This transcript is from a meeting of the Apple Valley Economic Development Authority (EDA). Based on the context provided, the phonetic names in the text (e.g., "Tom Lander" for Tom Melander, "Grle/Goodone" for Ruth Grendahl, "Brogen" for John Bergman) have been corrected to the official names of the participants. [0:01] [Music] [0:58] **Tom Melander**: I call this meeting to order of the Apple Valley Economic Development Authority. This is a special meeting on January 25th of 2024. First item of business is the approval of the agenda for this evening. Any changes from staff? [1:15] **Tim Benetti**: Mr. President, members of the board, we do not have any changes or additions to your agenda at this time. [1:24] **Tom Melander**: Any changes from the commission? [1:28] **John Bergman**: Nothing for me. I'd move approval then. [1:31] **Ruth Grendahl**: Second. [1:32] **Tom Melander**: Motion by Grendahl, second by—then we'll approve the meeting—the minutes—would you like to take a vote on that? [1:44] **Tim Benetti**: I would like to take a vote on—yes. Mr. Commissioner, you might want to raise your chair a little. [1:46] **John Bergman**: Let's have a vote on there. You sure? You sure you're the chair? [Laughter] [1:50] **Tom Melander**: I custom-ordered them to sit in this chair. All those in favor—we'll vote—all in favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [2:04] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? It carries. And we have the minutes of October 26, 2023. Any changes from staff? From the commission? [2:18] **Clint Hooppaw**: I would move the full consent agenda. [2:20] **Ruth Grendahl**: I'll second it. [2:22] **Tom Melander**: Moved by Hooppaw, seconded by Grendahl. In favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [2:28] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? It carries. And the regular agenda items is item number 4a. It’s adopt a resolution approving 2024 board officers. [2:38] **Tim Benetti**: Thank you, Mr. President. So before you tonight, as we do the first meeting of the year, we elect your president, your vice president, and treasurer for this upcoming year. You're more than welcome to nominate one or other members for each position. We can start with president first and work our way down to vice president and treasurer if you so choose. Once we have the vote tallied, we will insert the names into the resolution on the back packet and we will fulfill those and get those to our city clerk for filing as well. So at this point, you're more than welcome to open the floor to nominations. [3:17] **Clint Hooppaw**: I'll nominate Tom Melander for president. [3:23] **John Bergman**: Second. [3:24] **Tom Melander**: There has been a motion and a second for Tom Melander for president. Any other nominations? Vice president? [3:33] **John Bergman**: I make a motion that we—on that—don't—right? Didn't Tim just say vote at the end for—okay. I make a motion that the current list that we're voting on now stays the same for 2024. [4:00] **Ruth Grendahl**: Second it. [4:01] **Tom Melander**: Okay, that’s all the current officers would remain in place for the next year. Yep. Any discussion on that? In favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [4:13] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? We have a slate of officers for 2024. Mr. Benetti? [4:19] **Tim Benetti**: Thank you. Moving on to our next agenda item is our approval of the 2024 budget, which we'll get into real quickly here. So as typical, the budget is always approved just before the beginning of last year and part of their annual budget includes the economic development operations funds. It includes the anticipated activities for the outcoming year including our business retention, expansion, attraction, and also to any future action that would be requested to address those needs would come before you later. Our budget is very simple. It begins with a revenue stream of an approximation of $26,000 expected from the investment earnings. So that's our revenue side. Your wages and benefits are very nominal at $650, consultant services are itemized at $9,050, and our dues and subscriptions are $12,000 for a total expenditure of $21,700. [5:32] **Tim Benetti**: Part of our main components of your budget or expenditures are, one, for the Open to Business program. After this budget presentation, you're going to hear from Natalie Mosel from our Open to Business programming and she's got some great news for you and we hope to have some a great update from her. The program counsels small businesses in helping market strategies and also micro-grant financing to help spur some new development or facilitate business development growth. Our contribution for the Open to Business is $9,000 for 2024. We also partner with some of our friends in Dakota County in attracting businesses through the Greater MSP programming. The Greater MSP is a regional organization that has been visible for regional Economic Development Authority to retain, expand, and attract businesses. Again, as last year, we contributed $11,000 for 2023, and we're requesting the same amount for this program. Just very quickly, our Greater MSP helps us find local businesses to come to this community. As part of a Greater MSP membership, we kind of get to the front of the line from other groups and we get solicitation notices very quickly, more