion between the EDA and EDAC. Chromy: supported the EDAC business event and suggested an allocation of $1,500 from the EDA Profes- sional Services Fund. Carroll: commented on the focus of the business event and asked if the TH13/CH21 intersection alternatives should be a focus. Briggs: encouraged the CH21 alternatives as a focus as the City Council wants to hear from the business owners. Briggs asked Chromy, Minor and Wedel if they would be open to attend if EDAC wanted represen- tation at the event. Carroll: stated the EDAC will consider making the TH13/CH21 topic a focus of the event and will coordinate with Chromy, Minor and Wedel. MOTION BY BRIGGS, SECONDED BY SHEEHAN-KERBER TO ALLOCATE AN AMOUNT NOT TO EX- CEED $1,500 FROM THE 2017 EDA PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BUDGET FOR THE 2017 FALL BUSINES EVENT. Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Braid, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion car- ried 5-0. MOTION BY SHEEHAN-KERBER, SECONDED BY BOUCHER-HOESE TO APPROVE A SUBCOMMITTEE NAME CHANGE FROM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE (EDAC) TO BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE (BEC). Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Braid, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion carried 5-0. 9. OTHER BUSINESS A. Commissioner Comments Amazon HQ2 Project Briggs informed the EDA that Amazon is looking for a second corporate headquarters location. Greater MSP is working with DEED as the source for leads in Minnesota; Shakopee is investigating a site and Elko New Market is expected to submit a site option as well. Mr. Briggs recommended that Prior Lake reach out to these two communities and offer a letter of support. October Meeting Date Chromy: suggested the October meeting date be postponed by two weeks so the EDA can discuss the EDAC fall business event during their next meeting. 5 MOTION BY SHEEHAN-KERBER AND SECOND BY BRIGGS TO MOVE THE OCTOBER 9, 2017 EDA MEETING FROM OCTOBER 9, 2017 TO OCTOBER 23, 2017. Ayes by Chromy, Briggs, Sheehan-Kerber and Boucher-Hoese. The motion carried 5-0. 10. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY BRIGGS, SECONDED BY BOUCHER-HOESE TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. With all in favor, the meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m. ___________________________ Frank Boyles, Executive Director