[0:00] 12:00, let's call the Economic Development Authority regular meeting

[0:04] to order, please, for August 26, 2026. Please call roll.

[0:11] » Here. Here.

[0:14] » Here. >> Yes.

[0:17] » Here. >> Here.

[0:19] » Here.

[0:22] » All right, approve minutes from regular meeting 5 27 26.

[0:30] » I'll move. >> Second.

[0:32] » All in favor? >> Aye.

[0:35] » All opposed, same sign. All right, bills and communication.

[0:42] Any questions? You have to wait till we see Carla.

[0:45] » She's out today.

[0:50] » Any questions, comments, concerns? Nope, moving on.

[0:57] Delinquencies. She loves this part.

[1:00] » There's none.

[1:03] » Director's report.

[1:07] » So, in the past couple months that we've been in doing summer, it's been very

[1:11] busy here. People have been building houses and starting businesses and

[1:15] taking out permits to do construction and rehab on their commercial buildings.

[1:19] There's been a lot of business visits. We've been taking advantage of the good

[1:23] weather to go out and walk to visit different businesses and tell them about

[1:27] our microloan program and ask how things are going. And it's been very positive

[1:32] sentiments, which is awesome. I'm hearing that people are remaining stable

[1:36] in their operations and staffing and some slight increases in terms of

[1:41] staffing levels. And people are adding different product lines. At the same

[1:44] point, too, we're also working on kind of fielding those requests and questions

[1:48] that are coming from the Simplot redevelopment project. So, as you can

[1:51] see, there's been a lot going on. And then also the preparation for the fall

[1:55] North End Valley Career Expo is well underway, so

[1:59] all the good stuff. >> I like the highlight of like the fire

[2:04] chief that retired and things like that. You've done a number of articles on

[2:07] individual people. Actually really like seeing those as well. They're They're

[2:10] good. They're good community members. >> Yes, that was Brenda's idea. I was going

[2:13] to mention it later, but we've had like some low participation

[2:17] during the summer from businesses. So, she's gone ahead and like filled in

[2:21] relevant people from the city and like real estate and they've performed very

[2:25] well. So, it's also valuable for our communities

[2:28] appearance to like external entities and our spending for consumers and just

[2:33] quality of life. So, yeah. >> Yes.

[2:35] » I agree. >> All right.

[2:39] I'm going to skip over here. Financial reports are

[2:43] » Unless there's anything we need to like make a note of.

[2:46] » anything. >> Me neither.

[2:48] » Okay. Social media report.

[2:51] » Okay, well timed. So, this

[2:55] report covers the last three months of combined metrics. So, you get to see the

[2:59] top posts from the last three months and they do actually include some of the

[3:03] city staff. Um let's see here.

[3:07] And this has taken up a good portion of Brenda's time to go out and you know,

[3:12] schedule the appointments to talk with the businesses, get the right person, do

[3:15] the interviews and then the photos and the write-ups, but it's very valuable.

[3:19] The newspaper still pulls it and posts it in there. They've had a little bit of

[3:23] staffing change, so it's I think they're going to be on a different page than

[3:26] what it usually is, but it's still a valuable content piece that

[3:30] we add. Any questions on that?

[3:34] » Any questions? All right. Unfinished business. Residential tax

[3:39] abatement program renewal update. >> Okay. We talked about this back in

[3:46] I think May and there was an interest in moving

[3:50] forward with renewing the program. Luckily, the school district has theirs

[3:54] already in place until 2031. So, this was a matter of just seeing if the

[3:58] county wanted to renew it, and they agreed to

[4:02] renew the program until 2029. So, at that point, houses that are newly

[4:08] built no later than January 31st, 2029 would

[4:13] be eligible for the program. And sometimes it takes 2 to 4 years for them

[4:16] to get up to full value. So, it's possible that they could request the

[4:21] rebate as late as 2031, 2033, somewhere in between there.

[4:26] So, that is the installment on that. And

[4:29] then the next step for this process, if this was a recommended to continue, I

[4:33] would take it to city council, the work session. They would mull over the

[4:38] request, and then it would go to um a regular council meeting with a

[4:43] public hearing since it involves city dollars from the general fund.

[4:50] » I'll move to make recommendation to continue.

[4:54] » I'll second. >> All in favor.

[4:58] » Aye. >> Aye.

[4:59] » Aye. >> All opposed, same sign.

[5:03] Excellent. Simplot request for proposal updates.

