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HRA 09/08/1994 - 7243CITY OF FRIDLEY HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING, SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Commers called the September 8, 1994, Housing & Redevelopment Authority meeting to order at 7:30 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Larry Commers, Virginia Schnabel, Jim McFarland, Duane Prairie Members Absent: John Meyer Others Present: William Burns, Executive Director of HRA Barbara Dacy, Community Development Director Jim Casserly, Development Consultant Rick Pribyl, Finance Director Craig Ellestad, Accountant Dave Newman, Fridley School Board Marianne Nelson, Fridley Public School District #16 Alan Holt, Columbia Heights School District #13 Chris Huber, Supt., Spring Lake Park Schools APPROVAL OF AUGUST 11, 1994, HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES: Mr. Commers stated page 10, paragraph 5, should read, "Mr. Commers stated he thought they should discuss guidelines before taking further requests, if there are going to be other rehabilitations on multi-family buildings." MOTION by Mr. McFarland, seconded by Ms. Schnabel, to approve the August 11, 1994, Housing & Redevelopment Authority minutes as amended. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 1. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF TIF AGREEMENTS FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS Mr. Commers stated this is a program the HRA has been following for the last several years whereby the HRA has voluntarily returned to the school district certain funds. Mr. Pribyl stated staff is bringing this to the HRA at this time per direction given a few years ago. Staff is providing an agreement for the year 1995. As you recall, this would be for taxes payable during the year 1995. If the agreements are HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG.. SEPTEMBER 8. 1994 PAGE 2 approved, we would be returning approximately $310,940 disregarding any delinquent taxes that may occur in the year 1995. This is approximately the same amount that will be returned in 1994. This amount probably will be carried through for each of the future years this agreement is passed. The HRA is one of the few, if not the only HRA, that is returning this type of funding back to the school districts. This is a annual agreement and does not go beyond the year 1995. The only change in the agreement is the year. There were no additional referendum levies that we have to deal with in this agreement. Mr. Commers asked if there were any adjustments in monies paid for 1994 with respect to delinquent taxes. Mr. Pribyl stated they would not know that until the last half payment. As of this time, staff calculates what they think the full amount would be for 1994. Then, in the last half, staff are made aware of what the delinquency taxes are. The payment is actually made to the school districts in February or March when we receive the information from the County. Mr. Commers asked if there had been an adjustment made in 1993. Mr. Pribyl stated yes, an adjustment was made for delinquencies. Each year, the final payment is adjusted to account for the delinquent property taxes. Mr. Newman, Chairman of the Fridley School Board, thanked the HRA on behalf of all the school districts for what they have done in the past to enter into this agreement and to release these funds to the school districts. The money is very important to the schools and has a significant impact. They appreciate the decisions the HRA has made in the past. Having been here in years past in a different role, he has been concerned that this agreement would not be considered as a precedent in future years. He assured the HRA, that in the Fridley schools, they understand that each year is taken on a case-by-case basis. They feel that entering into this agreement is the right decision for the following reasons: 1) The citizens of our communities voted to increase taxes to pay for schools. They think it is appropriate that this is where the money should go. 2) There is the issue of need. The schools have had no increase in general education funding from the State in the last four years. The State will say they have raised the rate for public education, but that money has all been earmarked for such things as reducing class sizes for which costs have increased due to increased enrollment. The rate per student has not been increased in four years. The only HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 3 way to raise taxes is through levy referendum. The legislature has also set caps on how we can do that and, after the most recent referendums, the legislature took half the money back. The schools have some difficult financial situations. The money is important. For the Fridley school district, the amount of $230,000 is the equivalent of about 7-8 teaching positions. That allows the school district to hire 4% of teaching staff. That has a significant impact on the district. The impact on the other districts is not as great, but is no less significant. 