Planning Commission Minutes

CITY OF VICTORIA
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
MARCH 21, 2006

MINUTES

Pursuant to due posted and mailed notice thereof, the Victoria Planning Commission met on March 21, 2006, at 7951 Rose in the Council Chambers.

Chair Simanton opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Members Present: Chair, Gordy Simanton; Commissioners James Donadio III, Bud Hiivala and Tom Vogt.

Members Absent: Commissioner William Mead VI.

Others Present: Eric Zweber, City Planner; Angie Perera, Assistant Planner; City Councilmember Rick Tieden; and Tanya Schmieg, Recording Secretary.

A. Adopt Agenda

A motion was made by Hiivala, seconded by Vogt, to adopt the agenda as presented. Vote: 4 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion Carried.

#2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

A. Minutes of the February 21, 2006 and February 28, 2006 Planning Commission Meeting.

The following revisions were requested to the February 28, 2006 meeting minutes by Commissioner Vogt:

Page 4, 7^th paragraph should read as follows:

Commissioner Vogt applauded the fact that the developer keeps coming back. He talked about the very recent establishment of Growth Management Guidelines by the City which require staging or phasing of developments. He stated he didn’t understand why the City was so quick to dismiss the staging requirement for this developer by applying some lots to the 2005 lot provision. Commissioner Vogt also wondered why building the road was a factor in recommending only one phase. Why not construct the entire road initially regardless of phases since the development area is not that large? He stated the other issue is if you look at the 225 annual guideline, it includes an allocation for commercial and multi-family housing. Single family housing is only around 150 units per year.

Page 6, 3^rd paragraph, last sentence should read:

He also thinks the City should do everything they can to get more trust units.

Page 8, 1^st paragraph should read:

Commissioner Vogt commented on the discussion on why Hyancinth and road number 1 would not share the same intersection as 78^th Street and what would it cost to make this connection. Mr. Zweber said they would need to do soil borings to determine the exact magnitude of the wetland soil issue. Mr. Brad Kerber said the main problem is that K & K does not own the property. There is a three acre exception for the Kerber residence. The first thing they would have to do is acquire the property where such an intersection would be.

A motion was made by Simanton, seconded by Hiivala, to approve the Minutes as corrected above. Vote: 5 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

B. Review Minutes of the February 9, 2006 and February 29, 2006 City Council Meetings.

The above minutes were reviewed.

C. Review Minutes of the February 21, 2006 Joint City Council, Planning Commission, and Business Development Committee Workshop.

None.

A. Downtown Redevelopment Update.

1. Agenda Statement No. 06-11
2. Exhibits

Mr. Zweber stated the City is currently preparing the Downtown Master Plan. He noted that Mary Meuwissen is in attendance tonight and will be is proposing a development downtown and is here to brief the Planning Commission on her proposal and get any feedback or general guidance. Mr. Zweber stated this is not an official proposal and no action is needed.

Commissioner Donadio asked if there was a timeline for when the Downtown Master Plan will be complete. Mr. Zweber said soon and the Commission will be briefed by Mr. Kaltsas tonight. Mr. Zweber said next Monday at the joint meeting Mr. Kaltsas is going to try and get the proposed layout down to one layout with the configuration of the streets and larger lots. He has done an initial parking analysis as a whole, but from that it can be broken out block by block. Between tonight’s meeting and Monday’s meeting they hope to come to a consensus that this is the layout of the downtown.

Ms. Meuwissen came forward to share the process. She said she is the owner of the creamery in downtown Victoria. She mentioned that prior to purchasing the creamery she did have conversations with Steve Sarvi and Mark Kaltsas about moving forward on doing the downtown redevelopment project that would include the lakeshore area and part of the plan that was adopted back in 1997. Ms. Meuwissen said that during the last six or seven months they have done a lot of interviewing of the business owners downtown and working with different groups and the architectural firm that did Excelsior Grand, which is a good development of mixed use. They have also worked with Harry Garish who has done other work for the City architecturally and is one of the best illustrators that she has ever come across. She stated they are working with other firms, Klutz and are also making sure she was talking with all the business owners, Rich Gannon, C&H Carpenter, Craig at Schmitty’s, the Hartman’s and the Victoria House, who is her main partner.

Ms. Meuwissen said she would like to walk through a big picture plan. She noted that they do want to partner with the City and they have the support of the business owners in this process. She noted that there are two plans that are included in the packet. The first one does not have Schmitty’s on it and the second one does. She stated that she does not have the Master Plan that was adopted in 1997, but Mark has brought it forth before.

