##VIDEO ID:L7rJkkDWF68## greetings everyone welcome to the monthly meeting in the County Housing and Redevelopment Authority August 21st 2024 I know at the presence of a quorum Commissioners Olsen Hansen and gabler so we have a quorum present uh we have an agenda in front of us could I hear a motion to approve the agenda so move and a second second yes all in favor I I uh approval of the July 2024 meeting minutes any comments on those uh I move to approve the meeting minutes from July minutes minutes have been moved and and seconded all those in favor say I I uh opportunity for public comment there is no public here I not the presence of commissioner Sullivan is the County Board Al alternate rep and uh doing her Duty here so we appreciate that uh new business the discussion of uh the Eda interim director situation uh Jason do you want to start us off yes um so the as you all know Teresa B director B is uh is leaving unfortunately it's uh I would say Bittersweet she's been a great friend and colleague to me personally and and remarkably in a year has gotten a lot accomplished for the Eda so um I just want to commend her publicly I think that uh the Eda was even the short season was fortunate to have her um but she's going on to a wonderful opportunity and to be closer to family and friends and that's a hard argument to make against so um just excited for her future endeavors and wish her the very best of luck um of course that leaves us uh a vacancy in the Eda um and uh the Eda president had reached out and asked if I would consider helping in a room to until they get a new replacement uh and to just let the board know um I mean you're all aware of this uh this request uh I told that I gave them some pretty specific terms under which I'd be willing to or able to really given time constraints uh help them uh to which they agreed uh and then my second condition was that the this board needed to uh give a knot of approval for me doing so so that's why it's on the agenda uh you can turn it down or approve this interim role and also of of note is uh I had offered um subject to your approval to serve in that capacity through the end of September uh I I can do most things for a month and then maybe maybe not so uh the option if if it's warranted and and makes sense there we can discuss if they need another week or so or if the person starting Etc but that was the the soft commitment any questions about that I don't have any questions per se but I would make a comment or two uh first of all I'm I'm comfortable with the idea of our executive director serving for a limited time and I'm glad to hear there is a time limit I know the position has already been advertised so uh I would also hope the executive director might go to his Rolodex and see if there were any other candidates that might be available and we should all do the same uh and I I'd also yes commend uh commission the executive director bot for her cooperation with the HRA and support of us as we needed money from the ITR and other sources uh she was just really a great partner and and we'd hope that that partnership would continue as a partnership uh in the future uh I'm also happy that she's agreed to stay on as a kind of consultant uh on a fairly regular basis in the meantime to take care of some of the administrative things that uh will help Jason I think with manage his own time as well as ours so um you know the Eda has its own governing board it's got plenty of issues that it needs to address and and it needs to keep moving forward so I think and I also know that uh commissioner Snus supports this as well and uh so those are my comments and anyone else feel free I'll uh I'll propose the motion that we approve Jason acting as interim director of the Eda given the constraints that he's already mentioned I'll second that any further discussion on a motion that's been made and seconded when does she leave she's done at on the 30th I believe okay so it's it's a month it's for yeah exactly so it's literally for basically I'm I'm a meeting with her tomorrow subject to this approval to start the transition conversation um and as commissioner gabler just for a little color here indicated she is has agreed fortunately to remain available and so there are things obviously in a month's time learning the entire system of the Eda is just not real not realistic to be effective it so there will be some things that will be really a lot more efficient for me to reach out to her and she can direct hey this is what needs to be done Etc uh I don't know that I'd be comfortable frankly have agreeing agreed to it without having her as a resource to walk through some of that so I again want to commend her she does not have to do that she's going to be in another city entirely um but she really cares about the work she did and wants to be supportive so good commissioner Solin any thoughts I'm just really appreciative that uh Jason is willing to to serve in this role and I hope you don't have too many sleepless nights um it's a it's a huge task but if anyone's up to it Jason is um with his background and experience as we all know not just in housing but in Economic Development um he would be the first person I would think of if I was sitting on the Eda board um to serve in that role so I'm again very appreciative of your willingness thank you it's been moved and seconded uh I'll call the question all those in favor say I any he opposed motion carried unanimously uh I may change my mind in three weeks but thank you for taking care of just stay with us that's right take good care of yourself dear uh we have other businesses the director's report I know there's items of interest in that yes uh commissioner would you like me to just kind of start going through the list here of course if Commissioners have question at any time just please let me know um I'll just start with a quick update on gun views you have seen work continues it's kind of fun I heard from a colleague in itasa county that occasionally they turn on the the webcam to see what's going on on that site oh there is one yeah sweet yep so you can kind of they had mounted it in the very back corner so you can watch as things progress and see the lake yeah yeah it's a probably smart from a marketing perspective too um speaking of their website is up um I saw the sign up they they have a dedicated website um heard some questions in the community about rents and such and and uh that are posted and