than others that are not part of that Greater MSP membership. We help identify those uses that want to come into our area. We also work with DEED and Greater MSP on some of these solicitations. We're looking at last year, we had approximately five submittals, but we only submitted on three of those. The other two were not selected due to the nature of project, limited transit, transportation services, or utility capacity. So again, we're just requesting to adopt the resolution in your packet approving the 2024 EDA budget. If there's any questions, I'll take them at this time. [7:25] **John Bergman**: Thanks, chair. Mr. Benetti, the Greater MSP—we have a project by Abdallah Chocolate now that has—is a beautiful building; it’s been sitting vacant for some time. Were they part of trying to help get that building filled? And could you give us an update on that building and why it sits empty today? It's brand new. [7:53] **Tim Benetti**: Mr. President, members of the board, yes, we've worked with the Greater MSP in helping find suitable tenants, either multiple tenants or single. Right now we do have a few opportunities that might be going in there hopefully soon. I know our planner, Economic Development specialist, has been working with Greater MSP folks, also the owners of the building, Opus, and so we are diligently searching for that tenant group or tenants to take that or occupy that space. Greater MSP's got some great contacts and outreach and networking to help with that endeavor. [8:41] **John Bergman**: Okay, thank you. [8:47] **Tom Melander**: Any other questions? So shall we get a motion for adopting the resolution for the budget? [8:52] **Clint Hooppaw**: So moved. [8:53] **Ruth Grendahl**: Second. [8:56] **Tom Melander**: Moved by Hooppaw, seconded by—um, I'm having a hard night—by Bergman? Bergman's here, but you sat next to Grendahl years—any discussion? In favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [9:10] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? That also carries. Thank you. [9:19] **Tim Benetti**: Okay. Mr. President, next on your agenda is item 4C. This is a Open to Business program Joint Powers Agreement. This is for a three-year commitment by the city. As we just approved, the $9,000 commitment is for those annual expenditures to not exceed $9,000 per year. This is a cost-sharing program with other cities in Dakota County. Tonight, Natalie is going to be very quick in presenting some of her updates on some of the programs that she's helped with some local businesses and she's got some great news for you. I'm going to defer and have her present very quickly to the board what she's provided for the last year and upcoming year here too. [10:21] **Natalie Mosel**: Good evening. Thank you all for having me here today. Thank you, Tim, thank you, Alex. My name is Natalie Mosel. I'm the small business adviser for Dakota County and I work all throughout the county for anyone that has a business or is looking to start a business. I help them through that process through direct one-on-one assistance or through access to capital, either via direct loan funds from MCCD or connecting them with the bank or some combination of all of those things. Tonight I am going to be talking to you about overall outcomes for the county last year and then outcomes specifically for Apple Valley. We will also look at a couple of client stories so you can kind of connect the work with real businesses here in Apple Valley that benefited from the program. And then we'll look ahead to just a few things that are coming up this year and then I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have about the program. [11:15] **Natalie Mosel**: For Dakota County as a whole, last year I worked with 168 businesses throughout the county and almost 1,300 direct hours sitting one-on-one with them or working with them on their business. About a 60/40 split in terms of startup and existing, practically 50/50 with women-owned businesses, BIPOC-owned businesses, and then about 38% of the businesses I worked with were low-wealth owned. A nice mix of referral sources: we get a lot of referrals from banks and partners, some folks find us on the web, and then of course contacts at the city level and at the county level as well. [12:05] **Natalie Mosel**: Specifically in Apple Valley, I worked with 29 businesses here and 250 hours of direct technical assistance were provided. A lot of these businesses were startup businesses. There's just been a ton of activity that I've seen and heard in Apple Valley, which has just been, you know, definitely an uptick I think from the past couple of years. That's an interesting trend. 