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02/28/1994 - City Council Special 000 53 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE EAGAN CITY COUNCIL Eagan, Minnesota February 28, 1994 A Special City Council meeting was held on Monday, February 28, 1994, at 5:00 p.m. in the Eagan Municipal Center Building. The purpose of the meeting was to continue discussion on the Commercial Study with a presentation by Ralph Chiodo. Those in attendance were Mayor Egan and City Councilmembers Awada, Hunter, Masin and Wachter. Also present were Director of Community Development Reichert, Director of Public Works Colbert, Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa, Chief Building Official Reid, Senior Planner Marvin, Administrative Intern Pruitt, and City Administrator Hedges. Before beginning the agenda, City Administrator Hedges suggested an update at the end of the meeting under Other Business, on the Easter Lutheran Church expansion project, the Caponi Art Park, and the elementary school proposal. COMMERCIAL STUDY PRESENTATION Director of Community Development Reichert introduced the commercial study presentation and reminded the City Council that this was the second segment of three sections of the study. She introduced Ralph Chiodo, former developer and the City's consultant, and explained that Mr. Chiodo would be describing the study from a market- demand viewpoint and noted his conclusions may not be what the City of Eagan would wish to follow. Mr. Chiodo thanked Senior Planner Marnin for her assistance in preparing information for the commercial study and began his presentation by comparing the 1987 Laventhal-Horvath study with his findings. He said both studies investigated scenarios I and II having to do with a comparison of commercial development in adjacent cities and the estimated demand for commercial acreage based on retail sales potential. In addition, however, Mr. Chiodo explained that Scenario III also calculated future commercial demand based on ERC's estimates of additions to the City's current commercial base. After describing the City's profile and touching on some of its demographics, Mr. Chiodo turned his attention to Scenario I and a comparison of commercial development in Eagan as opposed to its neighbors. Based on 1992 figures, he said Eagan possesses a commercial Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of only 16.2, with Apple Valley's, Burnsville's and West St. Paul's ratios at 20.6, 20.3 and 19.5, respectively. He stated that with Eagan's higher incomes, its retail sales potential is estimated at 1:1, a ratio higher than those of its sister cities. 000 53 PAGE 2/SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 28, 1994 Mr. Chiodo's computations established the 1993 total commercial space demand in Eagan as approximately 3.5 million square feet and, based on a 16.2% FAR, 483 acres should ideally be available for commercial development. Mr. Chiodo verified there were actually 405 acres available in the City in 1993, leaving it 78 acres short of its commercial demands. Projecting that figure into the future, Mr. Chiodo expects the City of Eagan to be 258 acres short in commercial space by the year 2020. He suggested a number of retail stores the City of Eagan may wish to attract including apparel, department, junior department, sporting goods, home furnishings, groceries, nurseries, restaurants, computer stores, etc. He advised that most future retail users will be large box users including K- Mart, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Target, Rainbow, Cub, etc. Director of Community Development Reichert summarized by saying that the City of Eagan has 970 acres of vacant land, which amounts to a 3:1 ratio of available versus anticipated commercial space. This computation parallels the completed commercial studies which have supported the need for additional commercial space in the City of Eagan. However, she emphasized the importance of addressing site compatibility questions versus the questions of demand which were demonstrated in the studies. Mr. Chiodo suggested other options the City Council may wish to investigate further, including reviewing the need for additional housing rather than increasing commercial space. He also suggested attracting further light industrial, including corporate headquarters, in order to generate strong tax revenues. The City Council discussed computations and options presented by Mr. Chiodo. After discussing requests for the report, Egan moved, Hunter seconded, a motion to set the copy price of the commercial study at $75.00. Aye: 4 Nay: 1 (Masin) OTHER BUSINESS Director of Community Development Reichert presented an update on Easter Lutheran Church's proposal to increase the impervious surface under the shoreland zoning requirement from "no more than 25%" to 60%. There were concerns expressed about the precedence such action would set and its potential impacts. Director of Community Development Reichert and Director of Parks and Recreation Vraa provided an update on the Caponi Art Park. There wasn't sufficient time prior to the regular City Council meeting to discuss the elementary school proposal. PAGE 3/SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 28, 1994 There being no further discussion, the Special City Council meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. JP February 28, 1994 Date City Clerk If you need this information in an alternative form such as large print, audio tapes, etc., please contact the City of Eagan, 3830 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan, MN 55122, 681-4600, TDD Phone: 454-8535.