All right. Good morning everyone. We will call to order our EDA meeting this morning, Thursday, April 2nd, 2026 in chambers. Would you please call the role? James >> Pursula >> here. >> Johnson >> here. >> Kersh >> here. >> OD >> here. >> Jagger. >> Yes. And I am told we do not need an
approval of this agenda. So, we're going to jump right into our discussion items here. First thing that is uh on our agenda is the EDA uh bylaws. James, can you walk us through what we're looking at here? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh so the EDA currently has five appointed board of commissioners. Two seats are currently
vacant. Uh the EDA bylaw states that a quorum consists of four commissioners for the purpose of conducting his business and exercising his powers for all other purposes. Um a couple meetings ago we had a an issue where we may not have had a quorum uh within the city council and some of our other boards.
It's it's uh typically a majority of the appointed members. So staff is recommending that change. Um, I did also have the city attorney uh do a full review of it. He recommended a few other changes. One other item to note, he recommended removing essentially the the scheduled workshops in the um EDA bylaws
and essentially just setting those meeting dates um when we set the schedule at the beginning of the year. Uh one of the reasons we really don't have it defined in our bylaws of what that consists of. So that was his recommendation. Um, so with that, I'd be looking uh from the EDA a motion to
approve the amended EDA bylaws. >> All right. Thank you, James. Does anyone have any questions for James? Did everyone get a chance to read through the amended bylaws? It's pages three through five. Oh, no questions. We'll be uh looking to uh change our ormend our our uh um amend
this uh bylaw document here with a uh motion and approval. >> I'd move to accept the changes as proposed. Second, Priscilla, >> got a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. All right. Very
good. Looks like we have some new bylaws. Okay. With that, we will move on to uh item B. This is our 2025 EDA measurables and activities. The measurables are first, followed by the uh actually I think the activities are first in the uh in the packet, followed by the measurables. Um James, please.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, this is an overview of some of the things that the EDA has been working on this past year. Uh, so I'll just run down uh a couple of the highlights from this. Uh, so recommended uh the planning commission and city council review the enhanced uh commercial signage regulations in the zoning code. Uh, so this was completed
by the planning commission forwarded to the city council for final approval. A big part of this was adding a three-dimensional element to wall signage. So, that's something that uh the EDA wanted to see happen before um considering a signage grant for businesses. Uh also directed staff to
hold excess funds in 2025 for the uh sign and facade grant program in 2026 to coincide with the Washington Street Reconstruction Project. Uh EDA also directed staff to work with the Brainer Lakes Chamber and Bladec Washington Street mitigation plan to minimize impacts of businesses during the
Washington Street Reconstruction Project. Obviously, that project's uh getting underway and we have a good plan set forth for that. Uh the EDA also directed staff to tour and interview local commercial childcare centers to understand the difficulties in operating businesses. And with that, um the EDA
had recommended creating a childcare incentive program to forgive $450,000 in construction value for commercial and home childare centers. Uh the city council did pass that and uh it was towards the end of last year's construction season, so not a lot of use was made out of it last year, but hoping
um certainly we get some use out of that in the coming years. Staff did send letters out to all commercial childcare centers as well as home daycarees to make them aware of the program. Uh EDA also worked on selling two properties to the dermatology clinic uh recently approved a purchase and development agreement. uh and then also had
recommended that uh um essentially medical clinics would be allowed in the industrial zoning district. So that change was made as well. Uh EDA had recommended uh tax baitment for country manner in 2024. Just wanted to note that project did begin in 2025. Uh apartment