obviously they're all in accordance with our agreements and the uh limitations of the rent restrictions um therein and there's uh just might be helpful there's a when you look at a floor plan you can click on view details and then it opens it up and says this unit is one of the 80% Ami or 60% Ami units and um some of them aren't posted because they've already been spoken for so um they have I think I met with a developer this afternoon I think they have five or six units that are um being prepared to be leased um which you know 10% of the building considering there's not a 2x4 yet it's not is not a bad it's not a bad thing uh a couple of those are the market rate units so um I just think it's fair to acknowledge that um I've I've I feel like I've said this at nauseum but probably Bears repeating that um no one knows really what market rate means in Gray for a new building um it's been decades since a building I mean Cobblestone and EBAs Wheats I think are the most recent of a scale and I think those were 2005 so almost 20 years um and so my my and those were for sale those are a different product right so my point is that um nobody really knows what market rate is here and uh in the rents are higher than people are used to because that's the costs that they have to contend with and it is the developers risk to try to ask for what they can get for those marketade units and they may not get it they may have to make concessions or lower rents Etc I just I know that there's some consternation or confusion in the public and I understand why people aren't used to seeing honestly market rate rents in Koch County if you go to duth or St Cloud or minat like that's the that's what market rate is um so uh I just want to make that clarification that's why you know 40 7% technically of the building has some rent caps on it uh for 10 and 15 years respectively um and you know obviously I wish the developer success in filling it up because it means that there's a need there means that they're meeting some of that need so so that's all for that yeah go ahead do they have any plans for phase two yet it's funny to mention that we talked a little bit about it today and I said well let's fill this one up and see how it goes uh but of course they're thinking you know depending on how the demand shows for this mhm they have an option on phase two in our agreement I think it's for 5 years i' have to double check the term limit of that option but it would make a lot of sense if there was if it was a good fit uh I will say that the it is subject to conditional use permit approval from city council so there are obviously still some um uh administrative uh processes they have would have to go through to get approved them would it be the same building replicated or correct yep they would do basically a mirror image uh and they're building it's interesting they learning today from the developer like they they knew there was Bedrock they didn't they didn't know there was Bedrock uh and so they've had to redesign some of the garages they're going to be building I think 30 garages on the site that can be rented from tenants uh but you know how you construct that into a piece of rock changes things a little bit so on the Fly they're learning and they're trying to make the best of the site that they were given and now I guess it's fortunate if they do a phase two uh again for the record there is no imminent plan for phase two um it's just right they have in the option agreement we have with them uh subject to further approvals but if that all were to materialize they're taking the lessons learned from this and they can apply it for the second one so yeah uh I think if if that uh we cross that bridge um it will show that there's a need and there's people that want to live in this type of product and building um so speaking of uh we are starting the uh payroll uh review process and certified payrolls um for the ITR portion working with their Finance person to make sure that's all in order before we start doing the reimbursements ETC um and yeah the other thing I had on here was tenant interest that I've fielded a dozen emails calls from folks looking for the contact for that and one another thing sorry really quick that I want to mention that was is really interesting and nuanced they're so the the the guidelines we're following from Minnesota housing have the limitation on what you can charge for certain Ami right they also have the corresponding income limit so it's not just saying you know they're going to rent a unit at X $1,000 or whatever uh because if that was the case then anybody whoever got there first would just rent it like even if that person made six figures they' say great deal and they'd you know rent it so there there's a corresponding income qualification instead of developers vetting to make sure that they fall with those parameters and I will say I've had a couple people reach out to me who I directed to the the leasing agent and they make not enough money and too much money to like there's a they said kind of framed it as falling through the doughnut hole where they they you know it's not affordable to do for them to do a market rate but they they don't quite meet the income threshold for one of the discounted units so all of that's to say like we're trying our hardest to find ways to do this and things still slip through the cracks there it's still imperfect um but yeah I just thought I I've been learning that that's a challenge and of course I told the the building owner um if you see a lot of that happening we should talk because we want the spirit of this to be for people who are going to live and work here and you know who who aren't able to do market rate so they said that hasn't been a common occurrence but it's something that I've heard about so that might also enter into the market rent question you know what is the market rent and they may an adjustment to fit somebody who isn't able to take one of the assisted units would probably be the first place to start yeah and again uh the developer wouldn't like me saying this but uh uh it's the truth you know rents are negotiable so I just like to remind tenants you know it's I I could be clear like it's so early that they're not going to want to Discount a bunch of rents because there's interest in people you know aren't able to pay the rents or or okay with paying those rents point is just like a home purchase you can talk with a landlord