[00:00] Commissioner Bates: Tanners Lake is um separate it's missing from that concept yep and so the ones that have looked at that survey you know we're still working on it are saying well wait a minute if I'm going to look at this as a whole Tanners Lake really needs to be part of that and it's not so I think that's a a um uh I don't want to say it's a failing but it's something that's concerning because it's not there and I understand there's things going into Tanners Lake or considered for that that well if you know it's going out there you don't need it over here or maybe vice versa yep so you know that's a big concern there um now I'm looking through the packet and I'm not sure what my um people are talking to me are quite talking about because I see playground equipment the impression that they have is a lot of playground equipment is being removed and I know some neighbors they got grandkids coming over they like to go over to one near us well if that's being removed then that's all of a sudden that's a loss you know that's a loss of U functionality for them and and then uh the last comment I have is on the North End Golf View Park I think it's called and this is where my confusion is because I see in here that they have there is playground equipment there but the impression that this person was telling me was uh playground equipment wasn't going to be there or maybe it was just a slide wasn't going to be there so that's a concern is the type of equipment being um represented or or being put in there those are the comments I've received yep and so I thought I'd pass those on. [00:01] Hannah: Yeah thank you for that um regarding playgrounds um Golf View isn't losing any playground amenities these are pretty high level Concepts um so we haven't dug into the in the weeds of is there going to be a slide how many slides um but at Golf View there's um proposed improvements to upgrade the playground equipment to either add more amenities for younger kids or older kids you know the prek group or the K through 12 group um and I I can't recall I don't believe we're I don't believe we're getting rid of any playgrounds we might be kind of changing the type of playground like at the Oakdale Nature Preserve we were um considering the idea of incorporating nature play because that's something that people are interested in and that feels like a good Park to do it since it's the Nature Preserve it's more natural um so that was— [00:02] Commissioner Bates: That actually was one of the ones that was a concern that that's near where actually I live so we go by there it's used constantly mm take that playground equipment out now there's a segment that's not going to be there anymore. [00:02] Hannah: Yeah and you know with the concepts um we're putting something out there cuz when people have something they can react to it so you know if we get the comments that they don't want the nature play they don't want it to move we'll take that under consideration and and do another level another round of refinements for the concept plans thanks yeah okay um Recreation context Maps so um these are another helpful high-level 10,000-foot view to understand the distribution of Park amenities throughout our Park system so again they're in your packet were sent via PDF um we've got a recreation context map for turf fields baseball softball fields tennis and pickle ball courts basketball courts and designated spaces for volleyball playgrounds and ice rinks um again it's hard to see the examples on the screen but um the maps are in your packet or available online in our agenda Center um so the maps show where different amenities currently exist where they're proposed to be removed and where they're proposed to be added um so for each Park they have their own concept plan um that shows proposed improvements these were largely based on feedback from the initial survey in March and April as well as the charrette designs with City staff um city council also had an opportunity to weigh in on them before they went to the public it's important to note that these are not set in stone and will evolve um throughout the planning process and then um just to quick uh walk you through the the kind of General layout of the concept plans you'll notice amenities that we're proposing to keep in their existing place um have their own little legend for existing site features to remain and then they are represented by the double letters on the map and then um on the concept plan you'll kind of see that like the basketball court um it doesn't have a big colored Block it's just pretty much the aerial photograph so that indicates that we're keeping it there um you know for a lot of parks there were things that the project team saw no need to change um especially from a financial stance it'd be costly to remove everything and start over so um we were trying to strike the balance of um between introducing new improvements that can be phased over time um as well as maintaining our existing facilities and then for the proposed site features they are um you know they're displayed graphically by those big color blocks um so on the one example on your screen the the pink is um playground improvements and then the green is we're trying to keep that just mowed open Turf where people could play volleyball they could play spikeball and um so When developing the concepts there were really five buckets of amenities that we focused on: first, playgrounds—this is a really big one—second was athletic fields and after talking with Oakdale Athletic Association um there's a desire for more full-sized Athletic Fields since we um many of our Parks have ones that cater more to that little league age group. Third are Court facilities for pickle ball, tennis, basketball um so we're kind of thinking about how to integrate courts into