01-27-2020 EDA - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View EDA January 27, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 3 reported if the EDA decides to not move forward with MWF the City could sign an agreement 1 with Augusta. This meant one portion of the development could be completed and the southern 2 portion would be developed at a future date. 3 4 Commissioner Meehlhause stated he would like to see MWF have some skin in the game in 5 order for the EDA to justify the property sitting vacant for several years. Assistant City 6 Administrator Beeman explained he had requested MWF put $100,000 in escrow for the property 7 and staff received no response from MWF. He commented further on how the market may 8 change in the next two or three years. 9 10 Vice President Gunn asked if MWF was committed to completing the workforce housing project. 11 Assistant City Administrator Beeman reported this was the case if the EDA would support 12 waiting it out, until State tax credits were available. 13 14 President Mueller questioned if the contingency could run through February of 2022 and offer an 15 extension to 2023. Assistant City Administrator Beeman stated this could be proposed to MWF. 16 He reviewed the grant schedule for State tax credits. 17 18 President Mueller inquired if the City could set up an escrow fund with MWF. Finance Director 19 Beer indicated this could be completed and if MWF were to walk away from the project, the 20 EDA would retain these funds. 21 22 President Mueller asked what would be a logical request for an escrow amount. Assistant City 23 Administrator Beeman commented this amount could be determined by the EDA. 24 25 President Mueller indicated she could support the EDA holding onto the land but wanted to see 26 MWF provide earnest funds. City Attorney Riggs advised the EDA could set this up many 27 different ways. He reported MWF was willing to participate in the shared costs to develop the 28 site. He discussed how MWF fulfilled their agreements on The Boulevard project. He 29 anticipated it would be difficult for the EDA to get earnest money out of MWF for this property. 30 He commented it would be more valuable to have MWF assisting with the shared costs to 31 develop the site than for the EDA to have earnest money. He questioned this decision was a 32 matter of how long the EDA was willing to have the property sit vacant. 33 34 Finance Director Beer explained lost interest on the sale of the land would be $24,000 per year 35 and lost property taxes would be another $30,000 to $35,000 per year. 36 37 Vice President Gunn thanked City Attorney Riggs for his comments and stated MWF was putting 38 money down on this project in order to complete the site improvements. She believed this was 39 showing her MWF was willing to continue on with this project and that they were not walking 40 away. She understood that the Governor and Met Council were both committed to finding more 41 funds for affordable housing. For this reason, she supported an extension for MWF to February 42