about uh the lease and you can agree or not agree on rent terms so to your point if it gets to that place where they're just not able to fill them up then that's where they can have those conversations um any other questions about Gunflint view okay so fun one uh borberg um I'm sure everybody has heard about the council meeting last week obviously disappointing uh from the itace perspective a project that my first email from the developer was April 27th 2022 uh to just speak to how long these conversations can take um and a lot of things are Pie in the Sky until suddenly they're real and then they you know a team is assembled and uh civil engineering and architecture and boring samples and all the things that are necessary come together uh City Council of course decided to deny the I should rephrase that they did not approve the request for a PUD and then on the 28th they're going to have to formally deny the request that's a process that they do I'm not sure the mechanics of that on the 28th yep on the 28th so so I have as you can probably well imagine been talking with a lot of people uh about this particular project and working a lot in talking a lot with the developer about what this means and how we um how we proceed and I just want the board to know uh I talked with John last night the developer I want you to know that I have he and I have I think reached agreement on a position um I want to make sure that this uh doesn't impact future work of the a and progress of getting houses built like this particular project of course I want you know I support it and want to make sure something happen to the site but this is a larger conversation about housing and making sure that we understand what the city does and doesn't want and and what those parameters are and I just met with administrator Roth before this meeting um he's invited me to join the city council uh working session to talk about that very thing so so clearly there's been some questions out of this um of the decision and the conversation which was about 7 hours worth at two meetings or three meetings um for this project uh and so I just want you to know that we're this Sparks a larger conversation and I am trying to help be a part of that facilitate that and with the with the outcome of being we need to understand what the what the desire is and where the those parameters are and where the council or the city does or doesn't want to see certain things happen because it's the h raise time and effort and reputation and the I partnership and these things um where we don't want to waste time uh so having said all of that uh on Monday before the meeting uh and we they received one bid and that was who they intend to use for earth work that's all of course up in the air now because the I met with this team on Monday for a few hours to brainstorm alternative options for the site I can say and I just met with director uh jurk this morning as well BCC in the chamber um some chamers members who were supportive of you know communicating with the city about this project and what I have where I have uh I think the developer I have landed and what I am trying to propose and encourage is the city went through their public process and made the decision they made and that's their prerogative to be clear like that is the purview of the city council um so rather than trying to open that back up and continue to rehash that and have potentially multiple more public meetings and um more consternation uh the developer and I agree what we really want to focus on is when they come to the city to request the ability to hook up to utilities um and to support their utility plan for their private development which will not be a replat their intention is to follow the existing plat and build what the zoning ordinance allows for in that plat so they don't need a c um but they still need the city's partnership to allow them to run Utilities in the right way and so that's what they're going to ask for support for uh and so I intend to of course go to that meeting and support their request for you know building their own utilities and connecting and paying to do that like a normal project would uh and that's where I have uh recommended to director jerck and others if you want to show support this is I think probably the best Avenue to do that to let them build what the zoning ordinance says they can build subject to the utility conversation so are they going to do single family uh instead of condo or if you will row houses so right now their attorney is looking at um their attorney is going to be meeting with the city attorney to better understand what by right they can do and what the city council has perview over to deny or not those are some there are some questions there um the design of so the city ordinance right now the zoning ordinance doesn't allow for the the type of town home structure that they have without replatting the site so I think at most they could do you know twin home or duplex style splay a lot line but that would still require probably a cic and then there's questions of whether or not the cic requires Council approval so as you can imagine what they're trying to do is make sure that they don't need any special favors or approvals from the city council based on the out come um and so they're basically chasing exploring they're going to be experts at the zoning ordinance because they're trying to this isn't to circumvent the public process it's to understand what are our rights that we don't need special approvals for what can we you know I guess I don't want to put words in about this is the conversation the city of grar wants housing um the community needs housing uh there are obviously disagreements or different ideas about what kind and sale price points and town home Town hom so there's lots of questions or different opinions about that which is what we need to understand from Council I think a little better um having said all of that infill development is the most responsible environmentally conscious and economical development you can do uh so this is about a 2 and 1 half acre parcel um and right now there's a single family home and a seasonal cabin that's getting removed so they want to say we still of course are going to do the legal public process we just want to be able to build what the ordinance says we can build but we they still need the city to sign off on utilities and and the council does have perview over whether