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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-13-06 EN HILLS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, June 13, 2006 7:30 a.m. Upstairs Conference Room, Arden Hills City Hall I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL 111. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. May 17 2006 meeting B. June 7, 2006 meeting IV. BUSINESS RETENTION AND OUTREACH—Bruce Kunkel/Karen Barton A. Next Steps: i. Develop a timeline 1. Frequency of contact ii. Determine who should go to meetings with Businesses iii. Develop Questionnaire for appointments iv. Schedule appointments 1. Determine order(largest, most employees,highest revenues, etc.) v. Develop plan for subsequent meetings VI. ADJOURN AND SET NEXT MEETING DATE City of Arden Hills 1245 West Highway 96•Arden Hills Minnesota 55112 Phone 651.634.5120•Fax 651.634.5137 www.ci.arden-hills.mn.us ;i �e a A a 041, AAA, Y \AAjrj pllv�L Y . 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',. 1� �, - - }� !�� • 4'�' _ �l ��ly� �� � I }� l� '{I 5,1 �i i ' lel I' 4 -Ad 0�6�� Cq na . ) IN ter i �l e4 ( Y�i ,Fr 11 • � w r� hz kD • Gosh', b� .� ti-u-ot fiv Ate+--<.( i 1 ra ; 1 i+, 13l: I i i I; .......... � Jill, X;7------ -� _ 1 �, a ,1 �1 Ci F . A S i �I - pj, 6t& i� �I P !Tt EN HILLS CITY OF ARDEN HILLS,MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION June 7,2006 7:30 A.M. CITY HALL -- 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 Chair Bruce Kunkel called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. Those in attendance: Chair Bruce Kunkel, Dale Beane, Rob Davidson, Jim Paulet,Nancy Kneeland, Ed Werner, Kevin Kelly, Ray McGraw, and Mayor Aplikowski. Staff. Community Development Director Karen Barton; Guest Presenter: Jim Mooney, DeSCo Solutions, Inc. Absent: Chris Ashbach Economic Development Plan Preliminary Report Jim Mooney, President of DeSCo Solutions, Inc., presented a"Developer's Packet" of information that the City would be able to provide to prospective developer's who expressed interest in Arden Hills. Mr. Mooney then presented a summary of the interviews he conducted with the Key Leaders in the City. The key issues that percolated to the top were the need to focus on business retention and the lack of identity for the city. Mr. Mooney stated that the City's primary strength is our"brain trust"; our highly educated residents. And that this is an important marketing tool and niche. Of the city's weaknesses, our biggest issues are poor transportation,with major roadways and lakes segmenting the city, and the high employee turnover in the City. Opportunities include the city's "warehouse district"behind the Holiday Inn, and our Life- Science/Bio-science business presence. The primary economic threat facing the City is development in the entire metro area,not just our immediate neighboring cities. Off the agenda, the need to maintain and improve infrastructure is of significant importance in the City. Ray McGraw stated that he felt the Council should be given a copy of these findings. Mr. Mooney stated that the next step in the process was to complete the public input process. He indicated that the Mayor's letters to the stakeholders would be mailed today, and that the survey link would be placed on the City's website on Friday afternoon. He also recommended emailing 0 the stakeholders to request their participation in the survey. Mr. Mooney said that the survey would then be open to the community at large in 2 weeks. Nancy Kneeland asked if he expected to see a difference in responses between the two groups. Mr. Mooney said he did, and that those residents less connected with the City will tend to be more negative. Mr. Mooney went on to recommend that the City form a citizen's committee to review the sign ordinance to better accommodate businesses. He further stressed that citizen committees and task forces are important in all facets of city government. Nancy Kneeland added that it is important to get a variety of people on each of the committees— not just the same people each time. Nancy Kneeland asked if the final report with have suggestions on how to deal with each of the issues and opportunities. Mr. Mooney stated that it would and that today's information is just the input he's gathered to date. Mayor Aplikowski noted there were vague references to TCAAP and the city's sluggish economic development and wondered if that was a common theme amongst the key leaders. Mr. Mooney stated that the leaders stressed the