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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002.10.08 MINUTES CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES October 8, 2002 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a regular meeting of the Economic Development Authority was held at City Hall, 7516 80th Street South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota on the 10th day of September 2002. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. by EDA President Wolcott. ROLL CALL Members Present: Jim Wolcott, EDA President Sandy Shiely, EDA Vice-President Glen Kleven, Authority Member Mike Wennen, Authority Member Dick Pederson, Authority Member Gerry Weingartner, Authority Member Members Absent: Fred Luden, Authority Member Others Present: Rod Hale, Council Member Ryan Schroeder, City Administrator Michelle Wolfe, Assistant City Administrator Mathias Baden, South Washington County Bulletin Scott Johnson, Management Analyst Dennis Neitz, River Oaks Golf Course Sue O'Connell, River Oaks Golf Course APPROVAL OF MINUTES Authority Member Kleven moved to approve the September 10, 2002 EDA Minutes. EDA Vice-President Shiely seconded. Motion carried unanimously. RIVER OAKS UPDATE Dennis Neitz and Sue O'Connell gave the EDA an update on the activities at River Oaks Golf Course. Overall, this has been an up and down year for the golf course because of Economic Development Authority- Minutes October 8, 2002 Page 2 bad weather and the economy. The food and beverage operation of the golf course has begun to take off. They currently offer nightly specials Monday through Friday. They would like to continue to run these specials throughout the winter months and put together some holiday specials. There are also plans to put a display with information on the golf course at City Hall to keep citizens updated on events at River Oaks. The course was able to hold the St. Jude's Charity Golf Tournament this year and received some good publicity from the event. River Oaks staff is trying to be creative and lure new business to the course. Overall, total revenues are up 3% at the golf course over the same period in 2001. 80-90% of the catering is now done in-house at River Oaks. This allows staff to provide a quality product with less damage to the facility. Wedding receptions at the facility are booked as far out as October 2003. Mayor Shiely commented on how pleased she has been with the results of the catering operation and marketing efforts. PROJECT UPDATES Applebee's Restaurant is currently under construction. The restaurant sign was installed last week. Staff is currently in active talks about locations within the city for two industrial park projects and one restaurant project. GATEWAY NORTH REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT UPDATE Acquisitions of the properties for this project seem to be moving forward. The owners of the Coldwell Banker Burnet building need to sell 22,600 Square Feet of right of way and construction easement space to the City. The City will repair any damage to the drive access. The current owner of the building would like to maintain an entrance on East Point Douglas. This would pose a safety problem because the grade would be 11% for the proposed entrance and the current entrance is still dangerous at a 10% grade. A new entrance is proposed off of Hardwood Court. Ryan Schroeder asked the EDA to adopt an amended eminent domain resolution to include the CB/Burnet property and change some legal property descriptions. Mr. Schroeder proposed that CB/Burnet have their new entrance off of Hardwood Court and stressed to the EDA that the filing of the eminent domain resolution does not mean the negotiations stop on any of the properties. The office condo appraisal should be in sometime this week and the church has a purchase offer for a new site. Glen Kleven felt the EDA has invested too much in the project not to move forward. The eminent domain resolution needs to be accepted by Council within 9 days. The resolution will not inhibit current businesses. The City is only condemning out the pieces of property necessary for the project. Dick Pederson made a motion to accept the resolution. Mike Wennen seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Economic Development Authority- Minutes October 8, 2002 Page 3 FACADE PLAN FOR GROVE PLAZA Construction on the new small tenant space will begin yet this fall or in the spring. Mayor Shiely would like to see a current color rendering of the project before a decision is made by the EDA. A color rendering of the project will be presented at the next EDA meeting. OAKWOOD PARK AND COMMERCIAL SITES Mr. Schroeder informed the EDA that park uses and community space uses cannot be funded through TIF. However, TIF may be used for the tree mitigation expenses and the grading of the sites. New playground equipment could cost up to $80,000 - $100,000 and could come out of the gross sales of the property. Glen Kleven wanted to know if this helped with the Council's concerns on the project. Jim Wolcott explained that the Council was concerned about the amount of project costs paid for out of the gross sales. Rod Hale mentioned that he is concerned because the road for the project is primarily dedicated to one person. He explained that Oakwood Park is a passive park and he