1985-01-29 Joint Council-Planning-Park Comm minutesPage No. 2201
January 29, 1985
CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY
STATE OF MINNESOTA
Minutes of the Joint Workshop Meeting
Held Tuesday, January 29, 1985
_Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the joint workshop meeting of the the City
( )ouncil, Task Force, Planning Commission and Park and Recreation Commission, was held at
7:30 o'clock P.M., at City Hall, 750 South Plaza Drive, Mendota Heights, Minnesota.
Mayor Lockwood called the meeting to order at 7:40 o'clock P.M. The following members
were present: Mayor Lockwood, Councilmembers Blesener, Cummins, Hartmann and Witt. The
following members of the Task Force were present: Blesener, Burke, McMonigal, Shepard,
Brenner, Roszak and Cummins. Kevin Howe was absent and Gus Hipp sat in for Fred
Lambrecht. Planning Commissioners present included Stefani, Kruse, Henning, Morson and
Park Commission member Schneeman.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS BY
KEVIN FRAZELL, CITY
ADMINISTRATOR AND EX-
OFFICIO CHAIR OF TASK FORCE
PROJECT BACKGROUND AND TASK
FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS,
PLANNER DAHLGREN
Administrator Frazell summarized the six months of work
that had been done by the Task Force in arriving at the
recommendation. He indicated that although the Task Force
had not been able to come to complete unanimity on all of
the recommendations, the report, nonetheless, was a
valuable document in setting forth the pros and cons of
the issues of development in the 110/149 area.
Planner Dahlgren presented a brief history of planning
efforts in the area, beginning with the platting of the
Friendly Hills subdivision and Mn/DOT plans for the 149
roadway in the mid-50's. He also talked about
construction of the Mendota Plaza Shopping Center, the
proposed Mendakota redevelopment, and trafficway concerns
in the area.
Planner Dahlgren concluded by presenting the 13
recommendations of the Task Force:
1. Highway 149 (Dodd Road) should remain on its existing
alignment.
2. South Plaza Drive should be extended north across
Highway 110 as a local access road, including a pedestrian
and bicycle trail. This would not be an interchange with
Highway 110, but a grade separated crossing, given an
acceptable financing plan.
3. Safety improvements to the Highway 110/Highway 149
intersection should be pursued with Mn/DOT. The Task
Force recommends raising the entire intersection to reduce
the grades coming into the intersection. This would have
the added benefit of allowing South Plaza Drive to be
extended as an underpass at 110, improving the visibility
of the Central Commercial Area and the accessibility of
Page No. 2202
January 29, 1985
the South Plaza Drive extension.
4. Right-of-way for Highway 149 should be expanded from
its current 66 feet to 100 feet by dedication and
acquisition, from Decorah Lane on the south to the
terminus of extended South Plaza Drive on the north.
5. Mn/DOT should release the lands held in the reserved
right-of-way for Highway 149, with the City to acquire fee
title to that portion south of the north property line of
the Friendly Hills plat for permanent open space and bike
trail.
6. No land should be held or acquired by Mn/DOT for a
future interchange at the 110/149 intersection.
7. For any future development in the abandoned right-of-
way along the South Plaza Drive extension, the land use
should be commercial west of the road, and residential
east of it. This would apply both north of Highway 110 to
Freeway Road, and south of Highway 110.
8. The Council should respond favorably to proposals set
before them which will increase the scope and quality of
commercial uses in the presently zoned business area, so
as to serve as a desirable and viable focal point for
community services.
9. The City code should be amended to establish a
Business PUD Zoning District. The Task Force further
recommends that the Council respond favorably to a
proposal for a quality commercial development on the
northeast corner of the Mendakota Country Club land under
this new zoning classification. This will not only add a
quality development to the area, but will help keep the
golf course in the community.
