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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />CONTINUE TO TRY TO ENGAGE McCOllUM: McCollum has not been engaged <br />with us before this trip. We need to continue reaching out to her making the point about <br />how a piecemeal plan is exactly opposite of a Smart Development, and flies in the face of <br />the Vento Plan. She frames this as a federal issue and is overlooking the role and <br />responsibility Arden Hills should have in planning the future of land development in their <br />city. She is up for re-election and it is critical that surrogate speakers, letter writers, <br />editorials, op-ed pieces and Senators Dayton and Wellstone be engaged in showing her <br />the rational route to redevelopment. <br /> <br />STAY ON TOP OF THE CHERRY-PICKING: We cannot let Bill Harper continue to <br />be a real estate salesman for this property. Ifhe continues on the path he is on, it will <br />soon become a site that no one wants to redevelop and it can become undesirable <br />property form both an environmental and economical standpoint. The GSA definitely <br />sees this as a bad direction because it is going to make it more difficult to dispose of the <br />property. We need to continue a dialogue with McCollum and her staff that concentrates <br />on the areas we can agree on. i.e. smart growth, sustainable development, lifecycle <br />housing, workforce housing, innovative storm water management. <br /> <br />PRODUCE A DEVELOPMENT VISION: It is very important to let everyone know <br />what the city plans to do at this site. We know we will provide some much-needed <br />affordable housing, we will adhere to Smart Growth principles, we will have open space, <br />and we will implement the vision the citizens through the Vento Plan said they wanted. <br />There needs to be a white paper, a pamphlet, and a brochure that tells the story of where <br />Arden Hills is headed here. Ifwe do not, we will be painted as developers building <br />houses in gated communities for the rich. There are individuals and groups who think this <br />proj ect is too large and has too much impact to let Arden Hills steer the process. The <br />thinking is the city will not do an adequate job of planning the reuse of this site. We must <br />counter this view. <br /> <br />COMMIT STAKEHOLDERS TO SIGN PLEDGE: Our other thought is to get the <br />county, the National Guard, and the DNR to sign a pledge to support implementing the <br />Vento Plan. The city should try to pin these groups down. They have been getting a free <br />ride saying they support the Vento Plan when in reality all they support is getting what <br />they want. In reality, they seem less concerned with participating in a master <br />development process than in getting their piece of the site. <br /> <br />National Guard: We must engage this group with assistance from the city. They have <br />already contacted one state agency (the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission) to alert <br />them to the fact that they will have an opportunity to put in a claim for property in the <br />screening process as a state agency. We don't know if they are contacting other state <br />agencies at this time. <br /> <br />I think the overall message and strategy at this time is we need to try and get the <br />stakeholders that are playing an active roll in this process to sit down together and <br />form a consensus on developing a master reuse plan that incorporates their ideas <br />and stop the cherry picking. The direction some of these groups are going is very <br />