Residents review redevelopment financing, downtown plans Posted 12/7/01 by John Sucansky Staff Writer Several different financing scenarios and redevelopment plans for Rosemountís downtown were presented at an open house hosted by the cityís consultant URS, Inc. Dec. 6. With approximately 40 people in attendance, residents and business owners shared input on the direction for the downtown with consultants after a presentation by URS of its preliminary plans. Market-driven financing (A), minor city-effort financing (B) and major city-effort financing (C) were discussed by URS representative Bill Weber. These three scenarios for financing the redevelopment of downtown use varying amounts of city responsibility for financing building projects and design guidelines, according to Weber. ěThe recent history has been between alternatives B and C,î said Weber about Rosemountís financing of the downtown. The city has been responsible for purchasing and redeveloping tracts of land in the downtown area. ěThe question before you folks and residents tonight, is where to come down on the spectrum of A, B or C,î he said. Weberís intentions were to gather basic input on how residents and business owners were interested in financing the development. He said, most likely, the project will be financed through a combination of all three alternatives, rather than one more than the others. The extremes include the city being responsible for establishing tax-increment financing districts, acquiring and developing property and recruiting developers, as opposed to area businesses and future developers being responsible for all redevelopment and financing of projects. Barry Gore, another consultant with URS, Inc., presented several development plans the downtown could use to increase business and draw the public into the area. The county has informed URS that Rosemount is in line for a library. He said it is important for the library to be built in the downtown, since many civic uses are leaving the area, and there arenít many civic uses left from which to choose. Another issue presented by Gore was the time frame of the project, and how land uses and business could be shifted around to make way for redevelopment. Gore sought opinions from those in attendance concerning how soon they would like to see the project begin and end. ěThe exciting thing is that itís not going to take that much to make things happen,î he told the crowd. Comments were taken from the public following the meeting, and along with comments from a previous open house, will be presented to the Rosemount Port Authority for review in the final proposal by URS, Inc. Weber said the next steps in the process include holding one more public open house, continuing to take public comments, holding a public hearing with the Port Authority, and the Port Authority making a final decision about the plan presented by URS. Weber said it was also important for a committee to be formed comprised of business members, residents, city officials and Port Authority members in order to improve communication for the project. ěPresuming weíre moving ahead with a plan, you need to have a committee to talk about what to do next, with private and public sector members, and rebuild the lines of communication, which have really broken down,î said Gore. Obvious failures in communications were brought forward during the open house when several people in attendance questioned the cityís streetscape project and how it would be affected by a new plan for the downtown area. City Administrator Tom Burt stepped in to answer questions and said the streetscape plan no longer includes design elements that might conflict with future guidelines for downtown redevelopment. To clear confusion, he said the streetscape project only consists of burying existing overhead power lines and providing curb and gutter along South Robert Trail through the downtown area in order to improve road conditions and public safety. Weber agreed to work with the city for a better understanding of the existing streetscape plan, in order to fit it into the proposal. Early estimates for the total redevelopment of the downtown area were given by Gore and are approximately $8 million to $10 million. He said the area is currently assessed by the county at a value of $4 million. A date for the next open house has not been set yet. More information concerning this meeting will be published as it is released by the city. ©Thisweek Newspapers