[5:08] » So, our last day for the RP process is Monday next week. So, we're getting

[5:14] really excited about what could be potentially coming into our offices in

[5:17] terms of designs and proposals for that 10 acres of land that we have sitting

[5:22] over there that's been vacant. And I've had a ton of great

[5:25] conversations and phone calls and emails. I've reached out to 34 different

[5:31] business and construction companies directly with requests of, "Hey, please

[5:35] consider community." And one of them led to somebody saying, "Hey, while we can't

[5:39] do it this time, we'll consider your community for other options in the

[5:42] future." Which is good cuz they've worked with us in the past. It's listed

[5:46] on the commercial real estate index that Crexi

[5:50] RFP database.com. Deed was very helpful in helping us get

[5:55] it onto GovDelivery, so it's on there. League of Minnesota Cities social media,

[5:59] and then we are able to post it on our billboards. So,

[6:03] I'm not sure what to anticipate. There's been a lot of good excitement and

[6:06] interest. We did a webinar, and we had some attendees for that, and

[6:10] we had an on-site tour, and we had some We had a person attend as well, so

[6:15] Hard to know, but exciting times. >> Yeah.

[6:18] Next slide. All right, new business.

[6:22] Infill lease renewal. >> Mhm.

[6:25] » Okay. This one is for the Golfsted Law Firm,

[6:30] which is coming to the close of their lease term at the end of this year.

[6:35] And so, we met with the loan committee, and

[6:39] Ron, the attorney there, mentioned he's not sure how long he wanted to do the

[6:43] term, so we discussed what would be the best option.

[6:46] So, the recommendation was to keep it flat at the 11.25 a square foot that it

[6:50] currently is for the next 5 years with an opt-out clause for retirement or

[6:55] sale of the business. Since, I believe, his business is currently in the renewal

[6:59] decline phase, he may be seeking a buyer, or he may look to transition it

[7:03] somehow. So, >> Sure.

[7:06] » If that sounds good, we can decide on that, or if there's other ideas, we

[7:10] could listen to those, too. >> I I'm just curious on the opt-out

[7:15] clause, is it one-sided, or is it two-sided? So, like, if if he sale

[7:19] sells, are we doing a new lease with a new

[7:23] business, or how do how does that Are they taking over that lease? Like, how

[7:26] is that working with that opt-out clause?

[7:29] » actually. I think we If it's the same company,

[7:33] and I may need help from Reed on this. If it's the same company, then the

[7:35] lease, I would assume, would hold place. It would just be cuz the lease is with

[7:39] Golfsted Law, and not with Ron. >> Right. I'd assume it would continue on,

[7:44] but when that ends, we would have to renew

[7:46] it with them. If it is a totally different company that say like comes in

[7:50] and it's like Ferguson Law or something else totally different, think it'd have

[7:53] to be a new lease. >> Mhm.

[7:56] » Correct. >> I was just wondering, too, cuz I mean it

[7:58] it's Golseth, Jensen, and McCann. So, if one of them retires, like I'm just

[8:02] curious >> Well, one isn't even with us anymore.

[8:05] He's been gone for >> Right.

[8:07] » ever. >> I I I'm just It was just a question. I

[8:11] just didn't know if it was a two-way opt-out clause or

[8:14] we're we're we're just locking this in for a business for the next 5 years.

[8:18] » Whatever business shows up. >> Yep.

[8:20] » Very good. >> any business No, not for any business,

[8:23] for Ron's business. If the If the name changes or if Ron retires or Ron decides

[8:30] to move to Grand Forks, he would be in breach of this contract. That's he he

[8:34] It's upon retirement that it's on his terms is what I think we kind of

[8:39] proposed, right? >> Yeah, that's the the proposal at the

[8:42] loan committee that I recall, too, is it's a little bit one-sided to your

[8:46] point, Daniel, but it was um so that if Ron chooses to retire in

[8:51] the middle of the term of the agreement um or opts to sell the business as part

[8:57] of a succession plan, it would allow him to opt out at that time.

[9:01] Um the benefit on the city side is we lock in a 5-year agreement, where

[9:04] otherwise it may be a shorter term with more uncertainty on that end for the

[9:08] city. >> And then the reason we left it flat is

[9:11] because we did it with Mike's and we felt that that was the right thing to

[9:15] do. >> So, and that I didn't have a I just

[9:18] wanted to clarification on that. So, thank you.

[9:24] » Any other questions? Looking for a motion.

[9:29] » I'll make a motion. >> I'll second it.

[9:32] » No, you go ahead. Please call roll.

[9:37] » Yes. >> Black?

