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WS — Item #8 WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT Work Session Item No. 8 Date: May 4, 2015 To: City Council From: Michael Grochala Re: 49 Club Demolition Background The 49 Club, located at the corner of Hodgson Road and County Road J, has been vacant since approximately 2003. The site has become a blighted location with illegal dumping and vandalism taking place on a regular basis. The city has received numerous complaints regarding the property. The site has been the topic, along with the neighboring 17 acre Jensen property, of several development proposals. However, none have advanced past the concept phase due to a number of complicating factors including the need for public improvements, multiple property owners, and council concern over the intensity of prior commercial development proposals. Staff has been recently working with the owner of the property regarding potential demolition of the building. The owner has inquired about the City's interest in completing the demo as a public project with the costs being paid by the owner directly or through a special assessment. Staff is very interested in this project as a means to clean up the site, eliminate the blight and assist redevelopment efforts. However, removal of the building has the potential to eliminate one of the financial tools available to assist with redevelopment. The use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has previously been discussed to help offset utility, road or land assemblage costs to facility redevelopment of the corner. In order to establish a TIF District after demolition, the request for certification of the TIF District must be filed with the County within three years of the parcel being occupied by a substandard building. An actual project would need to occur within 4 years or the site would be dropped from the district and no longer eligible for TIF. To retain our ability to use TIF staff has listed out the steps that the EDA/City would need to follow in order to demolish a building prior to a redevelopment TIF District being established: 1) The demolition must be completed or financed by the EDA;