Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-27-24 EDC MinutesCITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MARCH 27, 2024 7:30 A.M. – ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Present: Chair Frank Cupery, Commissioners Jud Murchie, Rob Williams, Julie Gronquist, Sreya Subramanian, Bobby Bonine, Ted Brausen and Youth Commissioner Katherine Schneider Absent: Council Liaison Emily Rousseau Also Present: Community Development Director Jessica Jagoe and Senior Planner Elena Fransen 1.APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA A motion was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Commissioner Murchie to approve the agenda. The agenda was approved unanimously. 2.APPROVAL OF MINUTES A.February 28, 2024 A motion was made by Commissioner Gronquist and seconded by Commissioner Brausen to approve the February 28, 2024 minutes. The minutes were approved unanimously. 3.UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A.Economic Development Commission Work Plan Senior Planner Fransen indicated the Commission had touched briefly on a work plan at its meeting in February and noted that updates had been made to the template since that meeting. She stated the initial draft work plan template included a mission, programs, initiatives, strategies, and specifics. These items were generated based off Chapter 8 of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which pertains to economic development and redevelopment. She said suggestions from the EDC members’ previous conversations as well as items identified by the City Council were included in the work plan. Senior Planner Fransen stated that the previous vision had been identified from a higher level for the city and that the current vision was identified as being more specific to the Economic Development Commission. She noted it could be modified to align with the group and how it ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 2 wanted to move forward. In its current form, she said the mission statement was to facilitate positive interaction with the business community and to advise the City Council and Economic Development Authority on economic development, redevelopment and related community development issues. She indicated there was room for more specific language and phrasing as they discuss prioritization. She directed the Commission to the packet and opened up the topic for discussion. Chair Cupery said the logical place to start was with the mission and asked if the group thought it was adequate as presented. Commissioner Williams asked if the EDC has any role in helping the residents understand that there is a strong economic development in Arden Hills. Senior Planner Fransen asked if this should be part of the first statement regarding facilitating positive interaction with the business community among residents and if not, to suggest a location for that language to be added. Commissioner Williams stated he wasn’t suggesting putting that in the vision yet wondered if that was within the scope of what the EDC does or not. Chair Cupery said he thinks this would fit in the communication and outreach part of the strategies relating to making sure the residents are aware of the Arden Hills businesses. Commissioner Gronquist said she thinks the last part is good but that the statement doesn’t really talk about the current businesses. She suggested possibly adding something else in the beginning about helping the current businesses grow and develop or thrive in the city. Senior Planner Fransen suggested phrasing such as to facilitate positive and local interaction and ongoing business support with the business community. Commissioner Bonine said that instead of focusing on the negative, maybe the phrase is word smithed to something more positive like thrive or something of that nature so as to be supportive and hopefully avoid issues, rather than focusing on the negative. Commissioner Murchie suggested using the word opportunities instead of issues. Commissioner Williams said that coming from the non-profit world, is the mission really to facilitate positive interaction or is the mission to have a vibrant business community in Arden Hills for both new and existing businesses? He noted for him it relates to what is the ultimate goal. He noted he didn’t think positive interaction was a method towards what he would think is the ultimate goal, which is that the business community is great, but that positive interaction is one method towards that goal in supporting existing businesses. Commissioner Gronquist suggested taking out to facilitate method of interaction and to emphasize local ongoing support for the business community. Senior Planner Fransen said they could more directly state support for the success and growth of the local business community and opportunities rather than issues identified. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 3 Chair Cupery said the way he read the vision was that overall, the City and the EDA are trying to create that vision and then the specific role of the EDC is the mission. He asked if the EDC’s role was to be the ones driving the support or are they more advising City Council. Senior Planner Fransen noted the statement is two-fold. She said the EDC facilitates interactive development, whether that’s by supporting, marketing or connecting residents with the business community through events or other marketing pieces and then also advising the City Council. She noted a revision based on these comments would be brought back. Chair Cupery asked if the comments brought forward align with the group. Commissioner Gronquist stated she thought the work plan was good. Senior Planner Fransen recommended a round robin and that each Commissioner identify a top priority from Attachment B, which is the list of strategies and specifics that were provided. Chair Cupery asked the Commissioners if there was anything to add or take away from the business outreach