Blaine BizConnect - Summer 2020

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Community Development Operations During the Pandemic Large Events Canceled in 2020........................2

Neighborhood Meeting Policy for Development Projects...................................3

Blaine’s New Outdoor Dining Policy...............4

The city’s Planning and Economic Development Department has been working remotely during the COVID 19 pandemic. At this time, staff is fully functional and can respond to voice mails, emails and all land use and sign application requests. When meetings are required, staff has used the Zoom tool to meet with developers/and or citizens who desire to have face to face meetings. While staff misses the day to day interaction with citizens and staff, we are accomplishing what would normally be required in the office setting.

Speaking of being fully functional, staff continues to see development occurring and continues to take development applications on a number of projects. The May Planning Commission meeting had four new commercial applications and recently approved residential projects are continuing to move forward. We see this as positive at this point in time given the traumatic events the world has seen in recent months.

For a complete list of all projects that are either in process or moving forward please visit the Planning Department website.

Building Inspections has continued to remain busy during the COVID 19 pandemic. Since March 1, the department has issued over 1,200 permits and completed 3,700 inspections. The department has seen increased numbers in residential permits, likely as a result from more people working from home and having the flexibility to complete projects.

Continuing to complete inspections and issuing permits is important to keep economic investment active.

During the pandemic, inspectors are completing on-site inspections for commercial projects and new home construction. Inspectors have improvised and are completing virtual inspections in instances where inspections are required in an occupied home. This provides the highest level of safety to both the inspectors and home owners. In addition, maintaining a high level of customer service continues to be a focus of the department.

If there are any questions that need to be addressed by the Community Development Department, all contact information, including city issued cell phone numbers, are available at BlaineMN.gov/CommunityDevelopment

City of Blaine 10801 Town Square Drive NE Blaine MN 55449

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How to Help Local Businesses Blaine businesses, whether large or small, are an integral part of the economic health of the community. Our local businesses are being heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While some businesses may be closed to the public, they are not closed. Many are offering a number of options for you to still get their products and to continue to support them. These options include: • • • • • •

Curbside pick up Take out Drive thru Delivery Local shipping Local pickup and delivery back to you

To find how you can support your favorite local businesses, check out their websites or social media pages to find out the latest about what they are doing.

More information is available at BlaineMN.gov/COVIDBusiness

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Community Development 10801 Town Square Drive NE Blaine MN 55449 763-784-6700 Erik Thorvig Community Development Director 763-785-6147 EThorvig@BlaineMN.gov Lori Johnson City Planner 763-785-6198 LJohnson@BlaineMN.gov Michelle Wolfe City Manager 763-785-6120 MWolfe@BlaineMN.gov

Stay Connected Receive Emergency Communications BlaineMN.gov/CivicReady

2019 USA Cup Soccer Tournament National Sports Center

Large Events Canceled in 2020 The City of Blaine is home to many large events each summer. These events bring in millions of dollars of economic impact to the Blaine economy. Due to COVID-19 many large events are being canceled and the impact will be felt far beyond the field, course, or stage.

In June, Blaine would usually be home to the two-day Joyful Noise concert festival. This event brings in over 10,000 people per day to the National Sports Center. Also in June the Blaine Festival brings thousands of people to Aquatore Park over a long weekend and the Patriot Ride brings more than 12,000 motorcyclists to the Blaine Airport.

In July sporting events take over Blaine. First up is Target USA Cup, which has been canceled for the first time in its 35-year history. The tournament brings 25,000 people per day to Blaine for 10 straight days each July. The 3M Open is also held each year in July, the tournament will take place as scheduled but without spectators. The 3M Open will be limited to about 1,200 people on site each day, which will include, staff, volunteers, media, and players. Target USA Cup and the 3M Open have a combined economic impact of $85 million per year.

With the cancellation or reduced capacity of these large events, it is more important than ever to support local businesses that will be missing large revenue streams this summer.

For more information on city events or program status, visit BlaineMN.gov/ParkRecStatus

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CommunityConnect A Crime Prevention Partnership

BlaineMN.gov/ CommunityConnect

Emergency Business Notifications Blaine’s Emergency Notification System (CivicReady) is designed to notify residents and businesses of important emergency information. The events that have unfolded in the last few months has shown the value of being able to send emergency information on situations as they are happening. CivicReady is the tool the city uses to meet that need.