3) Entering into the agreement is consistent with the HRA's goals and objectives. As a redevelopment authority, your concern is to deal with blight and dilapidated housing. We at the school district believe that the best way to keep the community strong is through a strong school system. He serves on the Southern Anoka County Consortium where we are trying to deal with all that is occurring in our communities. A key element to us is to keep the people in our community who reside here. Our goal is for Fridley schools to have the same reputation as the school district in Edina. We believe our schools are as good but we do not have that reputation. If we have good quality schools, good quality people living here and good quality people wanting to live here, people who live here will want to stay where they are and will want to improve and upgrade their homes. They think this is consistent with the goals of the HRA. Mr. Newman stated the school districts encourage the HRA to enter into this agreement which has a very significant, positive impact for the schools. Mr. Commers asked what the most recent referendums were to the school districts that were approved. Mr. Newman stated a referendum was approved in 1992 for Fridley and 1991 in Columbia Heights. Mr. Holt stated the last referendum approved for District #16 was in 1986. MOTION by Mr. Prairie, seconded by Ms. Schnabel, to approve the referendum levy return agreements for the year 1995. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 2. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF SERVICE CONTRACT FOR REHABILITATION PROJECTS FINANCED BY HOME FUNDS Ms. Dacy stated the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) contract is a Federal program. Unlike the CDBG program, there is a HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG.. SEPTEMBER 8. 1994 PAGE 4 different set of rules. Under the CDBG program, it is allowed to take all of the administrative expenses of that allocation we get from the Federal government. With the HOME program, there is a 5% maximum amount for administrative use. In order to administer this grant program, one year ago when they initiated this effort, staff recommended we contract from ACCAP to complete the inspections, work with the home owners, help them complete the necessary bids from the contractors and work with them to complete the process. ACCAP is also very familiar with the Federal guidelines in terms of income requirements, Davis-Bacon rules in regards to the contractors, etc. The City has found ACCAP to be very efficient and to complete the program as expected. The HOME program was applied for by the HRA. In order to meet that 11 % service contract, 5% can be paid out of the HOME allocation received. That leaves the remainder of $5,250. The HRA did budget a matching amount so there are adequate funds to cover this expense. Staff recommends approval of the service contract. Mr. Commers stated he did not recall having to pay this amount in the past. Ms. Dacy stated they had not paid this before. We are just beginning to final out the HOME funds that were allocated last year. Apparently, the 5% maximum amount did not appear in last year's contract. To her knowledge, this is a new requirement. Mr. Commers asked how we know we can legally exceed the limits they put on the program. Ms. Dacy stated it is not so much that we can exceed their amount. What they are saying is that whatever it takes to administer the contract is fine, but however much money is spent as administrative expenses cannot exceed 5%. Mr. Commers stated he was suggesting that sometimes with those limits they are not authorized to pay more and the contracting party is not legally entitled to ask for more than what the limits are as provided in the program. Ms. Dacy stated it was not her understanding that this was the case. She will contact Anoka County to verify this, and she would do so before signing the contract. Mr. Commers stated staff is asking the HRA to exceed their budget by $5,250. Ms. Dacy stated this was correct. Mr. Commers asked how many inspections were done. HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 5 Ms. Dacy stated ACCAP administers all of the grants through the CDBG and HOME program. In the monthly report, there was approximately 23 applications received and 20 applications were approved. Those applications are funded out of CDBG and the HOME programs are then allocated to the ones that come from specific neighborhood areas. ACCAP organizes the total grant for both CDBG and HOME grants. They are working on at least 20 cases at one time. Last year, she thought they had the same amount of applications. Mr. Commers asked, out of all the applications in Fridley that they did, they had 20 approved, how many are CDBG. Ms. Dacy stated for the majority, because of the amount received is $70,000 and the match of $15,000, we can issue a grant up to $15,000 each. So, the HOME funds would be paying anywhere from three to five recipients and CDBG would be paying for the remainder. Because the program is set up in terms of the loan amount, Mr. Fernelius puts them all in one category. The HOME fund has a maximum amount. Mr. Burns stated 11 % of the total is $9,625. Divide that amount by 5 applications, the maximum amount is under $2,000 per application for the administrative fee. It would be more expensive if there were only 3 applications. Ms. Dacy stated ACCAP is meeting with the owners, doing preliminary and final inspections, helping solicit the contractors, and going to the County to do the title check. If it is a contract for deed, they need to track down the original owners and contract for deed holder. Ms. Schnabel stated, if the applicant is receiving the maximum of $15,000 and the administrative fee is $1,900, the fee is more than 11 %. Ms. Dacy stated they have a$70,000 allocation on HOME, the matching is $17,500, for a total of $87,500. 11 % of this amount is $9,625. Subtract 5% of the $87,500 from $9,625 leaves just more than half. Not all the loans come in at $11,000 to $15,000. Some loans are $3,000 or $4,000. Ms. Schnabel asked if it would still cost as much for the administrative fee regarding of the size of the loan. ACCAP still has to do the research, inspections, and processing. Ms. Dacy stated this was correct. Mr. Commers asked if other communities are paying ACCAP over and above what the program allows. HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG.. SEPTEMBER 8. 