our Parks; fourth thing was accessibility infrastructure and this is a really important one because it's probably what's lacking in our Park system the most um you know whether that's paved trails to connect amenities in within a single Park um that also includes inclusive Play features um so we can accommodate all users and then natural resources is a Fifth thing we have a lot of Remnant Park Parcels um that don't have a lot of programming opportunities but there's still opportunities to improve vegetation add native plantings or pollinator habitat so these are some of the things that we explored in the concepts once the survey closes and we wrap wrap up this engagement associated with the concepts the next step is for them to go through another round of refinement um and then the consultant will apply pricing to all of the amenities and elements so we can start to understand um costs because you as I discussed before we can't do all of the improvements at once um and then we kind of have to figure out the prioritization implementation phasing so now I just kind of want to open up for General comments um you know many of you are residents so you can keep um Can comment generally about the parks or if you have specific comments about the connection between businesses and economic development in Parks um you know what are you hearing about the park system from a business perspective um do you have any thoughts on how the city's Park system can make Oakdale attractive for new businesses existing businesses employees um so I'm I'm open to any comments. [00:07] Commissioner: Ready I made mine I would just touch one thing like on the on the pricing thing would the plan be if there's multiple different parks to go strictly find like a contract for one company that's going to whether it's replacing or upgrading you know there's so many different types of playground equipment right yeah and to ideally just focus on one company that would be able to handle it all or kind of piece meal in you know each Park and kind of with the budget in mind yeah um I guess was there any discussion around that? [00:07] Hannah: Yeah and so I've only been with the city about a year. Jeff Koesling our Park Superintendent typically handles um you know a lot of that operational side and um there's the CIP the capital improvement process where um the council adopts um the CIP going forward and Parks is a big part of that so each year we're discussing what's the projects for the next year what are you know five years out um and and we'll get more into that um that operational side you know in the fall of um you know the the implementing um contractors budgeting all that stuff but typically when we do Park improvements at least in my knowledge for the new parks we go through a request for proposals process. [00:08] Commissioner: Is the timeline like you know 10 years out as far as going or you know is there a particular timeline or is it just going to be based on budget each year? [00:08] Hannah: Based on budget and um and you know it's there's a chance that improvements um never go through it's just it's creating that big long-term Vision so whether that's 10 to 20 years it really depends on on the cost um and then Council Direction yeah. [00:08] Chair: Any other questions for Hannah? [00:08] Commissioner: I just wondering your plans for 27 new parks is that correct? [00:08] Hannah: No there are currently 28 parks in Oakdale currently um concepts are available for 27 of them cuz Tanners is still forthcoming so that makes up the 28 and then there are four new parks um that are um kind of in the hopper so we've got the the three in Willowbrook and then there's potentially one down by the Gold Line so those are four brand new parks. [00:09] Chair: Okay all right last call for questions. [00:09] Hannah: I will just make a plug that ongoing survey I encourage um Commissioners to um visit the engagement website provide additional comments um you know these responses in addition to Future Council direction will help inform Concepts moving forward um so that's open until August 31st and we'll um when Tanners is available we will be making that known um get the word out because you know as um Commissioner Bates said you know when you're looking at the whole park system Tanners is a really important piece of it so um yeah well thank you for having me tonight. [00:10] Chair: Thank you so much Hannah thanks all right I'd like to invite any members of the public to speak and there are none so we will close the open forum we'll then move on to our Economic Development Commission review and our first piece is old business and I'm going to defer to Max to speak about our BREA or business retention expansion and attraction program update. [00:10] Max Carr: Thank you Chair and good evening Economic Development Commissioners and thank you so much Hannah for providing us with that update and again if you have any questions with the parks or think of any ideas feel free to email Hannah and myself um right here we have an update for the business retention expansion and attraction program and I want to start off by acknowledging um that in the last month or so I've heard from some EDC members uh that you guys really want to go on more business visits and uh we want to make that opportunity easier for folks so as a result I spoke um with our department director [Andrew Gitzlaff] and our rep from the St Paul chamber and we're going to be looking to open the visits up further uh to members of the EDC in the near term so um we will be having some more openings coming soon so if I could get a show of hands or if anyone wants to talk to me after the meeting about who'd like to go um I see Commissioner Bates, Chair Voka... pen and Jenkins so I will make note of that and make sure that someone reaches out to you so give