[Music] my name is David Grant and I'm mayor of Arden Hills and I'd like to welcome you here we have an exciting program our city is uh really busy uh more busy than perhaps a city of its its size and uh we have a number of presentations uh that'll be made by council members as well as the uh chair of our Economic Development commission and also uh a presentation from the Arden Hills Foundation um a couple of uh opening comments uh we got some good news from uh Ramsey County just recently uh in May of this year median home values in Arden Hills increased to 27,500 or from 27,500 to 264,000 yeah I'm sorry to 264,000 uh 700 and that's an increase of 2.8% and as you know housing is uh over the last few years is kind of taking it on the chin financially so it's good to see that our home values are increasing uh on average 2.8% the county average is point uh 0.2 so we've increased uh 14 fold on that um other news uh relative to the to the city and our costs and and is that the public safety costs uh are increasing uh by $ 67,68 65 that's a 3.97% increase approximately 4% uh the sheriff's contract includes Animal Control except for the Hillcrest Animal Hospital uh charges uh which are $41,600 that's 4% increase and uh 911 dispatch Services also make up a large percent of that increase uh 8,285 or almost 16% so our costs are going up but the good news is that our housing values are also going up and assume that commercial property is also appreciating as as well at this point I'd like to introduce Ed Von holam Ed will uh present uh the economic development goals and um for those that are presenting today that the mic you have to speak right into it it's pretty pretty directional so uh so we might have to adjust that Ed uh over the past few years the city council and the economic development committee um have had several goals most of them having to do with communication uh the first thing we wanted to do is we're very proud of Arden Hills I think everybody is and we wanted people to know that we were here so we uh uh identified uh eight places that we could put Gateway signs and the first gateway sign has been installed and the city council is planning five additional signs we have a picture there of the sign I think it's quite attractive and that will will help to emphasize the uh Community identity and the brand uh the next thing we did um could we change the slide no thank you um when the uh Red Fox Road water tower is being painted uh the city uh decided to put two uh City logos there and that will be seen by over 100,000 cars a day and will again help to identify by Arden Hills and uh and our city and uh could you change the slide again thank you uh but I think our biggest thing is business Outreach because um when we're we're talking to you guys we know how important uh the businesses are at Arden Hills and uh the uh Economic Development commission feels that uh if we can communicate with the businesses and help keep those uh lines of communication open um between the business the city and the city council uh we'll be doing an excellent job um that's what one of the this presentation is state of the city it uh we had one in 2011 we didn't feel a need in 2012 but there's been a lot of issues and uh so we felt uh we should have one this year and from the turnout it looks like like that was correct uh we also make sure that we try to have a a uh presentation from the Commission in the uh newsletter and we're most newsletters we will have a business related communication can you change the slide please um our uh economic go goals like I said are business Outreach state of the city news and uh also to communicate with the Shore View Arden Hills Business Council and I think if you want to talk to your elected offical officials as a business person this is an excellent venue and the next meeting will be September 18th at uh 7:30 to 8:30 in the Northeast Youth and Family Services on Lexington I think you you all know where that is and next slide please uh we also I I think I covered the business uh articles and newsletters and articles the other thing we worked on and we can go to the next slide um was business visits which uh we've tried to hit every business in the city I think red fox gray fox will be for uh 2014 is that correct Jill uh yes yeah yes so uh we probably haven't got to you there or the staff hasn't got to you in red fox gray fox but um you're on the agenda and we'll try to meet with you and then we did the next slide please and the city council accepted the uh guiding plan for the B2 District on October 27th of 2008 we can turn this over to Brenda Holden and she will continue on with this so I just want to talk about the E2 business Improvement we're in the E2 zone right now and it's it runs along the railroad tracks over there and it goes but cub and Georgia shoes and car they're not in the beach2 it's just south of that it goes all the way up to Harriet Street which kind of cuts right behind Country Financial and then we have the boundaries of Lexington and Snelling 51 is considered our B2 Zone which includes our Improvement area um the council accepted the guiding plan in 2008 and the and the plan is mainly looking at a framework for long-term public and private improvements along Cony Road e um please what the guiding plan list was for the long-term goals was creation of the distinct and an in an identifiable place um there hasn't been any Rhyme or Reason and and it just looks like we just stuck buildings up we're we want to improve the vehicle circulation and be more receptive to bicycles and pedestrians and we want to encourage Redevelopment and private investment into the community so we started a to plan a implementation plan and as part of that we went and got volunteers several people in this Committee in in this room were on the um Corridor advisory committee and we also had