or not they approve of the way they want to do the utility connections so I'm trying to encourage people to show up if they if they support this project to show up and support encourage the council to approve utilities was it the Pu I'm sorry the the Pud tool that I don't believe has really ever been done in Grand marray or they haven't done it for decades long time so they just is there a lack of understanding of that you know that might be part of it um it's difficult because we want the city to be a value partner they are a Valu partner we want to maintain that relationship we have to we're working you know that we are also trying to serve the City of Grand Moray with housing needs that's they they officially consented to have the H help them with with housing within City jurisdiction um I think to your point they're that's still a new tool for them uh nor scogan on the east side of town that was just approved that was a wasn't a PUD it was a replat but it was for more affordable homes there weren't there was one neighbor really that was mostly impacted and so it was a little bit different situation um however that was approved uh and I I think that this really pointed to a larger conversation the city is going to have to have about infrastructure uh what's the city's role uh in that um do they want to be forward thinking and provide or improve infrastructure to assist housing or do they not actually want dense housing uh and if they don't want dense housing then there's a conversation about the zoning ordinance and because when you I told this to the administrator when you create an ordinance and you make those changes specifically I think it was two three years ago now uh that a lot was changed to encourage this type frankly this kind of development um and that development comes forward and just tries to be really thoughtful and uh agreed to help with some of the Third Street um and agreed to remove all the adus from the concept to try to amarate some of the concerns there was no alternative option presented um in other words I guess what I kind of expected was we appreciate these changes we're still concerned about XYZ if you can address XYZ we're open to providing this permit but that wasn't something that was discussed so I think that points to that to me tells me that there's maybe some disagreement or misunderstanding about the role of council even in those kind like what what they should be focusing on what a PUD is really asking for which isn't for what homes should be sold for if the city was participating financially in supporting the project that's a different conversation I think this was a plating conversation and a planned unit you know how the development Works interact so that so to be clear the infrastructure piece Third Street that's all absolutely appropriate to talk storm water how that's going to interface for sure um but I think there's just uh maybe some more conversation education that could happen there Jason given the uh possible options here for them that might proceed how would that affect the grant money that we've achieved for them and and the purpose of it uh commissioner that's another thing that I have several uh questions out to I'm a pesky guy have a lot of questions for R um they I haven't heard back for sure I told them the situation part of the challenge we don't know what the New Concept is and and again part of that challenge is we're waiting officially for the council to deny it on the 28th um but obviously they're the development team's not waiting for that they're still trying to figure out what their recourse is so until the 28th you know then it's officially we'll say dead the Project's dead as it was conceived uh then I will find out after the city and the developers attorneys talk and figure out what's you know what the legal rights and non- rights are what like where the city council has their jurisic or not cuz some things are dictated by Statute like you can't deny someone connecting to public bu utilities for example if they have the appropriate Frontage Etc like they're things built in that's what they're trying to iron out once that gets iron out then they can create a more meaningfully accurate second concept uh then we'll know because the ITR funded a project of up to 19 units with a certain infrastructure cost in bid and that's all changing so I think that my ATR want to be flexible but there is a point at which it's like this is not the project that the board approved um so I think the likelihood is that we'll probably have to terminate that I'm not wanting that but I think that's where it probably would go and which means by the way that our agreement with them will also be terminated and if in the H may not be involed I will continue to be supportive because we need the housing um but it just may mean that we're not supporting it financially uh and then they build whatever they can legally build at the city l them well onward yeah thank you for that report has a lot I know but it's been a complicated uh ordeal and very interesting to watch MH MH certainly learning I mean painfully well I do think it's you know your concern about the U not only the relationship with developers going forward but the relationship with funders and just the general uh openness I mean it's one thing to say you want housing but at some point you got to actually build some housing and it's frustrating that it's you know sort of like yeah we need housing unless it's actual housing and then we don't want so sure in that case yeah yeah so it's uh it's a you got to kind of put your money where your mouth is or or especially other people's money it's very disrespectful I think to in my opinion to kind of lead lead people on and then shut them down a lot of time and effort gone to waste and uh and and a blow to the reputation of the community I believe it doesn't make it easier to attract other developers to the community or additional funding from the ITR or those kind of things uh especially this far down the road you know if this conversation had been had a year and a half ago it would have been a whole different story but no it's it's unfortunate but uh as I say onward two quick quick things um that I work mentioning I've already heard from a couple of developers about this um so it's a small world uh and uh I've told them like let's just wait and see how it resolves um hopefully we can still build a meaningful project and my encouragement to the