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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-29-26 EDC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION JULY 29, 2026 7:30 A.M. – ARDEN HILLS COMMUNITY ROOM CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Present: Chair Judd Murchie (left at 8:30), Commissioners Ted Brausen, Kristine Poelzer, Jess Daniels, Bobby Bonine, Ihsan Isik and Kyle Sorenson (arrived at 7:40) Absent: Commissioner Kayleigh Shrom Also Present: Senior Planner Elena Fransen, Community Development Director Jake Reilly and Council Liaison Emily Rousseau 1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Chair Murchie called the meeting to order at 7:37 A motion was made by Commissioner Brausen and seconded by Commissioner Daniels to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion passed unanimously. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. May 27, 2026 A motion was made by Commissioner Poelzer and seconded by Commissioner Daniels to approve the minutes, as amended. Motion passed unanimously. Page 4 – It states there are two gateway signs. It should read three. 3. COMMENTS AND REPORTS A. Report from City Council Council Liaison Rousseau thanked everyone who volunteered at the 75th Anniversary Celebration. Council is going to have a work session discussion about lessons learned at the event. Discussion will surround if the city wants to plan to expand this to an annual or bi-annual event. There was a lot of positive feedback about the event. Council Liaison Rousseau said the first Economic Development Authority (EDA) meeting of the year was held this week. Commissioners Brausen and Sorensen have joined the EDA. They discussed what is in the Council’s purview and what is the EDA’s purview. EDA meetings will be ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 2 held bi-monthly. It could be changed to monthly depending on need. They are going to look at the bylaws. The bylaws outline that the president of the EDA is the Mayor, the vice president is the Mayor Pro Tem. She would like to see those positions be opened up to the other members of the commission. Council Liaison Rousseau said there is a developer interested in building a 167-unit multi-family development at the Catholic United Financial site on Lexington Avenue. There was a lot of resident concern regarding the location and traffic. The applicant will address the concerns they heard and bring the proposal back to a future Planning Commission Meeting. Council Liaison Rousseau said an environmental review process is underway for the Primer Tracer site. Residents in Shoreview by Shamrock Park are anxious about what this might mean for traffic on that road. Council Liaison Rousseau said the North Heights Church property is active with the construction of the Senior Living development. Council Liaison Rousseau said the ribbon cutting for the new fire station is at 2:00 today. B. Report from City Staff Senior Planner Fransen said permits were issued for the apartments at the North Heights site and construction is underway on the 119-unit senior living development. Commissioner Brausen asked if the City required the developers at the North Heights site to develop a 55 and older building. Discussion ensued that some 55 and older developments restrict residents by age but if they can’t fill the units, they open it to everyone. Developers receive tax breaks for building the age restricted development but change their model later. It is up to the management company to rent the units according to the approvals they have received. The market will dictate what gets built. Chair Murchie said it is difficult to pencil out a single family or multi-family. There are tax credits for senior housing or affordable housing. The affordable housing gets such pushback from the community developers to go senior living because that gives them the ability to build a project. They can figure out the loophole if they aren’t able to rent the units to seniors. Discussion ensued that there are tax credits to build senior housing. The credits come from the Federal and State government. If the City is subsidizing anything it would be a good practice to include in a development agreement that if the dynamic of the project changes, that should be paid back. Council Liaison Rousseau said Council has received notification from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office (RCSO) that there will be a 10% increase to our contract with them. Nearly half of our taxes go to public safety, including RCSO and Lake Johanna Fire Department (LJFD). They use the number of calls they respond to, to determine the contract amount. A large number of calls are medical assists. Council Liaison Rousseau said she asked this developer what happens when the generation turns over and they said they didn’t know. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 3 Senior Planner Fransen said the North Heights apartments are approved under a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). Part of that was to review traffic conditions. There is potentially less traffic with the 55 plus than if this were a building open to all ages. If there were a shift to some other mix of residents, that could trigger a review of new conditions because that change could bring about different traffic conditions. The City would be made aware if they shift any of the terms and we would look at what those larger impacts would be to the community. Commissioner Bonine asked who monitors that. Senior Planner Fransen said the management company would be completing those checks. If they get the tax breaks and in the future want to sell it, we would typically see a request to determine what approvals were received. We would tell them the approval is for a 55 plus apartment building. If they wanted to change anything, they would need to apply for a new CUP or amend the existing one. It would be reviewed by the Planning Commission and ultimately go back to City Council for approval. Commissioner Daniels said that would be the process if they were selling the property or if the current ownership wanted to change something. Senior Planner Fransen confirmed. Commissioner Brausen asked for confirmation that the police contract will go up by 10%. Council Liaison Rousseau confirmed RCSO has given us that notice. LJFD added three full time captains. They agreed to hold off this year before asking for the other three positions. Commissioner Daniels asked if spending about half of the budget on public safety is standard. Council Liaison Rousseau didn’t know how it compares to surrounding cities who have their own department. Discussion ensued that public safety is usually the most expensive budget item. Further discussion ensued that RCSO does a good job. C. Economic Development Commission Comments None. 4. UNFINISHED AND NEW BUSINESS A. 75th Anniversary Celebration and June Business Connect Events Discussion Senior Planner Fransen said the discussion will be on lessons learned at the June Business Connect Event and the 75th Anniversary Celebration. Senior Planner Fransen said the Business Connect Event was held by the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce at Flaherty’s. There was great EDC participation. The Business Connect events were added to the work plan. It’s a way to connect with businesses. She is seeking feedback on how things went. She also asked for discussion if the EDC would like to continue hosting an ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 4 Arden Hills specific event to supplement what the Chamber is doing. The work plan update to City Council is due next quarter. She would like to discuss possible updates to the existing work plan based on feasibility and short-term priorities. We can identify more long-term items as a group. She asked the commission to discuss the Business Connect event. Commissioner Sorenson said he is friends with the Chamber President and the feedback he heard was excellent. He liked the engagement from the City of Arden Hills. He said no one sees this as an Arden Hills event, it’s all Chamber. He likes that the EDC can partner with them because it’s easy. If they’re willing to do that once a quarter, it’s justified and the EDC can help them promote it to the Arden Hills businesses. He acknowledges it took a lot of manpower to put together the breakfast held by the EDC in October of 2025. Chair Murchie agreed it didn’t feel like an Arden Hills event, other than being held at an Arden Hills business. He thought we could write a summary of the connect event from the Arden Hills perspective. A lot of the attendees are small businesses that our residents would be interested in knowing about them. We could use a recap to highlight the businesses in Arden Hills. That would help the EDC be the bridge between the City and the business community. Maybe it’s a paragraph in the newsletter or an Instagram post. Discussion ensued about needing to be fair to all businesses. It was pointed out that giving that update may encourage more businesses to attend. Further discussion ensued regarding if businesses are highlighted, it can come as a “letter from the EDC” or some other mechanism that places the EDC in the middle, as the bridge. Council Liaison Rousseau said the Chamber has events in other communities. They market to everyone on their list. Senior Planner Fransen said there are multiple groups that meet with the Chamber. We can have some more opportunities to make suggestions about the meetings where Arden Hills is co-hosting or the location is in Arden Hills. Commissioner Sorenson said we could collect the information on Arden Hills businesses that attend. He doesn’t think summarizing who attends is playing favorites. We aren’t promoting the business, we’re just highlighting who was there. Chair Murchie said it can be a sensitive topic because in the past when a business was highlighted other businesses asked why they aren’t being highlighted. This is a report from the volunteers. It