[9:39] » Yes. >> State?

[9:40] » Yes. >> Brenda?

[9:42] » Yes. >> Pat?

[9:43] » Yes. >> Morgan?

[9:44] » Yes. >> Al?

[9:46] » Yes.

[9:48] Perfect. All right. Fiscal year 27 budget.

[9:54] » So on the last page of your packet is the budget summary.

[9:58] We met with city council and gave them kind of a very early proposal of what

[10:02] our departmental budgets could look like.

[10:06] There is one change to note on this. Since Brenda has been helping a lot with

[10:11] the different duties with the EDA, especially with those spotlights, we're

[10:15] kind of consuming more of time that she normally is spending with planning and

[10:19] there was kind of an emptiness in the need for time with planning. So we are

[10:23] looking to shift her over to 50/50 EDA planning split. And that would probably

[10:29] take um place January 1st of 2027.

[10:34] So yay, we get more support. But that will change the wages,

[10:38] insurance benefits part at the top. Um just due to that change. However, from

[10:43] if I understand correctly, planning has already budgeted in for her normal 75%

[10:48] we've already budgeted in for her quarter percent. So it comes from the

[10:52] general fund, so it's not it wouldn't be a drastic change, it would just be like

[10:56] a a ratio. >> Yeah, essentially.

[11:00] So that would be something to note and then the other thing is our expenses.

[11:03] We've kept them flat. We're able to offer really great programming and

[11:06] support. And I've had a ton of people ask me from different towns, like how do

[11:11] you do your business spotlights? You know, what are you using for tracking

[11:15] your contacts and your deals through convergence, so

[11:18] it's nice to be a trailblazer in that regard with our um effective operating

[11:23] budget we have. And then we're getting close to the end

[11:26] of our Waters Edge lot sales. There was some interest in reducing the the that

[11:30] we have budgeted for that 30% or 30,000 for 2027. Um we did have a conversation

[11:36] which kind of foreshadows the next agenda item with North Star neighbors

[11:40] and they expressed some interest in potentially acquiring some more of our

[11:42] lots and we are working with someone else who

[11:45] is um looking to do that $100,000 builder

[11:49] loan program. So we have five lots left in the PUD. So

[11:55] that's all we have remaining. >> I I just don't think it'd be wise to

[12:00] reduce them now. I mean

[12:05] there's no way >> No, we weren't going to reduce them.

[12:06] » No, not the lots, just the amount budgeted that she's going to make up for

[12:09] sales. >> So

[12:11] » Sorry for blowing up. >> And out of those five we need to

[12:16] recognize that two of them are going to be very hard to sell.

[12:18] » Hard to sell. >> Yeah.

[12:19] » I think two or three, right? >> Two for sure.

[12:22] » The PUD, the duplex, and that one on 23rd.

[12:25] » Yep. >> Those are toughest.

[12:27] So we may have to like look at different creative ways on those.

[12:31] Um So that's what I have for this budget.

[12:35] If anyone feels like something could be changed or edited, we can absolutely

[12:39] make changes cuz we're still in the editorial part before council gets to

[12:44] lock in the the amounts.

[12:49] » Any changes, questions? >> How's our real estate agent doing?

[12:54] » Really well. He's sold four houses already. Or not houses, but four lots.

[12:58] » That's a good change. >> Yes. Yeah.

[13:00] » From May, I think he came on in May? May to now.

[13:04] » That that was a good a good investment. >> Yes. And he said that he'll be starting

[13:07] his second phase of advertising. Um unfortunately I don't recall the

[13:11] specifics of it, but he said he was doing like different phases of outreach

[13:15] to get people engaged in it. I was going to reshare one of his videos too that

[13:18] talks about like don't miss out on this opportunity of building here. There's

[13:22] also been a good number of people taking out housing building permits, so

[13:27] we might be just capitalizing on a really good time, too, to list.

[13:29] » just pretty much stop now, though, and until spring? Is anybody

[13:34] usually buying in the fall? >> Hey, you never know.

[13:37] » You never know? Okay. >> You see a lot of people potentially

[13:40] still buy lots in the fall to be ready to break ground

[13:43] » spring. Okay. And two of our Northstar neighbor houses

[13:46] are supposed to start breaking ground in the fall, tentatively. So,

[13:51] people might use the same contractor. >> Right.

[13:54] How many lots do we have left? >> Five. We have five and one PUD.

[14:00] » But it's I mean, there's action over there. There's two of them getting built

[14:03] in the Tribune Circle right now, and >> It's a lot less than when I started on

[14:06] this board, so. A lot less.