41% women-owned businesses, almost all of these businesses that I talk to were BIPOC-owned—and that would be black, indigenous, or people of color-owned or immigrant-owned businesses. About 11 of them were low-wealth owned, and six business owners that I talked to fell into all of those categories, which I thought was really interesting as well. So, you know, definitely a very diverse group of folks that I'm working with. 45% of people reached us through word of mouth. We're getting a lot of referrals from bank partners here in Apple Valley, which is wonderful. You all have some of the most engaged banking community and lending community here and folks that really want to see these businesses succeed. So hats off to the lenders here that are very forward-leaning with connecting their clients to resources in the community. About 28% of folks found us through the web or other sources and then 28% as well from the city or from the county. [13:38] **Natalie Mosel**: Looking at access to capital and direct lending in Dakota County as a whole, we did just over $600,000 in direct lending. So that is loan dollars from MCCD, which is the organization that runs the Open to Business program. That was leveraged by about $750,000 in owner equity—so that's the money that these business owners had to invest in their business—and then it was further leveraged by just over $3 million in capital from other sources. So that would be from the SBA, from bank loans, etc. So just to break it down, looking at leveraging our investment and what that brings back to the county, about $1 of our loan funds generates more than $5 in investment in the county. We're trying to talk more about our interest rates too because compared to rates right now in the prime rate, our rates are very, very low. Our portfolio interest rate actually averages less than 5%, which is an incredible rate, and we're able to do that because we've been really intentional with raising low-cost funds that we can lend out at a really low rate for people. So this would definitely be lower than you could get walking into a lot of banks today, especially for startup businesses. But we are really holding firm in keeping our rates low and we're going to do that for as long as we possibly can. Our interest rate is actually capped at 7%, so even someone that is looking to start up their business today, they can come to us and if they qualify for a startup loan, the very maximum that we would charge would be 7%. And like I said, we're able to do that because we fundraise from private philanthropy and from other sources. Sometimes we get very low-cost funds at 0%, 1%, or 2%, and so we don't need—we're not looking to make a big spread on these loans. We just want to charge what we absolutely have to, and we want these business owners to keep their funds to grow their business. [16:03] **Natalie Mosel**: Looking at Apple Valley specifically for access to capital, $115,000 in direct loans from MCCD. That was leveraged by $343,000 in equity from these business owners and then further leveraged by just over $300,000 in other financing through the bank or from the SBA or a credit union. And you can see here the breakdown of how that looks: $1 for every $2.50. So who received these loans and who received this access to capital? We worked with a home care service business that actually has a number of locations throughout the county and beyond, and that was a loan that we did in the first quarter of 2023. I worked with a driving school that was just starting up in Apple Valley in the second quarter and they received a grant from us—or I'm sorry, not from us, but we facilitated a grant that they received to start their business. There's a new fish and chips restaurant in town—maybe you've seen, hopefully you've visited, delicious food—and we'll actually look more at that business a bit later, but they received a loan from us for working capital in Q4. Also worked with a hair salon that received some working capital to buy new equipment and supplies. She's going to start selling products, and this money will really help her take her business to the next level, so that was a really fun one to do. And then there's another one in the pipeline which I'm hoping will get approved and hopefully close in Q1, and that is a pizza restaurant here in Apple Valley. You guys have the best food. [17:55] **Natalie Mosel**: So here's some highlights. This is the driving school, Hot Seat Driving School. So she is a certified driving instructor. She opened her business towards the middle of 2023 and we facilitated a micro-grant for equipment for her business. She's been a driving instructor for quite a while and she saw an opportunity—she really loved the work and she wanted to start building a business for herself to really have something of her own. She was able to do that and open her doors and she loves working with her students and she's got a great spot here in Apple Valley. So here's some feedback from her—I won't read the whole quote for you, but it was really just a pleasure for me to work with her. Here's the fish and chips business. I'm from Wisconsin, I love fish and chips, so I had so much fun working with this client. They're seasoned entrepreneurs, but their background wasn't necessarily in like fast-casual food, so this was a little bit of a pivot for them. They just opened and we worked with them on some funding for tenant improvements and working capital so they could really get the project over the finish line and get their doors open as quickly as possible. Wonderful quote from them and a testimonial from them about that as well. And then the last loan highlight that I have here is the hair salon. She opened in early 2023 and as I mentioned, kind of poised for growth, and she just needed a little bit of cash to really take her business to the next level. I will take the time to read her quote because it was really beautiful: "I like to remind myself that even if I get 50 Nos, that one Yes can make a difference in my life. Natalie was heaven-sent for assisting me with my first business loan. She knew