Emily Shively, Assistant Director of Community Development

Growth in a city like River Falls doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a balance of planning, partnerships, and community values. Tying all of those together is part of Emily Shively’s role as the Assistant Director of Community Development for the City of River Falls. 

On this episode of the Kinni Cast, Emily joins to share more about how development works in the city, examines the current housing market in River Falls, and discusses how the City plans for growth while preserving what makes the community special.

Learn more about the City of River Falls at www.rfcity.org. Follow the City of River Falls on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Transcript

Tyler Mason:

Hi, River Falls. Welcome back to another episode of the Kinni Cast. My name is Tyler Mason. I'm the communications coordinator for the city, and I'm excited to be joined today by Emily Shively. She's the Assistant Director of Community Development. And we're going to be talking mostly about housing today, but a little bit just more broadly about community development. Emily, how are you today?

Emily Shively:

I'm doing great, thanks.

Tyler Mason:

Good, good. Well, let's kind of jump into your background and your experience with the city a little bit. So you began with the City of River Falls as a planner, and you are now, as I mentioned, the Assistant Director of Community Development. And I know there's quite a bit that falls under that. Maybe just explain a little bit about your role and what the work that you do entails here.

Emily Shively:

Sure. So I work in the community development department where we have economic development, planning and zoning, building and inspections, code enforcement, engineering and conservation and parks. So we're a big group, but we're looking at kind of the overall systems of the city and the policies that sort of set the direction across all of those different areas. And so the team that I support is planning and zoning and then building inspections and code enforcement.

Tyler Mason:

Sure. So as I said, we're talking about housing for quite a bit. That kind of falls into your area now. As a lot of people know, River Falls is continuing to experience a lot of growth. How would you describe the current housing landscape here in River Falls?

Emily Shively:

Sure. I think yes, we have been experiencing quite a bit of growth in the last five to 10 years. Things slowed down after the Great Recession. Prior to that, River Falls also saw a lot of growth in kind of the early 2000s. So things slowed down during the recession, gradually picking back up again. So some of the housing developments that had gotten started before the recession have only recently been completed. So those are things like Sterling Ponds and Highview Meadows. So now those neighborhoods have been fully built out. So most of the land within the city is currently developed. There are a few parcels that could see some what we call infill development or redevelopment where an existing use is torn down. And then, so thinking about the Valu Stay Motel on North Main, which is now the Starbucks location, or there was also a motel on South Main, which is now the 1300 South Main residences. So sometimes we'll do new development even within the city. But typically how growth and development occurs when we're fully developed is through annexation. So that's where lands on the edge of the city. A property owner decides they are ready to change the use of that land in order to accommodate that they need city services such as sewer and water and roads and all of those things. They would request to become a part of the city. And so in the last few years we have seen quite a bit of that given the fact that our current boundaries were fully developed.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah, I guess maybe explain a little bit more about the annexation piece of it. How long does that process take? And I guess from the City standpoint, how does that work? I've always been kind of curious about that aspect of it.

Emily Shively:

Sure. It is something that is not in every city. You have to have some space on your edges that's still an unincorporated area, like the townships. And so the City of River Falls has four townships surrounding it. And there are some areas that are easier to grow into than others because one of the things that is amazing about River Falls is our natural landscape. So the bluffs and the rivers and all of the drainage ways that go to the KinnickinnicRiver. But that makes some areas harder to develop into. But there's other places where there may be a valley or farm fields that are easier to develop. So the City does not actively pursue land to bring into the community. So a land owner would be working with a potential developer on a plan for a different type of use for their land. And so when they're thinking about that, they'll come to the city and say, 'Okay, we've got these ideas. We would like to change this land use, do something different. This is what we're thinking. How does it comport with the city's plans, goals and policies? What does the city want to see here?' And so what guides our response on that is our comprehensive plan. So in 2023, we updated three major policy plans for the city under the umbrella of the name Focus River Falls. And they included the comprehensive plan, the outdoor recreation plan, and the bicycle and pedestrian plan. And it's a comprehensive plan. It's called comprehensive because it deals with all of the different physical and programmatic elements that the city deals with. It doesn't have a ton of detail. It's kind of at a higher level policy wise, looking at all of those systems and how they work together. So we've got sections in there on housing, transportation, economic development, infrastructure, natural resources and recreation among a couple of others. So we're thinking of each of those elements, gathering data about them, talking to the community about current and emerging issues in each of those areas, and then setting goals and policies and how we may want to implement them in the future. So part of that is a future land use map. So we take a look at the city and the surrounding area and think about how River Falls can grow thoughtfully and intentionally, balancing all of those different systems and community goals and desires. So when a developer and a property owner come in, that's one of the things that we can share with them and say, 'We've looked at this, we've thought about it, and these areas might be more easy to extend public services infrastructure.' Some of these areas may be more expensive, but not impossible, just so they can understand what the community's goals are and what may be feasible.

Tyler Mason:

Sure. And just clarifying one thing, I think in your first answer, you mentioned infill development. Can you just maybe mention what that is or explain a little bit about infill development?