[14:10] » That's good.

[14:15] » So, we're looking for a motion. >> On the budget?

[14:19] » No, budget's already done. We're discussing housing and lots.

[14:21] » Okay, housing and lots. Oh, we haven't gotten there yet. Okay.

[14:24] » Do you need a motion for the budget? >> Yes.

[14:27] Yes. >> I'll move to approve budget

[14:30] » Thank you. >> has it.

[14:30] » I'll second. >> Call roll, please.

[14:37] » Yes. >> Black.

[14:39] » Yes. >> Say.

[14:40] » Yes. >> Andi.

[14:41] » Yes. >> Katz.

[14:42] » Yes. >> O'Brien.

[14:44] » Yes. >> Andi.

[14:46] » Yes.

[14:49] » All right. A housing and lots discussion.

[14:52] » Okay, this is the juicy nugget one for conversation.

[14:56] I'm excited about this one. And it leads in well, cuz Dana said we

[14:59] just finished selling most of those lots. Well,

[15:02] we're at a predicament here. We've sold most of our city-owned

[15:06] residential lots, and we are anticipating a large influx of hopefully

[15:11] permanent residents into the greater MSA.

[15:14] Um whether it be from Agristo, the Air Force Base is doing some different

[15:18] projects in Grand Sky. We're hoping to be a little proactive in getting

[15:22] affordable and available housing. We're at a pretty low available housing rate

[15:26] currently. Um, back in like Q1 it was around 1.99% for rental vacancy, which

[15:32] is really low. Ideally it's somewhere between like 5 to 10% so it gives people

[15:36] options and flexibility. So, we're looking at

[15:40] what is our next step? The council in the past had signaled that they don't

[15:44] want to be a residential developer, that we want to be out of it, hands-off, let

[15:48] someone else come in and do it. Um, unfortunately those outlays have sat

[15:52] there just kind of not having any action and it begs the question then of like

[15:58] should we engage in, you know, preparing those lots that go north of Waters Edge

[16:04] and get them ready? Should we put out an RFP and ask a developer to do that? Are

[16:09] there incentives that we should try to position so we can get more housing? And

[16:13] then I included some really fun facts that I pulled

[16:16] um so theoretically

[16:19] Gen Z, I've heard some conflicting information

[16:22] from other sources but consistently the research I'm finding is saying Gen Z

[16:27] wants to own a house, which I feel like is normal for any up-and-coming

[16:31] generation. They want to own a house, it's an easy investment, they're wanting

[16:35] to start families, they're motivated to grow and start families and we have a

[16:39] huge population of those coming through, you know, the university and through the

[16:43] college and apartments are good but they're they're not a permanent

[16:47] necessarily housing option that everybody wants.

[16:50] So, a lot of Gen Z is looking for home

[16:53] ownership programs to help them typically government ones. So, I don't

[16:58] know if that's a a consideration we want to look at if we did that $5,000 down

[17:03] payment program and we're at pretty much the end of those. There's just a couple

[17:06] where people are moving out before the full term. So, we're getting some of

[17:09] that back as that miscellaneous revenue but

[17:12] is that something we want to do in the future?

[17:14] Do we want to consider you know

[17:17] other programs that are helpful. And another unique trend is that we're

[17:22] seeing retirees are not downsizing. I've experienced this personally. I've seen

[17:25] it happen. Um there's that aging in place concept of I'm comfortable in this

[17:30] house. It's paid off. It's got a great interest rate. I know where everything

[17:33] is. I can walk it in the middle of the night.

[17:35] So we're not seeing necessarily people who are wanting to, you know, when they

[17:39] hit retirement age move into a smaller house or downsize. Uh largely people are

[17:44] either staying in their house or they're buying a house of the same square

[17:47] footage or even 100 square feet larger. And then there is a little typo here,

[17:51] but 18% of those who are 80 years old to 100 year old um want to plan to

[17:56] basically downsize. So we're not seeing that shift until people are getting kind

[18:00] of up in their ages where they're, you know, there's a lot of upkeep with a

[18:04] house when you're that age and mowing and things.

[18:07] So then that's kind of some food for how we want to do this.

