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2.1. SR 02-19-1996':ty of iver FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: MEMORANDUM Mayor & City Council Planning Commission Steven B. Ach, City Planner~~ February 19, 1996 Growth Management Introduction With the recent adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, which included an expanded urban service area, the city needs to revisit and assess its current growth management policies and ordinance requirements to make sure these policies and ordinances will implement the adopted Comprehensive Plan. The City of Elk River's 1988 and recently adopted 1995 Comprehensive Plan endorsed a basic growth management strategy to develop from the central core outward in an orderly manner. This approach is the typical development pattern any city or region will adopt to achieve managed growth. Simply put, as utilities, streets, and other infrastructure is extended by either a city initiated project or developer driven, development occurs accordingly. From a public policy standpoint, this development pattern utilizes strong planning principles, prudent fiscal management, and minimizes early investment in additional public services. What does the ordinance say today regarding controlling commercial and industrial development? The current zoning ordinance states that "All commercial and industrial development within the urban service area must hook up to city water and sewer". However, prior to expanding the urban service area down East Highway 10, this requirement only affected vacant commercial and industrial (Business Park) zoned property along West Highway 10, industrial property along Proctor Avenue (north of public works facility), and some commercial property along Highway 169 (Hillside Estates, Earl Hohlen). However, now that the urban service area has been expanded down East Highway 10, several vacant commercial and industrial properties are subject to this ordinance. 13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · (612) 441-7420 ° Fax: (612) 441-7425 Memo to City Council and Planning Commission February 19, 1996 Page 2 What ordinances are in place controlling the growth of residential development? The intent of the ordinance for all property zoned residential within the urban service area is to have these areas developed as urban sized lots (10,000-14,000 square feet). What is not clearly stated in the ordinance is the minimum lot size if a property owner wanted to subdivide residential property prior to city water and sewer. As staff has stated in the past, under these conditions, the minimum lot size should be kept as large as possible (10 acres) to provide for the efficient extension of utilities at a later date. The second problem that currently exists is that the newly expanded urban service area between County Road 12/13 is zoned Rla. This zoning designation allows a minimum lot size of 2-1/2 acres. Assuming this area will ultimately be developed with city water and sewer, the zoning and/or minimum lot size will have to be increased for the reasons stated above. In no way are these proposed increases in the minimum lot size suggesting that no one can subdivide their property. This merely is an attempt to manage the subdivision of land and preserve the opportunities for either the city or landowner (developer) to extend utilities in an efficient manner. Why not allow commercial and industrial development to occur prior to having city water and sewer available? First of all, it is important to highlight the size and geographic area of the urban service boundary. If commercial and industrial development had no boundaries, there would be no management to this growth pattern. Development could occur in a scattered/random pattern throughout the entire urban service district. Secondly, it should be made clear that commercial and industrial development can occur without city water and sewer. This has happened along east Highway 10 for years. It is also happening along Highway 101 between Rogers and Elk River as well as though the City of Ramsey. However, this type of development can be different than what may be found in a sewer and water area. If development without water and sewer was to occur, several questions would need to be asked: · How difficult will it be for the city or landowners to extend utilities at a later date given the existing business that may be in place? · Why would property owners near the edge of the urban service district have any interest in developing with city water and sewer? s:\councilXgmp.doc Memo to City Council and Planning Commission February 19, 1996 Page 3 · What happens to commercial and industrial property values if development was to occur throughout the entire urban service district? · Are there any long term affects upon the integrity of the entire commercial and industrial base? · What is the impact to the tax base if industrial development cannot happen until city water and sewer is available? · What are the costs to the city and development community to redevelop underutilized properties when; and if, water and sewer is extended? · Will development without water and sewer compromise long range planning and transportation needs since these developments may be perceived as temporary and located outside of the urban core? · Without water and sewer, will available land be more attractive to less intense commercial and industrial uses? · Why would a property owner (developer) request water and sewer if their development could be constructed without water and sewer? · Will public safety (i.e. fire and police) be compromised by having buildings built with provisions for future sprinkling or