With the recent civil unrest, the city has added a new notification option for businesses. Business owners can request notifications for businesses. Subscribers need to provide the business name and address. When a situation arises where business specific information needs to be shared, communications and emergency management staff can notify businesses by location.

Signing up is easy, just visit BlaineMN.gov/CivicReadySignup

Is buying property the right move Provide your name, business name, business address, phone number(s), for your business? and email(s) to receive notifications.

Open toInBusiness the event can of anhelp! emergency, Is buying property the right move for yourForbusiness? more information:

notifications will be sent to the information provided.

Also available is the Our free, confidential advisors can assist you in AlertMe app.

The free AlertMe App allows subscribers evaluating a purchase price, comparing ownership to quickly and easily: vs. leasing costs, and connecting you to financing

resources. Open to Business can also often provide • Sign up to receive notifications gap financing to keep equity requirements man• Set notification preferences ageable. Whether you are negotiating a purchase, www.opentobusinessmn.org • See all the latest posts sent Open to Business can help!

BizConnect is office published OR call the Anoka County at 763-438-7315 twice refinancing a contract for deed, or just exploring Manage profile and keep contact information updated Our free, confidential you inand your options,• Open to Business can help. annually by theadvisors City can of assist Blaine

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distributed to all residents and OpentoBusinessMN.org vs. leasing costs, and connecting you to financing OR call the Anoka County office businesses.

Past copies areoften available resources. Open to Business can also provide at 763-438-7315 gap financing to keep equity requirements at BlaineMN.gov/Newsletter. manageable. Whether you are negotiating a purchase, refinancing a contract for deed, or just exploring your options, Open to Business can help.

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Enable location services to receive location specific messages Download the free app today at BlaineMN.gov/AppleAlertMe or BlaineMN.gov/GoogleAlertMe

Summer 2020

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Interactive Development Resources Want to know what development activity is occurring the community? The City of Blaine has an interactive development map available on the city website under the Business and Development section. The interactive map allows anyone to see what projects are currently under review, upcoming, under construction, or recently completed. Each project is identified with a location on a map along with a flag to click for further information. Most of the time only projects that are new construction are listed. Remodeling of existing spaces is typically not identified unless it is a highly visible project such as when Aldi remodeled the former Best Buy building.

Other information maps that have been created include Blaine senior housing options, Blaine residential development, and also a link to the Anoka County economic development webpage for commercial and industrial land and building listings.

For any questions regarding proposed, current, or future developments, please contact the Community Development office at 763-785-6180.

View the new development activity portal at BlaineMN.gov/DevelopmentActivity

Blaine Business Council Do you want to connect with other Blaine businesses and hear about updates in the community? The Blaine Business Council is open to all Blaine businesses and is held quarterly at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. The meetings start at 7:30AM, no RSVP is necessary and we hope you can attend.

2020 Blaine Business Council Dates July 9 | October 22 For more information please visit the Metro North Chamber of Commerce at MetroNorthChamber.org

Small Business Loan Program

Neighborhood Meeting Policy for Development Projects The residents of Blaine may have noticed that some of the more recent land use applications within the city have garnered a lot of attention, and more specifically, a lot of attention from residents immediately adjacent to certain developments. The Blaine City Council has directed staff to generate a neighborhood meeting and notification policy to help residents navigate questions regarding developments happening around them and to provide yet another means to voice their opinion on such applications prior to them formally being heard by the Blaine Planning Commission and Blaine City Council.

Key points of the policy are as follows: •

Neighborhood meetings will be required for certain land use applications that are proposed immediately adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The applications requiring the meetings include property rezoning, comprehensive plan amendments, multifamily residential projects in single family neighborhoods, and in some instances, conditional use permits.

•

The developer who is proposing the development is responsible for holding the meeting and promoting their project. City staff typically will not attend and the public is encouraged to engage with the developer directly.

•

Neighborhood notification areas for neighborhood meetings and public hearings will remain at the state required 350 feet from property lines of the proposed development. These areas may be extended based on the size and neighborhood of the project.

There are more specifics within this policy and the Community Development staff would be happy to respond to any questions. The city hopes this provides more opportunity for open communication on development related issues.

Please contact Lori Johnson, City Planner at LJohnson@BlaineMN.gov with further questions.

