2016.03.02 EDC Packet Combined - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Garcia -Perez requested staff keep the EDC updated on the redevelopment occurring throughout the City along with frequent updates from Open to Business on the level of communication they have with the community. Commissioner Benke asked what the City was doing to attract new businesses to the City, beyond the New Brighton Exchange properties. He questioned if the City had an inventory of vacant or available commercial and industrial property. Gundlach explained the EDC's BR&E plan did include a list of vacant and available properties in the City. This information will be posted on the City's website for existing and new businesses to review. Staff suspected it would take until the end of March to get this information up on the City's website. New Brighton Exchange Updates - Streamworks Gundlach offered the following updates on New Brighton Exchange Projects: Block D — Streamworks Unfortunately, staff was informed late last week that Streamworks has selected a site in the City of Blaine for their new 88,000 SF building. The reasons for the Blaine selection included: 1) a City contribution of $400,000 cash toward their project, 2) space for future expansion needs, and 3) closer access to amenities. Staff, along with Ryan Companies and Colliers will continue to explore other opportunities for Block D as they arise. Further discussion ensued regarding the City's frustration with neighboring cities and their ability to contribute monies to companies for the redevelopment of Greenfield sites. Councilmember Bauman stated Blaine had a lot of land available for new development, while New Brighton had very little land available. She encouraged the EDC to focus on the positive and on the expansions that have occurred in the past few years. Gundlach discussed the value of New Brighton Exchange property over the next ten years and how it would be increasing due to its location when compared to the City of Blaine, which is farther out. Dump Monitoring The primary concern regarding dump monitoring requirements is the elevated methane readings at monitoring point VM -5A. As reported in December, there are several theories surrounding the elevated readings being methane wasn't detected in this area prior to construction of CSI. The good news is the soil gas venting system in CSI's building is operating as designed as no methane has been detected in CSI's building. Barr Engineering has proposed two main tasks to deal with VM -5A: 1) delineate how large the methane plume is surrounding the monitoring point, and 2) conduct "fingerprinting" analysis to confirm the detected methane is in fact from the dump and not underlying soil gas issues at depth. These two tasks will be undertaken in the next few months and their results will determine the next steps. Running tangent to these efforts is a larger effort to amend a portion of the City's approved RAP for the dump closure that redefines the triggers for increased monitoring around the dump. Based on newer scientific studies specific to methane, the City's current monitoring triggers may be too conservative. This process will not be done in a vacuum and before submitting any RAP amendments to the MPCA, Barr Engineering will reach out to the City's development partners of Ryan Companies, CSI, and DSI for feedback.