is concerned that this person will be able to use their property with minimum or no cost. Mr. Hale would like to see the money go towards building up the park trust fund and the City needs to get more money from this individual before this project moves forward. The City services and park dedication funds should come from the property owners. Mayor Shiely asked Ryan Schroeder how much it would increase the value to the buyer by grading sites and preparing them for development. Mr. Schroeder responded that this process takes out some of the guess work about the sites for the end user. Developers know what they are getting with a developed site and this makes them much more marketable. The grading bids for the sites came in lower than expected. The developers will be able to scrape off the top soil and construct the building pad. It is important br the City to control the land and design so we can get the best possible project. Mr. Schroeder would like to see the City take bids on this project. Dick Pederson agreed with Mr. Schroeder and said that it is important br the City to exert some control on the project because of the spin-off development that usually compliments a new Kohl's Store. Mike Wennen made a motion to recommend to the City Council amendment of the Gateway North budget. Gerry Weingartner seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. EDA SUBCOMMITTEES Ryan Schroeder asked the EDA if they thought the City was going in the right direction on these projects and if they wanted to continue with the subcommittee process? Economic Development Authority- Minutes October 8, 2002 Page 4 President Wolcott said his original intent with the subcommittees was to determine if the City is going in the right direction with its development. Glen Kleven thought this was the original intent of the subcommittees and was disturbed by the letter submitted by the attorney for the South Washington County Bulletin. Mayor Shiely thinks the press has been working against the City during its recent development and redevelopment projects. President Wolcott said the point of the subcommittees is to find out what projects Cottage Grove wants and not to ban the press from the meetings. Mike Wennen also commented that he could not believe the letter submitted by the South Washington County Bulletin's Attorney. He thinks the subcommittee idea is to encourage communication between the City and the Chamber of Commerce. The subcommittees' process will be determined by the individual chairs and will be fine tuned during the process. Mike Wennen made a motion to affirm the subcommittee process, improve communication between the EDA and Council, and encourage the Chamber subcommittee process. The motion was seconded by Dick Pederson and was unanimously approved. VISION FOR THE CITY The EDA would like to have a joint meeting with the City Council before January 1, 2003 to discuss the direction and vision for the City on new development and redevelopment projects. EVENTS The Chamber of Commerce will be holding a breakfast at 7:30 AM on October 21st EDA BOARD VACANCIES A motion was made by Glen Kleven to reappoint Gerry Weingartner and Dick Pederson to the EDA. Mike Wennen seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. Michelle Wolfe, Assistant City Administrator asked the EDA to think about a person to fill the vacated position on the board. Mayor Shiely recommended Jeff Freeburg from Renewal by Andersen for the EDA opening. 80th STREET BANNERS The marketing committee for the City has made a recommendation for the new banners on 80th Street. The Mayor really likes the look of the proposed banner. The dimensions of the new banner have not been determined. Glen Kleven recommended that the "Welcome" on the banner be written in a larger font and Jamaica Avenue should also have banners. Mr. Kleven also recommended that the City not use the new banner logo for their new logo because it is too busy. The EDA recommended that staff create a full- size mock-up of the banner and put the banner on a street light to see howit looks. Economic Development Authority- Minutes October 8, 2002 Page 5 MARKETING AND ADVERTISING Mayor Shiely complimented the staff on the newest promotional post card. Michelle Wolfe informed the EDA that they had 38 employees take a tour of the City's new development and redevelopment projects during the recent all-employee meeting. MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS ITEMS A plaque with a current picture of the Cottage Grove City Council welcoming people to River Oaks Golf Course will be installed in the front entrance of the club house. A River Oaks display will be installed at City Hall to promote the golf course. Also, the Ice Arena has been trying to market itself at all of the City's venues. The EDA is happy with the current marketing efforts and wants the City to definitely keep up the efforts. Latte Dah recently built a display for Company Store merchandise. DeMori's Restaurant is also selling Cottage Grove merchandise. Michelle Wolfe has asked Kinder Care to display items in exchange for marketing them at City venues. The Company Store will also be selling mugs with hot chocolate at the tree lighting at CityHall this December. ADJOURN The EDA adjourned at 9:25 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Scott Johnson Management Analyst