developer is you know if the city allows you to to do the utility connections you need and and so on uh then you can say we're still obviously invested in being here and doing this doing something here um but it's not as good as maybe it otherwise would have been and these are the things that you're missing out on that's the conversation that I'm encouraging like let's try to see let's get the best thing you can get done if they allow it if they don't there's a whole other conversation the second quick thing is this I think we'll have a better also a better understanding um of council's position the heights is going to be going to I'm just jumping ahead but the heights is going to be going to uh the city council and the County Board probably in September to formally make the ask for uh tax payment it was prelimin preliminarily approved so we could write the application for ITR but they have to actually enter into the agreement and agree to the term and the amount in the term of the abatement so that will be another sort of litness test um for the desire for housing and within City Limits so we will we will see any other questions about that on the Hamilton habitat okay something noris is next noris uh yes there's uh Norris googan yeah yeah I just want the only thing I want to mention about that is um that I've been working with them closely as well on a preparing for an ITR application in September um they're opening another round of that Grant and it's a obviously a home run project if we can help it it's you know hopefully 10 uh 10 more I mean again I hate using the word affordable so it's difficult to it's so applicable but there I have never worked with a project who someone's putting their own equity in with zero profit expectation like even nonprofits take money like One Ruff has to get a developer fee because they have staff and they have to they have to um they're looking to literally Break Even uh and and sell build help build and sell up to 9 10 homes um so I've been working with uh those two folks uh on the project and helping them understand what's going to be required if they want to pursue a grant and I'm 98% sure they want to pursue a grant uh and it I will keep assisting them and then hopefully we submit one by the end of September that's the objective and then the the ITR board will meet in I believe it's December so that's nor scogan um uh I'm kind of surprised sometimes I feel like I have a spreadsheet built into my brain uh and I have I'm looking I see columns and numbers and sometimes they mix them up but uh there's a lot moving around uh on a different tone and I think for the record it's important to reiterate um our objective is to be good partners with the city of gray that's what we want and we want to build housing as they say that they agree we need and we just want to make sure we're clear on what that means if that's a fair fair assessment uh Hamilton habitat we Clos in the land transfer to them on the 31st and so they own it and they are getting to work on two units on Second Street so that's worth uh mentioning and celebrating a little small victory I guess uh two at a time if that's what it takes and steady yep and uh something that I mentioned at the at the council meeting actually there was a lot of um apparent consternation about like I said the price points and I made a point to mention because the mayor had asked about that that the H is working on a variety of projects across typologies and income levels we're trying to do from Hamilton Habitat to 51 units of Apartments to you know to nor scogan like we're helping all of them so we we try to love our all of our housing children equally and and uh and provide the support that we that's appropriate that we can um so I just think it's important for the community to even hear like the hraa recognizes we need housing all across the board and we're not just picking the market rate housing we're trying to leverage that to bring more affordable housing uh and in the background we're doing things like helping North skog and Hamilton habitat and Birchwood and Harbor View and gr Mar Apartments like I'm working with all of those so it's just worth reiterating they may not see it because there's not a big crane uh on those sites per se but we're still trying to help those projects so Spiel over sorry I'm a little uh soap boxy today it's been a couple weeks I believe you need to reiterate that anytime you can yeah yeah um Temperance Trails will be on the County Planning Commission on uh September 11th that is the tofy project uh I have a I I received yesterday I think so I just didn't have time to attach to the agenda but the planning uh excuse me land use um Land Services sent out a public notice for the public hearing for that project because it is a um a plat a replat um and just a couple of things worth updating you on and that I want your sort of Nod to proceed with one is this the we originally of course contemplated up to 20 units at that site well the site disagrees um overhead power lines one thing uh the 50% open space requirement for a PUD obviously complicates things uh there are no shortage of wetlands in the site of course uh and uh the septic um in Cook County you need to have a site for the septic as well as a backup site for the septic when you're constructing new just takes out more land and then you put the road in and so all of that's to say uh the scale has been reduced because it h it has to be um to to meet the cup which was approved for the site so it's more likely to be between I'd say 14 and 16 units at the end of the day um they have done to make sure that they adhere to the time frame that the board approved I think it was last month maybe the previous month an extending it to the end of September uh they have completed a phase one um preliminary App application that concludes 10 units so in other words our agreement with them stipulates that they build at least 10 houses and at least 25% so three two and a half houses doesn't count um at least three of those is at that entry level price uh so they're they're wanting to make sure they at least adhere the bare minimum of the agreement recognizing there's a phase two there's a chunk of I think it's probably six acres or so that remain um that they would want to Plat out and and the objective I just talked to him today the objective is is to get this approved that the if the county plan commission approves it if they need some changes