All right, good morning. Uh, this is the August 12th, 2025 Cottage Grove Economic Development Authority meeting. I'm calling to order. Our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you'd please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Will Jamie please do the role? >> EDA President Bailey >> here. >> EDA Vice President Olsen >> here. >> EDA member John Baptiste >> here. >> EDA member Katada >> here. >> EDA member Latac >> here. EDA member Scott, EDA member Cheetah. >> All right. Thank you. Um, so the next item on our agenda is number four is approval of the minutes. We do have the minutes from 672025 uh EDA minutes. If there's no changes or corrections, I will approve. All right, we got a motion by EDA Vice President Olsen, second by ED member uh Katada. >> Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I opposed. Motion carries. Number five is business items. The first one is our economic development update and we're uh honored this morning to have administrator uh Levit here with us today. >> Well, thank you, mayor, and members of the EDA. I'm always excited to talk about uh economic development activity and then you'll also see that some of my excitement about engineering uh construction projects maybe comes through as well. So, we will start with the Federal Reserve Bank's uh Beige Book. Just giving a little bit of an update in regards to what they're seeing in the economy today. The economic activity was flat since the previous report. Uh wage growth was moderate overall with some signs of slowing. Uh prices increased modestly overall with greater pressure among manufacturers. Uh consumer spending was slightly lower since the last report. Uh tourism activity has increased which is obviously positive. um and positive I think for our community as well. Um we think about our lodging tax and our CVB. Uh construction activity was modestly uh lower driven by a decline in active residential projects um and a slow in that replenishing of the backlogs. I would say that's probably not as true for our community um because we have not seen a slowing of the single family housing market or multifamily. So in our side of things, the construction activity is very steady. Um, and then the commercial real estate was flat overall, but I would say based upon the inquiries that we're getting from, uh, brokers right now, um, I'm starting to see that there is a more upward trend, um, in activity in that area. So hopefully that's positive for us. Uh, Gerber Collision, as you guys have probably been seeing, um, is kind of wrapping up, uh, their landscaping and getting their stuff uh, ready to open. So, we'll keep you uh, updated of when a ribbon cutting uh, will be coming. It was nice to see all their landscaping in and getting the site cleaned up and exciting to see that project move forward. Park High School, as you've been driving down 80th Street, you've probably seen all the different activity with uh the parking lot renovations, the new access uh to the high school. You're seeing a lot of um footing and foundation work. Uh interior-wise, the modification to the shop and the science room is ongoing. And meeting with the school district on Friday, uh they get nervous. Uh but in the grand scheme of things, uh they're only they only have still a third of construction left to go before it opens. So they're not nervous. I personally look at the pictures and I'm nervous um that the science room is not going to be ready in the shop. Um but they're uh very confident that things will be functional uh with their uh Krauss Anderson construction manager um at the helm. So things are are progressing there. Uh Ultman Middle School, the foundation work is nearing completion. Um the interior block walls uh will be starting uh for the cafeteria soon and so that you'll start seeing that activity on the front of the building uh more prominently. When it comes to our water tower uh you can see that uh we are starting to come out of the ground literally with the tower now that the large uh footings and foundations uh have been uh poured and placed. And so uh that is over by Hamlet Park near the railroad track. Actually, you'll start to see things start to go vertical uh more now and more visible. The low zone water treatment plant, we are uh we've been pumping water from that treatment plant since early June. Uh right now, we're still working on all the final site work. So, the landscaping and restoration work, some cleanup, some final punch list. So, we're anticipating probably September, October, we would have a community opportunity to tour the actual water treatment plant. And speaking of water treatment plants, our other water treatment plant is the intermediate zone. This is behind the fire station. Um, people have all been asking what's going on, what's happening there. Uh, that is the large intermediate water uh plant that will be going in there. Uh, we'll be putting up some additional message boards and educational materials as we