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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-02-24 HRA Regular Meeting MINUTES EDINA HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY FEBRUARY 24, 1986 Answering rollcall were Commissioners Kelly, Richards, Turner and Courtney. MINUTES of February 3, 1986, were approved as submitted by motion of Commissioner Turner, seconded by Commissioner Kelly. Ayes: Kelly, Richards, Turner, Courtney Motion carried. GRANDVIEW REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS CONSIDERED. Executive Director Gordon Hughes recalled that on February 3, 1986, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) reviewed land use alternatives for the Grandview area as presented by Peter Jarvis of BRW. Following the presentation, staff recommended that the HRA pursue as public redevelopment projects: 1) a parking facility/Public Works garage east of Jerry's Foods, 2) an upgraded Link Road and 3) a redevelopment of the Lewis Engineering/Kunz Oil/railroad property south of Eden Avenue. The Commissioners at that meeting indicated the need for additional information as to public parti- cipation and other background material. Mr. Hughes then identified the following major elements of the Grandview Redevelopment Project: 1) the parking/Public Works facility east of Jerry's, 2) the Link Road project and related roadway improvements, 3) Lewis Engineering/Kunz Oil/railroad redevelopment, and 4) the Bowling Alley/Cedrics/Bell Realty redevelopment (i.e. Regis property) . These elements of the Project were then summarized by Mr. Hughes as follows: Parking/Public Works Facility - Staff has viewed this as a public/private joint venture whereby the City could save approximately $150,000 on the cost of a new Public Works storage building by taking advantage of the supports and deck of • the parking facility. The proposed facility would contain about 270 parking spaces and would cost approximately $1,600,000. This ramp can be financed through the tax increment process, but it may be reasonable to assess a portion of the cost to the adjoining shopping center. If the same policy were followed here as at the 50th and France ramp, 20% of the costs or $320,000 would be assessed. Other assessment policies to consider would be to: a) assess the shopping center an amount equal to the cost of constructing conventional surface parking if property were available or about $1,000/staff plus the value of air rights over the City property, b) pledge only those tax increments received from the expansion of the shopping center to finance the ramp with the remaining costs to be assessed to the shopping center. Other obvious alternatives are either to finance the ramp totally with tax increments or to provide no public financing. Link Road - Present difficulties with the Eden/Vernon/Sherwood/West 53rd Street intersection(s) prompted the formation of the Tax Increment District and the initial traffic studies by BRW. The recommended solution is the closure of this intersection and the reconstruction of Link Road with signalization of the Link/ Vernon intersection. This upgrading would require substantial right of way acquisition - probably a total taking of the Superamerica Station and the sub- sequent redevelopment of the residual property. In staff's opinion the Link Road upgrading is somewhat dependent on other redevelopment at Grandview. Only five reportable accidents have been documented at the Eden/Vernon intersection and if no other redevelopment activities occur in Grandview, it is questionable if the Link Road improvement is warranted, given its high costs of construction and right of way acquisition. If other redevelopment does occur staff believes that the additional traffic demands would warrant the upgrading of Link Road. If the • improvement is undertaken it deserves the best possible design and staff agrees with BRW that such a design probably necessitates a total taking or least a total reconstruction of Superamerica in that all access from Link Road would have to be removed. Minutes Edina Housing & Redevelopment Authority February 24, 1986 • Page Two As an interim measure, Link Road could be reconstructed and signalized without taking Superamerica although some changes to its access would be required. This improvement could then be evaluated and upgraded in the future if warranted due to additional development in the area. Lewis Engineering/Kunz Oil/Railroad Redevelopment - This site presents one of the more traditional situations where tax increment financing has been used, i.e. the removal of blighted or underutilized improvements and reconstruction with more intense land uses. BRW has recommended that this property should be redeveloped for multi-family dwellings. These properties would probably not be significantly redeveloped without public participation and alternatives to the HRA's involve- ment' in acquiring this property and reselling it for redevelopment are: a) to offer Housing Revenue Bonds or Industrial Development Bonds (i.e. tax exempt financing) as an incentive for private redevelopment, b) offer low interest loans or grants for substantially rehabilitating the existing uses on the property, and c) condemn the railroad property for resale to adjoining properties to facilitate an expansion and upgrading of existing uses. Bowling Alley/Cedrics/Bell Realty (Regis) - This site possesses high potential for redevelopment