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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 6, 2002 ü ~ ,- \ U C) CITY of ANDOVER ANDOVER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING FEBRUARY 6, 2002 - MINUTES A Meeting ofthe Andover Economic Development Authority was called to order by President Mike Gamache, February 6,2002,6:33 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Present: President Mike Gamache; Commissioners Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Ken Orttel, Julie Trude; Voting resident member Robert Nowak; and Non-voting resident members Fred Larson and Edward Schultz Absent: Voting resident member Terri Hokanson Also present: Executive Director, John Erar - City Planner, Courtney Bednarz City Engineer, Scott Erickson Others U AGENDA APPROVAL MOTIONby Commissioner Jacobson, Seconded by Commissioner Orttèl, to approve the Agenda as presented. Motion carried unanimously. DISCUSSION ITEMS: ANDOVER STATION/COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL (UNITED PROPERTIES) Bruce Carlson arid members representing United Properties presented the overall concept plan regarding the Andover Station/Commercial Development Proposal. Mr. Carlson introduced Elliott Olson, Chairman Dakota Worldwide. Mr. Olson presented an overview ofthe type of supermarket they were proposing for this development. He indicated Knowlan's Supermarket, Inc. was a good company, had a good operation and would be an asset to the community. 0 Mr. Carlson stated that Dunn Bros. Coffee would also be a part of this development. He indicated Knowlan's Supermarket would have a full deli right inside the doors. Mr. Nowak asked if there was a separate cashier at the deli. Mr. Carlson replied there would be. - I \ '\ ; I --..-/ \...-/ "\ \~ Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 2 Commissioner Trude asked what the hours of operation were. Mr. Carlson replied the operation would not be a 24 hour operation and the stock would be done in the evening. Commissioner Jacobson asked what he would find in this supennarket that he would not find in a Festival store. Marie Arthune, CEO of Know lan's Supennarket stated the bagging, seafood and meat department were full service and they had better staff service. She stated people were very important to them and they made shopping as convenient as possible. Her employees know the value of the customer. She indicated her floors were tiled, not concrete and were cleaned each night. The technology was state of the art. She had very low turnover of employees; many of her employees had been with her for many years. Mr. Nowak what the square footage of the supennarket would be. Mr. Carlson replied 49,000 sq. ft. Mr. Carlson pointed out the advantages of electronic pricing. He stated Ms. Arthune was on the cutting edge of technology. He indicated Ms. Arthune had better products, and more selection of '\ products. \._~ Commissioner Trude asked if the store would be stocked differently around the holidays. Ms. Arthune replied they would be stocked differently. New items would be added and the right items and quantities would be brought in. Commissioner Jacobson expressed concern about the architectural standards regarding this store. He asked ifthis was a "cookie cutter" operation with respect to the architecture. Mr. Carlson replied they would be addressing this. Commissioner Knight asked how competitive the supennarket was with the warehouse supennarkets. Ms. Arthune replied they were very competitive. Mr. Nowak asked what type of a commitment would Ms. Arthune have. Mr. Carlson replied Ms. Arthune intended on a long-tenn commitment - longer than ten years. Commissioner Jacobson asked what type of brands they would be carrying. Ms. Arthune replied they would be the same type of brands that were in other supennarkets. Mr. Erar asked what in Andover was attracting her to this community. Ms. Arthune replied this was a good family area and they want to stay in the metropolitan area. She stated they operate union stores. This would afford them the opportunity to grow. She stated they have several , " employees who live in the Andover area and they had expressed interest in having a store in the ) \.J area. Mr. Erar asked how many jobs this would bring to the community. Ms. Arthune replied they would have 140 employees - 40 full-time and 100 part-time. - - <J ,-) " ,,--j Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 3 Mr. Erar asked what the wage range was they expected to pay. Ms. Arthune replied the union contract would be followed - $6.00 per hour for part-time and $20.00 per hour for full time plus benefits. Mr. Erar asked when they anticipated the store would be open. Ms. Arthune replied they hoped to open in November. Commissioner Jacobson asked if they had chosen a name for the store yet. Ms. Arthune replied they would probably stay with Knowlan's Supermarket. Commissioner Knight asked what other types of businesses did they envision in the area. Mr. Carlson replied they envisioned a liquor store, a video store as well as other various retail stores. Commissioner Trude stated she appreciated the facflnat this operation appeared to be a clean operation and she appreciated that the staff was long-term. Ms. Arthune replied in order to compete with the competition, they had to go the extra mile as far as sanitation and prices. / ) "--j Commissioner Orttel asked if the store would have samples available. Ms. Arthune replied they would. Commissioner Knight replied they wanted a step-up from the competition with Ms. Arthune's operation. Commissioner Trude asked if there was any possibility of