Consultants there and and they were able to take the information given by the committee and kind of look at it and provide feedback so and then the Consultants that we hired they also went and talked to many of the business oneon-one to assess the needs what they think their issues were what the traffic issues are and what kind of what kind of improvements they wanted and the cost associated with the improvements because we all have to pay for it some way or the other so the feedback from from the business Community indicated that the businesses wanted aesthetic improvements along the corridor specifically repairs to the mediums the sidewalks and the driveways and the exess points the Consultants found that there was an excessive number of access curb Cuts driveways and the extra wide Center medium along it is very confusing to drivers and and does pose a safety hazard um businesses were concerned about the elimination of a driveway and curb cut points and they were opposed to the medium and other traffic devices it was kind of funny because some people are really for a medium down the middle to help with traffic but then it affects everyone's business so they don't want the medium in front of their business but they wouldn't mind it further down the same with the curb Cuts let's get rid of some of the curb Cuts but not their curb Cuts so it's an interesting balance and challenge that we'll have coming forward the um the guiding plan assumes that the land uses on Cony Road E will change over time the city council believes that the land use changes should be Market driven and the city shouldn't interfere in private development um the Redevelopment of the Pod buildings into the Walgreens and former holiday in magui into the East Street flats are examples of the market driven reuse Carol Furniture which has has been abandoned now and is vacant um it it the taxes were paid by the bank so the bank is now marketing it and so we're hoping to hear if anyone is interested in using it they did just put the new windows in and they are starting to maintain it a little better so hopefully that will be marketed off the market and in somebody's hand so if you know of anybody interested in a reuse for Carol let us know and we can contact them uh the businesses are reluctant to support costly Improv movement so and I understand that I because just because you build it they may not come so we're going to start out in small increments and um embrace the Embrace that approach and hopefully we can get more people down here just because well once the traffic and the roadways are done being completed thank you and so we're going to based on the feedback from the corridor advisory committee and the business Community the Imp mentation plan recommends improvements along e between 51 and Lexington so we are going to reconstruct the damag mediums we are going to probably have a little more bicycle path we're really going to white stripe it um we're going to complete and repair the sidewalk system on the North and South sides of e and along a portion of Pine Tree Drive we're going to install some pedestrian lighting and Boulevard bar trees we're going to restripe the roadway to narrow the center lane and make wider shoulders and based on the business feedback the construction is tentatively going to be in 2015 when they reconstruct that bridge over 51 so I don't know if you all know that they're planning on removing the bridge over 51 and re recreating that um the council we're going to be looking at the feasibility study on September 30th I haven't seen it yet but um but it will affect anybody in this area so make sure you check it out in the agenda items go to our website on the agenda items and take a look at it on September 30th um next mayor Grant's going to talk about the teap project thank you uh for that presentation on uh basically what is Main Street for Arden Hills so now we're going to transition into teap the land to the north the the Redevelopment of TCAP is a joint project between Ramsey County and the City of Arden Hills in order to make that happen we needed a a separate governing body and we created that it's called The Joint Development Authority and that joint Development Authority consists of two city council members uh myself and council member Holden uh two Ramsey County Commissioners uh commissioner Blake Huffman and Raphael Ortega and a a chair who is an Arden Hills resident uh that's specified in the organization documents and that that the chair of the joint Development Authority is David sand and David is also a former chair of our Planning Commission um it's it's a it's an interesting structure because our goals align so well between the county and the city we want to return the property to productive use we want to increase increase the tax base in Arden Hills and Ramsey County we want to increase the number of jobs and the amount of of Commerce in our city The Joint Development Authority will be responsible to review and approve all development proposals on the TCAP project what's important to note though is that the city is responsible for developing the master plan Ramsey County uh earlier this year entered into to a fixed price remediation contract with bander and Suns uh the site will be remediated to mpca it's Minnesota Pollution Control agency residential standards so think of think of that the entire property 427 Acres will be cleaned to a residential livable live on live on the land uh level of of cleanup at 427 Acres that is is uh not well it's it's larger than the city of Lauderdale if you were to consider the size city of Lauderdale is about 300 acres this is a 427 Acre Site has no buildings on it clean slate to do what we uh what we plan um the resident the cleanup includes removal of building foundations parking lots roads and abandoned utilities um well the water treatment facility up