me just a moment here to make note of that so thank you for that um and with that since our last meeting about two months ago we've had three new business visits I'll briefly summarize these visits we had some pretty fun ones and say what we heard from them. So on June 4th City staff visited the Forefront Campus located near Ideal Avenue and 34th Street across the street from Target. This was originally a spin-off company for those newer to Oakdale um a spin-off of 3M called Imation which provided data storage and Optical Media Solutions. Imation eventually left the data storage business and changed names selling their campus in Oakdale to the Slumberland Corporation. Slumberland then rebranded the campus as Forefront moving the Slumberland corporate HQ there to one of the buildings and opening the space uh to offices startups and heavy research and design lab work. Despite the tough office market they told us at the meeting uh that the laboratory component has really helped them have a much higher rate of occupancy hovering in the high 80%. Additionally Slumberland staff stated that they were working on developing much of the excess space on the campus for commercial development. Much of the land there on the campus was originally held by 3M/Imation as excess land for future expansion so that transition to become the Forefront campus has really allowed for new commercial real estate opportunities in Oakdale. You might have heard about the upcoming Aldi and Starbucks there's quite a bit of construction going on over there um generally Slumberland staff um and Forefront staff stated that they were really happy with the property and working with the city on that additional commercial development and we're looking forward to continue owning the property and leasing it out to research and design and other office uses and really taking advantage of it so that was a really fun one for staff. Next we visited Pace Analytical on June 18th um Pace was founded in Minneapolis in 1978 uh with the Oakdale branch opening in 2007 uh located near the intersection of the 15th Street and Helmo Avenue intersection. Pace focuses on life science testing medication testing and environmental testing and they told us that they had been growing at double-digit rates each year; they noted that they are expanding across the street to another of the JCS properties owned buildings um as a part of the Minnesota investment fund and job creation fund grants that City staff helped with last year. Additionally they noted that they had 220 employees with about 60% being scientists and 40% being support staff and we're generally happy with their location in Oakdale. Next is—oh now if I remember correctly Bob you you would know this that was your property at one time you sold it to them correct? [00:13] Commissioner Frank: Yes U 3M had similar operation in those some of those buildings uh I owned some of them and one was built by someone else but I bought it and 3M brought their labs in there and eventually 3M got out of that business and there was a another company that that was renting from them and eventually produced the whole set of facilities that you know the labs and all that that Pace then bought out bought from the port uh Part Three company so they've been so that background is that in 1997 when I built my first building that Part Three company was in my building from the beginning so it evolved over all the years now to where it is with Pace in three buildings that I was involved with and now they're moving into the one of my other buildings so I'm kind of proud of that. That is quite a success story isn't it? That be company it's quite a success story that's all I have to say. [00:14] Max Carr: Thank you Frank um for our final visit that's occurred recently uh we have Central Bark uh which staff visited on July 24th uh Central Bark was originally founded in 2002 with its current location opening in 2022 uh off of Hadley over by the Menards. They specialize in doggy daycare training and general pet retail. They noted that they had some issues uh staying afloat in COVID but they had really good visibility in their current location off Hadley and were poised to experience further growth um telling us that uh two-thirds of households now own a dog which captures quite a bit of the market um additionally they noted that they had in general 10 employees with three full-timers and seven part-timers and they really liked their space that they had in Oakdale. They said specifically they like the small town feel of Oakdale and the proximity to amenities and highways and said that the business support environment was really supportive and generally asked staff not to over-regulate the business environment. So with that that sums up the last three visits since our last meeting here at the EDC and I'm happy to take any additional questions and again um let me know if you want to attend any future visits and we'll make sure the email goes out to you I've written down a few of your names and I'll make sure someone's in contact. All right we will now move on to new business and I will defer to Max for the 2024 Minnesota Workforce Statistics and Trends update. [00:16] Max Carr: Sure thank you Chair; staff introduced this item in June the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) uh who collects much of the employment data for Minnesota released quite a bit of new information that we as staff uh felt may have been of use to the Economic Development Commission. In the past we've reported on some DEED statistics and we thought there were some new interesting Trends here uh this data provides General insights into the market conditions and labor participation in the Twin Cities uh the seven County Metro and the State as a whole. Given this data's relevance to economic development in Oakdale