drive-up pick-up. Ms. Arthune replied they did not advertise it, but they would assist the customers with their purchases if needed. Mr. Erar asked what the hours of operation would be. Ms. Arthune replied they would be open 5 :00 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. Commissioner Jacobson asked what would happen if Dunn Bros. Coffee left the store. Ms. Arthune replied they were putting in an expensive investment for the coffee area and if Dunn Bros. left, they would take over a coffee shop operation themselves. She also noted that there would be a sit down area at the deli. Ms. Arthune stated if any of the members wanted a tour of the stores they should let her know. Representatives of United Properties reviewed the overall concept plan regarding the property. / '\ They pointed out where the sidewalks/trail would be located and that there is potential for a [ 1 restaurant on this site also. V Commissioner Trude asked if there would be any islands with trees in the parking area. Mr. Carlson replied there would be some islands and trees, but they did not want to block the front of (~ . 0 '. ) Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 4 the building to block the signage on the buildings. He pointed out where the signs would be located on the site. Mr. Erar requested the EDA be involved in the process of the signage as far as materials and how the sign would look. He asked this be brought back to the EDA in the near future. Mr. Carlson replied they would be willing to work with the EDA regarding signage. He stated they had not planned any signage at this time. Commissioner Jacobson stated he like the original plan when the buildings were turned the other way. Mr. Carlson replied due to the size ofthe grocery store and traffic flow, it was necessary to turn the buildings. This was a more functional plan. He stated this would be attractive development to face Bunker Lake Boulevard. The EDA members expressed concern about a solid wall facing the easnm the grocery store. They requested the committee look at this. " Commissioner Knight asked if Outlot B was big enough to handle the grocery as well as the \ \ ) other stores. Mr. Carlson stated they envisioned Outlot B would be the drug store and the restaurants would be located on the east side of Thrush. Commissioner Knight inquired if the boardwalk theme would still be followed. Mr. Carlson replied it would be. Mr. Erar inquired about the size of the drugstore. Mr. Carlson replied it would be approximately 10,000 sq. ft., which was smaller than most drugstores, but it could not be bigger and still fit on the site. Commissioner Knight expressed concern about the restaurant parking. Mr. Carlson replied the parking would be adequate. Commissioner Knight asked if there was anyway they could incorporate a railroad motif considering the name of the development was Andover Station. Mr. Carlson replied this would need to be researched. Mr. Erar suggested they work with United Properties and come back to the EDA with different options regarding the design. Commissioner Jacobson expressed concern about the elevation that faced Commercial /" ...... Boulevard. He asked for more landscaping in this area. Mr. Carlson replied they could put , J , "- signage on the back, depending on the City Code. He pointed out that there would be relief in the elevation. They would not be looking at one long line. C,_J . () . ') Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting '--~ Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 5 Mr. Nowak pointed out that this would be a truck delivery area and it would be difficult to hide that use. Mr. Erar asked for the EDA's comments regarding the overall plan, the layout, and the proposed tenants. President Gamache replied he agreed with the entire plan. Commissioner Trude replied what she had heard this evening made sense to her and they needed to go with the market. She stated she appreciated the hands-on quality of this development and the supermarket would be a family operation and not a large warehouse operation. She expressed concern that the turning radius in the parking area fit the type of vehicles that would be coming in and out of this development. She asked this be thought about during the planning. Mr. Erar replied this was something the engineering staff would be looking at. - Commissioner Jacobson asked that signage be placed discouraging people from turning into the truck delivery area. " , ) \_/ Commissioner Orttel replied he liked the development. Mr. Nowak replied he had no comments, but he also liked the proposal. The consensus of the EDA was that it was a good development and they encouraged it to go forward as soon as possible. Motion by Knight, Seconded by Trude, to accept the concept as presented. Motion carried unanimously. WDE SITE DEVELOPMENT/PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS A. BRUCE KNOWLAN Mr. Erar presented his staff report and asked the EDA to receive the preliminary concept building information from the two developers. Mr. Erar introduced Bruce Knowlan. :-J Mr. Knowlan, 1837 86th Avenue N.E., Blaine, presented his proposal. He stated they were interested in the "going home side" of a development so his customers would have an easy in and out. He introduced Stan Ross and Jay Feider. He indicated they were interested in an upscale strip mall. He stated they wanted drive-up parking and would offer carry-out service. / ~ I \ . ,~- J '-../ \ ,--- --- ) Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 6 Mr. Ross stated they would continue the architectural characteristics Andover Station was using. There would be