can outline what happened, what we do and who was there. It doesn’t need to be the newsletter. We just need to figure out a distribution platform to make that happen. Commissioner Sorenson said as a business owner, if he saw that in the newsletter he would think to himself, he should have shown up. It is just highlighting who came to the event. Commissioner Daniels said that also makes it feel worthwhile. Commissioner Poelzer said if attendees will be invited to talk, there should be a microphone to pass around. She would like to see a check-in table with a sign-in sheet to capture business information. Name badges would be a good addition. Some kind of center piece on each table that outlines what EDC is. She would like to showcase Arden Hills businesses. She thought reminding people of when the next meeting will be, with the time and location, will help people be thinking ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 5 about future meetings. She would like to see the next Arden Hills meeting take place in the City Hall Community Room. Senior Planner Fransen said she is hearing interest in continuing an Arden Hills specific business event in 2027. Chair Murchie would like to attend another Shoreview Arden Hills Business Connect keeping lessons learned in mind. We may be able to meet our objectives and goals that way. Commissioner Sorenson said we can have open communication with the Chamber to identify our wants. It’s not our event so we can’t expect them to change their format for us. He agrees the community room is a good space for such a meeting. Discussion ensued that the objective is to promote businesses. Holding a meeting in an available space at one of those businesses is an advantage. Senior Planner Fransen said the Council is still finalizing the date for the State of the City. That would be an opportunity to engage with businesses. Council Liaison Rousseau said the event has moved around based on election cycles. This year it will be in March. It’s an update on Public Safety, Economic Development, Street Improvements and Parks. Attendance tends to be a little light from the business perspective. She would love to have more businesses involved. It could be just sending a link after the event to make them aware. B. Gateway Signs Senior Planner Fransen said this was originally brought before the EDC in late 2024 to discuss. Other initiatives took priority and this has been on the back burner. This item links to the strategic plan with the goal of establishing clear city boundaries for the community. She outlined the potential locations that have been identified. She asked the EDC to discuss if there are other priority locations and the design of signage. Commissioner Brausen said Snelling is one area that should have one. He drove by the one on the five corners. He never noticed it before this discussion, and he goes past it all the time. The lights aren’t good. He thinks LED lighting might be better. Commissioner Daniels asked what the best practices are. Is it based on traffic flow? Senior Planner Fransen said the existing gateway signs are in transition locations between communities. This topic can be approached a number of ways and that is why the EDC is being asked to consider it. Discussion ensued regarding if the current signs would be brought up to the standards of any new ones. There are annual budget dollars that go to the maintenance of those signs. The existing signs are built into the grade. EDC could discuss if any changes need to be made to existing signs to make them comparable to any new ones. Further discussion regarding lighting could be improved but they seem to fit into their locations, as they are. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 6 Commissioner Bonine asked what is included in the $360,000 estimate? Before we can discuss locations, understanding how many we can pay for, will determine priority locations. Is it $30,000 per sign? Is it $60,000? Senior Planner Fransen said the estimate is from 2017. Those details will be fleshed out later. The goal is to identify top three locations, still keeping in mind there may be more locations that are a good choice, as well. Once we know the preferred location, we can determine cost based on the grading and designing needed for that location. Commissioner Bonine asked if there are more qualified people to decide the top three choices. The EDC has opinions. It will be good to have more clarification. Senior Planner Fransen said the designers need a location to start with before they can estimate cost and provide details. Commissioner Bonine said he has connections who could heat map the city to say what areas should be considered. He thinks having a consultant help us visualize is beneficial. Commissioner Sorenson agreed. He doesn’t think updating existing signs needs much consideration. Discussion ensued on the amount budgeted for signs. It 2025 $270,000 was budgeted. That wasn’t used and was reallocated to a future year. The budget for 2027 