##VIDEO ID:eDjRbKEA32o## e e e e e thank you or two call the me order let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you roll call please president Mungi here vice president Matthews here member Furlong here member brire here member gardi here and Council representative Cole here and staff and ex officio members present today are executive director frandle community development director grams and Eda secretary attorney thank you very much a motion adop the agenda please so move so move member Furlong second second Cole all those in favor say I I thank you all right approval of minutes thank you don't need the approv minutes of September 10th 2024 meeting minutes approval for that good any questions if not council member Cole so all right second second second all in favor say I I Joe thank all right open and anything to the public we're good we're good all right ed8 discussion next is it be you go ahead sir I'll kick it off um thank you thank you uh so just a couple of uh uh updates and um discussion items for you this evening uh first and foremost the uh Margaret Street Commons request for proposals uh we did submit that and uh we're looking for uh interested developers to um uh comment or or uh uh um uh generate submissions for the development proposals we uh I have personally talked to five different developers who are interested in the site uh various degreeing um interest of of course a lot of you know talking uh about some of the site constraints and what are some of the dos and don'ts and then just kind of General specifics of you know what is the city looking for what is the council interested in what type of project just kind of high Lev General type things um we did actually meet with uh uh Jim lvll the developer of article 7 um uh just a week or two ago uh he's interested in submitting a proposal and we had a really good dialogue uh with him and and his team um so I I do believe that they might be uh submitting a proposal to us but the uh proposals the RFP will be open through the end of uh this year uh so we're hoping to get some in here kind of late you know holidays it kind of throws a wrench into some things but um generated some some decent uh interest and we're hoping to get a couple proposals in any ideas of what uh is it uh what they're looking at going into is it living is it uh res um commercial type of thing or what yeah the the rfps uh uh requests that uh it's a mixed use development uh based on our zoning and and uh what we're uh the city is particularly interested in um I think you all know it comes down to Dollars and cents right it the type of project um uh whether it's affordable or market rate uh whether it's a senior or or what have you I mean those all kind of move the needle one way or the other so um a lot of the discussion I think that we'll probably be having is what sort of product are we interested there interested in there um uh but really that that's driven by the developer and and what they think they can build any other questions on that one next step going forward after um after the RFP closes are they going to come present to the Eda or you going to determine internally how have you talked through what next steps are yeah so what what we plan on doing is uh we'll we'll obviously collect rfps we'll uh review them sort of at a staff level and then uh the ideas bring them forward to the Eda uh with uh just some high level here is kind of the projects that we received um do you want to move forward with you know whether you're interviewing those developers or if you're you know not interested in in that type of product then we can make a decision to keep the RFP open longer or do something else um otherwise uh yeah the idea would you know we would come back to the Eda make a presentation you would give a a recommendation to the city council on whether or not you want to see something like this move forward um and then you can start going through the development process which is a whole another side issue so you think there's going to be more than one or do you think lvll is the only one you got so far I would I would I would guess that lvll is the one that we're will probably receive one um the others that I've talked to you know kind of dependent uh good dialogue with each of them but um remains to be seen we did have a meeting with another developer it was early on in their developing career but uh that had stepped up that was the first one that kind of stepped up um and had a conversation with us and then uh that then LEL came in after that but um that RFB goes down what the last day of the month de y yeah so see if we haven't got any others in yet all right uh the next item the Eda facade program and downtown design manual that is something that uh we discussed at the September meeting we're reviewing options for the uh downtown design manual in 2025 which will of course impact uh the E Eda facade uh program um the cost of the design manual update uh has been included in the 2025 Eda budget so um we're we're looking forward to the beginning uh earlyer next year uh really start hammering in down and figuring out okay how do we want to move forward with a design manual update which again then kind of feeds into that uh facade program so that's where we are uh with that project at the time so more to come on in 2025 on that the article 7 update uh article 7 building is now open we did have a ribbon cutting ceremony uh last Wednesday on December 4th uh was well attended I I saw I wasn't able to attend I apologize but I saw a number of you there so uh great to see that um