Hello. I am calling the Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 Economic Development Commission meeting to order. It is 6:30 p.m. Tonight's meeting is being conducted both in person and online. Members of the public may attend in person or the public may also watch this meeting online at burnsvillemn.gov/meings GV/meings or view us on Comcast channel 6 16 excuse me or 859. The public can also join us on Zoom by going to zoom. us/join and more information is available on our meetings web page and in the agenda. Now we can move on to the agenda. First we need to adopt the agenda. Do any of the commissioners have any changes to the agenda? >> Staff, >> do you have any changes? >> No changes from staff. >> No. All right. Hearing none, may I have a motion for adoption of the agenda? >> I'll move to adopt the agenda for the November 12th, 2025 Economic Development Commission meeting. >> Okay. Do I have a second? >> I'll second the motion. >> Okay. Commissioner Swaney moved and Commissioner Winters seconded a motion for the adoption of the November 12th, 2025 agenda. All in favor of adoption say I. >> I. [clears throat] >> Any opposed? Say no. Hearing none. The motion does clear carry. Next, we can move on to the approval of the minutes from our September 10th, 2025 meeting. May I ask for a motion for the approval of those minutes? I move to approve the minutes from the September 10th, 2025 meeting. >> Do I have a second? >> Seconded. >> Okay. Commissioner Price has moved and Commissioner Anderson has seconded for the approval of the September 10th, 2025 minutes. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed may say no. Hearing none, the motion carries. Agenda item number three, the swearing in of two new commissioners. Beth, >> thank you. >> Oh, the swearing in of one >> one commissioner. >> Yep. Molly, if you could stand and raise your right hand, please. >> And you can read off the sheet if you need to. >> Okay. I, Molly Zire, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of Minnesota and faithfully will discharge the duties as a member of the Burnsville Economic Development Commission of the City of Burnsville in the county of Dakota and the state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability. So, help me God. >> Thank you. >> Welcome to the commission, Molly, Commissioner Zire. Moving on, we have a presentation on local affordable housing aid. This will be presented by staff member Travis Bis Biz to do and we're looking to provide feedback, but there isn't any formal action or voting required on this. Thank you, Madam Chair, commissioners. Good evening. Uh, as the chair mentioned, my name is Travis Bistadu. I'm the deputy community development director for the city of Burnsville. Uh, as you may recall, back in 2023, the state legislature passed a law creating a new funding source, uh, for affordable housing that's available to all, uh, metropolitan cities, funded through, uh, a 25% local affordable local sales tax. uh that funding source is commonly referred to as LAHA or local affordable housing aid and I'm here tonight to present our uh phase 2 uh spending plan for uh that funding source. So just as a reminder um LAA uh is is allocated to various cities on a bianual basis. In in 2024 we received uh $45,000 of LAAHA funds. We had projected at that time that we would receive $800,000 in 2025. In reality, we received $1.14 million. So, we actually have a bigger chunk of funding to spend on uh affordable housing needs. If you recall, I presented to the to this board um I think it was back in April or May on our phase one spending plan. And what the council had directed staff to do was to spend uh $300,000 on home improvement loans and $100,000 on senior deferred home improvement loans both in 2025 and 2026. So I think of that as kind of phase one of our uh LAA spending plan. Uh at that time, council directed us to explore uh three other programs. Um those were a down payment assistance program, which we call uh Burnsville Home Start, uh an emergency housing voucher program, and a vacant residential property rehab program, which we call uh productive properties. The idea being that all of this would be funded with LAHA dollars and uh aimed at families at that 0 to 80% AMI level. So the down payment assistance program uh taking direction from council and working with uh exploring kind of what's on the landscape and working with our loan service provider. Uh what we have recommended to council is funding a down payment assistance program at $200,000 annually uh using our LAA funds both for 2026 and 2027. Those funds would be available to any uh home buyer in Burnsville who wants to purchase uh a home. It need not be a firsttime home buyer. Uh, and we would provide up to $41,000 of down payment assistance, uh, covering approximately half of their down payment requirement if they're buying up to a four $400,000 uh, home. This would be capped at homes uh at the $410,000 sale price, which is essentially the median sale price for the last year, plus about a five 5% inflationary increase to cover us for 2026 and 2027. So, this would be just limited to homes at 410 or less. In addition, um folks that take advantage of this program would be required to put 1% down. So, uh they whatever their funding mechanism is and their funding sources to acquire this home, we want to see at least uh 1% of that purchase price uh invested in the home as well because we want that person or that family to be invested in uh acquiring uh that home and and keeping it. And then we have worked with our partners at uh synergy center for energy and environment. That's our loan service provider