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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994 12-20 HCM MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MQNNESOTA REGULAR SESSION DECEMBER 20, 1994 CONFERENCE ROOM A BROOKLYN CENTER CITY HALL I I I CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Robert Torres at 7 :00 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson Robert Torres, Commissioners Kathleen Carmody, Ernie Erickson, Keith Tuttle, Neal Nelson and Jack Kelly. Also present was Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Also present were Brooklyn Center Mayor -elect Myrna Kragness, City Manager Gerald Splinter, Community Development Director Brad Hoffman and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioners Vince Opat and Maria Olek were absent and excused from the meeting. Commissioner Todd Cannon was absent from the meeting. City Council Liaison Barb Kalligher was absent from the meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There was a motion by Co Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Nelson to approve the agenda, as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OCTOBER 18. 1994 There was a motion by Commissioner Nelson and seconded by Co Carmody to approve the October 18, 1994, Housing Co minutes, as submitted. The motion passed. UPDATE AND DISCUSSION ON HENNEPIN COMMUNITY WORKS PROGRAM The Community Development Specialist reviewed his memorandum to the commission members regarding the status of the Hennepin Community Works Program as follow -up from the October 18, 1994, Housing Commission meeting. He explained the County staff is currently in the process of developing an evaluation tool upon which to base its ranking of projects submitted under the Hennepin Community Works Program. Projects could be solicited as early as January of 1995, with projects to be identified and ranked by the end of March 1995. 12 -20 -94 _1_ The Community Development Specialist pointed out that it should be kept in mind there is not an existing pool of funds for which to fund any of the projects, and it is his understanding that the County has looked at its role as a facilitator and coordinator of the process, which could include seeking funding for projects. The Community Development Director explained that one possible project for the Community Works Program involves a Brooklyn Center /Minneapolis joint ponding project, which would be an effort to remove an existing road construction refuse dump in Minneapolis' Shingle Creek neighborhood and would provide a wetland amenity for the area and assist Brooklyn Center in dealing with storm water runoff regulations for Brookdale and the surrounding commercial area. This project would affect a portion of the golf course in Brooklyn Center and would also include a portion of Minneapolis. He explained that before Brookdale can remodel, they need to comply with storm water runoff regulations and create a ponding area to comply with the new storm water rules. He explained the idea would be to coordinate the runoff on a regional basis with filtration through several ponds and re -entry into Shingle Creek. The Community Development Director reviewed another potential project area which included the area along 57th Avenue from Highway 100 to Girard Avenue North. This area is already scheduled for storm sewer and road construction for the spring of 1995. The storm sewer is under design now, and the size of the sewer will be dependent on the outcome of the study requirements. In this area along 57th, the Dupont and Humboldt intersections are the major problem areas for storm water runoff. The concept for the Community Works Program in this area would be to create a green strip along 57th Avenue, which would entail removing housing on either side of 57th Avenue, possibly as far as the Mississippi River. Additional projects discussed included the original project considered at the October 18th meeting, which would create a green space along Humboldt Avenue between 53rd and 57th, a pollution abatement component to the Humboldt project which would entail the cleanup of contaminated soils due to gasoline tanks along Humboldt Avenue in Minneapolis, and, finally, the possibility of an industrial park improvement project in the City of Minneapolis which would include remediation for polluted commercial sites and improvement of the grounds of the industrial sites near the south end of Humboldt Avenue. Chairperson Torres suggested that the project, which ran up Humboldt to 57th, should also proceed east to the river, west to Highway 100, and consider improvements along Lyndale Avenue. He pointed out the area is slated for park development and that there already exists available single family lots along Lyndale to redevelop, and that amenities such as green space and even a bike path along the river and also running east and west could also enhance this area. In conclusion of the discussion of the Hennepin Community Works Program, staff indicated that they would continue to monitor the progress of the evaluation tool process and also to keep the Housing Commission informed of the various potential projects as they develop. It was also pointed out that this project had not yet been discussed with the City Council, and 12 -20-94 -2- that this would likely occur in the near future, given the scheduling of the Community Works Program. DISCUSSION WITH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR REGARDING CITY REDEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Chairperson Torres recognized Brad Hoffman, Director of Community Development, who reviewed the current redevelopment plans and activities in the City with commission members. Mr. Hoffman explained that tax increment