there will stay in place uh the Army is responsible for uh ground water remediation uh they do pumping of water and recycling of water and that'll continue for about 40 years uh site uh work began uh nearly immediately after the county county purchased the property uh currently all but one of the abandoned buildings have been demolished and as you can see on the um those buildings that you remember is being up there are now gone um it it's difficult to see because the the intersection of 10 and 96 is being reconstructed you can't travel on that portion of 10 that you need to travel on to see the fact that the buildings have been removed uh building 502 which is the Green Building directly north of the highway uh will remain up through through the winter uh that that particular building has um asbest and other other things that it's going to take a little bit longer for that building to be removed but it will be removed by the spring of 2014 the entire remediation and demolition uh project is scheduled to be completed by late uh 2015 uh demolition materials are are being carefully sorted for recycling and reuse uh 6,185 tons of Steel have been recycled four flat beds of wood and wooden beams and I understand that that is Douglas fur from the 1940s so very valuable wood has been salvaged and removed uh from the site uh in terms of the railroad track uh 350 tons of steel track have been removed and will be reused and I understand it's uh for Railroad in southern Minnesota at this time approximately 35,000 tons of raw concrete and bamus have been sorted on the site and are awaiting uh crushing bolander estimates that the project by project completion 400,000 tons of bamus and concrete will be recycled and reused for roaded foundation work and other uses and and I'm I'm told that this represents approximately half the total volume of debris that was removed from London after the blitz so that's why it takes so long to clean up clean up teap there's a lot up there uh under under the terms of the joint development agreement or jda as we call it the city must complete the master plan for the TCAP site uh there although there have been previous Master planning efforts uh those plans were drafted by private parties and uh were never completed or approved uh by the city uh the city has a contract with kimley horn for the master planning uh also to do an U as part of that an AAR an alternative Urban areawide review as well as to do regulations and policies on the use of the property the master plan will be based on the city's existing vision for TCAP as set forth in the comprehensive and Zoning plan which calls for mixed use residential retail office and light Industrial Development according to the Joint uh Powers agreement Ramsey County must also approve the master plan that Arden Hills develops in terms of timeline uh kimley horn actually began May 1st of this year the Consultants are currently in the discovery phase they're learning about the site its opportunities and its constraints the master plan will be completed by June 2014 uh the regulations and policies will be a fast follower that should be completed by September 2014 and since the master planning process of the mid 2000s there there have been a number of changes that have uh that have been impacting uh the site and the the new master plan that's being developed uh and those changes include the real estate and development Market it's been much different it's much different now than it was during some of those previous plans uh there is a loss of a third uh access point along Highway 10 in the previous plans as you went north on 10 from 96 before you got to 35W there would be another offramp and interchange there and that's that's no longer no longer the case so that that's one of the constraints how much traffic can you get in and get out of of the property the primary access points will be Highway 96 to the South and County Road H to the north and there'll be a spine Road a major road that will connect those two access points through the property uh the a public involvement plan has been developed and approved by the city council for the TCAP project and also approved by the jda the city council wants the community to have abundant opportunities to provide input and feedback on the plan it's important that we get everyone's ideas we want to collect all the best ideas from the best as the the first public involvement event was a panel discussion and public engagement workshop on July 30th the next uh involvement event is an openhouse on Tuesday September 17th from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Marson room at the Ramsey County Public Works facility so again just uh just a few days from now this coming Tuesday September 17th from 5:30 to 7:30 uh this is an important meeting for residents and businesses to provide input prior to the first draft and I'll emphasize first draft of the master plan uh the next open house will then be held in early 2014 when residents and businesses will be asked to provide feedback on the preliminary master plan so even at that point it's still preliminary the city council will also hold public hearing on the TCAP project or or we do hold uh public hearing on the TCAP project the first uh council meeting of every month which is held the first council meeting is the second Monday of the month and we have a public meeting where we invite anyone who wants to come and address the council with their ideas their thoughts on TCAP we've had uh uh a rather um rather good uh presentation on you know environmental just what do we want to do in terms of envir environmental you know do we want to be kind of a lead certified development up there and uh so we've we've received a variety of uh councils received a variety of input so and also you can always uh email or or call your your council members or any member