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Draft EDC Minutes February 20, 2015 Page 2 of 7 The developer meetings led to a planned tour of select developer’s facilities to be held June 29, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. The City Council, Planning Commission, Economic Development Commission, and city staff will attend with the purpose of viewing each developer’s product, ask questions, and then determine which developer the city would prefer to develop Crossroad Pointe. Staff has advertised Crossroad Pointe on several free sites. One site provided approximately 130 hits. If these sites don’t provide developer interest, staff may look at advertising on paid sites. Business Retention & Expansion Visit (BR&E) Updates Coordinator Beeman informed the Commission that he tries to visit at least one business each week with the goal of visiting all 150 this year. Business Retention & Expansion visits were completed with Central Transport and Apple Tree Dental. Beeman and EDC Chair, Jason Helgemoe visited Central Transport in June and found out that they will be moving in about a year because they outgrew their current space. Currently, they are on about 13 acres with 65 terminals and they are looking for 20 acres with about 85 terminals. The decision was not made locally; it was made at corporate headquarters in Michigan. Therefore, there was no control locally in the decision to move. Trucking companies are struggling to find qualified drivers because most trucking companies require at least two years of experience. In order to gain this experience new drivers must work in teams and be away from their families for extended periods of time. This hinders gaining the necessary driving experience. As a result, trucking companies are contracting with rail road companies to pick up the slack. However, many trucking companies have room for growth and if able to hire qualified drivers, they would continue expanding their operations. Chair Helgemoe added that the company is a fairly large national company and as a result, they don’t have some of the local control over the decisions being made. Helgemoe stated, the company is looking for more land and Mounds View doesn’t have the amount of land they require. However, trucking companies seem to be doing well, which is a good indicator that the economy is doing well. Helgemoe continued, stating the business didn’t have anything bad to say and they are pleased with the city services. Beeman added, that another trucking company named Saia has purchased Central Transport’s site and will be leasing it back to their competitor, Central Transport for about a year before taking over the site. Beeman reported that he also visited Apple Tree Dental. Apple Tree Dental will complete their second build out in the spring of 2016 as long as they can get the proper financing. Once completed, approximately 10-30 administrative staff will move from Coon Rapids to the Mounds View location creating a parking concern. They are in conversations with the movie theater to determine if they could possibly park in the theater’s parking lot then use the city trail to access their building. Apple Tree Dental asked if the city had planned to install lighting along the path. Currently, the city does have plans for this. Another possibility is to park on both sides of Mounds View Drive. Another idea is to park at the Ramsey County Library with an agreement that the dental office would maintain the