1994 PAGE 6 Ms. Dacy stated, to her knowledge, Fridley is the only one that is allocating a significant amount for this purpose. The County does administer its own county-based program. The County itself is paying ACCAP 11 %. Her concern is that, if the City is to be doing this in-house, Mr. Fernelius would be doing this full time and could not do anything else. The question is whether there is another company that can perform the same service at this cost. Mr. Commers asked what other communities were doing. Ms. Dacy stated most communities defer to Anoka County to do this out of their funding for housing rehab. She is not aware of any other type of approach in terms of the Federal grant program. Mr. Commers stated perhaps they should rethink whether they want to put money into that program and use the funds somewhere else. Ms. Dacy stated they may want to rethink that because of where the money is coming from. The money is coming from the Federal government and, after 4-5 years, it is essentially forgiven if the owner stays in the home. It is the most successful program because it serves the low income people, there is a need there, and it gets improvement to the housing. Mr. Prairie asked if the Fridley program overlaps the County program. Or would they be apt to do less because the City has a program and others do not. Ms. Dacy stated no. Mr. Burns stated the County promised the City that our special programs would not supplant their program effort. Mr. Commers requested to ask Mr. Fernelius for more information such as who participates, the amount of money the communities receive, and whether or not they are paying ACCAP over and above to provide the HRA with more background information. Ms. Schnabel asked if the HRA had done this program in the past. Ms. Dacy stated the HRA did this program last year. The issue of the administrative fee is new. Ms. Schnabel requested that Mr. Fernelius provide the HRA with some examples of rehab projects that were done in Fridley that were funded through this program. This could help them to better understand this program if they could see how the money was spent last year. Ms. Dacy stated that anyone that applied for the pre-screening round last year and met the requirements, staff tried to use the HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 7 CDBG funds to fund those pre-screening applicants and then, when they were out of CDBG funds, used HOME funds. The programs are essentially the same in terms of their requirements. This is just another pot of money from which to pull funds. Mr. McFarland asked if ACCAP also received 5% last year. Ms. Dacy stated ACCAP administered both programs for 10%. The Federal government on the HOME monies is saying 5% is the maximum for administrative fees so there is a 6% gap to administer the program. Mr. Commers asked staff to check to make sure they can legally exceed the cap. This could be an issue. MOTION by Ms. Schnabel, seconded by Mr. McFarland, to approve the shortFall of $5,250 for the administrative fees to ACCAP under the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, contingent upon legal counsel saying the HRA can exceed the guidelines set by the government. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF ACQUISITION FOR 677 HUGO STREET N.E. AND 683 GLENCOE STREET Ms. Dacy stated these are new acquisitions. Staff has no additional information and is asking the HRA to authorize the Executive Director to enter into a purchase agreement. Staff may be back with a lease agreement for 683 Glencoe to allow the current owner to lease the existing garage until he can make other arrangements. MOTION by Mr. McFarland, seconded by Mr. Prairie, to approve and authorize the Executive Director to enter into purchase agreements for 677 Hugo Street N.E. for $43,000 and 683 Glencoe Street N.E. for $18,000. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS FOR SOUTHWEST QUADRANT REDEVELOPMENT Mr. Commers stated a proposed Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was included in the agenda. On page 3 of the RFQ under Proposed Development Goals, item #1 talks about owner occupied townhomes with a minimum value of $80,000. Part of the discussion was to try to get as nice of a development as we can. Perhaps we should approach this by setting a higher minimum value and see what HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG.. SEPTEMBER 8. 1994 PAGE 8 happens. Mr. Casserly stated Ms. Dacy, Mr. Newman and he had talked several times about this and one of the first recommendations was to suggest a range of values but not less than $90,000. He looked at the analysis and the suggestions received from other developers who had looked at the site, and most values were $90,000 or above. Mr. Commers stated he would feel more comfortable with something else in there. Mr. Burns asked why they would want to establish a top value on the range. Mr. Casserly stated they are not suggesting a high side value, only a minimum value. Mr. Prairie asked what the developers were saying. Mr. Casserly stated most developers were talking about providing different kinds of units with different values. When staff looked at what number to use and did a preliminary analysis, most were in the range of $100,000-$115,000. Some developers were suggesting some units be valued as low as $90,000. The idea is to emphasize that they expect a variety of units to be offered but we are not looking for anything less than a certain amount. Mr. Commers asked if the variety would depend on size, such as one bedroom or two bedroom units. Mr. Casserly stated some were suggesting some units