has $40,000. There is a total of $310,000 earmarked for this. Further discussion ensued on how much an estimate for one sign might be. Senior Planner Fransen said the EDC is being tasked with discussing possible locations and design. Once the EDC makes a recommendation, the EDA and City Council review will include the next steps for cost and feasibility. Chair Murchie said our business district at Lexington and County Road E doesn’t have a sign. The other glaring spot is Lexington and 96. Commissioner Bonine said when thinking about TCAAP, it would be nice to have the developers place a gateway sign. Chair Murchie left at 8:30. Senior Planner Fransen will make note of that suggestion. Her goal from this conversation is to summarize the location recommendations from this group. Staff did reach out to MnDOT and New Brighton regarding signage on the noise barrier walls. Communities were offered the opportunity to request signage when that was constructed. At that time Arden Hills did not request signage. If that is identified as something the EDC would like to recommend, we can explore what that looks like. She said previous discussion from the EDC was to install banners or flags along the Arden Hills side of Lexington and up County Road E. That can be a recommendation. Vice Chair Poelzer was of the opinion that the EDC is a fiscally responsible commission and it is better to make these decisions when we have a budget. She supports gateway signs in the locations that have been discussed, particularly on 96. When you see flags you know you’re in Arden Hills. The placement of these signs isn’t going to bring anyone in. Once they’re here, they’ll know they ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 7 are here. Whereas, on 35W, if we have something, people might take the exit and see what’s here. Since New Brighton and Roseville have taken advantage of that offer, it would be worth it to check out what that might cost. Council Liaison Rousseau said we also have Highway 10 and the future home of the TCAAP site. She wondered if there is a chance the County would put up a banner that says this is the future home of Rice Creek Commons in Arden Hills. Commissioner Bonine said initially we thought spending on these signs wasn’t necessary. That’s where the conversation stalled. The deeper question is what is the point of the sign? There is pride in the City surrounding our business districts. He asked what happens to the money if we don’t spend it? Senior Planner Fransen said this relates to the City’s strategic plan to enhance our identity and strengthen our partnerships. One of the goals is to establish clear city boundaries for the community. We want there to be distinction between us and Shoreview, specifically along Lexington Avenue. Council Liaison Rousseau said she has had mixed feelings about spending money on this, as well. If there are other ideas on how to establish clear city boundaries she is open to it. Commissioner Bonine asked what the point is of putting up walls of distinction between Arden Hills and other communities. The big one on 96 makes sense. We’re a small city; $300,000 is a lot of money to spend on our ego. He’s not challenging the work put in on the strategic plan. If we are being tasked with location and design, that’s fine. As a resident of the city, he wonders why it’s so important to mark our territory. If the desired result is to enhance the visibility of the city, we put them in the business district, where we see the most traffic and where tourists visit us. He’s not sure if that’s $300,000. Commissioner Brausen said Arden Hills has always had an identity problem. We sit in the middle of Shoreview, New Brighton and Roseville. He thought we could use the flags on stop lights as you enter town that say, “Welcome to Arden Hills”. Council Liaison Rousseau said the gateway signs have been a long-standing conversation at the EDA. She said they are open to other ideas on establishing clear city boundaries. Commissioner Bonine said Roseville took down their street signs on their main roads. They put up decorative directional signs for Rosedale Mall or Evergreen Park, for example, which gives it a small-town feel. It allowed them the opportunity to brand the city and to promote the districts and areas within the city. That has to be way cheaper than a gateway sign. It can be used to promote sections of the city. The gateway signs feel like we’re trying to keep up with the Jones’s. Can the money be spent on a different idea, or does it have to be gateway signs? Council Liaison Rousseau said it is looking to establish clear city boundaries. Commissioner Bonine said we have gateways at the major corners but if we’re trying to establish city boundaries, there may be other and cheaper ways to achieve that. Commissioner Sorenson said it sounds like the EDA is waiting for the EDC to make a recommendation. And the EDC is waiting for the EDA to make a recommendation. There isn’t ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 