a lot of glass with multi-color brick below. There would be a metal roof. He stated they would have more parking than required. Commissioner Knight asked about the access points. Mr. Erar stated the County would not allow any more access points, and this would need to be looked at. Commissioner Orttel asked if the Fire Chief would allow drive-up parking. It was his understanding this area was for a fire lane. He asked this be looked at. Mr. Ross pointed out that they would be open on three sides; it would just be the front that would be for parking. President Gamache asked for an explanation as to what they mean by "going home traffic". Mr. Knowlan replied they had looked at this area for many years and they had studied which street had the most traffic. It was important to them that the store was convenient for people coming home from work to get in and out quickly. President Gamache asked how would this development fit into the Andover Station development ,-J ifthere was a liquor store there also. Mr. Knowlan replied this would be up to the City as to how many liquor stores were going to be in the area. He stated as far as he knew, this was an open City and he did not believe the City had ordinances regarding this. Mr. Nowak asked how they would feel if they did not have the right-in off of Bunker. Mr. Knowlan replied convenience was a big issue for them. Mr. Erickson stated the County would not support the right-in, right-out. The option was to work with the bank. Commissioner Orttel stated it was the County's intent to have a fast thoroughfare in this area. Commissioner Jacobson expressed concern that they needed to look at this WDE site in the same way they looked at Andover Station, and they needed to look at the whole plan instead of pieces of it. Mr. Erar replied the purpose of tonight's meeting was just to layout some concepts so they knew what type of interest was on this site. They intended to come back at a future date with a master plan. Commissioner Trude asked if they would be interested in developing a mall larger than proposed ifmore land was purchased. Mr. Knowlan replied they would be interested in a larger development. / '\ Commissioner Knight asked if they had any interest from tenants yet. Mr. Knowlan replied they ,~ did not have any tenants yet. Commissioner Knight stated the access might be an important issue to tenants. / - \ t '-- /) U . 'ì " ---1 Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 7 Commissioner Jacobson stated he believed staff needed to look at this area further with respect to access. Commissioner Orttel stated he agreed that they needed a master plan to determine what they wanted. Commissioner Trude suggested the City considering hiring a consultant to look at this to see if the area could support as much retail as was being proposed in this area. Mr. Knowlan replied he had no financial interest in the Knowlan proposal, but Knowlan Supermarket was a class act. B. PREMIER COMMERCIAL ~- Marty Fisher, Vice-President of Commercial Sales and Leasing for Premier Commercial Properties, presented their proposal. Mr. Fisher introduced Mr. Hartinger, his client. ,~~-) Mr. Fisher stated they were proposing to put a building directly to the east of the bank, with no additional access points. This would be single-stand alone store and not a strip mall. It would be an owner-operated liquor store. Mr. Hartinger stated they operate on the premise that all of their traffic comes in on the backside. He stated this was safer for the customers and a nice traffic flow. He stated 65% of their business was in wines and they ran an upscale store. He stated he was not a conglomerate. He operated one store and he kept a hands-on approach. He stated the place would be clean and neat. Commissioner Trude asked how much land they would need. Mr. Fisher replied % acre to an acre. Commissioner Trude asked if they would be interested in putting a liquor store in the strip mall area. Mr. Hartinger replied they wanted to own their own building and he believed when a person owned their own building it was better taken care of. He indicated they would probably not be interested in a tenant situation. Commissioner Knight asked if they would have any problems building to the architectural standards that the EDA would require. Mr. Hartinger replied whatever the EDA wanted, they :~) would work with. President Gamache stated he believed the 65% wine product would fit in well with this area. Mr. Fisher stated this would be a different façade than having two strip malls being across from each other. . , \J "--) ') ~ Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 8 Commissioner Orttel stated he believed the EDA needed to look at what other land would be purchased and how they wanted to develop this area. Mr. Erar stated the City had an interest from a total of four parties. He asked if the Board wanted to discuss the possibility of a preferred developer and how they wanted the WDE architectural standards to be and how the site was to be developed. Commissioner Orttel stated he did not know if they wanted to choose a preferred developer. He stated if they chose a developer, they would not get owner-operator interest. He stated the EDA may want to develop the site itself. Commissioner Trude agreed. Commissioner Jacobson stated they could divide up the property and the EDA develop some of it and let developers develop the rest. Commissioner Trude stated they needed to consider if they wanted all retail in this are or did they want some commercial. i '\ ''---../ Mr. Erar asked if they wanted competing interests in this area. Commissioner Trude stated this