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04-12-2021 HRA MIN SPECIALSpecial Meeting of the Elk River Housing and Redevelopment Authority Held at the Elk River City Hall Monday, April 12, 2021 Members Present: Chair Larry Toth, Denny Chuba (4:30 p.m.), Commissioners Nate Ovall (via Zoom), Jayme Swenson, and Jennifer Wagner Members Absent: none Staff Present: City Administrator Cal Portner, Planning Manager Zack Carlton, Economic Development Specialist Colleen Eddy, and Sr. Admin. Assistant/Recording Secretary Jennifer Green I . Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Housing and Redevelopment Authority was called to order at 4:03 p.m. by Chair Toth. 2. Main and Gates Redevelopment Discussion and Downtown Discussion Ms. Eddy presented the staff report. Chair Toth began the discussion by stated he had a brief conversation with a downtown business owner who stated they wanted the downtown to remain as is and "historic." Commissioner Wagner states she continues to have conversations with downtown business owners and visitors. She stated she knows the downtown business association members support growth and progress if it makes sense. She explained hearing about residents and their feeling of a `historic downtown' but the buildings are not registered as historic. She outlined the takeaways she gathered from the public forum, which included improving pedestrian accessibility to downtown, especially across Highway 10, traffic flow through downtown, and improving river access. She suggested a traffic study to determine what changes can be made. She wants to continue looking big -picture at this area. The HRA discussed the big vision of the downtown and the commissioners brainstormed on what short- and long-term areas to tackle. Commissioner Ovall commented there was no initiative generated by the city to redevelop downtown Elk River, it has been situations presented to the city. He explained that when the school district building went up for sale, it triggered a series of events for the city to consider purchasing the building. Discussions with the HRA and EDA determined the EDA did not want the building but the HRA explored the possibility of creating a TIF district to include the building and other buildings in the block. To do so, the HRA had to assess the potential eligibility and conditions of buildings to determine if a certain percentage were substandard, which would allow a redevelopment to occur. He stated these were all exploratory options. Jesse Hartung then presented his vision and proposal to the city without any request by the Housing and Redevelopment Minutes April 12, 2021 Page 2 city to do so. The city let go of the school district building, which was then sold. He stated the council is asking the HRA what direction, if any, does the HRA want to go. He felt what he has heard from Commissioner Wagner and the feedback from public forums and residents is that the downtown area does not need to change. He stated he did feel if there is anything to modify or review if opportunities come do up, where does the HRA want to take those ideas. He felt a focus on improving traffic flow, if any, with a traffic study is appropriate and within the authority of the HRA to gain that knowledge of a study and staff expertise. He outlined a second takeaway from the public forum and that is to explore development on the other side of the railroad tracks and the potential for a pedestrian bridge or walkway across Highway 10 by finding a way to explore that option with MnDOT. He felt that could provide substantial benefits for our community. Lastly, he felt expansion of the downtown district, continue southwest along the river and consider future zoning alignment to work on the river view frontage and commerce aspect. Chair Toth agreed with reviewing the riverfront area. Mr. Portner stated the city does not have the ability to do a traffic study in-house. Commissioner Wagner stated the line item in the proposals presented by Houseal Levigne Associates (HLA) was for $17,000 to complete a traffic study with the option to complete a pedestrian bridge location study for $15,000. She felt this is a big, broad conversation and from the beginning of discussions, her stance has been the Council, HRA, and EDA never answered whether or not they wanted to redevelop the downtown. She stated they are always open to the private groups coming to the city for ideas. She does not want to spend $76,500 on a consultant study until the city knows if they really want to make changes. She feels if the city wants to get the best value for their funds and walk away with a good plan from consultants, the city provides the consultants with their vision. She explained the smaller suggestions that came from the downtown business group were that they were not looking for a big redevelopment in the parking lot area, but they are not opposed to some changes if it was the right thing. The HRA discussed downtown parking, noting it should be addressed. She noted she does not think there is a parking problem downtown and felt educating business owners with parking suggestions may help. The HRA discussed the traffic study, the possibility of closing traffic on Jackson south and using diagonal striping, and if there's safety concerns, as well as the businesses on Jackson. Mr. Carlton commented on the HLA traffic study and along with Public Works Director Justin Femrite, they outlined their suggestions to HLA and the impacts of these changes. He stated that once the changes are made to Highway 169, there should no longer be a lot of traffic movement from Parrish across Highway 10 and over the tracks. He noted during construction, however, it will remain an unadvertised detour. He explained the pedestrian bridge would take a large footprint over Highway 10 and the railroad. He suggested having HLA overlay a pedestrian footbridge on the area to see the effect of it and how much space it would really take. He felt depending on where a footbridge is placed, it may also have to take people over the railroad tracks and is an option to include with the traffic study. Housing and Redevelopment Minutes Page 3 April 12, 2021 At 4:37 p.m. there was a power outage and power came back on after about 30 seconds. Commissioner Ovall's connection was lost until 4:43 p.m. Commissioner Wagner asked if HLA could provide feedback on future traffic flow after the Highway 169 construction is complete. Mr. Carlton stated HLA could probably provide a professional opinion of traffic flow in the spring of 2025 but the accuracy of that opinion. It was the consensus of the HRA to move forward with a traffic study and include Lowell and Parrish as part of the study area. The HRA then turned the discussion to the downtown. They discussed the proposed dock and how that will open up river activities. They discussed expansion of the walkway east along the river and its connection to the Saxon building site and future expansion to Ramsey. It was noted the requirements from the DNR and MnDOT make this connection challenging. Commissioner Chuba explained his viewpoints on the downtown and felt it important to find out from the property owners what their future plans are, how do they see the conditions of their buildings, and are they able to find renters or tenants for their buildings, and to focus on the open spaces and preserving parking. The HRA discussed the goals of the HRA and how to focus those goals on other areas of the city that may be underutilized. They discussed the need to determine possible funding options. Ms. Eddy discussed the developer forum, where they had one developer attend. The developer focuses on daycares and private schools similar to the Goddard School. He stated he seemed interested and requested soil borings. She estimated the cost of four soil borings to be around $3,000. Commissioner Ovall asked about lining up Jackson Avenue with King Avenue or Lowell and would it help with traffic realignment. Mr. Carlton stated he can discuss this with Mr. Femrite but noted the 2001 Mississippi Connections plan outlined a grade separated realignment and wasn't sure if MnDOT would continue with that same proposal. Commissioner Wagner suggested extending whatever beautification plans are done in downtown towards Highway 169 on Main Street. Commissioner Swenson suggested the traffic study carry across how the intersections would be affected in the future such as Jackson and Railroad, and Main and Railroad. Commissioner Ovall had asked Ms. Eddy to distribute a handout of land sales comparables with area sales in the past two years. He discussed the numbers are lower than expected and felt $2 per foot seems too low. He stated he also does not feel apartments are comparable. He asked about selling the property at Main and Gates through a broker to get fair market cost. Housing and Redevelopment Minutes April 12, 2021 Mr. Portner stated he can ask the broker that is selling the Activity Center to provide an estimate on selling the Main and Gates property. 3. Adjournment Chair Toth adjourned the meeting at 5:40 p.m. Minutes pr pared by Jennifer Green. Tina Allard, City Clerk 1 Af Toth, Chair Housing & Redevelopment Authority Page 4