All right. Good morning. This is the April 14th, 2026, Cottage Grove Economic Development Authority, which I'm calling this meeting to order. Our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. So please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. We'll. Becca, aka the clerk, please do the roll. President. Bailey here. EDA. Vice President Olson here. EDA member John Baptist here. EDA member. Shibata. EDA member. Liptak here. EDA member. Scott, here. EDA member. Shida. Fantastic. All right, we'll move to number four, which is. Which is approval of the minutes. We do have the January 13th, 2026 EDA meeting minutes. Um, there's no changes or corrections. I look for somebody to make a motion and a second. Move to approve. All right, we have a motion by council member. Well, Council member, Bud EDA, vice president. Olson, do I have a second? I'll second. Second by member Scott. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. We'll move to number five, which is business items. Our first item is a community development update. And Nate is going to walk us through this. Welcome, Nate. Good morning, President Bailey. Members of the board. I'll give you a brief snapshot into the current status of the of the metro Minneapolis and the light through the federal Bank Reserve Beige Book, as well as a development update. Uh, in short, I the last time I spoke with you, it was the tail end of 2025. So there was a Q4 report that we were talking about. And then this is the most recent one that the fed published was February. So this is as of February. And unfortunately, economic activity is not positive. Uh, prices increasing, labor demand unchanged, employment decreasing. Um, and unfortunately, it looks like Q1 for Minneapolis and the metro was not great. As far as local developments and the school updates. So we have Park High School. They installed the new North entry and middle school. They're working on the interior door frames, the ceiling grid, uh, exterior brick. The pictures below are the most recent updates on the middle school progress. Altman Middle School staircase and the storm shelter has been installed. These are also the most up to date pictures that we have from recent inspections. We had a couple of apartment projects that started at the beginning of this year. Uh, Hadley Ridge Apartments, which is under construction by Real Estate Equities. Uh, they installed footings and foundation. The one on the pictures on the left show most recent inspection update for that. And Aurora's apartment, they they've been working on the installation of the massive retaining wall. If you see it on 61 as you're driving. Uh, they the apartments will be go by the name of Elwyn, and they are um, it is posted on their website and they're, um, engaging with people that are looking for units there. As far as the water tower and water treatment plant are concerned, we have most recent pictures here for you to see. Progress is being made on the water tower, steel tank and the concrete wall slabs for the water plant are ongoing. Other planning projects for the EDA to be aware of. QuikTrip has applied for a building permit. This is off of Jamaica 95th and building plans are in review. Currently. Anticipate breaking ground here this summer, right? Yep. Uh, we were able to unveil that Panera has acquired the old speedway off of East Point Douglas. And they have also submitted for building plan and building permit. And they are in review. Uh, my understanding is they're attempting to make enough progress to open by the end of the year. Another apartment project that will begin this summer is the Yellow Tree Apartment Project. Uh, it's it's near raws project off of, uh, Eastpoint Douglas and hardwood. I had the opportunity to present to council the tax abatement request for that. Uh, that project. And lastly, uh, Van Meter, uh, a local business is in the works of an expansion project, and they are breaking ground on April 29th. And I'm coordinating with our communications team for the mayor's remarks at that event. And that's it. If there is any questions, I can stand for them. Otherwise we can move on to the next item. All right. Any questions on the business update? Update. All right. So then I guess we'll move to B then which is the facade improvement program update. President Bailey members of the board, uh, as you may recall, at the January EDA meeting, following the approval of the Madison, uh, facade grant, we discussed, uh, me making some review and potential recommendations to the board on any type of updates to the guidelines. And so I'm bringing forward two main, main adjustments. Um, but a little bit background on the on the program just for the audience. Uh, it started in 2019. Uh, to date, we've done 12 projects for a total of $284,000. It's a 50% match. So basically, our leveraging of the $284,000 in grants, it times it by two. It's at least pretty close to $600,000 that we've seen in investment for exterior facades. As far as the updates that we're looking at doing, primarily within the criteria, the only one that, um, I found to be needing an adjustment was whether or not we wanted to maintain the the priority map. Uh, I've been in communication, uh, with several interested