that provides our home uh improvement loans that we fund through EDA dollars and now fund through LAAHA dollars. They also do this type of work uh with other uh municipalities in the metro area uh and have agreed to work with us in supporting this offering. So the details are kind of additional details around the assistance that we would be providing. These loans would be fully forgivable after 30 years. So if the family or the buyer I should say uh acquires the home uses $41,000 of our LAA money to to cover uh half of their down payment. If they stay in that home for uh all of 30 years, that entire uh amount will be forgiven. There's no interest charged. and there's no payment uh required. However, if they choose to sell their home, which they have every right to do, um they would be required to repay us plus the origination fee of uh $1,100. And it's also worth mentioning that our our program admin costs, we can't use uh LAA to pay for uh uh administrative support of really any local affordable housing aid programming. we have to use our EDA dollars, which for each loan will cost about $1,100 to originate that loan, which is why we want that paid back to our our levy funds if the owner should choose to sell within that 30-year uh period. So, maybe with that, I should pause and just see if you all have questions or concerns or or if there's anything you want to bring up around that down payment assistance program. I was going to ask, I know you said it doesn't have to be a firsttime home buyer, but would they be given priority over somebody else? I mean, how, for example, let's say you get a whole bunch of people who are applying for this. How do you decide who gets the funds? I I mean, there's got to be a >> Madam Chair, Commissioner, u the strategy is first come, first served. That's how we plan to launch it. And to be honest, we're casting as wide a net as we can with a couple of these programs because we're obligated to spend down those dollars. And the worst thing we want to have, in my opinion, the worst thing to do is to have to give the money back. The state has given [clears throat] us this money to spend on our Burnsville specific local affordable housing needs. And our job is to get those dollars out the door. So, frankly, I hope that's a problem that we have. Um, and maybe it will be and we might have to refine some of our guidelines, but at this point we're going to take them in as fast as they come until we spend down that balance and potentially in the future we could uh tweak that. >> Sorry, you had a commission. >> I was just going to say you said that the uh the minimum down payment would be 1%. I'm trying to wrap my head around what mortgage company would let somebody buy a home uh for 1% down payment. Yeah, Madam Chair, Commissioner, we're leaving it wide open to whatever financing stream that home buyer is uh able to access, whether it be through VA support, other programs that other entities are offering. Our our requirement would be that they have to have that minimum of 1% down. if their bank will finance them, we're going to assume that their underwriting um requirements are satisfied and we're going to trust that that um uh uh financially makes sense and provide our level of support for the that initial down payment assistance. I frankly I agree. I don't think 1% is going to be a problem, but we want to make sure that at a minimum there's that 1% um contributed by the home buyer. I was also going to ask about the that $41,000 that might have to be returned um upon the sale of the house if it's more than or less than 30 years. Yep. >> Um >> what will happen if the the person who received these funds doesn't have $41,000 to give back to the city? >> The idea and how these programs are financed through other municipalities. And I should mention this, we're not the only um municipality to offer this programming. Uh Coonap, I believe it's Rapids, Blaine, and Minnetonka also have a down payment assistance program financed through CE and all of their underwriting. Um what was your question again, Commissioner? So if they don't have so let's say let's say I receive the funds I buy a house I'm only in it for a couple of years I sell it >> but all the you know and I don't have the $41,000 to give back. So what what happens then? >> Madam chair commissioner the idea is that any profit or uh equity that they've gained through owning that property over a period of time they're required to pay that back upon closing. uh if for example they were to uh default on their mortgage um ultimately CE would use a collection agency to try to recapture some of those funds. >> I guess a followup on that is what what consideration to the possibility that the home could be underwater when they sold it. So you know you're not going to net it back in the asset sale anyway. >> Yeah. Um, uh, CE has pretty strict strict underwriting requirements, which is how we've structured our home rehab loans, and we're going to follow those same, uh, that same policy and procedure for verifying their their income levels and their ability to repay. But there is some risk that we're assuming with those dollars. Um, and and that's kind of the reason that we're using LAA for um, this new program that we're offering through through the city. I guess the other question I had and and maybe I'm just not reading the line correctly. The the program will fund up to 50% of a down payment up to 41,000. Are you're saying that you would therefore pay 20,500 or 41,000 of a possible $80,000? >> Great question. The idea is that the uh we would fund up to 20% of a typical down payment requirement or I'm sorry, 50% of a typical down