2016.11.02 EDC Combined - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Physical Redevelopment (i.e. New Brighton Exchange, which the EDC will focus on as projects arise) • Business Retention & Expansion (Open to Business) • Place Making (focus towards creating a Sense of Place) • Housing programs The Physical Redevelopment item was already developed and incorporated into the Council’s Economic Development Strategic Priority. It focuses on increasing property values and expanding the tax base. None of this content has been edited since original development. The EDC spent most of 2015 developing a Business Retention & Expansion program, which was accepted by the City Council on January 12, 2016. This consisted mostly of formalizing existing staff practices regarding economic development matters. However, one additional item resulted from this effort, that being the Open to Business program now being offered locally. Then, the EDC moved on to the Sense of Place topic in 2016 and held numerous meetings discussing what Sense of Place meant and how to formulate it into the Council’s Economic Development Strategic Priority. Ultimately, the Commission developed the following six guiding principles: • Strong Public Safety presence to ensure secure, safe neighborhoods, getting people out of their homes and interacting throughout all areas of the community. • Creation of gathering places or destinations, whether in plaza-type environments, at a local restaurant or bar, fraternal organizations, or in outdoor dining spaces. • Ensuring a connection with the schools, access to personal enrichment programs, and local sport team identification. • Creating traffic calm environments that are walkable and bikeable with connections to public spaces including schools, parks, public art, and City entrance monument signage. • Creating enhanced physical connections to local business and public spaces through high quality public infrastructure such as roads, trails, landscaping, lighting, City entrance monument signage, etc. • Provide local support and visibility for reoccurring public events, like Stockyard Days, a farmer’s market, and sporting events and providing ways for local business to be engaged in these events. In an effort to provide more substance or measurable results with regard to Sense of Place, specific projects and/or initiatives were added in the Response paragraph within the Strategic Priority (page 6). This list is conceptual and not intended to fully include or exclude anything; rather it is meant to provide better understanding of the types of items the commission felt created a Sense of Place. Lastly, the Sense of Place effort will be incorporated into the upcoming Comprehensive Planning process. It is the intent, through Commission and public input, specific areas will be identified for Sense of Place implementation. Staff is recommending the Council adopt the Resolution provided.