businesses, and they when I talk about this area of the priority map, which is on the screen here, they are concerned that they might be not if they don't fall into this category, that it's not worthwhile to seek the application. And my understanding is following the Madison approval that we are willing to do projects outside of this priority map. And so today, what I'm considering is whether or not we want to maintain that priority map. Given that the criteria strictly state that it needs to be a commercial activity and it needs to be commercially zoned. So with that said, I am recommending that we remove the priority map from consideration. Additionally, we are. I'm recommending that clarifying the total project funding is necessary. Right now. It's due to state statute. If we grant $25,000, we trigger business subsidy law. And so the practice internally has been we have advertised it at 25,000. But truly, the applicant received $24,999 to be below that business subsidy threshold. So the recommendation is to just simply state the max amount is $24,999. So those are the two items I have before you. And the motion is on your screen. And I'll stand for questions. Um, first of all, any questions by anybody on the EDA? Yeah. EDA member Camarda. I remember it was on planning commission when when this initiative went into effect. And, um, I would have thought that there would be more than 12 projects in the amount of time that the, um, program's been available. Um, so I think initially the, the, the map was to try, we were afraid that we were going to get like, everyone was going to come and ask. And I think that was the initial reason why we had zone maps was to try and kind of see what, you know, kind of soft launch it and kind of see what kind of response we got, and then we could amend it later. So, um, I mean, yeah, I think with 12 projects over seven years, that's a manageable number of projects to to broaden our scope a little bit. And then my other question was, I don't recall if we had set an annual budget for that facade improvement program. And so that's my follow up question is if we if we eliminate the zone map, is there any anticipation of adverse budget implications? Thank you for that question. Board member Canberra. Uh, my understanding is the the board approved a $50,000 budget for this program for 2026. We have approved one as of now for the Madison. That's the 24,999. And then I'm working on one right now. Uh, actually, there are two in in the pipeline, but one has not proceeded with it as of to date. But I do have one that is proceeding, um, for the Mac. So potentially if they make it to the May meeting, then that would utilize the entire budget for 2026, which, however, the board could make amendments to the the budget if they felt necessary to supplement that that line item. That's all good. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Member Scott. Um, so if there's a budget of $50,000 and we remove the priority maps in the future, and what if there are more than two projects? How do we prioritize those projects? I think I think that's a very good question. Um, board member Scott, uh, ultimately, it would come down to the board, uh, decisions on any grants. Uh, I think I think, uh, for the projects that I've reviewed and I've reviewing historically with the where, where commissioner projects are located, I think any and all projects are worthwhile to receive that funding. Um, because they are so public facing. So for me, I, I can't really discern, you know, what would be a level, a higher level priority because I feel like the projects that I have been involved with thus far, um, are all deemed worthy to receive the.. So I can maybe answer that because we have had and I know nature knew there has been up in the past where we've had multiple come before us, and then what we did kind of two things. One is the we did use the zone or the area one versus area two, kind of as the basis who would get first or second. We used it that way. But I do remember in a EDA vice president, um, Olson, do you remember, was it up to six one time? That's correct. I think we had one. We had six, and we only granted two. Um, and I believe at that time it wasn't 50,000, it was less. And then we after that, we bumped it to 50,000 as a cap in case we needed to move things around. So I do think we still have that option. But to answer it, I think we would make the call and then it would really be up to us on the EDA to determine, with staff's help, to determine which would be the best projects to move forward on. If we felt that they were worthy, if you will, because there has been some projects that have been presented to us in the past, that it was more it wasn't, how do I want to say it? It wasn't to the point of, hey, it was really going to do major differences. It was almost basic, like maintenance kind of things where where it wasn't a like Oasis Chiropractic. That completely changed the front of their building or, you know, things like that. So. Any other questions? Yes. Uh, Eddie. Eddie member. Baptist. Yeah. So excuse. Me, have we given any thought to keeping the mask but not making it, like, a hard line? Um, dichotomy of. Hey, you need to be in the zone or you're