CC_Minutes_2013_0722 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday,July 22,2013 Page 10 looking at the Master Plan to buffer outside of that; but reiterated that they couldn't connect to properties on the west or north. Mr. Regan also requested that the City reconsider its overall goals for this area; while retaining interest in redeveloping into nice properties and eliminating blight, while creating new jobs and enhancing the City's tax base. Mr. Regan noted that it took catalysts to accomplish these goals, such as capital. If more flexible uses were allowed on their property, Mr. Regan advised that they were prepared to come in with redevelopment plans, since the time was now right in the development cycle to look at it in earnest. Mr. Regan opined that he thought his firm could be that catalyst to the east side of the Twin lakes property, an area that was treading water right now; with his firm on the verge of the right time for them to look at redevelopment options and to provide some options of interest to the City as well. In response to Mayor Roe's question on the types of proposed uses, Mr. Regan re- sponded that twenty-one (21) acres was a big piece of land, but they would need to secure anchor tenants, leaning toward heavy commercial use with some retail piece to anchor and kick-off development. Without knowing the size or scale at this time, Mr. Regan advised that he did not see their property coming up with a dense, multi-story mixed use, opining that it didn't make sense at that location. In response to Mayor Roe, Mr. Regan clarified that he was not limiting that pro- posed use to retail unless it made sense for that area. Mayor Roe noted that this had been discussed by the City Council and staff earlier this year,permitted uses within the overall area or restricting uses in other parts of the district. Mayor Roe asked Mr. Regan what uses he saw as most compatible to what was in the area of his property and how it fit with current zoning to facilitate that type of use. Mayor Roe questioned if Community Mixed Use (CMU) land use designation made sense. Mr. Regan noted that his firm invested a lot of costs at the front end without knowing if a project would succeed or not; and asked that the City keep that in mind and eliminate uncertainties to the greatest degree possible; suggesting that the City could do this by taking a more focused approach to the Twin Lakes Mas- ter Plan. Mayor Roe suggested, with concurrence of Mr. Regan, that therefore the City needed to provide as much flexibility in uses as possible, and not proscribe ex- tremely specific uses on specific parcels,. Councilmember McGehee sought comment from Mr. Regan on an additional an- chor retail tenant and increased traffic volumes on County Road C between Snel- ling and Fairview Avenues when Wal-Mart would already have significant im- pacts to that roadway.