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<br />Economic Development Plan or Business Retention Program in place, this information was not <br />available until the EDC recently pulled it together. <br /> <br />Ms. Wolfe stated that the City clearly did not have a very good comprehensive list of businesses. <br />The generation ofthe business list was the biggest initial impact ofthe EDC's work and a side <br />benefit was that it could be used for fundraising purposes. This list was used to send out <br />invitations for the upcoming business luncheon and as undelivered invitations were returned, the <br />business list would be updated. <br /> <br />Mayor Aplikowski stated that the City did not have the extensive knowledge it does now. She <br />thanked the EDC members who used their own resources to gather this information. <br /> <br />Ms. Barton stated that one ofthe purposes oftonight's meeting was to hear the Council's <br />questions, concerns and/or comments about the plan. Ms. Barton further stated that this plan was <br />projected over a five-year period. Certain things would be started in year one whereas others <br />would not take place until the fifth year. The costs associated with implementing this plan were <br />outlined in the proposed budget. City Staff and the EDC members want to bring this plan back <br />for Council approval at a regular Council meeting in the near future, so the implementation of <br />the plan in 2007 could be appropriately budgeted for. <br /> <br />Ms. Wolfe stated that this was a comprehensive plan and was proposed to be implemented over <br />the next four to five years. The time constraint was with trying to finalize the budget to have a <br />proposed budget at the November Work Session, and preparing for truth in taxation and the final <br />levy, which are in December. Ifthere were going to be cost items implemented in 2007, staff <br />needed preliminary direction to include them in the 2007 budget. If additional discussion was <br />needed for the long term plan, we could continue to have them, but there was a need to talk about <br />what items the Council was comfortable with that could be moved forward and budgeted for. <br /> <br />Councilmember Grant asked what the final product of this plan was. Mr. Kunkel stated in <br />regards to the Red Fox/Grey Fox area, if nothing was done with this plan, this area would be <br />extremely deteriorated 15 years from now. Arden Hills residents would hold us accountable, one <br />way or another, for what was not done. If done properly, this property could have a vitality and <br />life that we could be excited about. We could see new businesses that not only serve our <br />residents in terms of the services they provide, but employment of a significant nature as well. <br />Also, an opportunity that could exist through a development plan would be working with the <br />existing businesses to determine growth and where new businesses were if we wanted to retain <br />all those businesses. It would be a strategic decision. We would probably not fight to retain <br />every business that existed in Arden Hills, but we could strategically look at how the City could <br />grow economically. <br /> <br />Councilmember Grant asked if the northwestern quadrant of Arden Hills was seen as a <br />redevelopment area and if so, what it would be designed for. Ms. Wolfe stated it would have to <br />be done in phases. The first piece would be assessment, looking at strategic decisions and <br />making them. The simplest answer was to be proactive instead of reactive, and possibly avoid <br />the position of trying to quickly react because businesses were starting to leave the City. A <br />proactive step could perhaps be trying to identify ahead of time factors that may prompt <br /> <br />2 <br />