HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998/05/18 - ADMIN - Minutes - Economic Development Authority - RegularSCANNED
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A(lhCITY OF
ST. LOUIS
PARK
OFFICIAL MINUTES
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA
May 18, 1998
1. Call to Order
President Jeff Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Phyllis McQuade, member of the Parktacular Committee was present and stated that Parktacular
was planned for June 17-21. She stated that Parktacular buttons were available for sale in the
community and volunteers were needed.
2. Roll Call
The following Commissioners were present at roll call: Jeff Jacobs, Chris Nelson, Sue Sanger,
Ron Latz, Robert Young, and Mayor Gail Dorfman.
Also present were the Executive Director (Mr . Meyer), EDA Attorney (Mr . Bubul), Director of
Community Development (Mr . Harmening), and Economic Development Coordinator (Mr .
Anderson).
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3. Approval of minutes of May 4, 1998 meeting
The minutes were approved as presented.
4. Approval of agenda of May 18, 1998 meeting
It was moved by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Dorfman, to accept the
report for filing. The motion passed 6-0.
5. Reports - None
6. Old Business - None
7. New Business
a. Development Proposal by Frauenshuh Companies for the Southwest quadrant of
Highway 7 and Louisiana Avenue
Dave Anderson, Economic Development Coordinator gave a staff report and asked that Council
consider the execution of a preliminary development agreement between the St. Louis Park EDA
and Frauenshuh Companies for a medical office building and retail/service development proposal
for the southwest quadrant of Highway 7 and Louisiana Avenue and discuss the modifications to
<J the proposal to develop the northwest quadrant.
Councilm ember Nelson asked questions about the meanin g of a soil conditions district on the
southwest quadrant, the billboard, and the testing of envir onm ental conditions. Mr . An derso n
reviewed the public financing considerations and stated that creating a soil condition district
would be one possibility for creating a single site, single purpose tax increment district on the
southwest site. He explained that lan guage had been added to the City's Ordinan ce Code to
exempt a billboard from am ortization and that staff had asked Frauenshuh to undertak e
responsibility to select a consultan t and get pricing for the Phase II analysis.
Mayor Gail Dorfin an asked when additional billboard inform ation would be available for Council
to consider and if staff was comfortable with Council approvin g a prelimin ary development
agreement wi thout the details of the cost of acquiring the billboard. Mr . An derson indicated that
inform ation would be available in 1-2 weeks.
Councilm ember Latz was concerned about the cost of billboard acquisition, was not comfortable
with using condemn ation authority to facilitate the removal of the billboard, an d inquired about
the cost to achieve a higher level of density. He believed that public money should be reserved for
the areas that really needed the help to become financially viable.
Councilmember Latz inquired about the development time lin e upon approval.
Mi ke Denn y, Frauenshuh desired to come back to Council wi th something more substantial by
June 22nd so that all issues raised could be reviewed.
Councilm embers discussed need to consider options to relocate the billboard and the overall
density of the development.
Councilmember Nelson recomm ended that the issue of am ortiza tion of billboards be discussed
further by Council at a study session.
Councilmember San ger was in favor of removin g billboard all together from the site.
Commi ssioner Young was in support of approving a Prelimin ary Development Agreement, but
remained suspicious and skeptical about how the public dollars portion of the development was
really going to be worked out in order to get a substan tial pay back over time.
It was moved by Commi ssioner Latz, seconded by Commi ssioner Nelson to (a) approve a
Prelimi nary Development Agreement with Frauenshuh Compani es for the development of the
southwest quadrant of Highway 7 and Louisian a Avenue and (b) request the developer to submi t
a detailed proposal for the development of the northwest quadrant of Highway 7 and Louisiana
A venue and ( c) direct staff to prepare a report on the combined proposal for review and
consideration by the Economi c Development Authority in June. The motion passed 6-0.
8. Communications and bills
a. Vendor Claims
It was moved by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Young, to approve and
authorize payment. The motion passed 6-0.
9. Adjournment
It was moved by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Co · · o er Sanger, to adjourn the
me · p.m. The motion passed 6-0.
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