Laserfiche WebLink
City Council <br />Meeting Minutes <br />Apnl 3, 2018 <br />Page 4 of 8 <br />to the McCaslin Boulevard corridor We need some positive traction on Parcel 0 or <br />others businesses may leave. Without consideration of what options we choose, he <br />would like to resolve to move forward and be aggressive to plan for Parcel 0 to get it <br />moving to reinforce our tax base and not get further erosion. <br />Councilmember Leh agreed with Mayor Pro Tem Lipton What we have done for 8 years <br />has not worked. He is concerned and frustrated that we lack a strategy for this parcel <br />and for economic development on McCaslin Boulevard. No one wants that parcel to <br />remain unoccupied with no hope of being occupied in its current form We don't have <br />anyone interested in creative options at this point. He asked what is Council willing to do <br />in advance of other retailers closing on McCaslin Boulevard, what are we willing to do to <br />get this moving Studies are not necessarily popular, but this one is necessary Just <br />investigating new trends is not comprehensive We need to know the effects of the limits <br />we have placed on that property We have no concrete steps that we know of to get us <br />there. We need a targeted market study that will get us new, focused information <br />specific to that location <br />Mayor Muckle stated the Council had a clear strategy for several years but it fell <br />through, and we had that strategy because anything we will do will not generate the kind <br />of sales tax a Targe business can. At that time, it seemed to be a good idea to attempt to <br />reclaim that level of sales tax Since that hasn't worked, we need to reconsider. <br />Councilmember Maloney stated all members share that anxiety about this location. This <br />is about economic sustainability and we need to provide services to the city for the long <br />term. We need a market study but we need to create a set of principles to launch this <br />that meet some expectations we have. The last solution was to create economic <br />stability. For example, create principals such as we should state the primary purpose of <br />area is to be as regional retail focus to support the operations of the city Second would <br />be that if that criteria is met, then the Council would consider other uses in the corridor <br />We need to be open to possibilities as long as there is a strong economic viability in it <br />We should focus the study on regional sales tax revenue but be open to different kinds <br />of ideas <br />Councilmember Keany stated he would love to have a community market building or <br />something like that, but it is a $10M building and someone would have to make that <br />work financially The challenge is finding the person to invest in this to do it He stated <br />he doesn't know if we have the population or traffic to support new retail uses There <br />are lots of ideas out there, but someone needs to make it happen. We need a study or <br />some experts in retail development to tell us what is happening in the market place. The <br />site is not going to be big box again or generate that level of sales tax. Kohl's and <br />Lowes may not last in those locations with that empty. We need to make some hard <br />decisions to keep this viable <br />Councilmember Stolzmann stated she has a different view She stated the property <br />value has increased since 2014 from $3.65M to $4.65M as the assessor's valuation and <br />