Based on the context provided and the dialogue in the transcript, here is the formatted version with speaker names. *Note: In the transcript, "Board member cheetah" refers to **Councilmember Dave Thiede**, and "John Baptist" refers to a board member (likely **Jean-Baptiste**).* [00:00] **Justin Olsen**: Good morning. Welcome to the Economic Development Authority meeting. It is September 10th, 2024. I am the Vice Chair or Vice President of the EDA, Justin Olsen. Mayor Bailey is out today, so I will be facilitating the meeting. Our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. 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. Thank you. And would the Clerk please do the roll call? [00:35] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Board member Meyer... [absent]. President Bailey... [absent]. Board member Scott? [00:41] **Tony Scott**: Here. [00:42] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Board member Carrie? [00:43] **David Carrie**: Here. [00:44] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Board member Thiede? [00:45] **Dave Thiede**: Here. [00:46] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Board member Jean-Baptiste? [00:47] **John Baptist**: Here. [00:48] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Vice President Olsen? [00:49] **Justin Olsen**: Here. And it looks like John Baptist just joined us as well. Welcome. Thank you. So our next order of business is number four, which is approval of the minutes. These are for the July 9th, 2024 meeting. Do we have any updates or changes? Okay, then I will seek a motion for approval of the minutes. [01:10] **Dave Thiede**: Motion to approve. [01:12] **Justin Olsen**: We have a motion. Do we have a second? [01:13] **Tony Scott**: Second. [01:14] **Justin Olsen**: We have a second. Any further discussion on those? All in favor please signify by saying aye. [01:18] **Multiple Board Members**: Aye. [01:20] **Justin Olsen**: All right. Any opposed? And the minutes stand approved. Moving on to business items, number five, we have our Economic Development Director, Gretchen Larson, with our development update. Welcome. [01:31] **Gretchen Larson**: Thank you. Good morning, Vice President Olsen and members of the board. We're going to go over the Beige Book first. Employment grew modestly since the last report. Prices increased slightly; however, prices charged to the customer have not been adjusted, so they weren't passed through. Most workers surveyed reported that they were satisfied with schedule flexibility and work-life balances that they've been offered by their employers. Consumer spending was flat. The construction activity has declined. Vacancies in commercial real estate still remain flat. The office market sector is soft, while retail vacancies improved. Residential real estate sales grew modestly. Manufacturing activity decreased. Natural resource conditions weakened, and oil and natural gas exploration remained unchanged. Minority and women-owned businesses reported lower sales and profits, a continued decline since the last report. So the economy is a little soft right now, but we're still expecting it to rebound. That's great news. Thank you. [02:37] **Gretchen Larson**: Couple of the projects that we'd like to highlight for you—this is always the heavy lift of your Planning Department. Trellis Bluestem Senior Complex over across from Grove 80; you all know where the location is, adjacent to Baskin-Robbins. The fourth-floor exterior and interior walls and roof framing is complete. The plumbing rough-in continues for all the floors. Installation of roof materials has begun. The electricians have started installation of electrical boxes and main panels, and fire sprinkler installation has started. The mechanical contractor started installation on the exhaust fans and the exhaust ductwork. And you can see from the pictures, it's moving along rapidly. They'll be ready for their spring 2025 opening. [03:22] **Gretchen Larson**: Something else we thought you'd like to see: the utility building on Ideal Avenue is moving along very quickly. Again, that mild winter helped us. They have the installation of interior block walls, window exterior doors, and exterior finishings started. They have installation of the subbase and curbs for the parking and drive area, which are complete. Installation of the interior ductwork continues, and as well as installation of the roof is complete. So, again, coming along very fast. [03:52] **Gretchen Larson**: Some other developments: Norhart building—the building permit has been reviewed and approved and is ready to be issued. Chase Bank—they have a rooftop solar permit which has been approved and ready for issuance. And O2B Kids—their temporary C of O has been approved and the business opened yesterday. Of course, that was the ribbon-cutting