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The City made an application to the Metropolitan Council in fall, 2000, to be a showcase community for a master plan prepared by a national planning firm,Calthorpe Associates. The application was not accepted. In January 2001 the City Council approved hiring an architect/planning fum Hammel Green Abrahamson(HGA) and Michael Lamb to assist in developing a master plan for the Arona Neighborhood. The process included the neighborhood, surrounding property owners, institutional/church users, park and recreation specialists, and housing developers in preparing along-term development plan for the area. In addition, demographics for the entire Planning District #3, which includes the study area, were collected and summarized to help assess the current housing and population characteristics. The first small group meeting was held on February 8,2401. Representatives from the area including asingle-family representative, amulti-family representative, commercial property owners (Hamline Center&JLT), church representatives and a Hamline House Condominium representative were invited. Several single-family representatives, church and Hamline Center representatives did attend. The main focus of the meeting was to provide a background on the master planning process and gain input to help guide city staff and the city consultant in establishing the strengths, opportunities, issues and concerns regarding the site and the process. On March 1,2001 two focus group meetings were held. One was with faith based groups and educational institutions with the primary objectives of identifying relevant issues and concerns regarding the long-term viability of the neighborhood and identifying the long- term plans and goals related to their investment in the community. The other focus group meeting was with approximately 10 housing and mixed use developers with the primary objectives of identifying the potential redevelopment opportunities of the area for mimed use housing and neighborhood services and understanding what the key components are for successful infill developments. A community workshop was held on Saturday morning, March 10,2001. Approximately 30 neighborhood representatives attended. Over 1200 notices were mailed to residents and property owners within 350 feet of the 40-acre site. The meeting was advertised in the Bulletin and posted on the City web page. A follow up community meeting was held on March 22,2001 to provide a summary of the ideas generated from the community workshop with the help of Michael Lamb of HGA. He presented several land use and design options for the study area. The concept designs presented are attached and include short and long term redevelopment options. These were concepts for discussion purposes and the ideas generated in the concepts were intended to be considered interchangeable. Following the public focus group sessions, the Planning Commission and City Council reviewed the concepts for two months through informal sketch plan discussions; the last was in April 2001. Neighborhood updates where mailed to property owners and placed on the City Home Page. Appendix A- 1 2 of 29