how important this was to me. Although the holidays were just a week out and she was busy with other clients, she made sure to treat me and my business as a top priority. I am forever grateful. Process was fast and smooth; she was straight to the point, pleasant. This loan is going to place my business in a position to reach my next financial goal while being able to provide great services to all my clients." She was very appreciative. "Thank you for believing in a vision that once started out as a dream." She should be a writer too! But yeah, she was really lovely to work with. [20:23] **Natalie Mosel**: So a few other updates. A lot of outreach with local lenders: Merchants Bank, Old National, Royal Credit Union—the best people work at Royal Credit Union, I'm a huge fan of theirs—Think Bank, US Bank. We work really closely with DEED on all of their loan programs for small businesses. We received a new award from the SBA this past year that's specifically targeted at providing assistance to very disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs—so just one or two employees. We have always done webinars and we will keep doing webinars. We did some bookkeeping webinars, law Q&A webinars; we partner with the law school to provide free legal assistance to businesses. We also provide 10 free hours of bookkeeping assistance for every business we work with from a CPA so they can get their books set up and really have that foundation that they need. We send a business resource newsletter out with grant opportunities and other resources that we see and hear about in our network kind of of other providers in the community development ecosystem and get that out to our clients so that they know what's available. I expanded my office hours. I'm available every working day of the week to meet with clients. I meet with a lot of folks here at the Apple Valley Library, but can meet them at their place of business too. And then looking ahead, we have a really big lending goal for 2024 where we want to lend $3 million. Like I said earlier, we're going to hold firm to that, keeping our interest rates as low as possible, even for startup businesses. Really focus on our clients and being as accessible as possible to our clients. We started doing quarterly business planning workshops in person at our office in Minneapolis. We had a great showing. January 19th was the last workshop; I had an Apple Valley business there that I hadn't been in touch with before, so that was really wonderful and I've got a follow-up meeting with him. Also doing QuickBooks workshops and then just really continuing with outreach and advertising. The spring/summer Apple Valley newsletter is going to be coming out soon, so you'll see a big ad for Open to Business in that publication and we're talking about our interest rate there as well. Here is the general contact info for Open to Business. We've got brochures in Alex's hands right now, so if you feel like picking up a brochure, please think of us when you're talking to businesses and when you're out in the community. I want to work with as many businesses as need the help here in the city. So I appreciate your partnership in that and with that, I will pause and if there's any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them. [23:25] **Tom Melander**: Yes, sir? I think your opening slide listed 29 businesses that you worked with. How many of those are still around? [23:30] **Natalie Mosel**: I believe—I mean, some of them are startups, so maybe they haven't necessarily opened their doors yet. No one has closed their doors that I'm aware of that I worked with this past year. [23:43] **Tom Melander**: Good. Some folks are in that pre-startup stage and it's all about kind of getting things set up for them. So a very thorough presentation. Yes, I was thinking of questions as you were going along and the next slide answered the question wonderful right down the line. So yeah, it's nice that we're doing—it's nice to see that we're getting some good demonstrable good from the investment we were making. So, nice job. [24:20] **Tim Benetti**: Thank you. So with that, if you are satisfied with Natalie, as we are from the staff level—I think Natalie is probably one of the better consultants I've ever worked with in my previous community and this one—so I'm a big proponent, very supporter of this. So I would ask that you would recommend approval of that JPA agreement that's noted in your packet, and we'll get that signed off and sent back over to Natalie and our friends from the CDA as well. So if you have any questions for me or Alex on that program, happy to help, we're happy to respond. [24:54] **John Bergman**: Mr. Chair, I'll move approval of the Joint Powers Agreement. [24:59] **Clint Hooppaw**: Second. [25:01] **Tom Melander**: Motion by Bergman, seconded by Hooppaw. Any further discussion? In favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [25:12] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? That is carried. Thank you. [25:19] **Tim Benetti**: Thank you. We're going to 4d. Thank you, Mr. President, member of the board. We have for you tonight just an initial discussion of what we refer to affectionately as the "Gaslight" site. This is 15584 Gaslight Drive. I hope most of you are very familiar with this site, located just at the southeast corner of 155th and Gaslight Drive, just south of