MINUTES EDA 03.20.18 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF MARCH 20, 2018 Weidt called the meeting to order at 5:00 pm. PRESENT: Denaway, Gallivan, Houle, Klein, Petty, Weidt ABSENT: Puleo. STAFF: Bryan Bear, City Administrator Rachel Juba, Planner Rachel Leitz, Community Development Assistant APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF JANUARY 16, 2018 Klein made a motion, Petty seconded, to approve minutes for the EDA meeting of January 16, 2018. All Ayes. Motion carried. DISCUSSION ON WASHINGTON COUNTY CDA PREDEVELOPMENT GRANT Juba introduced Chris Eng, the Washington County Economic Development Director. Eng described the Washington County CDA Predevelopment Grant. He stated that the grant is for cities, townships, and local government development authorities located within Washington County. He described that Washington County has a lot of land available, but not a lot of shovel ready property so these grants can be used to help cities find land that's suitable for new development opportunities. Commissioner Klein asked how lack of transit in this area will influence businesses looking for a new location. Eng stated that a lack of transit does pose a challenge for businesses in certain cases, especially in attracting workers. Eng stated that the City of Forest Lake just contracted with a company called, "New Tracks," which is a bus service with a regular route in White Bear Lake, Mahtomedi, and now Forest Lake. Eng described the opportunity for Hugo to be a part of something like this. He stated that Forest Lake will start with a regular bus route 1 day a week to see how ridership is and plan from there. Eng added that this bus service has typically been geared as a senior service. Commissioner Petty stated her interest in this transit option for the Hugo community. Commissioner Houle asked about the process after an application has been submitted for this program. Eng stated that the program takes applications in the order in which they come while funds are available. If a grant amount is under $10,000, it's reviewed internally, and if over $10,000, the application will be reviewed by the CDA board, which meets once a month. Juba stated that Washington County had a similar program many years ago and in 2009 Hugo received a grant for the old Stock Lumber site. She stated that staff has been talking about properties in Hugo that could take advantage of the current grant program and a couple of properties have come to mind. Staff has been talking to these property owners regarding the program and if they are interested the City would be the applicant representing these property owners. Eng stated that there are funding priorities and a scoring system for applications. He stated that vacant, underutilized parcels that will be put in place for development will score high as will applications demonstrating business retention and expansion. Eng stated that the County wants to keep the program relatively simple.