two weeks ago as well. Community Development Director Emily Schmitz is here if you'd like to ask any questions on these projects. [04:24] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you very much. Does the board have any questions? All right, perfect. Thank you. Thank you for the update. And it looks like our next item is a second amendment to the purchase agreement between Quick Trip and the EDA, and the EDA and WAG. [04:40] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: Well, thank you Vice President Olsen and members of the EDA. I am excited to continue to talk about Quick Trip. Now, some of you may be thinking, "If we have this amendment, does this mean that Quick Trip is not going to happen?" The answer is no, it is going to happen. They were always planning to actually build in '25 anyways, and so I just want to walk you through some of the situations that have happened as they've continued to do their due diligence in the purchase process. [05:07] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: Now, the parcel, as you are aware, is located at 95th and Jamaica. It's 6.76 acres, right across from our fire station. As part of their due diligence, they had to wait until this spring/early summer to do their wetland delineation. When they did their wetland delineation, they discovered that there is wetland and that there is this blue channel that runs through their property. Now, when we have to address the wetland delineation, we have to send it to all of our various partners from federal to state level, and our Watershed District and Conservation District who oversees the wetland process. In this, the Army Corps of Engineers have indicated that that blue stream is actually in their jurisdiction. We find that a little bit challenging because it's not a natural stream; it was actually man-made and created, and we could show back to the 1970s that it was actually a quarry at the time. But our friends at the Army Corps of Engineers have indeed ruled, and so there are some additional permitting that has to happen in order to make this happen. [06:17] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: As part of this, we actually have to disconnect the storm sewer that's flowing to the site. Now, I know you're thinking, as EDA members, we don't ever talk about engineering and technical things, so today I get the privilege to talk to you about engineering technical things—which, if you don't know, actually is something that really excites me. So, when we talk about the site and what is needed, I've overlaid the Quick Trip site plan with the wetland in the stream so you can see how it's actually impacted on the Quick Trip site. If we look at the image on the right-hand side of the screen, this pipe right here is a 54-inch storm pipe that's carrying water from a large part of our business park. As part of this, we are legally allowed to disconnect the storm sewer because that discharge is coming from storm water that's being collected, not from overland drainage. And so we're actually going to extend that 54-inch pipe down Jamaica Avenue right-of-way and discharge it into a flume here. So we have about 330 feet of 54-inch pipe that will discharge there. We've actually put that project out for bid; the Council did authorize it at the last Council meeting. [07:31] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: Now, there's a couple of things that will help in that. Number one, by disconnecting that storm sewer in the spring, it'll expedite Quick Trip's ability to construct on the site because you can see how their site plan overlays with that. And then this additional time in this amendment will provide them to work through the Army Corps of Engineers' permitting process and addressing the wetland credits as associated with the project. Is there any big showstopper here? No. It's just when you deal with the Army Corps of Engineers, that timeframe for processing permits is not quick. But in the end, it's actually not going to slow Quick Trip's progress to construction in the spring. [08:12] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: With that, we are recommending moving the closing date to April 18th of 2025. That'll give them the opportunity to address the permitting. So with you today, I have a resolution authorizing the Second Amendment to the purchase agreement by and between WAG and the EDA, and then the Second Amendment to the purchase agreement by and between the EDA and the developer to extend the closing date to April 18th, 2025, subject to minor modifications as approved by the City Attorney. [08:44] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you very much to our City Administrator, Jennifer Levitt—who used to be our City Engineer, in case you weren't aware, so she does really enjoy this kind of stuff and she does it very