the main MVTA Transit Hub, right next door also to the new opened Floor & Decor site (used to be the old cinema). The site is 3.1 acres in size. It is owned by the Apple Valley EDA. The subject site is guided SIHD, which is something we don't have a lot of, but it's a suburban intensive high-density residential classification. The SIHD allows for high-density residential at 24 to 48 units an acre. So for a 3.1-acre site, you're looking at maybe 75 to 148 units possible on the site. It's zoned PD 507, or located in PD 507 Zone 2. Apartments of two stories or more are permitted under the PD 507 Zone 2. The city did receive an LOI (a letter of intent) from a local developer to buy and develop the site with workforce housing. Right now that letter of intent has been kept confidential for now, but which is why we're here tonight is just simply asking for your direction. Some of you are very familiar with the site with the mini transit station. Again, for background information: 1997, the Gaslight was acquired by the EDA. In March of 99, the EDA and MVTA entered into a 90-year lease agreement which is set to expire in December 2088—which will probably be the year I retire. The 364-space lot with mini transit hub station was also installed shortly thereafter. The parking lot was used extensively, as I'm sure some of you may be familiar with, by a number of local commuters both internally and externally to Apple Valley. In 2020, a ramp expansion was completed; they basically built a couple of upper decks. But since the pandemic, this site has seen a big drop-off from those riders and they're pretty much using the main transit station at this point. We've asked MVTA would they be interested in releasing us from that lease agreement. Right now we get a whopping $1 a year from that rent, and it's nominal for a reason because we see the benefit for the public on this. MVTA has said that, yes, they're willing to release us from that lease, sign off on a quitclaim deed, and we'll talk about whether or not we need to pay for the transit station or any improvements as part of a lease agreement arrangement that we have with them right now. They're also checking in with their Met Council staff or representatives to see if they would be supportive of allowing us to release themselves from this lease agreement and also have the city develop a site. [28:44] **Tim Benetti**: In your memo, we had this initial options noted, which was: direct staff to have appraisal performed; upon that completion, can begin negotiating either work directly with the developer or solicit for RFPs; or direct staff to market and offer the land to the real estate market; or direct staff to cease all negotiations and just keep the land the way it is and honor the obligations of the lease agreement. Just for clarification or additional information: any sale involving or any sale of this land will involve a public hearing process as required by state statute. The appraisal will be handled or managed by the city attorney for confidentiality reasons. We did that once before with the McNamara site over by the CMF; we'd like to do the same here. Dakota County CDA has indicated they are gearing up to provide for any special housing funds or assistance to any developer that provides workforce or affordable housing on the site, primarily due to its ideal location—ideal being next to a transit station, next to a very important transit corridor, the walkability to the other sites around there. So basically, this site checks those boxes that we'd like to see for workforce housing. They've also asked or offered to provide a grant assistance for performing a Phase 1 environmental site assessment of the property. Again, we hope free of charge, no expense on our part, and a Phase 1 just to find out if there's any issues or concerns on the site before we sell it. Staff is still waiting on word from MVTA if Met Council has supported releasing them from the lease. So for tonight, we are simply asking: Does the EDA wish to keep the land for future economic development needs for the community? Does the EDA wish to sell the property? If so, it may direct staff to begin facilitating that process for sale of the property. And does the EDA have any opinions regarding the current zoning uses for the site or any possible use changes? So again, if the direction is to start the process of the sale, we start with the appraisal. Later on, we would probably meet with you again at a closed session to inform you of that value of the site and then we would ask for further direction at that time. City Attorney is here to answer any questions on the legal status of the property or anything related to the sale or transfer of property from a public domain. With that, I'll stand for any questions. [31:26] **John Bergman**: And looking at this updated option—as where I sit, I believe that the EDA wishes to sell the property. I would say yes, and I direct staff to facilitate the process for the sale of the property. And does the EDA have any opinions regarding the current zoning use? As I sit here today and what is looked at, it fits what we're looking at. This property has sat vacant for a really long time. I think when we get property valuations on the approval of it and find out what Council wants to do with it, I think it's right in everybody's wheelhouse to look at this facility for what you explained