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Home My WebLink AboutCouncil Information Memorandum 01-19-2017CITY OF PLYMOUTH COUNCIL INFO MEMO January 19, 2017 EVENTS / MEETINGS Housing & Redevelopment Authority Agenda for January 26th ........................................................ Page 2 Notice of Special EDA Meeting on January 24th ............................................................................... Page 3 Official City Meeting Calendars ......................................................................................................... Page 4 Tentative List of Agenda Items ........................................................................................................... Page 7 CORRESPONDENCE Rezoning and Preliminary Plat for Creekside Woods Phase II located at 17215 Old Rockford Road (2016098) ............................................................................................ Page 8 Variance for Property Located at 1035 West Medicine Lake Drive (2016100) ................................. Page 9 Variance for Property Located at 10610 54th Avenue North (2016102) .......................................... Page 10 REPORTS & OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST A Public Uber Service? In Southwest Metro, Officials Say it Works, Star Tribune ......................... Page 11 Hennepin County to Pay off Target Field Debt a Decade Early, Star Tribune ................................. Page 16 Why Killing a Mass Transit Funding Board May be the Only Way to Save Mass Transit Funding in the Twin Cities, MINNPOST ....................................................... Page 18 Cool Offices: Employees at Cargill Research Center Join the “Neighborhood”, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal ........................................................................................ Page 24 Christopher & Banks CEO Fired After Poor Holiday Showing; Stock Plummets, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal ........................................................................................ Page 26 Transit Board Takes Initial Steps to Dissolve, Star Tribune ............................................................. Page 28 MEETING AGENDA PLYMOUTH HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017 - 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Medicine Lake Room City of Plymouth 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 CONSENT AGENDA All items listed on the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Commissioner, citizen or petitioner so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in normal sequence on the agenda. 1.CALL TO ORDER - 7:00 P.M. 2.CONSENT AGENDA A.Approve HRA Meeting Minutes for November 17, 2016. B.Plymouth Towne Square. Accept Monthly Housing Reports. C.Vicksburg Crossing. Accept Monthly Housing/Marketing Reports. D.Plymouth Towne Square. Approve and authorize execution of window and siding contract. 3.ADJOURNMENT Page 2 Page 3 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM SKATE WITH THE MAYOR Parkers Lake Park CANCELLED 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 January 2017 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 OFFICIAL CITY CALENDAR Phone: 763-509-5000 Fax: 763-509-5060 7:00 PM PARK & REC ADVISORY COMMISSION (PRAC) MEETING Council Chambers SUN TUES MON WED THUR FRI SAT CHANGES ARE NOTED IN RED 5:30 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING GOALS/LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers NEW YEAR’S DAY Observed CITY OFFICES CLOSED 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE (EQC) MEETING Medicine Lake Room MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BIRTHDAY CITY OFFICES CLOSED 7:00 PM HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (HRA) MEETING Medicine Lake Room 5:30 PM JOINT COUNCIL/EDA MEETING Lodging Tax and Agora Project Medicine Lake Room 6:00 PM JOINT COUNCIL/EDA MEETING Agora Project Council Chambers 5:30 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING City Memberships and Ponderosa Ponds Project and SPECIAL EDA Meeting Agora Project Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers Page 4 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM FIRE & ICE FESTIVAL Parkers Lake Park 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 SUN TUES MON WED THUR FRI SAT February 2017 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 OFFICIAL CITY CALENDAR Phone: 763-509-5000 Fax: 763-509-5060 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE (EQC) MEETING Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM PARK & REC ADVISORY COMMISSION (PRAC) MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (HRA) MEETING Medicine Lake Room CITY OFFICES CLOSED 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 5:30 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING Plymouth Creek Center Feasibility Study up- date Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers PRESIDENTS DAY Page 5 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 5 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM HEALTHY LIVING FAIR Plymouth Creek Center 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 