units and child care slots um should be available this year with the memory care units available in 2026. Um, I have heard from Country Manor that uh the open apartment units as well as child childcare slots are already filling up pretty fast. Um, so certainly a need in
our community and then um I certainly do expect a big year in 2026 with the uh signage and facade grant and Washington Street mitigation plan kind of all beginning in early 2026 here. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> And then I guess if there's any questions, I'd certainly be open to those. >> Yeah. Any questions for James on any of
this? All right. No questions. I guess we're moving right along. This is just discussion item only, so we'll continue on, James, with whatever you got. >> Sounds good. So, next is the uh quarterly plan. So, uh staff puts this together um as we have multiple
consultants and some of the work um sometimes takes multiple collaboration with it. So, this kind of outlines step by step of when things should approximately get done and then be brought back to the EDA for review and consideration. Uh so, a couple of things that I wanted to note in here. There'll be one thing that I' I'd probably like
the EDA to take a an action item on. Uh first one I wanted to mention is staff has um approached Jennifer uh Roach, the new airport manager, about setting up a tour there. Um so she was certainly interested in that. Thought it'd be a great opportunity for the EDA um probably would invite city council as
well um to tour the airport. So I'm looking to do that sometime in late uh April, early May. And so I just wanted to make the EDA aware of that. um look at your email cuz I'm sure we'll send out a doodle poll to get um as many people there as we can to tour it. I know Tyler has some things they've been
doing at the airport. Um putting up some ads and screens in there. So, that's something that uh would be good for the EDA to see as well. Uh one of the other things that uh staff's going to be working on is the state hospital property. Uh we did talk to um I don't
staff I guess not really representatives um from the state of Minnesota um about uh some type of conveyance of that state hospital property. Uh at that meeting uh they had indicated that uh they had um really no interest in conveying that property to the EDA or selling it. Um so
it just essentially sits there right now. U certainly there's a lot of property there. I kind of measured it. If you were to split it in half, there's probably 60 acres of developable property there. Um, so with that, uh, staff has a couple action items that we're going to be working on. Um, kind of the first step in the second quarter
here, uh, we'll be researching, um, other, uh, state hospital properties throughout the state of Minnesota. Um, what they're currently being used for, um, what happened to them. Uh, I know some of them have been conveyed. Uh, Fergus Falls one has, uh, that one has a building on it. So, getting all that
documentation putting it put in place and then um looking to to probably set up a meeting with our local representative Josh Heindman um on seeing what uh you know he may be able to do um to maybe push that that process uh along and and would probably be
looking to set up a meeting with myself, city administrator, um chair of the the EDA as well as potentially the the city council president. So, that's certainly something staff's going to be working on this year. It's a important thing that the the EDA's wanted uh wanted to see maybe something done with. Uh so that's
one item. And then the other one that potentially would like to see some type of direction on would be Westwood Mobile Home Park. So this has been listed in our our goals as well for the EDA. Um so staff a couple years ago uh did approach the uh owners of Westwood Mobile Home
Park. There was some interest in some other parties purchasing the property. um those pro uh the other interested parties were just looking to operate as a mobile home park. So, it wasn't going to be for any other type of development. Uh you know, kind of a constraint with that property is that it's a legal
non-conforming property. So, which means uh essentially they can replace any of the mobile homes that have deteriorated, fallen down, if any fires happen, they can replace them with the same size, but they cannot bring in anything larger for that lot. Um and kind of the the the
issue they face there is that um you know many of them are are more like 60s or '7s mobile homes where the newer ones are larger. So there really isn't a a replacement for that. So it's going to continue to you know kind of deteriorate over time and you know which probably makes it a little bit easier to to