payment requirement. So, a typical down payment is 20%. Uh, we're kind of using that target uh sale price of 400,000. So, um an 80,000 down payment would be required. We would finance up to $41,000 of that down payment. So, half of a traditional uh 20% down requirement. Good question. And difficult to explain and put on a PowerPoint. >> I do have a question related to uh the forgivable nature of this. If that owner stays in the home for 30 years, uh what if they were to choose partway through the process to do a refinance? Would that qualify as basically a sale experience and and thus not any longer be forgivable? >> That's a Madam Chair, that's a good question. I don't think we've thought that part through. I suspect it's not would not qualify. um if you stay in if you reside in the home for 30 years um I believe it would be forgiven but that's something we can definitely check on >> but possibly only if you never change the terms of your loan >> right >> I I think it continues forward for that initial 30 years but that's something we'd have to verify with C >> I also have some questions about unless you have a really >> well and I was just going to add um the the purpose of this discussion is to present kind of the initial details of what the proposal looks like. We intend to craft policy behind each one of these offerings. That too will come before council as well uh to um get their take on some of those uh finer points. But understand that this isn't the final go ahead that there's still a policy and funding discussion we have to have with council which I'm going to talk about kind of at the end of the presentation. >> Perfect. I have some questions about um whether we have concerns about the amount of stock available that's being sold consistently in Burnsville that would apply to this. Pricing wise, I'm not concerned that we wouldn't have it, but just overall, is property turning at a rate that you think this could be spendable at the amounts that are being proposed to be funded? Yeah, Madam Chair, we've kind of been tracking the real estate market over the past six months while we've been kicking around this idea. And there does feel like there's ample housing stock right now, even right now with the market being kind of tight for folks to take advantage of of this at that $410,000 purchase price or less. But potentially in the future, that could be a concern. >> Yeah, >> I have a question. Um, so is this a second that's attached to the loan? This this portion. So there's the origination of the loan and then there's a a second attached to it. Okay. >> E essentially it is and we would be in second position on that mortgage. >> Okay. The other question I have is so we were projected 800,000 but actually about 1.1 million. So what how does that work in terms of that going back to the state if we don't use it? Are terms and conditions is there a time period which that would go back to the state? Madam Chair, Commissioner, the uh the way the statute is written is we have three years to kind of encumber those funds, four years to spend them. So we received our initial trunch of funds in 2024, we have to encumber those by 27 and then spend them down by 28. And if we fail to do so, essentially we have we have two options. We can return them to the state or we can create a stat state statute um crafted uh housing trust fund and park those dollars in that housing trust fund to um address other affordable housing needs in the future. Ideally, we're hoping we won't do that and we spend those dollars down and um can continue continue to kind of re-evaluate how we want to use Laha going forward in the future. Okay. But this will be kind of an ongoing annual conversation with the council and yourselves as to how spending is going and and uh how we might want to tweak our offerings uh to support affordable housing in Burnsville. >> Uh one other question. So 30 years, but if I recall, I I did look at the website of the lender. I believe there was some other options. Does it have to be a 30-year? Are there other >> loan loans available? The [snorts] direction we received from council was 30 years. Okay. So, at this point, we're we're limiting it to 30 years for now to see and to kind of assess what the market is and what folks want and can kind of tweak it from there. >> Good question. >> I have a question, Travis. I I appreciate the the methodology to cast a wide net to try to spend down the funds as soon as possible. I think that's incredibly prudent. Um so just two questions in terms of where this falls in given the income targeting that we have. It's safe to assume that this could be layered on top of other types of down payment assistance that would be available to families within the 0 to 80% AMI threshold. Correct, >> Madam Chair, Commissioner. Absolutely. So they that's what I meant in terms of the funding stack that the buyer uses to finance their their purchase. Yes, there are no restrictions on other funding requirements except that 1% down that they uh must contribute. >> Okay. And also in terms of um second position, is that something that we would require even if there was an additional down payment assistance source like say from Habitat for Humanity or the state of Minnesota? I think it be it would be prudent that we would be in second, but just wondering how that would work out if there were other sources in the deal. >> Commissioner, that's the direction that we received so far is to be second. So that's what we would require at least for now unless we inc you know uh come across scenarios where uh folks have a different funding stack and we need to be more flexible in the future then we would come back and modify our um policy to be a little bit more flexible but the idea is to be second position >> um for now. >> Madam Chair, if I could clarify a point for Commissioner Winters. Um the website that you were looking at was potentially referencing our other home loan program which does allow for an alternate time frame um of 10 to 20 years but with what Travis is talking about tonight it's 30. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Thanks. >> Commissioners, any other questions? Then we can move on to the emergency vouchers section. >> Great. So, the the second program that we're proposing is uh emergency housing vouchers. These would be housing vouchers that our emergency responders uh or neighborhood services or the school district could access when they come across a low-income family that um has no place to stay through no fault of their own, their furnace quit working. Unfortunately, according to the school district, we have folks that and families that are living in their vehicles in winter and that vehicle um uh stops working and they need a place to stay in the dead of winter or really anytime. These funds would be available to provide uh uh temporary housing support for families. Um how it would work is they would provide verbal verification to our emergency responder or school district personnel that they are qu they are um currently um utilizing um a variety of existing federal or locally funded supporting uh tools like SNAP or WIC or um energy assistance. Once we have that verbal ver verbal verification, uh they would be able to go to one of our area um hotels where they could stay for a period of time just to get their themselves back on their feet uh and find another uh longer term housing uh provider. But this would be just kind of that bridge uh support to um take folks out of a dangerous situation and provide them at least uh temporary housing. Once the family um uh arrives at the hotel, there's a a document that we've kind of crafted that other folks are utilizing, other uh jurisdictions are utilizing, self-certifying that they meet the income requirements, which we would then use to report to the state uh on an annual basis uh to to verify that they're at that 80% or lower income level. What these vouchers would provide is up to three rooms per family uh for a maximum of a 14-day stay. We've kind of modeled this on a $150 uh per night per room uh um um model. However, that's probably a little bit um uh a little bit high and we have yet to negotiate with uh the hotels that we've been talking with on what that actual per night per room cost is going to be. I would say it's probably more realistic is probably $100 a night. And then the other thing worth mentioning, I don't anticipate that this is going to be a problem, but it's something that you all should be aware of, is if um somebody provides fraudulent information to us that they didn't qualify or they're not currently taking advantage of one of these uh various um um affordability programs. uh that could result in the state determining that that stay was LA ineligible and that we would be essentially on the hook to repay the state uh if that ever came out out and we would use our EDA levy funds to pay for um those stays if it were uh to happen. That's offering number two. Any questions or thought or for feedback on that proposal? >> I do like this proposal. I feel like it's really nimble because it relies on the most frontline community interactions with those who may benefit from this. Um, it feels like if it goes well quickly, um, it feels like it's not addressing enough like enough people. We're really looking at only a limited number of occurrences, if each occurrence maximized it. So, I would certainly if it's enacted well in the early stages, I'd sure love to see that budget go up a little bit because it feels like the most acute painful moment for a family in need and to be able to immediately relieve that need so that they can get their bearings and make the next plan is a really impactful thing. Madam Chair, commissioners, uh, when we initially were kind of kicking around this idea, we had initially budgeted it at $10,000 and our request here is $40,000. After we had conversations with the school district is when we decided and they were telling us kind of their stories and their experiences that they encounter 20 25 families per year that have an emergency housing scenario and would qualify for um these funds that we really bumped it up to 40. But again, we anticipate you, you know, running this program for a year, seeing how it goes. And if we find demand is higher than that $40,000 allocation, even if we even if we had to make a budget amendment partway through the year, I feel confident the council would support uh increasing that budget amount to satisfy that need. Would occurrences like an experience of domestic violence or an unsafe home that resulted in an immediate need to to change housing, would that fall under this too or is there not enough of a like sparking occurrence? >> That was one of the things that we had discussed with or I had discussed with the school district that would be in the guidelines that we the forthcoming guidelines that we'll be preparing for council to consider. Um, at this point, I would anticipate including uh domestic violence situations as one of those scenarios where we would provide that temporary two-week housing. Um, but that ultimately will be uh to the council to decide as part of that policy and guideline review. >> I just had a question regarding the mechanics of it. Um, I understand that the school district or the emergency responder identifies