they can table it to make some changes then like just to get the approvals so we close and then they can like start doing survey work where they actually like delineate the lot lines because the plats approved uh with then in the spring doing the public bid request for the ITR and to be to remind folks they received $100,000 which is very we're very grateful for also in the scope of a project it's not a lot of money so there's some we're trying to figure out timing and costs and such uh so that's the plan now once it's approved we close they go in and do some prep and then in the spring they will go do the all of the infrastructure work with the p picking the public you know respond to the bid uh and then we get at least 10 but in between closing and the end of the year they're planning on finalizing uh phase two of the plat and then submitting and getting that approval so the whole thing's just done because the ITR Grant requires that all of that's done at one time like the infrastructure is all part of one package again it's an exercise in Gant charts and 3D Tetris uh and I think we're going to make it work any questions on that well just on that one our partner is the town of tofy Who corre provided the land at very reasonable cost are they still uh tracking this and okay with it yes the county sends a letter out to the township as well um and from my communications with the township well the most recent of which has been about the billboard um but uh uh my understanding in the sentiment is you know they just wants to see housing happen there oh sorry one other thing that uh the when we when we did the easement for the uh Campground area that ate up about a 3/4 of an acre give a take because of how far went to the site so all of these things made the project size Str just a historical point that the routing of that power line back in the early 80s was controversial and was opposed by the sitting commissioner at the Time in the West End because it might chill you know private development the road so I just would like to who that pran person that someone familiar to me was very unhappy with that routing for that very reason that would come up in the future here it is and the deja vu all over again chose to make the more expeditious route for the utility instead of instead of routing it for the future good of the people of the West End so I just want that on the record fair enough were they able to maybe put uh SE uh septic under the power lines to save some unfortunately not two reasons one uh there's an easement for that utility right away and a second is the site grades to the South they use gravity we we looked at a lot or for open space I would assume correct that's open space power lines are open space okay by default yeah because there's no building on them actually snowmobile trail too yes also that uh it happens to be cleared well so people find reasons to use it um I think it's a uh it's another example of how and every time I get a chance to tell remind people this I do sorry again today is soapbox day just that every project wants uh evolves over time you know what is the um McCarthy I think quote or uh you know plan never survives contact with the Enemy so you know we have we think it's going to be this and then you get on the boots on the ground so to speak and then you say okay well it can't be that um and from where I sit um we have to be flexible and try like still hold things to account but do our best to support what is practical and reasonable and to celebrate the housing we're able to get and doesn't mean rubber stamping or saying yes to every because we don't we haven't said yes to every question or request we've had um but I just like to remind people that this is very this is part for the course this is how this happens every project we've had is evolved um by necessity so welcome to my world yeah I bet designing oh God yeah yeah uh okay so 1,00 West this is a really quick one uh West Highway 61 this is uh Devol company's in Minnesota housing just wanted to give you a quick update I um he came to town and we went on the site and we did I gave him a little tour or windshield time of grand marray and explain some project we're working on and um the Minnesota housing let us know a couple weeks ago I think while I was out of town maybe that uh the the board is push back a month we were supposed to find out this week about the award and it's going to be a month from now so um if that gets approved that's another city a very appreciated City partnership they're providing the land or at least committed to provide the land for a dollar for this project uh so the city has been a good partner I just need to reiterate that they have done they have worked with us on getting things done um so it's worth be it's worth saying that uh but we'll find out in September 23rd I think and then uh if we are successful it's it's a $1.3 million request um for 16 16 more units um but I another or reiterating this project as well when the developer started to get some cost ideas back he's like o uh it's not cheap up there like no it isn't uh so looking at ways to leverage construction technology or talk with uh even the folks at the heights across the way who are doing modular like is there a modular option for this so uh still very interested and committed to the project but we'll find out if it's a go or no go in September any questions about that no again just to comment uh just point of information there's a I think a front page article in the Minnesota Star Tribune today oh about uh housing project in Tower that's that's leveraging and I couldn't read it because I'm not a subscriber but um that was leveraging some kind of new technology from Scandinavia so just FYI and something I don't know if you saw it yes um yeah familiar with the project they worked with some folks out of Norway to bring they like packaged them from Norway yeah uh and shipped them here in modest uh modular design uh that is special the gentleman who's doing it like went to nor met his people and like hey this great it's kind of a wild it's a very it's almost like the nor scogan where you're like how did that happen and the gentleman's like it's kind of a fortuitous random thing um I was excited to see that's going to go through I'm curious to see how it ends up honestly um watch yeah for sure uh so other than that uh just a couple quick more things um Statewide efforts I just want to mention I continue to