of The Joint Development Authority if you'd like so at this point uh you know TCAP is certainly not the only development project council member Holden talked about the the B2 area at this point I'd like to invite uh council member Ed Warner uh to uh present information on other current devel vment projects Ed the first uh subject I'd like to talk about is East Street uh flats and shops uh it's been uh the former holiday and excuse me I'll loosen up here in a bit but the former holiday in has been uh converted um to uh 75 units and uh also 25 uh 20,000 Square ft of retail space including uh at this time now bikes uh I think it's important to note that uh the original plans uh uh included over 100 units in the holiday section of the uh uh Apartments uh and after a number of go rounds between the Planning Commission and the City of Arden Hills we decided on a uh compromise to the 75 units so far uh uh uh there are a total of 18 students from the various colleges uh including Hamlin bethl uh University of Northwestern University of Minnesota and Sentry Community College and uh there'll be common areas there are common areas in there that include a fitness area Lounge theater room gaming room and indoor uh bicycle storage and uh if I could mention about the now bikes they relocated uh from uh I believe it's Shannon square and uh I tell you I uh took my uh our two bikes we have a couple of swin Collegiates and tires were shot and I went in there and lo and behold they uh they had uh tires for 40-year-old bikes and well my wife's been Hing me for years to get them on the road and I got them on the road now so uh actually they're selling pretty well on eBay you know they're old enough so they got the Chrome fenders and and uh I don't know if any of you have ever had them but they were the bike to have in the early '70s um and the second area I'd like to talk about is the Lexington Lexington station they're doing phase one uh you know where the Blue Fox was that was uh torn down uh this project uh is going to be a three-phase uh between the two existing buildings there but phase one um um is uh going to be multi-tenant retail Center uh right on the area of the the Blue Fox site there are long-term leases for the other two buildings so this is going to take probably a good solid decade to to get this into completion um the same developer owns those other Parcels South and to the west of phase one um future plans call for reconfiguration of the buildings at uh 11:30 Fox Road the Redevelopment 3771 Lexington Avenue and the construction of additional office and Retail uh construction of the 15,000 square fot multi-tenant retail building is underway if you've noticed driving by on Lexington uh the developer is negotiating with restaurant tenants for the North and South bays and uh the restaurants will have outdoor seating which I think uh Harden Hills could use a little more of um access driveways along Lexington and red fox Road will be closed as part of the phase one um and the cities of uh Arden Hills and Shore viiew and Ramsey County are discussing the possibility of future uh lighting of the intersection of the South uh Target entrance I don't know if any of you have ever pulled out of that South entrance onto Lexington it's a challenge um next okay the next is uh bethl un University uh bethl is growing uh is outg grown space that it currently leases at the red fox business district uh they've been there for a number of years um in June the city approved a zoning amendment that allows higher education uses in the B2 zoning District of uh um of uh uh Country Financial um and the City Council um is looking at uh since June uh the Country Financial and uh bethl have negotiated a deal in which bethl would purchase the entire building and convert it uh to 100% educational use um Administration and uh classrooms by the Year 2005 or 2025 correct uh the propos proposal needs city council approval and uh it will likely be uh considered in October uh both by the Planning Commission and by the full city council the next thing I'd like to talk about is ardan Village the city originally approved a 55 unit Workforce uh housing development in uh March of 2010 and uh this project has been converted to uh Market development uh in uh late 2012 which required M minor modifications to the site plan and upgrade grades to the interior finishes in the spring of 2013 construction did beg begin on the 60 unit building which includes uh four uh affordable units and the last thing I'd like to talk about is uh Presbyterian Homes on uh Johanna Shores uh construction has been going on since uh 2011 uh 152 unit main bu building is nearly complete and 36 Brown Brownstone units will be built in a future phase um with this I um you may have noticed uh several of these uh development projects as you've driven around Arden Hills over the past year you certainly have noticed that many Transportation projects are underway uh councilman member Fran Holmes and uh Ken Bernard uh from Mot uh will have information on the status of the current and future Transportation improvements we're having Wayne Norris speak with us today rather than Kent Bernard Kent is uh uh uh not available but Wayne who is the area manager for the Twin Cities for the Minnesota Department of Transportation is going to handle some of our road construction projects as all of you are aware as you're driving to and from work or to and from home there's a lot of road construction going on and um I thought we'd have Wayne assist us BEC because there's so much going on and Wayne knows exactly what's going on with the Mind do projects so I'm going to turn it over to Wayne and he's going to talk about uh the mot pro pro uh projects that you're uh dealing with on a daily basis and then I'll come back and talk about some of our more local projects here in Arden Hills thank you council