the situation. you would probably have contracts with three or four hotels, but once that happens, does the emergency responder or the school district have will they know that X hotel has a room rooms available or is is there another layer there to get the get the family into the housing situation? Madam Chair, Commissioner, the conversations that we've had with area of hotels, and we've had a number of conversations, is that they would um commit to having one or more rooms available at any time. So, they'll always have a room on hold for us when if we encounter one of these emergency situations, you know, folks would show up there, they would self-certify, the hotel would track that information, send it to us, and then basically send us an invoice for their stay. or that's how that's how we anticipate it working. And so far the conversations we've had we've had with two hotels, they've been fully on board with um uh supporting that approach. >> Commissioner Grace, I I just want to say kudos to you and the staff for taking this collaborative approach with the school district and even on the go forward basis, especially having that specific data point is hugely important. Um, so just want to make sure that you know it's not in the you know the notes here in the agenda is certainly on the screen but just to make sure that that's embedded that it's that's a huge value ad that we're taking that collaborative community approach to housing and stability. >> I appreciate that commissioner and I will say this was not an idea that Beth or I dreamed up. It was an idea that came from our emergency responders who actually see this real gap in the field every year. It's not at the level that the school district was sharing with us, but they see it once or twice a year where they have a scenario where somebody [clears throat] doesn't have any family they can fall back in, doesn't have any resources, and they literally have no place to go that night. Uh, and they've identified that gap for us. So, um, kudos to to those folks for being creative. >> Going back to what you were talking about earlier about the hotels, you know, you know, keeping a certain amount of rooms aside, is there a release date? And if it you if there's not a release date and the room isn't used and they turned business away because they held that room, will they still be able to build a city then for that room? >> Madam Chair, Commissioner, we have not uh developed a contract yet with that either uh any of the area of hotels that we've been talking with, but so far the initial conversations have been we always have a room available. So, they'll always hold a room available for us and uh won't be turning business away, but we have not explored the conversation about us paying for a room if they have to uh turn folks away. That that hasn't been determined yet. >> Yeah, Commissioner Winters. >> So, um so for someone who who coaches at Burnsville, um this is near and dear to my heart. um it happens a lot more frequent u than one might imagine that the need and the demand but a question I have for you so if we have a situation which does happen where a let's say a student is a minor um not able to go home how's that going to be managed um and then also we have students who are 18 and have to face the same home insecurity so I'm just thinking of of situations that I've incurred um coaching. And then my other question is, so we I I assume we're talking about district 191, but I live in district 196, which is Burnsville. So, are we covering 191 and 196? Madam Chair, Commissioner, the the critical criteria to determine if someone is eligible to take advantage of this program is if they and their family are enrolled in any other government assistance program. >> Okay. So, frankly, I don't know if a minor can be enrolled in SNAP or energy assistance or anything of that nature, but we would be getting verbal verification from the the guest, I guess, that needs a place to stay that they're enrolled. They would do that. They would conduct that self-certification. We haven't touched, we haven't looked at how we would manage a minor. That's something to think about. Um, but they need to be able to self-certify that they're enrolled in one of those uh uh programs. We have talked to 191. We have not engaged with other school districts yet. But some that's something we would do as part of our kind of our there is a marketing strategy that we're going to have to develop for all of these programs. Um, but that's something that we would do uh as part of that. >> I I think in the case of the minor, the minor could be, you know, assigned to a guardian. Um, but again, I think it happens a lot more frequently than we imagine and not just where there's one. There could be a 18-year-old and a younger sibling and again for various reasons are are having experienced home insecurity and then again I live in 196 uh which is in Burnsville. Um, but yeah, that's Apple Valley School District. So, I would think >> my guess is if it's Burnsville, it would it would apply even though that's 196. So, I think that's a conversation to have. So, >> yeah, that's that's a good catch. >> So, in the event of like the maximum 14-day stay is exceeded, is there like an extension option available for those families or >> uh the intention is to for this to be kind of bridge housing only. It's not a long-term housing solution. It's just the intention was to create that initial kind of buffer where maybe your home's been destroyed by a fire. You're coordinating with a relative. It's not intended to be a long-term solution. So, at this point, and again, we're we're we're building the plane as