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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-04-2013 JDA AGENDA Monday, November 4, 2013 5:30 p.m. Arden Hills City Hall—Council Chambers 1. Roll Call 2. Approval of Agenda 3. Approval of Minutes, October 7, 2013 4. Public Inquiries/Informational The intent of the Public Inquiries/Informational part of the agenda is to provide interested parties with an opportunity to speak to the JDA about an issue or concern about a past or future agenda item. The current agenda for tonight's meeting is structured to ensure that the JDA accomplishes their business within that agenda. If there is a public hearing scheduled as an agenda item, the public will be invited to speak to that agenda item. In addressing the JDA, please state your name and address for the record, and a brief summary of the specific matter being addressed. To allow adequate time for each person wishing to address the JDA, individuals should limit their comments to three (3) minutes. Written documents may be distributed to the JDA prior to the meeting, or as bench copies, to allow a more timely presentation. 5. Consent Agenda 6. Old Business 7. Public Hearing a. None 8. New Business a. Commercial Development Strategies Louis Jambois, St. Paul Port Authority Matt Kramer and Jonathan Weinhagen, St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce 9. Development Director’s Report 10. Administrative Director’s Report (attached) 11. Commissioner Updates 12. Adjournment Joint Development Authority TCAAP Redevelopment Project 1 Joint Development Authority Monday October 7, 2013 Arden Hills City Council Chambers Draft Minutes 5:30 pm Present: Joint Development Authority: Chair David Sand, Commissioner Blake Huffman, Commissioner Brenda Holden Absent: Commissioner David Grant, Commissioner Rafael Ortega Also present: Pat Klaers, Jill Hutmacher, (Arden Hills); Heather Worthington, (Ramsey County), Mark Ruff (Financial Advisor to the JDA, Ehlers and Associates) Roll call taken. Approval of Agenda. Motion by Commissioner Holden seconded by Commissioner Huffman. Motion carried. Approval of 8/5/13 Minutes. Motion by Commissioner Huffman seconded by Commissioner Holden. Motion carried. Public Inquiries/Informational Gregg Larson expressed his concerns regarding access onto the TCAAP property using only County Road H or Hwy 96 with no road access from County Road I. Consent Agenda None Old Business None Public Hearing None New Business A. Report on and Discussion of Denver Redevelopment Visit. The Joint Development Authority heard a report from Jill Hutmacher regarding the Denver redevelopment visit. Chair Sand commented on the need to retain a long-term vision for the 2 redevelopment project and that he liked the public art component of the Denver projects. Commissioner Holden commented on the lack of commercial space in the Denver projects. B. Master Plan and AUAR Update. The Joint Development Authority heard a presentation from Andrew Dresdner, Cuningham Group and Brian Smalkoski, Kimley-Horn. The consultants are completing the “discovery phase” of the master planning process and updated the Authority on the public involvement events to-date and the upcoming AUAR process. Development Director’s Report Jill Hutmacher gave a review of public comments from developer interviews, July 30 panel event and the September 17 open house. At the next TCAAP open house in January or February 2014, attendees will be asked to provide feedback on the draft Master Plan. The Master Plan is scheduled to be completed by June 2014. Administrative Director’s Report Administrative Director Worthington gave a brief overview of the demolition to date, reported on the amount of recycled materials salvaged for reuse and reviewed some “fun facts” and items retained for historical significance. Chair Sand expressed his approval of the recycled materials and the historical artifacts. Administrative Director Worthington stated a gathering will be held with past employees of the TCAAP site for a “social history” project. Commissioner Updates None. The next meeting will be Monday, November 4, 2013 at Arden Hills City Hall. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Pamela Thompson, Secretary to JDA Approved _____________________________________ _______________________ David B. Sand, Chair Date Joint Development Authority TCAAP Redevelopment Project DATE: November 4, 2013 TO: Joint Development Authority Board of Commissioners FROM: Jill Hutmacher, JDA Development Director SUBJECT: Commercial Development Strategies Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: n/a n/a n/a Requested Action None. Discussion As work on the Master Plan progresses, questions regarding commercial development have been raised including: • How much commercial development is appropriate? • How can the City and County differentiate between warehousing/distribution uses and manufacturing/research facilities? • What is the impact on tax base of commercial development? • Who are likely users of commercial space? The Saint Paul Port Authority and the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce have researched issues related to commercial development and have agreed to present their findings to the JDA. Industrial Development Analysis Louis Jambois, Saint Paul Port Authority The Saint Paul Port Authority is a public sector real estate agency whose mission is to create quality job opportunities, grow the tax base and foster sustainable development - primarily through the redevelopment of former Brownfield sites. The Port Authority has redeveloped over 2 square miles in Saint