and support section. Commissioner Murchie said he’s interested in the business owners. What are the things that would be most helpful for them in the next year as existing businesses. He asked what they see as needs when they speak to their business peers in the city. Commissioner Gronquist said she went to the Arden Hills Shoreview Business Council meeting and one thing the City of Shoreview brought up was a website that has all business information. She said it would be helpful to have a page like this on the City’s website. She noted the State of the City had a small turnout and being able to have a place to go to where she didn’t have to dig for information would be helpful. She also said that for her, the first priority was an easy one and having a business directory and links to the businesses would be helpful for residents. She noted she met with the Chamber President when they shut down the Welcome Back to Lexington website and asked if the website could run another year. She felt there was no organization regarding the City’s businesses other than the list of businesses. Commissioner Brausen said he thinks that this is a good chance to modernize Arden Hills and that it has always dependent on who is on the Council whether they are for business or against business. He thinks this is a good opportunity to get in the middle and start working together like they used to. Senior Planner Fransen asked if any strategies on the list jumped out for him. Commissioner Brausen said he senses they are going in the right direction. He said he’s not a big person on a lot of writing rather he’s more of a let’s get this thing going and get it done kind of person. He thinks this is a great group and they can get things done to advise the City Council. Commissioner Murchie stated that to Commissioner Brausen’s point, the opportunity to modernize, especially with some of the development that is happening, could be a nice way to attract businesses. He asked Commissioner Gronquist to clarify her vision for a webpage, noting there were a number of things that it could include such as a newsletter, things that are coming up, the State of the City, and a calendar. He asked if she felt it was to be a central repository of sorts. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 4 Commissioner Gronquist said yes, it could be for residents and businesses to go to for what is happening. She noted the current City newsletter generally was about one business and is once a month. She said it would be nice to have a dynamic webpage that people are directed to. Community Development Director Jagoe stated she would like to get the group’s direction as a whole. She noted she didn’t want staff pivoting to working on the website, and then come back and do a brochure and so on. She said the goal of the work plan was for the EDC to identify the communication strategies it wanted, for example a newsletter, website page, and survey, and then to give prioritization to those items. She indicated the Commissioners could sub-assign certain tasks to themselves and then staff could identify what they need to achieve the items. She reiterated the goal here was to determine the framework of where the EDC wants to go. Commissioner Murchie said a lot of the activities are largely dependent on the platform or distribution channel and he wanted to hear from the business leaders what the biggest gap is. He asked Commissioner Brausen what he meant by getting to it. Commissioner Brausen said he wants to get to communicating with the other businesses and suggested inviting businesses to an EDC meeting to let them say what they want. He noted everyone’s vision is different and personally he’s been in the city too long so he’s seen the good and the bad. He thinks the best thing is to invite people to a meeting and see what they say. He thinks the website can be improved and is a great tool. He suggested a few more emails to all businesses. He didn’t know if sending out a survey would work. Commissioner Subramanian stated that from a student perspective and someone who spends most of their time online, having a webpage should be one of the biggest priorities because if you create a website and then are able to market it really well, everyone will use it. She discussed her ideas for what the information could include. Commissioner Bonine said a beautiful website can be built but if traffic is not being driven to it and you’re not understanding who your audience is, then it’s an ego thing. He said they do it in his business just to say they have it, but they do not drive traffic to it. He wanted to know what the ask was, why are we sending people to the website and how are we going to do that. He suggested the group have a conversation about what tools the City already has for social media. He said they should know what the City was already using to promote existing information, who would be managing the information, and what is the process to get something approved or promoted. He suggested a top priority could be a website but noted this would need a solid plan on how to promote it. He said once this is accomplished this could then be brought back to staff with priorities. Commissioner Gronquist stated she agrees but would like a separate survey for all businesses. Senior Planner Fransen stated there was recently an at-will survey of the recipients of the City’s newsletter about what social media platforms they use, do they read the newsletter and so forth. She said the group could possibly draw on that data as well. A discussion ensued about a survey, other options for baseline items that should be offered to businesses and what currently is available on the City’s website. