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02-9197r I I I 19 RESOLUTION NO. 9197 RESOLUTION APPROVING MODIFICATIONS TO THE REDEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE RICHFIELD REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA WHEREAS, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority in and for the City of Richfield (the "Authority") did on or about June 14, 1993 originally adopt the Redevelopment Plan for the Richfield Project Area, pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, Sections 469.001 to 469.047 (the "HRA Act"), and has subsequently modified the same thereafter, and WHEREAS, pursuant to the HRA Act the Authority proposes to modify the Redevelopment Plan, and WHEREAS, the Authority has caused to be prepared a modification to the Redevelopment Plan, and has received the written opinion of the Planning Commission of the City, and WHEREAS, the Authority did, on or about May 20, 2002, following a public hearing on the proposed modifications to the Redevelopment Plan, approve the modifications and make a request that the City Council hold a public hearing on the proposed modification, all in accordance with the HRA Act, and WHEREAS, the City Council did on June 11, 2002 based on such reference and following notice as required by law, hold its hearing on the approval of the modifications to the Redevelopment Plan. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Richfield, Minnesota, as follows: I. The City makes the following findings: 1. the land in the project area would not be made available for redevelopment without the financial aid to be sought; 2. the modifications to the redevelopment plan for the redevelopment areas in the locality will afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the needs of the locality as a whole, for the redevelopment of the areas by private enterprise; and 3. the redevelopment plan conforms to a general plan for the development of the locality as a whole; and 4. based on the information contained in Exhibit A and information presented at the hearing and otherwise known to the council, the portion of the Project Area comprising the proposed City Bella Tax Increment Financing District is blighted within the meaning of Minnesota Statutes, Sections 469.002 and 469.028. II. The City Council hereby approves the proposed modifications to the Redevelopment Plan, and makes all of the findings stated therein. Adopted by the City Council of the City of Richfield, Minnesota this 11th day of June, 2002. ~~U Martin . ch, Mayor EXHIBIT A Report on Blight Assessment City Bella Planning Area Prepared by: Michael A. Wozniak, AICP - SEH Project Manager/Senior Planner - May 14, 2002 The City Bella Planning Area is comprised of seven properties bounded by Lyndale A venue, 66th Street and Lake Shore Drive. This report examines whether the City Bella Planning Area meets the following definition for "Blighted Area" according to Chapter 469 of Minnesota Statutes: I "Blighted area (contains) buildings or improvements which by reason of dilapidation, obsolescence, overcrowding, faulty arrangement or design, lack of ventilation, light, and sanitary facilities, excessive land coverage, deleterious land use, or obsolete layout, or any combination of these or other factors, are detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community. " TABLE A. PID#'s, owner's names and site addresses of the City Bella Planning Area Properties City Bella Site PID #'s Owner Site Address 2702824320115 S&M Company 6620 Lyndale Avenue S 2702824320005 Sharon Trestman 6630 Lyndale Avenue S 2702824320006 Triple S Investments 6700 Lyndale Avenue S 2702824320117 Richfield HRA 709 Graham Avenue 2802824410017 Richfield HRA 6639 Lake Shore Drive 2802824410015 DW Lynch ET AL 6617 Lake Shore Drive 2802824410016 Lake Shore Condo Association 6633 Lake Shore Drive The above referenced properties have also been reviewed by SEH to determine if building(s) situated on four parcels within the study area are structurally substandard under tax increment law (Minnesota Statutes, Section 469.174, Subd. I 10). Assessment for structural substandard conditions has resulted in findings that buildings situated at 6620, 6630 and 6700 Lyndale Avenue S and 6617 Lake Shore Drive meet the statutory defmition. The presence of these structural substandard conditions on all four buildings located within the planning area provide in conjunction with conditions of "blight" described below, a strong basis for finding that the City Bella Planning Area conforms to the statutory definition for a "blighted area" . SEH Project Staff have ranked the presence of the various criteria that are included under the definition of blight (see Table B) for each of the properties within the City Bella Planning Area. Judgements have been made by the project consultant as to whether "strong", "moderate", or "slight or no" evidence of each criteria are present on the subject properties. The context for this evaluation also acknowledges that the City went through a downtown planning process that in 1999 yielded the "Lakes of Lyndale" Master Plan as a guide for downtown development planning that has been incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan. Narrative Analysis of Conditions of Blight for Individual City Bella Planning Area Properties: 6620 Lyndale Avenue S: Current Use: This property includes the former Lyndale Hardware building (currently vacant) and associated parking. Zoning: C-2 (General Commercial) Comprehensive Plan: Community Commercial I I I I EXHIBIT A Presence of Blight: Several of the criteria identified in the statutory definition for "blighted area" are evident on this property. These include dilapidation, obsolescence, faulty arrangement or design, excessive land coverage, and obsolete layout. The location of the entrance to the building and adjacent parking are turned away from the intersection. The doorway placement to the northwest and south causes dysfunctional retailing. In the early 1980's this parking and entrance configuration was implemented to retain the business and building. The improvements did not overcome the dysfunction. Both the exterior and interior of the building on this property reflect conditions in need of renovation and repair. Exterior problems or issues include poor roof drainage and need for repair or replacement of exterior materials (i.e. wood siding/fencing). Interior issues more obviously reflect dilapidation, obsolescence and faulty arrangement or design as a retailing building. Issues include the peculiar configuration of interior space including various mezzanine level spaces and second floor office spaces. Over time the building has been divided up in an unusual manner to satisfy various tenants resulting in a hodge-podge assortment of office, showroom and storage spaces that would be difficult to renovate for contemporary business uses. The general condition of interior spaces suggests that extensive renovation would be necessary to make interior spaces habitable and desirable for new business uses. 6630 Lyndale Avenue S: Current Use: This property includes a building that houses Trestman Music and New Millennium Comic Books. Zoning: C-2 (General Commercial) Comprehensive Plan: Community Commercial Presence of Blight: Several of the criteria identified in the statutory definition for "blighted area" are evident on this property. These include dilapidation, obsolescence, faulty arrangement or design, excessive land coverage, and obsolete layout. The most obvious criteria resulting in conditions of blight related to this property relates to site parking and access/egress issues. This triangular shaped property is bordered by poorly defined public right-of-way on its north and south sides. Currently site parking for Trestman Music and New Millennium Comic Books occurs along the sides of the building encroaching into the respective public right-of-ways. In addition diagonal site parking is present in front of the building abutting the Lyndale Avenue right-of-way. The diagonal parking does not work as designed to provide both a pedestrian pathway and a parking area. The attempt in the early 1980's, to retool businesses and buildings with improved sidewalks did not overcome the dysfunction. This results in functional, safety and aesthetic problems. This parking arrangement allows vehicles to overhang onto a narrow sidewalk, leaves virtually no room for snow storage and makes for awkward turning movement for larger passenger vehicles. The poorly defined parking and pedestrian walks serving the site reflect blight in respect to appearance, safety and functioning of site for vehicular and pedestrian movement. These parking and pedestrian walk deficiencies reflect "faulty arrangement or design" and "obsolete layout" criteria in the statutory definition for "blighted areas". Another issue of concern regarding future use and redevelopment potential for this property relates to the presence of a skewed intersection at both Circle Place and Graham Avenue. A major site access point is provided at a signalized intersection that aligns with a segment of 67th Street situated east of Lyndale. The public right-of-way Graham Avenue that provides access for 6630 Lyndale and 6700 Lyndale is skewed creating a somewhat awkward intersection. Removal of the building situated at 6700 Lyndale would be required to align the intersection to create a more functionally efficient alignment that would facilitate safer turning movements. Circle Place, a skewed connection north of the building is not signalized and leads into the dysfunctional parking spaces near the building. EXHIBIT A 6700 Lyndale Avenue S: Current Use: This property includes a building that houses Checker Auto Parts and a Cellular/PCS Phone Shop. Zoning: C-I (General Commercial) Comprehensive Plan: Community Commercial Presence of Blight: Several of the criteria identified in the statutory definition for "blighted area" are evident on this property. These include dilapidation, obsolescence, faulty arrangement or design, excessive land coverage, and obsolete layout. The most obvious criteria resulting in conditions of blight related to this property relates to site parking and access/egress issues. This property is bordered by poorly defined public right-of-way on its north and east sides. Currently site parking for Checker Auto occurs along the sides of the building encroaching into the respective public right-of-ways. In addition diagonal site parking is present in front of the building abutting the Lyndale Avenue right-of-way. The diagonal parking results in functional, safety and aesthetic problems. Again, the attempt in the 1980's to retain existing businesses and the building and improve the pedestrian pathways and parking patterns did not overcome the dysfunction. This parking arrangement allows vehicles to overhang onto a narrow sidewalk, leaves virtually no room for snow storage and