the developer does state that uh more and more units are being developed or sorry more and more units are being leased uh each week and I think 40 40 40% so that's a good start which was up from 20 about a month and a half ago so make we have a resident right there we do yes we do about I was just talking to him about his commute it's about a four minute walk he said so not bad against wind With the Wind way you're going uphills both ways pass two bars along the way there you go I might add a couple minutes three three W uh the Delaware Place uh Town Home Project is um obviously being constructed Now units 9 and 10 are being uh constructed uh those will initially be the show units um they uh really had really nice warm fall weather uh which allowed the contractor to get a jump on a lot of the work on the site uh so that is making uh really good progress the council did just approve uh some uh uh Pati uh utility easement um uh encroachment U agreements last at the last council meeting so that's all done and taken care of uh things are moving along nicely and and uh we're hoping that uh over the winter months they'll start to build some of the other units but you know probably spring is when you're really going to see a lot of work done there so on the drive by here it looks like they've got forms in for the next two units so I don't know if that means they've already had interest and sold stuff and continue to move forward or what but yeah they're moving forward it's great and then Brian you want to handle the Ceda one uh well would you want to start that off or not doesn't matter you can you've yeah you can start and I can I can uh so commentary yep no worries uh Community econom Economic Development Associates uh that's a group that can come in and uh do work on City's behalfs um there are many different levels that they do they can you know come in at one day every other week or they can come in five days a week and work depending what you want um she came in and did a tour of the city I met with her just a little bit first and I said well is there anything you want to know before you just start driving around the town to get an idea I said you might not even know where one town stops another town starts and she goes well that's all part of the process she goes well kind of go around see if things are self-explanatory uh if I'm having trouble what I'll do is I'll pull up your website make sure you know you have your wayfinding signs you have things in place that would help you know maybe a developer coming through your town to see what you have to offer um so she was going to go out and do all that uh she said she'd call if she had any questions I didn't get a call um um so they're going to put together a report here probably um next week or two and get back to us on their findings which will be at a higher higher level and then maybe at that point we can schedule a time for them to come in and you guys can ask more questions and see if it's the right fit for us to uh have somebody do that for work for us but uh Tim initially reached out to Ceda so I'll turn it over to you Tim yeah I reached out to them probably a month or so back um just as we continue our search for someone to help us out as our proverbial cheerleader for the city um and had great conversation um with with them and ended up being hooked up with the uh individual who came in and visited Brian um a l to to Brian's point they wanted to come in without a whole lot of guidance they want to draw their own conclusion um and then come back and present to where they feel they can provide help but um as far as the services they offer it's anything from hoc to um the quotes I believe are in the packet here up to you know somebody in here 5 days a week to actually be viewed as a the city employee um so it's after they come back we can take a look and determine um what the need is what services they offer they do grant writing um a lot of other things I believe they operate in five states um basically everything that that borders and touches on us um and they you know they're they're big on this smaller communities which we're the anomaly we're a smaller Community surrounded by a big city um but um my conversations with them there a lot of a lot of things they can do um grant writing and and several others as well so I think it's next steps are get them in here listen to what they have to say and then determine the determine the the funding going forward um we have money in our budget to cover it um I don't we've shifted funding around from supporting some staff staff levels and was it 50 $60,000 we had slated in current budget I'm seeing a head nod so you know just so we've already got that scheduled and slated um the budget came in front of council uh last week for guidance and direction as far as Eda I believe we the council was all aligned with moving forward with the $22,000 um adjustment or you know moving forward from an Eda standpoint so we will continue to be funded to backfill this role as well so I just I look forward to hearing from them um you know have a have a lot of excitement behind it it's I think it's what the city is it's what we need um and we've got a lot of vacant land um a lot lot of vacant storefronts in the city as well that um they talked about being able to help solicit and find people working with the building owners um to bring the right businesses into into town so that's how they do they go around and talk because right now when we had the the Lily building there we had some land that was for sale and ready to go type of thing