Agenda - Council Work Session - 02/15/2022 - Special

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decent Ueuelopment In the early 1970s, the City's residents and business owners began to encourage the historic preservation of commercial and residential buildings in the community. This movement has gathered momentum, acceptance, and regulatory authority and has been at least partially responsible for recapturing the historical rivertown character of the City's downtown business district. It has also encouraged the maintenance and restoration of historic homes in the City's residential neighborhoods. Many residences, businesses, and shops are housed in buildings more than 100 years old. Downtown Stillwater and eight residential structures are on the National Register of Historic Places. Another 61 homes are estimated to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. A number of the City's older homes have been restored to their historical character and are open for public tours. In addition, a substantial downtown infrastructure improvement project was completed in 1991 and 1992, which included the separation and replacement of the 100-year-old storm sewer and sanitary sewer systems, new streets and sidewalks, and new street lighting. This restoration and preservation movement has generated a significant tourist trade that is important to the City's economy. The City's 2040 Comprehensive Plan calls for continued growth of the City toward the west. An undeveloped area encompassing approximately 670-acres was annexed into the City in 2015. Of this area, 340 net acres are guided for residential development. At build -out, this expansion area could yield approximately 1,300 housing units, 60-acres of office and non -retail commercial property along State Highway 36, and five acres of retail. Ten residential developments are currently under construction with the potential for another 125 home sites. The estimated price points for these single-family homes range from under $350,000 to over $700,000. A commercial mixed -use development is proposed on a 35-acre site recently annexed into the City at the SE corner of the intersection of Hwy36 and Manning Avenue. The City has recently completed development/redevelopment activities in the downtown area: the opening of two new hotels and a hotel addition to a third hotel in downtown, MnDOT rehabilitation of the historic Lift Bridge completing a pedestrian/bike recreation Loop Trail from downtown into the State of Wisconsin south to the new St. Croix Crossing bridge and trail back to downtown completed in 2020, sidewalk improvement projects in the downtown area, riverbank improvement and elevated walkway project along the St. Croix River from downtown south to City limits to be completed in 2022, and Chestnut Street Pedestrian Plaza project from Main Street to the historic Lift Bridge to be completed in 2022. Additionally, the City has recently approved the redevelopment of one City block to accommodate 61 market -rate rental apartments in the downtown core. The St. Croix River Crossing Bridge project (a joint $680 million project between Minnesota and Wisconsin) is complete and opened to traffic in August 2017. The historic downtown Lift Bridge was recently refurbished as a pedestrian/biking trail and opened to the public in 2019.