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~'~hc~ 'I-~tnc~owl- io/~~/09 To: Roseville City Council From: Tam McGehee Date: October 12, 2009 Re: Budget and Commitments I wish to come before the Council this evening to address two issues which are inextricably joined, Twin Lake Parkway and the City budget and taxes. Twin Lake Parkway was planned over thirty years ago when Roseville was the "shopping Mecca of the northern suburbs." While many things in the metropolitan area and the nation have changed, Roseville's view of the world appeazs to have been frozen in that "booming economy and retail is king" era. What needs to happen is for Roseville's staff and Council to remove the blinders and look around. Roseville will never be the northern shopping Mecca it was in the early eighties. Almost every community now has its own shopping azea. If Rosedale can continue to offer some unique opportunities, it will continue to serve some of the northern metro customers. However, shops on Grand Avenue, Woodbury, and Arbor Lakes all serve many of Rosedale's previous customers. Secondly, tax laws have changed. Roseville does not receive the full amount of its tax dollars generated by its commercial development. Due to the policy of fiscal disparity or equity sharing in the metropolitan area, Roseville retains only 60% of its commercial tax revenues while continuing to retain 100% of its residential taxes. Yet, Roseville has structured its city government to have "economic development" take precedent over "community development." Roseville's government continues to operate as if "commercial development" supports the city when in fact the opposite is true. Twin Lakes Pazkway was billed as a method for opening the internal portion of the azea for commercial development and to move traffic from 35W onto Snelling Avenue. Before the Parkway was even entered into the Comprehensive Plan in the 1980s, MNDOT clearly and unequivocally stated that there would be no more entrances onto Snelling between County Road C and Lydia, period. In fact, they stated, the existing entrances were already closer together than they would like. MNDOT has clearly determined that Terrace Drive dead ends at Lincoln Drive. Lincoln Drive to the north is a very small street with many curves and twists as it makes its way to Snelling Avenue. To change Lincoln to actually handle more traffic would be very expensive and certainly an unnecessary expense for the residents of Roseville as well as a detriment to the commercial properties along Lincoln to the north. What this means is that any traffic coming to Fairview Avenue from Twin Lakes Parkway, angling north as it is, would be heading north on Fairview towazd County Road D where the existing roads are completely incapable of handling additional traffic.