Emily Shively:

Absolutely. So a couple of examples of that would be the Sycamore senior housing on South Main. So previously there were a couple of houses there; those were removed, and now we have the independent living, assisted living, memory care, and then they have some twin homes there. So that was a place where there were just a couple of houses and now there's about 80 housing units there. So it's a change in the use in an area that was already in the city. So it's filling in an area of the city.

Tyler Mason:

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Now, I know as we're talking about growth and that sort of thing, residents not just in River Falls, but in any town maybe are concerned that their town is growing too much or about housing. I guess how do you and others in the community development department kind of balance that as it relates to the projects and planning and some of the stuff you were just mentioning a minute ago?

Emily Shively:

That's a great question. And so we do want to find a balance because we definitely have need for housing, and it's a nationwide need. It's really challenging to have access to housing that you can afford. And so each community has responsibility towards addressing that challenge, but we can't do it on our own or in a vacuum. Back to when we put our comprehensive plan together, the City Council said, we do want to grow. We need to grow to have a strong economic base for our community and also to continue to provide the good services and amenities that our residents want to see now want to enhance and maintain. But we want to do that growth intentionally and thoughtfully. And what that entails is balancing needs across a number of spectrums. So we have our natural resources that we want to preserve and protect because they're such a key part of what makes River Falls special and creates a sense of place here. Our downtown is also really key to the identity of this city. So thinking about commercial development and how that occurs and where it occurs to keep downtown the center of gravity. And then as we grow out further on our edges, making sure that those new neighborhoods are connected to other neighborhoods, to downtown, to our schools, to places to shop, to get goods and services and that sort of thing. On the housing piece specifically in terms of how another piece that we can balance is what development is looking for and what they need in order to make housing a housing project feasible. And so we kind of think about five key elements to housing feasibility from a development and city perspective. And so the first one I think about is physical feasibility of a site. So as we were talking about earlier about we have bluffs, we have the river, these places that we want to preserve and protect. So is it feasible to locate whatever type of development, whether it's housing or commercial or industrial on a particular site? Are those soils suitable? Is there enough space, that sort of thing. And then do we have utilities and infrastructure that can serve it? So that's the physical site, is that site appropriate for that type of development? And then we think about on the developer side, they're looking at market feasibility. So is this something that is needed in the market, whether it's housing or jobs or retail goods and services. So they're doing market studies, they're looking at other communities, and does a nearby community have what this community would need? Are they within five miles? Well then maybe they're not going to locate here yet. And then they're also looking at financial feasibility because they need to come up with construction financing to do these projects. They're not going to start making money for a while. And so they're dealing with the same thing that people who are looking to buy a house or rent an apartment or dealing with interest rates, cost of materials, cost of labor, all of those sorts of things. So market and financial feasibility on the part of the developer physical feasibility. And then we've got the last two are political and legal feasibility. And so the political feasibility, is this something that's going to be a good fit for the community? And so that's where we go back to the comprehensive plan and look at those goals that have been established, and then also what would our elected officials support. And then that legal feasibility is what do our ordinances allow and what is our process? So it's a number of different areas that all have to kind of come together in perfect alignment to get a project to move forward.

Tyler Mason:

A lot of moving pieces that people maybe don't even think about as you're thinking about these developments or anything that kind of comes into town. A lot of things that go into it. You mentioned that we're not unique in the housing shortage, but I'm curious how River Falls compares to maybe neighboring communities when it comes to housing.

Emily Shively:

Sure. So we did a housing study in 2018, and then we updated it in 2022, and we're looking to do another update in 2026. And that helps us see how other communities in our market area are growing, providing housing. Are they providing something that they're going to take up all of the demand, or is there something that even if they're providing more housing, there's enough demand in our market area for us to provide similar housing. So those housing stays are really helpful. And those in 2018 and 2022 said that yes, other communities are growing too, but River Falls is in high demand for people who want to live here to come from other communities, but also people within the community that are doing new household formations. So we have growth even within River Falls and demand for housing within the city.

Tyler Mason:

So that'd be maybe a family that wants to upgrade or needs a bigger house or their family's growing, that sort of thing.

Emily Shively:

Correct. Or we have situations where kids have gone to college and they want to come back and live here, or someone has been living in River Falls and their parents have retired and want to move to be closer to kids and grandkids.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah. And we've kind of talked a little bit about maybe some of the things that go into it, but can you maybe walk through how a new development project typically gets started in River Falls and what that process looks like specifically for housing developments?

