05/09/1977 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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. Com 4/27/77 File e e Mr. Hamel questioned how this would affect the budget procedure. Assistant Manager noted that the program would not work until the problem of Station No.5 was dealt with. He said when the pro- gram does begin it would have a $200,000 initial investment and would be a No. 1 priority. He said the funding resources were available for the land acquisition but the actual implementation of the plan would occur with the $200,000 expenditure which would be a front-end capital investment. He noted no additional person- nel would be required for the first year. Mr. Obie complimented the Fire Department chief and staff on a job very well done. He said he was very intrigued with the possibility of security, safety, and service offered to the neigh- borhoods in the community. Mr. Hamel moved seconded by Mr. Obie to conceptually approve the proposal and instruct staff to purchase the land. Motion carried unanimously. VIII. Downtown Redevelopment Proposals--Memo distributed to Council. Mr. Barry Elbasani, ELS Design Group, used various charts to explain to Council the progress to date. He said the Committee was working to prepare a document to encourage major retailers to come into the downtown area. He noted many reasons for re- tailers not wishing to locate in downtown areas: 1) it's easier to find acreage in the suburbs; 2) avoidance of government ap- proval processes required for downtown location; 3) cost of land; and 4) difficulty in assembling land in one large parcel. He said the task before the development group was to prove to developers that there were opportunities to make a shopping development in a downtown area. He noted the immediate task was to keep Sears in the downtown area. The more general goal would be to reinforce the downtown as it exists and make it better. He said that in the past seven weeks he had been meeting with two various groups to develop the concept which would make sense to developers and the City both. He noted some of the goals that the Committee had been trying to reach were to upgrade the Bon Marche and Sears stores, add additional shops, additional pedestrian ways, and parking. He noted this would probably be developed over a ten to fifteen year period of time. He said the goal was not to expand in the Urban Renewal property, but to make the area look more like a shopping center. The location of department stores, an arcade to creat~a focal point with the mall, civic center closer to the mall area, and further development of professional offices were some of the positive influences that he noted. Mr. Obie left the meeting. 37~ 5/9/77--19