The City of Blaine Economic Development Authority offers a small business loan program to provide additional financial assistance to small business owners who are improving an existing building and/ or redeveloping a commercial or industrial property. In general, projects will increase tax base, improve blighted properties, increase 3 employment, and bring properties into conformance with existing city and state codes. Loans are available up to $75,000 with a private match required. Eligible expenses include exterior site improvements such as parking lots, trash enclosures, signs, fences, and landscaping.

Exterior building improvements such as additions, windows, awnings, masonry repairs, and demolition are also eligible.

For more information, please contact the Economic Development Department at 763-785-6147 or BlaineMN.gov/ EconomicDevelopment

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Blaine’s New Outdoor Dining Policy Blaine’s restaurant sector has been hard hit by the restrictions necessary to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 26, the Blaine City Council held an emergency meeting and passed a new policy that allows temporary outdoor dining at Blaine restaurants. The new policy streamlines the process for restaurants to quickly expand current outdoor seating areas or create new outdoor seating. This policy was designed to make the process as easy as possible so restaurants could begin outdoor dining on June 1. The policy was updated to reflect changes as the state moved into phase three of the Stay Safe MN plan on June 10.

Under the new policy restaurants may serve customers using the six feet of social distance requirement for each group of up to six people at 50 percent of the restaurant’s capacity, not to exceed 250 individuals, for indoors and outdoors settings each.

Reservations: Required Masks: Required for workers, strongly recommended for customers.

Restaurants may not operate between 1AM and 7AM. If the restaurant is within 200 feet of a residential area, they must close outdoor dining by 10PM. The Blaine community is showing great support for local restaurants during this pandemic by using curbside pick and take out options. People who feel comfortable doing so, can now continue to support the favorite restaurants by using the indoor and outdoor dining options.

The policy and the application form are available at BlaineMN.gov/Planning

Register Your Business The City of Blaine uses the CivicReady emergency notification to push urgent messages out to the community.

In light of recent events, the city is adding a business specific listing in CivicReady. Business will now be able to sign up to receive emergency notifications that are for the business community.

Register your business online at BlaineMN.gov/RegisterBusiness Registered businesses will automatically be added to the CivicReady Emergency Business Notification System.

For more information about CivicReady, visit BlaineMN.gov/CivicReady

Blaine Development Continues During a pandemic, it would be easy to assume that development activity grinds to an abrupt halt. That scenario is not what the city is currently experiencing as you can see in the latest Blaine Planning Commission and Blaine City Council meeting agendas.

While overall development activity may be down from last year’s pace, the May and June planning commission agendas included commercial and residential projects that will help keep the development economy going in the right direction. The following commercial projects have been proposed for planning commission and city council review within the last two months: • • • •

Kwik Trip (Lexington Meadows at 109th Avenue/Austin Street) McHale Veterinary Clinic (12535 Ulysses Street NE) Pet Suites (9983 Ulysses Street NE) Lexington Market Retail Shops/Starbucks (Lexington Meadows at 108th Avenue/Lexington Avenue)

The following residential projects have been proposed for planning commission and city council review within the last two months: • • • •

North Meadows (259 total lots with a mix of villas, twin homes and townhomes, Austin Street NE and 109th Avenue NE) Alexander Woods (45 villa lots and 39 single family lots, 113th Avenue and Polk Street NE) Boulder Estates 2nd Addition (9 single family lots, 9850 Hamline Avenue) Harpers Haven (14 single family lots, 12750 Harpers Street NE)

In addition, Lennar Homes, the developer of the single family neighborhood of Lexington Cove (97 single family lots) at Lexington Avenue and 128th Lane NE, has begun grading and development activity.

Building permits for following commercial and industrial projects have been recently issued, providing more evidence that business owners are still willing to invest in the City of Blaine: • • • • • • • •

Midwest Diesel (industrial, 3051 82nd Lane NE) Kingdom Baking (commercial bakery, 10130 Sunset Avenue NE) Nafta Solutions, Inc. (industrial, 10122 Naples Street NE) Murphy Bros. (industrial, 1613 93rd Lane NE) Renovation Church (church, commercial, 12390 Fraizer Street NE) Spire Credit Union (commercial, 10 Northtown Drive NE) National Sports Center—dome project (1700 105th Avenue NE) Domino’s Pizza (10495 University Avenue NE) To learn more about these developments, please view the City of Blaine’s interactive development map at BlaineMN.gov/DevelopmentActivity For information on all proposed development projects each month, view the Blaine Planning Commission and Blaine City Council agendas at BlaineMN.gov/Agendas

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