be townhomes and a mixture of townhomes and condominiums. Ms. Dacy is trying to work through with the planner and architect such things as density, layout, mix, etc. We can anticipate a range. Mr. Prairie stated there was a development on Snelling and he wondered what the range in prices were for those units. Ms. Dacy stated she did not know the price range. She did take some slides of that development because the exterior treatments were very well done. That is part of what we want to show the HRA with the architects and site planners so the HRA can visualize what the development would be. Ms. Schnabel stated she found it interesting that it appears none of the developers felt that the addition of 3.8 acres was significant in terms of the project. In our discussion with the City Council, it seemed that all felt that the 3.8 acres would make or break the project. HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG.. SEPTEMBER 8. 1994 PAGE 9 Mr. Burns stated he talked to two developers. The impression he got was that with just 10 acres the value of the units would be $98,000 to $110,000. With the full 14 acres, the units would be in a higher range. It does mean some increase in value. Mr. Bruggeman, Bruggeman Companies, made the point that it was not so much the surroundings that established the market value as it was the value of homes in general in the community. Fridley has a$80,000 average or median home value so that imposes a limit by itself. Taking out the apartment does not overcome that community market limit, according to Mr. Bruggeman. Ms. Dacy stated the Anoka County realtors average sale price for the last 3-4 months was $89,000. She will amend the RFQ to reflect that number which would be a basis to support a higher minimum value. Mr. Commers stated he thought the discussion with the City Council was that, if you took the apartments, you could expect to get higher valued units in that project. He also thought it was enough of a difference to make it worthwhile to see if we could acquire them. Has this now changed? Mr. Burns stated it makes a difference but perhaps not enough difference in terms of the additional debt. Ms. Dacy stated the developers are saying the additional acres would provide the ability to add some of the units at a higher value but not to expect a huge increase. To expect units over $130,000 is not realistic. Mr. Casserly stated he spoke with Mr. Stutz, Rottland Homes, who reinforced what is being said. With a larger site, they are able to offer a greater variety of product and some of the product could be higher valued units. These higher value units require a lower density. The additional 4 acres would provide the advantage of some higher value units. If you stayed with the 10 acres, you would probably go with a higher density. There are trade offs. We have not gotten into the impact of marketing the 10 acres if nothing is done with those 4 acres. Something has to be done with those units on Satellite Lane. One option is to take them out completely and try to replace them with 40 units of new townhouse/ condo type of development. It is potentially possible. It is by far the most expensive option. Mr. Commers stated he is not hearing that this makes a significant difference in the project. Mr. Prairie stated, if we do not do this now, then we will never do it. Mr. Burns stated another thing they are learning through their HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 10 discussions is that you can rehab the apartment units, but you should not be naive about that either and expect to turn the population of those units into an upper income population. You are going to have about the same socio-economic group as you have now. All you would do is make the apartments more liveable and keep them from deteriorating. Mr. Commers stated there are other ways such as making sure they are kept up to code. Ms. Dacy stated, on the RFQ, there will be grammatical changes and organization issues that will change, and she is working on the attachments for the maps. Staff is requesting a motion to send out the RFQ. If the HRA has any comments to add, these would be added. When the HRA authorizes the RFQ, staff will go ahead. Mr. Commers asked that staff send HRA members a copy of the final RFQ and provide 24 hours in which to respond before mailing. He assumed that the minimum value would be changed to read not less than $90,000. Ms. Dacy stated, by that time, they should also have a market analysis. MOTION by Ms. Schnabel, seconded by Mr. McFarland, to authorize staff to finalize the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and send it out, subject to providing the HRA members with a copy and members responding within a 24-hour period. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Ms. Dacy stated staff received a lot of information from Mr. Sid Inman. For the October meeting, staff will summarize that information and spend more time discussing the apartment options. Mr. Commers stated another item to talk about is, if we are going to get into rehabilitation of apartments, we must set up criteria and priority. Mr. Prairie asked how well this works. It seems that rehabilitation of apartments does not seem to improve the tenant mix but ratherjust keeps it from getting worse. Mr. Casserly stated there are some major changes that can take place. Brooklyn Park was having critical problems. They went in, almost gutted the units, increased the rents, and did have a real changeover in their tenants. It has made a considerable difference in terms of police calls, occupancy rates, general public safety, etc. They are having a very good experience. HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 11 Mr. Commers