other public safety needs when water and sewer finally "gets there"? · What happens to the existing inventory of commercial and industrial if development is allowed to continuously extend out away from the core? These are just a few of many questions related to this subject. Unfortunately, the answers are difficult and certainly contain two points of view. These questions should be explored to fully understand the dynamics of this issue. How can commercial and industrial property be utilized prior to water and sewer being available? One option to consider is allow interim uses without water and sewer as a conditional use permit in either the commercial or industrial district. State Statutes allow cities to issue conditional use permits for interim uses under certain guidelines. These guidelines may include issuing a permit for a temporary use for a limited number of years upon which it would expire. Certainly, attaching a sunset date to uses could present a problem if these uses are expiring prior to the property having access to water and sewer. Although the interim use or temporary use seems like a reasonable approach, there are some pitfalls. The first question that always comes up is "what is temporary"? Temporary may have several different meanings depending upon whom you're talking with. For example, I learned the other day that s:XcouncilXgmp.doc Memo to City Council and Planning Commission Page 4 February 19, 1996 School District has had temporary buildings out in front of their high school for the past 15 years. I've also heard "temporary" discussed as one or two years; so the point is, it is very difficult to define temporary and even more difficult to come up with a finite list of uses that could be considered as temporary. Therefore, from an administration standpoint, the whole concept of temporary becomes very subjective and difficult to interpret, as well as enforce. The most common method used by cities to identify allowable uses prior to city water and sewer is to allow uses commonly found in a low density residential or agricultural zoning district. These cities will have properties that are presently not served with city water and sewer, zoned as a holding district or, in Elk River's case, Rla or A-1. This method of establishing a zoning designation, along with a specific list of allowable uses, clearly identifies how property, whether it be residential, commercial or industrial, can be used prior to city water and sewer. The difficulty Elk River has is that a majority of the property is currently zoned for its ultimate use. Therefore, trying to implement the system described above may be very difficult given our current situation. The option Elk River may wish to pursue is amending the zoning ordinance to identify certain uses such as those found in the A-1 or Rla zoning district, that can be used on properties zoned commercial and industrial that do not have city water and sewer. Can there be a compromise to allow development prior to water and sewer? Compromise on this particular issue goes beyond having a property owner or developer waive their rights to future assessments and guaranteeing hook up to utilities when available. These arrangements are well intended when executed, however, for some reason, be it time, change of property owners, or whatever, inevitably the City Council is confronted with an emotional and difficult issue. It is at this point that all previous bets are off and reality takes over. At this point, property owners and City Council are sitting across the table from one another discussing the actual costs and hardships that may result. Summa~ Growth management is a proven method throughout the country that cities have adopted in order to reduce public costs, managed traffic, preserve farmland, protect against environmental problems, and simply maintain a quality of life for the community. Although growth management is viewed as s:XcouncilXgmp.doc Memo to City Council and Planning Commission Page 5 February 19, 1996 a sound public policy, it may also burden property owners along the way. This issue is very important to the residents of Elk River, development community, and affected property owners. Therefore, an open discussion and exchange of information is a good platform to begin formulating decisions to achieve the goals for the entire City of Elk River. s:\council\gmp.doc s:kcouncilkgmp.doc Ways to Selectively Influence Growth G. Curtis Branscome The concept of "selective growth" sug- gests that you can fine tune a local economy. I disagree. My thesis is that the local economy is like the national econ- omy and is not susceptible to fine tuning. You (:an do some things to heat up the econ- omy, but you cannot predetermine how "hot" it is going to become. You can do some things to cool down the economy, but you cannot predetermine how cold it is going to get. Playing the growth/no-growth game is like playing Russian roulette. You never know when you are going to shoot yourself in the - head. Growth takes on a life of its own, and developers often do not recognize when the cycle is over. Overbuilding results, and you end up with the Denver experience of this de- cade-millions of square feet of "see through" office buildings. Conversely, if a community has the reputation of being a no- growth area and then changes its mind, the courting of the development community is a long and hard process. The growth/no-growth choice is a political one, and either choice requires political sup- port if it is to be maintained. Political support for either position may change significantly based on the economy. l~/l local government that cares to influence what happens in its community