HRSR INFORMATION 08-27-2001 too z o zoos INFORMATION
• MEMORANDUM
TO: Pat Klaers, Catherine Mehelich and Michele McPherson
(Copies to be sent to all Council, EDA and HRA members, please)
FROM: Paul Motin
DATE: August 16, 2001
RE: Pedestrian Mall - Counterpoint?
Attached is a copy of an article I had read in the Readers Digest(February 2001). I had
mentioned at a recent meeting (though I can't remember if it was at a Council, EDA or HRA
meeting)that I had read an article not quite so positive about the pedestrian mall concept. No
one seemed to have had seen any articles which discussed the viability of the pedestrian mall
concept.
I ask that a copy of the article and this memo be sent to each Council, EDA and HRA member.
The Readers Digest article (on the third page) shows just one example of when such a concept
1111 wasn't viable. I know there are others (I used to live near Golf Mill Shopping Center, in Niles,
Illinois. That mall had been created as an outdoor shopping center(you had to go outside from
one shop to then enter another)with lots of parking. As big box retailers became more common
in the area, Golf Mill basically died. It was only after the Mall completely encapsulated itself to
become an indoor shopping mall that business returned).
It is not that I oppose the pedestrian mall concept(I very much liked what I saw in the concept
brought before the HRA relating to the redevelopment of the Nadeaus through Tony Mikols'
building area-- it may be large enough to make it viable,though I question whether a smaller
project would be).
It's just that we (Council, HRA and EDA)keep receiving articles in our packets showing how
just about every other city wants to create a"downtown"and how"great"they supposedly are. I
think it's very important for us to have all the information(both pros and cons) in order to make
a decision. Staff, whether intentionally or not, seems to only provide us with the pros.
•
•
ILI
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Attitudes a l
Out of Step
Yoewgir#riefld�nad�
,
Pasta Arrabiata.
Believe me, walking is not as pedestrian
as it looks By BILL BRYSON I
i From"I'm a Stranger Here Myself' lege, an old-fashioned Main Street
it i
and leafy residential neighborhoods. ;I ,
FTER LIVING in England It is, in short, an agreeable, easy
for 20 years, my wife place to go about one's business on 1.
and I decided to move foot, and yet as far as I can tell, vir- I
-, back to the United tually no one does. I
' States. We wanted to Nearly every day, I walk to the ,
live in a town small enough that we post office or library or bookstore,
could walk to the business district, and sometimes, if I am feeling par-
and settled on Hanover,N.H.,a typ- titularly debonair, I stop at Rosey SWI
ical New England town—pleasant,
sedate and compact. It has a broad
central green surrounded by the ven-
`4
erable buildings of Dartmouth Col-
-As 1,
-- ,
r 4,
i',
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's from Scotland.
_ E.
ause you never know. '
� 69 i'
PHOTOGRAPHED/Y 0.1CHA0.D LEE "
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Attitudes
Jekes Cafe for a cappuccino. Occa- almost ludicrous. The other day I
sionally,in the evenings,my wife and was waiting to bring home one of
I stroll up to the Nugget Theatre my children from a piano lesson
for a movie or to Murphy's on the when a car stopped outside a post
Green f
or a beer. I wouldn't dream office, and a man about m.y age
ii
of going to any of these places by popped out and dashednsde. e
_ car. People have gotten used to my was in the post office for about three
eccentric behavior, but in the early or four minutes,and then came out,
days acquaintances would often pull got in the car and drove exactly 16
up to the curb and ask if I wanted feet
Id off) to the general store
t g
better to do, soa
a ride.
"I'm going your way,"they would next door. • this man looked
insist when I politely declined. "Re- And the thing is,
1 ally, it's no bother." really fit.I'm sure he jogs j
il 1 "Honestly, I enjoy extravagant distances and
walking." From the post plays squash and does
"Well, if you're sure," office, the man of all kinds of healthful
I they would say and de- g things, but I am just as
part reluctantly, even in his car and sure that he drives to each a'.
