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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.06.16 EDA MinutesMINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF JUNE 16, 2015 Weidt called the meeting to order at 5:04 pm. PRESENT: Denaway, Gallivan, Houle, Klein, Puleo, and Weidt ABSENT: Petty. STAFF: Bryan Bear, City Administrator Rachel Juba, Planner Rachel Leitz, Community Development Intern APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR THE EDA MEETING OF MAY 19, 2015 Houle made motion, Klein seconded, to approve minutes for the EDA meeting of May 19, 2015. All Ayes. Motion carried. UPDATE ON WASHINGTON COUNTY'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS Planner Juba reminded the EDA that last summer the Washington County Board approved an economic development strategic plan. One of the goals was to review and update their existing finance incentive policies to be more business friendly. Juba explained that the County has provided cities with revisions to the policies. Juba described some of the larger changes within the tax abatement policy and the TIF policy and stated that Washington County is looking for comments on the revisions to the policies. City staff recommended the EDA provide staff with comments to be forwarded to Washington County. Houle asked why the policy won't include split or fractional parcels. Juba stated that staff had the same question upon their review. She said that would be added as a comment and ask for an explanation of their reasoning. Denway stated that he was supportive of the changes and believed the abatement policy looked to be well improved from the old version. The EDA agreed that they would like to send a letter of support for the new changes and for continued efforts from Washington County on this matter. DISCUSSION ON CITY OWNED PROPERTY Planner Juba explained that staff has completed the first round of e-mail blasts through LoopNet and the City -owned property was sent to approximately 30 of the top brokers and developers. Juba described that LoopNet allows the member to track who has looked at the listing and quite a few people have viewed the property, but staff still have not received phone calls on it. Juba stated she made contact with Restaurant Association of Minnesota and they said they would send the listing out to anyone who could be interested in the property. Juba reminded the EDA of earlier conversations regarding the criteria of development. She urged the EDA to keep in mind that marketing this property may be difficult, as not a lot of restaurants are being built from the ground up. She described an earlier conversation from the St. Paul Port Authority describing the amount of risk associated with new construction restaurants. Houle stated that he cannot remember the last time the bank he works for has financed a new construction restaurant. Juba stated that staff is slowly ramping up the marketing of the City -owned property. She said that staff are thinking of different ways to get the property seen, including a new sign on the property with the price point listed on it. She also described that MNCAR has a MNCAR exchange, which allows you to send an e-mail blast to nearly 4,000 brokers. She stated that the cost of this is very high when you're not a member, so she is investigating further ways to use this resource to get the listing out. UPDATE ON DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT Planner Juba updated the EDA on downtown redevelopment. She stated that O'Reilly Auto Parts has not pulled a building permit yet, but that she expects them to pull their permit sometime this construction season. Juba also described plans for a retail strip center of 5,000-7,000 sq. ft. located to the west of the Blue Heron. She stated that depending on size, she believes this building would have 2-3 tenants. Juba next described that the property west of Kwik Trip is under contract by Park Dental. She stated that they are running out of space in the building they currently occupy in Hugo, so plan to build an 8,000 sq. ft. building in phases. Juba then informed the EDA that the City has recently received an application from Hugo Equipment Company. They are planning to build an expansion onto the existing building for cold storage. She stated that the application should be going through the Planning Commission on July 9th Intern Leitz described the concept plan for a proposed development, Clearwater Cove, located south of Frenchman Road (CR 8) and east of Everton Avenue. She stated that the developer, D.R. Horton, is proposing 89 total lots with approximately 32 lots being built in phase one. Leitz described that D.R. Horton would be asking for a PUD but is planning a development that exceeds City standards through creative planning of the site, a public park, sidewalks and trails, and a stormwater re -use system. Leitz explained that D.R. Horton will be submitting a PUD application and Preliminary Plat application on Friday. ADJOURNMENT Denaway made a motion, seconded by Gallivan, to adjourn at 5:59 P.M. All ayes. Motion carried.