When Regina Dean was in Southern California, going to school as a geography major, people often asked her what she would be doing for a career. Some simply asked if she would become a teacher.
As it would turn out, among other things, the degree would land her a job over 1,000 miles away as Savage’s new community development director.
“I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to learn more about Savage,” Dean said a few weeks after taking the job. She replaced Jay Scherer, who retired earlier this year.
While studying at California State University, Fullerton, she was taking geography classes to fulfill her general education requirements despite majoring in communications.
Soon the Southern California native had more credits in geography than she did in communications, so she made the switch.
After a few years working in California in various planning department roles, she and her then-husband moved to Minnesota, where he had family, to raise their family.
“We picked up and moved,” she said. “I didn’t know much about Minnesota and just kind of dived right in.”
California to
Eden PrairieAlmost two decades ago, Dean began her Minnesota career in Eden Prairie, moving up the ranks before becoming a city planner.
In 2015, she took a job as a planner in Burnsville before becoming the city’s redevelopment coordinator and then its assistant community development director. “Most of my background is around planning and economic development,” she said.
From working on sustainability and light rail in Eden Prairie to redevelopment and zoning in Burnsville, Dean has a lot of experience. “I’ve kind of done a lot and I think that’s really made me a really well-rounded person in this profession,” she said.
Working in the Los Angeles suburbs and Eden Prairie are different in a number of ways, Dean said. But Eden Prairie is different from Burnsville, too — an exposure that she sees as an advantage.
“It’s been great to work for different cities,” she added, “each one is just so different (in) their priorities,” she added.
Downtown redevelopment planOne of the things Dean will be focused on in 2024 is taking a “fresh look at the downtown area of Savage and the redevelopment opportunity there.”
Dean said one of the first steps will be engaging stakeholders and the community about the future in one of the oldest developed parts of the city. “How we can set a vision for that area and how in time that can transform,” Dean asked.
But with a number of stakeholders expected to be at the table, she is expecting differing opinions. “I think that will be a challenge to wrap my head around that and form a consensus around it,” she said.
One of the parcels expected to be a factor is the old M.W. Savage Elementary School, which has sat empty in downtown Savage since 2019, when District 191 closed it. She declined to comment on what she sees as potential uses for the building, but noted she has already established relationships with key district officials from her time working just down the road in Burnsville.
Most importantly, she said that while she will entertain any ideas the district or potential developers may have for the building, the key will be if it fits in the comprehensive plan which, among other things, guides future land uses.
Communications Director Aaron Tinklenberg, in an email, confirmed that the building is available and is being “marketed for lease or sale.”
Then there’s the troubled Quality Inn in downtown Savage. Last year, city officials unsuccessfully made a play at purchasing the hotel after negotiations broke down, primarily due to the city not getting concrete answers on the number of people staying in the hotel who considered it their permanent residence. Such an arrangement would require payments from the city or for the city to relocate the residents elsewhere.
Since then, the hotel has been sold and City Administrator Brad Larson contends there is no appetite for the city to purchase it.
Dean said she plans to engage with the new owners as part of the city’s downtown outreach efforts. “Hopefully they will come to the table to have conversations,” she said.
There are also other city owned sites, mostly in the downtown redevelopment area, which Dean said could lend to development or redevelopment partnerships, namely the Scott County Community Development Authority.
Dean said more information regarding downtown community engagement will be coming after the first of the year. She said the city will be working with a consultant to guide the process.
“The whole scope of service is yet to be determined,” she said.
Communication is keyDean, in her role, wants to improve community engagement with projects that are underway, saying she hopes to get the word out about proposals in various ways in addition to requirements like notices to immediate abutters.
For example, the city has been posting updates on Facebook about a controversial proposal to build a coffee shop close to Prior High School.
With limited space to develop, Dean and other officials know a lot of projects moving forward will be redevelopment projects, which come with a number of additional complications.
One complication is small lot sizes that heighten the importance of things like “site assembly,” essentially when multiple lot line adjustments take place to create a larger parcel.
Usually those scenarios come with one major hurdle — getting neighbors to agree to sell the land. Dean said she would welcome conversations with property owners to help make connections.
Dean, while Burnsville’s redevelopment coordinator, worked with property owners in the City Centre area and Heart of the City, helping to connect them with different grants and incentive opportunities.
The city is also in the process of going through a zoning code rewrite. Dean is hopeful the rewrite will modernize the code and make it easier for both staff and stakeholders to understand.
“I think it will help streamline a lot of the work we do,” she said.