was where a marketing consultant would come in. Mr. Erar asked the EDA to think about if they wanted to fill out Andover Station first before they started developing across the road. Commissioner Knight stated the City would have to develop a liquor policy in the near future. He stated now that there was a demand for this, a policy would take care of that issue. Commissioner Orttel stated they also needed to look at some commercial developments in this area and the commercial development could go in before any more retail. This would not be in competition with the retail. Commissioner Trude asked if it made sense to hire a consultant to look at bringing in commercial, light industrial businesses. Mr. Erar replied they had decided they were not going to expand the marketing agreement at this time because the ED A could move forward with the marketing themselves. COMMERCIAL BOULEVARDINAME CHANGE/PARKING RESTRICTIONS (BOARD í '\ PRESIDENT REQUEST) \..J President Gamache stated Commercial Boulevard did not fit the concept of the area and asked the EDA to look at another name that may reflect the City's history or some other suggestions. . I \ () I i '-..J , \. ¡ Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 9 President Gamache asked the EDA to come back to the next meeting with five suggested names. Commissioner Trude asked staff to check with Hans Hagen to see if they had come up with a development name and maybe working with their name. President Gamache asked if they could restrict parking on the Boulevard. Mr. Erickson replied they would stripe it down to one lane, which would allow parking on the street. He stated this was a State Aid Highway and they would need to look at the plan. He stated if this area reached a certain traffic volume they may need to go back to a four-lane road. Commissioner Orttel stated he preferred to wait and see if they needed additional parking or to slow the road down. He expressed concern about shutting off a high profile street, such as this road. - Commissioner Jacobson agreed that this was premature and they should wait to see what happened. .' " ,~--) President Gamache stated his idea was to have this area have a more hometown feel. Mr. Erickson stated at some point they would need to do a speed study in this area, which may increase the speed. Commissioner Jacobson expressed concern about being able to open car doors if the traffic was going by at 40 mph. After further discussion, the EDA members decided to put this parking issue on hold. Mr. Erar asked the EDA members to e-mail him their suggested name changes for Commercial Boulevard to be presented and voted on at the next EDA meeting. WDE SITE PLANNING DISCUSSION & REVIEW (STAFF PRESENTATION) Mr. Erar presented his staff report. Mr. Erickson presented three options for the road layouts. Commissioner Orttel stated it would be a real political issue going over Nightingale. Commissioner Knight agreed. ,r\ Commissioner Jacobson asked if the traffic circle would work on option 2. Mr. Erickson replied '\,.) a traffic circle that was designed correctly, worked very well. He indicated if the EDA was interested in exploring this option, staff would give the EDA further details. Mr. Erickson stated option 3 would give more of a parkway feeling. . / '\ 0 . u " ) Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 10 Mr. Nowak asked if they did not have a master site plan, why were they looking at the roads. Why would a developer not determine where the roads would be. Mr. Erar replied it was the City's responsibility to design and layout the streets, and the developer would work within those standards. Commissioner Knight expressed concern with option 3 and splitting the Pov's property. Mr. Erar stated from the first section of Bunker Lake Boulevard up to where the road intersects, he asked if the EDA liked this concept or not. Commissioner Orttel asked if it would make more sense to bring the road down to go straight across. Mr. Erar pointed out they would lose a lot of frontage if they moved the street down. The value ofthe property would be increased because of the frontage. - Mr. Bednarz pointed out the bank and Pov's had access opposite each other and if the road was moved down, there would be too much traffic in this area. " , Mr. Erar asked if the EDA had any comments on the section from the service road up to the first , intersection. The EDA members did not have any comments regarding this section. Mr. Erar asked for comments regarding the road to the west. Commissioner Orttel stated it made sense to have it go through, but politically it would be a nightmare. Commissioner Knight stated there was no point in doing that road and he agreed this would be a political nightmare. Commissioner Orttel suggested getting the resident input through a neighborhood meeting regarding this proposal. Commissioner Trude asked if the fire station needed a back access. Commissioner Jacobson asked if the road could be dropped down onto Pov's property. Mr. Erickson replied this was an option, if they could work it out with Pov's. Commissioner Orttel asked with the changes they EDA was proposing, what was this doing to the residential development options. Mr. Erar replied this would be something staff would need to work on and bring back to the EDA with other alternatives. r "- Commissioner Trude stated it did not make sense to put commercial traffic through an " ./ established residential area. Mr. Erar asked about comments on the last section. ü . \ \J ~-) Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 11 Commissioner Knight suggested making a one way going to the north and another