well. Does the board have any questions for Jennifer on this item? [08:58] **Dave Thiede**: I do have one question. What was their initial date of estimated start of construction, and has that changed? Because you said they were planning on 2025 and they're still planning on 2025, and now I see that the closing date has been pushed back to April 18th of 2025. So what is their date that they are planning to do the construction? [09:21] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: Oh, that's a great question. Members of the EDA, there were two things that were causing delay on Quick Trip's end. One was related to the actual fuel tanks. It's crazy to think that we still have supply issues coming out of COVID, but those large fuel tanks actually caused a delay for them. The other factor is in Minnesota, with winter, by the time the ground thaws that they could actually start utilities, you're probably not looking until mid-May to actually start construction. So, by the fact that when our winter conditions are over the tanks will be available, it'll align with what they had anticipated, probably mid-May as the earliest construction start next year. [10:11] **Dave Thiede**: Sounds good. Thank you. At the beginning, you were very adamant that they still plan on building here, so I would assume that any earnest money that was collected has remained the same, those terms have remained the same? Because from what I understand from what I read, it looks like the city might be pitching in to help build some of that extension of the pipe line. So we just wanted to make sure that, you know, if we are going to do it, at the end of the day they are committed to this project and if they do back out there will be some sort of financial repercussion. [10:41] **Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator)**: Oh, that's an absolutely great question. Members of the EDA, when you look at where that storm water discharges through the site, number one, it's important I think for us to disconnect that storm sewer because one of the highest flows that will get through that pipe is in the spring, right when they're intending to actually construct. So number one, it will help them expedite their construction. Number two, if for any reason they did walk from the site, we know ultimately the next person that picks up this property would have the same issue and the same challenge. So by us putting forth that $480,000 to construct the pipe out of our storm water area fund, that was an improvement we were going to have to make regardless if Quick Trip is coming in. Now, we're just trying to help facilitate a better construction season. And then ultimately, whoever buys that property, we would need to do this. So we're doing the improvements about six to seven months in advance than we had originally intended, but in the end I think it'll work out because we'll disconnect that storm sewer and make that project more expedited for construction in the spring. And as I said, either way, that pipe really had to have that storm water disconnected no matter who bought the property. [12:02] **Dave Thiede**: Got it. Thank you. [12:03] **Justin Olsen**: And then Board Member Carrie, did you have a question? [12:05] **David Carrie**: That actually addressed my question right there, so... [12:08] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, perfect. And from my understanding, from talking to people actually who are working with Quick Trip on this, they remain very excited about coming to Cottage Grove. And in fact, you know, one of the things that I think they're excited about is the piece of land that they've actually been able to build upon—or plan to build upon—is going to enable them to build a very large facility with lots of amenities that they don't typically have at a Quick Trip because the sites are too small. So this will be a nice thing to get going for sure. So did anybody else have any questions for our City Administrator? Okay, then I will look for a motion from the board following the recommendation on the screen. [12:51] **Dave Thiede**: Sure. I would move that we approve Resolution 2024-11, authorizing the Second Amendment to Purchase Agreement by and between WAG and EDA, and the Second Amendment to Purchase Agreement by and between EDA and Developer to extend the closing date to April 18th, 2025, subject to minor modifications as approved by the City Attorney. [13:16] **Justin Olsen**: Perfect. So motion by EDA Member Thiede. Do we have a second? [13:20] **John Baptist**: I second that motion. [13:21] **Justin Olsen**: A second by Member Jean-Baptiste. Any further discussion? Okay, with no further discussion, all those in favor please signify by saying aye. [13:30] **Multiple Board Members**: Aye. [13:31] **Justin Olsen**: Any opposed? Great, motion carries. Thank