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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002.12.10 MINUTES • CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES December 10, 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 December 2002. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. byEDA President Wolcott. ROLL CALL • Members Present: Jim Wolcott, EDA President Sandy Shiely, EDA Vice-President Glen Kleven, Authority Member Fred Luden, Authority Member Dick Pederson, Authority Member Gerry Weingartner, Authority Member Members Absent: Mike Wennen, Authority Member Others Present: Ryan Schroeder, City Administrator Michelle Wolfe, Assistant City Administrator Scott Johnson, Management Analyst APPROVAL OF MINUTES Authority Member Kleven moved to approve the October 8, 2002 EDA Minutes. EDA Vice-President Shiely seconded. Motion carried unanimously. PROJECT UPDATES The City has received eight new inquiries for economic development projects since October of this year. • • Economic Development Authority- Minutes December 10, 2002 Page 2 Multi-tenant industrial project—Developer will be in soon with a site plan. Wells Fargo—The project proposal is for a new bank near Menards. They are scheduled to be on the next Planning Commission agenda. A number of restaurants and banks have shown interest in their current location. Presbyterian Homes—Looking at building a senior housing/office/ retail project in Cottage Grove. They are currently looking for a retail partner on this project. They are currently negotiating for a piece of property in Cottage Grow. Jim Wolcott asked how the project would be financed. A portion of the project would be paid for through a pay as you go TIF district. Oakwood Park—There has been high interest in the sites. The City would like to see high quality projects built on these sites. The City has rejected a proposal from a restaurant because the proposed layout negatively affected the remainder of the site. In addition, there were access issues with the project. Frattalone Property—This topic will be discussed at the joint meeting with the City Council. They will discuss the possibilities of having a project on the 11 acre parcel near the future Kohls location. A project would be difficult on this site because of the trees • and topography. Smaller stores may work on this site as opposed to big box retailers. Mayor Shiely commented that she would like to see a minimal amount of trees removed and leave the conservation easement as it currently stands. Ryan Schroeder informed the EDA that Eller is interested in selling their land, but would want to keep some of their billboards up. Mr. Schroeder thought this would be a good site for a park and storm water holding site as mitigation for any Frattalone project. GATEWAY NORTH REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT UPDATE Staff asked the EDA for approval of a purchase agreement for the four condo units on the future Kohls site. The total cost for the purchase agreement with relocation expenses included is about $1 million. Mr. Wolcott asked the staff if the project is still under budget. Ryan Schroeder said the City is still within budget. Dick Pederson made a motion to approve the purchase agreement for the four office condos. Gerry Weingartner seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously Mr. Schroeder said the US Bank land swap agreement seems to be moving ahead and should be completed in the next 30 days. The City will use its quick take power for the CB/Burnett property. Condemnation will take place soon on that property. There is a dispute over the placement of the access. The current entrance has a grade of 10% and the new proposed entrance would have a grade of 11%, which causes some safety • concerns for the City. The City proposed a new entrance 500 ft. away on the new Hardwood Court. Economic Development Authority- Minutes • December 10, 2002 Page 3 The City is still working on acquiring 10,000 square feet of land adjacent to the office condo space and the Citys negotiations with Victory Church seem to be moving forward. PREDEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH SCHMID AND SONS PACKAGING Schmid and Sons is looking at building a 35,102 square foot warehouse project next to CCE. There would be no on site ponding. The predevelopment document is currently being reviewed by Schmid and Sons. The project would employ 20 to 40 employees with an average hourly wage of $11.00. Mayor Shiely would like staff to look into this requirement and possibly raise the minimum requirement. The land price for this project is $2.05 a square foot. $.85 goes to pay for the base parcel and $.15 of the land price goes to deferred assessments. $.30 and $.40 of the square foot cost goes to area charges and grading charges for the project. $.05 is used for overhead costs on the project. Gerry Weingartner made a motion to accept the predevelopment agreement with Schmid and Sons. Dick Pederson seconded the motion and the motion carried. Fred Luden abstained from voting on the project because he felt that he did not know enough about the business and knows the packaging industry has predominantly low paying jobs. • EDA MEMBERS A Council Action Item will be on the next Council Agenda to reappoint Dick Pederson and Gerry Weingartner to the EDA. The EDA will be looking at candidates to fill their one opening in the near future. 2003 MARKETING AND ADVERTISING Michelle Wolfe presented the EDA with advertising options for 2003. The Business Journal reduced its rates for 2003 to attract more ads. She also explained that the Business Journal has a larger audience than the other publications. Mr. Schroeder commented that the City staff receives calls due to the direct post cards. He also explained to the EDA that development is a relationship business and the post cards remind people of that relationship. Glen Kleven thought it would be a good idea to expand direct mailers and the ED mailing list. Mr. Kleven thought seven or eight post cards a year would help more with marketing than ads in publications. He thought the City should look at marketing in other markets. Mayor Shiely did not see much value in advertising outside of the region because of the higher state taxes. Gerry Weingartner mentioned that the post cards are sent out to people who already know about us and we need to look for people who do not know about us. Mayor Shiely mentioned that a certain expectation is associated with the post cards and that we want certain development projects. Jim Wolcott thought the City • should use minimal advertising this year and use the money to put together an event for the current businesses in Cottage Grove. However, they do not want to stop advertising • Economic Development Authority- Minutes December 10, 2002 Page 4 in any publication until staff knows where the businesses who inquire found out about the City. The issue will be discussed at the joint meeting with the City Council. ANNUAL BUSINESS BREAKFAST The annual business breakfast will be held January 27, 2003 at 3M Cottage Grove. Jim Wolcott thought the event should do something positive for current businesses. Dick Pederson proposed allowing each business to have a commercial taped at the event. Business owners could talk about their businesses and what they do in the community. Mr. Wolcott mentioned that this idea would take a large amount of time and some business owners would not participate. Mayor Shiely suggested bringing in a speaker to talk about the Wakota Bridge project. They could discuss the time-line for the project and other transportation topics. Another idea is to bring in someone to talk about the state budget deficit. Mayor Shiely will ask the State Finance Commissioner to talk about this subject at the breakttst. RIVER OAKS PLAQUE The plaque to welcome visitors to River Oaks Golf Course from the City Council will be • installed with a current Council photo in January. GATEWAY CENTER A ribbon cutting will be held for the Gateway Center at 1:00 PM on Saturday, December 14, 2002. The Applebee's ribbon cutting will be held at 10:30 AM on Monday, December 16, 2002. ADJOURN The EDA adjourned at 9:10 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Scott Johnson Management Analyst •