still has a powerful tool to use in its zoning powers, g~ Local governments may be able to influ- ence growth, but they cannot control growth. It cannot be turned on and off like a spigot. Regional and national economies have tre- mendous influence on what happens in local development--probably more influence than local government policies have. G. Curtis Branscomc is city managcr of Decatur, Georgia. Another valid generalization is that growth and development do not reduce the local tax burden. Obviously, putting a large General Motors plant in a small city makes a differ- enee. In general, however, densely developed communities have significant tax burdens. More services may be generated, and they may be more sophisticated services than be- fore local growth, but you usually do not find lower taxes. The city of Decatur tries to use an eco- nomic development program to selectively in- fluence growth in the city. The program's six elements include available land, adequate in- frastrueture, attractive business and develop- ment environment, skilled labor supply, re- duction of front-end costs and risks, and. provision of capital at reasonable cost. Available Land It is fairly obvious that if you want growth and development to occur, you have to have land available for it. This may appear to be an uncontrollable eiement. You either have land or you do not. It is difficult to create new land and hard to make it disappear. There are ways to control the availability of land. The adoption and enforcement of flood plain ordinances reduce available land in the flood plains. The acquisition of land for parks and open space reduces the land avail- able for development. A few years ago, there was discussion of residential development of a fairly steep hillside above a flood plain, devel- opment that the city determined was not de- sirable. Fortunately, the city was able to buy the property at a reasonable price and desig- nate it as open space. Purchase of land is the ultimate in land use control, but it usually is too expensive an option for a local govern- ment. The best way that local government has to influence the availability or' land is through zoning. Decatur's selective growth strategy is based on a firm commitment to the preserva- tion of its residential neighborhoods and a 6 PM August 1988 limitation on the land zoned for commercial or office use. As a matter of land use policy, office zoning is limited to the area inside the Commerce Drive loop around the downtown section. At the entrances to Decatur from unincor- porated DeKalb County on major thorough- fares like Clairemont Avenue or Scott Boule- vard, development changes from strip commercial to residential. In what can be seen as a modern planning and zoning mir- acle, the Scott/Clairemont intersection, with about 25,000 cars per day traveling on both streets, does not have a single gas station. As a defensive measure, about 20 years ago gas stations were removed from the zoning code as a permitted use in any zoning district .in Decatur. Also about 20 years ago, the city commis- sion decided that some older residential areas with small single-family houses that were not being well maintained should be encouraged to redevelop as high-density single-family houses--as townhomes or cluster housing. Large tracts of these single-family houses were rezoned, and land was made available for this type of development. Many of those areas have come back strong as single-family neighborhoods, and in the past five years the high-density single-family zoning has been re- moved from three major neighborhoods. Work now being done on the future land use plan is focusing on how much more of this high-density zoning should be reversed. Church Street in Decatur was recently widened to improve access from the interstate system to downtown Decatur. Before the wid- erring, this street was primarily residential. Pressure is now predictably on for strip com- mercial zoning along this four-lane thorough- fare. The first rezoning application has been successfully denied, and the city commission is pledged to maintaining the residential char- acter of this street. A local government that cares to influence what happens in its community still has a powerful tool to use in its zoning powers. Doom and gloom planners and the lawyers for developers will try to convince you that the courts have stripped local governments of any real authority in this area. What the courts have really done is to pin us down so that we cannot be arbitrary and capricious. If we do our homework, do our research, and prepare our cases to demonstrate the reasons for our decisions, we still can use zoning pow- ers effectively. Another important factor affecting the availability of land is the development of in- frastructure. Development is encouraged by the availability of good roads and adequate water and sewer service and, conversely, is discouraged by the lack of these items. These are powerful tools to decide what land gets developed, and local government policy can determine how they are used. Adequate Infrastructure Anyone who reads in thc newspapers about water shortages and sewer tap moratoriums is familiar with the importance of these utilities. The primary tool used in the selective growth strategy in Decatur has been developing or not developing transportation facilities. The Commerce Drive loop around downtown De- catur, completed in 1973, has caused most major development in the past 10 years to fo- cus on this street. Tying this into the inter- state system with the Church Street widening should give more impetus to this area where development is seen as being desirable. On the other hand, Decatur