out. You can still apply whether or not you're in the zone. However, the zones will be used to give priority. So if we do receive six applications and three of them are within the zones where we might not say that we are, they are automatically the ones that we win. But they would likely get priority given consideration to, you know, which business has higher visibility amongst a line of other, you know, points that we take into consideration, but not getting rid of the maps entirely, maybe getting rid of them in terms of you either need to be in the zone or not in order to qualify, but maybe using them. As you know, one of the ways that we we internally, maybe we use to qualify projects or decide on the project, on which ones move forward. Thank you. Board member Jean Baptiste, what I am, what I'm noticing in my my short time here is that, uh, it's become more of a barrier than maybe what was initially thought of as a way to prioritize, uh, you know, starting with the Madison. First and foremost, it was it wasn't a commercially zoned and it wasn't in the priority map. So we had to make the adjustments. You know, the board had to basically state that it met the criteria based on our interpretation. Um, additionally, another, uh, business that has approached me within the industrial park that is a smaller footprint building, not a massive building, um, has stated, well, is it even worth my time if, um, to apply for this, if I don't fall in the priority zone? So what? What I'm noticing in my short time here is it's becoming more of a barrier. And I think from what I have, I have I've worked on facade programs in the past. And yes, it's good to kind of have a general sense of where these dollars should go. And I think that this program thus far has really done well on that. Um, but as far as you know, listing this as a priority map, I think the, the, the concern that I have is that you might be pushing people out more so than trying to level up priorities. So it truly is up to the board, uh, on whether or not you want to proceed here. But, um, from what I've been able to review in the past 12 projects, along with the ones that have approached me thus far, I see the priority maps as more of a barrier than anything to to help the board at this time. So that's my recommendation. Thank you. Eddie. Member Liptak. I think even if we do remove the maps, um, we could still hold some weight to that, though if we are looking at different projects. So it wouldn't really limit us, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I would, I would agree. I think, um, to your point, if somebody this is just my opinion for me is if there's a business along highway 61 that needs a facade improvement, like bad versus maybe something elsewhere in the community, um, that's going to be our call as a EDA here, uh, to say which one we felt has more. And not that that other one isn't a doesn't need it. But again, that will also be an opportunity, not it. I don't want to freak out our administrator, but that also could be a situation where if there's something very unique, where we go, okay, can we adjust the budget for that one year and add a little extra in or something like that? That is something we can do. Luckily, we have the trust fund for the EDA and that's, you know, really where this is coming from. Okay. Yes. Uh, Eddy member Keita. Yes, I guess. That was my question was what fun does this come out of? Is the trust fund? There you go. And then. Um, I want to make sure I'm clear that is accurate. Yeah. Okay. And then I guess so we essentially have a budget for two of these a year, and it feels right now like we're first come, first serve on it. Because, you know, you say you're working on one. We already did one. Well the next one in front of us is the one that's going to get the other one, unless we have two at the same time. So I mean, this rolling application system we have is kind of what's going to determine who gets it. And then when we're we're done, we're done. So I guess I don't know if at some point if we're getting 4 or 5, six applications a year, we're going to have to put some kind of deadline on this and then make that call. But I mean, that's probably further down the road when we. That's a good call. See if this is we're getting more applications, which is what we want. We want to make this a little more competitive. I would hope so. Yeah. Good. Good comment. Um, the only other question I have real quick, um, was I was noticing I was reading through the packet, there was a, a portion in there that talked about $2,000 for like the, the planning or something. Um, do you want to speak to that? Is that 2000, I'm assuming part of the 24, nine, 99 or is it above and beyond? Thank you, President Bailey, for the clarification. So there is a $2,000 opportunity for, uh, property owners to access any design assistance where the our our, um, site plan review team can assist. Um, that $2,000 is part of that 24,999. So that that is the entire total project. Um, uh, grant award. So if if a project does pursue the $2,000 and they're still asking for the entirety of what, without that, they really only can receive 23 or 22,999, in addition to the $2,000 design assistance. So it is a total