heard at night to unite. more people in the community want to know about it and we'll try to highlight where that activity is and the progress uh for that. Uh a few quick updates. My Pablo um their building permit has been submitted. A plan review is uh looking to be completed. They are the ones that are located at Almar Village. Uh there was a variance for a setback for additional 19 parking stalls at Almar Village. So you'll start to see that activity. Uh, everybody wants to know about Buffalo Wild Wings, but obviously there's a lot we have to get in place and right now underground plumbing is still being completed, so we're a ways off for that. Uh, Green Thumb Industries, as we used to know it as Leaf Line, uh, their building permit has been approved and issued for an interior remodel and some mechanical work. Uh, Roars um, Apartments, we're really hoping to see them uh, get uh, in the ground here soon. they had some issues with an adjacent property owner um to secure uh an e permanent and temporary easement for their retaining wall. So hopefully that will start here soon. Uh Cottage Grove Middle School, the building permit is reviewed and a plan review letter was sent. So hopefully uh they will be able to start that work and that same is really true for the transition building at 7,000 Jamaica. Uh so we're excited to see the school district making so much progress on their projects. And then ours at public works uh for the remodel of the shop. That block work and framing has been approved and then the final inspection uh hopefully should be happening shortly. So that is the update uh on the economic development front and I'd be happy to stand for any questions. >> All right. Thank you. Uh any questions by anybody in EDA? Uh EDA Vice President uh Olsen. >> I couldn't let you just walk away. I had to throw you something. Um you mentioned the Roars building and um obviously they continue to work hard on that. Um there was another um potential uh apartment complex that was kind of looking at some land in that same general vicinity uh over near Kohl's. Have we heard any more from them? >> Uh mayor members of the EDA that was Yellow Tree and right now they've kind of gone radio silent on us because you're absolutely right council member. um they came before us uh made a proposal, we approved some business subsidy um and they have not returned to us. So we will keep you posted if we get any more communication from them. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions? >> I do have a quick question. >> Mr. John Pepe. >> Yeah. So for the subsidies that we did approve, is there like a standing timeline on when they would need to respond by before we kind of take those funds away and maybe earmark them for a different project? >> Oh, absolutely. Usually we use one year as the um guidepost for that termination. Sometimes if we know that there's going to be a delay, we would put a more time specific. It's if if it's 18 months or 24 months. Uh but in this case, I believe it was one year. So um they know that that clock is ticking. So that is a excellent reminder. >> Thank you. >> You got her. Thank you. Any other questions? All right, we'll just move right along then to B, which is uh Bellyaga >> Bellagala businesses. >> Okay, thank you. Uh business subsidy agreement and uh administrator Levit will take us through this one to begin with at least. >> Well, members of the EDA, I'm excited that we can talk about Cedarhurst U because the Cedarhurst mansion project has been on our strategic plan for some time. It is a a 10acre parcel um that has, you know, a lot of history that goes back to the mid 1800s and we've always desired to preserve it and to see it be really um an infused um economic driver into our community. We had originally thought that 360 real estate back in 2021 was potentially that infused energy and passion to see the site uh redeveloped. they had a a more uh intense use with mixed use. So if you recall they had wanted to see uh housing and they wanted to see a lot of commercial uh retail on the site but now um that has not progressed and Bellagala wedding and events is now the prospective uh buyer and developer of the property and they come with a strong reputation in the industry for wedding and events and so I'm going to uh allow them to touch on their experience and their background a little later in the presentation but just know that uh they are a uh end user who brings a lot of experience and knowledge in this industry to this project. What they are proposing is a year-round wedding and event center uh to include the outdoor space which um we all know as like the rose garden here. It was one of those key elements historically on the property. Um they're looking to restore it and this outline here is the existing mansion. Uh in green here is the proposed uh addition that they'll speak more about. They had also proposed um paved parking lot in this area, storm water treatment here, and then the additional parking