NRP Committee/ September 2006
Present: Arthur Knowles, Niki Valens, Melinda Ludwiczak, Natalie Lenz
Also Present: Sarah Linnes-Robinson
The committee had not met since the presentation to the NRP Policy Board in May. Linnes-Robinson was pleased to inform them that the Kingfield Phase II NRP Plan had recently been approved by Finance and Commerce and the committee could now begin thinking about writing Phase II contracts. Linnes-Robinson updated the group that CPED is holding more contracts these days, including the new Farmer’s Market contract that will be issued which was designed as a business initiative strategy. This should help contracts move more quickly, as an example the recent Stormwater contract for KFNA was turned around in two days. Linnes-Robinson will go through the Phase II Plan and see what other strategies can be contracted along with the Farmer’s Market for late winter/spring implementation. One piece, which will be turned over to the redevelopment Committee for development will be a Housing Loan component. The committee briefly discussed the idea of moving the $160,000 designated to Lander in the plan into a loan program so it can be used and returned to the neighborhood. The committee felt this would be a good move and free up the money for a future use. It was not determined to be important to get a large return off the money loaned out.
Linnes-Robinson informed the group about changes to the Lander project, and possible other developing projects that could utilize the “affordable housing†dollars. After a lengthy discussion about MPHA’s interest and potential plans at 39th and Nicollet the group determined that the upper amount that could be offered to the project would be the $50,000 on the strategy line. The low end would be the $5,000 per unit that was offered to Lander for his affordable units. Ludwiczak also suggested that money could be contributed for green elements to the homes from the “green residential†strategy. Linnes-Robinson said that preliminary conversations had taken place with MPHA concerning green building techniques, and she would be sure they were asked to address it if they moved into design.
Issues with the King Bridge Scope of Service were briefly discussed, as the group was informed that it had still not been approved by downtown.
Lastly the group discussed the Farmers’ Market: how it felt this year, how the traffic flowed, input the vendor’s had been giving about the lack of marketing and separation from KFNA they were feeling. Linnes-Robinson expressed frustration at not having a group that really was invested in analyzing the market and interested in making it work better as a community space, rather than the task force which has members wearing various hats of community folks, vendors, and business people. While many of the issues and options were discussed, no decisions were reached about future operations or changes to the markets structure.
Minutes prepared and submitted by Linnes-Robinson, 10/1/06.