Ms. Meuwissen said there are two different plans. The first one has a proposal to relocate the road that was adopted in the 1997 plan. She noted some of these things can shift or move around as far as the property line. In looking at building number 1, the road currently comes thru on the lakeside so they will be taking a section and turning it into a redevelopment district. She showed where the Hartman Building, the existing Creamery, the lake, Rich Gannon’s Building, Victoria House, Schmitty’s and C&H Carpenter buildings were.

Ms. Meuwissen said there is more additional parking than what Mark has on the Master Plan. Building number 1 would be all condominiums with underground parking. There would be 22 units at about 2,200-2,400 square feet in size. She mentioned that they believe with the Wensmann project the number 1 problem was they made them too small. They then combined units and those were the ones that sold and were the most asked for units that they had. They had two bedrooms and ran about 1,500 square feet. The lakeside ones all sold, but the number one thing was to have another office and a little bit larger in living space. She noted that they did sell and she has three clients that she sold housing units to them and received feedback from them. She mentioned that they have only sold a third of the front side units, which are the more affordable ones in the $250,000 range. Ms. Meuwissen said the market wanted more space and bigger units. She has been in the real estate business for 22 years.

Ms. Meuwissen said that building number two gets a little bit smaller because if Craig, from Schmitty’s decides to stay they want to make sure they accommodate them. She noted if Schmitty’s chooses to sell they would shift it down and make the building larger. Ms. Meuwissen stated that concept wise they are almost identical. Building number two would have full retail on the entire main level of the building and three levels of housing with 12 units and would be the same size (2,200 – 2,400 square feet).

Ms. Meuwissen stated that building number three would be one level of retail. She noted that retail could be restaurants, coffee shops, store front, etc. The second and third level would be office concept.

Ms. Meuwissen stated that in the plan they are keeping the existing creamery. They have worked off of the creamery and the architecture of it. The main level would become more of a pub type concept and the upper level would be the design company center.

Ms. Meuwissen said that with the parking, the public parking would be coming underneath to the underground parking. There would be a separate entrance for the housing, so there would be both public and private parking. She noted that when interviewing people the biggest problem of people going into housing on mixed use projects is that they don’t want to have to drive past people that have just been at a bar and are standing in the parking lot to get to the unit.

Ms. Meuwissen said the next concept is the center green space park area. She noted that the brown and red area is all covered gathering space with paved patios. Ms. Meuwissen said that it is proven that large open spaces are not good because people like to have a purpose and a place to gather. She said that is what they are trying to create and bigger is not always better.

Ms. Meuwissen said the plan works with or without Schmitty’s. It is a plan working with the City to come up with a great project. She stated this would be the anchor or the core and things would grow in a higher design standard for the rest of the downtown.

Ms. Meuwissen stated they would be coming in and doing some cleaning and remodeling on the creamery. They would change out the windows and the brick. As you look through the building toward Kid Talk there would be paved patios and would also be able to have gathering space. The new building would accommodate the Victoria House, but they haven’t decided where they will go. The Victoria House will go somewhere in the new building and they will pick the best place for them. The main level would be the restaurant concept and then two levels of office space. This is good because people aren’t there at night. Ms. Meuwissen said the second building has all retail on the main level and then three levels of housing. She stated the important thing to know is that retail and offices won’t make it on there own. The main engine in the redevelopment plan is the housing. She referred to the development company working on the project in Lake Calhoun Square and they said how important the housing is. She believes that they stepped out of Mound because the housing piece wasn’t big enough.

Ms. Meuwissen stated all of the architectural design is that older vintage feel with a little more upscale in material in use of awnings, decks, pavers, railings, facet and that type of concept.

Ms. Meuwissen said as you get down past Schmitty’s, the flat area by the parking lot that building is still being worked on. It helps off set the cost of the office and retail space and is a full condo building. It sits lower 12 feet lower than the Main Street. They have done a lot of work in order to try and hide the height. There is actually five levels and they have set back the upper level so it wouldn’t be as visible from the street side. Councilmember Tieden asked why there is concern about that. Ms. Meuwissen stated that height is always a concern. There is a flat roof and all the design was done to make it feel like it is a three or four level building.

