9.3. SR 01-04-2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor, Council, Staff, I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. I would like to provide an update on the Downtown development project. Over the last few months, I have completed some test borings (4 total) of the parking lot, I have begun preliminary civil site work, and worked with my commercial contractor partners to firm up schedules, staging plans, and budgets including the construction phase and proposed temporary impacts to parking and traffic. The soil tests went to a depth of 30’ and while we did not find an artisan well or underground river the soils were fine sands at that depth and would not support the project as proposed. Initial indications suggest geo piers/pilings or doing soil corrections work will be required. Additional testing and drilling are required to determine specifically what will be needed and at what cost, but I am working through potential scenarios with my engineering team and I’m looking at the effect this will have on my PROFORMA. I intended to bring all of my latest information (specifically the construction phase information) to all of the downtown stake holders however this has not been possible given the current pandemic situation. I supposed I was overly optimistic that covid was going to be behind us and having further discussions with downtown business owners would be feasible; the reality is covid has never been worse and a project of this scale requires personal face to face meetings to overcome speculation. I am aware of the petition that was turned in to city council and I 100% support and respect everyone’s voices and opinions; no project will ever be unanimously supported by all stake holders and I think that is especially true of a project this bold. I heard from a few people that signed the petition and I believe most people simply do not understand what I am proposing and how it will be done- as an example of a speculative rumor, one of the people that signed the petition said they heard I was shutting down main st and the project would take 3 years so they signed it. I am clearly not shutting down main street. I have not heard from most of the people on the petition even though I have made attempts and I still firmly believe when the opportunity is available for me to pound the pavement and meet with people face to face and explain the project and answer questions most downtown stakeholders will support the project. Most of the signatures on the petition were from the restaurants- I can understand and respect that they don’t want Tipsy chicken down there as competition, but we do live in a free-market society and study after study has shown more restaurants actually attract more customers and our own star news independent survey showed that more than 75% of the people that go downtown go there for the restaurants. I may never be able to overcome their concerns, but I’ll go to my grave trying to explain to them my project should not be perceived as competition. As we all know Elk River is more than just the downtown business group and I am well underway gathering letters, signatures, and endorsements form the city and regional stake holders at large; I will have more to share at our next meeting and during the eventual public forum with regards to overall support for my project and ask that council keeps an open mind and weights all stake holders interest evenly as this process continues. Lastly, the results of the soil tests and status of the pandemic suggest to me that moving forward with a meeting on Jan 4 th will probably provide further confusion and not do justice to the community or the project. I would like to request we extend the agreement again until a time when the covid restrictions have been lifted and are well in the rear-view mirror. 6 months would be my request at this time with the hope that by spring discussions with the downtown business group can begin in earnest. I have promised to show support for the project and hope to be able to be able to present that support under the right circumstances. Thank you for your consideration, Jesse Hartung, President