financing will be the primary tool to do redevelopment in the City in the next few years, and that the City Council had approved a new tax increment financing plan and district at the December 19, 1994, meeting. He pointed out the new tax, increment district is comprised of three separate areas within the City, including the area around Brookdale, the area around 69th and Brooklyn Boulevard and an area along the north side of Highway 694 from Willow Lane to Xerxes. He explained this .district over time will constitute the City's and /or FDA's primary revenue source for projects such as the redevelopment of Brooklyn Boulevard, the acquisition of blighted apartment buildings and single family homes, and all other redevelopment projects the City determines to undertake. The Community Development Director proceeded to review various proposed and planned redevelopment projects and activities in the City, including the following: A new restaurant is being proposed for the northwest corner of the Shingle Creek and Freeway Boulevard intersection. This will be a Country Harvest restaurant, which is a buffet -type stand alone restaurant being built by a Seattle firm. Construction is proposed for March or April of 1995 and the project has been approved by the City Council. The Community Development Department is currently working on two development agreements, one of which is on a parcel near the existing Holiday Inn which has some existing soil problems that need to be corrected and for which a hotel and restaurant are planned. The other development agreement is for a printing company which had outgrown its existing space in the industrial park in Palmer Lake Plaza and was considering moving out of the City. The City is now trying to work out an 80,000 square foot expansion project which should be going to the Council within the next two months. The Community Development Director reviewed the ongoing Community Resource Partnership Program which has been underway in the City for the last few years. He pointed out this. project was started by the cities of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park and Blaine and was intended to gather information about and assess the needs of businesses in the three cities. The work was accomplished through extensive surveys and interviews and there was an 85 response to the business surveys. Much of the information was an effort to try and determine basic information about businesses in the area, such as the products, number of employees, skills needed for various industries, where markets are, capital requirements, complaints or concerns 12 -20-94 -3- about City services and also sales data. He pointed out that specific problem areas which came up in the surveys were "red flagged" and staff followed up on these items and reported back to the participants in the survey. These problem areas included such things as unusual numbers of power outages in certain areas in the City of Brooklyn Center which were followed up with NSP. Commissioner Kelly inquired whether the information in this survey is available. The Community Development Director pointed out that much of the survey data had to be kept confidential by design, and that this is one of the safeguards that was a requirement of the program. He did point out that some of the information will be available, such as the type of businesses in the area, products, etc. A Comfort Inn hotel is being proposed for the area between the Olive Garden and Cracker Barrel restaurants. The south Willow Lane area continues to be the focus of redevelopment activity and has a number of components, including the lawsuit with the Holiday gas station on the Premier Mechanical site. The Community Development Director explained a decision on this case is due in March or April of 1995. Additionally, the City is currently negotiating on the acquisition of the Brookdale Motel and has received a $275,000 grant from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to help with the acquisition of this property. The Community Development Director next reviewed the proposed plans for the widening of Brooklyn Boulevard by Hennepin County. This is a 1997 project and involves the widening and reconstruction of Brooklyn Boulevard and includes federal dollars through the "ISTEA" program. This project will include the acquisition of numerous properties along Brooklyn Boulevard, including properties in the area on the east side of Brooklyn Boulevard from the Pit Stop service center to Pilgrim Cleaners and including Brooklyn Printing, just north of 69th. The Community Development Director reviewed various redevelopment scenarios for the area of 69th south to 694, which include the car dealerships and the Pilgrim Cleaners area. Additionally, the NSP service center will be moving to another site and this area will also be freed -up for potential redevelopment. In addition to the Brooklyn Boulevard project, St. Al's is currently considering the development of a portion of its vacant property and may include a senior housing 12 -20 -94 -4- component to the redevelopment. Also, the area being considered by St. Al's for redevelopment would be adjacent to a retail redevelopment area proposed on Brooklyn Boulevard north of 69th. With regard to this proposed retail redevelopment area, one option is for the City to go out with an RFP for the development of this area. The Director of Community Development proceeded to review the conceptual redevelopment plans for the retail redevelopment area near the 69th and Brooklyn Boulevard area. With regard to the architectural and street treatment in the Brooklyn Boulevard area, the Community Development Director pointed out that the Earle Brown Farm architectural theme is to be carried out