8.1 SR 10-18-2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Expand Downtown The downtown is sandwiched between the Mississippi River to the south and Highway 10 to the north, meaning future growth will need to utilize strategic infill and redevelopment and expand primarily east -west. In the beginning phases of downtown expansion, the city should encourage the conversion of residential properties to commercial uses. (See the Downtown Waterfront graphic on the following page for examples of these expansion opportunity sites.) As the expanded downtown becomes established and ripe for further investment, the city should promote site assembly and comprehensive redevelopment of underutilized properties to more intense commercial and mixed -use developments. To support downtown expansion, the city should promote creative uses of fees or other funding mechanisms to encourage the construction of structured parking. Struc- tured parking in the downtown would not only replace surface parking lost to development but also provide additional spaces to support programming and events in the district. Develop a Downtown Master Plan Downtown Elk River is a beloved community asset that the city's stakeholders take pride in and are highly invested in its growth and evolution. As a nearly built out district with limited room for expansion, each opportunity for new development and redevelopment has the potential to influence the historic character of the area. Community dialogue around recent development proposals under- score the need for a unified vision for the downtown. While this comprehensive plan addresses economic develop- ment in the downtown, it does so at a high level. The city should develop a Downtown Master Plan that provides the clear policy direction needed to encourage and accommodate appropriate change and improvement while preserving the essential aspects of what makes downtown Elk River the heart of the community. A Down- town Master Plan should provide the detailed analysis and site -specific recommendations needed to promote down- town expansion. Through a robust and downtown -specific public outreach process the Master Plan should: • Address design approaches to expanding pedestrian activity areas, access to the waterfront, pedestrian access over Highway 10, and connections to surrounding neigh- borhoods. • Include site -specific recommendations that address development capacity and the unique design consider- ation inherent to downtown development. • Evaluate operations of the existing downtown street network and assess opportunities to "optimize" the network for operations improvements. • Assess the feasibility of one-way operations and eval- uate impacts of potential conversion from two-way to one-way operations. • Qualitatively evaluate pedestrian/multi-modal needs and opportunities in the downtown environment as part of the context for traffic operations goals. Elk River Comprehensive Plan • Economic Development Plan 07CL\arri]C1C11: UV IXWO10Iwo 65