Emily Shively:

Sure. Yep. So it goes back to that first meeting with a land owner and developers. So we get regular interest and inquiries from lots of different development teams, and we try to share with them what opportunities may exist in River Falls. And there may be locations where we've had conversations with property owners who are interested in selling and developing their land. So we'll share that. But other areas that are again, physically feasible, like good sites for new housing, we'll share that with developers. And then it's their responsibility to reach out to the landowners and see if the landowners are interested in developing their property in that way. Once they have that partnership, the developer and the landowner will meet again and talk more specifically about what they would like to do. And that's where staff has an opportunity to understand what the property owner and the developer's goals are and share with them what the goals of the community are and try to find a good fit with those things. And so often we can share some of those details about the types of housing that are needed in the city, and the developer can say, that's great. We just did something similar in another community. It was really successful. We've got good experience with that. We'd like to bring something like that here. And so it's that process of working through, again, the balancing of those goals to try to come to a win-win for both the developer, property owner and the city, because these will be new neighborhoods for new or existing residents, and we want to make sure that they are complete neighborhoods where they've got good mix of housing types. Again, that connectivity with sidewalks and trails, access to parks and open space. Looking at that whole picture.

Tyler Mason:

So if you could help residents understand maybe one thing about development in the city, or if maybe there's something that you hear regularly from residents that you maybe want to just help people understand as they're listening to this, what would that be?

Emily Shively:

I think a couple of things, that it's not a quick or easy process to do development. There are a number of factors that we've talked about in our conversation today from financing to finding a site that's suitable and fits with the surrounding area, something that meets our community goals and our ordinances. So we can't just sort of pick and choose and say, this is exactly what we would want. We need to partner and come to some kind of compromises in some ways to, again, understand what basically the private side, the landowner and the developer are bringing. And then the public side, which is us representing the community's goals and values and trying to bring a project to our elected officials that they could support. We don't typically bring projects just right to council and say, 'Well, this is what these people want. You get to decide.' We do a lot of work ahead of time on their behalf to try to say they've set these goals and policies. We're wanting to communicate that to our development partners so they understand those and they can make adjustments on their project so that as they move forward, it can be as smooth as possible. Because one of the major things that development needs to do is manage risk. And so in communicating as much as we can and having clear and efficient processes, it helps mitigate some of those risk factors and make development more feasible. So even if we have a site that's perfect for housing, the city's not going to build it. That's not in our mission. So we need a private sector partner to do that. And when it comes to affordable housing, it's even more challenging. And so thinking about all of the other government and institutional partners that help us put a package of financing together that make affordable housing feasible can be really challenging as well. So again, those partnerships are super important. And then on the goods and services side or employer side, having sites that are suitable for commercial, easy to access, very visible. But we can't go out for Chipotle, for example, that is going to be opening soon, say, 'We want you to come to River Falls.' We could reach out and say, we would love to have you, but it's their decision to come.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah, they approach the city most of the time.

Emily Shively:

Yep. And we don't say that this spot is created only for this type of business. We typically have zoning districts that allow for a number of different types of uses. And so we wouldn't say we want a Chipotle or a Papa John's or something like that. We would say we want restaurants. And so it could be any type of provider of that type of service that could choose to locate in those areas. Similarly, with housing, we can say generally single family, two family, apartment buildings. Again, thinking about areas that are suitable for those types of housing, but then we need to find that development partner who is ready to build that.

Tyler Mason:

It takes a lot of different people to make it happen, for sure. Well, a couple left here. I'm just curious, I'm putting you on the spot a little bit, but what do you enjoy most about the work that you get to do for the city?

Emily Shively:

What I really like is the complexity and the role of a planner. It's kind of like the hub of the wheel because there are all of these different elements that we are trying to pull together into something that makes sense and that is feasible for the developer and meets community goals. And so we are collaborating all the time with our engineering and utilities and economic development and parks and thinking about all of these different pieces, and we're looking at market studies and demographics and talking to other nonprofit community partners. So I really enjoy the diversity. And again, kind of the complexity of this role and being able to synthesize that and bring it all together every day is probably a little different.

Tyler Mason:

Well, last question, Emily. This is the one that everyone gets asked on the podcast is, what impact do you hope your work will have on the people of River Falls?

Emily Shively:

I hope that I am able to, again, communicate to folks who are wanting to come into the city to develop, add new things to the city, communicate to them the community's goals so that that's well represented while also thinking about what we already have here in River Falls that we want to preserve and enhance. Because yes, we need the new, but we also want to be maintaining, improving and enhancing what we already have. So making sure our downtown is thriving, making sure people continue to have great access to our natural resources and parks. And then also, I hope that in my role I can help communicate some of these things that we've been talking about today to folks who don't do this on a daily basis like I do. I find it fascinating. Always happy to talk about it. And again, taking these kind of complex and multifaceted things and help people understand sort of how stuff works and navigate the process.

Tyler Mason:

Absolutely. I think this was a great avenue for doing that today, and I appreciate you sharing a little bit about that and educating about all the work that goes into your area of the community development department. So Emily Shiley, assistant Director of Community Development here for the City of River Falls, thanks for joining us today. And thank you to everybody for tuning into this episode of the KinniCast with Emily Shively. I hope you enjoyed it. If you don't subscribe yet, be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, you can find it at rfcity.org. And be sure to share this episode with your friends, your neighbors, anyone else here in town who might be interested. Until next time, have a great day, River Falls.