Ms. Meuwissen said that on the next page they have done some cross sections to show the height. This is a north south site section shown at the bottom of the page and there will also be an east west one. She noted the pink are all the existing buildings that are already in the downtown. She mentioned that if you are standing on Highway 5 and looking at the Wensmann Building you get one perspective. She showed building number one with the elevation of what the skyline looks like. She Ms. Meuwissen said that building number one, the condo unit, the top of the building (the visual piece) is at a 1030 elevation and the part that steps back in is at a 1042 elevation. The Wensmann Building is at a 1041 elevation. The Kid Talk Building is at 1012 elevation. The Antique Building is at 1017. In relation to building number two the top of the Hartman Tower is at 1023 and the building sits at a 1011, the creamery is at a 1010. Building number two sits at a 1030 and is the one with retail and three levels of housing. Building number 3, which has the restaurant on the main level and offices, sits at a 1020. Ms. Meuwissen said that this shows a relationship to how the roof lines line up. She said that looking east to west is the same concept. They overlapped building number three onto the Hartman Building.

Ms. Meuwissen stated that her main goal tonight was to give a general overview. They have worked very hard with this plan and the business owners. She would like to know how the Planning Commission feels because the next step takes quite a bit dollar to continue to pursue this. If the Planning Commission and the City Council like this they would be anxious to partner and bring forth a fantastic plan. She mentioned that she hasn’t been active with the City since 2003 and a lot of things have happened.

Chair Simanton stated that normally the Commission has an opportunity to see these things in the packet and have some time to review it. He said he can’t give a definitive answer tonight, because he hasn’t had a chance to review it. Chair Simanton said that speaking for himself he thinks the City is very interested in having businesses come in to town. The concept with the mixed uses is very intriguing. Chair Simanton asked what the intent of the underground parking is and if it is mixed use underground parking as well. Ms. Meuwissen showed the entrance that would take care of the twelve units and then showed where the public parking would come in. They would both be underground. Chair Simanton asked on the five story building has its own underground parking. Ms. Meuwissen said that it is completely self contained. Ms. Meuwissen noted that the Wensmann property has one and a half parking spots per person and they have two parking spots per condo unit. Commissioner Donadio asked if that was all the way across the board or just that unit. Ms. Meuwissen showed the housing units that have the two spots. Chair Simanton mentioned that there is no overflow going in the mixed use parking. Ms. Meuwissen noted that there is separate public and private parking.

Chair Simanton asked about the Schmitty’s proposal and if they are not able to acquire that property if there are plans to allow expansion if they sell in the future. Ms. Meuwissen said that they are in discussion with Craig and they would need it now because that would determine if it is three or four units across. Once that is in they can’t change the size of the building. Ms. Meuwissen noted that Schmitty’s is definitely willing to talk and they are trying to work out something that would be a win for him and the City. Chair Simanton reiterated that there would be no plans to expand on that it would just be there.

Chair Simanton asked what property Ms. Meuwissen currently controls. Ms. Meuwissen said that block of property that the Creamery sits on. She noted that the Victoria House is in partnership with them. They would be looking at doing extensive remodeling of the lower level of the creamery and the Victoria House would go into that so they wouldn’t have to miss any work and then there would be a land swap.

Chair Simanton said that looking at the entire downtown area the issue that will probably come up is the parking and second would be the sufficient roads for circulation with this area and also the land swap area behind the Dairy Queen with 13 or 14 acres over there. He noted they are looking at the Master plan of how the roads, parking and park area and are trying to figure out how to size the infrastructure to be able to accommodate something like this.

Commissioner Vogt said he has talked to a lot of people both with the City and people who live in Victoria and they are still trying to get used to the Wensmann Building. He noted that immediately after that building was approved a lot of people said they didn’t realize that it was going to look that big and there are still people that say that’s a big building. Commissioner Vogt said the height of building number one is still a concern that it is a big building. Commissioner Vogt asked what is to the south and to the east of that and whoever is there is going to have to look at that building. Ms. Meuwissen said it is the Cal Hasken’s Apartments. Commissioner Vogt said he has heard over and over again that the housing is key. Commissioner Vogt said the parking is the biggest issue and has to somehow be managed. He noted that Chair Simanton mentioned the traffic flow with the reconfiguration of the roads and the land swap and the traffic coming from that area and some other flow coming from the east on Commercial Avenue is a big thing and they have to make sure it work. He stated he didn’t know where the delivery trucks would be, but thought it could be worked in. Commissioner Vogt said the whole idea having space where people can get together is great and that’s what people crave is a place where they can enjoy themselves. Ms. Meuwissen said it is very people friendly.

