Agenda

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 7:30 a.m.

Room 218

New Brighton Family Service Center

MEMBERS:	COUNCIL LIAISON:

______ Rakesh Agarwala	______ Ken Johnson	______ Steve Larson

______ Bob Benke	______ John Kaufhold	______ Char Samuelson

______ Gene Delaune	______ Mark Nelson	(alternate)

______ Dennis Flahave	______ Maxine Pierson	CHAMBER LIAISON:

______ Linda Harmon	______ Jeanne Smith

I.	Roll Call

II.	Approval of June 12, 2001 Minutes

III.	Brighton Village Redevelopment

A. Redevelopment Proposal

B. Design Review

C. Proposed Process

IV.	NW Quadrant

A. Legislative Actions

B. Acquisitions and Studies

V.	Updates

A. Main Street Village

B. Rice Creek Center

VI.	Other Business

VII.	Adjournment

If you can't attend the meeting, please contact:

David Black, (651) 638-2060

NEXT MEETING - August 7, 2001, 7:30 a.m.

Room 218, New Brighton Family Service Center

NOTES TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION AGENDA

July 10, 2001

III. Brighton Village Redevelopment

A. Redevelopment Proposal

Kraus-Anderson and Sentman Enterprises will present and explain their latest redevelopment plans. The enclosed drawings represent the most recent ones received by staff (sorry about the poor quality of reproduction). The developers are considering some additional changes, which may be discussed at this meeting.

B. Design Review

The City Council approved the design principles at its meeting on June 26th. Staff met with Phil Carlson of DSU (planner) and John Hagen of SEH (traffic engineer) on July 2nd to review this proposal in relation to the principles. The enclosed memo is a summary of this review.

C. Proposed Process

At its meeting on July 10th, the City Council will be asked to approve a process for receiving public comments on the proposed development. Details have not been worked out at this writing, but we anticipate three meetings during the weeks of July 23 and July 30. Enclosed is the proposal to be presented for Council consideration.

IV. NW Quadrant

A. Legislative Actions

The tax bill will make our redevelopment projects much more difficult financially, with TIF revenues reduced by approximately 30-40% in comparison with the current system. This affects ongoing as well as future projects. DTED's Redevelopment Fund, which has provided several million dollars to projects statewide for several years, on a competitive basis, has been discontinued. Fortunately, the definition of "blight" that has been the basis for many projects was not substantially restricted, meaning that qualifying a project for a TIF district will not be more difficult.

Our legal staff at Krass Monroe is busy sorting out the effects of this legislation for New Brighton and many other cities. The enclosed analysis for the NWQ, completed in January, shows our most recent aggregate estimates, with TIF based on the "old" system. You can see that we have been counting on nearly $30 million in TIF revenues, which may now be short by approximately $10 million. A revised financial plan will take several more weeks; we will share it with you at a future meeting.

B. Acquisitions and Studies

Midwest Asphalt: The hearing on the challenge for "public purpose" will probably be delayed until the week of September 10th. While delays are never welcome, this one allows us to complete our appraisals and environmental assessments and strategize accordingly.

A draft of Barr's report shows substantial contamination in the former Northwest Refinery and Trio Solvent sites (north end of the property) and lesser contamination in several other areas. Removal of the contaminated soils could cost several million dollars, and, equally important, could leave us with venting pipes to draw off remaining gases over a period of years. We will need to factor this into our updated financial analysis. A meeting with the developers and the planners is being scheduled to inform them of the findings and to start plan revisions as necessary.

Keys: An acquisition proposal has been sent to the owners, without response to date.

Dahlke Trailer: An acquisition proposal has been delivered to the owner, without response to date. Dahlke has a found a potential site in Hugo for relocation.

Mengelkoch Rendering: Our real estate appraiser inspected the property this week.

V. Updates

A. Main Street Village

Plans are being finalized for the housing development at the northern end of Main Street Village. We will have the site plan and elevation drawings to give you a good idea of what it will look like.

B. Rice Creek Center

SEH developed plans for constructing several new islands and peninsulas, modifying the fence around the holding pond, and striping the pavement in the parking lot at the center. The costs are estimated to be approximately $90,000. There are five properties that are most affected by the traffic through the affected area. They have been shown the plans but have not yet committed to a proposal to pay for their respective shares of the improvements. We hope to gain this approval within the next two weeks, and then proceed with application to the Rice Creek Watershed District. The City has paid for engineering studies, but is not obligated to pay for additional work, which is entirely on private property.