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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-26-08-08 City of Lakeville. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2008 Marion Conference Room, City Hall Members Present: Comms. Matasosky, Vlasak, Pogatchnik, Emond, Erickson, Schubert, Tushie, Brantly, Ex-officio member Mayor Holly Dahl, Ex-officio member Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Todd Bornhauser. Members Absent: Comm. Smith. .Others .Present: David Olson, Community & Economic Development Director; Adam. Kienberger, Economic Development Specialist. 1. Call. Meeting to Order Chain Matasosky called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. in the Marion Conference Room of City Hall, 20195 Holyoke Avenue, Lakeville, Minnesota. 2. Approve November 27, 2007 Meeting Minutes Motion 08.01 Comms. Tushie/Erickson moved to approve the minutes of the November 27, 2007. meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously: 3. Election of Officers After a brief discussion, Chair Matasosky asked if anyone was interested in being an officer for the EDG. Motion 08.02 Comms. Erickson/Tushie moved to re-elect Jack Matasosky as Chair, Burry Pogatchnik as Vice-Chair and Bob Brantly as Secretary for 2008. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Presentation of 2007. Annual Report Dave .Olson presented the 2007 Economic Development Annual Report. The presentation included development statistics, new commercial/industrial projects, EDC initiatives, and upcoming projects in 2008. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2008 Comm.- Pogatchnik asked if the downturn in residential development has affected staffing levels at City HaIL Mr. Olson responded that the Planning Assistant position was recently vacated. and vvon't be filled. for the time being due to development slowdown. That position's duties. have been divided among several departments. 5. Summary of 2007 Development Project Feedback Surveys Adarn Kienberger reviewed the 2007 Development Project Feedback Surveys. In 2007, the City sent out 50 survey Letters for which 18 responses were received. In 89% of the surveys that were returned respondents indicated that_their questions were answered to their satisfaction and in most instances rated -the services they received as good or excellent. In comparison to the results from the 2006 survey,. the level of favorable responses for questions numbers 2, 3 and 4 increased while there was a slight decrease in satisfaction for question number 1. It should be noted that the number of surveys returned was only 18 compared to 26 in 2006. Because fewer total surveys mailed .out this year, a small number of responses can have a greater impact on the overall outcome. of the survey. Chair Matasosky suggested that. reminder calls to the developers/builders might help increase the response rate: Mr. Olson responded that staff will coordinate a phone or email reminder system to help bolster'the development survey response rate. Ex-officio member Mayor Dahl noted the importance of connecting with the business community and added that both the surveys and the Spotlight on Business program are valuable tools in doing so. Comma Brantly added that the City should also spotlight businesses that the community is interested in or are unique to the community. Ex-officio member Todd Bornhauser suggested the City explore doing a business .survey on a regular basis similar to the resident survey to gather opinions from the business community. Mr. Olson responded that staff would look into the possibility of doing business. surveys and will report back to the EDC. 2 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2008 6.- Review and- Discussion of the 2008-2010 Strategic Plan for Economic Development Work Program for 2008 Mr. Olson reviewed the proposed 2008 Strategic Plan for Economic Development Work Program goals. The topics covered included transportation, life-cycle housing, technology, growt~~anagement, communication and partnerships.. Comm.. Schubert inquired about transit and if rail plays any part in the future. Mr. Olson responded that there are discussions. in Scott County about potentially removing the moratorium on studying the Dan Patch line. Ex-officio member .Mayor Holly .Dahl added that the current transit focus is on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Because of efficiency and direct routing it makes sense to embrace BRT at this time. Comm. Tushie noted that light-rail shouldn't be completely discounted as a transit option because of the associated economic boom it .can have on the surrounding areas. 7. Twin Cities Regional-Economic Development Website Demonstration Mr. Kienberger reviewed. a Twin Cities regional economic development website project that the Dakota County CDA is considering becoming a funding partner with. The company developing the website is GISPlanning.com and the new website vvi11 be metromsp.orq. A brief demonstration of a similar website constructed by GISPlanning.com for Cincinnati,.Ohio was given. Motion 08.03 Comms. Emond/Tushie moved to recommend support for Dakota County CDA to fund this initiative at the level of $13,600 per year for the next two years in Dakota County. Motion carried unanimously. 8. Director's Report Mr. Olson reviewed the Director's Report. 3 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2008 9. Adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully-.submitted by: Attested to: ' i~~ Adam Kie Berger R. T. Brantly, Secretary Economic Development Specialist 4