Commissioner Hiivala said his comments are first if this is going to set the standard for the total Downtown Master Plan. He thinks that the plan developed was very well thought through even to deal with the height and the parking effort in the design. Commissioner Hiivala said he agrees with the other Commissioners in that they need more time to look at this. He stated he is very impressed with it.

Mr. Zweber stated with the case of Schmitty’s, if you couldn’t initially acquire them, if they could plan to do building number 2 last to have the most time to negotiate or have Craig rethink about the project. Ms. Meuwissen said building 2 and 3 would go together. She also said that she wants to make sure that she hasn’t mislead anyone in that Craig is very interested in working with them.

Ms. Meuwissen said it does take time, by the time the City Council says they are supportive they would then have to order a feasibility study to take a look at the road realignment, cost, etc., of doing that and then weigh in on the tax and finance piece of it. With that timeframe if something changed if at first they didn’t want to go and then he did they can always be flexible with the buildings.

Chair Simanton stated that the timing on this is very good because with this type of a concept it gives more of a vision and Mark could take that into the Master Plan.

Commissioner Donadio asked for a reference to the width of the buildings. Ms. Meuwissen said she doesn’t have that right here, but she will get it.

Ms. Meuwissen said as they are moving forward the main thing that was done the last six months was to try and get feedback and working with Mark. She said they want to continue working with the downtown and that this would be an opportunity for the downtown to really do something special.

Terry Hartman stated that Ms. Meuwissen has showed the plan to them over the last couple of months. He said when they started this the three buildings were actually one big building and it has evolved to this. What was presented tonight from his standpoint is 100% better. He noted that she has done a great job of keeping them in the loop. He thinks the color, scale, size and keeping the Creamery is fantastic and preserves the small downtown, but produces a lot of revenue.

Councilmember Tieden asked if there was any idea on what the condos would sell for. Ms. Meuwissen stated it would be right around $700,000 each. She noted that they can upgrade to a higher level. They have laid out all of the units and financially they didn’t want to do something that wasn’t feasible. She said there are blueprints of every single unit. Ms. Meuwissen mentioned that when talking to Craig he said when you do this my property doubles in value and he looks at it as should I stay or should I leave. She noted that she loves hearing that.

Councilmember Tieden said he is sure that the architects have looked at the parking, the size of the roads and elevations and asked what is heard from them. Ms. Meuwissen said they came for the information and she has asked Mark to look at it in the Master plan. They believe parking will not be an issue and it will fit right in with the downtown plan. She noted that they didn’t go this far and spend this kind of money to not have parking in mind.

Mr. Kaltsas stated that he took the plan in concept and did about a thirty minute take off on parking to see where they were with this project and what the leaves for the rest of downtown. He said they are able to satisfy about 85% without thinking of the structure. He took what Ms. Meuwissen is presenting and her detail with square footage as far as breakdown between mixed residential and a couple of restaurants and thinks when this is broken down they are on track. He said as far as taking the ordinance and applying it to the square footage it is at an 85% demand. Ms. Meuwissen stated when she interviewed the Soloman Group, the group doing the Calhoun Square projects, the lead person shared that they stay away from elevated parking ramps. She noted that people don’t like elevated parking ramps. The on street parking is key to them and people like to walk right in off the street.

Councilmember Tieden said you can see where this sets the standard for future development and asked about all the meetings with the architects if they had any ideas on how the land swap area could be developed. Ms. Meuwissen said that the number one thing that they say is that in relationship to the expansion is you need to have a crown jewel. This is just notching it up to try to really pull together just like a neighborhood. Ms. Meuwissen said she thinks it is really exciting and would like to work with the City. She said that her great fear is that she would make it look easy to do this. This has been a very hard deal to put this together. She reiterated that housing is the engine that makes it work.

Chair Simanton said if it is anything they have seen so far that they put up in the downtown area it has been successful. He said in order for this to be successful the City has to make sure the parking and the traffic flow can handle all that. Ms. Meuwissen said this is just big pictures. Chair Simanton asked Mr. Kaltsas about the Master Plan. Mr. Zweber said that Mr. Kaltsas will be giving an update on the Master Plan next. Chair Simanton thanked Ms. Meuwissen for coming in.