makes for awkward turning movement for larger passenger vehicles. The poorly defined parking and pedestrian walks serving the site reflect blight in respect to appearance, safety and functioning of site for vehicular and pedestrian movement. These parking and pedestrian walk deficiencies reflect "faulty arrangement or design" and "obsolete layout" criteria in the statutory definition for "blighted areas". Another issue of concern regarding future use and redevelopment potential for this property relates to the presence of a skewed intersection. A major site access point is provided at a signalized intersection that aligns with a segment of 67th Street situated east of Lyndale. The public right-of-way Graham Avenue that provides access for 6630 Lyndaleand 6700 Lyndale is skewed creating a somewhat awkward intersection. Removal of the building situated at 6700 Lyndale would be required to align the intersection and to create a more functionally efficient alignment that would facilitate safer turning movements. This intersection in the context of blight assessment reflects "faulty arrangement or design" and obsolete layout. 709 Graham Avenue: Current Use: This property includes a parking lot that serves the Grammercy Park Cooperative Housing Project. Zoning: R (Single Family Residential) Comprehensive Plan: Community Commercial Presence of Blight: This property would generally not represent a blighting influence on the study area or surrounding neighborhood. Excess black dirt has been stockpile on a portion of the site and the stockpiled material is somewhat overgrown with weeds. These are temporary conditions and are anticipated to be remedied upon completion of the parking lot construction. 6617 Lake Shore Drive: Current Use: This property is occupied by a single family home. Zoning: R (Single Family Residential) Comprehensive Plan: Multi Residential - High Density I I ,::~ I I I I EXHIBIT A Presence of Blight: The current use of this property as a single family home is inconsistent with abutting high-density residential development. The convoluted vehicular access to the property by means of an alley that extends from Graham Avenue (the parking area behind the Grammercy Park Cooperative Housing Development meets the blight criteria of "faulty arrangement or design" and/or "obsolete layout". The exterior of the 1950 Cape Code Style Home reflects a need for normal ongoing maintenance however; no major structural or aesthetic problems with the home are obvious as viewed from the perimeter of the property. A variety of code deficiencies were observed in conjunction with the "structural substandard" assessment conducted on the property. This property was found to meet the statutory definition of a "structurally substandard" building. 6633 Lake Shore Drive: Current Use: This property is currently vacant Zoning: R (Single Family Residential) Comprehensive Plan: Multi Residential - High Density Presence of Blight: This property does not represent a blighting influence on the study area or neighborhood since it is currently vacant. 6639 Lake Shore Drive: Current Use: This property is currently vacant Zoning: R (Single Family Residential) Comprehensive Plan: Multi Residential - High Density Presence of Blight: This property does not represent a blighting influence on the study area or neighborhood since it is currently vacant. Summary Findings - City Bella Study Area - Blight Assessment: Assessment of the City Bella Study Area to evaluate the presence of "blight" as defIDed under Minnesota Statutes requires an in-depth examination of each property as detailed above as well as consideration of the context of the surrounding area. The Lakes at Lyndale Master Plan to redevelop the 66th and Lyndale Area to create a "Downtown" Richfield and associated redevelopment that has occurred to date is transforming this area into a high-intensity mixed use district. Extraordinary redevelopment opportunities with commensurately high redevelopment costs for site preparation and infrastructure needs result directly from current public policy and community expectations for the area. In this context properties within the City Bella Planning Area are not consistent with current land use and aesthetic standards for redevelopment of the area. Conclusion: Numerous criteria for blight are evident in varying degrees on several of the parcels of property within the City Bella Planning Area. These include dilapidation, obsolescence, faulty arrangement or design, excessive land coverage, and obsolete layout. Presence of these various blight criteria in addition to structural substandard conditions identified on all four buildings located within the planning area provide a strong basis for fIDding that the City Bella Planning Area conforms to the statutory definition for a "blighted area" . The most evident criteria included in the statutory defmition for "blighted area" within the City Bella Planning Area are faulty arrangement or design and obsolete layout. Inadequate parking and awkward or unsafe access driveways represent the most obvious blighting influence within the City Bella Planning Area. Outdated interior and exterior conditions of site structures combined with legitimate health and safety issues and code deficiencies resulting in a finding of structural substandard conditions for several buildings strengthen the case for the fIDding that the City Bella Planning Area conforms to the statutory definition for a "blighted area".