[18:11] » I think one of the problems that you'll that you I see it from

[18:15] people that I work with in my industry that are looking to downsize at a

[18:19] certain age. Problem is right now is downsizing costs

[18:23] you more. So in in that instance, you know, yeah,

[18:27] they'd probably love to get into a town home or something where maybe they don't

[18:31] have to mow, they don't have to do the snow removal or something or maybe

[18:34] they're snowbirds so they don't have to worry about, you know, snow still

[18:38] getting moved it looks like somebody's there in the winter. But everyone that I

[18:41] talked to that wants to downsize said it's going to cost them more. So it's

[18:45] difficult to do it. >> That was actually Gen X's biggest

[18:48] complaint. They would like to downsize, but they're also dealing with the cost

[18:52] of like doing a whole new house, new

[18:54] mortgage. >> They said there's nothing in their price

[18:57] range that two 300,000 dollars. I mean there's

[19:01] just nothing. And and the >> How can there be when you buy a new

[19:05] pickup? They're 100 grand. >> Right.

[19:07] » You know. >> Right. Because they're like, oh, they

[19:09] want 20% down or whatever it whatever it is now. They So they look at it like,

[19:14] "Oh, I need like $50,000 cash before I can even buy a house."

[19:19] » Mhm. Mhm. >> And so it's it's been really hard and

[19:21] there's nothing in their price range. So it goes more like four or five 600,000.

[19:25] They're like, "We just can't afford it. We can't don't have the down payment for

[19:28] it." So I've heard that a lot cuz I work a lot with that that age group and

[19:32] stuff. But >> And which at that time we

[19:35] we're in the same boat. >> Mhm.

[19:38] Yeah. So

[19:40] » Still are. So if we're going to go forward and we were looking at this, I

[19:43] guess my question would be is is what would we be looking to develop those

[19:46] houses into? What's the income range that we're

[19:49] targeting for that? Because I mean if we're going to target and have these as

[19:54] like half million 400 or above $1,000 houses,

[19:58] you're not attracting people who are going to be coming for the jobs that are

[20:02] that are coming into town. Well, that's the question.

[20:04] » are with with Agri school and with Grand Sky, you are.

[20:10] » Yeah, people in their 40s, 50s? >> Yeah.

[20:12] » I mean, those are going to be those are going to be very well-paying jobs that

[20:15] are coming. And we talked about this at the loan committee of

[20:19] we have no inventory of lots. And with some of the jobs that are coming,

[20:24] um we're going to put ourselves at a disadvantage if we don't even have the

[20:27] ability to capture some of those people that are going to be looking to move

[20:30] into town to fill those jobs. So that's where the discussion comes up

[20:34] of do we look to develop it? Do we put an

[20:36] RFP out to find a developer that wants to develop it? Um Ben knows a little

[20:41] more about some of them that they they did it and there's some that are almost

[20:44] pretty close to ready to >> There's some that's

[20:47] I would say and Reed can speak to this, but there's

[20:50] some lots out there that there isn't a whole lot of infrastructure to put in.

[20:55] There's also a big portion of it that there's a lot of infrastructure to put

[20:59] in out there. So I mean trying to partner with a developer

[21:03] to get some things done. I I know we've always

[21:07] said no way, we're not doing this again, but

[21:11] there's lots out there where if we had them ready, they'd sell tomorrow. That's

[21:15] just the way that it's looking. >> That's the shift.

[21:18] » That's that's the way it's looking right now. And I know I can speak that, you

[21:22] know, it's difficult. I I know from a city perspective,

[21:27] there's uh value to that land. From a developer

[21:31] perspective, there's a lot less value to that land just because of the inputs

[21:37] that you'd have to put into it. So, um

[21:40] yeah, I guess it probably goes back to council.

[21:44] You guys to decide if you want to pursue an RFP type situation. We

[21:50] talked about it at the loan committee of I think that's probably the right step.

[21:54] » Yes. >> Because,

[21:56] you know, otherwise it's the city unless you guys decide as a city, we

[22:01] want to develop that and do lots again. >> I think the discussion was uh in the

[22:05] loan committee is that if we put out an RFP, there's not going to be a whole lot

[22:09] of interest just because of the type of capital that it's going to take.

[22:11] » We don't think so. >> Probably not.

[22:13] » We don't think so. >> But I think that's the first step.

[22:15] » Yeah. >> I mean, I I think there's probably an

[22:18] agreement with not only across this board, but city council that we we don't

[22:21] want to be in a position of owning lots and having to sell lots

[22:24] again, but um there's no other lots in town anywhere.

[22:29] » Right. I think we >> There's nothing on the south south end

[22:31] left. I mean, we probably have There's two lots

[22:34] » on the south end that we talked about that came up and

[22:37] » Yep. Besides those two, there might be one or two more, and then

[22:41] R5, like there's probably less than 10 lots available in town.