stated this is also an expensive experience. Mr. Prairie stated you can physically change something, but it is another issue to get people to want to move in. Mr. Burns stated another part of the problem here is that these units have not reached the level that the Brooklyn Park units had reached. The chances of making a dramatic change in the tenant mix here would probably be less. Ms. Schnabel asked if they had considered taking the apartments and converting them into senior apartments. If we were going to rehab those buildings, that may be the thing to do. Mr. Burns stated they had not discussed this option. Mr. Casserly stated that would require the HRA to own the buildings. Unless the current owners are willing do so, and they may be willing, this is within the power of the HRA. He is assuming that is a$1 million rehab project. Mr. Burns stated this would also get into a very expensive relocation program. Ms. Schnabel stated, if we are willing to spend $2+ million to buy the apartments and demolish them, perhaps we are better off spending $1 million to rehab them and turn them into the senior citizen portion of that development. Mr. Commers thought it worthwhile to look at that option, and he asked staff to put something down on paper. Mr. Commers asked if they could convert the building and then sell it. Mr. Casserly stated they could do that. Ideally, he recommended doing something with the cooperation of the owners. REVENUE AND EXPENSES Mr. Ellestad stated the checks to be approved are 25255-25259 and 25262-25272. The additional expenses are as included in the agenda. Mr. Commers stated he would like to see on a monthly basis the account balance. Staff were asked to include that information. MOTION by Ms. Schnabel, seconded by Mr. Prairie, to approve the check register, checks 25255-25259 and 25262- 25272, and the revenues and expenses for August, 1994. HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 12 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. HOUSING PROGRAM MONTHLY REPORT Ms. Dacy stated the report is provided for informational purposes. These numbers will change as we proceed through the program with the applicants. 7. UPDATE OF ACCAP PROJECTS Ms. Dacy stated ACCAP will not be acquiring the Channel Road apartments. Staff is requesting authorization for a similar approach on another four-plex for a separate application on the transitional housing. This building is located at 380 - 57th Place. They have entered into a purchase agreement for approximately $92,000 with estimated rehab costs of $52,000. From the exterior, the building looks to be in very bad condition. Staff is recommending up to 50% of the costs be approved with half of that financed and the other half due on sale. That would match our budget. Mr. Commers stated it is his understanding that on 57th Place the HRA gets everything back. Half the amount is with interest and the remainder is payable on sale. Ms. Dacy stated this was correct. The City Council approved a resolution for a tax break on the Hyde Park buildings. The four-plex is a transitional housing project and will pay taxes. The Commission consensus was to authorize staff to go ahead. 8. UPDATE ON DESIGN PROCESS FOR SOUTHWEST QUADRANT Ms. Dacy stated staff had prepared the scope of work and had reviewed this with the architect and site planner. This was also reviewed at the Planning Commission meeting on September 7, 1994. She received an estimated contract cost from Mr. Hargans from Close and Associates and Mr. Gair from McCombs, Frank, Roos and Associates. These gentlemen were recommended to staff by Mr. Dave Newman, chairperson of the Planning Commission. Ms. Dacy contacted them, reviewed the scope of work with them, and the estimated contract costs would be $12,000 for each. She would like to have the HRA evaluate whether the scope of work is appropriate and authorize staff to execute the contract with the architect and site planner. Mr. Commers stated the scope of work seems all right. When talking this amount of money for the architect and site planner, do we need to get a bid from someone else? HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 13 Ms. Dacy stated the amount is below the formal bid price of $25,000 according to State law. Staff is looking at issuing two separate contracts. Mr. Casserly stated this would be for professional services which are exempt. Ms. Dacy stated, since meeting with him on Friday, Mr. Gair has already contacted noise consultants, traffic consultants, and is looking at some of the site concerns that we have all had about that particular intersection. It seems he is well connected to the sources and staff can bring information back to the HRA and Council on some good options from which to choose. The architect will focus on the exterior building design. The site planner will look at how the site is laid out. He will look at what we want in terms of how that parcel should be developed. Councilmember Billings wants a street connection. Where should this be placed? What is a good buffer between the apartments and the site? They work in tandem but they have different skills. Another big criteria is how much will some of these options cost and how much will they add to cost. Mr. Commers asked if it was an alternative to wait. Ms. Dacy stated she would recommend not waiting. Staff is trying to solicit development interest and do the design at the same time. Then, when we talk to the short list of developers, we can tell them what we want to accomplish and see if they can help us. MOTION by Mr. McFarland, seconded by Ms. Schnabel, to authorize the Executive Director to enter into agreements with Gar Hargans of Close and Associates and Michael Gair of McCombs, Frank, Roos and Associates. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. DAIRY QUEEN DEMOLITION Ms. Dacy stated she did an inventory in the building with Mr. Fitch and everything seems to be in order. Mr. Fitch is taking those items he should take according to the lease agreement. He has been out of the building for approximately 10 days. She will meet with Mr. Fitch on Monday and settle any outstanding issues. Staff will then get quotes on demolition. They hope to have the building taken down by October. There is a built-in cooler. There is a freezer from the 1960's which may be a little unusual because it may have fluorocarbons from the refrigerant so they may have to take a special look at that. Mr. Commers asked if there was a fixture appraisal for this HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 14 property. He asked staff to check to see if they put any value on the freezer and walk-in cooler. Ms. Dacy stated she can check to see if this is included in the appraisal. 10. UPDATE ON HOUSING CONDITION STUDY Ms. Dacy stated four areas have been completed in the community to date. Staff hopes to have this done by mid to late October. The commission had discussed developing criteria for rehab of multi-family housing. She and Mr. Burns had talked about conducting a focus group type of approach to interview people that received our grants and interview people that have not, and possibly get some feedback on what would be a good program. We do need to invite owners of apartment buildings. Staff are beginning to look at doing this during the fall in order to have a basis for prioritization and some new ideas for new programs. 11. REPORT ON MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FOR SOUTHWEST QUADRANT AND LAKE POINTE Ms. Dacy stated she thought it would be appropriate for the HRA to start thinking about authorizing a Phase I environmental audit for all of the properties in the Southwest Quadrant. Mr. Burns mentioned that we may want to reconfirm the Phase I audit, and even a Phase II if necessary, for the auto repair building. Mr. Burns stated he thought they should do a Phase I and II audit for the auto repair business. They have to be done. It is a piece of work that has some lead time, and he thought it desirable to allow staff to do this. Mr. Commers stated they should have something on the Suh property as well. This may have a bearing on the value of the land. Mr. Burns agreed. He was more concerned about the filling station site. He did not think anyone had done test borings to determine soil contamination. If there is contamination, the situation must be re-mediated before continuing with the development. The cost for a Phase II is approximately $5,000-$10,000. The charge was about $9,000-$10,000 for the audit on the Bacon Electric/Gary's Auto property. The audit includes the test drilling and laboratory analysis. He thought the filling station site would be at the same cost level. Mr. Commers stated this would need to be done sooner or later so they might as well proceed. The Commission concurred. Ms. Dacy stated the second part is a survey. There is an old survey from 1986. She contacted the same firm to get an esti m ate HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 15 to update this survey to provide an up-to-date certificate of survey with the topographic information. The cost estimate is $6,450 to survey the entire 10 acres including the Suh property. Mr. Commers asked if the survey should be done now or after the property is acquired. Ms. Dacy stated a certificate of survey must be produced before conveying the land. She has not done title research. Mr. Commers stated it seemed that, when the developer comes in and puts a plan together, they would do a survey. Mr. Casserly stated the HRA is acting as the developer. We may end up doing the platting as well. We are not sure what the roles are going to be. Mr. Commers asked if they could wait on the survey. Ms. Dacy stated yes. If we do wait to proceed, we have to wait until spring which may conflict with potential applications. Mr. Commers stated the developer will probably do another survey during construction. He was not sure the survey was necessary. Perhaps the developer's survey would be enough. Mr. Burns stated they hoped to have construction done by summer, 1995. He thought the developer would want to close on the property during the spring of 1995. Mr. Casserly stated, as we look at closely at site plans, we will need a survey. Without it, you cannot prepare the plat. Ms. Dacy stated the consultants will be working on general development scenarios. Mr. Casserly stated this does not need to be done in the next four weeks, but it does need to be done along the way. The HRA needs to pull all the pieces together into a single survey. Ms. Dacy stated this could be a potential cost which does not need to be done at this time. This may need to be done in the near future. Mr. Commers requested a proposed budget of what the HRA may or may not be faced with in this area. He would like to see a working budget. Ms. Dacy stated they will prepare a proposed budget for the next meeting. HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MTG., SEPTEMBER 8, 1994 PAGE 16 Ms. Dacy showed the Lake Pointe ads in the Twin Cities Business Monthly and Corporate Report. An ad will be coming out in the Real Estate Journal. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Ms. Schnabel, seconded by Mr. McFarland, to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTWG AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE SEPTEMBER 8, 1994, HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:07 P.M. RespectFully submitted, Lavonn Cooper Recording Secretary