• iltil ,as if leavingthe of these underrak;ngs. `
yidrove exactly 16 An acquaintance of
scene of an accident
without giving their feet to the general ours was complaining
the other day about the
name. store next door difficulty of finding a 1,
In the United States
we have become so ha- place to park outside the
bituated to using the car for every- local gymnasium.She goes there sev
thing that it doesn't occur to us to eral times a week to walk on a tread
unfurl our legs and see what those mill. The gymnasium is, at most, a
lower limbs can do.We have reached six-minute walk from her front door.
an age where college students ex- I asked her why she didn't walk
pect to drive between lasses, where to the gym and do six minutes less
parents will drive three blocks to pick on the treadmill.
up their children from a friend's She looked at me as if I were
house,where the letter carrier takes tragically simple-minded and said, ,
his van up and down every drive- "But I have a program for the trea1
way on a street. mill.It records my distance and speed
We will go through the most ex- and calorie burn rate, and I caad- ,
traordinary contortions to save our- just it for degree of difficulty."
n
selves from walking. Sometimes it's I confess it had not occurred to
_ t 1 •1'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF,COPYRIGHT 0 1999 BY BILL BRYSON IS PUBLISHED(HARDCOVER,$33,PAPER
. - -
BACK.914)BY BROADWAY BOOKS,A DIVISION OP RANDOM HOUSE,INC.,1930 BROADWAY.NEW YORK,N.Y.10036
1 70
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! Attitudes
I me how thoughtlessly deficient na- alized that I was possibly the only
I ture is in this regard. person ever to have entertained the
notion of negotiating that intersec-
CCORDING TO a con- tion on foot.
1 cerned and faintly hor- The fact is,we not only don't walk
rifled 1997 editorial in anywhere anymore in this country,
the Boston Globe, the we won't walk anywhere, and woe
11
United States spent less to anyone who tries to make us, as
II than one percent of its transporta- the city of Laconia, N.H., discov-
tion budget on facilities for pedes- ered. In the early 1970s, Laconia
trians. Actually,I'm surprised it was spent millions on a comprehensive
' that much. Go to almost any sub- urban renewal project, which in-
urb developed in the last 30 years, cluded building a pedestrian mall to
and you will not find a sidewalk any- make shopping more pleasant. Es-
where. Often you won't find a sin- thetically it was a triumph—urban
gle pedestrian crossing. planners came from all over to coo
I had this brought home to me one and take photos—but commercially
summer when we were driving across it was a disaster.Forced to walk one
• . Maine and stopped for coffee in one whole block from a parking garage,
I of those endless zones of shopping shoppers abandoned downtown La-
! ' malls, motels, gas stations and fast- coria for suburban malls.
food places. I noticed there was a In 1994 Laconia dug up its pretty
bookstore across the street, so I de- paving blocks, took away the tubs
cided to skip coffee and head over. of geraniums and decorative trees,
I Although the bookshop was no and brought back the cars.Now peo-
I more than 70 or 80 feet away, I dis- ple can park right in front of the
1 covered that there was no way to stores again, and downtown La-
i i cross on foot without dodging over coria thrives anew.
six lanes of swiftly moving traffic.In And if that isn't sad,I don't know
the end, I had to get in our car and what is.
1 drive across. is To order the book this excerpt is
11 At the time, it seemed ridiculous taken from,call 80o-832-2212 or purchase
- and exasperating,but afterward I re- online at booksnow.com/rd.
ISI
i SWEET THINGS
! ' Actor Mel Gibson on what women want:"After
I about twenty years of marriage,I'm finally
R starting to scratch the surface of that one.And I
N ;I1 / think the answer lies somewhere between conver-
'1
sation and chocolate." —Us
• 72
FORM AT 1 0
City of
Elly. 4-,
liver
MEMORANDUM
TO: Housing & Redevelopment Authority
FROM: Catherine Mehelich, Director of Economic Development� ��
DATE: August 27, 2001 ((rr
SUBJECT: Related Redevelopment Information — City of Mound
At the July 23,2001 meeting the HRA requested additional information about the Mound
Downtown Redevelopment project.
Attached is a public information piece that was used during the redevelopment project. Staff
will provide a verbal update of the Mound project at the HRA meeting.