March 2017 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 OFFICIAL CITY CALENDAR Phone: 763-509-5000 Fax: 763-509-5060 7:00 PM ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE (EQC) MEETING Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (HRA) MEETING Medicine Lake Room 5:00-7:00 PM Board & Commission Social City Hall Lobby 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers SUN TUES MON WED THUR FRI SAT 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 11:00 AM—2 PM WEDDING EXPO Plymouth Creek Center Page 6 Tentative Schedule for City Council Agenda Items February 14, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers February 28, Special, 5:30 p.m. Medicine Lake Room •Plymouth Creek Center Feasibility Study update February 28, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers •Utility Rate Study March 14, 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. City Hall Lobby and Medicine Lake Room •Board and Commission Recognition Social March 14, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers •Recognize Board and Commission members •City Manager’s quarterly update following regular meeting March 28, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers April 11, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers April 25, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers May 9, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers May 23, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers June 13, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers July 13, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 WEST METRO 410688675 A public Uber service? In southwest metro, officials say it works Prime offers freedom of mobility and schedule flexibility, and the number of on- demand rides is booming. By Tim Harlow Star Tribune staff JANUARY 14, 2017 — 7:34AM David Joles, Star Tribune Josh Phillips and his daughter Laree, 1, were taking the Prime service from SouthWest Transit bus to Laree's daycare. Rider Rama Vibushnan got on board in Eden Prairie. Pat Chan finished shopping at the Eden Prairie Center on a recent Tuesday and needed a way to get back home. So he used his smartphone and arranged a ride. Page 11 Minutes later, a SouthWest Transit city bus pulled up and Chan hopped on. A transfer later he was back home in Chaska. With its service called Prime, SouthWest Transit is pioneering Uber-style door-to-door on-demand rides, offering freedom of mobility and schedule flexibility not generally associated with traditional public transportation. “SouthWest Transit is definitely forward thinking, and this is where things are headed when it comes to mobility,” said Darnell Grisby, director of Policy Development and Research for the Washington, D.C.- based American Public Transportation Association. “Now the transit user can be as spontaneous as the auto user has been in the past.” Studies have shown that people are less likely to use public transportation if they are more than a mile from the nearest transit station or bus stop. SouthWest Transit launched Prime in July 2015 with the idea of helping passengers complete the “last mile commute.” Over time, Southwest has expanded its fleet of 12-passenger vans from three to 11 as the service has caught on. In August more than 5,300 riders used the service and since then monthly ridership has continued to top 4,200 people — students, seniors and those who don’t own a car or choose to leave the one they own in park. They’ve used the service to get from their front door to work, doctor’s appointments, shopping and social engagements, paying just $3 a ride with cash or a credit card. “It has just exploded,” said SouthWest Transit CEO Len Simich. “The general public has really taken to it.” Yvette Ventura, 65, of Eden Prairie, has. With no car, she is a regular rider, using the service for shopping, appointments and to get to her job at Target. “It’s not expensive. It’s convenient, especially with bad weather.” David Joles, Star Tribune SouthWest Transit is among the pioneers with its Prime service, which offers on-demand rides. Page 12 It took 20 minutes on a recent Tuesday and a few stops to pick up other passengers along the way for Rama Vibushnan to get to her job at Optum. She rides almost daily and said without Prime, she would not use public transportation. Josh Phillips has used Prime for the past few months and called the service a “lifeline.” Though he has a car or could walk the mile or so to get his daughter, Laree, 1, to New Horizon Child Care, he said the bus is “really convenient,” especially on snowy January days. He is a frequent user of Prime for other purposes, too, he said as he took the bus back home after dropping his daughter off. “I’ve never seen public transportation like this,” he said. For 30 years, SouthWest Transit, has provided weekday express service between Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Chaska and Victoria and downtown Minneapolis, the Brooklyn Park Target campus and Normandale Community College in Bloomington. The agency had struggled to provide local service despite requests for it. It tried a circular fixed route, but ridership languished. In the 1990s, it offered