10. The feasibility of establishing a tax increment
financing district, to finance public improvements in the
area, should be analyzed. Tax increment funds, together
with funding from other sources, should be used to finance
the extension of South Plaza Drive and its crossing of
Highway 110, and other public improvements in the area.
11. The City should coordinate with Dodge Nature Preserve
on the use of the northwest corner of the Center, abutting
the extension of South Plaza Drive, in a manner consistent
with their interests and those of the City.
12. Encourage the upgrading and expansion of the Mendota
Plaza Shopping Center.
Page No. 2203
January 29, 1985
13. The old fire station and contiguous commercial deve-
lopments to the south should be redeveloped for a use
consistent with the surrounding residential areas, utili-
zing tax increment financing.
Planner Dahlgren concluded by saying that he thought it
was important that some type of plan, whatever its
specifics, be adopted for the area.
The Mayor then opened the meeting for discussion and
questions.
Councilwoman Witt asked about traffic counts on 35E and
149, to which Planner Dahlgren responded that he was
unaware of any recent studies by Mn/DOT. Councilmember
Witt said that she agreed with Councilmember Blesener
about not designating a specific use for the 149 easement
that would be released as part of the plan.
Mr. Jim Wenker, a representative of Howard Bergerud
Associates, developer of the proposed shopping center,
gave a brief discussion of their ideas for development.
Mr. Wenker said that their group had done several shopping
areas in Minnesota, including Park Square Court in St.
Paul, two of the buildings at Victoria Crossing, Hill
Plaza in St. Paul, and the Riverside Mall in Rochester.
He indicated that they were also working on con-version of
some flour mills on the riverfront in Minneapolis to
commercial and residential uses. He said that their area
of expertise is in the "specialty retail" portion of the
market. For the Mendakota site, Mr. Wenker said that no
specific plans had been drawn up. However, in general
they envisioned a one or two story building of 50,000 to
100,000 square feet, with 12 to 20 tenants, and probably a
couple of restaurants. He said that he felt they were
targeting at a market that is not fulfilled either by
large regional malls such as Burnsville Center, or a
smaller strip center, such as Southview Square.
Councilmember Cummins raised a question about the timing
of the development on the Mendakota property. Mendakota
representative Brenner responded that the 10 to 11 acres
of commercial development would not be released until
Mendakota had been able to rebuild and restructure the
golf course, and demolish the old club house and replace
it with a new one. He indicated that development of the
housing on the Perkegwin land and the club house would
have to get the first approval from the City before any
commercial land would be released, and at the very
earliest, mid 1986 would be the groundbreaking for a
commercial center.
Page No. 2204
January 29, 1985
Mr. Brenner went on to add that the club was asking
Bergerud Associates to put up a letter of credit,
contingent upon favorable Council action on their
proposal, to ensure that they would be around when it was
time for the commercial development. Mr. Wenker responded
that they would be ready to proceed with their
committments whenever the City gave its approval.
Park Commissioner Mary Jeanne Schneeman indicated that
while she had originally been skeptical about this type of
shopping center in Mendota Heights, she was now convinced
that the community could use something of this quality.
Planning Commission Chairperson Cameron Kruse said that he
generally liked the plan, but felt that there were a lot
of "ifs" in it, and that those would have to be cleared
and tightened up as we proceeded. He also indicated that
he did not like the idea of placing the City Hall on such
expensive land, but would prefer that that land be used
for some tax generating purpose. He also said that he
thought it was important that we have a strong
professional opinion on the market viability of any new
commercial center.
Task Force member John Roszak discussed the reasons for
his objection to task force recommendation No. 9, on
rezoning the Mendakota property. He said that he thought
that the recommendation was that the Council should look
favorably upon a proposal for this development, and that
he thought it was very important that the data supporting
that recommendation and Council decision be available.
Therefore, he said that he had objected to making the
recommendation.
