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Memo to Council February 20, 2009 Page 2 there will be future demand for housing, at the end of the day, a policy decision should be made on whether this is still a worthwhile goal. 2. Once a vision is established, should we re -visit the framework plan document and design guidelines? The last site planning exercise was done in 2005 by the firm of Dahlgren, Shardlow and Uban (DSU now Bonestroo). The framework plan was helpful in "telling the NWQ story" to the public, developers and other parties. While we are not suggesting that a new framework plan is needed, we want to make sure that the Council agrees with the existing plan. Much of this depends on whether there is agreement on shared vision for the project. 3. How should we analyze future development proposals? In other words, would it be helpful to have parameters or guidelines to assess whether to pursue a particular proposal? Obviously, financial implications will carry a certain amount of weight. However, are there other criteria that should be considered like job creation, life -cycle housing, LEED or "green" building technology. With an open marketing process, the City will not necessarily have comparable (side by side) proposals to evaluate at the same time. Staff would like to work on checklist or other guidelines in the next 60 to 90 days and get additional feedback. 4. Should the City still try and pursue the Met Council grant funds? We have been advised that the window maybe closing on our ability to access the $1.4M grant. One of the key issues is to firm up our goals for the east side development. If housing is not desired, then we'll need to identify a different use and try to renegotiate with the Met Council. The Met Council has announced that it is not planning to accept applications for the Livable Communities program this spring, due to other budget constraints. Potential Next Steps Staff would recommend a discussion of the NWQ vision as a first step. We do plan to meet with Colliers next week to review option for additional analysis that might be helpful. We can also do some preliminary site in-house planning work to at least understand the implications of the Colliers study (i.e. parking needs, setbacks). Based on this conversation, we can be better prepared to work through the other relevant details. Please let us know if you need anything further. Thanks.