member uh appreciate being here this morning uh on the first slide we're talking about the highway 10 uh County Road 96 grave separation which was a partnership between mot and Ramsey County uh as you're well aware there's a lot of activity going out there and it's still closed the traffic uh we drove through there just the other day and uh the beams are up for the new bridge they should be uh out there framing for pouring the deck here soon uh that project will be completed as on the slide this November with work still proceeding in 2014 to wrap that project up uh again uh that's a project that a partnership between the state and Ramsey County the 694 what we call the arban hills project which is 6941 and uh 51 project started uh in uh late uh 2011 and we're scheduled to have that completed in 2013 there's some interesting uh updates on that obviously there's a ramp closure at Lexington uh that's supposed to open up uh by Monday the 16th but then the ramp from Lexington to go westbound actually will not open uh until uh probably uh mid October uh the schedule for completion of that ramp and opening to 694 westbound as well as US 10 Northbound was to have been uh October 11 but uh construction flots have indicated that's not going to occur until November late November of this year uh again uh that project should be completed uh and open to traffic uh to follow up in Year 2015 there is a program Landscaping project that goes along with that project as well and we'll be following up and working with the colomy on the details with that colomy Road E uh that one is a complete Bridge replacement We Begin uh discussions not only with the city but with Ramsey County on replacement of that structure uh there's also consideration for pet and bike improvements on that Bridge which uh we will be working with the county to uh since it's a County Road we'll defer to the county and their negotiations and work with the city wherever location of that facility should be but we'll be uh replacing that bridge in 2015 that's going to be out of service probably four to six months to take and replace that bridge because we have to go higher with the roadway and we'll have to do some work on the ramp some Loop at that location but it should be completed uh by the end of construction season 2015 the 35 w96 interchange uh mot had programmed that as only a bridge replacement project and we have about a million dollars program for that project to replace it actually in 2014 obviously with the Redevelopment efforts at the TCAP site and uh the uh need for addition additional capacity on that bridge at that location we're working with Ramsey County uh to develop an agreement where uh we would fund a fully replaced new bridge at that location uh and the time frame were looking at is 2015 and we're we're in negotiations with the commy to make that happen uh the Kam Road F Valentine Road Bridge is also scheduled for for replacement obviously we have a lot of bridges going on here that being replaced and maybe before I go further on uh if you visited the uh North Central projects website we have a a link there that links to all of these projects and we'll have to coordinate how traffic gets through all these areas in especially 15 and 16 so we'll be developing that as we move along as well but that bridge is scheduled for replacement in 15 we would like to be able to get it done during the construction season without impacting the school being open uh in the spring and in in the fall and we're working with uh New Brighton and Tin Hills on the pet bike facilities along that facility as well another bridge this one is actually scheduled for 2015 uh our Bridge office said we can actually move it to 2016 but that's really the am has to be replaced uh we had that program for about $7 million uh again the county wants to uh take lead on that especially with the Redevelopment efforts on the TCAP site and we'll be working with the county on the details of that uh reconstruction of that bridge and the approach roadways part of that also includes uh commy Road 10 US 10 and commy Road H intersection which eony has money to redo that intersection as well so we'll be working with them to get that done in 2016 at the leis uh one of the issues we have are the structural integrities of both County Road H and County Road 96 uh another Bridge County Road E2 on 35W uh that was actually was scheduled for 25 uh we're moving at to 2016 so we so we're not having all the Bri is over 35 W in this area closed at the same time so uh we're trying to facilitate having at least helping some of the traffic yet from here to there east to west across 35 W but that is a 2016 project uh that one if mind will be the lead on the project but we also are working with with uh New Bright nard Hills on the details of that project as well as the county thank you very much Wayne appreciate the insight and uh Wayne will be around a little bit later when we have the questions if anybody has any questions about the road construction because the obviously the bad news is we're all going to have to every time we go someplace for the next two years till 2016 we're gonna have to say how am I going to get there the good news is at the end of that we'll have really good roads and we're going to add to our pedestrian and bike trails so it'll make our city more bikable more walkable because there's been a lot of issues with well can go so far and then I got to cross this bridge and you know and so forth so I'm going to cover a few local projects that we're working on here um in 2014 there's going to be the Lexington Avenue improvements this is Lexington Avenue between 694 and County Road F because of there's going to be more traffic at the exit on Lexington uh the Lexington Avenue from 694 we're going to have a double left-hand turn at County Road F so that more traffic it can turn