would be uh in this area of the site. And they're looking to do something more like with a geogrid grass parking to try to preserve as much of the historic feel of the property as possible. It did go to the planning commission uh for approval of their HCU and that is going to the city council on the 20th of August. Um they'll talk more about the capacity uh of the facility and what they're doing uh for the renovations. Um the EDA has adopted criteria for awarding business subsidies. Um in regards to this the proposal that's before you meets them on a various uh levels. Uh you know the first is we think about the historic preservation right we offer you know $25,000 for uh facade improvement. this is far more than a facade improvement because anything that has the tagline historical is going to be very expensive and they'll talk about the renovations that they'll make to the facility both on the interior and exterior. Uh the economic vitality that's going to be something I think they're going to be able to talk about when they talk about the amount of weddings, events, and what they're bringing uh to our local economy. Uh there's a lot of job creation that will come with this to obviously run a facility of this sort and they can touch on that as well. I also would say when you look at like the blightedness of the property, um you know, the barns that are falling down, they'll be cleaning those things up. They'll actually be connecting to sanitary sewer and water. So, we will be getting rid of the well and the septic system. So, from an environmental standpoint, we're making progress in that way. And I think they'll do a great job really engaging our community and being a tremendous asset. So, when we look at the proposal, um it's for $100,000 to help with those offset costs. uh because obviously even when you connect to um sanitary sewer and water, it's very very expensive. Our other uh venues in town that are historic did not have to do that um and we're not able to and so that's a unique challenge that this one offers. Uh the subsidy would be a forgivable loan which would be for 5 years after they complete uh the project just to ensure that the ownership maintains uh the same and the building is still operational. Uh so we would provide the loan or the $100,000 once the project is complete and we have verification that all contractors have been paid and that there's no leans on the property. And as I've stated, the project really aligns with the city's goals of the historic preservation, the economic growth, and it really represents that rare opportunity to preserve this historic asset and be that economic driver into our economy as well. And so with that, I'm just going to turn it over uh to the applicant to talk a little bit more about who they are and then they'll talk a little bit more about the details of the renovations that they're proposing. >> Thank you, Jennifer. >> Thank you, Administrator Levit. Uh Mayor Bailey, President Bailey, sorry. It's all right. >> EDA members, uh, you some of some of you have been through this already, but we'll give a brief presentation here. My name is Ben Wickstrom. I'm here on behalf of Bellagala, uh, uh, sort of the owner's rep for Mr. Tim George, the owner of the company. Uh, JJ Mletki is the other, uh, operator who has been here and has presented in the past. Uh it's been a wonderful uh uh experience so far working with the city. We've had a workshop. Uh we've gone through the planning commission meeting. Emily's been very helpful. Uh and everything's been great so far. So, a couple steps left to go here. Uh and we also had a neighborhood meeting um few weeks ago at the mansion. We had some good attendance there and um answered a lot of questions and didn't didn't have anyone show up for public comment at the uh planning commission meeting. So, we must have done okay there. Uh so, yeah, as the administrator mentioned, I'll just give you kind of a brief overview here of uh the business and what we're planning to do. Uh 28 years in business in total. Uh as she mentioned, 2004 established in Minnesota. We have uh six venues around the Twin Cities area. Uh the Vandes and Mansion in South Minneapolis. Uh Abule and La Venere in lower town St. Paul. Those are sort of the more urban locations or they have the rooftop component. They're they're different types of venues but um different style I guess. But those two in St. Paul. And then on Bavaria Downs in Chaza, which is a 260 acre site, there are three locations. Uh the Edward Anne estate was the original uh mansion. It wasn't a historic mansion, but it was a older building. It was owned by the uh Redmond family, the Redken Hair Products Company. Um and that was on and off the market for about 14 years before Tim stepped in and bought it. and totally refurbished that building. Uh Equestria West is also on that site. That was a couple of horse barns, uh outuildings that were redone. And if you've checked out the website, that's a another unique