[22:45] » And there's develop I mean, with the lagoons gone now,

[22:49] it's a it's a de- you know, the around that

[22:52] golf course is >> Nice.

[22:53] » That's nice. That's why people are building out there right now.

[22:57] » I I I'm still skeptical on on the housing and in the market that

[23:01] targeting, but how can we make it something that somebody wants to come in

[23:06] and develop so that we're not in that business.

[23:09] What what what can we do? >> Give away the land.

[23:13] I mean, honestly. You know, or partner with partner with

[23:17] somebody so it makes financial sense. >> But it's got to make financial sense.

[23:20] That's why I'm curious to like is it if it's giving away land and it's something

[23:24] that we need, then that is that what we're considering here?

[23:26] » Yeah, I don't know. >> Is that that's the only That's the only

[23:28] way I see >> So

[23:30] I think I know what I'm talking about. RFP for

[23:33] the land and if not, then we consider developing the land ourselves.

[23:36] » Yeah. I think that's >> Say that again, Ben.

[23:39] » We do an RFP to see if there's a developer that is interested in

[23:42] purchasing the land and developing it themselves

[23:46] and if they can't, then as a council and as a city, we change

[23:51] change course and say, "Okay, we're going to

[23:53] develop these lots that we said we were never going to do

[23:56] again and >> Right, cuz there is some infrastructure

[23:59] already in that we almost have to recap. We're looking probably to recapture some

[24:03] of that, I'm guessing. >> I think some of it has to be redone,

[24:05] right? >> Uh no, I'm not aware of any of that

[24:08] needs to be redone. Uh there's sanitary sewer already there. Um

[24:14] about 29 lots could be serviced by the existing sanitary north on St. Andrews

[24:18] Drive to that lift station. If you build houses on both sides of that street, the

[24:22] sanitary line that's already there would serve those.

[24:25] » Yep. >> So you still need to bring in

[24:26] electricity, drinking water, storm sewer, and roads, right?

[24:31] » Yep. >> But the sanitary is that's a big expense

[24:33] that's already there. >> Yep.

[24:34] » To your point, Justin, there's there could potentially be special assessments

[24:39] » Mhm. >> for that sanitary line that was

[24:41] installed 20 years ago. Still that may need to be spread across those lots.

[24:46] » Right. >> Um I have a not spent enough time to

[24:49] look at a calculation of what that cost would look like or if it's something the

[24:52] city wants to eat just to help push up development along. Um but that's there.

[24:57] » Yep. >> I think there's other scenarios to

[24:59] consider too and look at is that, um, you know, is is Bob going to develop any

[25:04] more on the south end? And if we have those talks and if he has plans on it,

[25:09] we obviously don't want to compete with private developers either and let them

[25:13] develop. Um, so if he does and how many lots is

[25:16] he going to input and then maybe that makes a decision easier for the city

[25:20] that says, "Hey, nobody's interested in it, but let's do

[25:24] some and not all of it." And then that gives us a little bit more inventory so

[25:29] we've got inventory on both ends of town in case somebody chooses one end or the

[25:33] over the other. If

[25:36] if we don't have anything that's going to be developed on the south end, we

[25:39] need to hardly consider how do we get lots available and not miss out on

[25:45] potential tax base to build for the city.

[25:48] » We had also considered too, there's housing TIF. I don't know if there's an

[25:51] appetite for that, but that would allow the ability to wrap all the expenses

[25:55] into like a as the increment increases, ability to get reimbursed to help kind

[26:00] of build a lot of housing at one time. >> Does that constrain you on the building

[26:05] end? Once you, like if you put them in a district like that, is that a

[26:10] is that constrain the buyer or is that just a

[26:14] » Okay. >> a financing part.

[26:15] » Just a financing part. Okay. >> And that can go up to 26 years and then

[26:21] there is excess increment that's generated between like the taxable value

[26:25] and the new value. That could be used in like in the surrounding area to kind of

[26:28] help with like sidewalks or other value added at

[26:32] value added access things. >> Well, like Ben already mentioned, I

[26:37] think what we we talked about at the loan committee is, our consensus anyways

[26:41] is like let's put it out there, see if anybody wants it first and get it and

[26:44] then if not, then council's got to make a decision on where do we go from there.

[26:51] » Cuz there's really been no action or

[26:54] RFP ever put out on this, right? >> I don't think so.

