#17 - Solar on Landfill Letter of Intent

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STAFF REPORT DATE: December 3, 2024 REGULAR AGENDA AGENDA ITEM: Submitting a Letter of Intent for 3M Priority 2 Grant Funds to Explore Installing Solar on the Washington County Landfill SUBMITTED BY: Ashley Monterusso, City Planner REVIEWED BY: Jason Stopa, Community Development Director PRESENTED BY: Tony Manzara, Economic Development Authority OBJECTIVE: To determine if the EDA should move forward with applying for a letter of intent (LOI) as a preliminary step in applying for 3M Priority 2 grant funds for the removal of state issued bonds on the Washington County Landfill site with the intention of installing of a solar farm. BACKGROUND: Exploring the feasibility of developing a solar farm on a former city landfill site using 3M Settlement Priority 2 grant funds is on the 2024 EDA workplan. As part of the 3M settlement, $20 million in grant money was set aside to compensate for losses to recreational and ecological resources resulting from PFAS released by 3M. The DNR and MPCA have elected to solicit project proposals directly from the organizations and communities via a public RFP process. The first part of the process is for the submittal a letter of intent, this is to be brief project description to determine whether a project qualifies for Priority 2 funding. If the project qualifies, the city can determine whether or not to submit a full application. EDA Commissioner Manzara is leading the effort and is asking for support of a letter of intent for the project. The EDA unanimously passed a motion to recommed the submission of a letter of intent for this project to City Council at their meeting in May 2024. The LOI deadline has been pushed back since then and is now dated for “early 2025”. PROPOSAL DETAILS/ANALYSIS: Commissioner Manzara with the support of the Economic Development Authority and City Council would like to write a Letter of Intent to explore this project further. The letter of intent would be reviewed by the DNR and MPCA. The application for the submittal of the Letter of Intent is expected to open this winter and will be open for all applicants for 30 days. The objectives for applying for this grant are twofold: to retire the remaining debt from the general obligation bonds (although this will not remove bonded status) and to cover the administrative costs associated with preparing for the development of a solar power installation. This installation aims to utilize the land effectively and serves as a potential source of income for the city. The generated revenue theoretically could be directed towards public benefits, such as the park dedication fund, thus enhancing community assets and contributing to the public good.