and that and across the street we have the commons that um for Margaret so do we don't do we have land and get a hold of them or do they reach out to the individuals as far as knock on doors from businesses to see you know you're vacant do you need help trying to get people is that Encompass all of it because right now there's there's the spot opened up on sth but we don't have a lot of vacant spots right now do they meet with buildings to see you know what their plans are I guess that's where I'm trying to figure out before we had a project that needs to be done but besides that one over on Seventh and this one here is underway how does that look I guess that's where I I I guess it would be the guidance of of the seated Eda right um and and their priorities um you know there's other land to develop there's Target's got a lot over there there's that you know we can work with Target width to see what can be done there's other other owned other privately owned land within the city and um just we don't have anybody cheerleading for the city right now um article 7's a good example the the time frame was different but we didn't end up with any retail on the main level um not saying that they could help but they certainly could um you know the the Eda reached out to um St Paul Port Authority to help basically do the same thing um that they offer but they offer much more than just that um it's it's grant writing it's just a whole whole lot of they have a uh quite a laundry list of things they provide yeah that's what I was wondering because we already had that spot we needed to do something with the development on that if we don't have anything existing how do they look and try to figure out pieces okay I think part of the key is to get them in front of us and let's hear what they're their story is and understand you know kind of their priorities but I it reading through it it sounds like they go under our Direction what what our priorities are and they look at it but it'd be nice to get outside look also to see what and that's where I think we got to work on is what our is our priorities and what do we have available we don't want to reach out and that we don't have anything to offer so we have to make sure we have that on our end too y okay sounds good yeah they said that they were plugged into different conferences that they go to in different um um I don't know if you Developers what You' call that uh I don't know if there's just a gathering is there a na Nationwide or local areas where they're plugged into more developers um and the different conferences that they go to that's what how they were saying they were plugged into being able to bring developers in if at least that's one of the ways that they can bring them in so be curious to see what they have to say it looks like they specialize in kind of Main Street type of development which I kind of caught my eye of might be a good fit yeah you know we're a big we're a little city in a big city and I think the main street is kind of our our little gem that we that we have that is bringing in people right so you know once we have meet with them then we can figure out our own but it sounds like you know we're going to have to have ours ready to have them do it we can't just throw to them say here you go so we're going to have to have the initial and decide you know what we do priorities here to try to move that forward and delay it okay sounds good the last of that I think so that was the last yeah update I jump into the EA byw so um the next item is the uh update to the Eda bylaws there was a request made to City staff to update uh the Eda bylaws to move from monthly meetings to quarterly meetings in your packet uh in in your staff memo it uh shows what the change would look like it'd be section 3.1 regular meetings The Authority shall hold regular meetings on the second Tuesday of March June September and December uh commencing at the regular time and so and so um we chose those dates simply uh with you know wanting to have your last meeting in December and then kind of working backwards that way um you can pick any different months you want the the second Tuesday of those particular months are open months or or Open dates there's no holidays or random uh days off or anything like that so it's those are good dates um which also factored a little bit into the decision so you're not moving uh Eda meetings around but um that is what the change would look like and um I believe the if if the Eda wants to move forward with that change you would need a motion to approve those byot changes I think either way it would need to be cleaned up because I think the bylaws said something different than what city um statute said so one said monthly one said quarterly and I I I should also mention too as always the Eda can call a special meeting for at any time for any reason so if there's uh you know if there's any concern about well we're not meeting frequent more as frequently enough you can certainly call or or if something major happens and your you know developments come to town here and you want to meet more frequently you certainly can that's that is not an issue so if we wanted to have a meeting like with this party we're talking about callary or January type of thing call that then but just keep this as just the the as the standard yeah and I believe the uh requirements to call a meeting I think it it should be in here I'm pretty [Music] sure uh at least three days prior to special meeting and you need a written notice so super easy to do question been talking about doing this