[26:58] » Okay. >> I don't believe there has been. The The

[27:01] city like Widseth has done some site plans that has laid out potential lot

[27:06] sizes and utility locations. Um but I think even those are probably

[27:11] 10 years old at this point. >> Yep.

[27:16] » So, we're looking for a motion to

[27:21] Ben's going to head it up at the console and

[27:25] » Stump's going to say good idea. >> Ben, please. Not Ben.

[27:29] » Yeah, there you go. >> You can certainly make a motion if you

[27:32] want, but I think we could just take this direction to staff direction and

[27:36] maybe you know, I can start working on RFP and then, you know, at next month's

[27:39] meeting have an RFP ready for your review

[27:42] um to bring to council for their approval.

[27:45] » Yep. I think everybody's in consensus that

[27:48] we'd like someone else to do it if possible, but we'll see what happens.

[27:53] » But like you said, what hand are we going to be forced? I mean

[27:57] » If the the other lot's more attractive, they're going to go there.

[28:00] » Well, it it it it back to it.

[28:05] » So, the lots that are left are the less desirable lots.

[28:07] » Yeah. >> There's three that are probably

[28:10] » probably not going to sell. >> Yeah.

[28:12] » Yep. >> So, if we open up additional land that

[28:16] can be developed >> Better chance of people moving.

[28:19] » desirable lots. >> Yeah.

[28:21] » Um which will then facilitate further building in that

[28:26] area. And once they start building, you know, like

[28:29] hopefully it's like on the south end of Grand Forks where once they start

[28:32] » It'll just keep going. >> Yeah. These these would be lots that

[28:35] line the golf course again, so your backyard would be up to the next to the

[28:38] holes and not >> They were the first ones that They were

[28:40] the first ones that sold the first time. >> Yeah, so and they'd be the first

[28:44] » I like that. I'd like to see more people move in.

[28:46] » I >> mean, you

[28:47] I think there's probably 12 on that side left. I think they'd go pretty quick.

[28:53] » Yeah. Yeah, a local contractor has said that

[28:56] he could have four or five of them sold today if

[28:59] » I agree with him. It's the rest of it that Right.

[29:02] There's there's no sewer on the north side. So, there there's more work it the

[29:07] 29's easy. It's the rest of it is challenging.

[29:11] » Um I just if there's still time for more conversation, Ben made a point I think

[29:15] it's worth bringing up of the existing four or five lots we

[29:18] have left. And a lot of you have said it, there are a few that are probably

[29:23] less than desirable. There's I think there's one in

[29:26] particular that probably merits some conversation. It's

[29:30] um I don't remember what the lot number is.

[29:32] It's on the corner of 23rd Street and >> Saint Andrews.

[29:35] » Saint Andrews Drive. Yep. It has a lot of a big chunk of the property is

[29:40] um interfered with by the underground

[29:44] » natural gas line. >> And it's also in that section of the the

[29:49] subdivision that has recorded governance on it. So, the combination of those two

[29:53] things, the size of the home and the size of the garage that are required,

[29:57] and the amount of property that's affected by the underground utility,

[30:01] you can fit a house in there, but it's going to be a really funky house and not

[30:04] much yard. It'd be front or side yard depending upon how you lay the house

[30:08] out. >> Well, there's personal property

[30:10] » and we're our asking price, yeah. Our asking price on it is 39,950. And of

[30:15] course, that's driven by the cost of the special assessments on the property.

[30:21] You know, I didn't bring any paperwork with, but that's one to me if the board

[30:24] has any idea for how to be creative to allow a

[30:29] home to be built there. Otherwise, I fear as we bring more new lots on, it's

[30:33] going to sit and we're going to end up just making it a park someday.

[30:37] » Right. >> Planting trees.

[30:39] Maybe that's what it is. Is that Is that where the conversation should go?

[30:43] » That's and that's of what I'm wondering. >> There is not any playground equipment on

[30:46] the on the north side of 23rd Street. >> There is Danny. I mean that certainly

[30:50] could be an option. >> I I wouldn't I wouldn't mind seeing if

[30:53] we can package that in somehow if that Northstar wants to

[30:58] have a few more lots if if we can agree to them like

[31:01] » We did pitch that to them yesterday. >> If you take a couple more lots, we'll

[31:05] kind of basically almost give you this lot if you take three more lots or

[31:08] something. >> Um that's the the unique uniqueness of

[31:12] that lot is troublesome for Northstar even

[31:15] because the price is high. It's 5,000 more than we're asking for other lots

[31:20] cuz it's a bigger lot and with those

[31:24] um square footage requirements, it makes

[31:28] the home build a lot more expensive. So Northstar prefers some of the smaller

[31:32] lots and the the I think it's Waters Edge third that don't have the covenants

[31:37] that have square footage requirements on them.

