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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, October 13, 2008 <br />Page 16 <br />Ms. Schaffer indicated that members of the Steering Committee, following the <br />last meeting, had attempted to devise more clarity, as previously reported by City <br />Councilmember Roe on behalf of Steering Committee member Jim DeBenedet, as <br />author of a less rigid description that had been presented to the Planning Commis- <br />sion. Ms. Schaffer expressed disappointment that the concept for alternate defini- <br />tions for "Regional Business" and "Community Business" designations had never <br />actually discussed or explored by the Planning Commission. Ms. Schaffer gave <br />credit to those members of the Steering Committee who had signed onto that mi- <br />nority report, and who had recognized the difficulty in numerical designation. <br />Ms. Schaffer opined that, since the Metropolitan Council was open to extension, <br />the City Council should advise them on the appropriate form by November 1, <br />2008, that the City wished additional time; allowing the City Council to determine <br />if Mr. DeBenedet's report and concept was workable, and could reflect some of <br />the values proposed by citizens tonight. <br />Mayor Klausing closed public comment at approximately 7:45 p.m. to proceed <br />with City Council discussion. <br />Councilmember Roe provided background information, advising that he had <br />originally proposed the three business categories (i.e., Neighborhood Business, <br />Community Business, and Regional Business) from information he'd received <br />through I-35W Corridor Coalition documents; that would address current "Shop- <br />ping Center" designations and scale different businesses to respective areas of the <br />community. Councilmember Roe opined that the definitions as presented in the <br />current draft served to achieve that intent. <br />Roe moved, Pust seconded, designation HarMar Mall as a "Community Business" <br />land use under the definition as presented in the draft 2030 Comprehensive Plan <br />(Review Draft #2, dated October 2008); and without the 100,000 square foot des- <br />ignation. <br />Councilmember Ihlan spoke in opposition to the motion, opining that without the <br />100,000 square foot designation, changing HarMar back to the Community Busi- <br />ness designation would not make any significant difference; and that a more <br />meaningful definition of "Community Business" was needed guiding smaller <br />scale development for the future. <br />Councilmember Willmus spoke in support of the motion; and noted that he had <br />discussed with Jim DeBenedet his proposal, as referenced by Ms. Schaffer, over <br />the last week; one of the things we talked about was getting consensus, and how <br />do we move forward. There seemed to be consensus for taking Har Mar and clas- <br />sifying or guiding it as Community Business. Then the question became, how do <br />we handle these mitigation measures. Are these mitigation measures, building <br />size, setbacks, are those appropriate for the Comp Plan, or are the mitigation <br />