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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-24-09City of Lakeville Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes November 24, 2009 Marion Conference Room, City Hall Members Present: Comms. Matasosky, Tushie, Vlasak, Starfield, Schubert, Emond, Brantly, Longie, Smith, Erickson, Ex- officio member Mayor Holly Dahl, Ex- officio member City Administrator Steve Mielke, Ex- officio member Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Todd Bornhauser. Members Absent: None. Others Present: David Olson, Community Economic Development Director; Adam Kienberger, Economic Development Specialist. 1. Call Meeting to Order Chair Matasosky called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Marion Conference Room of City Hall, 20195 Holyoke Avenue, Lakeville, Minnesota. 2. Approve September 29, 2009 Meeting Minutes Motion 09.11 Comms. Emond /Erickson moved to approve the minutes of the September 29, 2009 meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously. 3. Discussion of City's Policy on Economic Development Incentives Dave Olson reviewed the EDC memo and discussed recent requests for incentives from several different business prospects. Mr. Olson queried the EDC for their thoughts on how to best address to these types of requests as they are becoming more common. While often times the businesses ask about financial incentives, staff many times attempts to inform the businesses about other things the City can do to make this the right location for them. Chair Matasosky noted that there should be a consistent response to businesses considering Lakeville and a strategy for addressing the "incentives" requests. A checklist outlining what we have to offer is a good start to this issue. This could be in the form of a decision making matrix and a document outlining the tools that are available in Lakeville. Chair Matasosky continued by suggesting a return on investment (ROI) model be developed reflecting businesses that have received financial assistance in the past. We need to provide information and attributes of Lakeville to the "decision makers" of the company and past the initial inquiry by a broker or site selector. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes November 24, 2009 Steve Mielke added that staff is seeking a clearer policy on when to explore certain "tools" that may be available to Lakeville. The requests are not always about financial incentives, but that is often what is asked because the company doesn't know what else the City can offer. We should explore ways to better market Lakeville's attributes. Comm. Emond mentioned that we could track how past projects that have received assistance from the City have fared. This could help establish a baseline /history to help evaluate future proposals. Comm. Brantly suggested doing some case studies of successful projects in Lakeville. Use testimonials from "satisfied customers" to help market and promote the City. Ex- officio member Bornhauser stated that we need to find something to make Lakeville a trendsetter in the marketplace; something to put us out ahead of other communities. Comm. Starfield asked if the recent Malt -O -Meal project received tax increment financing (TIF) benefits for coming to Lakeville. Mr. Olson responded that the 25 -year TIF district Malt -O -Meal is locating in captures increment to repay the costs originally associated with the land purchase and infrastructure improvements. Mr. Mielke added that while TIF can be used to offset public improvement costs, the message historically in Lakeville has been that we don't generally do TIF. Comm. Starfield noted that it's difficult to see a business that may have considered Lakeville end up locating in a city like Faribault. How can we market the benefits of our location? Comm. Tushie responded that incentives /benefits should be looked at as a way of comparing the cost of locating in Lakeville to someplace else. For this comparison we have to consider ourselves as in the Metro. Cities in the Metro don't use TIF for industrial development, but will sometimes use it for office or housing projects. To be competitive we also have to evaluate the cost of City fees, connection charges etc. Comm. Tushie added that we should also discuss a focus on encouraging "affordable housing" and realize that this does not mean the same thing as "low income" housing. Comm. Brantly mentioned the use of deferrals or delayed payments on land the City could sell for development. 