for a long time is that uh March June is that the way that's laid out work good for everybody yeah like I said long as we have the three days and we don't have to delay that was my concern is you know talking about this person if we can you know once we get them schedule we can call a meeting and try to take care of that sooner than later yeah uh the three-day notice probably won't work uh for a lot of us so if we could uh we have that open uh conversation I think that two week notice would be good that's probably the last you know worst case scenario if you really really really law says three days that's what it says in your bylaws yes okay so that way we could do it you could call it for two weeks from now and it'd be totally fine you it's just for the minimum is three the minimum is three days for public notice got it we could be talking about a January meeting now we just have to give notice 3 days before yeah we good yeah with the motion anybody want to move that motion so moved so move remember Matthews second seconded I can't say your name Peter Peter's easy Peter's good you can't do any motions that's f of control Peter all those in favor say I thank you I hav practice really I did I was trying to all right does that mean the next meeting will be in March then official one yeah okay great correct are we going to move on the facade project before that or that's uh a good question probably something that we can um you like I mentioned I think early next year is when we're really going to start delving into it and we can then connect with the Eda and say hey let's hold a meeting on this now or no we can wait until March it's I would say if it's ready I would bring It Forward Bring It Forward and I agree well especially if the RF if if this is going to be done at the end of December it probably makes sense for us to meet early in the year yeah it's a great time right now to bring It Forward yeah winter time is is can plan for next year there's already been expressed interest as well absolutely y yeah I definitely would see the need for at least a meeting sometime in the first quarter prior to the March date but yeah 100% we'll give plenty of notice but uh we'll wait for advancement in that so we have information for you all right well staff updates I think that covered a lot of it uh just an FYI update for the student build house is that's more HRA but uh it's project going over there across from Webster and uh they got the sheeting on they probably got the roof on by now I know they're sheeting it last week so it's moving right along um it's nice to see that come together too you any further anything further I don't merry Christmas happy holidays exactly right anything else from any member here I want to bring up that uh off the top of their head uh you always have a word for long go ahead uh was it uh no good write that down wow can I have your time there you go balance of the time goes to the member I jumped ahead of the other two but all right uh just some followup I know that we've uh had a conversation with Ceda but Riley did you have a chance to throw anything out on the LMC bulletin board to see if there's any other companies out there similar to them I I have not put anything out on the bulletin board I have talked to some other Community Development folks kind of around us we meet pretty regularly I know them pretty well um and we talked a little bit about that and they said that if I know of something they'll send it my way so cool all right thank you I appreciate that um um my my uh Target parking lot um the target lot and the land in front of and the trees in front of Taco Bell are we getting any traction out of the county on the T on the uh easement land in front of Taco Bell and anything out of Target we reached out multiple times uh we were ghosted um I think uh we're going to end up be doing it ourselves can we Bill them we can nice we will all right that's the treeson the front and the the targets a lot they want that targets a lot but they're not following our policy as far as it sure but we will be able to build them you want to clear that up a little bit right I I think Mr frle is gonna clear some up well yeah they it it's really unfortunate because we work hand inand with them in partnership with them and you think they would step up but uh and normally the people that we reach out to are very um they'll get back to you right away and they haven't so um you kind of wonder that come back and bite you later if you don't if you do something like that but I mean it's just a professional courtesy You' think they would follow through with that but we can certainly bail them um and go from there I know they have new people on board there on their board so um the other one that I have on here again it's kind of County related but it had to do with the turn lane coming off Northbound mcnight into uh what is the southbound entrance to the Target lot um I'm understanding there's uh potential development slated in the old Ground Round spot sometime in 2025 um as well as the other businesses that are slated along over there as well um so I don't know if if that's something that we want to keep on an open topic update or if we just let it go did you talk to the owner of that lot uh I haven't um but that's that's what I've been hear I haven't personally spoken with him no but that's what I've been hearing Goa does anybody have any thoughts on that uh so back when we uh approached Target they were kind of the lone Soul uh reaching out to to to do that entrance and at that time I don't think they wanted to do