2003-04-09 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT . DATE: April 9, 2003 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council 0~vt::> Kim MoorewSykes, City Administrator FROM: RE: Downtown Redevelopment ......................................................................... The idea of downtown redevelopment has been discussed for several years. A year ago, a representative from the Metropolitan Council called to ask if the City was interested in redeveloping the downtown area of CenteIville. I reported that this was something that had been studied by the Design Team and considered by Council but that nothing definitive had been decided. She went on to suggest that as a part of any redevelopment of the downtown area, perhaps the Council should consider moving City Hall to the downtown area. She indicated that the Met Council was very supportive of City Halls in downtown areas and as a pilot project; grants may be available for this kind of a project. With improvements to CSAH 14 being planned by Anoka County for 2006, it seems that downtown redevelopment makes sense at that time. Also, because of other economic development activities going on in the area and throughout northeast Anoka County, the present City Hall space is quickly becoming too small. Currently, all of the on-site storage is at capacity, necessitating the use of the Public Works garage facility as additional storage for City documents. For documents that are confidential such as personnel records, this is not an appropriate alternative and going off site to look for a document is very time consuming. In informal discussions with various staff members and council, an idea of building a new city hall downtown was explored. A suggestion was made that perhaps the city hall downtown could incorporate other uses that would generate some revenue to offset the cost of construction and operation. In researching this suggestion, I have not found anything that will work in the short term. . An idea was proposed that maybe we could have a branch of the post office sited at city hall. Currently, there are no expansions of the current postal services planned. Apparently the ~acility at Hugo is relatively ne'Y and t~:ir projection~ do .~ot indica~e at, U "'L.t'CA. need for expanSIOn for several years. - t<.. 'dl '-ftLt6:. ~..A c;: '- r '"0 {'.(/yt-'f],,:, j--? -./ L. l-' .J yc ?pp'1..rct.'f.' c::,z -t~J<--Cl---- c;,'Lr t~/I'-- a.it'.;:.. fQ . Another idea was to have a library or licensing bureau in City Hall. With the County facing a $20 million to $30 minion deficit, they are looking for ways of reducing expenditures, not increasing them. The last idea was for a coffee shop to be invited in to