and beautiful venue. And then Woodland Glass House was a completely glass atrium also on that site. So those are the six in the Twin Cities. And when this opportunity came available, it seemed like a natural and great fit for the portfolio. And so we're excited about that. Uh Bellagala offers any anything from uh rental of the venues to full service wedding, six different disciplines in there, DJs, catering, all that stuff. But it's a wedding planning service. Uh and it offers each of these venues. And it's also a company that in total is in about a dozen other states. Um goal is to host worldass events of course who've been recognized by a number of national publications and uh good morning America and all that. So it's successful business and will be around for a long time. Uh the mansion you probably know most of this stuff. I'll just touch briefly on it. built in the 1860s. About 50 years later, it was first expanded. There's been a lot of remodels over the years. Um, it's on the historic registry because of the architectural significance. Um, and because of the remodel, we have to go through certain steps, certain agencies to make sure we're doing all the right things, preserving what we can, uh, replacing what we need to. uh notable individuals uh related to the site. Cordinho Severance was the owner. U prominent St. Paul attorney, founder of the bar association. Um Cass Gilbert designed the mansion. He designed the state capital and a lot more things around the area. And on many occasion, the mansion has hosted US presidents. Uh Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, and Coolage. Um JJ in his presentation likes to brag that there's a bathtub in the in the mansion used by Teddy Roosevelt which will be will remain there. Not usable as a bathtub, but it'll be sort of a showpiece I think in the what what we'll call the groom suite for now. U so it's a great building. The the plan is to respect the history and rehabilitate what we can where we can. Um create the luxury wedding venue, give our couples all-inclusive experience, and of course be a good steward of the community and a great neighbor. Uh some pictures of the venue and kind of what you see in uh disrepair, needing repair. um some of the finishes, the outdoor uh the front porch, the columns. You can see how some of that's uh needing significant repair. So, there's a lot of work that's going to go into that. Next slide shows some of the interior things that need to happen. Uh some of the things that are a little falling apart, but also some of the uniqueness of the venue and some of the cool spaces that are there. Um that lower right picture in particular always gets me. That's the upstairs hallway. You can see how narrow that is and um what the some of the challenges that we'll face up there. Um that is the very creepy basement which we will not use but uh do what we can to dry that out and get that at least somewhat usable for a portion of the site. Um the plan is to begin mid to late August. We're getting uh close to that, but as soon as we can, we hope to get through that city council meeting on April 20th and then shortly after that begin some of the outdoor work as we're uh closing on the property and finalizing approval of building permits and necessary permits in that in that time frame. Um the goal is to get a lot of the outdoor work done this year. uh some of the heavy site work done this year so we can concentrate on the indoor remodel remodel during the winter months and then finish up outside and everything we need to next summer uh with the goal to start booking weddings for next August. Um we will have a grand opening a few weeks after our first event. So after that uh trial run plus plus plus a few events we'll have a grand opening and um the city will be notified and all the boards and commissions and uh hope hopefully we will see you all there for a nice party to kick things off. Here's a few renderings of what we plan to do on the site. It's of course the original mansion at the four in the upper left. Uh you can see in the upper right the atrium that we're planning to add along with uh sort of an extension of the kitchen behind the mansion. Uh all sort of enveloping the rose garden which is as as administrator Levit said uh sort of the the showpiece the centerpiece of the site. A lot of our uh outdoor social hour mingling will happen around the rose garden and uh in front of the atrium there. Um this is a little more architectural view of the atrium design. You can see it's got uh significant glass walls uh on the south and then on the east facing the rose garden. uh it's the the entire site will be made uh accessible from the parking lot into the mansion and the atrium which of course currently it is not and well these are just floor plans. So you can see the original mansion and sort of that rear kitchen as it stands now in the in the center of everything. So the extended area of the kitchen and storage will be south of or I'm sorry