you, Jennifer. Appreciate the presentation. A lot of good information there. And I believe we are now back to Gretchen with Item C, which is the termination of a purchase agreement between the EDA and Ryan Companies. [13:46] **Gretchen Larson**: Thank you very much. Help if I hit the right key. As you mentioned, this is the termination of a purchase agreement between WAG and the EDA as a result of Ryan Companies notifying the city that on September 6th, they were unable to close on the property. A lot of that was due to market conditions, interest rates, and vacancies. So they were struggling to find a tenant; no matter how hard we helped them, they couldn't secure the tenant that they wanted. So unfortunately, they had to terminate the agreement. The notification of that termination requires the EDA to terminate their purchase agreement with WAG because obviously it's a buy and sell on the same day, and of course the EDA is not buying the property if Ryan Companies is not closing. That leaves $50,000 in earnest money that's going to be retained and allocated: $21,000 to the EDA and $29,000 to WAG. And then $20,000 of the earnest money will be returned to Ryan Companies because they did terminate on time. Happy to answer any questions about the process, and there's a recommendation before you. [14:52] **Justin Olsen**: Okay. Thank you. Do we have any questions for Gretchen on this item? Seeing none, I'll look for a motion based on the recommendation in front of us. [15:01] **John Baptist**: I motion to adopt Resolution 2024-12 terminating the purchase agreement with WAG for the 13-acre property located at Jamaica Avenue South and 100th Street South, legally described as Lot 1, Block 1, Lake Flora Second Edition. [15:19] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, so we have a motion by EDA Member Jean-Baptiste. Do we have a second? [15:23] **Tony Scott**: I second the motion. [15:24] **Justin Olsen**: A second by EDA Member Scott. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please signify by saying aye. [15:30] **Multiple Board Members**: Aye. [15:31] **Justin Olsen**: Opposed? And that motion carries. Thank you, Gretchen. Moving on to Item D, Amendment to Professional Services Agreement with Dowdle Studios LLC. And looks like Gretchen is staying at the podium for this one. [15:46] **Gretchen Larson**: Thank you. This has been a pretty quick agenda. The Dowdle art project services agreement amendment: you'll recall that in the original agreement, we had the exclusive right to sell the puzzles that we purchased starting from the unveiling day to a year forward, so September 15th of 2025. This revision, if you approve it, allows you the exclusive right to market and sell the 3,000 puzzles with no time limitations. In other words, for whatever reason, if they were to not sell in that first year, we would just continue selling them and collecting the proceeds on them. We have high hopes that we'll sell them all, but just in case that that doesn't happen, we thought we would go ahead and discuss this option with Dowdle, and they agreed to it. Happy to answer any questions on that. [16:41] **Dave Thiede**: Go ahead, Board Member Thiede. Yeah, so let's say we sell all 3,000 of our puzzles in, you know, three weeks or six months. Does that mean that Dowdle can start selling puzzles in three weeks or six months, or do we have the ability to buy more and sell up to that year? [17:00] **Gretchen Larson**: Great question. And what you just said is exactly correct. We could purchase more. And that originally when we thought about purchasing the 6,000, that was kind of a break-even point. So we'll continue to be able to purchase them and sell them through that full year of September of the 15th. The question will become is, if we order them again, will they continue to allow the open-ended part of that or will they end it September of '25? But we'll discuss that with the City Attorney if and when that time comes. [17:34] **Dave Thiede**: Okay, so I guess just to be clear, the answer is we're not quite sure yet if... [17:39] **Gretchen Larson**: No, the answer is yes, we can purchase more puzzles during that original one-year period. The question is, after that one-year period, is it open-ended still? Because that's a second purchase, not the first purchase of the 3,000. Correct. [17:54] **Dave Thiede**: Okay, thank you. Yeah, I wouldn't want to get in a situation where we buy like 3,000 more nine months from now and we sell a thousand of them and we're stuck with 2,000 puzzles that we can't sell. [18:04] **Gretchen Larson**: Correct. So I imagine that'll be part of the negotiation with the second purchase order. We would have to come back again. Yes. [18:10] **Dave Thiede**: Okay. Yeah, thank you. [18:11] **Justin Olsen**: Perfect. Any other questions? Okay, great. And you have