2 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes November 24, 2009 Comm. Vlasak asked if the City still owns any land to use as incentive for development. Mr. Olson responded that the last piece of developable land the City owned was recently sold as part of the ImageTrend expansion in the Fairfield Business Campus. This was only made possible because the land was originally identified as a future water treatment site that is no longer needed. A deferred payment subsidy was utilized for the LifeTime Fitness development as part of a long -term City council goal to attract a large fitness /community center. Comm. Tushie noted that what a lot of industrial users are currently looking for is outdoor storage; there are few spots in the Metro where this is available. The City could use this as one way to make us a more desirable location for some businesses who would typically locate in the next tier out from the Metro area. 4. Review of 2010 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Application Mr. Olson reviewed the EDC memo outlining the 2010 request for CDBG funding to the Dakota County Community Development Agency (CDA). Mr. Olson noted that the funding is being proposed as follows: Downtown Code Improvement Program $67,413 Senior Center Roof/Window Replacement $60,000 Home Rehab Loan Program $10,000 Reallocation of remaining 2006 "Downtown Acquisition /Clearance" to Home Rehab Loan Program $13,438 Comm. Tushie asked if CDBG money can be spent on land acquisition for expanding the Lakeville Senior Center. Mr. Mielke responded that while that is an eligible expense, the City Council has not identified that activity as a goal at this point in time. Comm. Emond asked who solicits homeowners and businesses for utilizing the Home Rehab Loan Program and the Downtown Code Improvement Program. Mr. Olson responded that the City markets these programs to targeted areas in the City. Comm. Erickson asked if the VFW in Downtown Lakeville was considering expanding. Mr. Olson replied that they are currently discussing this possibility. 3 Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes November 24, 2009 Motion 09.12 Comms. Emond/Tushie moved to recommend submittal of the 2010 Community Development Block Grant application, as presented, and forward this recommendation to the City Council. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Presentation of Next- Generation Broadband for Dakota County Video Adam Kienberger reviewed the EDC memo and outlined the importance of making people aware of the benefits of broadband technology for economic development. The EDC watched the Dakota County Needs Next Generation Broadband video. Comm. Brantly asked how much it would cost to implement this type of infrastructure in Lakeville. Mr. Mielke replied that it is different for every community and that there is not necessarily a public -only or private -only solution to bringing this technology to Lakeville. The purpose of the discussions at this time is to simply raise awareness of the need for next generation broadband. Mr. Mielke added that the Minnesota Ultra High -Speed Broadband Taskforce recently released a report discussing this issue and set goals for the State of Minnesota. Comm. Brantly asked what the solution for providing this type of service. Is it fiber or wireless? Mr. Mielke stated that wireless cannot provide the services discussed in the video. Comm. Brantly asked if we know the number of businesses in Lakeville that need this product. Mr. Kienberger stated that many businesses don't even know they need it, because they don't currently have it or understand everything that can be done with it. Mr. Mielke added that if available, Lakeville would be able to attract new types of businesses that won't even consider locating here at this time. Staff indicated that it would continue to keep the EDC informed on this issue. 6. Discussion and Recap of 2009 Manufacturers Exchange Event Mr. Kienberger reviewed the EDC memo and noted that the new format for the Manufacturers Exchange garnered an overall positive response from the manufacturing /industrial business community. He added that after the event all of the attending businesses were contacted to solicit feedback and suggestions for next year; responses are included in the EDC memo. Economic Development Commission Meeting Minutes November 24, 2009 Chair Matasosky stated that he followed up with some of the businesses who did not attend to let them know that several of the attending businesses would have liked to have met them at the event. Comm. Schubert added that her company met with several businesses at the event, but would have liked to see more businesses from the industrial park present. She suggested that the event be marketed stronger next year to increase attendance. Comm. Longie noted that lower attendance is fairly common for a first -time event. She suggested including some of the industrial park businesses in some sort of "planning committee" for next year's event. 7. Business Retention Visit Summary Mr. Kienberger reviewed the Hearth and Home business visit memo. Comm. Starfield added that one of the particularly interesting comments from the business had to do with how aggressive the State of Iowa appears to be in its economic development retention efforts. 8. Director's Report Mr. Olson reviewed the Director's Report. Mr. Olson provided the EDC with a draft of a new publication entitled "Lakeville Business Bullets This publication is meant to replace the quarterly Lakeville Business News newsletter with a more frequent, succinct business news summary from around the community. The EDC indicated that they liked the new format and noted that a more frequent and concise newsletter was suitable for communicating important issues with the business community. 9. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Adam Kienber Economic De elopment Specialist Attested to: R. T. Brantly, Secretary