purchase for something else. Um staff's certainly not going to recommend any type of reasonzoning for it because we do want to see that redeveloped. Um, so with that, uh, I did approach the owners and and they are potentially interested. This was a year and a half ago of listing it on our listing portal. So I think that's kind of the first step the
staff will do is just to get it on there. But uh would also like to see if the EDA um would like to consider or um direct staff to you know maybe form some type of partnership um with the HA, the EDA um the city um trying to figure out
some way that the a city or government entity could could look at purchasing and redeveloping the property. Certainly um the property is not an easy one for developers to um attempt to redevelop because first they'd have to purchase the property. Um then there's a whole
statutory process that we've outlined at the EDA of how you essentially um um transition from a mobile home park to something else. There's fees associated with relocation costs and you know typically takes somewhere between 6 and 12 months to do all of that. Um so it's
certainly not an easy thing for developers to do especially when there's um you know vacant property available in both Brainer and Baxter where it's essentially shovel ready. So, you know, the nice thing about it, it is in an area that does have services that's maybe a little more walkable, bikable
than some of our um green greenscape areas that are on the outside uh portions of our city. But, you know, that's where we've seen a lot of our larger development right now is, you know, kind of in those outskirt areas. We have the Keepers Project, which is on the outsides of the city. Um Country Manor, which is on, you know, kind of
open green space on the outside of the city. And that's really what um Baxter has had as well is kind of those large open green spaces. So redevelopment projects are are certainly tougher and and this one even pro provides more of a challenge because of the relocation. So, looking to see if the EDA is interested
in, you know, um directing staff to potentially work with, um director of the HR, um you know, perhaps, uh the PNF chair and and trying to outline some type of way for the city to to purchase and redevelopment, uh redevelop the property, or if you know, you don't
think the city should be spending funds on that, um you know, simply just ask them to put it on the listing portal and work with developers and let them know about the property. >> Understood. Thank you, James. Uh Mr. Joe Day, I believe you had a question regarding state hospital. >> Yeah, I think I think uh you were basically alluding to you were looking
for the same answer as me. If the state had indicated if they have a plan for the the land out there, the old state hospital land, >> they have no plan for it. They >> They have no plan. They're just not looking to sell or get rid of it in any >> Yep. So, I I believe one of the one of the main things is that the building is
already gone. So, it's just vacant property there. Um so they don't have a liability on the property where some of the other ones that have been transferred like the Fergus Falls one um they had a significant um building there that uh could cost the state a significant amount of money. So when
Fergus Falls had asked for it to be transferred they said go ahead and take it because of the the issues with the property. This one's vacant property. So, um, whoever's in charge of that, um, department, you know, really sees no benefit for them to transfer it to the city
>> other than the fact that it would actually help the city quite a bit, but >> Exactly. >> They don't care about that. Okay, good to know. Um, with the other stuff, uh, the Westwood trailer park, I would be interested in in knowing what types of costs would be
involved. You know, if the city's going to purchase it, that's one thing. I think that would be last resort, but I'd be interested to know what else we could do, whether it's a a partnership just to to help with underground infrastructure, cleaning that up because obviously
that's probably a big part of it. I don't know if everyone every connected separately to utilities or if it's >> typically there's typically with mobile home parks. Now, I don't know that one. Um there's a lot of times one main line
that runs into it and then they're interconnected to it. >> Okay. Well, that helps. But whether it's the EDA, HA, city all as a whole kind of partnering together, I'd be interested in knowing what the costs are.