a recommendation here in front of us, so I will seek a motion. [18:20] **David Carrie**: A motion to approve the Second Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement between the EDA and Dowdle Studios LLC to allow the EDA unlimited exclusive marketing and sales rights to the 3,000 puzzles purchased by the city without a time limitation. [18:38] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you very much. We have a motion by EDA Member Carrie. Do we have a second? [18:43] **Tony Scott**: I can second the motion. [18:44] **Justin Olsen**: And we have a second by EDA Member Scott. Any further discussion on this item? All in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye. [18:51] **Multiple Board Members**: Aye. [18:52] **Justin Olsen**: Opposed? Great, that motion carries. Thank you very much. [18:56] **Gretchen Larson**: Thank you. And now for the item we've all been waiting for: the Dowdle art unveiling updates. And Gretchen, you're going to take this one too, right? [19:04] **Gretchen Larson**: I am. Okay, yes. We're super excited. We're almost to the home stretch. We've been working really, really hard to make sure everything goes smoothly and is pulled off without a hitch—although I will mention it's Friday the 13th the day before, so no one no curses our way! The event takes place on Saturday, September 14th at Cottage Grove Middle School. The doors open at 8:30. The Park High School Marching Band will welcome the attendees, and the Park High School will sing the National Anthem. You can see some of the marketing materials on the screen before you. What will happen after the actual official program: the puzzles will be for sale at the school until about 11:00 AM. Again, as a reminder, we have 500-piece puzzles at $28 and 1,000-piece puzzles at $30. After the unveiling, Eric Dowdle will proceed to the food truck festival where he will be at the Discover Cottage Grove booth for a bit, perhaps selling puzzles and helping with that. And then after the event, the puzzles will be available for sale at City Hall, online, and at events throughout the year. So this is not an action item; it's just an update for you all. And we're hoping that you all will be there on Saturday. I know I will be. [20:19] **Justin Olsen**: Thank you very much. Any questions or comments for Gretchen on the Dowdle puzzle unveiling? If I may, I have a couple of questions for you, Gretchen. With regard to selling the puzzles, do we have any local retail partners that we think might help us out with selling puzzles, or are we going to sort of stick to, hey, City Hall, online, they'll be available at City events? [20:41] **Gretchen Larson**: We have discussed the option of potentially allowing some retailers to have the puzzles, but we have not thought through that whole process and kind of walked our way through it. We're trying to just survive the two events on the same day, and then after that, that'll be something that we could discuss. Inventory would be the biggest problem, and then the other question would be: would they want to make a profit on the puzzle? So it would be something that we definitely would have to talk about. [21:11] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, perfect. And then one other thing that I just wanted to mention is there will be some folks at the actual unveiling event. I believe we've got a list of roughly 10 to 15? [21:24] **Gretchen Larson**: 10 to 15, okay, good. [21:26] **Justin Olsen**: So, you know, if you're interested in coming to the event, you're going to see some of the folks that are actually in the puzzle that will be available at this event. And I believe they'll be placing a puzzle piece or something. Can you explain how that works? [21:38] **Gretchen Larson**: Yes. So you have the painting revealed, and then as a part that you have the large wooden G-clay puzzle. So it's another puzzle about as big as the painting. What'll happen is the special guests that are speaking at the event about the history of Cottage Grove and how they fit into that history—they'll have a puzzle piece. And Alexa has done all the hard work on this; they'll have the puzzle piece ready to go and their little script also attached to it. And then as the program unfolds, then the Mayor and Eric acting as MCs will call the folks up. They'll come up, they'll say what makes it special about Shepard Farm or whichever, and they'll put the piece in the puzzle. So everybody will do that. All the Council members and the Mayor have a spot, and then there are a number of people in the community that have been here a long time or owned businesses many, many years ago that are well thought of in the community. So they'll be participating as well. So it should be a lot of fun. [22:42] **Justin Olsen**: And I know there's a lot of energy around that, especially