left e more easily uh especially during the rush hour and it'll be on both going north and south on Lexington there will also be some new medians and um there will be most of the entrance and exits will be the same the me there'll be openings on the medium there will be um one uh movement that will not be able to no longer be it will be you cannot coming out of gramsy you won't be able to turn left onto Lexington but that um the only difference uh in the current movements there for those of you here who are um in the Round Lake Road area we're going to be improving the roads over there that will be that's planned for 2014 we're working on the studies right now um this will improve the the road the whole Road in that area will be wide into an urban style roadway with concrete curb and gutter and there will be also sanitary sewer and water and storm sewer improve movements with this project the city will be periodically contacting those of you who are in that area to provide updates important updates because when the phone the water or the the road is going to have to be uh changed or turned off or whatever we want to make sure that we don't interrupt the businesses so we'll make sure that everyone is contacted and there's good communication so that you can keep doing your business as normal while that's going on the last Road Improvement project is the old Snelling Avenue Improvement a lot of people have asked about that that's the area from County Road E2 down to uh trunk Highway 51 that areir that road has uh we've been keeping it up with patches and repairs the the um the uh shoulders are quite uh in need of repair and I think we're going to do some work on those just separate from the Reconstruction of the project so we can keep the shoulders going but um this is going to be done after that bridge that we've been talking about on County Road E that's the County Road E Bridge once that closes that's going to be a big project and so we want to have a way for people to get um the movement out to um trunk Highway 51 so that's going to be um deferred a bit because as Wayne had said we want to make sure people can get around the city without um you know headaches and so forth so uh as I said uh Wayne and the rest of us will be available for questions a little later on but at this point I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to introduce our former council member Nick tamble he's going to speak on behalf of the newly created Arden Hills Foundation uh Nick is on the board of the foundation I know we have a lot of former elected officials here and um people that used to be uh officials in Arden Hills and this was kind of a dream that we've had for a number of years to have a foundation for Arden Hills so Nick's going to give us some um Insight on what's going on with the foundation good morning I'm Nick tbell and uh I'm a small business owner in the area for 23 years and decided to get back involved with ardan hills in some fashion in July and became a board member for the ardan hills foundation so here I'm going to share a little bit about uh what's been created in some little winds that'll help explain why a nonprofit was established for Arden Hill businesses and residents so let's back track a bit I've been trying to find out where this started and uh actually this morning spoke a little briefly with b pakowski and said back in her mayor term is when it was really started to talk about a foundation but not until the end of 2012 that it was formally filed and established as a 501c3 so it's been a long time coming to get to this point and before this there's been an old way of donating where the city would contact and you would um you know donate to the Fall Festival and things where the money was put to good use but there was one little element missing a very important element and that was the the tax deductible element so now we have this new way of developing of new way of donating and that's uh a few different ways that we can donate now number one would be giving to allocated categories so consider parks and trails a category or a festival of some sorts or one of my favorite examples an angel category where we could pull funds and help support some children in the neighborhoods who would otherwise not have an opportunity to partake in after school activities so that's one so that's allocated categories another one would be designated funds and is there another slide that has some images on with the uh yeah this is a couple examples of some allocated categories or pardon me some designated ones this first one is a uh image of a sprinkler which is indicative across the street from Presbyterian Homes that triangle parcel that was just completed Presbyterian Homes donated money towards that sprinkler system through the foundation so in return they get the tax benefit and the city and Community by and large receives the benefit by having sprinklers keeping grass emerald green the other one is a largemouth band in the hands of a DNR representative there was a group around karth Lake who pulled some money to work on some wallet water quality issues in the lake so they they gathered funds up to purchase 550 largemouth bass to interrupt food chain and help build water quality there and I've been in contact with Gary Gering who helped set that up and he was really pleased on how that process worked uh provided a real great Avenue for them to channel their money get a tax benefit and benefit the community finally there's an unallocated funds option where you know somebody would just give and it would be in the dictation of the foundation on how those funds would be used so if there was a pot of money that was you know maybe a few hundred shy or so and a few more hundred would be allocated on top of that to complete or do a task that would be the the liberty of the foundation to help in that