be a part of the uh Coalition working on Statewide zoning language um they're planning on bringing it to the legislature again this year I don't know who's jacketing it it probably is Howard and Senator Port I'm not sure entirely but uh the same sort of cast that was doing this last year and it was on the it was before the legislature last year and got uh denied or didn't pass um there were lots of concerns from legal Minnesota cities and from municipalities uh because anytime the state says we're making this change and sorry not sorry uh and it is a decision usually left to the local municipality they don't like it I understand so I'm trying to bring a greater Minnesota perspective and a developer perspective um uh which uh I just think is important to help understand unattended potential unattended consequences so I'm continuing to be a part of we meet every week um to this Coalition is about 8 to 10 people um Minnesota Housing Partnership is spearheading that that's their project so uh I've had the opportunity to present uh to a couple different outfits on zoning uh zoning and housing uh for rethos again uh webinar uh and then also Fort and for Cook County um on our efforts in Cook County to Rams which is a uh range area municipalities and schools I think is what it stands for um they talking a lot about housing so they asked me to present on that so and I I got asked again and I declined then most recently I don't have time um so a second job now yeah yeah we have a second and a half job now so uh just let you know we're still trying to trying to be a part of the larger conversation I guess is the point of all that um because what gets decided elsewhere can matter and then lastly just wtpf of course continue to have interviews with them which are really excellent by the way oh thank you both on your end and their end yeah they've been very fair and they ask fair questions good questions yeah it does her homework it's good yeah absolutely and I tell her every time ask me whatever you want yeah like I have nothing I you know there's nothing that I won't yeah right that's good get information out really good uh financials um you have them any questions on those well i' just summarize it with a finance committee report and uh just a couple of comments I I noted uh that we received more money from Cascade vacation rental so at this stage they're they've contributed 13,47 bucks to our efforts through voluntary um yeah contributions from their their renters and I just think that's a marvelous Community effort that should be recognized and we do recognize it uh I'd also however noted that our insurance uh quote and payment came in almost 200 bucks over our budget 1,800 versus 1600 but having said that I'm not real I'm I'm not at all concerned that we'll be over our budget that and the M Ley that the county has given us for the whole operation but I just noted it because I've been watching our own car insurance payments go up and then we paid our house uh insurance and that was up significantly and so it's just a trend and and uh this is Affordable to us but it's just we'll take care of it in the next budget cycle but uh other than that we're really doing well compared to budget so thanks for Jason and uh watching it the expenses too that's it commissioner the I got yesterday I received an mcit what do they call it it's not a it's a estimate of next year's insurance cost and they're slightly higher still so just uh just so you know that's expect that that's the sort of trend on every line item it seems um so there were two things that popped up uh as other topics that I want to make sure of and commissioner Sullivan was present for the first one this is a harbor be conversation um I met with the county the County Board um commit at the whole on Tuesday I'm not going to I can if you have questions going into the whole process but it's a long-winded thing suffice it to say the $250,000 that we received um that was approved by the state uh in the legislative session Senator hild had put that in a package along with $2 million for the cities or Cy excuse me Cy transfer station effort so it's two 2.25 million .25 for Harbor viiew uh we had some some 11th Hour very tight timelines um and you might recall uh that the the new building owner uh obviously we have an agreement with them that they uh that we were happy with um to salvage some of those units uh for uh affordability for Section 8 we learned last week administrator York and I in a meeting with ITR uh that those funds are not they're not coming through I's past that there're being like itrs was directed by the state to bond for that money um in other words it's basically an ITR Grant uh which means it's subject to ITR Grant requirements which means we have to do public bidding uh and pay piling wage and certified payroll uh for anything that that project is that those dollars are touching um that is not at all what the thought was when we worked with the owner on that um the owner has construction Crews has their own staff and timing and um they were not planning on if they have to publicly bid it then that in other words they LED okay what can they get done for the amount of money that the H had agreed to provide we can get X done that's a reasonable tradeoff for keeping 21 of these units affordable for 12 years this changes the calculus entirely um so I'm working closely with them and again no one no one could have predict I had no idea it was going through the I believe Minister yorki was so surprised at the path this took uh and ITR didn't know either so there's they're just following their own rules like so you know nothing against them at all they're saying hey we were told this is what we have to do so we're just trying to figure out and so I met with the County Board to tell them the situation um they were very uh understanding and ask good questions and my request to them after talking with the building owner was can the County Board consider uh an in fund loan uh so in our budget we preliminary budget request we had asked for $150,000 for this project my request is to increase that to 300 because the building owner has agreed tentatively I have to come back to them to has agreed to say we're going to see how far the 250 gets us uh having to and and there's still a whole lot I of emails out to ITR for with questions how we supposed to do this because they already had there's usually there's a scope of work and you say here's