from the folks who are planning on attending as part of this puzzle unveiling. So I think it's going to be a really good day. I appreciate all the hard work on the behalf of the staff. I know that a lot of people have had their hands in this, and it's been a very time-consuming thing. Looking forward to it. Any other thoughts, questions? Great. Then let's move on to Item F, which is our Business Retention and Expansion update. [23:14] **Gretchen Larson**: Awesome. Well, we finally made it; here we are. We completed the survey in partnership with the Chamber and Grow Minnesota. And Lori is here today to answer any questions about the partnership should you have them. We mailed the survey to businesses with the cover letter from the Mayor that was in your packet on Friday, and so we have a deadline of October 7th. So we're giving them 30 days for the first round of participation. In order to encourage them to take the survey, we're offering a chance for one winner for a $250 gift certificate for an after-hours team-building event at River Oaks. So we're hoping that will excite folks. Grow Minnesota will tabulate the surveys for us, and we plan to present the preliminary results at the biannual Business Over Breakfast on October 24th. And as a part of this, the Chamber and Grow Minnesota will also help push out, so we have some coordinating to do as a team—who's pushing out to who personally as opposed to just the mass. And happy to answer any questions about that. [24:21] **Justin Olsen**: Perfect. Lori, did you have anything you wanted to add at all on this? [24:25] **Lori (Chamber Representative)**: Yes, thank you. So I just wanted to put out there that working with the Chamber along with the city has just been fantastic. I think we have just elevated the opportunity for businesses in our area by working together in collaboration and being able to put out a survey like this alongside of Grow Minnesota. I think it is just going to be fantastic, and I'm excited to see what the results are when they come back. [24:55] **Justin Olsen**: Fantastic. Thanks very much for the update from you both. Does the EDA have any questions? All right. So Gretchen, really the only question I have is, you know, sort of what happens next. So after all this info is tabulated, etc., what does the action look like after for that? [25:13] **Gretchen Larson**: Well, depending on what they say in the surveys obviously, or if they just skip the survey and want to go straight to an in-person visit—all of those things will start taking place. So you'll have the responses; we'll figure out from the responses what are the action items that will be needed, and we'll compile that all into a strategy and a plan and we'll report back. And then after that first 30 days is done, we'll decide how many months do we wait before we send the survey out again. Because obviously we'd like everyone to participate, but if let's say 50 businesses participate the first time, then we won't send it to them again obviously. So that'll be another tracking list we'll also set up. So we'll be reporting back to you as soon as we have noticeable results. [25:57] **Justin Olsen**: Good. Well, thanks for the update. It looks like some very timely and critical feedback that we're seeking here. And it's always good to engage with our local business community and try to figure out what we don't know—because sometimes we don't know what we don't know. [26:12] **Gretchen Larson**: That's exactly right. [26:13] **Justin Olsen**: Yeah, this is a really great way to go about that, and I love the partnership between the Chamber, Grow Minnesota, and the city. Making sure that we collaborate with all of the stakeholders involved is something that we always aspire to do, and here's perfect evidence of why. So thanks again. Absolutely. I do not see any other business items, so that takes us to Item 6, which is Public Hearings, and there are none this morning. Number 7 is Other Business, and there is no other business this morning. Number 8 is a Workshop, so we do not have any of those. Number 9 is Presentations—we don't have any further presentations. So before I go to adjournment, let me open the floor here to the EDA members. Did you have anything you wanted to ask or make comment on this morning? No? Okay. Well then we'll go to Item 10. I will look for a motion to adjourn. [27:12] **David Carrie**: I'll make motion to adjourn. [27:14] **Justin Olsen**: Okay, we have a motion by EDA Member Carrie. Do I have a second? [27:16] **Dave Thiede**: Second. [27:17] **Justin Olsen**: Second by EDA Member Thiede. Any further discussion on anything from today's meeting? Okay, all in favor please signify by saying aye. [27:26] **Multiple Board Members**: Aye. [27:27] **Justin Olsen**: Opposed? All right, we stand adjourned. Thank you. Thank you very much.