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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010.10.11 EDA MinutesMINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF OCTOBER 11, 2010 Fran called the EDA meeting, to order at 8:30 am. PRESENT: Jan Arcand, Tom Denaway, Phil Klein, Brian Thistle and Fran Miron ABSENT: Jim Bever and Mike Granger CITY STAFF PRESENT: City Administrator, Mike Ericson, Community Development Director, Bryan Bear, and Planner, Rachel Simone. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF SEPTMEBER 13, 2010 Denaway made motion, Thistle seconded, to approve the minutes for the EDA meeting of September 13, 2010. All ayes. Motion carried. UPDATE ON PARK DEDICATION POLICY At its September 20, 2010, meeting the City Council considered both the EDA and Park Commission recommendations regarding park dedication fees for commercial and industrial development. The City Council directed staff to revise the park dedication ordinance by removing the requirement for commercial and industrial land/fee dedication. The ordinance will be considered by the Planning Commission on October 28, 2010. Staff will continue to update the EDA on the park dedication ordinance. UPDATE ON TIF CERTIFICATION On July 22, 2009, the request to certify the TIF district was delivered to Washington County. The EDA decided to request certification at that time, because there is a three year time limit to use buildings that have been demolished to qualify. In order for the city to reimburse itself for the purchase of the properties and the demolition, the district needed to be certified within three years of the date that the property was deemed substandard. Staff was expecting to hear back from the County on the certification this summer. Staff contacted Washington County in August and they stated that they did not receive the certification request. The request was also sent to the State of Minnesota and they were aware of the request. Over the last month staff has been meeting with Springsted to come up with options on where to go from here. There were three topics of discussion: 1. Talk to Washington County and ask them to certify the TIF district on the date of the original request. 2. Re-request certification for the TIF district. This option will not be feasible because we need to use the buildings that were demolished to quality for the TIF district and for the City to reimburse itself for the purchase and demolition. 3. Offer development incentives for property owners and developers other than TIF. Staff recommended that the EDA discuss each topic and provide direction to staff on how to move forward. Miron stated that he liked the idea of partnering up with Washington County for economic development incentives like tax abatement. Denaway stated that we do not lose anything by requesting that the County certify the district on the original request date. TIF is certain in this case and tax abatement is not. The CD Director stated that we can drop parcels from the district at any time if we leave the TIF district as is, but there may be other incentives for developers that the City can provide. Thistle stated that he thinks the EDA should request certification on the original date. The City has spent time and money on the creation of the district. The City has been advertising the TIF District to the public. Denaway made a motion, seconded by Klein, to move forward with option one and request that the County certify the district on the original request date. Staff should work on other development incentive if TIF financing does not work for a project. All aye. Motion Carried. DISCUSSION ON CITY RENTAL PROPERTIES IN DOWNTOWN The City owns two rental properties in downtown across from City Hall (barber shop/printing building and a duplex). For the last several years the duplex has been rented out and the barber shop has been rented out. Staff discussed what the future will be for the two building with the EDA. The CD Director stated the house that the City rents out is in bad condition and will be vacant soon. The print building is also expected to be vacant soon. The buildings could be rented out again or demolished. Miron asked what the holding costs for each building was. The CD Director stated that staff did not have that information for the EDA this morning, but the City does pay insurance, utilities and staff time to manage and maintain the buildings. Miron asked staff to bring the holding costs to the EDA at their next meeting. Klein asked if we take then down, would that be an incentive for developers to come to Hugo and build in downtown. Arcand asked what the inside of the buildings looked like and would be going in and fix them up to rent out again. The CD Director stated that there are a lot of items to fix and would be a large cost. Thistle stated that once a building is vacant it starts to look bad pretty quick and becomes a security issue. If the buildings are not rented out they should be removed. Miron stated that the EDA should discuss this item at their next meeting when they can look at the holding costs for the buildings. UPDATE ON BR&E IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT TEAMS Staff had another joint meeting with the HBA on September 23, 2010, to discuss the Marketing and Events Action Plan. There is now a rough draft of the action plan and we will meet again on October 28, 2010, to finalize the action plan. The action plan items relate to both the City and the HBA. After the action plan is final we will then distinguish roles between and City and the HBA and there may be a few items that overlap. Staff will continue to work with the HBA on the action plan and bring the final plan to the EDA for its review. UPDATE ON DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT Staff discussed the Highway 61 project completion with the EDA. The antique store has been demolished in downtown. Pete Sampair has been meeting with staff on a possible redevelopment of his property. Staff stated that Glamos Wire is having an open house on October 15, 2010. Miron made a motion, seconded by Denaway, for staff to post on the bulletin board that there will be a possible quorum of EDA at the Glamos Wire open house. All Aye. Motion Carried. ADJOURNMENT Klein made a motion, seconded by Arcand, to adjourn at 10:30 am. All Aye. Motion Carried.