Without a number, it's hard to say, but you know, anything from the most expensive, which would be buy the whole thing, help relocate, but the other part is I know there's a state fund that helps with the relocation part of it. Is
it does that cover 100% of those costs? >> I'd have to look into that again. So, I could bring another item back with some more information on that and and you know, perhaps the next EDA meeting um you know, I come back with see if I can get a price um from what they're looking to potentially do and then look into
that state grant. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, please. >> Yeah, I'm very interested in the uh state hospital land. You know, that's good developable property, nice flat, ready to go. The state abandoned us
years ago. they if they're not willing to convey it to us, I do think we should go the route with the legislators to just statutoily convey it to the city. If you need any help setting up meetings with Senator or Representative Heindman, I would be happy to help. I know Council
President Mike could probably also do that. And then when it comes to to the mobile park, I also agree with with Commissioner OD that I would be interested in seeing what the costs are, what the timelines are, and and maybe nudging it forward for redevelopment because that's right in Midtown. It's a
it's a great location for any type of commercial development and could be wide open, but I would just like to see the costs. >> Yeah, I think so. I think what we're hearing here James is before we give formal action or you know formal action to to pursue this I think uh we're
asking for just kind of a basic or you know highle overview of timing cost kind of what the obstacles are before we invest a bunch of time effort and money and is that a summary of kind of what we're saying I think we're all I think everyone's certainly open to it don't want to speak for everyone but it seems
like it >> yeah please I think last time we talked about this property the the mobile home park we had all kind of envisioned it as housing or mixed use. So, I do think it would be helpful to loop in the H on that discussion as well. Um, seeing as
that's what we all kind of envisioned happening there, if I'm if I'm not misspeaking and misremembering. >> I envisioned two hockey rinks, but whatever. >> Here. >> Yeah, please. >> I don't remember how long ago that was. Was it two years ago that we had that discussion? But a lot of the information
was in that discussion I think as far as like the uh whatever the fund is is called to the state fund the state fund of >> relocation. Um so I think I think a lot of that stuff is already in there but I think contacting the owner again and getting some info from them is probably
a good next step. >> You happy with with that? >> Yeah, I think I think that uh provides me some direction. So, I think some of the action items that I'll work on before the next meeting is um reaching out to the owners again. Um you know, just getting them on the listing portal if they're interested. So, that's an easy first step. Um seeing if I can get
some type of a price we're looking at and then bring some more information back to the EDA at the at the June meeting um to see if if the EDA is interested in and actually going down some type of formal work group to to figure out, you know, potential funds that the city's interested. So, we'll we'll do some preliminary work before
getting, you know, any type of direction for that. Great. Thank you, James. Does anyone have any other questions regarding activities, measurables? All right. Uh, hearing none, we'll go ahead and move on to our consultant framework for 2026, please, James. >> So, that that was kind of the consultant framework was the quarterly part.
>> That that was okay. Got it. Okay. >> Yeah. And then and then I will um add uh Tyler's here, so I'll let him kind of update you guys on the um facade and signage grant. >> Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Um we are we're pretty close to we have the
framework um built out. We're just working on some final details with some information we got from James. Um I have a staff departure that's happening tomorrow. So going to be a little bit uh Allison medic has accepted a new position. So she's uh been with us for 5 years and she's accepted a new position
over in Wadina. So she's going to be leaving us. Her last day is tomorrow. So, um, she's the one that has managed this the the last time, but I mean, we did it together. So, I have the framework, everything's built out. It's just a matter of now, um, switching over
some responsibilities. So, my goal, um, is to have everything framed up and ready from an internal standpoint tomorrow. Um, I' I'd like to get two weeks for us to promote this and push it out. So, if we look and say um the 6th,
the 13th, I'd like to either start it or open the grants on the 20th or the 27th, I'm open to to either one of you or to you guys if we need a little bit more time. We're receiving emails already. People, this is I know it's not supposed to be a secret at this point, but it's the worst kept secret there is. So,
we're getting emails requests uh around this already, so which is good. I mean again these are first come first- serve grants so they're going to we'll open the portal and these things will probably be closed you know within hours to be honest but we'll keep the
applications do keep funneling through the system so we'll keep holding on to them in case we get some that are don't meet the guidelines that we're that we that are put in place but um the signage grants those are going to take a little bit longer because there's 15 of those
um and just because we have to they have to meet the signage ordinances here and those have changed a little bit. So, we'll have a little bit of work obviously that'll go into some of those, but um if you guys are okay with the time frame, we kind of push some information out starting on the 6th. Um
would I'd like to open them on a Monday. So, either the 20th or the 27th, you guys, it's your call. Wait for the snow to get out of here and kick them off. What's your You have a Do you guys have a preference? >> I'd say the sooner the better. Okay.
