[6:54] Good evening. I call to order this June
[6:56] 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Community
[6:58] Development Agency. I'm Mindy Romp, the
[7:00] mayor of Blair, and I'm pleased you have
[7:02] joined us this evening. This is a public
[7:03] meeting and you are part of the process.
[7:06] I encourage you to participate, ask
[7:07] questions, and share your thoughts, and
[7:08] I want you to feel comfortable, and I
[7:10] will do everything that I can to make
[7:11] sure that your voice is heard. We do
[7:13] have several rules to help us proceed
[7:15] with the meeting, and I ask that you
[7:16] please keep them in mind. Please turn
[7:18] off your cell phones. If you need to
[7:19] take a call, step outside the chamber.
[7:21] When you wish to speak, simply raise
[7:23] your hand, call you forward to the
[7:24] podium. Brenda Wheeler, our city clerk,
[7:27] must record who you are, so please state
[7:30] your name, spell your last name, and
[7:32] state your address. We are asking that
[7:35] everyone practices mutual respect and
[7:37] hospitality towards one another this
[7:39] evening. I appreciate that we have an
[7:41] active
[7:42] and that you are very passionate about
[7:44] voicing your opinion. However, we are
[7:47] going to ask that decorum is maintained
[7:49] tonight. Please no speaking or murmuring
[7:51] when someone is at the podium. We are
[7:53] asking that you refrain from clapping as
[7:55] it is disruptive to the flow of the
[7:56] meeting.
[7:57] We want you to be respectful to everyone
[7:59] and their time. If you are in support of
[8:01] a speaker, simply raise your hand and
[8:03] that will be sufficient.
[8:05] Keep your remarks brief, about 3 minutes
[8:06] so that others have the opportunity to
[8:08] speak and we are asking that you keep it
[8:10] to 3 minutes tonight and you only come
[8:12] to the podium one time.
[8:15] Please direct your remarks to either
[8:16] myself, city council, or to city staff.
[8:19] A copy of the open meetings act has been
[8:21] posted by both exits and we are going to
[8:23] begin with the approval of the minutes
[8:25] from the 28 20 Excuse me, the April
[8:27] 20th, 2026 meeting.
[8:30] >> So moved. Second.
[8:32] >> We have a motion and a second to approve
[8:33] the minutes from the April 28th meeting.
[8:35] Please register your vote.
[8:46] » All council members present voting aye.
[8:48] >> Motion is approved. Item number three.
[8:51] Consideration and potential
[8:52] recommendation for approval to the city
[8:54] council via resolution 2026-002
[8:57] of a tax increment financing
[8:59] redevelopment plan entitled
[9:00] redevelopment plan for SJAV tenant
[9:03] redevelopment project. Mr. Green.
[9:06] >> Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor,
[9:07] council members and the audience. Phil
[9:09] Green, city administrator for the city
[9:11] of Blair.
[9:13] Um I Before Michael Sands, who's the
[9:15] city's tip attorney, gets up and kind of
[9:17] explains a little bit about this revised plan, I wanted to just kind
[9:22] of lay out for all of you and for those
[9:23] who are listening a little bit of the
[9:25] ground rules more and a little bit of
[9:27] kind of a reminder of what's going on right now.
[9:31] You you are not sitting as the city
[9:33] council right now. You're sitting as the
[9:34] CDA, the community development Agency.
[9:37] And that specific statutory role is
[9:40] going to be different than your role
[9:42] will be during the council meeting that
[9:44] will be coming up later on tonight. Um
[9:47] these redevelopment plans um by state
[9:49] statute go to the planning commission
[9:52] and the planning commission's role is to
[9:54] evaluate the plan and to determine
[9:56] solely whether it's in conformance with
[9:59] the comprehensive plan, which is
[10:01] ultimately kind of their Bible that they
[10:03] judge everything on is that
[10:04] comprehensive
[10:06] uh and whether whether this kind of
[10:08] development and the use of TIF for these
[10:10] kind of activities would be in
[10:12] conformance with that comprehensive
[10:13] plan. That's the recommendation the
[10:15] planning commission makes.
[10:17] For you as the CDA, you're going to be
[10:19] much more involved in the technical
[10:21] aspects of how TIF works, the financing
[10:24] of it, uh and whether especially it
[10:27] meets uh the ultimate criteria of that
[10:29] cost-benefit analysis. Um when it comes
[10:33] to whether it's a good development or
[10:35] not, good for the community, that's the
[10:37] role for the council.
