The April meeting of the Destination Medical Center Board of Directors is underway. Watch live here and follow along on Twitter and this blog for updates throughout the morning.

The Destination Medical Center Corporation Board of Directors meets tomorrow morning for its regularly scheduled April Meeting.

This will be the first meeting since the board formally adopted the DMC Development Plan last Thursday evening after a special public hearing.

The agenda is available on the DMC Corporation website, and the complete board packet can viewed here. [tnc-pdf-viewer-link file=”https://dmc.mn/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/DMC-Board-Agenda-packet.pdf” target=”_blank” download=”true” print=”true” fullscreen=”true” share=”true” zoom=”true” open=”true” pagenav=”true” logo=”true” find=”true” language=”en-US” class=”” text=”” page=”” default_zoom=”auto”]

Please note this month’s meting will be held in Presentation Hall of the Mayo Civic Center, rather than its typical location in the center’s River View Room.

How to Attend

When: 9:30 a.m. — noon on Thursday, April 30

In person: Mayo Civic Center, Presentation Hall
30 Civic Center Drive SE
Rochester, MN 55904

Online: Live stream, Twitter, and the DMC Blog

 

In a landmark vote advancing Minnesota’s largest economic development initiative, the Destination Medical Center Corporation (DMCC) Board of Directors adopted the DMC Draft Development Plan at a special meeting last evening, which followed a public hearing. The 20-year Plan serves as a strategic business plan and framework to guide the implementation of the DMC initiative.

It’s official!

The Destination Medical Center Development Plan starts tonight, as the 694-page development plan received a final approval from the DMC Corporation Board of Directors. It was the final step along the plan’s 9-month road to approval and endorsement from the public, city, and state. The plan can be downloaded here.

I can only tell you that I bring great optimism … and a huge amount of energy … and we’re going to do it. … It’s up to all of us to come together to make sure we make this happen.
— Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, chairwoman, DMC Corporation Board of Directors

Board Member Ed Hruska stressed that the plan contains language ensuring the plan remains flexible, and that the board and development agencies will be able to adjust district boundaries and individual projects to accommodate city and resident and developer needs.

“Tomorrow is Day 1. … We have a lot of work to do on it … and remember it’s a 20-year plan.”
— Ed Hruska, member, DMC Corporation Board of Directors

Board member Jim Bier urged the board to move quickly, but responsibly, on implementation of the now-approved plan, citing a concern that developers will be looking to Rochester for action and could take their projects (and dollars) elsewhere if there is unnecessary delay.

“We will constantly be losing our opportunities as the clock ticks.”
— Jim Bier, member, DMC Corporation Board of Directors

Nearly 2 hours into tonight’s public hearing on the DMC Development Plan, the public comment session has closed. Remarks from the public included requests for more attention on social services, sustainability, and historic preservation. Below is a sampling of comments…

A representative from the State Council on Black Minnesotans requested the appointment and support of an accountable agency that can ensure the goals of DMC are met and that all populations throughout the state realize a return on their investment in DMC.

“This is a very exciting one, but it’s also a very scary one. … We all want DMC to be successful … but in order for that to happen, we need to build this together.”
— Representative from the State Council on Black Minnesotans

“I’m adding one more responsibility to your list,” she said “We need an accountable agency here … and give them the support they need to be successful moving forward.”

Rochester City Council President Randy Staver approached the board to endorse the plan and position the full-force of the city’s behind the DMC Development Plan and the work of the board of directors.

“We’re trying to support the vision and the future that DMC illustrated,” Staver said. “We’re very excited to support the vision and plan moving forward.”

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Public comment is underway here at Presentation Hall at the Mayo Civic Center. Members are sharing their perspectives on the plan and how it may affect their lives. Below is a sampling of remarks through the first 45 minutes of dialogue.

A representative from the Rochester Area Interfaith Leaders — “Extreme concern for social services for this population of people.” … Social services are not mentioned once in the entire 694-page plan. She asked the Board of Directors to provide further detail about why social services receive no mention.

Rochester resident Nancy Slocumb has spoken at every board meeting and public hearing. She approached the board again tonight to thank the directors for their work on the plan so far, and to with them “the very best of luck and smart deliberation.” Additionally, she reiterated her concern for historical preservation in the DMC District, a recurrent theme of her comments to the board.

Jerome Ferson, president of the United Way of Olmsted County, received applause for his comments. He requested the DMC Corporation Board consider working with Olmsted County Public Health Services Advisory Board. Ferson read a pre-written letter into the record requesting this collaboration and seeking the board’s commitment to incorporate PHSAB input into the DMC development process.

Ferson recited at least a dozen signatories to the letter, including the Rochester Area Family YMCA, the Rochester Public Library, and several minority and disability advocacy organizations.

Andrea Kiepe, southern and southeastern Minnesota organizer for the Sierra Club’s North Star Chapter, approached the microphone to urge the board to pursue  “Rochester should not play it safe on DMC. We should push forward,” Kiepe said. “We should push forward with the absolute platinum standard on energy efficiency … because that will enhance the brand.”

Ben Creo, an entrepreneurial resident of Rochester who helped launch a tech startup in New England and is now involved in the local startup scene, stressed integration of biotechnology into the area and regional economy. And beyond that, Creo emphasized the need to build a system that supports a diversity of medical and biotechnology companies, as well as other non-medical entrepreneurial ventures.

“To ride these waves, we ned to build a great surfboard that everyone can ride on–today,” Creo said.

He pointed to North Carolina, which organized and orchestrated Research Triangle Region in the 1980s, as an example of success. Since opening the Research Triangle, the state has become the third-leading producer of biotechnology, following California and Massachusetts.

“We want to be careful we don’t put all our eggs in one basket–it’s a wonderful basket, Mayo Clinic–but it’s still one basket,” Creo said. “We need to build that basket out of titanium, which is what DMC is doing.”

Kevin Lund, a judge in Olmsted County, urged the board to re-evaluate more than 200 properties within the DMC District that currently have no guaranteed protection under the DMC Plan. Lund asserted that the for-profit 106 Group, which conducted the historical assessment of individual buildings, submitted an incomplete and only partially informed report.

“This is important to a lot of people in this community,” Lund said. “This is an inacurate document … and it doesn’t reflect what we should consider worthy of preservation moving forward.”

More videos are available from DMC’s live streaming channel on Ustream.

A live stream of tonight’s public hearing on the DMC Development Plan. Tonight’s hearing will afford the public an opportunity to comment on the plan. Following the public hearing, the DMC Corporation Board of Directors will have the opportunity to formally adopt the plan.

We’re just getting underway here at Presentation Hall in the Mayo Civic Center with the public hearing to formally adopt the Development Plan.

Above are some images of attendees trickling into the auditorium and perusing images of the sub-districts.

The meeting agenda and board packet is included below:

[tnc-pdf-viewer-link file=”https://dmc.mn/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/DMCC-Public-Forum-4-23-151.pdf” target=”_blank” download=”true” print=”true” fullscreen=”true” share=”true” zoom=”true” open=”true” pagenav=”true” logo=”true” find=”true” language=”en-US” class=”” text=”View PDF” page=”” default_zoom=”auto”]