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MINUTES
Growth Fund Committee Meeting
City Hall - Room A101 (basement)
255 N. Fourth Street
Grand Forks, ND 58201

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

1. Roll Call

Doug Christensen called the meeting to order at 4:04 pm. Other members present: Eliot Glassheim, Bill Hutchison, Terry Smith and Dwight Thompson. Also present were Mayor Michael Brown, Greg Hoover, Meredith Richards, John Schmisek, Vern Bentz, Rudy Delgado, Heremy Lafferty, Alec Kubat, Brian Breidenbach, Reggie Soholt, Riek Beall, Paul Marshall, Timothy Pribula, Ryan Schuster, Jamie Lunski, Rob McCready, Kevin Ritterman, James Galloway, Mel Carson, Keith Lund, and Klaus Thiessen.

2. Approval of Minutes – April 15, 2008: Motion by Glassheim, second by Smith to approve minutes from previous meeting of April 15, 2008. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

3. Monthly Report: Not Presented

4. Other Business

Application from American Defense Industries: Tim Pribula of American Defense Industries and Keith Lund of the EDC presented a proposal requesting a PACE Loan in the amount of $97,000.00 from the Growth Fund. The funds would be used to leverage a PACE Grant from the Bank of North Dakota. Christensen addressed the possibility of purchasing a portion of the loan using JDA funds. Christensen also proposed adjusting the loan terms to allow recapture of the funds in a shorter time frame. Mr. Lund will research the scenarios suggested and report back to the Growth Fund Committee prior to the next meeting.

Motion by Thompson, second by Glassheim to approve the request with the stipulation that the motion can be amended if needed after the report from Mr. Lund. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

Civic Auditorium Redevelopment: Hoover introduced the concept of the long-term redevelopment of downtown Grand Forks and how the decision regarding the Civic Auditorium could fit into the bigger picture. James Galloway, JLG Architects, proceeded with a visual presentation showing a mixture of commercial, retail, and residential developments. All of these plans are concept only and would progress over time.

Jamie Lunski from HB Light & Sound gave an overview of their proposal to purchase the Civic Auditorium. The proposal is to purchase the building for $50,000, with right of first refusal for the parking lot across the street. An additional $100,000.00 is proposed for renovation of the building.

Rob McCready from MetroPlains presented the MDI proposal and Kevin Ritterman from Dakota Commercial presented the Dakota Commercial proposal. These are two independent proposals that will compliment each other if selected. MDI is asking for the land to be cleared by the JDA and donated to the project, with additional incentives in the form of HOME/CDBG funds and tax abatements. Dakota Commercial is asking for the parking lot to be cleared by the JDA after which they would be willing to pay $100,000.00 for the land; a 5-year property tax abatement was also requested. Christensen and the committee stated concerns regarding parking for Central High School and the payback to the community.
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Motion by Hutchison, second by Glassheim to adjourn and reconvene in Executive Session at a later date. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.

5. Project Update: None

6. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at approximately 5:32 pm



________________________ ________________________
Melanie R. Richardson Doug Christensen
Office of Urban Development Chairman