Mr. Kaltsas stated he hopes to take information that Ms. Meuwissen has put together and take information that he is putting together as far as remaining properties outside of the central core and put together the conceptual Master Plan from an infrastructure standpoint. He said the Cities involvement would be similar to what was done under the phase one the downtown redevelopment that was initiated in 2002. This would be to rebuild streets and things that would support the streets such as sidewalks and public gathering spaces and then deal with things such as parking, utilities and any other urban site amenities. He said the way to get to that point is to put together a conceptual plan that would take what he has passed out to the next level. They would bring that back to the Planning Commission and the City Council and ask the Council to authorize a feasibility study for the engineers to put together a much more detailed study to determine whether or not they can do this and what the cost would be. Mr. Kaltsas said that the plan passed out is a variation on the theme. He said they have a proposal to do a lakefront project with the idea of closing off Steiger Lake Lane and if that particular proposal went away or something happened the City is going to need to still move forward with some redevelopment. He is showing right now where they are in terms of concept planning for the road alignment for downtown. The center of the focus is the public square and being able to accommodate some sort of a public gathering space or town square. Using that as the centerpiece of the redevelopment and going off that to work in a road alignment that connects up to some of the existing roads and creates new spaces and new roads that allow for some of the ideas to come forward. He showed the orange streets that would be the streets in the end product of the redevelopment and the focus of this is the new east west road that would be the extension of Tower Boulevard and connecting that with Commercial Drive. The next piece would be the realignment of Steiger Lake Lane and showed the opportunity to have both Steiger Lake Lane left in place if no project comes forward but the opportunity to redevelop the road to close it off. He stated this is the idea to move forward with to put in the next layer of detail. The next layer of detail would identify road configuration, right-a-way, parking (both on street and opportunities for off street), and redevelopment opportunities. All of the numbers are variable upon each other. They would first put down the roads, truck movements and turning templates to understand how the infrastructure works. They would look at projected traffic flow and try to accommodate that thru intersection alignment with the major intersection points to understand if one, two or three turning lanes would be needed. Mr. Kaltsas said they would then look at what’s left over after they put the infrastructure piece on top of the downtown and that will be what they have for developable opportunities.

Mr. Kaltsas said is goal is to come back to the Planning Commission with a concept plan that puts that into place. He will be taken into a count what Mary’s proposing in terms of her building alignment. He said again the key points is that they can both redevelop or leave Steiger Lake Lane in place depending on what projects are in place. He said that this is not exact but concept and when they put true dimensions on paper it will change and that’s the next step.

Commissioner Vogt asked if there is a factor that is going to make the decision on whether Steiger Lake Lane is eliminated in front of the Victoria House. He asked what will drive that, the approval of the development just presented or some other factors. Mr. Kaltsas said when they left Steiger Lake Lane in place they did so because there was not enough redevelopment occurring to warrant closing the street off. They felt it would be detrimental to the two businesses that were on that street. He also noted at that time they didn’t have anyone in control of the creamery and at that time was private residence. Mr. Kaltsas stated what drives Steiger Lake Lane being closed is a development of this magnitude. He said they would be able to build their proposed development in such a way that they understand the ramifications of not having Steiger Lake Lane in and they understand the new road configurations that would be servicing their development. He said in doing the redevelopment those properties would have access provided on the other side. Commissioner Vogt asked if the properties in front were going to be considered a common area for the City. Mr. Kaltsas stated that most of that property is in right-a-way and some of it is in prescriptive easement. The City would essentially maintain that property as public open space thru that redevelopment. He said there would be some private space for that entire condominium building and they would section off what is private and public. Mr. Kaltsas stated Stieger Lake Lane would become public open space.

Chair Simanton stated he had some observations and feedback and he thinks that the town square park in the middle should error towards the side of making it as big as they can get it. He said another thing is to create the flow of moving back and forth on the east west corridor there is a kink in it by Kid Talk. He would be interested in having that where it comes off a Tower Boulevard and is going thru City Hall to connect to the bridge. Mr. Kaltsas said he can comment on that and it’s not to say that it can’t be done, but when they built that bridge the Council made a decision that the road alignment would orientate the bridge so that it fed into the little piece of Steiger that used to be called Elm Street, the bridge doesn’t align itself and would no longer meet the MNDOT standard radius. A decision was made when they built that bridge that they were locking in the configuration and giving up the opportunity to make that swing. It would require some major infrastructure changes.

