City Council - 05/21/1991 - Workshop EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
• ON
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Tuesday, May 21, 1991 6:00 PM, City Hall Council Chamber
COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Douglas Tenpas, Richard
Anderson, Jean Harris, H. Martin
Jessen, and Patricia Pidcock
CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Carl J. Jullie,
Assistant to the City Manager Craig
Dawson, Finance Director John D.
Frane, Director of Planning Chris
Enger, Director of Parks, Recreation
& Natural Resources Robert Lambert,
Director of Public Works Gene Dietz,
and Recording Secretary Roberta
Wick
ROLL CALL: All Members Present
Jullie stated the purpose of the meeting was to review community development
issues in four areas: (1) "Hometown Downtown", (2) Development review and
approval process; (3) Supporting and encouraging development; (4) Southwest
Eden Prairie development.
• John Hutchinson, Marge Frederichs and Neal Burton, members of the Economic
Growth and Development Commission of the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce
were present. Also present were Walter Carpenter, John Teman, Ken Teman,
Dick Feerick, and Bob Worthington representing Opus Development Corporation.
HOMETOWN DOWNTOWN
Enger reviewed the history and current developments in the proposed
Downtown area of the City. He said that property owners in the development
area had met on May 15 to discuss possible use of the land, and a
development proposal had been received from The Robert Larsen Partners for
an approximate 200,000 sq. ft. power mall on the Bermel property. This
proposal would be reviewed at the Planning Commission meeting of June 10,
1991. Larsen was interested in a straight rezoning proposal. McLaughlin
Companies of Toronto Ontario was also interested in a long-term development
of the property in the Major Center Area. Enger said there were also several
other developers interested in the western portion of the Major Center Area.
John Teman said he was anxious to sell his property at a fair price. Dick
Feerick encouraged the City to concentrate its resources in the Major Center
Area. He said he believed that a public/private partnership would be very
difficult but that he believed it could be done. He suggested that Council
contact Wal-Mart to determine what interest they had in the property.
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Eden Prairie City Council 2 May 21, 1991
Workshop on Community Development approved •
Jessen said he believed the Larsen Partners proposal needed to be reviewed.
He said he believed the Wal-Mart development would also be acceptable in this
area. He suggested pursuing all options in order to get as creative a design
as possible. He said he believed City should be willing to reallocate the tax
increment financing funds, and investigate the possibility of using HRA
authority in order to assemble the land next to Highway 169. He believed this
to be the preferable location as commercial areas could be clustered next to
Highway 169 in several locations; he said he also believed the City could use
City Hall as leverage to influence immediate land use. He also said he would
favor creating incentives for developers. He encouraged Council to act
quickly in the creation of a downtown area.
Harris and Pidcock were in agreement with Jessen's comments. Anderson said
he agreed also but would caution Council not to put public funds into a
development that would not be a good investment for the City.
Teman said that in today's market, any commercial development would need an
anchor tenant, and that he believed a development such as Galleria in Edina
was not possible for the Eden Prairie market at this time.
Harris said, she was more concerned about a good design than whether or not
it was a power center. Harris encouraged Council to make a decision within
30 days. •
Tenpas encouraged an early decision in order not to handicap individual
landowners who were anxious to sell the property. He said he was not
entirely comfortable getting involved in the private sector with public money.
Pidcock also encouraged development of the property, not because the
properties were in distress, but because it was the right time and the right
place and it suited the City. Anderson said he believed the City should
become pro-active in the planning process rather than allowing the developers
to make the decisions. Tenpas said he believed it would be necessary for the
City to invest some money in order not to handicap the developers by
requiring a particular design or plan. He also asked if 30-days was a
reasonable time to put a project together.
Enger said if a developer was willing to work with the City, an urban design
professional could be hired to work with the developer on the design
characteristics of buildings in the area. The time involved would depend upon
the willingness of the landowners to sell their properties, and the desire of
the developer to pursue a dual track with the City with modification of
design, floor area ratio, or other features the City might require.
After further discussion, Jessen suggested that Anderson and he return to
the discussions with the landowners to review options, while at the same time,
allowing the Wal-Mart proposal to proceed through.the normal review process.
He said that by doing this, it could be determined in 30 or 60 days whether
there was a willingness to work together on the part of the landowners. If it •
was determined there was not a willingness to work together, then the City
Eden Prairie City Council 3 May 21, 1991
• Workshop on Community Development .approved
would allow the developers to determine what would be done with the available
land. Tenpas said he would favor Anderson and Jessen meeting with the
landowners again.
MOTION
Pidcock moved that Anderson and Jessen hold discussions with the landowners
and report back to Council. Included in the discussions should be the issue of
what could be done with the floodplain land and determining whether the
property owners would be willing to dedicate it to the City. Seconded by
Harris. Motion approved 5-0.
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS
Jullie called Council attention to the information in the packet which listed
what the City was able to do to encourage development in the City, such as
financial incentives and working with various agencies involved. He said that
a possibility would be to consider forming an economic development function -
as some cities in the area had done. He said there had been about $20 million
of development through April 1991, compared to $24 million through April 1990.
Enger reviewed the critical path tracing program for development that the
• Planning Department had begun to use with developers to make the details of
the process clearer to everyone involved.
SUPPORTING AND ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT
Tenpas requested that the representatives from the Chamber of Commerce
return to the Council at another time to discuss this item.
SOUTHWEST EDEN PRAIRIE DEVELOPMENT
Dietz said the schedule was not moving as fast as originally anticipated.
Schroers had requested that the project be delayed until 1992, and the
owners of the Jacques property had stated that they did not want the project
this year. In addition, an EAW had been submitted to the Environmental
Quality Board for review. The plan at the present time was to proceed with
the final design of Dell Road adjacent to the Schroers property. He said he
expected construction to begin in spring, 1992 rather than fall, 1991, in order
to negotiate the easements needed on the Schroers property.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.
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