Dial- A-Ride. With that, passengers had to book trips two or three days in advance, and in addition to being expensive to operate the service was plagued with a high rate of no shows and last-minute cancellations, Simich said. Those problems have largely been absent with Prime. Riders who request a Prime ride but don’t show up or don’t cancel are charged the fare and can’t book another ride until they pay. “That way we don’t get stung by people who are booking and doing the no-show thing,” he said. A majority of Prime users don’t have cars, said driver C.J. O’Hara, who for the past year has shuttled students to high school, seniors to the grocery store and appointments, and regular riders to work. When a drop off is complete, she waits in parking lots for the next request to pop up on her in-vehicle screen. It normally doesn’t take long. “It’s challenging to keep up with the rides,” she said. “For some, this is the only way to get around and I feel like their personal taxi. I feel good knowing I am helping these people.” Passengers use an app on their smartphones or call the agency’s dispatch center to request a ride. The nearest bus is sent to pick them up. Riders get a phone call when their bus arrives at the pickup point. Once on board, buses may pick up other riders while en route to a passenger’s destination, meaning just like with traditional public transit, passengers won’t always have a private ride. Vibushnan’s van had five riders by the time it reached Optum. Chan traveled solo. Page 13 SouthWest Transit’s Prime operates from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. Due to its popularity, the agency said it is looking at developing a partnership with Lyft to provide transportation on nights and weekends. From January through October, SouthWest spent about $390,000 to operate the service, which provided just under 45,000 rides. The $3 fares collected covered 26 percent of overall costs. That is on par with the fare box recovery rate of its fixed-route services and that of many transit agencies around the country. The smaller vans help keep costs down as they are cheaper to operate than its express motor coaches. Southwest Prime is at the forefront of the nascent business as commuters across the country look for pragmatic and cost-effective routes for every trip. Transit services in places such as Kansas City and suburban Oakland have launched or are piloting similar services or partnering with ride-sharing companies such as Uber, Lyft and Bridge to fill gaps that traditional service cannot reach. Other systems such as those in Los Angeles and Dallas are exploring options, Grisby said. Last year, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) in Florida launched its Direct Connect program in areas without transit service. The agency pays up to $5 for riders to use Uber to take trips that must start or end at a bus stop. It’s been so successful that PSTA is expanding the on-demand service all across Pinellas County on Jan. 19, said spokeswoman Ashlie Handy. Metro Transit does not offer such a service, and neither does the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, which serves communities south of the Minnesota River. But it’s on the radars of both, although funding is an issue. Metro Transit is considering a “first- and last-mile pilot project” later in the year and is consulting with SouthWest Transit about their service, said spokesman Howie Padilla, though he declined to offer details. The agency’s focus right now, he said, is “connecting people with suburban job centers that currently don’t have regular route service.” David Joles, Star Tribune Josh Phillips shows the app for Prime on his phone. Page 14 Still services like Prime are crucial as cities and transit agencies experiment with new ways to serve customers, Grisby said. “This is like a laboratory; there will be some successes and failures, but the movement to make transportation spontaneous is going in the right direction,” he said. “We are going to see dramatic approaches in the coming years.” harlow@startribune.com 612-673-7768 Page 15 MINNEAPOLIS 410730375 Hennepin County to pay off Target Field debt a decade early County hopes to clear loan by 2027 instead of 2037. By Kelly Smith Star Tribune JANUARY 14, 2017 — 8:32PM Jim Mone, AP FILE - In this June 30, 2013, file photo, members of the Armed Forces hold a large flag at Target field in Minneapolis where the Minnesota Twins hosted Armed Forces Appreciation Day prior to the baseball game between the Twins and the Kansas City Royals. Hennepin County still is on pace to pay off Target Field debt a decade ahead of schedule, officials said last week. The $555 million ballpark and its surrounding infrastructure were built with $350 million in funding from the county, or $675 million total with interest. The county planned to pay it off in 30 years, or by 2037, but now expects to pay the debt by 2027 — a decade early. Excess revenue from the ballpark sales tax, plus lower interest rates, have helped the county save money and pay off bonds sooner than anticipated. Page 16 The county paid off one of three series of bonds in November, 21 years sooner than the $75 million bond was initially due. And