Chair Simanton asked about the timeframe that this will be coming back. Mr. Kaltsas said his goal would be to come back the second meeting in April. Chair Simanton asked what should be expected at that meeting. Mr. Kaltsas said there would be a packet with a diagram of what the downtown would look like. He showed an example and said it would be more detailed and would show the parking lot, on-street parking, alignment of the street and proposed right-a-way. It would have proposed parking information and would take into a count the whole downtown section including the property going to the west along Commercial Drive, but would not include the apartments or condos on top of the hill. Chair Simanton asked if it will also include the land swap area. Mr. Kaltsas said no.

Mr. Kaltsas stated that they went to the Three Rivers District Board meeting and they unanimously approved the land swap development agreement. It is on the consent agenda for the final board authorization to execute. It will go to the Victoria City Council at the first meeting in April and go back to their board. Mr. Kaltsas said he is meeting with this group, the Business Development Committee and the City Council on Monday night to go over the result and a summary of what was done at the last meeting and hopefully bring consensus together that would allow for the preparation for the RFP to be put together.

Chair Simanton motioned for a 5 minute break at 8:25 p.m.

Chair Simanton called the meeting back to order at 8:30 p.m.

B. Business Development Committee Minutes and Goals.

1. Agenda Statement No. 06-12
2. Exhibits

Mr. Zweber stated the some Planning Commissioners has expressed concerns about the subjects that are addressed in the minutes of the February 22, 2006 Business Development Committee. This item has been placed on tonight’s Agenda to allow the Planning Commissioners an opportunity to share these concerns with each other.

The Business Development Committee had some discussion about the meeting that was a month ago regarding the downtown. They indicated they seemed to be in favor of doing an RFP type of project with the land swap. Mr. Zweber said then there was a conversation of a Cub Foods and he wasn’t sure why that was particularly chosen, but he has some concern that Cub would be all of the land swap area. Commissioner Donadio said what he read in the meeting minutes that were forwarded to him was that it was used as an example to describe the redevelopment that went on at Highway 41 and 7. Mr. Zweber referred to a conversation he had with Oppidan. Mr. Zweber said they are interesting in sending out an RFP to see what all the proposals are and are leaning towards a continuation of the downtown which is a mixed use downtown,

Commissioner Vogt stated that 6e is what got his attention: Absolutely want a grocery store. Chair Simanton said that one of the things he has heard over the years just from the residents is they would like to have a market here. Chair Simanton said he doesn’t have a problem with a group like that wanting to brainstorm and that committee would still have to come back to the Planning Commission and the City Council to get things approved. He noted that they also have Councilmember Mary Hershberger-Thun as a liaison. Mr. Zweber said he realized they have a person in the room that is on the committee and asked if Terry Hartman was at that meeting and if so, if he would be willing to give some background information and some clarification on what the context was at that meeting. Mr. Terry Hartman said he can’t speak for the whole group, but the short conversation was thru a rumor and thru an outside developer the group was told that they came to the City regarding a grocery store and the response was negative saying we don’t have the kind of land you need to come back. The group was concerned with that kind of message and wanted to make sure that it doesn’t happen anymore. More time should be spent on the formal proposals that come forward whether it’s a Cub or a Kowalski.

Chair Simanton stated they had a visitor that wanted to address the Commission and asked him if he wanted to come to the podium and introduce himself.

Mr. Matt Crowe stated he is acquiring the old antique store building. It is in the purchase agreement stages right now and in the next sixty days he will be the owner. He does downtown redevelopment in the City of Saint Paul. His family firm has been in the construction business for five generations. Chair Simanton asked what the name was. Mr. Crowe said it is Crowe Construction Management. He said it is fun for him to come back to this area and that he grew up in Carver. Mr. Crowe stated he should have some basic renderings at the next Planning Commission meeting. Chair Simanton asked if the goal is to keep the building but just renovate it. Mr. Crowe said he would like to bring back some of the history and has seen photos of when it was constructed in 1904. He does want to work with the City and with the other developers in getting some good, solid long term tenants for the City.

C. Community Development Department Action Steps for the 2006 City Council Goals.

1. Agenda Statement No. 06-13
2. Exhibits

Mr. Zweber This year, the City Council has decided to add Action Steps to its annual Goals. Action Steps are the measures or actions that will occur during the year to fulfill the City Council’s Goals.