•
410
Mound Redevelopment
Questions & Answers ,
• MOUND VISIONS—BUILDING A BETTER COMMUNITY • CITY OF MOUND
In 1991, an effort to revitalize Downtown The downtown is chopped up by railroad and county
Mound was initiated. Much progress has been roads that provide no on street parking.Retail store
made since that time, but more work remains. fronts are disconnected and do not form continuous
shopping loops.The beautiful lakes that surround
This Q&A provides some answers to frequently downtown and that historically played an important
asked questions about this project. role in the community are hidden.The area is not
pedestrian friendly.Redevelopment would reorient the
Q. What can you tell me about plans to downtown to the lakes,relocate County Road 15,
redevelop Downtown Mound? bring new investment into Mound and provide public
A.The Mound Housing &Redevelopment Authority facilities such as a small recreational harbor,boat docks,
voted at its meeting Tuesday, December 14,to approve a greenway along the Lost Lake shore and a transit
station. Lost Lake Canal has already been restored as
a redevelopment plan for Downtown Mound based on
the Mound Visions Concept Plan first introduced in part of this project.
1992.The plan calls for reorienting downtown towards
Lost Lake and Lake Langdon and featuring new cornQ.4r/a
How will the redevelopment be financed
mercial development, new housing,a transit station,a and what will it cost?
public greenway, pedestrian walkways and opening the A.The redevelopment will cost about$23 million and
Lost Lake Canal to boats.The redevelopment area it will be financed by land sales,developer fees,and tax
encompasses about 100 acres of downtown. (See the increment finance (TIF).The City has also received a
map on back page). federal ISTEA grant to help pay to rehabilitate the
Lost Lake Canal.The City has also used gas tax dollars
Q. Why is downtown being redeveloped? to reconstruct Auditors Road and will use the same to
A.Mound's down- reconstruct County Road 15.
town once was a
,..e•,,r3.- � � " : Q. What is tax increment finance (TIF)?
� � , � .�� z central commercial
- a ,, district and heart of A.Tax increment is a tool that Minnesota communities
- + ^--; the community use to attract residential and commercial development
.. _lf. � :«�� where people met, that would not normally come to a community be-
: `` r dined,gathered, cause of the costs to build there.When a new develop-
7;" = shopped and did ment is built, the property taxes from the increased
': ' ,. �I, business.However, value go to pay site costs such as acquisition,demoli-
�. r► - over the years the tion,utilities and transportation improvements.Mean-
�,,�,.� , , downtown has while,a steadystream of property tax revenue a uiva-
�' .., � P P Y q
Downtown today suffered from a lack lent to what the previous property had been paying
of reinvestment and continues to the city and all other taxing jurisdictions.
new investment.In 1991,the City Council spear- The Commerce Place development in Mound was
headed a downtown revitalization effort and gathered financed using TIF.
a large group of community volunteers to work with
the City's Economic Development Commission to Q. When will the redevelopment occur?
look at strategies for revitalizing downtown.They
determined that a big reason for the decline of down A.The entire redevelopment is expected to occur over
town was that it didn't work well as a district because the next three to five years.This type of redeve11100
lop
of its layout and orientation. ment is dependent upon a number of factors outside of
city control,such as market conditions.Therefore,it is
WINTER 2000
possible that the redevelopment may take longer than this issue will be available in the next 60 to 90 days.
originally projected.Work is currently underway to411,
complete dredging and improvements to the channel Q. How can I find out more information?
and harbor.The greenway, delayed slightly because of A.The City will be providing periodic updates on the
the relocation of the post office,is expected to be redevelopment project in the City's newsletter, City
completed late 2001. County Road 15 will be relo- Contact,and in the weekly newspaper, The Laker.If
Gated in 2002 and other commercial and residential you have questions, please feel free to call any of the
redevelopment will occur in 2000 and after.
following for more information:
Q. What can you tell me about the future of the old Mayor,Pat Meisel 612-472-2097
high school athletic fields in the redevelopment area? Council Member,Andrea Ahrens 612-472-1520
A.This property is part of a larger site currently Council Member,Bob Brown 612-472-3680
owned and controlled by the Westonka School District. Council Member,Mark Hanus 612-472-5480
The School District no longer has a need for this
property and is in the process of selling the land for Council Member,Leah Weycker 612-472-4187
potential development. In addition,there is commu Mound Redevelopment Consultant,
nity interest in determining whether the public Jim Prosser 651-697-8503
would support acquisition of the property for athletic Mound Visions Coordinator,
purposes. It is expected that more information about Bruce Chamberlain 612-338-0800
tiC3 rir
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* • '' � '' 0 Q LEGEND
! .� *� ”' k. . I tril in 0 A. Langdon District
� , w. Y Q B. Coast-to-Coast District
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�,' co13C.Auditor's Road District
° • � CI D. Lost Lake District
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WINTER 2000