we're flying it here. uh you know we'll see we'll see how this goes and if we need to make some uh policy amendments depend on depending on certain situations like that that's something we might have to support in future iterations and as I may have mentioned I anticipate I did say this already but we'll be evaluating these programs constantly at a staff level and then routinely with you all and the council for um uh further further improvements >> and in terms of like the verification step. >> Is there a way for the city to actually verify like in real time like they have access through the county or the state that they could confirm information provided? >> Uh no, there there is not at least not that I'm aware of. And frankly, we don't want to we don't want to get in the business of collecting personal information and and also the state uh requirements around documentation of who's eligible and who isn't using a self-certification currently meets this the state uh standard and we're going to stick with that for now unless those standards uh change in the future. But good question. with this program. What would be the city's role in further connecting these families with other assistance opportunities to put them on the path to more permanent stability? I mean, is that our role in this program or will we kind of just prefer them to other sources like the Dakota County or to kind of take on that? Generally speaking, that's kind of our role is that we're a connect. You know, we are dealing with the initial emergency response, but I can speak for neighborhood services specifically and they do reach out to the county and work with the county and Smurls and try to provide additional resources, but pretty much that's it. It this would in this case, we'd be providing that temporary twoe stay connecting folks with resources and um nurses and um legal support if they need it. And at that, you know, from there, we would kind of let uh other folks step in. >> And just to ask the obvious question because I'm I'm rather surprised. So, you know, the counties received funding through the American Rescue Plan for emergency housing vouchers. So, we're literally meeting a need that's not being addressed. Correct. >> That it's my understanding there is no there is not a similar program like this in the county. Frankly, I don't I don't know if anybody in the metro has any sort of uh long-term kind of bridge emergency housing funding like this. I I used to work for the city of St. Paul and we relied on um uh other nonprofits to fill that gap, but we didn't have our own funding source. What's great about local affordable housing aid, as long as you're providing support to families at that low income need and and it's a need that you your this your city has, you can use those dollars to uh support those folks. So, it's a kind of a new level of flexibility that we have. I'm still a bit confused about the missing documentation could result in law ineligible spending, but the city is not going to collect the proof that somebody is eligible right >> there. There's a self-certification, but then how would we ever get to this missing documentation part of it? Because who's >> who's going to check? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We're we don't know and we're kind of we're anticipating additional questions from the state and maybe there will be some further scrutiny in the future, but at this point the bar is relatively low in terms of um documentation you need to you need to provide to verify you're at that income level and enrollment in one of those um other um support programs is considered sufficient. I know that the county is looking at a very similar um format and I again I'm I that bullet point is there just kind of as a as coverage just in case for whatever reason somebody we find out they're not enrolled in SNAP they said they were we may have to refund that um uh funding that was used for their stay. >> But how would we ever find out? >> I [laughter] don't I don't know. I guess that's the I mean like I guess with the rampant fraud that we're hearing about in the news with other programs it just >> right >> audits [clears throat] >> but again it's only for $40,000 maximum per year >> and if we do three rooms per family maximum stay $150 a night that's $6,300 that would be able to last for about six families >> right our risk is very very >> maxing it out risk is very very low. >> Right. Right. >> And you know ultimately we are putting someone who was in some sort of emergency situation in temporary housing. They may not qualify. And if we have to use EDA levy funds, so be it. At least that's been the conversation so far. >> Okay, >> great. I think we're ready to move to the next option. >> Great. The next one is the the probably the most um um non-traditional, let's say. Uh so this is a program that we're calling productive properties. We have recommended and received approval from uh the city council to use $500,000 of LAA annually both in 26 and 27. And in this under this program, we would partner with uh Habitat for Humanity who would on our behalf um acquire uh blighted properties, basically vacant single family homes that we know we have in Burnsville that have been unoccupied for years and have a number of um property maintenance complaints on them and are not being maintained. they would reach out to those property owners, uh attempt to acquire the property, they would flip it and then sell it back to an a family uh who um uh is at an affordable level, the 80% AMI or lower level. So, the city would never own one of these properties. We're simply the financial backing to acquire the