The Action Steps of the Community Development Department have been provided for the Planning Commission’s review and comment before they are scheduled to be approved at the March 23, 2006 City Council Meeting. The Action Steps have been developed from the Planning Department and Planning Commission Goals that have been previously reviewed, discussed, and approved.

Mr. Zweber stated that this isn’t that different from what was previously worked on. He said in chronological order when the new year came a long the first thing they did was go over what they are planning on doing this year then they got together with Dave Urbia and Mark Kaltsas. From that he brought the goals to the Planning Commission and the Planning Commission set their goals and then the City Council came up with their sets of goals. Mr. Zweber said this Thursday the City Council will review this and will hopefully approve the goals with the action steps.

Mr. Zweber said a lot of these are things that were talked about tonight, but he just wanted to go over them to make aware what some of the specific steps are.

Mr. Zweber stated the first goal is to complete the "Land Swap" Three Rivers Park District. He noted that this is pretty close to done.

Mr. Zweber stated that step number two is to complete the Downtown Master Plan. He said that was discussed tonight and will be discussed further on Monday.

Mr. Zweber stated to the next action step is to prepare, release, and review proposals for a RFP for the "Land Swap" Development. He mentioned that they don’t have to do an RFP and could choose to do a Master Plan for the area. He said as he stated earlier his personal preference would be to go with an RFP.

Mr. Zweber said next is to prepare a Feasibility Study for infrastructure improvements in the existing downtown. He said some direction was made with that today. They plan on releasing that so TKDA can start working on in late April or early May. It would take about three months to do and has to be complete in September 2006.

Mr. Zweber stated the next step is to prepare plans and specifications for downtown infrastructure improvements (if the Feasibility Report is favorable and downtown redevelopment is likely to be approved; 4^th Quarter 2006). This is a step that they will need to wait on. If Ms. Meuwissen’s property is ready to go at the same time it makes sense to do this. She would need to be before them in the fall to bring forward in the spring of next year. If that is not made it will probably be a 2008 project.

Mr. Zweber said the next one is to create Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District #4 (if Plan and Specifications are authorized; may be moved into 2007). He noted that this again depends on Ms. Meuwissen’s project moving forward. This doesn’t include is that they do have three TIF

Districts running and one is about ready to be retired, two has been defined for the bridge (needs to be reevaluated to make sure it’s operating effectively) and the rest of downtown is three. Mr. Zweber stated that four years after you initiate a TIF District, which was three years ago, you need to kick out any properties you haven’t worked with. He noted with TIF District three Wensmann’s, Kid Talk, Hartman’s, the reconfigurations of the streets in those parcels and some facade improvements for Floyd’s and the Victoria House. They now need to start a TIF District 4 that would include Ms. Meuwissen’s project if that goes forward. Commissioner Donadio said the same is true for the Mr. Crowe who just talked about the Antique Building. Mr. Zweber said they don’t know his proposal for sure and it may or may not include the TIF funds, but yes it is something that needs to be considered.

Mr. Zweber said the next is to prepare template Commercial Developer’s Agreement.

Mr. Zweber said next is to consider location of a new City Hall (may include joint Library, Senior Housing, and/or other public or civic functions). Mr. Zweber said there will be two components of that and if a consideration will be made in the new land swap area or in the older part of town. He said they need to start a space need study.

Mr. Zweber noted the next step is to review Downtown Design Standards (consider replacement with a Citywide Design Review Standard and/or an Architectural Design Review Committee).

Mr. Zweber stated that under action step number 10 it states to evaluate the role of the Economic Development Authority (EDA). Implementing the revolving loan funds and some of the recent things that could be used for was Floyd’s or Victoria House. The other option is to get a form of a grant for repairs or upgrades of local businesses. Mr. Zweber said another one is the involvement in funding for a new City Hall. He used Waconia as an example and said it is actually owned by the City HRA and the City leases it from them. Mr. Zweber noted that they could use their own economic development authority.

Mr. Zweber said he will not be going over the rest of them in so much detail.

Mr. Zweber said under the Manage Growth is to begin the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. He said the first thing to be done is to determine scheduled/ task list for creating the 2008 Compressive Plan (deadline June 2006) as well as put out an RFP for a community survey. Mr. Zweber stated that on Thursday they are asking the City Council to authorize construction of the Comprehensive Sewer and Water Plan. He said next would be to begin the Economic Development in Element of the Comp Plan and the Housing Element of the Comp Plan. Mr. Zweber said also to begin the Transportation Element of the Comp Plan.