and the East Metro in general we prepared a presentation detailing some of the most interesting takeaways. As a reminder all data is courtesy of DEED or the Department of Employment and Economic Development and sources and links to the data are provided in the memo and on each slide. I highly encourage anyone who's interested to take a look because they've got a great treasure trove of data. First off we've got some newer findings on General employment trends here we have a map or a graph of the total number of non-farm jobs in Minnesota over the last five years. Generally you can see a very large drop with COVID—you might have seen a similar graph before—and a gradual recovery in the years following. Something I didn't know: the total number of jobs did not return to pre-COVID levels until June of last year and has continued to climb slowly since last June. A few notes from that data um generally we hit full job recovery in June and we've added about 30,000 jobs since. It's worth noting that much of the growth is concentrated in a few key sectors including construction, education, and health services. In contrast some of the primary sectors that have still experienced contraction or haven't fully recovered include Mining and Logging, Leisure and Hospitality, and Professional Services. Here we have some individual trend lines for some of the sectors that have experienced noticeable contractions or declines. As you can see Education and Health Care in Minnesota have grown considerably uh since pre-COVID levels uh while construction has grown past pre-COVID levels albeit at a slower pace. In contrast Professional Services have declined to almost COVID levels or uh have declined to almost pre-COVID levels and Hospitality has almost recovered to pre-COVID levels but has remained somewhat stagnant over the last year or so. So for some additional new data on unemployment through 2024 here we have a chart showing General unemployment in Minnesota compared to the US as a whole. Minnesota is that purple trend line in the back and the US is more of that magenta salmon pink color um and over-the-growth is shown in the line graph. Here we can see that Minnesota's unemployment rate has largely followed national trends with a 10-year peak in unemployment during COVID and a gradual decline since. Generally Minnesota has maintained a lower unemployment rate than the national rate um you can see that the salmon coloring in the background generally reaches a bit higher than the purple which is Minnesota. Additionally you can see that from 2023 to 2024 there was a slight increase in the unemployment rate from the mid-3% to about 4% albeit it still remains relatively low. And then for some updates on job vacancies and labor force statistics so here we can see the number of job vacancies in the last 20 years in Minnesota. The large spikes in unemployment correspond with the 2008 recession and the COVID pandemic. Additionally we can see a rapid rise in job vacancies following COVID uh with a peak number of vacancies in 2021 declining gradually since then. Now in 2024 we still have a relatively high amount of job vacancies uh although unemployment remains relatively low. Here we have total labor force compared to the unemployment rate just here in the seven-county Twin Cities metro. It may not look like there's a bit of variation however it's worth noting that this is a relatively narrowly scoped graph with the bottom and the top of the labor force section uh differing by only 100,000 people—that's the blue line here. We can see the total labor force peaked around COVID and declined somewhat after due to many retirements during the pandemic. Since the pandemic the labor force has remained stable with moderate growth; generally the unemployment rate here in the orange line inversely mirrors the labor force line and generally is a bit lower than the statewide unemployment rate. Here we have a graph showing exactly where the current 2024 job vacancies are by sector as you can see Health Care, Retail, um Food and Manufacturing lead with the most vacancies; Finance, Professional Services, public administration uh generally have fewer openings. These stats generally reflect the current labor market in the Twin Cities at the moment and those sum up some of the newer trends that DEED is seeing in the last few months um year-over-year and I figured I'd open the room to any comments or takeaways from EDC Commissioners—maybe this lines up with what you're seeing out there uh maybe it doesn't. Additionally if there are any questions on the data I'm happy to answer those as well I like to spend a good bit of time playing with DEED's graphs charts and tables just so that we're staying on top of that here at Oakdale. [00:20] Chair: All right we will move on to our staff liaison updates. Max do you have any updates for us today? [00:20] Max Carr: Not too many updates today um generally uh all we just switched to an online application system for the EDC um and all of our other commissions so we're promoting that seeing if we can get some new members here and some of our other commissions where we might need some uh additional space to be filled um additionally I want to plug Hannah's Park survey again. That's one of our biggest projects and we're really pushing that along and making sure that we get uh a product that reflects what the community wants um additionally I'd encourage anyone who wants to stay on top of developments to keep tracking the development map and potentially look at some of the Planning Commission packets we've had some pretty busy meetings there as of late but I'm also open to any questions you might have anything you see going around the city happy to take any questions and see if I can answer those. [00:21] Commissioner: How many openings do you have for EDC right