>> That'd be that'd be my lean, too. Anything construction related, faster is better if possible. But >> yeah, please. >> Yeah. Timeline wise, I Yeah, as soon as you can, what you know, do your best job. But >> when the grants close, like when they fill up
>> and we're still receiving applications, >> do you provide information on other help you can provide like a unified fund loan or anything like that? Yes. >> To people like we don't have grant dollars, but there are other options for you. >> Yes. you're still interested. >> Yeah. And it's not a and um it's not a
standard response. It's me coming back to them and saying, "Hey, here's some opportunities. If this is what you're looking for, we'll work with them." We did the last time um we had, I think, three or four more that came through and we provided them resources, microloans, different things that are out there to to assist them if they're their project
is some of these were pretty big projects as well. So, we yeah, we have opportunity, we have options that we can provide to them to give them some additional resources. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Any other questions for Yeah, please. >> Are we are we thinking there's going to
be more inquiries on this than there was last time? >> Um on the facade grant side of it, it is. The answer right now is I don't know because we're going to have this these are just specific to Washington Street. So these are just the grant the facade
grants are just um tied to the Washington street where before they were open to the entire >> right >> business footprint or whatever that's called. >> Yeah. Before they were open pretty much to any commercial industrial property throughout the entire city. >> Yeah. So we'll see what this I mean with
a pending construction I think we may get some more inquiries just knowing that the timing is there for what's going to get done on Washington Street. Um I would expect the signage grants. I would expect a a pretty robust application process. I would expect a
lot to come through with that. >> Right. Um I was just thinking about it being first come first serve. If it if it becomes more popular where we're getting a lot more inquiries about it, maybe we take a step back next time and sort through
them because there might be a missed opportunity there. If somebody comes in and there's there's five projects that are first, but then the sixth one was, >> oh, that would have been more impactful, we might miss something. So, >> and we'll um Mike, we'll work these
through also based on amount requested. You know, I mean, if some if if someone's just coming in and saying, "My project is $10,000, you know, it's we'll take the $5,000 out of this and we have to match they have to match that portion of it." Somebody comes in with a if we get a couple that are really good that
are $7,000 total cost, $8,000 to I think that's something we should be looking at. just I think we could maybe have some more impact if we spread a few out. You know, as we look and say, you know, the first five are coming in and they're like, "Oh, yeah. These are these are great, but do we have some more in
there? Can we can we make some adjustments?" We're looking at and and Gabe, your representative to our unified fund. Um we've we have funds. We're looking at some different opportunities out there to maybe we don't want to compete with our lenders, but we have some opportunities maybe to get some
more dollars out there. and maybe this is a route we take. So there's there's opportunities for us to look at with regards to what requests come through. I think we have to look at them. >> Okay, good. Thank you. >> So it sounds like we're it's not necessarily just first come first serve.
It sounds like we are potentially talking about some version of a hybrid scoring. >> The last time they came in, the first five were to be honest, they were Kevin, they were slam dunks. They were these are good. These are good. We got three more requests, I think. four more
requests after that and they were they were fine but they weren't meeting the criteria that the first five did. The people that were ready knowing that these are first come first serve they were ready with good projects. >> Understood. Okay. And that that was really my concern. It's just I want to make sure that we're treating the public fairly so that everyone understands
they're playing by the same rules I guess is what I'm saying. >> And that's where the that that's where I appreciate the you know this twoe window when we we're going to be communicating this. It's going to be very clear that these are first come first serve. We're going to turn this on. It's going to be 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning, the 20th, and they're going to go.