last week, the county refinanced $150 million in bonds, which could be paid off by 2032, five years early. “We’re out to save as much as we can,” said Commissioner Mike Opat, the lead architect of the plan to build Target Field. An early payoff on the debt would mean that taxpayers would see an early end to the sales tax, which equates to 3 cents on every $20 spent. “The sales tax has done OK,” Opat said. “We are also making the move to prepay [rather] than put it in the bank.” Hennepin County issued bonds and levied the 0.15 percent sales tax to cover its payments on the ballpark, which opened in 2010. When the economy dipped early on, revenue from the sales tax was below expectations. Since the economy rebounded, sales tax collections have risen. So far, the county has saved $154 million in interest payments, Budget Director Dave Lawless said. “We’re all collectively saving money,” Lawless added. Of the $36 million a year that the countywide sales tax brings in, about $29 million goes to stadium debt. The rest goes toward operations of the Minnesota Ballpark Authority — the public body that manages the ballpark — as well as capital expenses and $4 million annually to maintain county libraries’ weekend hours and fund countywide youth sports grants. The capital reserve fund has been used only once since the ballpark opened, to install LED lights for $1.6 million in 2016. Since the youth sports grants program began in 2009, the county has awarded $17.6 million to 108 facilities, 200 small equipment projects, five playground projects and a swimming lesson pilot project. When the program ends, county officials estimate it will have funded $130 million for youth sports and library programs in the county’s suburbs and Minneapolis. Hennepin County contributed nothing to the construction of the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium. The public contribution for that stadium, amounting to nearly $500 million, came from the state and the city of Minneapolis. kelly.smith@startribune.com 612-673-4141 kellystrib Page 17 POLITICS & POLICY Why killing a mass transit funding board may be the only way to save mass transit funding in the Twin Cities By Peter Callaghan | 01/16/17 MinnPost photo by Bill Kelley By leaving CTIB, Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Anoka county commissioners could increase the current sales tax in their respective counties from 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent. It may seem counterintuitive that the best way to fund mass transit in the Twin Cities might be to destroy the entity that provides nearly a third of the funding for mass transit. But that is the strategy being advanced by those in favor of completing a network of light rail and bus rapid transit lines throughout the Twin Cities: to dissolve the Counties Transit Improvement Board — the five-county entity that collects a quarter-percent sales tax to build new Metro Transit lines — and let the counties go it alone. Page 18 Taking such a path would add to the complexity of funding, building and operating future transit projects, such as the Bottineau Blue Line extension or the Gateway bus rapid transit line. But, thanks to a quirk in state law, it would also allow counties in the Twin Cities to double the sales taxes they collect for transportation needs. In fact, by leaving CTIB, Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Anoka county commissioners could increase the current sales tax in their respective counties from 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent. That extra money — $80 million to $90 million a year in Hennepin and Ramsey counties alone — would allow many of the rail and BRT projects that now sit in the planning stages to be funded without any money from the state of Minnesota. The maneuver would even provide enough money to cancel the ad hoc funding plan that preserved SWLRT last summer — the so-called certificates of participation that the Met Council had agreed to sell to replace state funds for the project. The dissolution plan is already permitted by state law, removing the chances that it could be tied up in the conflict between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature over transportation, an impasse now entering its third year. A step back for regionalism? The plan will be presented to the House transportation committee at the Legislature on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, the CTIB board will consider a resolution declaring its preliminary intent to dissolve the operation. Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin called the plan's implicit rebuke of regional planning “not the greatest.” “If you’re a protagonist for greater regionalism, it’s — on its face — a step in the wrong direction,” he said. “But as a regionalist, it’s a way to build out the regional transit system.” While legislative Republicans have not been supportive of more light rail in the Twin Cities, McLaughlin said he thinks there is something in the plan that opponents could support. First, it would remove Southwest LRT — and going forward, light rail in general — from the legislative debate over transportation funding. It also gets rid of the certificates of participation funding mechanism that has galled Republican transportation leaders, who have termed their use an end run around the Legislature as well as a violation of a pledge by Met Council leadership not to use them. The Met Council approved selling the certificates — a form of borrowing that pledges existing Met Council revenues of around $9 million a biennium or $4.5 million a year for repayment — last year as a last gasp maneuver to keep the project in line for a federal match. But the council decided not to issue the certificates until the summer of 2017 to give the Legislature a chance to come up with a different funding mechanism for Southwest LRT. Page 19 With the certificates, however, the Met Council met the local funding requirement by the FTA and now expects a full-funding grant agreement by summer. Construction on the $1.858 billion, 14.5-mile line could begin in the fall of 2017. But the bailout by the Met Council and Hennepin County mostly exhausted both bodies’ financial ability to replace state participation, leaving future projects in doubt unless other means could be found to come up with that 10 percent state share. MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan Commissioner Peter McLaughlin “The whole motivation is we can’t figure out a way to get that darned 10 percent from the state,” McLaughlin said. Incentive for counties The entire proposal is predicated on how current state law allows counties to raise money for transportation projects. All counties are permitted, by vote of their elected commissioners, to adopt local transportation sales taxes of up to 50 cents on a $100 purchase. But the five counties that agreed to form CTIB in 2008 were only permitted by the Legislature to raise the sales tax by 25 cents on a $100 purchase, and only for transit enhancements. Currently, the agreement among the five counties requires three years notice before a county can pull out of the confederation; Dakota County triggered that provision last year when it decided to leave. To dissolve CTIB more quickly — McLaughlin would like it to happen by spring — all five counties would need to pass an amendment to the agreement. There is an incentive for the counties to support the move. The additional revenue would give them the ability to build not just Southwest LRT, but the Blue Line extension to Brooklyn Park (known as Bottineau); the Gateway Corridor BRT from Woodbury to St. Paul; the Orange Line BRT between Lakeville and Minneapolis; and the Rush Line between Hinckley and St. Paul. The money could also be used for road projects in addition to transit improvements. Page 20 East Metro Strong Regional transit map Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, who is also the chair of the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority, said he is not ready to commit fully to the dissolution strategy but is intrigued by the idea. He said Ramsey and Hennepin County commissioners and staff have already agreed on the dollar amounts involved: how much a higher tax would raise; what is needed to settle the commitments already made by CTIB; and how much future projects would need from the counties. “There are lots of pieces to the puzzle,” Ortega said. A new funding formula For past projects, transit funding obligations have been split among the federal government at 50 percent, CTIB at 30 percent, the state of Minnesota at 10 percent and county regional rail authorities at 10 percent. Under the newly proposed formula, the Federal Transit Authority still would be asked to cover half the construction costs, but the state would not be involved. Instead, the counties included in a project would pay 40 percent of the cost from the higher sales tax revenue, and 10 percent from the property taxes collected by regional rail authorities. Page 21 While Southwest LRT only runs in a single county — Hennepin — the proposed Riverview Corridor project, connecting Union Depot in St. Paul to the airport, goes through both Ramsey and Hennepin counties. Under the proposal being considered, the local funding would be split among Ramsey County, Hennepin County, the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority and the Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority. Those entities would have to negotiate how much each would pay based on estimates of how much the line serves each county. The Green Line between Minneapolis and St. Paul, for example, had a 70-30 split of the regional rail authority share: 70 percent from Ramsey and 30 percent from Hennepin. The Met Council would continue to receive money from the other governments and manage construction and operation of the lines. Annual operating costs have a different formula. As of now, 50 percent of those costs have come from CTIB and half from the state via an appropriation to the Met Council. McLaughlin is asking that Met Council continue to cover half the costs and the remaining 50 percent would come from each county instead of CTIB. The politics of transit Funding for mass transit — especially Southwest LRT — has been at the center of a transportation funding impasse at the Legislature for years. Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed letting the five CTIB counties increase their transit taxes by 0.50 percent for a total of 0.75 percent. In return, the state would no longer contribute any money for construction of light rail and bus rapid transit. That offer has never been acceptable to House Republicans, and deals that contained both transit and road funding have repeatedly failed. As the 2017 legislative session is getting started, similar dynamics exist. McLaughlin, however, thinks the CTIB dissolution strategy could help. If it takes funding for Twin Cities light rail out of the state transportation budget, it could let Dayton and the Legislature concentrate on a statewide roads and bridges plan. At the end of the 2016 session, the counties were asked by some legislative leaders to fashion a plan similar to what is being proposed now, McLaughlin said. At the time, McLaughlin said it had potential but that more time was needed to look into it. Ortega said the Legislature remains a question mark. He said the new GOP majority in the Senate, along with the continuing GOP majority in the House, includes a lot of new members. “We have to explain what we are doing and why,” Ortega said. “We have to come up with a solution and put it in front of them and advocate for why this makes more sense.” Page 22 In the past, Met Council chair Adam Duininck, Dayton’s lead on the transit aspects of transportation funding, has been worried about the CTIB breakup strategy because it would disrupt the regionalism that was one reason for its creation. Under CTIB, the five counties all pay into a fund and then decide jointly how it should be spent. Losing the central planning and funding aspects of CTIB “would add a huge level of complexity for us,” Duininck said last summer. “We would have to have individual agreements with each county.” But Duininck has now come around and supports the breakup strategy, despite the loss of an organization that provided a structure for working on regional transit. “I think that can be overcome by us working closely together,” Duininck said of the Met Council and the counties. And taking the state out of the mix for paying for new transit projects not only helps with the current political atmosphere, it would bring the Twin Cities in line with national funding trends. “The trend nationally is for cities and counties and regions to raise the money themselves,” Duininck said. Correction: Earlier versions of this story misstated the amount of money that would be needed for debt service on certificates of participation. It is $4.5 million a year. Page 23 Cool Offices: Employees at Cargill research center join the "neighborhood" Jan 17, 2017, 7:31am CST Emily Sweeney - Staff Writer - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal Research groups spread across four different metro locations are now neighbors after being brought together by Cargill’s Minneapolis-based Research & Development Center. Collaboration and efficient consolidation of space guided the design of Cargill’s MRDC office, which is organized into three distinct “neighborhoods” based on the scientific capabilities of each location. Each neighborhood is marked by its own color scheme and is designed for employees focused on food applications, biotechnology, food ingredients and industrial and global food research. Offices are adjacent to the laboratory space so employees can be at their desks but close to ongoing tests. Cargill Research and Development Center is located at 14800 28th Avenue N, Plymouth. "The design of the office was planned to separate the pads but also make them efficient as possible," said Deb Gil, Senior Associate at Alliiance. The neighborhoods are connected by an “inner loop” designed solely for the movement of materials an equipment from laboratories in a safe way. Ergonomics is incorporated into the space as desks are placed at a variety of heights so employees have options to sit or stand. Throughout the office glass-sided conference rooms can be reserved by employees. Reservations ensure the conference rooms are highly utilized while also efficiently consolidating space. “We switched from an environment where many people had private offices to one where there are no private offices but a lot of variety of work environments,” said Tim Oolman, project manager of the MRDC at Cargill. Oolman added, “when you are working shoulder to shoulder in the same lab you communicate and exchange ideas much more efficiently than in the facilities we previously had.” Page 24 Type of Business: Food agriculture and industrial products and services CEO: David MacLennan Employees: Cargill has 150,000 employees in 70 countries. The Plymouth R&D Center employs about 200. Building name: Cargill Research and Development Center Address: 14800 28th Avenue N. Plymouth MN 55447 Size: 106,000 square feet Architect: Alliiance, 4 General Contractor: McGough Construction Cool Offices is a free editorial feature showing off interesting Twin Cities workspaces. Want to see your office featured? Send high-resolution photos and a brief description of the space (including its location, size, use, features, technology, employee count, designer and builder) to Managing Editor Mark Reilly for his consideration. Page 