now? [00:21] Max Carr: I believe we have three standard openings as well as there is a designated student non-voting role and a chamber non-voting role. [00:21] Chair: All right we will move on to commissioner updates and Frank you are the winner today you get to start. [00:21] Commissioner Frank: Well I'll tell you I don't have anything to contribute. No nothing going on. [00:21] Commissioner: Nothing on my end either. [00:21] Commissioner Severson: No I don't have anything. [00:21] Commissioner: Anything I will pass I don't. [00:21] Commissioner: Well we're keeping a perfect score I've got is a little boring. [00:22] Chair: No I'm going to keep the score even awesome all right we will move on to council liaison updates Council Member Her. [00:22] Council Member Her: Good evening Commissioners uh thank you again for taking time out to serve on our commission here on the EDC um last week uh the Council and staff got together for a strategic meeting uh to just kind of set aside and uh set forth some priorities uh over the next uh two years uh that we kind of generally want to move uh the city and one of the things that came out was you know trying to help Oakdale find its identity and and you know when people think about Oakdale what what comes to mind? Last night was a great testament to that uh our 19 unite parties that went on around the city uh really showcased the love that a lot of neighbors have uh for the city so um kudos and thanks to those neighbors who brought their neighbors together uh in doing that kudos to Bill and our Police Department for doing that community engagement and organizing that for everyone. Right now it's a budget season as well uh and so we're setting forth our plan for 2025; the park survey is going to help you know give us and advise us uh through that process give us a guiding document to work towards. Now of course we're going to have to balance uh what we hear out of that Park survey with kind of the realities of the financial situation that we're in as well um and it's a delicate task on how to balance that act and hopefully you know we do the best that we can sometimes we might fail miserably but um you know we're hopeful that we can deliver on some new amenities for uh the folks in the city um development is uh progressing um in Oakdale; Willowbrook is coming along a lot of homes coming online Willowbrook playground is also being uh in progress right now and uh slated to be completed I want to say October I think uh is the completion date so um if you haven't been around that neighborhood yet uh take a drive by and you'll see some of the playground equipment going up. The last plug that I would do right now is um you know it's really our heart and our passion that through the commissions uh that it's kind of your way to kind of get your feet wet into civic service and right now the window is currently open for and we're taking in candidates for the city council seats and so I would love to see some of you guys uh take on that task as well and and and get your name on the ballot there so um that's all I have I would I will stand for questions if uh anyone should have any for me. [00:25] Commissioner: With Willowbrook you said there's one park but then Hannah was saying there's three Parks? [00:25] Council Member Her: Yes so I think the plan is uh one park is being planned out right now and is in development as the other phases of the Willowbrook area comes online and then they'll create more parks in in the other areas. [00:25] Commissioner Frank: I just want to mention that I live at the North End Oakdale up by Willowbrook yeah north of that and now they got the detours you know to get home I have to go back roads and it takes a long time to get home these days but anyway so I go through that project I can't believe how fast and how many houses they're building in that they're growing like mushrooms every time I drive through there it seems like there's a new house over here you know so it is just a heck of a development isn't it? [00:26] Council Member Her: It is and you know I think Oakdale is really poised for that population growth you know and and that's something that as we're looking at our budgets you know we're kind of saying hey what how and what can we do to make sure we plan appropriately for uh that population booming so I know the school district a lot of those families that will be moving into that area well is slated go to Castle... Castle's up in that oh is that right okay Castle and so it's going to bring more kids more families so hopefully that'll encourage and help us grow in a positive direction. [00:26] Commissioner Frank: And the houses aren't sloppy houses either I'm telling you pretty darn nice houses and they do have out if there is such a thing in that kind of market is a fairly you know some of them are relatively cheap if you think 450,000 is cheap but you go they go up to over well over 500 so I mean it's it's good for the all-around picture of Oakdale I mean it's they're good houses. [00:26] Commissioner: Are we soon to be the Edina of the East is that what we're hoping for here or not quite yet? [00:26] Council Member Her: Not quite but about. [00:27] Commissioner: Has there been any feedback on that app that the city launched about reporting things in the city the Cix app? [00:27] Council Member Her: The SeeClickFix app um I have not heard anything any updates uh it's something that I can certainly bring up at our council meeting next week and then kind of report back to the Commissioners here. [00:27] Chair: Thank you thank you thanks all right we are going to move to adjournment so can I please have a motion to adjourn? [00:27] Gary Severson: Gary Severson all move adjournment. [00:27] Chair: That all in favor? [00:27] Group: Aye. [00:27] Chair: All right the meeting is adjourned thank you.