2014-10-21_HRA_Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

HRA Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, October 21, 2014 Page 3 1 2 At the request of Chair Maschka, Mr. Bilotta advised that the interactive map and value of the 3 homes did not consider any increases in square footage (e.g. home addition), but only 4 increased values of the lot over a ten year period assuming the property remained static in 5 nature, based on property tax information available from Ramsey County records. 6 7 Mr. Bilotta advised that, this map may be a useful tool when the HRA is looking for 8 involvement in potential lots, since they would not be interested in purchasing lots that were 9 ripe on the market, but only those that the HRA could add value to. Mr. Bilotta noted there 10 may be areas crossing jurisdictions that may need reviewed (e.g. southeast Roseville) that have 11 challenges on the other side of Roseville, but not in Roseville, and the HRA may wish to find 12 ways to not have them infiltrate further. 13 14 In general, Mr. Bilotta opined that the City of Roseville was in pretty good shape, and clarified 15 that apartment buildings were not included in the interactive map, only single-family 16 properties; with Member Etten opining that including those in the interactive map would paint 17 a very different picture. 18 19 Mr. Bilotta asked if the HRA would like staff to provide any additional information for future 20 discussion subsequent to this brief overview. 21 22 In the area of economic development, Chair Maschka asked where things were at in taking a 23 proactive approach to talking about development (e.g. information technology in light of the 24 economy and low interest rates); opining that it seemed the perfect time to actively pursue 25 businesses based on what Roseville has to offer. 26 27 Mr. Bilotta advised that staff continued to work on the property owner side, but was not 28 chasing businesses from other communities, but rather working on the brokerage side to 29 leverage its resources. 30 31 Ms. Kelsey noted that this information didn’t show the recent activity occurring on the west 32 side of Cleveland Avenue, with two potential hotels in the planning stages to be located by the 33 Metro Transit’s Park & Ride facility; and the City Council recently presented with concept 34 plans for a grocery/retail mall in that same area. Ms. Kelsey noted that things were going on 35 on the west side of Roseville; and while Federal Express was closing two Roseville locations, 36 they had just opened a new facility several years ago, bringing an additional 400 jobs. Ms. 37 Kelsey advised that staff was currently unable to accurately track in/out versus global 38 businesses, but while employment may be going down, it may be due to a company moving, or 39 it may be due to a company changing locations within Roseville into existing buildings that 40 doesn’t immediately track (e.g. St. Jude’s on the west side moving into existing buildings). 41 Ms. Kelsey noted that the City is enhancing their newsletter to include business information, 42 but had a ways to go in tracking the number of employees being added as companies build 43 and/or relocate. 44 45 At the request of Chair Maschka, Mr. Bilotta advised that the numbers for his presentation 46 came from the State, and Department of Education and Economic Development (DEED). In 47 staff’s ongoing work with a number of commercial brokers, Mr. Bilotta advised that they’re 48 pleasantly surprised to find conditions different than they assumed, with a lot of opportunities 49 in the Twin Lakes area and west of I-35W, since those brokers were seeing a shortage of 50 industrial sites on the market at this time. Mr. Bilotta noted that interest was picking up 51 considerably in the Twin Lakes Redevelopment Area, with staff currently working with 52 various parties interested in the PIK property directly west of Langton lake, as well as the 53 Dorso property north of the Park & Ride structure. Mr. Bilotta noted that this had long been an 54 eyesore for the community, but was in a strategic location across from Symantec, with private 55 parties working with the local property owner in cleaning up the site. When the community