[31:40] So if we could find a work around to the covenants and come up with a price, I

[31:45] think they'd be willing to play ball, but as it stands today with what they

[31:48] know about it, it's they wouldn't be able to make it work

[31:51] for the grant funding they get on their homes.

[31:53] » And whether it's council that makes the decision or whatnot, I I think I'd be

[31:59] interested to see if can we package that somehow with them and

[32:03] » Yeah, if you're going to take three more lots, we'll give you that one for half

[32:06] the price or something just to get rid of it and have a wholesale on it.

[32:10] Yeah. >> The interesting part is I don't think

[32:14] I don't think we can change the covenants on the rest of the

[32:17] development. >> That would be my question is is because

[32:19] of the covenants there is is it feasible?

[32:23] I like I I mean is it actually feasible because if they're having trouble with

[32:27] it, I mean just not based on price but with the layout of how the house has to

[32:30] be, would it be a >> They're

[32:33] It's not feasible for them cost wise not for

[32:36] » why don't we say hey, we're okay with that cost wise and they say it's 5 grand

[32:39] more. Why don't we Okay.

[32:42] Say it's 15 grand. That's the difference and it's the same

[32:46] money for them to build. To be flush with that square foot.

[32:51] Would we be money ahead?

[32:54] You know, instead of 40 grand, it's 20 or 15.

[32:58] » Well, that's what I was saying. Like if they if we if we come to an agreement

[33:01] that they buy two or three more that we give them that lot for like half the

[33:04] price and include it in with a whole bundle, you know?

[33:09] I don't know. And but I mean you look at it as a park and then well, that's going

[33:12] to cost more money, too, because then you've got to put the put a park in

[33:16] Well, and that's not cheap to put all that playground equipment.

[33:18] » That one's actually really close to Nash Park. Yeah, Reed and I were just looking

[33:21] at a map. Um it's right across Like two blocks two blocks away.

[33:27] » Yeah, wouldn't make any sense. >> Yeah.

[33:29] » So so the house building the house there is feasible. It's just not feasible at

[33:33] the price at which the lot is at. >> it's price wise from what I understand,

[33:36] right? >> Cost prohibitive.

[33:38] » Yeah, because of the square footage requirements, right? Yeah, I think it's

[33:41] 1,800 square feet minimum two stall attached garage is what the covenants

[33:46] call for for it the square footage. When you get to that size,

[33:50] the way that North Country Neighbors builds their homes, they're getting

[33:53] Minnesota housing grant funding for it, which requires that it be built with

[33:58] full accessibility and full energy star certification. So it's already more

[34:03] expensive home build as it is. >> True.

[34:05] » And then you have to if you have to meet those square footage requirements, it

[34:09] just it all kicks what they can get in grant funding.

[34:12] Um >> Let's see what

[34:15] I'm thinking about it that way. >> Yeah, I'm thinking about

[34:17] » mean like where they say it's no, and we say no, okay, well, we're back to the

[34:21] same boat. >> Right.

[34:23] » Yeah. >> You know, and I I don't I wouldn't push,

[34:27] you know, if you got if you buy these two, we'll do this.

[34:31] You know, like Jenner's Jerry fireworks or something. Yeah, I would

[34:34] » A bug going in. >> Let's just concentrate on one and

[34:36] » Yeah. >> Cuz if they if they're going to build

[34:40] more, they're going to buy more anyway. >> That's good.

[34:44] » How does this work to partner with you to

[34:47] get this done? >> Before there's nothing to partner with.

[34:50] » Correct. >> What do we have to do in order to get

[34:52] you to get take this off? >> we do to help you help ourselves? You

[34:57] » Is that something that we can ask him then is is what do we need to do?

[35:00] » That's the direction That's the direction we're going to go.

[35:03] » Okay.

[35:05] I'm good with that. Do you need a motion or something?

[35:08] » Sure, cuz nothing's happening. Yeah, it's just

[35:10] » All right. >> Okay.

[35:12] » Wow. >> Look at us.

[35:14] » Motion to adjourn. >> I'll move.

[35:17] » Second.

[35:20] » It's always quick. >> Benny.

[35:23] » Are you sure we should go? >> I'm sure.

[35:25] » By the way, I got

[35:28] easy a poop yesterday. On my back seller.

[35:32] » Oh, yeah?

EDA 08 26 2026

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