25 INDUSTRY NEWS > RETAILING Christopher & Banks CEO fired after poor holiday showing; stock plummets Jan 17, 2017, 10:56am CST Dan DeBaun – Staff Reporter/Digital Producer – Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Christopher & Banks Corp. CEO LuAnn Via has been ousted from the retailer after seeing disappointing sales numbers over the crucial holiday period. The board elected Joel Waller to serve as interim President and CEO, effective Tuesday. The company also announced that Lisa Wardell had resigned as chair from the company board of directors and been replaced by Kent Kleeberger. NANCY KUEHN | MSPBJ Christopher & Banks CEO LuAnn Via In a securities filing, the company said Via will receive a severance of more than $1.1 million, equal to a year's salary plus unpaid incentive compensation. The moves come as the Plymouth-based retailer said fiscal fourth-quarter results would be much worse than expected. The company is now forecasting sales in the range of $85 million to $86 million, down from $94.6 million a year ago. Analysts had expected sales of $95.24 million. Christopher & Banks said lower traffic, ongoing headwinds in women's apparel and bad weather all played a part in slumping holiday sales. The company now expects its net loss for the fourth quarter to be in the range of $16 million to $17 million. Shares of Christopher & Banks (NYSE: CBK) are down more than 33 percent, to $1.40, in late- morning trading. Under CEO Via, Christopher & Banks has consolidated its stores and changed up merchandise, but it's struggled to find success. Last year the company overhauled its board of directors amid a another decline in sales and profits. Page 26 Waller had previously served as the Company’s interim CEO from February 2012 through November 2012, before Via was brought on. He's also served as CEO of The Wet Seal Inc. The board announced it would begin a search for a full-time president and CEO. Christopher & Banks operates 499 stores in 45 states and is Minnesota's 46th-largest public company ranked by annual revenue. Dan DeBaun covers food companies, restaurants and retailers. Page 27 LOCAL 411102865 Transit board takes initial steps to dissolve CTIB wants to ensure projects' completion before it may dissolve. By Janet Moore Star Tribune JANUARY 18, 2017 — 10:02PM A little-known but critical board that plays a big role in funding mass transit in the metro area took the initial steps on Wednesday to dissolve itself. In doing so, the Counties Transit Improvement Board (CTIB) will likely ensure that major transit projects now on the drawing board are built. They include the $1.9 billion Southwest light rail line linking downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, and the $1.5 billion Bottineau Blue Line connecting Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park. Both are expecting to begin service in 2021. But a key roadblock for these projects involves the reluctance of Republican lawmakers at the Capitol to kick in a portion — usually a 10 percent share. If half the funding is not secured from local sources, a 50- percent matching grant from the Federal Transit Administration is endangered for the LRT projects. Created in 2008, CTIB consists of elected officials and the chair of the Metropolitan Council. It generates cash through a quarter-cent sales tax and a $20 fee on new car sales in five metro counties. In its short history, CTIB has paid nearly $1 billion toward local transit projects, including the Green Line LRT, linking the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Now, CTIB is on the hook to pay about a third of the cost to build transit projects like the Southwest and Bottineau lines. While state law permits outstate counties in Minnesota to impose a half-cent sales tax for transportation purposes, metro counties are now capped at a quarter-cent tax. Page 28 Should members of CTIB dissolve the board, Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Dakota and Washington counties can decide whether they want to increase their sales tax for transit to a half cent. Any sales tax increase would have to be approved by each county board. While it took action to dissolve, CTIB members on Wednesday also authorized capital grant agreements with the Met Council totaling $254 million to help pay for Southwest, Bottineau and the Orange Line bus- rapid transit (BRT) line between Minneapolis and Burnsville. Additional agreements totaling $360,000 were approved to build the Gateway Gold Line BRT between St. Paul and Woodbury, and the Red Rock Corridor, a transitway between St. Paul and Hastings. “We’re continuing the main operations of CTIB until we know how it will go,” said CTIB Chairman Peter McLaughlin, who is also a Hennepin County commissioner. “We’re basically walking and chewing gum at the same time.” Last year, Dakota County voted to leave the board, arguing that it had paid in more than the benefits it got in return. On Wednesday, there appeared to be some disagreement about how CTIB funds would be allocated should the board vote to dissolve. That debate will likely continue in February when the board is expected to take a final vote. janet.moore@startribune.com 612-673-7752 Page 29