Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-29-09Members Absent: Erickson. Members Present: Comms. Matasosky, Tushie, Vlasak, Starfield, Schubert, Emond, Brantly, Longie, Smith, Ex- officio member Mayor Holly Dahl, Ex- officio member City Administrator Steve Mielke, Ex- officio member Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Todd Bornhauser. Others Present: David Olson, Community Economic Development Director; Adam Kienberger, Economic Development Specialist; Daryl Morey, Planning Director; Allyn Kuennen, Associate Planner. 1. Call Meeting to Order City of Lakeville Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 Marion Conference Room, City Hall Chair 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 June 30, 2009 Meeting Minutes Motion 09.09 Comms. Tushie /Emond moved to approve the minutes of the August 25, 2009 meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously. 3. Continued Discussion of Proposed Zoning Amendments on Exterior Materials Requirements for Commercial and Industrial Buildings Allyn Kuennen reviewed the September 25 EDC memo regarding the proposed amendments on exterior materials requirements for commercial and industrial buildings. He noted that there were 26 attendees at the September 15 open house held at City Hall to solicit feedback from the business community. Daryl Morey summarized the timeline for the remainder of the Zoning Ordinance amendment process and stated that it should be completed sometime during the spring or summer of 2010. Comm. Tushie asked what the general response has been from the meetings regarding the proposed amendments to the exterior materials requirements for commercial and industrial buildings. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 Mr. Morey responded that there are some business people who would like to see no changes to the zoning ordinance occur due to the state of the economy. Others are supportive of the proposed changes to the commercial /retail districts and split on the industrial districts. Steve Mielke added there are two businesses in the industrial park that support the proposed changes, but that there really isn't a whole lot of middle ground concerning industrial buildings. Comm. Smith asked how many recently constructed projects fall grossly outside of the standards of the proposed zoning ordinance requirements. David Olson responded that between three and five projects would not meet the proposed standards. Comm. Smith asked if staff works with the developers to encourage a high quality building. Mr. Olson responded that First Industrial, for example, did a high quality building project without influence from staff during the planning process. Comm. Emond added that Cloverleaf Cold Storage was able to utilize metal panels on their building through a conditional use permit. Mr. Mielke stated that there has been a lot of discussion about metal as an acceptable building material in the industrial park. There has been a strong reaction to this discussion, and while the City probably shouldn't allow an all -metal building, there is room for compromise. Chair Matasosky asked if the proposed exterior finish requirements apply to all four sides of the building and if the First Industrial building would meet the proposed requirements. Mr. Olson responded by saying that if you consider option 4c (allow two distinct textures on architecturally precast concrete panels to count toward meeting the exterior building finish requirement), the First Industrial building would probably meet the proposed requirement. Comm. Tushie noted that in St. Louis Park they have a requirement for retail buildings to break up long expanses of a wall with columns to make the long flat surface feel like several shorter surfaces. Some sort of horizontal striping technique might actually make a building look worse. The key is to incorporate a different type of material; brick, block, stucco, etc. Comm. Starfield asked that if the ordinance doesn't change, what leverage does staff have to encourage a higher quality building. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 Mr. Mielke responded that it would be through negotiation, but staff is ultimately bound by the ordinance. There is currently little leverage. Comm. Starfield asked if the City would rather try to negotiate with a business for a higher standard, or not even have a chance to negotiate if the business doesn't even consider Lakeville. If the ordinance were to remain the same for now, when would /could it be reconsidered? Mr. Morey responded that it could be reconsidered at any time based on City Council direction. With the zoning ordinance update in 2000, the City revisited the changes that were adopted for townhome standards after two years. He also noted that the next planned zoning ordinance update is in 10 years. Mr. Morey also noted that the Cub Foods project in Heritage Commons was a negotiation, but because the property owner has standards for that specific development, Super Valu constructed a high quality building. It is likely that without those standards, the building wouldn't have been built to that quality level. Comm. Starfield stated that a lot of people seem to want the standards to stay as they are. Could tabling this item send a positive message to the business community? Motion 09.10 Comms. Smith /Starfield moved to recommend to the City Council that the current exterior building finish standards remain unchanged for both commercial and industrial zoning districts. Motion was not voted on. Mr. Mielke asked for a clarification on the motion prior to a vote. Comm. Smith stated that changing the zoning ordinance at this time will not help the community's position. Staff deserves credit for negotiating to get the number of quality buildings that are currently in Lakeville. Comm. Brantly asked if the motion could be amended to address a review of this situation in the future. Comm. Tushie noted that there is a fine line in how business development is encouraged. Lakeville is already expensive. Having the standards outlined in the existing corridor and gateway design study makes us unique. Being different and unique brings business and residents to Lakeville. Comm. Tushie added that the proposed standards are very similar to other cities in the area and are not all that onerous. Maybe a compromise of allowing for up to 50% of an industrial building to be metal could be agreed upon? 3 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 Comm. Tushie further added that this is a long -term decision; the economy is going to get better. While the timing of change is never good, putting off this type of decision makes the process more cumbersome to readdress in the future since the zoning ordinance update is currently underway. Comm. Longie stated that maybe some of the disagreement is occurring because we are trying to lump the commercial and industrial standards together in this discussion. Retail tends to be more about image and customer traffic, while industrial development doesn't seem to benefit from increasing the building quality standards. Comm. Emond added that a lot of businesses are already upset about the tax increases affecting the cost of doing business. This is primarily being heard in the industrial park and not as much from the commercial /retail sector. Chair Matasosky noted that increasing the standards in the industrial park would only put us further down the list when a prospect is looking for a new location. We at least need