HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.23.22CITY OF LAKEVILLE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
August 23, 2022
1. Chair Seiler called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Marion Conference Room.
Members Present: Comms. Rick Bjorklund, Jessica Christiansen, Lowell Collman, Bob Gillen, Sara Lundberg, Jack Matasosky, Don Seiler
Ex-officio Members Present: City Administrator Justin Miller, Mayor Douglas Anderson, Chamber President Krista Jech
Members Absent: Comm. Jim Emond, Andrew Phillips, Glenn Starfield
Staff Present: Tina Goodroad, Community Development Director; Kati Bachmayer, Economic Development Coordinator
2. Approval of June 28, 2022 Meeting Minutes
Comms. Gillen / Matasosky moved to approve the minutes of the June 28 meeting.
Motion carried unanimously.
3. Envision Lakeville Cultivating a Sense of Community – Justin Miller
Mr. Miller presented an update on the Envision Lakeville ‘Cultivating a Sense of Community’ Taskforce (Taskforce). The Taskforce is an advisory body of the City Council with responsibility to provide information and assistance in enhancing the strength and accountability of Envision Lakeville’s values and strategic priorities. The Taskforce presented a final report to the City Council during the July 27, 2022 regular meeting. The report recommended four implementation strategies including: I. Develop a proposal to initiate a community survey to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the City’s efforts to Cultivate a Sense
of Community. II. Utilize collected community input to propose action steps and strategies to enhance the City’s efforts to Cultivate a Sense of Community. III. Provide recommendations to create better awareness of current Census data about who we are today. IV. Provide recommendations to City Council for community events with the purpose of celebrating who we are and developing deeper connections among community members. A community survey will be conducted in 2023 to coincide with the Envision Lakeville five-year update. Efforts will be made to reach a broad cross-section of residents to reflect the community. A new youth advisory commission is currently accepting applications and will conduct interviews in September.
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4. Project Updates
Ms. Goodroad called attention to the new meeting agenda format with several standing items. It is staff’s goal to bring about discussion and receive feedback from the commission members. a. Multiple Family, Workforce and Senior Housing RFP (RFP). Ms. Goodroad provided an update on the status of the RFP (request for proposal). The City of Lakeville has allocated Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds toward this activity and will be able to post the RFP by the end of August. Objectives of the RFP include identifying employment trends impacting housing, projected job growth, comparing local wages to housing costs, projected housing needs in relation to wage levels, and more. EDC members provided feedback on the RFP objectives. A desire to provide affordability of single-family homes was discussed, as well as the lack of condos and co-op living options in the community. Additional suggestions include 1) obtaining employee zip code data from major employers to understand where people are commuting from and the reasons why, 2) what other housing products are available but not being built in the City, 3) how can Lakeville’s manufactured home parks be supported to maintain naturally occurring affordable housing?
5. Marketing Efforts Ms. Goodroad noted that marketing Lakeville and our available sites is a big part of staff’s work. With the recent slowdown in the market, staff has seen some industrial projects pause their efforts, so marketing is more important than ever. a. Response to RFI’s. City staff has responded to several RFI’s (request for information) recently from Greater MSP and MN Department of Employment and Economic Development. Many are for manufacturing businesses that would bring additional jobs to the City. b. Economic development website update – discussion. Ms. Bachmayer informed the EDC that staff was looking to perform a website audit of the City’s community and economic development webpages. Ms. Bachmayer noted that an audit was performed as part of the last strategic planning process and that it was important to review the information with fresh eyes periodically. EDC members were shown the current website both to inform and seek feedback. Ms. Goodroad noted that some metro communities have separate economic development websites and a few of these would be sent to EDC members for review. EDC members recommended creating a welcome video for the website and ensuring that the information provided met both the residents’ needs and site selectors’ needs. c. Events. Ms. Goodroad shared a list of upcoming events that staff plans to participate in, including the MNCAR Expo, MN Real Estate Journal Suburban Summit and Open to Business Friday Field Trip. d. Future of Retail/Developer roundtable. Ms. Goodroad informed the EDC that it was staff’s plan to schedule a ‘future of retail/developer roundtable’ by the end of 2022 or early 2023. She would like to use this event to highlight community areas
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that are ready for development and hear from commercial real estate experts about the current state of the market and future forecasting. EDC members were supportive of the idea and wanted to learn more about how other communities are handling OP (office park)/BP (business park) zoning vs. industrial zoning. e. Others. The City of Lakeville will be conducting a community survey in 2023 and Ms. Goodroad noted that staff hopes to survey Lakeville businesses as part of that process.
6. Development Update Ms Bachmayer presented the development update using a PowerPoint (vs. a written memo) in order to provide visual references for the current projects. Projects mentioned were: MD2 Clinic ribbon cutting, BennyAni Photography ribbon cutting, United Christian Academy groundbreaking, Keswick Medical Addition proposed medical office, Suite Living of Lakeville construction, Lakeville Specialty Center construction, Lakeville Medical building construction, Gilb Fitzpatrick proposed medical office, Arris Apartments completion, Kenrick Park & Ride reopening, and Dunham preliminary plat and CUP application.
7. General Discussion a. Future agenda topics. Ms. Goodroad informed EDC members that she would be participating in a League of Minnesota Cities meeting that will be discussing THC legislation in response to the recently passed legislation that legalized the sale of THC products in the state. There are several factors for a community to consider including licensing (like tobacco) and zoning restrictions. Ms. Goodroad anticipates the City of Lakeville addressing this issue in late 2022/early 2023. b. Speaker ideas. Ms. Goodroad asked for speaker suggestions and requests from EDC members for future meetings. Comm. Seiler asked to hear from major employers in Lakeville (both new and legacy businesses) to learn what attracted them to the community and identify our competitive edge. Comm. Collman requested to hear from Greater MSP, Open to Business, MN Association of Realtors and site selection consultants.
8. Adjourn Meeting adjourned at 5:14 p.m.
Respectively submitted by: Kati Bachmayer, Economic Development Coordinator