Cliff Buchan
News Editor

A new “vision” for Forest Lake’s downtown will be one of the first subjects in 2007 for the city’s Economic Development Authority board.

Meeting Monday for the first time this year, the EDA agreed with a recommendation from Chip Robinson, executive director and city administrator, to undertake a visioning process for the downtown. The first focus of the process will target the downtown area from 2nd Avenue on the south to 2nd Avenue on the north.

The study was needed, Robinson said, to update the downtown plan that is 10 years old and no longer viable.

Robinson’s report Monday coincided with an agenda item on downtown development offered by new EDA President and Mayor Stev Stegner.

“Our downtown looks pretty lousy,” said a frank Stegner in his first turn as chair of the EDA board.

Commissioner Mike Muske also agreed that a new visioning session was in order to help plan for the downtown.

Robinson said much has changed since the current downtown plan was set. Park Place and The Plaza, two major downtown retail-commercial projects, have been built. Lakeside Memorial Park and the municipal parking facility have been rebuilt.

But a major thrust of the old plan — the one proposed of the Houle Feed Mill site for a new government center and public library — long ago evaporated. That facility is now being built on land the county purchased from the city on the community center parcel south of 202nd Street.

Robinson said city officials are still optimistic that more change will come to the downtown if the right private developers can be found.

“There is still interest,” Robinson said of the occasional calls that he receives on the downtown.

As part of the visioning process, Robinson said the process can include input from the five board members, staff planners and the public.

“There are things the EDA can look at,” he said, referring to parking needs and potential zoning changes to assist development.

New member Judy Huntosh suggested commissioners solicit public comments and ideas to bring to the visioning session.

Councilman Judy Bull, also an EDA commissioner, requested staff prepare a business inventory for use in preparation of an economic development plan.

The inventory, she said, should contain a complete list of the businesses Forest Lake has today. That would assist the board in identifying the types of businesses that the community may need and what commissioners would like to see.

No date was set for the session, but Robinson suggested a three-hour session on a night other than a regularly scheduled board meeting.

Robinson said the process could be assisted by city planners and tax-increment financing consultant Dan Wilson.

Officials agreed with the scope of the study for 2nd Avenue to 2nd Avenue in the downtown area.

An expanded scope from 2nd Avenue south to TH-97, including Northland Mall, could fall under the responsibility of the new comprehensive plan that the city is preparing.

As a follow-up to Stegner’s frank assessment of the downtown, Bull disagreed, saying some areas of the downtown “look good,” thanks to redevelopment efforts.

Stegner agreed, saying “That’s true.”

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