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City Council - 06/25/1996 - Workshop APPROVED AIRMIES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, JUNE 259 1996 7:00 p.m. CITY CENTER COUNCIL/STAFF WORKSHOP Heritage Room IV, 8080 Mitchell Road COUNCI MEMEBERS: Mayor Jean Harris, Councilmembers Ronald Case, Patricia Pidcock, Ross Thorfinnson, and Nancy Tyra-Lukens CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Carl Jullie, Assistant City Manager Chris Enger, HRA Manager David Lindahl, and Recording Secretary Barbara Anderson I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting began at 7:15 p.m. II. PRESENTATION OF LIVABLE COMMUNITIES ACTION PLAN Lindahl stated the Livable Communities Action Plan was essentially the strategies approved by the City Council to meet the Livable Communities housing goals, and this will be submitted to the Metropolitan Council with any changes or revisions proposed by the Councilmembers. Public housing has been stressed because of lawsuits won by people who felt they were discriminated against. In the future to qualify for tax credits a certain amount of public housing must be built. The City is not equipped to own or manage public housing at this time, but should consider having it within the community. Minneapolis is willing to own these units if Eden Prairie will have it within their community. Discussion ensued regarding affordable housing versus low income housing. Minimum income levels needed to buy affordable housing were discussed. Affordable is a term applied to housing within a certain price range by the Metropolitan Council but it becomes difficult to establish exactly what that means. Possibly avoiding labels would be a way around this problem. Mayor Harris commented that keeping housing affordable once it has been constructed is a challenge. Lindahl stated most developers are very interested in talking about this type of housing and most communities are vying for it as well. Enger said Eden Prairie is behind in this type of housing projects and he was concerned that Eden Prairie cannot be successful because of the political pressure put upon Eden Prairie to adopt this type of housing and build it. Pidcock stated people put pressure on councilmembers to keep things the same and fight change in order to retain their perception of how the City should remain. Lindahl said there were ways to accomplish the construction of affordable housing in a win/win type environment. He believed if they could make a few apartment units affordable to low income persons, it would not be obvious to the public at large, and would still accomplish the City's goal of creating affordable housing within Eden Prairie. They could start a rent reduction program which would not be as threatening to residents as a new building being constructed. The apartments could be retrofitted by financial CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION bIINUTES June 25, 1996 Page 2 buying down with little or no fanfare. This could be done when apartments turn over, and the turnover rate for apartments in Eden Prairie is between 8 and 10%. Lindahl said there were a few sites left in Eden Prairie which would be good transition between single family and other uses and also have good access to schools and services. Various sites where habitat houses could be built were discussed. A proposal for the apple orchard property was discussed and the results of the second neighborhood meeting were reviewed. Housing on top of shopping centers or having more high density residential development in the downtown area was discussed. This would facilitate the development of the "walking community" concept and perhaps get it going. Enger commented there was a developer who was interested in constructing luxury condominiums in the downtown area which would put people living in this area. The transit hub should attract people to this area as well. There has been talk about selling five acres on the transit hub site for housing. There would be credit given to all three cities for the housing development if it were built. They could possibly utilize TIF money to buy down the cost of the land, and all three cities involved would receive credit for the housing units built even though it is located within Eden Prairie. The other cities would receive recognition for doing the construction partnership, and they have TIF money available. The low income portion of the project would only be 20% or less because they don't want to put all the low income housing on one site, but spread it throughout the community. Lindahl commented the legislature had come close to passing a mandate requiring a certain amount of low income housing but it did not pass. Discussion ensued regarding how the issue of affordable housing should be handled with developers who proposed projects in Eden Prairie which would allow Eden Prairie to attain its goals. Concern was expressed that there is not that much developable land left in which to accomplish this goal of affordable housing and this issue was not being pushed to reach the goal. Pidcock stated the market is changing, and while there is a large demand in Eden Prairie at present for single family residential, the population is changing and the need will be for smaller houses and more consolidated types of properties. Many housing developers are building condominiums rather than single family homes. This community offers residents the opportunity to live here through all the cycles of their lives, and this should continue to be balanced. Balancing the level of employment with the levels of housing was discussed, and it was believed that achieving this goal would ultimately reduce traffic levels within the City. Lindahl stated the Livable Communities Action Plan would be placed on a Council agenda in the near future, and Councilmembers could communicate any changes they wished to make prior to that time. Discussion ensued regarding the issue of the City of Minneapolis putting low income units in outlying communities and the possibility of the legislature becoming involved in this. Concern was expressed about having another municipality owning property within another municipality and the potential problems which could arise from such a situation. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION NIINUTES June 252 1996 Page 3 M. OTHER BUSINESS None. IV. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.