fashion as far as Financial to date I believe there's been about 10 donations totaling about $4,500 and the idea is to add a zero to that by the time we all leave today so don't be the last one out the door moving forward in the next 30 days or so the board will be meeting with the Northwest Youth and Family Services president Jerry haraka to collaborate on some vision and strategies to best satisfy our mission so he has some very uh very great experience on this type of thing so we're going to glean what we can from him also one of the many tasks that we are working on include donation levels so we're you know very New Foundation we're in the remedial stages of things so figuring out how to do these donation levels is you know kind of where we're at so if you have any insights on that there is contact information in the brochure we'd love to to hear some different strategies that you might have but one that was tossed about was one example a couple's donation of $200 would be something where a couple in Arden Hills would donate to the foundation be part of this category and then we would wrap certain benefits around that or certain recognitions around how we donate so to close it was primarily with this group in mind this group of people in this room right here to revamp and recreate uh a foundation so that we can allocate some donating and have some tax benefit by it so please continue to give generously if you had in the past but certainly not because I ask I think giving is most impactful when a person does so out of Will Will and want never from pressure if you feel so inclined today there are board members here there board members here today who would be happy to receive a check or a wat of hundreds from you give now and save harassment later and one more thing it's not all about the dollar if time is your gift there's nothing more valuable than time thanks all right uh thank thank you Nick uh for that that presentation uh the Arden Hills Foundation uh I'd like to point out is is separate from the city it was uh founded by uh a number of individuals who wanted to create a foundation for the betterment of the city uh it's it's coincidental that uh two of the board members are our council members so uh myself and uh council member Holmes and uh three other residents uh and obviously Nick Nell being one of those residents so I'd I'd encourage you to uh consider uh giving to the foundation uh can be a lot of different causes uh Emerald Ash boore is uh taking some of the trees in this area and maybe you want to uh donate to to uh put a tree in a park or maybe you want to donate uh for a park bench or or any number of of uh reasons um we'll go to a question and answer session but first of all I want to thank flare Harden bu for hosting the event [Applause] today I certainly want to uh thank the presenters as well as City staff for all of their work in in the putting on this event uh as you can tell there are a lot of projects going on in the city uh yes there's there's winter and there's road construction and we certainly have plenty of road construction but we also have a lot of projects that are that are going on uh development wise some of them very large like TCAP some of them uh much smaller um all of which are important to the city uh certainly this area with a B2 plan you've got Lexington station you've got at uh the 60 unit uh apartment complex up on County Road F and I would like to clarify that it wasn't at Market it was at market rate they're market rate Apartments uh just like any other other building although there are four units I understand in that building that are um Workforce uh priced um with that uh I'd like to open up the the floor to questions and each council member by the way is is assigned a a committee that they work with each year so some of the questions I may uh ask other other council members to respond so at this point are there any any questions on what's going on in the city uh the the the question was with with the increase in growth in the city of Arden Hills are we going to get increased Sheriff coverage I I think a lot of the development and I guess I'm answering this from my perspective obviously there are five council members but uh as you look at a lot of it is is Redevelopment you know Lexington station in Blue Fox is out a new building is in um it's it's Redevelopment uh does it does it add to the city sure uh incrementally uh perhaps not as much uh the the apartments on County Road F okay that that's incremental growth so there will be some incremental growth right now uh we are blessed with low crime rate uh we have have coverage uh 365 247 uh we have backup units as well for the city I'm I'm not aware at this point that that uh and and I guess I can toss that out to the businesses and I guess we need to hear from you if you're experiencing an increase in crime then we need to know about that but at this point we haven't heard that if we if we look forward to the TCAP development of 427 Acres that that would be a massive amount of of of Inc incremental growth and at that point um that would have to be reassessed the build out of TCAP is expected to take 10 to 15 years and it'll probably be closer to 15 years so future councils will have to consider that just you know what our needs are but they'll have to make that decision at that that point in time so in in the near future I I don't think so but again we need to hear from we need to hear from the public and we need to hear from from businesses let us know what you think and what you're seeing the the question was one of are we going to get traffic uh deputies in the in the interim here for some of the road construction projects and interestingly enough the sheriff is here today so so uh to answer your question part of our contract uh includes uh a a deputy a portion of a deputy which was added primarily