[10:38] Uh and ultimately that's what the
[10:39] council is going to decide. What you're
[10:41] looking at right now is a little bit
[10:43] more narrow and focused. And so I just
[10:46] want to remind the audience of that as
[10:47] well.
[10:48] There will be uh the official
[10:49] opportunity later during the council
[10:51] meeting for the public hearing and
[10:53] that's really the prime opportunity for
[10:55] the citizens to get up and comment on a TIF proposal and this redevelopment
[11:00] plan. Uh if they have questions,
[11:02] comments about some of the technical
[11:04] aspects of the plan, that would be
[11:06] appropriate for the CD this CDA meeting
[11:09] uh as well. But but ultimately, if
[11:11] they're just don't think it's good for
[11:13] the community, that really is more of a
[11:15] council decision, not a CDA decision. So
[11:18] again, I'd encourage you to pay close
[11:20] attention uh as Michael goes over this
[11:22] with the plan, especially from staff's
[11:24] perspective.
[11:26] The biggest change in this one is the is
[11:28] the details in the phasing aspect of
[11:31] things. Uh and that it specifically and
[11:33] clearly says that when it comes to phase
[11:35] two, which in this revised plan is the
[11:38] commercial lots, and then phase three,
[11:40] which would be potentially additional
[11:43] multi-family housing units, that that
[11:46] both of those two phases are absolutely
[11:49] contingent upon a council in the future
[11:51] deciding that that's what you want to
[11:53] do. But if you were to approve this plan
[11:56] tonight, ultimately it would go back if
[12:00] the council ultimately would approve it
[12:01] tonight,
[12:02] then a redevelopment contract would be
[12:05] written up that would deal just with
[12:07] phase one. And that's the only TIF that
[12:10] would be involved would be the TIF
[12:12] dollar amounts for phase one, not for
[12:14] phase two, not for phase three. Those
[12:17] would have to be decided by a future
[12:18] council sometime if they decided to go
[12:21] forward with that. And it could be this
[12:23] concept that the developers are putting
[12:25] forward, it could be a different concept
[12:27] based on what the council wants to see
[12:29] at that point in time. So that's kind of
[12:30] a significant change in this plan that
[12:33] it tears that phase two, phase three
[12:35] apart, and really just is ultimately
[12:37] going to prevent present phase one to
[12:40] you. And then again, the cost-benefit
[12:42] analysis is critical, and that is in
[12:45] exhibit E, I think it is. And ultimately
[12:47] kind of lays out for you some of the
[12:49] benefits from a financial standpoint,
[12:51] the costs, and then makes the
[12:53] determination that this would be a
[12:55] positive thing from a cost-benefit
[12:57] analysis only.
[12:59] Um
[13:00] Unless you have any questions for me, I
[13:01] will turn it over to Michael Sands,
[13:02] again,
[13:04] attorney for the city regarding TIF
[13:05] projects.
[13:14] » Hello again, Michael Sands, 1700 Farnam,
[13:17] special attorney for the city on TIF
[13:19] matters.
[13:20] So as Phil
[13:22] kind of laid out for you, the main, you
[13:24] know, the the project as a whole, or at
[13:27] least the components of it haven't
[13:29] really changed with respect to um
[13:33] to what's in the plan. It's really the
[13:34] structure and the oversight of of how
[13:37] it's implemented.
[13:39] So,
[13:40] if you'll recall um
[13:42] prior it you know, at least from a
[13:45] timing and sort of division of taxes
[13:48] perspective,
[13:49] it was broken up into kind of three
[13:51] separate areas uh with the the initial
[13:54] multi-family, the commercial element,
[13:57] and then the uh you know, the later on
[13:59] expansion of the multi-family. So, so
[14:01] it's still that, but what is different
[14:04] is
[14:05] uh
[14:06] really just the treatment of of how
[14:08] those three uh three different phases
[14:11] will be approached. So,
[14:13] you know,
[14:14] there's two different kinds of of sort
[14:16] of phasing with these TIF um projects
[14:19] and
[14:20] like I just kind of said, the the one we
[14:23] had before was really to just maximize
[14:25] the amount of you know,
[14:27] the amount of years you could get to
[14:29] each segment of the pro project, but
[14:31] really treating the project as a whole.