Paul that is now home to more than 600 businesses and 20,000 jobs. While the primary focus is business development, the Port Authority also has experience in office development and residential development. The Port Authority has partnered with several Metro Area cities on project financing, including Roseville, White Bear Lake, North Oaks, Coon Rapids, Bloomington and Edina to name a few. AGENDA ITEM 8 MEMORANDUM Joint Development Authority TCAAP Redevelopment Project The Port Authority contracted with the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City in order to better understand the relatively high value of industrial businesses to Saint Paul’s tax base, the relatively low cost of providing municipal services to these businesses, and the wage and benefit levels of the business employees. The Port Authority also wanted to understand the types of businesses that populate business parks today and the likely mix for the future. Finally, the Port Authority wanted to verify that modern business parks represent development that is physically compatible with adjacent residential, retail and institutional development. Key points in the presentation will include: • The benefits of a broad range of business development to a City’s economic vitality; • The benefits of quality job creation to the community and its residents; • How business development can be compatible with other land uses; • How an engagement process associated with public sector managed redevelopment projects serves to create economic development goals and criteria; and • How the economic development goals and criteria created in the engagement process assures positive development outcomes. Industry Clusters and Projected Job Growth Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce, Matt Kramer and Jonathan Weinhagen The Chamber has completed a brief analysis of industry clusters and job concentrations in the Arden Hills area. Chamber representatives will present the results of that research combined with Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) analysis of where significant job growth is expected to occur and the wages and job requirements inherent in those projections. This analysis is meant to suggest where opportunities for development might be best leveraged in terms of employer outlook in the Northeast Metro and the Twin Cities overall. Joint Development Authority TCAAP Redevelopment Project DATE: November 4, 2013 TO: Joint Development Authority Board of Commissioners FROM: Jill Hutmacher, JDA Development Director SUBJECT: Development Director’s Report Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: n/a n/a n/a Requested Action None. Master Plan In an effort to increase involvement of businesses and young professionals in the master planning process, staff is working with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce to schedule a master planning event at Land O’Lakes in early November. The event will be very similar, in terms of information presented and the land use exercise, to the September 17, 2013, TCAAP open house. Depending on the outcome of the Land O’Lakes event, additional on-site master planning activities may be scheduled at major local employers in winter/spring 2014. Kimley-Horn is working on analysis and pre-design work for the County Road H and Highway 96 intersections with I-35W related to the contract amendment requested by Ramsey County. City and County staff and consultants have met to discuss design options and their advantages and challenges related to traffic capacity, cost, MnDOT requirements, and development needs. The consultants are refining the options based on staff input prior to presentation to MnDOT and FHWA for further comment. Gateway Planning, Kimley-Horn’s subconsultant for the regulations and policies, has met with staff and consultants to discuss the City’s existing policies and consider which regulations or policies may need to be amended for TCAAP. Work on the regulations and policies will accelerate as details of the Master Plan emerge in late 2013 and early 2014. AGENDA ITEM 9 MEMORANDUM Joint Development Authority TCAAP Redevelopment Project Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) An Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) is a form of environmental documentation through Minnesota State Rules that evaluates development scenarios for an entire geographical area rather than a specific project. An AUAR process is formally initiated by Responsible Governmental Unit (RGU) order, which establishes the study area and scenarios to be addressed, and officially starts the AUAR process. The City of Arden Hills is the RGU for the TCAAP Development. Two scenarios have been developed for evaluation in the AUAR: 1. A scenario that is consistent with the approved Comprehensive Plan. Because the existing TCAAP zoning offers more detail than the Comprehensive Plan, using zoning regulations is an acceptable alternative. 