Task Force member Lou Brenner responded that he thought
the purpose of the Task Force was not to tell the Council
specifically how to vote on rezoning, but to provide a
general comprehensive plan for the area from which the
Council could react. He also pointed out that in the Task
Force deliberations, it was understood that much of the
money to build the extended South Plaza Drive would come
from the tax increment district generated by the
additional development, and that the road is something the
City really wants. He added that the developers are not
asking for any public subsidy of their private investment.
City Planner Howard Dahlgren gave a brief presentation on
the concept of a Business Planned Unit Development zoning
concept. It was indicated that this could be used as an
alternative to simply rezoning the property to some
existing zoning classification in the City code, to
provide the City with a much higher level of control over
Page No. 2205
January 29, 1985
the type and quality of development that could be placed
on the property. Mr. Dahlgren indicated that the only
"right" the landowner would have would be to develop
something consistent with the precise PUD that had been
approved for the site, rather than just meeting the
general code requirements for a business zoned district.
Mayor Lockwood said that he thought the Councils number
one priority ought to be how we finance a separated
road crossing, since this had been a concern to the
community for a long time.
Planning Commissioner Morson said that he thought the
extended South Plaza Drive would become a heavily used
alternative to going through the 110/149 intersection, and
that it should therefore be designed very carefully,
particularly the turn off Dodd Road.
Task Force alternate Gus Hipp said that he also was
concerned about the amount of traffic that would be coming
into the area to support the shopping centers.
Councilmember Cummins said that he thought we needed a good
analysis of traffic at the South Plaza Drive/149 area, so
that we weren't simply moving a hazardous traffic
situation from 110/149 a block to the south.
City Planner Dahlgren responded that "T" intersections are
the safest kind. A typical cross intersection has 16
possible points of car collision, whereas a "T"
intersection has only 3. Mr. Dahlgren indicated that
frequently "T" intersections don't even have traffic
lights, although if the area meets the "warrants", the
City could petition Mn/DOT for installation of traffic
signals.
Planner Dahlgren went on to say that the amount of
commercial development proposed in the Task Force report
is relatively small, compared to the size of the community
and the potential market. He also said that he thought
that heavy use of the new South Plaza Drive "crossover"
would simply mean that it was serving its purpose, and he
was not concerned that a significant traffic problem would
be created.
Planning Commission Chairperson Kruse indicated that
projections show the population of Mendota Heights will
increase by about 60% before the community reaches
saturation, which will create more traffic. He said
therefore, it was unrealistic to feel that we could
maintain our rather low traffic levels, and we are going
to have to face that issue anyway.
Page No. 2206
January 29, 1985
Task Force member Brenner said that Mn/DOT took population
and traffic projection figures into account in deciding
not to build a relocated 149 on the easterly alignment.
He said that obviously if the main concern was traffic
safety, that would have been the best place for the
roadway, but Mn/DOT did not feel that was justified.
Mayor Lockwood said that he did not think the Council
needed to take any formal action this evening, but it was
important to think of follow-up actions to be taken.
Councilmember Cummins agreed that the Planning Commission,
Council and others should begin analyzing the report.
Mendakota representative Brenner said that while they
realized the plans would have to receive more of a
hearing, they would like some feeling for the position of
the City on considering this development.
Mayor Lockwood asked if the Planning Commission and
Planning Consultant Howard Dahlgren could come up with a
series of objectives to be accomplished, along with some
timing, to which the Council could react. He also
suggested that the Council officially receive both the
Task Force Report, and the Minority Report which had been
submitted at its next meeting.
Planner Dahlgren responded that there are several specific
steps that the City could take in considering whether to
implement the plan, and that they could outline those
procedures. It was agreed that that should be completed,
and come back before the Council for its consideration at
a subsequent meeting.
It was also agreed that the upcoming issue of the City
newsletter should include some coverage on the Planning
effort.
ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 o'c ock P.M.
40-
Kevin D. Frazell
City Administrator
( ATTEST:
dzk
Robert. Lockwood
Mayor