west of that kitchen which is on the bottom of this page and then the atrium off to the right that you so you can see sort of the square footage and then the rose garden of course in the middle of all of that. Uh there's the upstairs that will remain uh as a floor plan pretty much the same, but it will have the suites for the the wedding party getting ready and things like that. Um and some some neat uh upgrades up there as well. Traffic and parking is always a question we get. uh controlled entry and exit is our plan with uh we've worked with the city and with the county on where to align that intersection that entrance um on the south edge of the site nearest our parking lot um there is a plan B I guess with an access at the point of ingress and egress from where military road would line up but that's not in our initial plan we'll just sort of see how it goes and take the queue from the city on whether that's become an issue, whether we need that entrance. Um the guest arrival traffic control management, I mentioned that's all going to come from 70th if if we can. There are existing turn lanes, at least a left turn lane into there. Uh there was some question at the planning commission about right turning westbound traffic coming off the roundabout. Um, we think the times of arrival are staggered enough and the speed at that point is not significant enough to warrant a right turn lane, but the county would be the ones to tell us if we need to do that. So far, we have not heard that. Uh, and then we have designated areas for staff parking, vendor parking, client parking, and deliveries outside of the the proposed parking area. This is a overview of the site. Um you can see as the administrator mentioned the paved parking area uh in light gray at the bottom uh the grass with uh the supplemental grid system kind of nicely tucked between all the existing trees at the uh southeast corner of the site. some overflow parking off of the main drive aisle to the left which is north of the I'm not sure what we call it carriage house caretaker's house something like that which currently the plan is just to use those as um sort of meeting space and offices generally but no permanent uh employees or anything there on site uh you see some of the outuildings in the northwest corner of the site we're going to preserve what we can there and uh couple of the foundations and stonework that are there. Uh some of them unfortunately can't be saved but uh overall you see the location of the mansion, the addition, the rose garden, the loading and delivery and extended kitchen area and then the circulation plan here on this on this slide. Um sound and light. Another question we get, there's not a lot of light added to the site. Mostly uh down lighting on the outside of the building. um lighted walkways from the parking lot. Um sound uh we have from our other uh locations, Van Dusen Mansion in particular is uh a beautiful venue, but it's on half a city block in South Minneapolis and there's a lot of neighbors around. So, we are used to managing the sound, having our decibel meters. Um, we've told the neighbors we'll be out there th those first few events with our decibel meter making sure we're not spilling, but we think with the layout of the site and the atrium and the outdoor activity mostly being in the rose garden, um, that it's not going to spill into the neighborhood much at all. Um, what else do we have? Maintaining much as much natural trees and foliage as possible. In addition to that, um, with the excavation that has to happen for the, uh, atrium and some of the other, um, ground dirt work that has to happen, we're going to have some excess dirt and we plan to, uh, install some BMS where we can around the perimeter of the site, uh, while not disturbing any of the natural vegetation that we don't have to. Excuse me. And here's just these are the same uh, renderings. I guess from previous slides. So, one more look at those. Uh, here is a landscape plan. If you're interested, you can see the amount of landscaping that we're proposing around the building and in the rose garden and around the atrium. And then a little closeup of the rose garden. You can see how detailed that is. Um, and what we plan to do there. if anybody has any uh questions about that. We've got a planting plan and a uh all the species listed. And then here's just some renderings that uh Ed Hawkford, our designer, has come up with to show what uh some of the interior rooms will look like, which will make use of what's existing and reusing what we can. Um I think the example we give the the elevator will not be in use for the venue but uh some of the interior panels from the elevator are really cool or will we we will reuse those elsewhere have them sort of as a showpiece. A lot of people ask about the organ that's in the mansion that will that will remain but not in use. Um the the it's interesting the guts maybe you all know this I didn't. the guts of the organ are downstairs and