2. A maximum development scenario which covers the “worse case” possible impacts. On October 14, 2013, the City Council issued an AUAR order and approved the following development scenarios to be evaluated in the TCAAP AUAR: Zoning Scenario: up to 1,500 residential units; 500,000 square feet of retail; and 1,700,000 square feet of non-retail commercial. This scenario is consistent with the City’s comprehensive plan and the associated development limits included in the City’s zoning code. Maximum Development Scenario: up to 2,500 residential units; 550,000 square feet of retail; and 1,950,000 square feet of non-retail commercial. This scenario increases the amount of development to maximum density based on the anticipated capacity of the transportation network, including reconstructed intersections at CR H and TH 10/CSAH 96, and an access to CR I. Next Steps The master planning process is on schedule. The consultants anticipate having a draft of the Master Plan prepared for City Council review in December 2013. At the next TCAAP open house in January/February 2014, attendees will be asked to provide feedback on the draft Master Plan. The final Master Plan and the draft AUAR are both expected to be completed in spring 2014. amsey County TCAAP Redevelopment Project Monthly Report October 2013 Project website: www.tcaap.net Regulatory Update Bolander & Sons and Ramsey County received approval for the Quality Assurance Action Plan (QAPP) in mid- October, and this will allow the sub-grade remediation work to begin on the 30 acres of leased property. The County will lease that property until it is cleaned to residential standards, whereupon the County will close on that property and officially own the land. This work will continue throughout all of 2014 and most of 2015. Bolander anticipates project completion in October 2015. Demolition and Remediation Update Asbestos removal work continues on Building 502. Nearly all of the transite siding has been removed from the building exterior and work has begun on the interior of the building. Crews are now working below grade, removing gas line, sanitary and storm sewer, steam lines, and building foundations. Winter Schedule Bolander plans to work throughout the winter, especially in the remediation of Building 502, and foundation removal on large portions of the site. Some 300,000 tons of concrete remain in building foundations where those buildings were removed by the Army prior to sale. They will also continue sub-grade work until the ground freezes. Wetland Delineation Ramsey County Public Works staff has been on site over the past several months mapping the location of wetlands on the site. Over the winter months, they will begin the process of entering that data into GIS maps for use in determining where we can locate permanent wetlands and water features on site. This work is being done in cooperation with the Rice Creek Watershed District. Osprey Nest Relocation The County received a permit from the DNR this month to relocate the four osprey nesting platforms on the TCAAP site to various locations north and east of the redevelopment site. One nest near the water treatment plant will remain on site. Some of the nesting platforms will go to the Wildlife Corridor area which is being acquired by Ramsey County through a separate transfer from the federal government; others will be located on the Arden Hills Army Training Site (AHATS) property to the east of TCAAP. Four nesting pairs of osprey had a total of 10 chicks who successfully fledged this year, despite a high level of activity on site with building demolition. After they complete their migration south, we look forward to seeing them back in a few months. See the next page for an article on this project by Mike Goodnature, Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Natural Resources Manager. Relocating osprey (Pandion haliaetus) nests within the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) Over the past 20 years, ospreys have become a success story in Ramsey County, and the surrounding Twin Cities metro area, due to an osprey reintroduction project launched by Three Rivers Park District. Prior to the reintroduction project, osprey numbers within Ramsey County were non-existent due to the use of DDT, habitat loss and persecution. There are now over 16 active osprey nests within Ramsey County. Ospreys are raptors that are smaller than a bald eagle but larger than a red-tailed hawk. An adult osprey’s plumage consists of a brown back and wing, with a mostly white breast and belly that can also be speckled. Ospreys nest near lakes and rivers and are excellent anglers, feeding primarily on fish. Osprey’s summer range consists of upper North America, where they nest and breed before making their migration to their winter range in South America. Although ospreys are tolerable of human interactions that occur below their nests, they naturally expand their range in less densely populated areas. The tops of manmade utility structures are particularly attractive to ospreys, which has made utility poles within TCAAP an ideal nesting location for local ospreys. There are currently five active osprey nests within the area of TCAAP slated for construction. Ramsey County Parks and Recreation, Audubon Minnesota, Xcel Energy, the Minnesota Army National Guard, Three Rivers Park District and MN DNR Nongame personnel are working together to discuss the removal process, as well as plans for installing new utility poles and nesting box structures outside of the construction area. These agencies are working together to determine ideal locations to install up to seven new nesting platforms. The platforms will be located on top of separate utility poles within the overall nesting corridor, and they are meant to replace the nests being removed in the redevelopment site. Efforts will be made to relocate as much nesting material as possible from the removed nests to the newly erected nesting platforms. The ospreys within TCAAP will continue to be monitored by numerous agencies after the relocation project. Ospreys are known to return to the same area to re-nest – though not necessarily in the exact same nest – which should make the relocation of the nesting platforms a success. Osprey chick being banded within TCAAP, July 2013