the scope of work we're biding for they don't have a scope of work because they own the building they were going to do it over a 5year time frame as tenants leave units and it just you can see it gets complicated very quickly so we have questions like can we do a public bid for all of the windows instead through materials for example um that would make it a lot easier and then the whoever material producers can bid on that I don't know the answer to that yet I'm still waiting in the meantime we're we're we want to make sure we use these public funds because they were directed by the legislature and we're very appreciative of that uh we want to have an overage amount so the devel so that the owner can come back and say so this is this is what this is what it cost this is what additional we had to pay for the prevailing wage piece and then we have like an basically a bucket to to backfill the overage if that makes sense there's some mechanics we still have to work out of course at the end of the day and the Commissioners to their credit kind of Commissioners asked I don't know if it was Johnson or whom but said so basically like we have to figure out how to do this so we could lose 21 units of senior housing units I mean essentially that's so uh I'm working with administrator Yori on how the mechanics of that could work and I will say if um so we are expecting um one RI community housing they'll close with their Minnesota housing Grant or tax credit in January February we have $250,000 of deferred loan to them they will pay that back when that happens so that's been a sort of future receivable um and never like counting chickens before they hatch but that's a pretty solid bet cuz they got the award and they own the property now so they're going to want to carry through with it um when we get that we can use some of those funds to back fill an increased Levy amount if that's what the County Board decides uh and we have another line item for development costs in the budget so all of that's to say this is the update on har review you think projects are done and you have it figured out and then you don't um but I really appreciate the county board's willingness to hear it out and and work with us on it any questions about that whole fun topic I assume that the transfer station doesn't quite have the same issues ofing wages and competitive bidding or do they I don't really know I think they do have the issues are different um there's still some of that and then I would also say that the bigger surprise it's based on a reimbursement basis so they got $2 million but that means they have to find the capital somewhere else to pay it up front and then request a reimbursement which is not how these projects typically you know you have to get the so careful what you wish for I guess I not sure well thank you for the update you're welcome I may come back with gray hair in October uh the last thing is just the heights um preparing for that tax abatement conversation I talked with Mike Roth today they uh I have submitted notice to Ellers heads up we're going to be coming um I'm going to be sending them a perform an updated perform from the heights team Gary and uh to look at and verify how much tax abatement is justifiable in in the project needs and then you know I told um administrator Roth this today tax AB bment is at the discretion of the County Board and the city council so the H has no purview over that Tiff districts slightly different we can establish a request a district and then the H or the Eda can manage the district tax AB bment we don't that's not our wheelhouse so our role is to help we're hiring Elders to vet it so that they can make a formal recommendation on like the HRA is contract we have them under contract this is what they say is supportable based on the performance and then we can bring that to the meetings at the request and say this is what our consultant Elders who both city and county work with uh this is what they think is reasonable um barring that a lot more time spreadsheets with Gary lats and uh they're looking at subject all of this is subject to the city and Count's approval of tax payement if they don't that doesn't get approved it's not the Project's not happening because also our I grant is subject to tax abatement approval because that was a local match that we were using right so assuming that gets approved and passed they are um looking to still break ground in September uh to get some infrastructure done because the units the modular like boxes that's kind of cool how they do it but those are being built in q1 so that of next year so that they can be delivered and set on the site in May BAS basically and then conceivably a mid June opening or something like that yeah that's everything enough lucky it was a late agenda yeah any other commissioner comments or reports uh at this stage thank you your hard work you want to show oh I was one comment I just make is um I just want to emphasize that the County Board continues be very supportive of housing um we have multiple times reviewed the Eda study that was done a few years ago we know we need housing of all types and all kinds in Cook County and we're very committed to supporting that and not only here in in the role that we play within our community but at the legislature we are going to work very hard with the association of Minnesota counties to bring forward um any kind of benefit to our community in the area of housing it's just our top priority thank you we've always ow and housing everywhere I mean you talk about the Minnesota Tribune um Sunday information about housing more housing needed in more places and um it's it's just something that is happening Nationwide but um I feel very encouraged by the conversations I'm hearing by other commissioners by legislators and I think we will be in a good position to have a very Lively discussion next session well thank you for your support the County Board support it's uh gives us hope to keep pushing forward here because our job is to stir things up a bit that uh you can't do that without support behind you and uh that's really but that's what we're here for so we appreciate it any other comments do I hear a motion to adjourn or do I have to make it I'll move to adjourn second then moved in second and all in favor of the motion say I I thanks Jason thank you everybody good job appreciate and thanks for the light agenda so I've got two clients and two 2 minutes