>> Okay. Mr. Cranic. >> Yep. And I just wanted to um I know there was a few projects that didn't meet the criteria last year. Um so we kind of were able to vet those out and and it is first come first serve and then reviewed as kind of a reminder by
myself as well as the um president of the EDA. So um I don't know if you remember Kevin, we had you review those as well just to to double check that it meets the criteria. >> Yep. And they're all timestamped. So, you know, if there's questions, the company say, "Hey, what? Mine was I submitted
mine right away." Well, yeah, you did, but you missed the somebody had a somebody had a better better browser than you do, I guess. >> Understood. Okay. >> Um, with that, too, I have a request for all of you. Um, Isaac Breen has reached out to me and asked if you guys would be
willing to tour the top two floors of the of his building. Um, he's looking for some opportunities and some some options to potentially develop those top two floors. Um, I told him I would mention it to you guys this morning, but I'd like to add James if we can add that
to the list of uh potential tours for you guys. We can pop that in sometime in the spring cuz it's a little chilly up in those two floors. So, I'd wait till it gets a little bit warmer. But, um, I told him that I I when I met with him, I said, you know, I think it'd be great to have this board come through that
building. If you guys haven't been through it, it's it's cool. But >> it is very cool. Yeah, >> there's some Yeah, there's really a ton of potential and he's uh he's willing to move. It's just he he needs some ideas and some thoughts and I think the city staff and the city leaders could give
him some more ideas. So, >> I think some of us have been I've been in it. Has anybody else been It's a Yeah, I've been in it with two different developers over the past I'd say 10 years or something like that. It's a it's a very cool space. >> Yeah. But he he would he would love that and I told him that I would put that on your guys' agenda. If you're good with
that, we'll I'll work with James to set that up. So, >> very good. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Yeah. >> Okay. With that, uh we that Go ahead, Mr. >> And one last thing, we'll probably have Eric um since he's here as well, um update on on CHP. >> Yeah. I was going to ask you, we didn't have comments on the agenda, but anybody
who wanted to chime in with anything, please. >> Yes. Thank you, uh Mr. Chair and members of the EDA. So, we are starting the process with James and Jennifer of working towards a purchase and development agreement to uh put forward for the EDA to review for that right
street property. Uh CHP as of last night actually sent me their preliminary kind of schedule on on timelines that they need to hit to make sure that we get uh completed application in by July, the time frame that they need it for the state. So, haven't even sent that over to James yet, but James and I and
Jennifer and I have met preliminarily to start to hash through what a development agreement could look like. Uh, we've sent a couple examples uh from the H over to the city on things that we've worked through on other projects as well just to so we're not starting from ground zero on developing that thing.
Uh, I think we've got another meeting that we're trying to schedule for next week with both CHP uh the city, us, and then Jennifer as well. So, just making progress trying to inch that thing along. Uh we'll certainly keep the EDA appraised. Uh I know James and I talked earlier this week. I don't know that
we're looking at a special meeting. We think we can probably get you to June and still hit our timelines. Uh but that's the only other uh kind of question mark in the the air to make sure that uh we've got enough time to get that application into uh into the state. >> Very good. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, I I I seem to remember that when the
representative representative from CMHP was here, she said that um that she wouldn't that there was a scoring system on the grant, but we wouldn't know that until the grants were received. Is that right? So, we we would maybe get a little better idea of the of uh the scoring on the grant.
>> Yeah, I think they they typically have the scoring out before the application is due. So, you kind of have an idea. uh they've been through enough of these they they typically uh apply for projects every year so they're you know comfortable with where they believe this project is going to be at.
>> Okay. >> Uh with the support that they're looking for. Uh maybe just an additional uh update too. They are potentially looking at TIFF for a housing tiff district. Uh I know again James and I are just starting to scratch the surface on that to see if it's viable. Um, but it it
want to keep you guys appraised of that while we move forward so there's no surprises as we we work through it. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for Eric? >> All right. Anything else, James? >> Yeah, I'll give my last final comment, I guess. Um, just wanted to make the EDA aware that uh the keeper development has
kicked off. Um, so if you drive um if you've driven by that area, you've seen a lot of trees that have been removed in that area. Um they're kind of working on the final civil plans with the um engineering and public uh utilities departments and uh they're expecting to get going uh fairly early this spring.
Um again kind of a reminder uh 176 unit development. Um their first phase is going to be the 338 unit apartment units and then um they're hoping right when that gets finished that they'd move right into the the larger 62 unit building. So just wanted to give an update.
>> Excellent. All right. Anybody else? Anything with that? We're looking for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> We have a motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay, we got a couple sec. Second and a third. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I
oppose. Same sign. Thank you very much, guys.