for the 694 construction project to do traffic and the city has made a request um we were asked I don't know where our city administrator is at the moment but was asked to make that request to Ramsey County and I think that that's been done um as of yesterday but I haven't heard a response but we we are aware of of the issue oh yeah on that particular case we we we did ask yes yeah especially for a two we especially the first two weeks which are downright unbearable typically traffic starts to reroute itself after a couple of weeks but those those first two weeks were were very very difficult that is true and and we did ask we also looked at you know this during that period of time the the phasing of the lights and every a number of option I don't know if everyone was able to hear but it's basically a question about the the specifically about the apartments that are being built on County Road F and andil and and also a more general question about traffic feasibility studies um and I guess I would ask that our community development director respond to that okay Public Works director uh first of all from The Pedestrian standpoint uh there will be a sidewalk completed along County Roda that that apartment building there will be a small piece that the city will need to complete uh at the Western end but we're planning for that so The Pedestrian movements have been dealt with as far as traffic when something like that comes in the county because it is a County Road we're involved in the planning process so we look for the county in these cases to tell us what they need for additional traffic now they didn't ask for anything beyond what was happening with the menot project at Hamlin and then they have their project that was discussed that'll will take care of the intersection of of County Road F and Lexington so on that particular project that's what happened there but any of these projects that come in uh we look for the county or mindat if that's the case to uh talk to us about what they think is needed for traffic many times we require the developer to do a traffic impact study uh and I don't believe that was the case with the apartment building but that was certainly the case with the East re Flats project as that was going through the various ages uh there was a number of traffic uh studies that were done there what the city actually does in these cases is City hires a consultant ourselves to do the traffic impact study and then the developer pays for it so we control who's doing the study and how it's being done uh so there there will be a a sidewalk uh obviously and and these projects do have uh traffic studies done with them and it's important I think to note that there are city streets and there are County Roads and the the city has an interest the county has an interest and we do work together with tra for traffic studies on on those projects so okay actually there were there were a couple of questions there first one regarding Country Financial and and bethl and the other being a question about County Road E Lake Johanna Boulevard and old Snelling um I'll take the last question first um has it been talked about um I I I think at one point someone mentioned it I don't know that it was ever talked about seriously uh the question regarding bethl uh potential potential per purchase of Country Financial uh would that come off the tax roles um that depends if if they occupied 100% of the building and they purchased the property then it would come off the tax rle if they did not ow if they did not not occupy 100% of the building and essentially share the building then no it would not come off the tax roles so and at this point uh just to to recap uh some of you may be going bethl is bethl is doing what just to bring you up to date bethl has proposed to lease a portion of Country Financial that that building is uh not fully occupied and bethl is looking to be a tenant there um they came forward to the council for approval um for a a use permit on that property to operate and at this point that the council approved that they can operate and I may get the number wrong here but was it 26,000 Square ft something like I believe it was 26,000 Square ft and I believe that building is 200,000 Square ft so oper operating a portion of of it now bethl has come to the city and said H maybe we maybe we would consider buying the entire building so the council at this point has not had a chance to analyze that situation um how does that fit in with the B2 district is it something we would consider uh we we'll have to take a look at that some of the things that that we're doing are things as former mayor appesi pointed out are things that we've wanted to do for a long time we've wanted to redevelop TCAP that's been out there for at least 10 years uh We've wanted a foundation we were told at one point that it just couldn't be done so we went out and did it so uh we are we are making some progress on some things that have been outstanding for for quite some time so thank you for acknowledging that and I want to thank all the businesses for coming today you're you're an important and and vital part of our community and also thank all the residents for showing up to hear about your community I think it it says a lot uh about our community to host something like this and have have people show up who are interested so uh if you want to contact a council member our email addresses are on the on the website as as well as our phone numbers um and I'd encourage you to check out our our new website uh as of about a year ago it's been new and revamped I don't know if you've been there but uh check it out and cons as uh former council member tamell pointed out uh please feel uh free to make a donation to The Arden Hills Foundation if you so uh are so inclined so with that thank you thank you for coming and have a great day [Music]