need for services and interconnectivity of neighborhoods and that they see TCAAP as a mechanism to facilitate some of that. Rob Davidson asked Mr. Mooney what his summary of the 10 hours of interviews with the Key Leaders was. Mr. Mooney stated that the city faces some common problems including our resident's being content with the Cul de Sac neighborhoods and don't want to see economic development, and the fact that the city has significant physical divisions throughout the city that need to be addressed. Mr. Mooney also stressed the City's "Brain Trust" as being a huge positive. Mr. Mooney added that the lack of a downtown identity, zero-lot line development and brick facades was also a detriment. Mr. Mooney then presented data compiled for the competitive analysis: ■ Most of the cities compared showed a decline in population ■ Arden Hills has a net-inflow of workers each day, which is positive for economic development ■ Arden Hills has a low risk for further contractions in manufacturing ■ Arden Hills has low economic risk factors overall ■ Arden Hills has a high average new home value Rob Davidson requested a graph of the median home value as opposed to the average new home value. Mr. Mooney indicated he would obtain that information. ■ Arden Hills has high SAT scores, a large school system, a high education level of residents, and low per-pupil expenditures,meaning our school system is highly effective yet very frugal. Bruce Kunkel asked if Mr. Mooney would please provide the State and National averages in these areas as well. Mr. Mooney indicated he would. ■ Summary of local government employment. Mr. Mooney will provide this information on a per capita and a per tax base basis in the final report. Mayor Aplikowski asked each of the EDC members what the most significant item each has gathered from this information? Nancy Kneeland responded that opportunities,both taken and missed, were most significant. She also recommended that the City keep track of available commercial properties and market them to a pool of developers. Ray McGraw responded that he felt road improvement was the most critical item. Bruce Kunkel stated he felt the City's lack of a defined City Center/Downtown identity and services was the most significant. Ed Werner indicated the need for an interconnecting trail system and a more pedestrian-friendly infrastructure was important. Dale Beane was not surprised by any of the data. Kevin Kelly stated that he felt the City Council seems to approach development cautiously. Jim Paulet agreed with Kevin and added that the Council seems to have a fear of investment. Mr. Mooney stated our next steps to be the completion of the survey and then a compilation of the data into a final report. Mr. Mooney indicated that with this type of a survey, a I%response is good, and that whatever information was gathered would be used in the development of the strategic plan. However, the most important part of the survey is the invitation and request for citizen input. Mr. Mooney will distribute the report in 5 parts to Karen Barton for distribution to the EDC. Mr. Mooney stressed that this will be a great deal of information and that it is important for the EDC members to review all of the information prior to the final report presentation on July 19. Bruce Kunkel asked if Mr. Mooney would need more than one and one-half hours to present the final report. Mr. Mooney said he would probably need 2 'h hours. Bruce Kunkel asked Mr. Mooney what he sees as the biggest challenge facing Arden Hills. Mr. Mooney responded that Arden Hills has taken a"hands-off' approach to economic development and that we need to get the City Council on board. Mayor Aplikowski suggested inviting the Council to the July 19 meeting. The Mayor also asked to have the sections of the report distributed to the Council as they became available. Nancy Kneeland suggested that EDC reports be made available to the City Council to keep them up to speed on our activities. Mayor Aplikowski felt that was a good idea and indicated she iswould work with Karen Barton to accomplish this. Mr. Mooney stated that he had two big concerns with the key leader interviews: 1) Guidant/Boston Scientific did not respond to his numerous requests for an interview; and 2) Councilor Pellegrin never got back to him for an interview either. Ray McGraw made a motion to adjourn. Dale Beane seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m. Next meeting Tuesday June 13 at 7:30 am at the City Hall to discuss business retention.