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GreenStep City Best Practices Land Use

Efficient Highway-Oriented Development
no. 9

Adopt commercial development and design standards for highway road corridors.
  Best Practice Action 5      [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]       [all actions]

Require decommissioning in development agreements for large format developments in the event that the tenant leaves and no new tenant or adaptive reuse is in place within a set period of time.

 
  • For example, the conditional use permit granted by Inver Grove Heights to WalMart states that if the store closes, WalMart has two years to remarket the store or return the site to its pre-development condition.
  • See the Ferndale, WA ordinance and scorecard called EAGLE (Energy efficiency, Advanced technologies, Greater good, Low impact, Economic development) that integrates large retail formats with community values.
Require decommissioning in the zoning district or with the development agreement for chain-specific big box developments, if store goes vacant for more than 6 months(and no permit for redevelopment has been filed).
Require a decommissioning bond to be posted as a condition of rezoning, subdivision, or building permit for chain-specific big box developments.
Achieve 2 star rating and limit rezonings or annexations if not consistent with the city CIP.

 
greenstep advisor
Frank Douma, State and Local Policy Program of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota: 612/626-9946, douma002@umn.edu, http://www.hhh.umn.edu/people/fdouma/