all of the operation and the we looked at renovating it, refurbishing it. We wanted to do that. Uh price tag for that was a couple hundred,000. So it will be a showpiece, not in use, but uh we'll see what we can do in the future. So all that will remain as it can. But here's some more. This is the uh what we call the groom suite pool table in there. I don't see the bathtub, but that's going to be in there somewhere. Uh here's the the bar in the downstairs area, sort of centrally located. It's going to be a full fully working bar. We just had a discussion in our weekly meeting about uh what needs to be hooked into there and hooked up for there. And they were pretty excited about that bar, getting that as a nice little central place. Um the fountain you see in the forefront there is actually the potentially the fountain from the rose garden and we don't know if that can be saved yet. We'd like to and could potentially move that inside as as sort of another showpiece and and use that decoratively as we can. Uh there's another view of that in the atrium with the sloped roof and the glass on the outside. So, and that's our updated uh logo, Cedarhurst Mansion, established 1868. And we'll you'll see that crest and that logo everywhere for our marketing packages. So, very excited about the project. I'm sure I've missed a lot of things, but if you've got any questions, I'm happy to answer them. >> Well, first of all, thank you for uh coming in this morning and sharing with the the EDA here. Obviously, I've gotten the opportunity to um tour that mansion uh to the the guts, as you said, that kind of interesting basement and up in the attic. >> Yeah. >> In the years past. So, really appreciate. I know. Um, I literally figuratively had neighbors contact me after your neighborhood meeting you did, >> uh, that were extremely excited between the difference of what was being proposed by a previous developer with a lot of housing and kind of crunching stuff on there to, um, your desire and and opportunity to preserve uh, that area. So, uh, kudos to you guys for, uh, taking on this project. It's definitely Cedarst is a very important part not just of the US history, but Cottage Grove history. So, um the question I did have a real quick question then I'll ask any other comments from the um the EDA the you were talking about keeping all the greenery or trying to keep the greenery. Obviously, as you can tell, there's a lot of overgrowth. >> Yes. >> Specific and then a lot of unfortunate uh I'll say unfortunate uh dead trees like uh ash and such that are kind of tucked into the lilacs all the way on the perimeter. And I notice on some of the pictures you're looking like you're going to be adding some additional greenery on there. What's what's your thoughts on uh what you're planning to do with the the I'll call it the hedge or the the outofc control hedge that kind of uh follows the perimeter of of the property >> the outer the outer perimeter along uh >> 7th or a little bit up on uh 19. >> Let's see here. There you can kind of get a view of it. Yeah, there is a lot of dead stuff in there. We've uh we I don't know that um we we do have a tree inventory telling us what's good, what what shouldn't be saved. Uh our contractor PMI has a landscape uh contractor that they work with. Um you can see on our landscape plan, we don't have the zoomed out version. We have plans to sort of supplement what's there where it's where it gets too thinned out or is thinned out. Um, but there's a lot of brush that needs to be cleared. Um, I I can't answer as to what that supplemental plan is. It's sort of we know that some areas are going to need it. We don't want to disturb the views to the the front lawn, the grand lawn, the mansion itself, of course, but anything around that uh perimeter to keep the privacy. We want we want members, guests to feel like they're coming to uh even from the parking lot to the mansion to not be aware that there's these busier streets nearby or anything. So, we've got to I I think the key word there is preserving as much of it as we can uh in keeping with the site, but we understand that some of it is going to need to be thinned out uh and our contractor is working on it. We can give you some better detail at the council meeting if you'd if you'd like to hear about it. Mike Mike our contractor will be there, but um I don't have a great answer as far as the plan for the overgrowth areas but >> Well, and the only reason I bring it up and you kind of mentioned it, one is you got the privacy part that you want for the the venue it itself. But at the on the other side of it too, you want that great visibility. Yeah. >> And right now I sometimes you tell new people that are coming to Cottage Grove and they go, "What? Where's Cedar? What is that? >> Because it's so tucked in back there, which is kind of a good thing, but at the same time, it's such a beautiful building and your your desire to keep the front lawn. >> Um, I'm just looking at how do you make it inviting? Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of what I was looking at. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think I think we'll find that right balance. I mean, obviously we want that visibility and that wow factor uh for the mansion, and I think it's just sort of been allowed to go out of control. Yes. Uh by this point, so we'll shape it up. Um if if I can compare it to um the Bavaria Down site, when I first toured that site, I thought this is going to be quite a bit of work. And that that uh the mansion on that site or the building on that site, it was uh it was overgrown. I mean that Edward an estate has a sort of a curved it's almost like a Keebler elf roof on that building. And there were trees growing over it and everything. And I thought I wonder if they're going to leave it natural or if they want that as even though it's a a winding drive in there, they want that showpiece. But it is now when you get to that site uh and you get f far enough on the property, it's uh really grabs you. So, uh same contractors, same designers working on that. So, I think as on this site, so I think uh we'll take that into consideration. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Uh uh uh EDA vice president Olsen. >> Thank you. Presentation is good the second and third time as it is the first time. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. Uh first of all, Ben, thanks for being here this morning. Um I happen to be the liazison to the planning commission as well. So I was able to see the presentation in front of the planning commission and I wanted to touch on a couple of the elements from that which uh you did actually mention um in your presentation, one of those which is the >> the um access off of the roundabout. Yes, >> there were some questions about um you know the traffic stacking and >> um h how you're going to manage getting people into the facility without um causing any sort of issues backing up onto that roundabout and and I thought you guys addressed it pretty well. Um you had mentioned you're going to have parking attendants who are going to be bringing people in and making sure that the flow of traffic goes well. Could you just maybe uh spend an extra minute here explaining once they make that turn and they get into the facility what happens next because I thought that was pretty compelling at the planning commission. >> Sure. I will leave this slide up um so you can see that access. It'll be slightly realigned to uh be directly across from uh >> Jorgensson >> Jorgensson meep the where Meep PBLO is going in, right? >> Um so initially we had an entrance to that parking lot. We wanted people into the site and to the parking area. Well, it was suggested and we thought it was a good idea to move that. You can see the entrances to the north. So, I think if there's any stacking because there's a handful of cars arriving at once, uh it's going to be in our driveway, not out on the road. Um and that so that entrance was moved to the north and then um when they enter the site, there's going to be uh those 23 spots for paved parking. And a lot of those um I guess we'll sort of with our attendance there, we'll sort of know who should park there, right? Whether it's uh you know, older people or people that have maybe difficulty getting to the site, uh maybe the VIPs of the, you know, wedding families or something like that. Uh, and then the rest of the parking, the the overflow parking, it's going to, you know, it looks like it's just is sitting on grass in the middle of nowhere. It's going to be finished nicely. So, all of that parking is available uh to any patrons, any guests. Um, but I will say, let me look if I have a better I didn't h No, I don't have that slide. I'm sorry. Um, the one thing I'll say is if we have we know being the being the wedding planners as well, we know the RSVPs, we know if it's going to be attended by 70 people or our capacity of 190 people. And we also have uh sort of a valet service that we need that we we may need to utilize and we will utilize for some of those busier events. So, if it's just people pulling into that top parking lot, getting onto the site, getting out onto the sidewalk, and us parking, that might happen at times, too. And that'll be more likely for those larger events. So, we don't anticipate waiting, stopping, stacking to be a problem, especially out on 70th. >> Perfect. And I know um you also mentioned in that presentation that you're working hard on minimizing the impervious surface by utilizing uh maybe some different materials for parking. Could you talk about that momentarily, please? >> Yeah, there's a uh a grid system. Uh what's it called, Emily? >> Geog grid. Uh a geog grid. Is that the brand name? So, it's it's a it was a suggestion um from your planning staff um that we you know, we had looked at well the drainage pattern the the we don't think it's going to be muddy ever or anything like that. If it is, it's up to