join us I pledge of allegiance to the flag FL 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 the city clerk could note for the record that mayor coutz is absent tonight uh tonight's meeting is being conducted both in person and online members of the public May attend in person or the public can watch the meeting online at Burnsville mn.gov meetings or Comcast channels 16 or 859 public can also participate through Zoom by joining us at zoom. usjoin uh more information is available on our meeting's web page and in the council agenda packet we'll now go to announcements uh the schedule of upcoming meetings we have our regular Council meetings which will be Tuesday February 6th and February 20th we have a work session on February 13th so we can all enjoy Valentine's that would be great uh annual offsite work session will be at the Windham Hotel and that is Friday January 26th starts at 9:00 a.m and we also have a special work session which is joint with the 191 school board and that's on January 30th at 5:30 p.m. and that will be at Burnsville High School and then last we have a special work session and that's on our legislative priorities and that will be Tuesday February 6th 6:30 p.m. and that is in Dakota B uh now we will go to Citizen comments this is the opportunity for anyone that would like to address the Council on an item that is not on the printed agenda and not coming before us at a future meeting does anyone wish to address the council nope all right seeing no one we will move on do we have any additions to the final agenda this is for emergency items that need immediate Council action or discussion does staff have any other additions to the final agenda nothing from staff mayor does the council have any other additions to the final agenda dope all right moving now we'll look at the consent agenda which is item number four all items listed on the consent consent agenda are considered to be routine and enacted by one motion however an item may be removed from the consent agenda for a separate discussion and vote is there anyone from the public who wishes an item to be removed from the consent agenda for a separate discussion and vote anyone online all right does staff have anything they wish to remove nothing from staff mayor how about Council m madame mayor I'd like to pull 4 C for announcement all right for c is now pulled may I have a motion to adop adopt the consent agenda minus 4C move to approve second all in favor I I opposed all right let's go go to agenda item 4 C would you like to te this off thank you Madame mayor it's really easy to say that um I just wanted to pull this because this particular quarter this is the fourth quarter donations for the city include something of rather significance there's a lot of great things that we get donated uh and supported from our community members um there's actually two things on here one has been highlighted in a prior council meeting that the community is aware of and that's the Burnsville Community foundation's $35,000 winter lighting donation but in addition to that on this particular list we have a long list of local businesses and um private citizens who have donated uh many many thousands of dollars to our community chair holiday event which was the uh PD uh Public Safety and the ISD 191 um holiday cheer event at Diamond Head um back before the holidays and I just want to really highlight the work of officer heatherington who did a a the bulk of uh Chief you can correct me if I'm wrong or all of but a tremendous amount of this fundraising was done uh by himself and some other officers and so it is it is an impressive list of of uh dozens of donors um and I know there was some on our third quarter uh donations as well and it was a it was a record year I attended that event with my grandson and it was one of the most uh heartwarming and positive community events I've been at in a very long time and thanks all to the police department and all the folks officer heatherington and others who who um uh participated in that in various different ways the fundraising on the front end and then the entertaining uh at the event itself so thanks very much with that I would move to approve item 4C second all those in favor I opposed motion carries all right I'll now recess the city council meeting to conduct a meeting of the Economic Development Authority thank you acting mayor Schultz good evening I call The Economic Development Authority meeting to order and the clerk will note that commissioner C is absent item number one are there any final additions to the agenda see none I will move on item two is the annual election of officers do we have any nominations for the Slate this year Mr President yes I would just uh defer to council member Schultz or Workman who have to this uh date I don't believe have ever served as the Eda president um I have and you have uh over the years we've been here and unless they are interested in um taking that particular position I would move the existing slate to remain in place I have no interest right now no does that a second winner by default sorry I think we're looking at status quo okay we have a motion in a second all in favor please say I I oppose say a and the Slate Remains the Same for this year item number three is the consent agenda which is the approval of minutes the jpa with the Dakota County on the open to Business program is there anyone that wants to remove an item from the consent agenda for a separate discussion seeing none may have a motion to adopt the consent move to commissioner key motions commissioner Workman seconds all in favor I I and it it passes item number four is the adoption of the annual report and Jeff Thompson our community development director is presenting thank you president Commissioners um so your bylaws the Eda bylaws uh for each year call that the Eda um review and adopt an annual report and its specifics are just the actions that were taken um in the past year so we provided a summary of your actions it was a brief uh list of actions last year really the the main item being um the adoption of the levy and the budget to support our Economic Development work uh here into 2024 so that annual report is included in your packet uh for your adoption tonight uh looking forward into this year just on the horizon I know uh we've talked about the two probably most important grounding uh things to work on uh in 2024 and that's our Economic Development strategic framework and then our housing inventory so we