[14:33] Uh the TIF amount uh wasn't segmented
[14:36] out between the three
[14:38] separate phases as we'll call them now.
[14:41] Uh so so that's what's what's changed
[14:44] really is that So, the the first phase
[14:46] is is um
[14:48] as Phil outlined,
[14:50] would be that that initial 110
[14:52] multi-family units. Uh so, that's five
[14:55] 22-plexes.
[14:57] Uh the second phase the or the uh is the
[15:01] commercial element there on the boundary
[15:03] of the project site. And then sort of
[15:05] the third phase
[15:07] uh would be the
[15:09] you know, that potential uh expansion of
[15:12] the multi-family.
[15:14] But I think probably the most
[15:17] uh um
[15:18] sort of informative or important part of
[15:21] the plan
[15:23] is contained within section H.
[15:27] So, there's a couple of bullet points
[15:28] there that talk about
[15:31] um
[15:32] Well, it lays out the phases as I just
[15:33] did, but the bullet points below there
[15:36] uh provide some stipulations for phase
[15:38] two and phase three.
[15:40] So, and I won't read it for verbatim,
[15:43] but essentially what it says is that,
[15:45] you know, with respect to phase two,
[15:48] the city the city's willingness to both
[15:50] enter into a redevelopment contract and
[15:52] commit those TIF dollars to issue a TIF
[15:54] note or bond
[15:56] uh is expressly contingent upon the
[15:58] redevelop redeveloper establishing
[16:01] mutually agreeable parameters and or
[16:04] land land control rights or restrictions
[16:06] with respect to the permissible and or
[16:09] not permissible type of commercial
[16:11] improvements developed on such lots. And
[16:14] it goes on to say if that agreement
[16:15] can't be reached, then the city, you
[16:17] know, reserves the right to not enter
[16:19] into a contract and you know, either
[16:22] something else would have to be
[16:24] presented or, you know, the land would
[16:26] perhaps go to a different developer to present something else, but but very
[16:30] basically,
[16:32] that's almost its own own project. The reason for including all the three
[16:37] phases
[16:39] in one plan
[16:40] is so if the, you know, if the plan or
[16:43] if the project doesn't change and you do
[16:46] come to these agreements, you don't have
[16:48] to go through two months of public
[16:49] hearings again uh cuz you have the
[16:51] baseline document. But for each phase,
[16:54] they'll have to come back with a a
[16:55] redevelopment contract for the
[16:57] commercial one. That would be contingent
[16:59] upon um
[17:01] like I just said, having some sort of
[17:03] land control
[17:05] uh
[17:05] or uh land use uh parameters in there.
[17:09] What those are,
[17:11] I assume I will be
[17:13] negotiating on your behalf with the
[17:14] developer. Um I'm sure there are a lot
[17:17] of options. Uh, we just need to figure
[17:19] out
[17:20] sort of what what what route the city
[17:22] wants to go with that. And then for the third phase, which is the expansion
[17:27] of the multi-family,
[17:29] that contingency is really just how how
[17:32] did the first phase do? What's the
[17:34] market demand currently? Cuz we're
[17:35] talking about
[17:37] 5 6 years down the road.
[17:40] Maybe more.
[17:41] Uh, so so what's the landscape look
[17:43] like? Is there still an appetite for
[17:44] more multi-family? Do we feel it's
[17:46] saturated?
[17:48] That sort of thing. And and so it's
[17:49] really in the broad discretion of the
[17:51] council at that point, assuming the
[17:53] developer still wanted to proceed and
[17:54] expand to say, "Well,
[17:56] no, we really don't want more
[17:57] multi-family." Or this is, you know,
[18:00] this has been gangbusters and and yeah,
[18:02] you know,
[18:03] more is needed. So,
[18:06] you're not you know, by splitting them
[18:08] into the three phases and then splitting
[18:10] up the TIF, so the aggregate TIF amount
[18:12] before
[18:14] um,
[18:17] hasn't changed, but the amount that
[18:20] you're committing for each phase has
[18:21] changed. So, for the first phase,
[18:24] it's uh, $2,077,000.
[18:27] For the second phase, it's $689
[18:31] $89,000.
[18:33] And for the third, it's $1.66
[18:36] uh, million. So, instead of entering
[18:38] into redevelopment contract and
[18:40] committing the aggregate amount of that
[18:42] whatever that