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The Planning Commission directed Mr. Marohn to give options for text and to push this <br />amount of information into an appendix. Mr. Marohn stated that Mr. Williams asked <br />whether our goal was growth or sustainability. Mr. Habein stated that growth is pushed <br />by certain entities. Ms. Brown stated to be sustainable you need growth; the City needs <br />to be open to growth. <br />Barb Merritt pointed out that if the City were to grow the downtown, retail jobs are <br />probably not what this area needs. She would love to see the downtown grow. More <br />industry would financially be a gain. Retail jobs are not quality, high paying jobs. <br />Industrial jobs would pay more. <br />Ruth Ann Hanson agreed with Mrs. Merritt and Ms. Brown. The City needs to be <br />sustainable but it also needs growth. Without growth a community gets stagnant. The <br />City needs to be open to growth. An influx of retail stores is not going to accomplish <br />that. It would not be a sustainable living for employees. <br />Mr. Adams asked what kinds of jobs we need to bring into town. We need some <br />specifics. What are the jobs we need to chase? Mr. Habein stated the City needs service <br />businesses. Professional services have expanded; the dentist and orthodontist have both <br />expanded and the physical therapy office has almost doubled. The veterinary clinic hired <br />another Veterinarian. With our aging population service businesses are more in demand. <br />Mr. Williams stated the City should seek privately driven development such as the <br />�. grocery store; the City didn't develop that. Corky Smith's housing development was <br />privately driven as well as the RV Park. The public sector should encourage <br />redevelopment of existing businesses. If the City were to lose Merritt Jewelers the City <br />should seek to fill that business. It was the consensus that the City should help current <br />businesses redevelop. <br />Highway 371 corridor: <br />Mr. Marohn explained he created a paragraph describing the corridor. A table indicating <br />Property Value Distribution was added to the end of the Current Trends section. The <br />information from the table could be moved to the Background section. It would indicate <br />where the City's economic base is at. The Estimated Market Value totals on the last page <br />indicate Seasonal Recreational Residential properties are almost double the Commercial <br />properties. The group discussed including in the new table seasonal residential and <br />residential separately. The last sentence in the paragraph next to the table is <br />argumentative and should be stricken. <br />`.. <br />Ruth Ann Hanson stated that 16% Other is a large amount. <br />Principles: <br />Mr. Marohn stated he had been asked to include discussion on import/export businesses. <br />Import replacement industries keep the business local. Successful communities are <br />adopting import replacement strategies and have done quite well. <br />Minutes <br />Pequot Lakes Planning Commission <br />March 18, 2010 <br />