um we have our Economic Development strategic plan it's served us well for the past five plus years um but really this will be our uh a a new look at um our focus and strategies for economic development and red development in Burnsville in the next 5 years um and looking a more comprehensive look so we're as you know we awarded the contract at the end of last year for the consultant to work on that and uh we'll be kicking that off um with the public and with the council here um early in 2024 and the second component of that is our housing inventory so looking kind of a deep dive into our housing infrastructure to fully understand our market conditions um and our housing conditions and and all the um information goes into understanding our housing market uh so we can continue to ensure we're supporting and um investing in our housing stock uh so those are the two biggest things on the horizon for 2024 um that we're excited to to kick off with all of you obviously there's still Redevelopment and projects happening in Burnsville um in the 42 Corridor um we're still seeing interesting the retail and Commercial sector there um uh we expect some projects to move forward the mall uh be completed at the mall and and to move forward likely in 2024 and then of course we continue to see a strong interest in housing in Heart of the City um there's the third phase of the Pleasant Avenue is now under construction as you know there's a fourth phase uh planned for the Diamond Head site um where the there's a purchase agreement with the school district and I will say that we get regular interest from developers sometimes site specific sometimes not but knowing of a housing interest um and housing demand for Heart of the City which is unique when you market conditions across the Metro um with interest rates and construction rates we're not seeing the growth in housing as much but we're still seeing that strong interest in Heart of the City so I think 2024 will'll have um items for your consideration and investment again for the long-term planning of Economic Development and housing but also some of the Redevelopment goals that the Eda and Council have had so with that we do recommend adoption of the annual report and I'm happy to answer any questions that the the commission may have are there any questions commissioner key um Jeff would you say that the um economic condition of the mall in the area surrounding that um has um maybe turned the corner and that given the new ownership uh some of the things that we being presented with uh some of the new construction going on uh that that we are on a maybe a much better trajectory than we've experienced in Prior years for that area and especially for the mall uh president and commission um generally yes right um I think we're seeing we've seen uh ownership changes at the mall the the one the there are two major ones one being the the mall itself has sold um last year is under new um new ownership which is planning kind of a it has a history of um managing and um investing in commercial centers so um I know they have kind of a new strategy and approach for their plans for putting new tenants in the mall and then just at the end of 2023 the the former Sears site which was still owned by the holding company of Sears uh did sell that sold to a local developer who was in their very early stages of planning for uh investment and Redevelopment of that site so I think from a strategy perspective like the mall is important and we know that um the the most immediate opportunities for investment and Redevelopment of the mall are on the outside um of the mall and so we expect to see some more movement on that um and something more comprehensive in in hopefully in this year to come thank you I just Mr President and Eda Council I think it's worthy noting the timeline that we've sort of lived through the last about 10 years ago or so the mayor and I were having meetings with the prior owner of CBL and they were you know the the insight of the mall was losing tenants we were very concerned about their reinvestment intentions and we unfortunately went through five or six years of lip service and then we got a new owner uh out of a bankruptcy sale uh and unfortunately due to their issues uh internal issues uh we were we weren't seeing what we were hoping out of them so I I think it's it's a significant Milestone uh when you look through the uh recent history of the mall um and what we can see over the next you know when we think about okay what's the next 10 years going to look like and with new owners who actually do invest in their properties and are there actively every single day in their offices uh interacting interviewing uh signing new leases um there's a specific emphasis on them filling a lot of that space with minority owned businesses so we're we're getting a great diverse selection of business opportunities in the mall that reflect our community uh and that's great for new entrepreneurs uh from from all kinds of uh backgrounds and cultures that's wonderful um and so hopefully this next few years maybe the next five with the Sears sale and potential Redevelopment and what the new owners are going to do Mr President you might have a if if you're going to be in that position for a few more years some really positive things that we can celebrate uh from an economic development standpoint which it's for that particular area it's been a long time since we've been able to really talk very positively about the future and and things happening today and then one final note we of course we have another uh ribbon cutting coming very quickly with the Jamba Juice and anti- ANS pretzel uh drive-thru uh on Newton Avenue so where the police department now has coffee just a half a block away they'll be able to get smoothies and pretzels a half a block away uh at far station one thank you thank you um are there any other questions well then may have a motion to adopt the report so moved second motion by commissioner Schultz second by commissioner key all in favor I I oppose and it passes there's no other business may I have a motion to adjourn move to adjourn commissioner key motions to adjourn commissioner Workman second all in favor say I I oppos and we are now adjourned back to you madam members of the council there's no additional items to come before us at this regular council meeting and a motion to adjourn is in order move the journ the city council second all in favor I I that's it thank you for being with us tonight