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 5 Community Development Director Jagoe asked the EDC to provide direction regarding its top priority for the work plan; is it the website that the Commission wants to work on then? She said the group needs to define what resources are most valuable and select a top priority. She again stated there may be some functions the Commission takes on and some that staff can do based on the timing for such. Chair Cupery asked the group to go around the circle and identify their top three strategies. Commissioner Bonine said what he’s hearing is there are two different audiences. Is the website meant to serve the existing businesses as a resource or is it meant to drive traffic for residents to know where to consume? He suggested there should be clarity on this in order to prioritize. He noted as a resident and for consumption, he was not going to the City’s website to see what he could consume, he was using Google or something else. Commissioner Murchie asked the business owners of the group what they felt was lacking and what was the vision for a website page. A discussion ensued regarding what the City’s website currently contains, what information pertaining to businesses could be changed or updated to include, who this avenue was going to serve, and could new businesses get information they need as far as potentially locating to Arden Hills. Commissioner Bonine asked about the situation with multiple car washes and if the City Council considered other car wash businesses in Arden Hills when reviewing the applications. Senior Planner Fransen said regarding the particular situation of car washes, the use would be permitted through a Conditional Use Permit and a particular applicant then applied for a different development standard, so a Planned Unit Development was required. She noted there could be restrictions on how many car washes there could be, but at this time there was no such limit. She said that businesses generally conduct market research when considering where they may want to locate. She noted knowing the current dynamic of the business community is helpful. Commissioner Williams said the City has this information and that it was a matter of the business licenses list. Senior Planner Fransen indicated the business license information is not specific to industry but rather is more general. A discussion ensued about revising the business license application, the benefits of having more details about the businesses operating in the city and how the information could be used in order to make recommendations to the City Council. Senior Planner Fransen asked if there were any other strategies or specifics that have not been mentioned that should be prioritized. Commissioner Brausen stated that the City Council should lead the Commission on this as well. He noted the Commissioners could help to clean up old thoughts and processes, and so it would be nice for the Council to provide a list of what it would like to see the Commission do. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 6 Community Development Director Jagoe stated there will be a discussion at the Council level as well but the role of the EDC is to let the City Council know what it feels the business community and residents need. She said the City Council is looking to the EDC to provide suggestions as an advisory committee and the Council will then provide feedback and guidance based on the EDC’s suggestions. Commissioner Bonine suggested a survey could provide next steps and better direction on what is needed next, the website or whatever it may be. He said it would be a waste of resources to move forward with anything specific until there is a better understanding if the action meets the needs of the business owners. He noted someone could meet with the businesses and hand them a survey versus waiting until next year, and the survey could also be emailed out. He wasn’t sure if waiting a year made sense and that maybe an approach should be agreed upon now. Commissioner Murchie stated he was interested in what Commissioner Brausen said earlier about having a meeting and that maybe the business community be invited to the EDC’s meeting in May. He said surveys can be tough because oftentimes only those that have an issue fill them out so you may miss the fact that half are actually content. He liked the idea of inviting the business community to a meeting and including a 3 or 4 question survey at that time. He felt waiting until next year would be challenging. He noted a meeting before 9 am seemed to work. Commissioner Bonine said there needs to be a clear understanding of the benefit to the businesses in order to get someone to take time away from their business. Commissioner Gronquist said people are more apt to fill out a survey than to come to a meeting for something they don’t know what it is about. She suggested a survey first and then a meeting second. Commissioner Brausen said he is not a big survey guy himself but if there was an afternoon meeting to gather, that would be good to see who comes. He said the EDC needs to figure out how to help the City Council, the businesses and the people of Arden Hills. Commissioner Gronquist stated attendance was low at these things, so that’s why she was hesitant. She noted people didn’t come to the State of the City nor to the meeting between Arden Hills and Shoreview businesses of which all businesses in Arden Hills and Shoreview were invited, and only 15 people attended. She said getting an email from the City would jump out at her and she would look at it as she doesn’t normally ever get an email from the City. She said that takes a minute to look at and do a survey, and then there could be follow-up later with an invitation to a meeting. Commissioner Bonine asked how many businesses there are in Arden Hills. Commissioner Murchie stated approximately 175 to 200. Commissioner Bonine said he thinks they need to take this show on the road because people aren’t going to show up and they’re not going to open the email. He said the EDC has done nothing to show the business community that they are here. He suggested taking the hour and a half that the EDC meets to go to the businesses in person for better