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Economic Development Advisory Committee <br />June 3, 2021 <br />Page 2 <br /> <br /> <br />APPROVED MINUTES <br />Mr. Kohler commented that there is no manufacturing or distribution businesses on the <br />list. He continued stating that these types of businesses generally lead to blue collar <br />jobs. <br /> <br />Mr. Gromberg agreed that manufacturing is a great industry to try and attract. He noted <br />that it is helpful to think about what type and size of manufacturing the City would like <br />to attract. He commented that the board should start by identify manufacturing <br />businesses currently in the City and ways to help them grow. He stated that data <br />centers often look for complimentary businesses. <br /> <br />Mr. Colgan asked Mr. Gromberg for an example of a business that could get us that <br />complimentary tenant. <br /> <br />Mr. Gromberg stated that you can go after smaller data centers, collocates, collocates <br />are great because they lease out to other businesses. For example, a lot of <br />manufacturing companies are highly automated and need a lot of cloud space and <br />therefore want to collocate near a data center. He commented that the board should <br />start by identifying the types of businesses in the area and then gather information from <br />the business retention and expansion visits as to what would be good complimentary <br />businesses. <br /> <br />Mr. Colgan commented that the City of Lino Lakes is not big enough to go after one <br />specific company. He asked if would be better to clearly identify what types of <br />businesses we don’t want. <br /> <br />Mr. Grochala commented that it is important to identify our goals. One goal is to grow <br />our tax base, so we have to evaluate which projects will enhance our tax base and uses <br />the land efficiently. He commented that there are many different attributes to consider <br />such as job creation and wages. <br /> <br />Mr. Colgan asked how much effort is it going to take to get a data center and let’s <br />identify what we need to do to get it. <br /> <br />Mr. Cravero stated that everyone wants a data center. We have to understand that if we <br />go after something that everyone wants it becomes very expensive. <br /> <br />Mr. Grochala commented that Lino Lakes has some advantages such as a good <br />transportation network and the availability of large tracts of land. He stated that we <br />need to make these sites available so that when a project comes in we can evaluate how <br />it will benefit the larger area. <br /> <br />Mr. Gromberg commented that more jobs are great for a community. However, the <br />problem with more jobs is that there are more people and stress on public services. A <br />large data center is going to generate a large tax base and relatively few jobs. He stated