05-07-2018 HRA MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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Housing and Redevelopment Minutes Page 3 May 7, 2018 ----------------------------- Ms. Othoudt stated she went door to door to talk to the business owner and property owners along Jackson. She stated she's also communicated to the Downtown Elk River association of this project. Chair Toth asked if there were any audience members that would like to address the HRA. Tom Kolar, 708 Main St. NW — asked for clarification questions regarding the proposed district. He stated it was a very ambitious project. Debbie Rydberg, Executive Director of the Elk River Chamber of Commerce, asked if some of the buildings inspected don't meet the subpar standard, would they also be able to benefit from the TIF district and financing to make other improvements that are maybe not needed for your subpar standard. Ms. Othoudt replied that typically the increment is used for very specific reasons and in this case, to make improvements on the building based upon the findings of the substandard report. Steve Johnson, 309 Jackson St., has owned the building since 1965. He stated the communication from the city to gain permission from him to inspect the building came up rather quickly but he did appreciate Ms. Othoudt explaining the potential redevelopment proposal to him. He stated he would like to work with the EDA to discuss the perspective of preserving the downtown and what makes sense for everybody involved. Ms. Othoudt explained the request before them was to approve by motion the proposal by LHB, Inc. She indicated staff will formalize the authorization to inspect properties from the Jackson site with written permission. Commissioner Ovall asked if the HRA was ok approving this sunk cost, noting it's not in the budget. He indicated they're still exploring the feasibility of this redevelopment plan and doesn't feel they've received enough community feedback to proceed with incurring this expense. He wondered if they should be doing more communication with the businesses in the downtown area before proceeding with this step. Chair Toth stated he agreed with Commissioner Ovall's thoughts but felt without approving this proposal, it wouldn't provide them with the information the HRA needed to provide to potential developers. Commissioner Chuba disagreed with Commissioner Ovall and although he agreed it was an unbudgeted expense, the information obtained from the analysis would be critical in how the HRA proceeds, especially with the condition of the school district building. He noted time was of the essence. Commissioner Ovall stated he did see both sides of the issue but doesn't want it to become a preordained destiny.