one-way going to the south with a centerpiece in the middle. Mr. Erar replied this would affect the amount of property available for development. Commissioner Orttel stated if this was a commercial area, a centerpiece was not necessary. Mr. Erar asked how the EDA felt about the traffic circle. Commissioner Jacobson stated he believed the original plan as presented was not bad considering the options staff had presented. Mr. Erar indicated staff would take the EDA's comments into consideration and come back to the EDA in March with further options. Mr. Erar asked what type of development the EDA would like to see in this area. Commissioner Jacobson replied he would like to see businesses that would not be in the Andover Station, such as a furniture or carpet retail store. ~ Mr. Bednarz indicated there was a lot of room for adjustment and asked if the EDA was comfortable with the overall concept. He stated there was a large area available and it possible to get some type of an office campus on some of the land. He suggested stage 1 be up to the road going to the east and start this area for development now, with the remainder of the land being flexible. Commissioner Knight asked if leap frogging would be allowed. Mr. Erar replied they needed to identify a layout and be flexible enough as they go through the staging to meet the developer's needs. Commissioner Jacobson pointed out that they had already decided 75% of this area. He stated there was very little left that they did not know what they were going to do with. He indicated it was his opinion to take a more flexible, open approach. Commissioner Trude pointed out that an owner-operated facility was a more stable business because otherwise the tenant was shopping for a better lease rate. She believed that over time an owner-operated facility gave more back to the community because they had a stake in the community. Mr. Nowak stated the Andover Station development was a top priority. He believed the EDA ,~ ) should be concentrating on that development and filling it. He did not believe the EDA should be looking at other developments at this time that might compete with Andover Station. Mr. Schultz stated he believed the members were mixing terms and confusing the Council issues with the EDA issues. He indicated he did not have a clear definition as to what the vision was, what the priorities were, and what the timetable was. He stated they needed to take the issues í-\ C) u . () Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes - February 6, 2002 Page 12 and concentrate on one thing at a time, i.e. Andover Station. He believed the EDA needed to have a vision. Commissioner Jacobson stated the EDA was no longer involved in Andover Station to the extent they previously were, but he did agree that they needed to have a vision. Mr. Erar suggested staff come back with alternatives for the roads and the other issues brought up this evening. Commissioner Orttel stated he believed they needed to decide what the phasing was going to be. He believed that area 6 should be developed as one development. Commissioner Knight asked Mr. Carlson ifhe believed the development of the rest of this area would be in direct competition with Andover Station. Mr. Carlson pointed out they did not know the total demand for this area, and if the EDA was looking at developing the rest ofthe area at this time, it could hurt the Andover Station because people would want to wait to see how the rest of the area was going to develop, but he was not necessarily concerned about this. ì \ " Commissioner Knight asked Mr. Carlson if he foresaw a lot of retail in this area. Mr. Carlson '-- replied he believed this would be a nice retail area, as well as a good area for restaurants. WDE SITE PLANNING/GREAT RIVER ENERGY SITE ACQUISITION (DISCUSSION) Commissioner Jacobson stated he had a conflict of interest in this issue and would recluse himself from this discussion. However, he was available to answer any questions. Mr. Erar presented his staff report. Commissioner Orttel recommended updating the appraisal now that the house was no longer on the property. Mr. Erar asked what sites the EDA was interested in. Commissioner Trude stated she was interested in the comer parcel and the parcel to the West, but not the parcel to the north. Commissioner Trude suggested having a two or more story office building in this area to hide the station behind it. .~-) Mr. Erar asked if this was something the EDA wanted to look at again after the appraisal was completed. The EDA decided they wanted to have this brought back to them again. Mr. Nowak stated the intersection of Hanson and Bunker was one good piece ofland and asked if there was any way the City could get all of the electrical out of that area. Commissioner Orttel . 0 l) . " .) Andover Economic Development Authority Meeting / Minutes - Febroary 6, 2002 Page 13 indicated he would be in full agreement with this, but asked where the money would come from. Commissioner Jacobson pointed out this would be a very expensive proposition and they could never recover the cost of the purchase and relocation in tax revenue. Commissioner Orttel suggested the City look at "hiding" the station with landscaping or other options and while this might not be the most desirable solution, it may be the only option at this time. Mr. Erar stated staff would get a re-appraisal and bring it back to the board. Motion by Commissioner Jacobson, Seconded by Commissioner Trude, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:51 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Altman 'ì Recording Secretary \) / \ l ~ \, / .