12-05-94 Valley Square Area C Task Force Minutes VALLEY SQUARE REDEVELOPMENT
AREA C TASK FORCE
Minutes of December 5, 1994 Meeting
Present: Griffiths, Hackett, Jafvert, Johnson, LeSuer, Martens, Mundt, Pentel ,
Rappaport, Schmidt and Strande. Absent: None. Staff present: Andre and
Grimes.
Chair Mundt called the meeting to order in the Council Conference Room at 6:45
PM.
Minutes
Paula Pentel commented that the November 21, 1994 minutes should include as a
possible future topic, "meeting with the City Manager to discuss the criteria."
MOVED by Rappaport, seconded by Johnson and motion carried unanimously to
approve the minutes of November 21, 1994 with the addition put forward by
Pentel .
Sam Poppleton Presentation
Mr. Poppleton presented his impressions based on his historical perspective from
the 1982 Plan and his recent visual inspection of the site. The Committee
discussed some of Mr. Poppleton 's points with him.
Streetscape
Jeanne Andre presented an overview of the streetscape which has been bid as
part of the Winnetka/Golden Valley Road project and is under construction. The
work is to be completed next summer.
Peter Calthorpe Video
Greg Hackett gave a summary of the video available at the Golden Valley Library
for members to review. He explained that Calthorpe is a planning guru who has
taken major initiatives to identify design criteria for towns and neighborhoods.
Many of his comments relate to the significance of the automobile in suburban
design.
Members discussed these comments and how they relate to the issues facing them
in Area C.
Definition of Task
Chair Mundt summarized the activities to date of the Task Force and indicated
that the main objective left to cornplete is the establishment of criteria for
the development of Area C. He suggested a format for future discussions which
involve establishing goals and moving from these broad goals to establish speci-
fic criteria. He defined goal as "the purpose toward which an endeavor is
directed" and criteria as "a standard, rule, or test on which a judgment can be
based."
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He suggested as a format for future meetings that the December 22 meeting be
dedicated to adopting goals. Members can brainstorm and submit their goals to
the staff one week before the meeting, to be distributed with the agenda packets
to all members for consideration and discussion at the meeting. He suggested
that the January 3rd meeting could be used to develop criteria which could be
done similarly to the process used for goals. The January 19th meeting would be
to polish up the rough draft of criteria discussed at the previous meeting,
perhaps inviting HRA members and City staff to comment on the rough draft recom-
mended by the Task Force. The last meeting in January is available to finalize
the report.
November 29, 1994 Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Meeting
Members who attended the November 29 special meeting of the HRA reported on the
reaction of the Commissioners to the two interim criteria adopted by the Task
Force regarding the Post Office site. The HRA took action requesting the staff
to include their criteria as negotiating points with Postal Officials.
Visitor Comments
Guest Gary Kinkepenberg inquired about the landscape plan. He questioned if it
would be possible to adapt the proposed landscaping for the northwest corner of
the block in Area C to allow for pedestrian flow from adjacent blocks, as had
been discussed earlier. Committee members were generally sympathetic to his
suggestion.
MOVED by Rappaport, seconded by Jafvert and motion carried unanimously to
adjourn the meeting at 10:10 PM.
Jeanne Andre
HRA Coordinator