to us, Mr. Benetti. [32:20] **Ruth Grendahl**: Well, thank you. Yeah, I just back up John's comments. I think it's an ideal use. It's right near the Transit Center; it's perfect for this use. Right to the east of it is high density and to the west is commercial. I just think it's a terrific use and I would encourage you to go forward with it. Thank you. [32:53] **Tom Melander**: Were those motions and seconds? [32:57] **John Bergman**: I'll make the motion of what I just stated earlier. [33:04] **Tom Melander**: I don't know what you stated that—you approved that it's a good idea. Yeah, it's a good idea. What you're giving us, go with it. So the motion is to direct staff to order the appraisal and get the process started. I think that's what I heard, right? It is. [33:17] **Tim Benetti**: It is. [33:23] **Tom Melander**: I think that's what you heard. Just making sure I understood what I heard. I was hoping you part of this MVTA stuff—that sounds perfect, actually. You're a bright young fellow, Mr. Benetti. [33:32] **Clint Hooppaw**: My listening ears this evening are very good, and I give it a second. [33:41] **Tom Melander**: We have a motion by Bergman, seconded by Hooppaw. Under the discussion, I was at a continuing education thing within the last week or so on apartment development and so forth, and it continues to be a very robust market—surprisingly so, considering the many thousands of units that have been developed around the Metro. It seems to be an insatiable appetite. This is not a site that would lend itself towards a lot of market-rate stuff, but we have to cover all aspects of the market, and I think it's a good fit for that as well. [34:21] **Ruth Grendahl**: Well, I've also seen these kinds of sites for this type of housing that end up being very attractive to developers. [34:30] **Tim Benetti**: They are. And that, of course, would be—we would be looking for your guidance in that issue, sure. Something like this can be done—they used to be done very poorly; this could be done very nicely. That could be a wonderful asset to our city. [34:44] **Ruth Grendahl**: We agree. And then, of course, planning would have a swing at the design elements? [34:48] **Tim Benetti**: Oh sure, absolutely. This will go through a full entitlement process once we determine a developer or development group that you would prefer to work with or sell to. So absolutely, full entitlement will be coming forth later this year if you so choose. [35:10] **Tom Melander**: Excellent. So we have a motion, a second, discussion—a vote. In favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [35:17] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? It carries. Carry forward. [35:19] **Tim Benetti**: Your next item on the agenda is a review and discussion of city-owned lands. This is on what we refer to as the "866" site. This site is not owned by the Apple Valley EDA; it's actually owned by the City of Apple Valley, not the EDA. It shouldn't hold up anything on the sale transfer, but we'll get into that a little bit later. Some of you are probably familiar with this site as well, located just south of the Apple Valley Ford, east of the Post Office, north of the Rorar apartments (the brand-new ones you just saw in the picture there), and west of the Grandstay Motel. This is a vacant site; it's been vacant for a number of years. It's bonded on four sides by 152nd to the north, Garrett to the west, 153rd to the south, and Galante to the east. It is two platted lots (Lots 1 and 2, Block 3 of Village at Founders Circle). Each respective lot is 1.67 and 2.03 acres, or a combined 3.7 acres. This is guided for mixed-use. As the report indicates and is up on the screen, the mixed-use area provides for a mix of retail and service business, office, institutional, and medium-high density residential—so basically almost everything under a mixed-use. The uses may be mixed vertically in a common structure or horizontally. The property is currently situated in Zone PD number 739, Zone 4. Very quickly, we've been given approval to share these images. Staff initially met with this developer of an office headquarter and a senior care center with a two-story Dormer-looking facility, and they want to do a 32-unit single-story with a two-story office space on that site. We also received another separate proposal, also in your packet, with a very detailed narrative for a 20-court indoor pickleball facility with interior restaurant. Now, I asterisk this because I want to show that both proposed uses would require modifications or amendments to that PD 739 District. So right now, both uses would not be allowed in there without some amendments or modifications. Again, similar to the previous report, we have: direct staff to provide an appraisal; begin the negotiations or cease all negotiations. We have now an updated option because this is not really EDA-owned land; it is city-owned. But we still want your input on whether or not the City of Apple Valley would retain the ownership of the land for public purposes that may benefit the community. If not retained, does the EDA have any input on the current zoning and any possible changes in zoning types—the type of general uses, not specific uses. [38:25] **Clint Hooppaw**: Mr. Benetti, as you noted, this has been vacant for a long time and this has a little bit of a storied history, right, going back a number