Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Councilmember Allen provided the EDC with an update from the City Council. He stated the <br />Council has been working on establishing bonds for the Midtown Village, while also setting up <br />for the demolition of the old New Brighton Elementary School. He was proud to report the City <br />received an AA+ bond rating from Standard & Poor’s. He thanked all of the kids who <br />participated in Cops and Bobbers. He stated he appreciated all of the New Brighton residents <br />who were able to participate in National Night Out on Tuesday, August 6th. He noted Stockyard <br />Days was underway and encouraged residents to participate in the many events that have been <br />planned. He invited the public to view the new Beautiful Project mural that was completed on <br />the New Brighton Community Center. <br />VI. Business Items <br />A. Open to Business Update <br />Gozola stated this is simply a quick update for the EDC regarding Open To Business and their <br />potential partnership with Ramsey County. Per County staff, both parties have been <br />negotiating parameters of a deal this year, and the County Board will be considering a final <br />contract on August 13th. Assuming the contract is approved, the County will begin pushing out <br />program details aggressively throughout August, and the County-wide program would begin <br />offering services as soon as September 1st. Assuming this happens, the City will seek to recoup <br />dues previously paid for the final quarter of the year. Open To Business has previously agreed <br />to this arrangement. If the EDC has any Open To Business questions it would like addressed <br />staff will research such in the coming weeks and will report back at a future meeting. <br />Discussion included: <br />• The EDC supported Open to Business having further outreach to the local business <br />community and the Chamber of Commerce. <br />• The EDC supported Open to Business maintaining a presence in New Brighton if the County <br />were to offer County-wide programming. <br />B. CSI Potential Expansion/Exchange Area Traffic Study Update & Findings <br /> <br />Gozola reported in May of this year, CSI exercised their third and final option on the land to the <br />north of their current corporate headquarters within the New Brighton Exchange, and all <br />indications are the City may see a proposed expansion of the facility within the coming year. As <br />currently envisioned, a 60,000 square foot addition would be placed on the northern side of the <br />existing building with an additional 800 net parking stalls placed on the remainder of the land <br />as well as some additional acreage from the neighboring Block B. There are no concerns that <br />expansion into Block B will pose problems for the future development of that area, and it may <br />make the land more attractive to CSI should they have further expansion plans moving forward. <br />Staff will continue to explore such possibilities in the future. Prior to the original facility opening <br />in 2015, Spack Consulting (a company that specializes in Traffic studies) completed an analysis <br />of the area to determine future traffic control needs upon full development within the New <br />Brighton Exchange. With the Exchange nearing full build out, the study was revisited to see if <br />the recommendation of a traffic signal at Old Highway 8/14th Street is still valid, and whether <br />the configuration of Old Highway 8 could be modified. Staff commented further on the traffic <br />study results and findings.