it uh but I think what taco B now being there and then with Mueller potentially breaking breaking ground this spring I think getting uh an effort between all three of them or four of them get the dialogue going again because I think it would benefit not only Taco Bell but the Mueller and you know it would benefit Target I think greatly and also the uh uh the bank there the uh the credit union I think getting all those parties involved in having dialogue with them I think it would gain a lot of traction the target's not the only one I think think it's necessary I think I think it would be very beneficial to clean up not only that entrance you know it's such a uh a Runway of cement right there to have a turn lane in and there you could break up that cement a little bit you can almost do some Landscaping in between or or whatever and I think it I think be uh really nice to to have done well Taco Pell did a uh traffic study and they put it in there so that's where I was wondering because this is a couple hundred thousand dollars if you know and I talked to somebody from the county and they said well that Medium was there so traffic wouldn't cut because there's so many different spots going up to the freeway there that it was going around and back in that's how the easements came through Target so I just is there a I'm that's my opinion is there is there really a need for this I mean they're all developed as far as people are there Taco Bell did their study do we you know as far as the city thing if they want to do it but for us to do you know $200,000 thing for something that's already working that's no I would my thought on it that's why I my thought is a cost share you know with with the other properties and I think if Taco Bell corporate sees starts seeing the number you know the traffic count might have been counted on mcnight but really what is that count is it it's not people turning in you go by that parking lot now and it's pretty empty over there I hate to see them I I just think it'd be very helpful for that was the bank talked to as well before I know we talked to reached out to Target was did anybody reach out to the bank at that time call I don't I didn't hear I don't I think we kind of put all our eggs in a Target basket and we did Target didn't necessarily see a huge benefit by invest ing that money into it at the time and I think we let it go and again I think it's more of you know if you do get Taco Bell involved if you do get Mueller involved I think there's more of uh backbone to Target you know well there is a need there I guess you know maybe they didn't see it but I I think there is a need and there used to be one there well there used to be no median and then people were turning all over the place and that's what when I talked to the county they said it was a controlled thing to get traffic so they W wasn't cut in front of them what conversations had with the county on the feasibility of that and they're yeah they they said they would okay was it was it the county that specifically put the median back in the county when they redid the road when they redid it okay iig I talked to and then we talked to the county afterwards and they said they yeah they could see that I apologize it was all before my time but that access was there when they redid it right okay I'm wonder I'm just everybody used to be able to turn I mean there was no medium yeah I'm wondering if the Count's looking at it from an engineering standpoint saying that that ESS is too close to the freeway entrance I know that was mentioned before you know they might have said that for a safety reason let's close that off so I I can't remember who said it but somebody said that because that that's how they did the I was talking to some about the easements from Target because they wanted to get the traffic not to go in front of it MH remember who I talked to sorry because that was the barrier was there to bring it around and then they have the because it's because I was wondering the same thing cuz Target really there's no way to get to Taco Bell or any of those unless you're on target property M so that was where the easement was in the back because they're not going to give them a building permit if they don't have an an access so there's a reason for this to be done you know and somebody said it was for the traffic to keep things s people turning in front and controlled intersection well and and that handy helper building too right that's that's the only way you can access their parking lot everything there once they once they put that barrier and they did a they did an easement through Target to get to everything back there okay yeah I I'm just I'm curious as to why the county when they reconstructed that why they put that median in there and not allowing that turn access left anybody have an idea what year that was I'm trying to remember was that part of the 36 project I think it was so we're talking like that's when the uh tap and Grill went out and they redid that because it was more of a flooding issue 10ish 101 yeah it's forever somebody had to go through all that half all that they to get easements for everything back there so there I don't think it was I don't know how it'd be controlled you know people turning but mhm we'll Reach Out we'll find out thank you yep oh anything else on your list young man I I yield the rest of my time anybody else if not can I have a motion to adjourn so move so move Brandon second Peter all those in favor say hi hi Peter I remember Peter this time so we thought we take advantage of it thanks everybody