through the entire redevelopment area. The Community Development Director discussed the potential redevelopment of the Brookdale area and pointed out that if Brookdale does any remodeling, this would trigger certain storm water requirements for the redevelopment. He explained that assistance with addressing these storm water needs for the Brookdale area would be one potential project for the tax increment district in this area. He noted that he is anticipating some activity will likely be started in the Brookdale area with regard to a project sometime in the spring of 1995. The Community Development Director next reviewed the status of several apartment complexes within the City. He pointed out that the Timber Ridge apartment complex has experienced some significant problems over the last few months, including a major series of compliance orders. He pointed out the owner had stopped making payments on the property, had been providing no maintenance or upkeep of the property and had also demonstrated a lack of responsibility with regard to tenant screening and management of tenants. As a result, the City has focused a great deal of time on code compliance for Timber Ridge, which culminated in a unit -by -unit inspection of Timber Ridge and a 170 page report on compliance orders. The Timber Ridge property has been the focus of the housing inspection staff since August of 1994. The property has now gone back to the original owner and currently the bank holding the mortgage is considering what the next step will be with regard to the property. Several potential buyers are interested in the property, and the future of this property will likely be determined within the next couple of months. Also, as a final note, the City has gone to court with the contract for deed owners of the Timber Ridge property with regard to code violations. After the Timber Ridge project is resolved, the Brookdale Ten apartment complex will likely be the next major enforcement effort this spring. Additionally, there is also an individual interested in buying and rehabilitating the Brookdale Ten property. The Four Courts apartment complex located just north of Brookdale has been 12-20-94 -5- purchased by the Dominium Company and the closing is set for January 17, 1995. Dominium also plans extensive remodeling and new management for this complex. Commission members briefly discussed the redevelopment activities and plans presented by the Community Development Director. Commissioner Kelly expressed an interest in receiving any business directory that may be developed through the CRP program. Staff indicated they would make sure that any data that is available would be communicated to the Housing Commission. Commissioner Kelly pointed out a new mapping system prepared by a local software company that shows specific streets and homes and is computerized. In other words, an individual can view a particular block or neighborhood on computer with this software. He explained certain cities have been completed under this program, and Brooklyn Center is one of the areas. He explained the company is located in Dakota County in Lakeville or Apple Valley. INFORMATION ITEM: POINT OF SALE AND TRUTH IN HOUSING RESEARCH INFORMATION PRESENTED AS FOLLOW -UP FROM THE SEPTEMBER HOUSING COMMISSION MEETING The Community Development Specialist explained that at the September 1994 Housing Commission meeting, several Housing Commission members requested information from the commission's previous consideration of Point of Sale and Truth in Housing ordinances be presented at a future commission meeting. He pointed out that he realized the commission had previously reviewed these types of ordinances and had formally recommended against proceeding with Point of Sale or Truth in Housing in the City of Brooklyn Center, and that this was being brought back as information only at this time. Commissioner Nelson questioned why this was coming back to the commission since it had already been resolved previously. Commissioner Erickson pointed out that the request for this information was from the new commissioners on the Housing Commission and noted that there had been a significant turnover in the commission since the initial review of the Point of Sale and Truth in Housing ordinances. Commissioner Tuttle pointed out that he, Commissioner Opat and Commissioner Carmody had asked for this information to be presented and noted that in reviewing the materials presented by staff, the vote to recommend against the ordinances was only 4 to 3 in 1993. The Community Development Specialist noted that this material had not been formally reviewed by the Council since initially it was brought to the commission informally by Councilmember Pedlar, and that as he had chosen not to seek re- election, the commission's analysis of Point of Sale and Truth in Housing had never been brought to the Council table. After brief discussion of the Point of Sale and Truth in Housing information presented in the packets, Chairperson Torres stated that he would like this item brought back at the January Housing Commission meeting. 12 -20-94 -6- OTHER BUSINESS The commission discussed the issue of unexcused absences and, specifically, whether or not Commissioner Todd Cannon is interested in continuing on the commission. It was pointed out that the bylaws provide that if commissioners have three unexcused absences from commission meetings, they forfeit their membership on the commission. With regard to Commission Member Cannon's attendance and interest in continuing on the commission, Chairperson Torres stated that he would talk to Commissioner Cannon with regard to his membership on the commission. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Chairperson 12 -20-94 _7_