and staff has not recommended public participation. Even though these properties are somewhat "under-utilized" from a land use standpoint, staff did not document the presence of blight and therefore questioned the need for public participation at this time. The HRA could certainly be involved by promot- ing this redevelopment through the provision of public parking or other incentives. • Other Projects - BRW's land use analysis highlighted other properties which may be suitable for redevelopment, e.g. the School bus garage and the Minnesota Wanner property, south .of Eden Avenue and east of the railroad tracks. The school bus situation has been discussed with Dr. Hamann of the School District who advised that the District will likely continue its busing program for the forseeable future. He also noted that the present bus garage site is very small for their use alone and probably would not be conducive to a joint use with the City. The same problem seems to exist if a joint use were attempted on City property, e.g. the existing Public Works site. It may be possible to locate a joint bus garage and City Public Works facility on the Lewis Engineering/Kunz Oil site. Short- comings of this alternative are: 1) a "municipal building" could not be financed with tax increments, and 2) more property would be exempt from taxation which would impact the feasibility of the tax increment district. Mr. Hughes reiterated that staff is looking for concept approval of one of the alternatives and to then call a public hearing. Staff's first priority would be the parking/Public Works facility; the Link Road project and the Lewis Engineering/ Kunz Oil redevelopment require more work and would be brought to the HRA when ready. Commissioner Turner asked how the tax reform act would impact the HRA's ability to sell bonds to do any of these projects. Mr. Hughes responded that the Link Road project would probably be defined as a governmental project that could be bonded for; that the parking/Public Works facility may be questionable and that the least likely to bond would be the Lewis Engineering/Kunz Oil redevelopment in that it would involve a "non-governmental" use of bond proceeds. He stated that the City's part of the parking/Public Works facility would be paid by funds programmed in the Capital Improvement Plan. Leon Schmieg of Typhoon Car Wash • said that the proposed road alignment for the Link Road improvement would be very detrimental to his business. Charles Malin, Manager of Superamerica, asked what alternatives would allow them to remain at that location. Mr. Hughes responded Minutes Edina Housing & Redevelopment Authority February 24, 1986 Page Three • that if the interim measure for Link Road were to be constructed it would require some right of way with the flow through Superamerica having to be reversed and that the existing frontage road would be eliminated, but that staff would work with Superamerica on that roadway realignment. Dick Weigel, 5421 Woodcrest Drive, said that he was a stockholder in Typhoon Car Wash and expressed his concern regarding the economic effect of the proposed median that would not allow traffic to turn in from both directions as now is possible. Commissioner Kelly raised questions regarding the Lewis Engineering/Kunz Oil site redevelopment in that it would remove the property from the tax rolls and would change it to public assisted housing. She further questioned the need for additional housing of that type in the Grandview area. Mr. Hughes explained that the project principally would be to facilitate putting together the land package to make a development possible. He noted that it would not be removed from the tax rolls. It would likely be developed with market rate rental units but that the HRA could anticipate a developer coming forward to ask for housing revenue bonds or a development similar to what was done at the Biltmore site, with 20% of the units affordable to moderate income people. Commissioner Turner commented that she would prioritize the projects as: 1) Link Road intersection with the interim configuration, 2) the parking/Public Works facility, 3) the northeast quadrant to develop independent of government involve- ment, and 4) the area south of Eden. She pointed out the need for discussion of the City's additional goals in the housing area. Commissioner Kelly identified the parking/Public Works facility as her first priority and said that she was not convinced of a problem at the Link Road intersection. Commissioner Richards stated that he opted to do nothing at the present time. Commissioner Courtney indicated . that the parking/Public Works facility would be his first priority with Link Road as the second. After further discussion, Commissioner Turner made a motion to conduct a concept approval public hearing on the Link Road improvement and the parking/Public Works facility on March 17, 1986. Motion was seconded by Commiss- ioner Kelly. Upon discussion of the motion, Commissioner Kelly offered an amend- ment to the motion that the total concept of Alternative C for the Grandview area be considered at the hearing. Commissioner Turner stated her consent to the amendment. Chairman Courtney then called the motion. Rollcall: Ayes: Kelly, Turner, Courtney Nays: Richards Motion carried. The HRA meeting was adjourned by motion of Commissioner Kelly, seconded by Commissioner Turner and carried unanimously. Executive rector