8 clear direction on who is reporting to who and who gets to make what decisions. He said for now, it’s safe to say we want one on 96 and Lexington across from the Shoreview sign. Let’s approve one for this year and get something done. This has been talked about for five years or longer. We should get a quote on installing that one and the EDA can make the final decision. Council Liaison Rousseau said it may be helpful to identify the places on the map that have been flagged as possible locations for a gateway sign and offer an alternative in that area, if a gateway sign is not the best option. Commissioner Bonine agrees the sign on Lexington and 96 makes sense to start with. The location and size has been decided by Shoreview. He isn’t sure if EDC is the best group to decide the design. Council Liaison Rousseau said the money can be used for other things like grants for businesses or new businesses. Commissioners all agreed the sign at the corner of Lexington and Highway 96 is a good place to start. Vice Chair Poelzer said she thinks these signs and flags foster residential pride. She is proud to live in Arden Hills. She wants it designated. She is continually amazed how people have no idea where they are. She said there has been previous discussion on how flags designate a downtown area. Signs for the parks would be good. A QR code on a sign could be helpful. Senior Planner Fransen said she is hearing a recommendation to move forward with the priority location at Lexington and Highway 96 and the EDC is interested in flags on the Arden Hills side of Lexington and going down County Road E. She also said EDC may want to rethink what defining clear boundaries is, outside of gateway signage. Maybe it’s way-finding signs or flags. She is hearing a desire to think more broadly than the established in ground signage. Commissioner Bonine suggested the City or JDA look into if developers can be asked to build the gateway signs at TCAAP. He said for the gateway sign on Lexington and 96 it doesn’t look like irrigation and lighting were part of the quote. It would be important to include those. Vice Chair Poelzer said she would like to see an estimate for City Monument Sign-Concept One in the agenda packet. She would like to have that estimate show what the original 2017 quote was vs. today’s cost. She wants to see everything on that list implemented for this sign but also include a QR code. The QR code can bring them to the city website. Senior Planner Fransen said she will share the feedback and return to the EDC with updates on next steps. A motion was made by Commissioner Bonine and seconded by Commissioner Sorenson to recommend the proposed sign at Lexington and Highway 96 move forward, including irrigation and lighting. Motion passed unanimously. With the time remaining the EDC discussed the 75th Anniversary celebration A lot of commissioners got really good feedback from residents. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – JULY 29, 2026 9 Commissioner Brausen said older residents may have stayed away because of the heat. He would have liked the booths to be closer to each other so there was not so much walking. He thought it would have been nice to have a cart to help the vendors. Council Liaison Rousseau got feedback from the Rotary who were surprised that they got a piece of grass. There were no tents or tables. Commissioner Brausen said sometimes city employees don’t understand customer service. They should have made it clear there were not tables. Commissioner Sorenson said it was very clearly defined by the city that you had to bring your own table and a tent, if you wanted one. He said the Slice of Shoreview is the same way. You get space to set up. We do not want to go down the road of supplying tables and tents to every sponsor. Senior Planner Fransen said it is helpful to hear from a business, as a sponsor. Commissioner Brausen said his staff had a great time and it cost him $300 and beer. Commissioner Bonine thought the sponsorship pricing was right on. It could even be raised a little more if we do it again. Commissioner Sorenson said there may be benefits to spacing it further from the Slice of Shoreview event. Businesses may not want to spend money to sponsor both. Vice Chair Poelzer said she was in the volunteer tent. It was the first time we’ve done an event like this. In the future she would like to see more use of volunteers and a clearer picture for what volunteers could expect. There were no snacks provided for volunteers. It would have been good to have a list of the food vendors to plan ahead. She thought the volunteer t-shirts were perfect. Senior Planner Fransen said Council will continue to have conversations and Staff is thinking about how this could look if we continue it in the future. She thanked everyone who volunteered. She said the EDC is a reminder of how involved and how proud Arden Hills businesses and residents are in this community. 5. ADJOURNMENT Vice Chair Poelzer adjourned the meeting at 9:06 a.m.