impact. He said this way there would be firsthand documentation and the group would have a better understanding of the needs. He ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 7 noted this effort could be repeated every three to five years by the EDC members due to any turnover. He stated it feels good to be visited by someone that is engaged with in the city. Chair Cupery said there should be an icebreaker sent out, such as an email. Discussion continued regarding options for business outreach and a potential meeting for business peers. Senior Planner Fransen stated there was a lot of great feedback and that ideas included the website, communication such as a survey and emails, and even potentially something in person. She said she thinks the group can be dynamic and shift with how things progress because things are just getting started with this iteration of the EDC and there is room for moving in different directions along the way. She asked if there were any final comments and seeing none, she thanked the group for the feedback. She said she would work on identifying some of the pieces that will need to be considered for resources for the website and would check-in with staff that works with the licensing process. B. Sign Code Review – Summary of Review Senior Planner Fransen indicated the group has had conversations about the sign code since October with a focus being on permanent commercial message signing. She noted there was a pull to be specific with the feedback but also the goal was to be more general. She said this could then be brought forward to the City Council to consider what direction it would like to provide. Senior Planner Fransen referenced the attachment provided in the packet and gave a verbal summary of such for the group. She asked for additional feedback from the group regarding any additions to the list of recommendations. Commissioner Bonine said a lot of discussion was encompassed in a nice, organized way and the information captured what was previously discussed. He said regarding the topic of dynamic display signage and minimizing impacts to residential uses, he asked if it was limited to how frequently the sign was on did it depend on the location, such as being across the street from an apartment complex or such. He asked if the sign have to go off, stop moving or dim and wanted clarification on this. Senior Planner Fransen said that point would be encompassing of different ways to manage the sign maintenance and the brightness over time, so that could be made more general such as regulating the impact of the sign to minimize impact to residential communities or uses. She noted this was part of the information at other communities. Commissioner Williams asked for clarification on what building square footage actually pertains to and does it include the elevation of the building. Senior Planner Fransen explained the City of Shoreview has ranges based on the building’s square footage and then that’s also the percentage of building elevation based on the building square footage. She said that is where it seems complicated and that is where typically businesses will say here’s our square footage and we’re in this category, here’s the elevation that we’re going to put this sign on, here’s the percentage that we’re permitted based on our square footage, here’s the minimum that we’d be able to do if we have a smaller building. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 8 Commissioner Williams noted an office building then could have a much larger sign even though the exterior of the building would be the same because the square footage would include the bottom level, second floor, third floor and so on. Senior Planner Fransen stated that would primarily be the footprint square footage. Commissioner Williams said he would like this to be clarified. Senior Planner Fransen stated she would clarify that. A discussion ensued about the process of calculating square footage. Commissioner Brausen asked for clarification on striping lighting as now there is no striping lighting allowed. He referenced the differences in his Holiday versus another Holiday location and asked that there be clarification. Senior Planner Fransen said she has made note of colored lighting. Commissioner Williams asked if murals or art on walls falls under signage or not. Senior Planner Fransen said this falls under graphic signage and noted some districts do not permit graphic signage. She directed the members to look at the Table. Commissioner Brausen asked if this was going to go to the City Council. Commissioner Williams asked if there was anything about the distance the building’s sign is from the road and could the sign be bigger if signage is further back from the road. Senior Planner Fransen stated there are setbacks from property lines but not a specific setback from the building and noted it was five feet. Commissioner Gronquist said the requirements do not take the distance back from the road into consideration and it is based on perimeters that are currently set. Senior Planner Fransen said she has included these suggestions in her notes on potential next steps. She indicated these amendments include adding the building footprint in order to clarify the square footage and also clarifying the usage of colored lighting. She noted these signage recommendations could be brought forward to the City Council at a future work session. She thanked the EDC and asked if they would like to consider a motion for this item. A motion to present this to the City Council was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Commissioner Subramanian. The motion carried unanimously. 4. COMMENTS AND REPORTS A. Report from the City Council None. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – MARCH 27, 2024 9 B. Economic Development Commission Comments None. ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Commissioner Murchie. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 a.m.