06-12-2003 Long Range Planning Commission Minutes

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• • retail establishments is directly related to the amount of traffic that comes through the door. Pequot Lakes has seen a rebirth in its retail commercial areas with the establishment of high-quality establishments along Government Drive,which have been made more visible to passers-by with the care they have put into their exterior facades. Although the retail areas serve everyone,they are a great way to capture outside dollars from tourists as shopping is the number one recreational activity in Minnesotan. The growth in retail establishments is helping Pequot Lakes to become a destination city by bridging its dependence on the highway and the visibility it provides. The agglomeration effect is most pronounced in this sector as it is seldom a shopper will stop and go to just one store. Additionally,retail businesses provide benefits to the City by supplying employment opportunities for youth. To succeed in Pequot Lakes,retail establishments need people. For successful retail,the city needs to draw people in,provide a place for them to park,a safe and comfortable way for them to get out and walk around,a variety of goods, attractive storefronts and landscaping,and a lot of choices for shopping. Each new shop that is added increases the destination factor,which is the key to sustained retail success in a competitive market. Retail areas need to be clustered near each other as most people walk from shop to shop. They also need to exude a positive feeling so that customers enjoy the recreational experience of shopping. Although retail is a great benefit to the City,it is also volatile. Low wages and seasonal employment creates only short-term economic benefits. A bad karma effect—where one or two low-quality shops become established in prominent locations—is difficult to avoid during the initial growth of retail areas. Low profit margins also lead to a high level of business failure and turnover. Creating and maintaining a retail destination area takes a great deal of cooperation,something hard to achieve with competing business owners. ➢ Extractive Uses. Mining of aggregate is a large endeavor on former agricultural land in the northeast corner of the City. The location has been chosen because of the availability of quality raw material and the relative isolation of the area. The product mined from this site is used primarily outside of the City,and per capita, relatively few residents are employed in this endeavor. The City benefits by having lower costs for aggregate products than surrounding areas. Encroaching development threatens this use of the land as it tends to be noisy and have other negative externalities. There is also the potential for pollution as well as increased damage to local roads from hauling operations. ➢ Transient Merchants. Numerous transient merchants—such as vegetable stands, fireworks trucks,mini-donut vendors,temporary greenhouses,and arts and crafts -operate periodically within the City of Pequot Lakes. Although they are 5 Minnesota Department of Tourism