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CITY OF NEW BRIGHTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM DATE: February 15, 2008 TO: Dean Lotter, City Manager FROM: Grant Fernelius, Community Development Director cif SUBJECT: Work Session on Northwest Quadrant (Tract 1 Development Solicitation) In advance of next Tuesday's work session, this memo is intended to provide a potential list of discussion topics for developing Tract 1. Development Objectives Before we can begin any meaningful solicitation process, it is important to get an understanding from the City Council on the development objectives. Right or wrong, the current framework plan incorporates a mixed-use approach. Moreover, the framework plan that was approved in 2005 evolved after a great deal of discussion about the community interests, development principles, and design guidelines. This information was extremely helpful as we communicated with developers about the community's goals for the project. One could argue that the decisions by companies like API and Transoma were made (in part) because of the integrated development plan that the City adopted. As we move forward on Tract 1, it is important to know if the Council has a desire to re- visit one or more elements of the framework plan. In other words, do we want a mix of uses in the Northwest Quadrant or are there other objectives that should drive the development? In our experience, developers tend to respond much better when they know the City's expectations. For staff, knowing the development objectives up front is also helpful when trying to solicit interest, because developers tend to specialize — commercial developers are different than residential or industrial developers. Although the market for housing is currently soft, it is likely that at some point in the future demand will return. The fundamental questions are really whether we want to follow the current market, establish a different vision or tweak the existing framework plan. It would be very beneficial to have some discussion about the development objectives on Tuesday night.