of years. It's doing us no benefit, in my opinion, in the condition it's sitting right now. And so if the market has finally moved to a spot where there are other alternative uses that maybe weren't planned for, considered, or thought of when we zoned it, then absolutely we should move forward and find a use for that space. I think it's good for that whole area. We have a ton of new housing in that area; we're looking at more now based on the last actions. So this feels like maybe the right area to do some of this, and I think we should move forward with something. [39:07] **Ruth Grendahl**: I agree. And again, I think this is one of the reasons that we hired you—not for your good looks, Tim! You weren't hired for your good looks, believe me. But I think we should be very flexible with the site. I think Clint hit it right on the head. Why don't we move forward? [39:23] **Tim Benetti**: Mr. President, members of the board, so with that mixed-use guidance, I believe we have a lot of options available for that site. If you direct us to start with the appraisal first and then start with the process of coming back to you later on, I think we're going to bring some great ideas for you to consider. And then we'll start the process from there. Again, the full entitlement process will be forthcoming as well. But we want to start with you because, even though it's—we may even talk about transferring this away from City of Apple Valley in name back to the EDA if that's appropriate or not. I'll work with our City Attorney and follow their guidance on this as well, but we prefer to start with the appraisal and get the process rolling if you so choose. [40:27] **Clint Hooppaw**: So for our City Attorney, if I can just ask: Mr. President, this is not EDA-owned land. Is this a motion that we need to make from Council to direct an appraisal, or can the EDA direct the appraisal? [40:41] **Sharon Hills**: Mr. Chair and board, it is owned by the City of Apple Valley, so the EDA does not have authority to make any decisions on it. So essentially, you're just giving input; ultimately, it'll go to Council to make the decision. [40:54] **Clint Hooppaw**: Is this something at an upcoming council meeting—like in, I don't know, 20-ish minutes—somebody could add to an agenda to direct staff to do that so that we could keep things moving? [41:14] **Sharon Hills**: You could certainly amend the agenda. [41:15] **Clint Hooppaw**: Okay, so we can deal with that at a very near council meeting, and then we don't have to delay two weeks to talk about it more. [41:26] **Sharon Hills**: That's correct. [41:28] **Tom Melander**: And Tim, you had mentioned, you know, "choose one of them and pursue that." I don't see why we'd have to limit our options in terms of a choice between the two of these. The pickleball thing—I scratched my head on that for quite a while, but it seems to be a solid demand and lasting demand. I think it would be an asset for the community. Every time something comes up about pickleball, we hear input about "how come there aren't more courts?" So I think that would sure be an interesting one to have a good hard look at. [41:59] **John Bergman**: My opinion on that last comment is I believe that this property has been there a long time. There are options out there that were presented tonight, but at the same time, we as the EDA (or our next hat that comes up) have to look at what the appraisal is and then look at all the benefits that this property gives the community. So as far as choosing one or the other, I think that needs to be—I believe that the first and the second was... I'm not picking any particular. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but I just think we take the opinion of getting a valuation and then go from there. It's likely as this thing hits the market that other folks will surface as well; it just tends to be the way things work. [42:58] **Tim Benetti**: I'm sure they will. Yep, absolutely. [43:01] **Tom Melander**: Sounds like a good plan. Thank you for asking for our input. All right, so do we have to do anything? No. Okay, we'll just hold it over to the next council meeting if we can and just have the Council get that—we're going to do it in 18 minutes? [43:24] **Clint Hooppaw**: You want to add it at this time? Yeah, we want to add it at this time. [43:28] **Sharon Hills**: We can't add anything to the council meeting during the EDA meeting. So we will add it to the council agenda when we get to the council meeting. [43:35] **Tom Melander**: I'm just asking. Yeah, I would like to do that in 18 minutes when we switch hats and we have other hats on. [43:43] **John Bergman**: I don't have a hat. [43:45] **Tom Melander**: We'll get you one. Thank you, Mr. Benetti. [43:46] **Tim Benetti**: Thank you, Mr. President. [43:47] **Tom Melander**: Thank you, sir. Are there any other items or communications for us? [43:53] **Tim Benetti**: Mr. President, members of the board, I don't have any other updates or items. If you have anything or if you like to discuss something, happy to open the floor to that as well. [44:06] **Tom Melander**: Okay, so motion to adjourn? [44:08] **Clint Hooppaw**: I'll make a motion to adjourn. [44:09] **Ruth Grendahl**: Second. [44:11] **Tom Melander**: Motion by Hooppaw, seconded by Grendahl. In favor? **Board Members**: Aye. [44:15] **Tom Melander**: Opposed? It carries. [Music]