us of course as a business to make sure we have. So, we're looking at ground protection mats in the hightra areas or like in that throat between the parking lot. Um but at that suggestion we started looking into products like that and it's a it's a system that ends up being you know you wait till a soft ground time and you have that grid system that's rolled into your uh directly into your uh surface and over time it just settles to the right below however far below the surface uh and it ends up being a stabilization system to ensure that it doesn't you don't get ruts and mud. and things like that. I don't I'm not an engineer. I don't know exactly how it works. >> We know a couple. So, yeah, you're okay. >> Yeah. >> So, uh at at planning staff and engineering staff suggestion, we looked into that and uh great. If we can preserve as much, you know, uh pvious area as we can, we're going to do whatever we can. And we think that overflow parking area isn't going to be a problem and especially with a system like that in place. Yeah, I was excited to hear you guys uh talk about that and um of course, you know, with all of the various demands of the Met Council and then you have the watershed district and things um I think that's going to make them happy as well. >> And the last thing I wanted to just touch on is um you know, our city administrator mentioned night toite last Tuesday. I will tell you uh and I did get the chance to travel to the parties that I went to with Jennifer. she was part of my group. Um the feedback from the neighbors on this project specifically was overwhelmingly positive. People were very enthusiastic. In fact, one of the neighbors had mentioned they had just been to an event in Chaza and how impressed they were and um that they actually had some conversation with one of your staff members at this event about Cottage Grove and what was coming and >> um your staff was excited about it too, which I think uh said an awful lot to this individual. So, I want to thank you guys for taking the interest that you have. Uh hopefully we'll be able to bring this thing to a head pretty quickly and get you get you moving on um your construction plans and and uh really, you know, move this project along so that August 26th is a reality because people are very very enthusiastic about it. As the mayor mentioned, the idea of preserving this versus, you know, really changing the overall character of it with the the retail and the housing that was proposed by uh the previous developer. um I think has people uh really fired up. So you guys are definitely tracking the right way. Keep keep moving forward. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Great to hear. >> All right. Yes. Uh ED member uh Latt, >> thank you for your presentation. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um so regarding the out of town guests, uh do you have any plans to build relationships with Cottage Grove Hotels? >> We do. I I don't know about uh you know I don't know the Cottage Grove Hotels specifically. I don't it's not my department but um we do have at each of our venues uh partnerships uh with local hotel hotels. So I don't anticipate this being any differently. We uh need to make sure we get through the entitlements and and closed on the property first. But this this year to build up to those first events is when those kind of agreements happen. Um similarly we like to utilize uh shuttle services from those hotels if we can because we talk about parking an awful lot. So uh that is the goal. That is the plan. Uh and I'm sure we can work with uh staff to sort of uh find those right partners. Right. >> Cool. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions? EDA. >> All right. Thank you, Ben. Appreciate it. Uh So, uh, what we've got before us then for the EDA is, uh, uh, looking for a motion, uh, that's on the screen there, which is a $100,000, uh, business subsidy, uh, uh, which would be a forgivable loan. Obviously, that is coming from the EDA obviously be to use towards this pro project in uh, preserving uh, Cedar's matching. So, anybody want to make a motion? I'd like to make a motion to approve the business subsidy agreement with the Bella Gala to provide a forgivable loan in the amount of $100,000 to be used for the project. >> All right. So, I have a motion by EDA member Kada. Do I have a second? >> I second that motion. >> All right. Second by EDM member Gene Baptist. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Looking forward to seeing you next week. >> You got her. Thank you. All right. Uh, next on our agenda is public hearings are on them this morning. Other business, we have none. No workshops. Uh, no additional presentations. Um, we're all the way down to adjournment. >> Move to adjourn. >> We have a motion by council member EDA vice president Olsen uh to adjurnn. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by uh EDA member Kada. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. We are adjourned.