the chance to have a prospect come to Lakeville and discuss with them the benefits of doing a higher quality building. Chair Matasosky discussed the example of when Boise Cascade originally came to Lakeville. He stated that he convinced them to deviate from their corporate standard of a metal building, and that they were actually able to build a nicer building for less than what a metal building would have cost. Chair Matasosky added that site selectors' search criteria is restrictive. We need to be able to compete with Faribault and Owatonna. Comm. Tushie responded that he couldn't think of any industrial park in the Metro area that allows metal buildings. Even Cannon Falls requires concrete in their industrial park. Comm. Tushie added that Lakeville is in the Metro area and we have a different situation going for us. We can't compete with every rural community just starting an industrial park on farm land. Chair Matasosky responded that we have sold Lakeville's industrial park based on the critical mass of business that is here. Comm. Tushie asked if metal buildings are currently allowed in the existing zoning ordinance. Mr. Morey referred to the first page of the EDC memo and discussed the existing standard with the EDC. Comm. Emond mentioned the long -term maintenance and issues with metal buildings. 4 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 Mr. Morey noted that when the townhome standards were adopted in 2000, this was due to concern over their long -term viability, since townhomes were a relatively new housing product in Lakeville. The City has evolved and now has a healthy commercial /industrial base. Now is a good time to evaluate the City's commercial and industrial standards before the City is more fully developed. Comm. Brantly asked the EDC if there is any middle ground on this issue or at least on an interim basis, make a statement to the quality that we would like to see without killing business. Mr. Mielke responded that commercial development is very much a statement about the community, and we have received much more support from the commercial developers on this issue. If there is some sort of middle ground, it would seem to make sense to set the industrial standards discussion aside for now and proceed with the commercial standards recommendation. Mr. Mielke added that he is concerned with the perception that the City is trying to "do something" to the business community. He continued by stating that he would rather put the industrial park discussion on hold than do something that would further the feeling that the City is against business. Comm. Emond agreed that this perception is damaging for both the existing businesses and others that are considering coming to Lakeville. Mr. Mielke stated that especially when it comes to commercial development, Lakeville's competition is very much the Metro area. Comm. Tushie asked where the Fairfield Business Campus, which is zoned Corporate Campus (CC) falls in the proposed zoning ordinance amendment. Mr. Morey responded that the CC has its own, higher standards, and that it does not fall under the industrial zoning requirements. Mr. Mielke explained that the EDC's recommendation will be forwarded along with the Planning Commission's recommendation to the City Council. Mr. Mielke added that he is comfortable with holding off on any changes to the industrial standards, but the commercial standards are a different issue. Commercial development is more about community image and will attract or detract from business coming to the community. Comm. Smith asked what commercial buildings have been built in Lakeville in the past five years that do not live up to the proposed requirements. Mr. Olson noted that the Ace Hardware store on Juniper is one example. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 Mr. Mielke added that the CVS on Cedar and Dodd is another building that staff has received criticism on. He added that the City has for the most part been getting commercial building construction consistent with the proposed ordinance changes. Mr. Olson added that the difference with the Ace Hardware store in Downtown Lakeville is that they were held to the adopted Downtown design standards. Without those, they would have likely constructed a building similar to the one on Juniper. Mr. Mielke added that there really isn't much leverage the City has right now. Comm. Smith withdrew his previous motion. Motion 09.10 Comms. Smith /Starfield moved to recommend to the City Council that they adopt the proposed exterior building standards for the commercial zoning districts, but the current exterior building finish standards remain unchanged for the industrial zoning districts at this time. Motion carried on an 8 -1 vote. Comm. Tushie was opposed. Mr. Mielke thanked the EDC for their discussion and consideration of this issue. 4. Update on Minnesota Investment Fund Application for Genesis Poly Recycling Mr. Olson reviewed the EDC memo regarding Genesis Poly Recycling and addressed several questions that were raised by the EDC at their August meeting. Mr. Olson clarified that in the event of default on a loan by a business, DEED has stated that they have never pursued a City in order to recover the loan funds. He added that in the event of default, the City would try to recover the funds through the guarantees or securities that would be a part of a loan agreement. He also noted that in most instances the City would likely be subordinated to the primary lender. Mr. Olson continued by stating that the MIF program is one of the few financial tools the City has to offer businesses in conjunction with the State of Minnesota. Genesis is currently in the queue for funding and DEED has stated that it meets the program requirements. The program is set up as a "last to commit" gap financing tool with a negotiable rate and term. He concluded by stating that the City Council has indicated that staff should move forward on applying for the loan funding. Chair Matasosky asked if the MIF loan would be contingent on other sources being secured first. Mr. Olson responded that that is one of the requirements of the program. Mayor Dahl concluded the discussion by stating that she appreciates the EDC's questions and discussion regarding this project. 6 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 29, 2009 5. Director's Report Mr. Olson reviewed the Director's Report and provided an update on building permit activity through the end of August. Comm. Emond asked who the most active residential building in the City is at this time. Mr. Olson responded that the top three builders are probably Ryland Homes, Country Joe, and D.R. Horton. Chair Matasosky asked if any of the builders are still building any homes speculatively. Mr. Olson stated that most homes being built now already have a buyer lined up. He added that the City is currently studying a request to allow for smaller single family lots as a reaction to the change in the housing market. Comm. Longie asked if there was an update on the potential to signalize the intersection at Hamburg and Lakeville Boulevard. Mr. Olson handed out the latest traffic study for that area that showed that traffic in that area was not high enough to meet warrants for a traffic signal. Mr. Mielke added that the City doesn't add unwarranted traffic signals because of liability concerns. 6. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Adam Kien erge Economic Deve opment Specialist Attested to: R. T. Brantly, Secretary