Max award of $24,999. Sounds good. That's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure that was clear. Okay. And if I if I could yes. Yes. To kind of comment on Member Cheetah's comments regarding the applications and everything, I've got in my review, there was a point in time where we did have hard deadlines, and then we fluctuated away from that so that there was more rolling based on demand. So I mean, we're really at a point here where I'm trying to gauge what the demand is for this program. Um, and we can certainly install, uh, more hard, hard deadlines on this program. But at this time, you know, I feel confident that working through a rolling application process and if there is truly if we award another project project, I'd still be willing to accept applications to review and bring to the board for consideration. If I felt that it met the criteria and it was a worthwhile project. So yeah, my last thing, I promise, and then we can see if anybody has any we can vote. Um, it kind of goes back to, what EDA member Cabana mentioned. There were some years in there. And if you think back to Covid, to be quite frank, where we didn't have any, um, there was no money being spent. So we went a couple of years where we didn't have any, um, anybody come in for that money? So we never actually spent it just for free for everyone. So that might also be a little bit of a reasoning. Why, from when we started this, if it's basically two per year, could be more depending on the dollars would make a difference. Yes. Eddy or Eddy member Carmona. And I just wanted to point out that, um, that it's my understanding that this is not a block grant. It's not. Here's 24,999 and find a way to match what we give you. It's, you know, a grant up to it's a matching grant up to that limit. So if we were in a position where we felt we had a finite amount of money to spend, and there was more than two applicants, we could choose to grant less than the full amount. And, you know, spread it around a little bit more if we need it. But, um, I remember having a distinct conversation about this with, uh, former council member Dennis about, you know, like it could be used for signage. Right? So some people have signs that the lights are burnt out or, you know, any number of facade improvements. Um, you know, that that don't automatically equal, you know, the full maximum amount for the grant. So, um, I think ultimately, because it's a grant, the EDA is, has and is going to continue to have the autonomy to kind of, um, assess the nuance and, and make some policy changes along the way. So I don't think, you know, whatever we vote on this, I don't think it's a hard commitment that we can't, you know, um, make changes to in the future. Okay. All right. So we do have a motion before us if if anyone on the EDA would like to make a motion in a second. I would motion to approve the facade improvement Program guidelines, which are move the project priority map from the program criteria and classifies the total project award amount. Okay, so we have a motion. Sorry. Clarifies. Yes, we have a motion by a member. Do I have a second? Second. Second by EDA member Keita. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye aye. Opposed. Motion carries. Now we'll move to C, which is demolition of house and outbuildings. Quote. Award and Jennifer, our city administrator, will take us through this one. Well, thank you, EDA members. Um, just so you know, kind of hearkens back to my engineer day. So any time that I get to talk about construction and bids, I get excited. So thank you for humoring me this morning. Um, as you know, we purchased the Ross property in the fall. Um, we did have an environmental review of the property done, and it was found to have asbestos in the siding and some other miscellaneous areas in the home. And so as we actually prepared our quote package for demolition, it had to also include the abatement for the asbestos. Uh, the city has been able to secure Grant from Washington County to seal the well. And so we did take quotes for that and is being fully funded by that grant. So the work that will be taking place out there, uh, is really the demolition and cleanup of the entire property. So you can see the various outbuildings we'll be removing and, um, abandoning the septic system, uh, filling in that basement area. And then at the end of the day, there will be topsoil and seed, and then, uh, the city will mow and maintain that site once it's done. And all the utilities so far have been disconnected from the home. And so the next step is to prepare for the demolition of the home. Uh, we did receive some very competitive, uh, bids for the project. Uh, our engineer's estimate was about 80,000. The first bidder, unfortunately, did not grasp both the demolition requirement and the asbestos abatement. So they did withdraw their bid. So, uh, the low quote would go to NML contracting the value of 52,000. And so before you, we have two items. One is the resolution to, um, award that, uh, to NML contracting LLC for 52,800. And then the second motion is to execute the service agreement. All right. Yes. EDA, uh, member Kamada. Does does that bid for, um, clearing and, um, removing debris include, uh, the removal of and the the cutting down and removal of any blighted trees as well, in accordance with, you know, if it were anybody else, we would, you know, if they were going to be removing trees. We have a, a formula for that. And I'm just curious if that's if that's part of this site prep bid. Um, members of the EDA at this time. No, we don't have any tree removing. We're specifically looking just at the actual physical structures. Um, at the one complication that that enters into is when we have an applicant come in, they do have to evaluate the tree species, uh, to, for compliance of our tree ordinance for removal. And at that time, we would anticipate that they would remove any dead or diseased trees. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? EDA. All right. Uh, if somebody would like to make the first motion. Go ahead. I motion to adopt resolution 2026 002, regarding the demolition and cleanup of 9430 East Point Douglas Road, south to the to the low quote supplied by NML contracting LLC for $52,800. All right. So I have a motion by EDA member Kombetar. Do I have a second? I'll second the motion. Second by any member. Scott. Any further discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And then who would like number two? Take it. I make a motion to authorize the EDA president and EDA executive director to execute the service agreement with SML contracting, LLC. And the amount of $52,800. All right. Thank you. I have a motion by EDA member Jean Baptiste. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by any member. Uh, tech. Any again? Any discussion? Seeing. None. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye aye aye. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. And this morning we do have one public hearing that we need to do. We were kind of waiting on this one. So it looks like it's finally here. Uh, and, Nate, you're going to take us through this on the sale of some particular property. Certainly. Uh, President Bailey, members of the board, uh, you may recall that at the January Ada meeting, we authorize a letter of intent with trade home shoes regarding a piece of property off of east of Jamaica Avenue. Roughly 13 acres. This is a property that the city has worked with. The landowner. The underlying landowners, uh, informally known as wag uh, and where the the EDA acquires it at a reduced rate and then sells it at market to a new entity, um, to recoup some investment that was made for the adjacent infrastructure. Uh, and so today, uh, via state statute, the EDA is required to hold a public hearing upon the sale of property. Uh, and then following that, the EDA can take action on the resolution that has been drafted before you. And I want to state that I've been working with trade home shoes on some state incentives. I'm hopeful that they'll have an application here in the next month or so. Uh, additionally, we are working with them on project scope and developing, uh, development standards that I'm going to be bringing in community development team, as well as the engineering team to help coach them through the process. Uh, and to also state that, you know, with that, uh, that transaction, the EDA will receive just north of $627,000 to fund the EDA trust. So with closing anticipated for November of this year. Okay, first of all, is there any questions by any member on this item? All right. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing first. And seeing nobody in the audience unless, uh, Emily would like to say something. No. All right. Now we'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And now we'll, uh, do the motion. Uh, go ahead. If you want to do it. Whoever I like to motion to adopt resolution 2026 001. Purchasing 13.1 acres from Weg with PYD 27. I'm sorry. 21.027.21.34.0007 at the purchase price of 1,084,208 and $0.40, and selling 13.1 acres to TH's overtime LLC with PYD 21.027.21.34.0007 at the purchase price of $1,711,908. Thank you. EDA member Barta. Do I have a second? Second. Second by any member. Jean Baptiste. Any further discussion? Yes. EDA member Kamada. I would just like to note that this is a business that has been in our community for north of 20 years, and I'm really excited to see them going through this expansion process. Another one in our business park doing the same thing. I think it's a great, great, great moment. So all right. Any other comments? Seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye aye. Opposed. Motion carries. Um seven is other business. Is there anything else the EDA would like to mention or bring up this morning? Seeing none, I will mention to the EDA that we have a two items in our workshop and we will be going to the training room for this. Uh, one is we're going to flip them, but Innovation Village and 100 Street Extension update. Uh, to share with the EDA and then the business Retention and expansion program. Uh, just to talk through the things that we want to ask or be part of with regards to, uh, speaking to our local businesses. So we won't be adjourning in here. We'll be adjourning in, uh, in the workshop. So at this point, I'll just I will gavel here and then we'll move to the training room. Thanks, everyone. Do you want us to bring our tablets?