has vigorously fought the construction of another east-west thoroughfare through the city for 25 years. Such a thoroughfare parallel to the railroad corridor along the southern edge of downtown would open up the southern part of the down- town area to significant redevelopment. The powers that be will never support such a project, however, until they are convinced that its impact on residential neighborhoods really would be minimal. Attractive Development and Business Environment Evcryonc, including hard-nosed developers, wants to be wanted. A key to business reten- tion is to let existing businesses know how much they are appreciated. A key to attract- ing development is to let developers know they are welcome. One problem is that there is a lot of money to be made in development and it is often lo- cal government decisions that determine just how much profit is made. Developers tend to be politically active and contribute to politi- cal campaigns. They usually have their pro- gram together and have the resources and ac- ce,ss to sell it. Selective development calls for finding the fine line between making develop- ers feel welcome and letting them do what they please. In my experience, most develop- ers feel welcome only if they are allowed to do what they please. Recent newspaper articles have focused on problems caused by builders' pits in Gwinnett County and northern Fulton County. Builders in these areas have been allowed to bury or- ganic material from the construction site on the site of the development. This material is Playing the growth/no- growth game is like playing Russian roulette. not compacted, and it will decay. After a few years, if the resident is lucky, a gaping hole appears in his front yard. If he is unlucky, it shows up under some part of the foundation. Why should a developer be allowed to cut his cost and pass that cost off' to some unsuspect- ing homeowner or to the local government? Decatur ordinances do not allow builders' pits. One developer this past year decided he would do it anyway. City officials told him to quit. He kept doing it. They took him to court. The judge fined him $1,000 and told him the next time he was in court he would be going to jail. City officials told him to clean up the mess or the), would take him back to court. He cleaned up the mess. Developers are welcome in Decatur, but they must play by the rules. Some developers who do not like to play by the rules do not feel welcome in Decatur. Skilled Labor Supply While the availability of skilled labor is im- portant for economic growth, this area is not subject to manipulation to influence growth strategies in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The region's skilled and highly mobile work force can get to where the opportunities are. Financial Inducements Reducing front-end costs and risks and pro- viding capital at reasonable cost are areas of interest in Decatur. We have used these as part of the selective growth strategy in terms of low-interest loans to encourage rehabilita- tion projects the city was interested in and to get a development commitment for a new downtown hotel that is an extremely high pri- ority for the city. Conclusion I am not advocating a growth or a no-growth or a selective growth policy; I am advocating a rational growth policy. To have a rational growth policy, you need to deafly articulate your goals and your vision for the future. What happens is too important to be left up to the developers. Managers must be careful that current development is not building in costs that communities are going to be paying for the next 30 years. While I do not believe that we can fine tune control over the local economy, I have discussed some tools that can be used to influence what happens in our communities. There may well be a conflict between mak- ing the maximum possible profit and doing those things that provide for a good quality of life for our communities in the future. We are building the future of our communities. The developers will be looking after the prof- its. Who is going to be looking after the future? PM JOB RESOURCE The ICMA Newsletter Can Help You Find a Local Government Position! The ICMA Newsletter is published biweekly, and each issue contains job' openings for administrators, assistants, interns, finance, and other positions in local government. For information on placing an advertisement, con- tact Kathy Karas, Editor, ICMA Newsletter, 1120 G Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20005, 202/626-4624. For subscription information, call 202/626-4620. 8 PM August 1988 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: ELK RIVER CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT COMMITI'EE DEVELOPMENT IN AREAS IMPRISONED BY URBAN SERVICE AREA BOUNDARIES SUGGESTIONS: Commercial/Industrial Uses 1. Allow low-impact development with lot size determined by sewage flow and usable acreage of lot. Consideration should be given to the type of effluent discharged as well as the quantity. 2. Minimum one acre sites. 3. Two drainfield sites required - the areas to be determined by flow calculations. 4. Future assessment rights waived with deed covenants or another method so the waiver is binding to seller and buyer. Residential Uses 1. Minimum 5 acre parcels with re-development plan. 2. Two drainfield sites. 3. Future assessment rights waived with deed covenants or another method so the waiver is binding to seller and buyer. 4. Possible PUD and a cluster development to facilitate future re-subdivision. Note: Under current ordinance, NAPA, Saxon Motors, Furniture & Things Warehouse, and building occupied by Custom Cutter Grinding could not be built.