Mr. Zweber said that they would review/revise the Growth Management Guidelines and determine applicability of a transportation impact fee. Chair Simanton asked what the timeframe is on the transportation impact fees. Mr. Zweber said it is in Mr. Norton’s hands and they didn’t set him on a firm timeline. He is on vacation the next week and a half. Mr. Zweber said they need a legal opinion and then have TKDA do the plan as well as writing the ordinance and then adopting it. Chair Simanton said he agrees that the first step is to get an opinion from Mr. Norton. Chair Simanton asked if Mr. Zweber could send him an email. Mr. Zweber will take that on and will bring this to the City Council on Thursday. Commissioner Vogt asked if Mr. Norton was working on the land swap deal as well. Mr. Zweber said yes, that was some of his time as well as working on Krey Lakes. Chair Simanton said for the Planning Commission to let him know that they are anxious to get an opinion to move forward. Mr. Zweber said most certainly.

Mr. Zweber stated that number four to begin discussions with the Marsh Lake Hunt Club regarding the possible acquisition of a "Large Urban Park". He has had conversations with the Trust for Public Lands and they have assigned an individual to work on this. Trust for Public Lands is a non profit organization. Mr. Zweber stated that the TPL’s role is to get in between a willing land seller and all the Government Agencies that have funding options and then they work on putting the package together. Mr. Zweber said they are willing to come in front of the Planning Commission and the City Council but they want to talk to the Hunt Club. He said hopefully in May there will be someone here. They are viewing this very seriously.

Mr. Zweber said the next would be to coordinate with the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services regarding the construction and installation of the proposed MCES Sanitary Sewer improvements. This year will be mostly planning and construction won’t start until next year.

Mr. Zweber talked about setting up the Land Trust to manage the City of Victoria Land Trust Lots and to actually start using them.

Mr. Zweber said that some of these are repetitive. He said he is not going to go though the rest, but asked if anyone had any comments.

Commissioner Vogt stated he had a comment in the downtown parking component that is in goal number two: Managing Growth. He thinks that should be considered in goal number one and making it part of the downtown plan. He said you don’t want the downtown parking separated on a different timeline than downtown. He said it also goes with the fact that if considering something for City Hall, a library, or that kind of thing is the place where a parking ramp would fit. It would fit very well with high clustering density. Mr. Zweber said it may also fit into goal number four as well determine the feasibility for.

Commissioner Vogt asked if there has been any brainstorming on a complex for the City Hall and if it would be considered for the land swap area. Mr. Zweber said that is one of the topics that Mr. Kaltsas will talk about on Monday. They will have to decide if is possible to be in that area. Mr. Zweber stated they should put it in the RFP or just having a generic public facility with a list of things such as a library or senior housing. He said to not completely eliminate that it could be over here. Mr. Zweber said he leans towards making the RFP generic but include City Hall. Commissioner Donadio said in other words putting a Christmas list into an RFP and saying these are the things the City needs. Mr. Zweber said yes, but doing it in a way that you say these are the things we are considering and see how creative they are. Commissioner Donadio said if downtown here is going to go vertical then maybe have the other side of the park go vertical.

Councilmember Tieden had nothing to report.

A. Communications.

1) Dan and Trudy Schelitzche Request for Annexation.

Mr. Zweber stated he has only been here a year and a half, but it seems to be an annual request. They

asked last year and were given a response letter and they asked this year and received another response letter.

Chair Simanton asked how many acres it is. Mr. Zweber stated it is roughly forty, but is very hilly,

And there is a significant amount of trees and wetland so it is probably closer to twenty-five.

Commissioner Donadio stated it says that it is one hundred and twenty acres. Mr. Zweber stated he didn’t

bring the map and it has no road access.

2) City Planner’s Response to the Schelitzche Request.

Noted.

B. Other.

Mr. Zweber said the next Planning Commission would be April 4^th and he is on vacation next week. If he had to do a packet he would have to do it next week. Mr. Zweber said there are plenty of issues with the goals, but he is leaning towards canceling the meeting.

Chair Simanton asked Mr. Zweber to send an email to the two that are not here. Mr. Zweber said unless he sends an email saying the other two have an issue with not having a meeting the April 4^th meeting will be cancelled.

A motion was made by Donadio, seconded by Vogt, to adjourn the meeting at 9:10 p.m. Vote: 3 Ayes, 0 Nays. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Tanya Schmieg
TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.