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<br /> <br /> Staff Report <br /> <br /> <br />To: Mayor Fischer and Member of the City Council <br /> <br />From: Ben Harrington, AICP, Community Development Director <br /> <br />Date: March 11, 2026 <br /> <br />Re: Economic Development Authority – Goals and Objectives <br /> <br />Actions To Be Considered: <br />To review and continue to formalize Little Canada EDA’s Goals and Objectives. <br /> <br />Background: <br />At its January workshop, the EDA discussed its statutory role, powers, and tools available under <br />Minnesota law, including TIF authority, property acquisition, and housing-related financing tools. The <br />EDA reviewed the Authority’s current budget and standing capacity. <br /> <br />At its February 25th workshop, the EDA reviewed Understanding Little Canada’s Local Economy, <br />which provides an overview of Little Canada’s workforce and commuting data, as well as the <br />relationships between land use and property tax. <br /> <br />The EDA began discussion on its strategic goals and the ways that the EDA should differentiate itself <br />from the work done by the City Council. City Staff have created a draft goals and objectives document <br />that is still rather broad, but with additional conversation, Staff hope to continue to make the document <br />more robust and actionable. <br /> <br />Additionally, Staff have created a Venn diagram representation of desired and/or statutory boundaries <br />of the EDA and Council (Attachment B) <br /> <br />Strategic Goals: <br />Staff has prepared the following draft strategic goals to reflect themes discussed during the February <br />25 EDA workshop. These goals are intended to serve as a high-level framework for the Authority’s <br />economic development priorities moving forward. The purpose of this discussion is to confirm that the <br />goals generally reflect the EDA’s direction and to gather feedback on how the supporting objectives or <br />sub-objectives could be refined or clarified. Staff is particularly interested in identifying areas where <br />the objectives should be more specific or where additional direction from the EDA would help guide <br />implementation. <br /> <br />1. Proactively Guide Redevelopment in Strategic Areas <br />The workshop discussion emphasized the importance of the city taking a proactive role in shaping <br />redevelopment in key areas rather than reacting to individual proposals as they arise. Members <br />discussed the potential for focusing redevelopment efforts along commercial corridors and other