Category Archives: Economic development

Land development code issues

LIve-blogging the Planning Commission tonight; it’s a special meeting for the sole purpose of discussing an issue arising from the “new” land development code adopted in 2011. 7:37 pm.  Richard Schulte is describing the process for the meeting which is … Continue reading

Posted in Council agendas, Economic development, Land use, Policy problems | 2 Comments

Forum on energy savings with Al Franken

On Friday, my Council colleague Erica Zweifel and I (along with a St Olaf student who’s been helping with local commercial PACE program development – more about this below) went up to the St. Paul (Falcon Heights, actually) campus of … Continue reading

Posted in CIP, Council agendas, Economic development | Leave a comment

More about bicycling

More stuff about bicycling: “The best streets to cycle down are illegal to build in the majority of North America’s suburbs, because they’re too narrow, too pedestrian-oriented, too enclosed. Even the ones that are very pedestrian-oriented often restrict cyclists to … Continue reading

Posted in Economic development, Non-motorized transportation | 1 Comment

Economic development fads and fashions

The history of local economic development is a story of academic fads, says Mario Polese, professor at the Centre Urbanisation Culture Société at Montreal’s Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique. On one hand, this article gives me a little more … Continue reading

Posted in Economic development | Leave a comment

Smart growth, smart towns and smart spending

As I noted in in a previous post, I think the 2008 “smart growth” Comprehensive Plan is fiscally smart, too.  The economic sustainability aspect of our development pattern is also why I’m a big fan of Strong Towns.  The Strong … Continue reading

Posted in Council agendas, Economic development, Land use | 8 Comments

Curbside Chat, continued with case studies

The Curbside Chat whizzed through a few examples of how some typical projects work. Consider a typical road maintenance project in a relatively low density subdivision: $354,000 = total cost of repaving the street 79 years = time to recoup … Continue reading

Posted in Economic development, Land use, Policy problems | 6 Comments

Fixing the problem

Here is the message from the Curbside Chat yesterday:  The current development pattern cannot be maintained without big tax increases or big cuts in service. The dilemma of tax increases and/or service cuts should sound pretty familiar to Minnesotans.  The … Continue reading

Posted in Economic development, Land use, Taxes | 3 Comments

Live blogging a “Curbside Chat”

I’m in Richfield at the Woodlake Lanture Center (there are a couple of stuffed ducks on the wall in front of me) listening to Chuck Marohn and Jon Commers of Strong Towns starting their Curbside Chat A rapid fire-presentation about … Continue reading

Posted in Economic development, Land use, Policy problems, Taxes | 2 Comments

The next chapter on economic development

Although it took far too long to get to this point, the Council finally made a decision on Tuesday, July 5, on whether to continue to have an Economic Development Authority.  By a 4-3 vote (Rossing, Vohs, Pownell, Nakasian voted … Continue reading

Posted in Council agendas, Economic development, Policy problems | 2 Comments