property, flip it, and then sell it to a uh an affordable family. The idea is that we would we would use these funds to try to uh reoccupy one property per year. I should back up. We have about 10 of these properties that we're currently tracking on the neighborhood services front that have chronic u property maintenance issues. They're they're actually in in terrible condition. Um they've been unoccupied for years. The property owner may be paying taxes on them. So they're not likely to go tax forfeit, but they're not being sold. they're not being turned over. Um we know of about 10 of those per year. The idea is that we would partner with Habitat for Humanity who would reach out on our behalf and say, "Hey, we have this new program. We're interested in acquiring your property. Would you like to sell to us?" And if the answer is no, we move to the next property on the list and kind of continue that process until we've had that conversation or at least tried to have that conversation with all of the property owners of these uh blighted homes. And again, we would use our LAAHA dollars to initially acquire, rehab, and cover some of the admin costs. In this case, we can use LAHA to pay for admin because um Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit uh housing provider. Once the property is is flipped and sold to an affordable family, it would be deed restricted for 30 years. So they can live in the property and um they can enjoy that property and need not repay us uh as long as again kind of like the down payment assistance program as long as they live in the property for the full 30 years. If they don't, they do need to repay the city our investment in the home. When we initially front the property or prop front the program with $500,000 of kind of seed money that's used to acquire it and flip it. But Habitat for Humanity also has funding sources. So at the time of sale, they will repay the city um our uh entire investment less $100,000. So actually we are only investing $100,000 of our LAA funds to acquire that home. We're just fronting the initial upfront month upfront amount with that $500,000 of LAA annually. So, our projected loss per project will be capped at $100,000 unless we go back to the city council for additional uh financial support and then LAA would fund um our admin fees with with the developer. Oh, that's it. Any thoughts or feedback on that? Oh, I should also mention um Habitat for Humanity um also offers something similar in Edina and Roseville and we had conversations with Habitat obviously extensive conversations with Habitat but also Edina and Roseville as well and um everybody uh reports very strongly that this is a a great program and works really well and they've been able to reoccupy uh a whole host of homes in those communities. So, not reinventing the wheel here, but using our LAA funds a little bit differently to solve a Burnsville specific problem. >> I was recently um door knocking in Apple Valley and encountered a property that appeared in the same condition and it did remind me of this proposal. Uh so obviously it wouldn't apply in this exact case, but it's just a testament that there are the need out there and it's kind of great to be able to bring back the vibrancy of a property and it benefits the whole community in addition to the the new homeowners. So I'm excited about this. >> I appreciate that, Madam Chair. And frankly, if we're able to get just one of these properties turned over, I think it's and we work through the rest of the list and we find that nobody else is interested. I still see that as a win. >> Uh so hopefully >> I'm sure the neighbors of that property. >> There you go. That's exactly what I was saying. >> Everybody will be so happy. >> Absolutely. >> And they and they do quality work. They did a project earlier in the uh last year in St. Paul [snorts] um and I was working through a nonprofit [clears throat] that was involved and their logistics operations. How they bring in everyone from all over the country to coordinate a day of work is incredible quality materials uh as well as highly qualified individuals as well as you know volunteers to come and do labor. It's a it's really amazing what they do. So >> it is uh they shared with us uh Habitat shared with us some examples of work that they've done with with other communities. uh and uh what they can do with a kind of dilapitated house is really impressive. They don't bring it up to, you know, marble countertop standards, but they take a home that is severely um dilapitated and a major blighting influence on the neighborhood. And we have a few of those in Burnsville and are able to kind of turn that around around and and become a positive story. So, I'm I'm cautiously optimistic about this program. Having been involved with Habitat for Humanity, I know that they uh bring in a lot of skilled trades people to volunteer their their their experiences in and in in being in that trade whether it's plumbers, electricians, carpenters. So they do great work. So since it's habit habitat like in administering the kind of like the servicing of this um rehab, >> would they then give like um first come first trip choices to the city residents or how how would that process work? >> No, they have their own process for vetting um applicants. Uh and this would be open to that broader pool. So not limited to Burnsville residents only. Again, I could imagine in future years if we have well, two things. I think perhaps once we get down this first list of kind of blighted properties that we this this originated in community development, this idea because we have these blighted properties that nothing is happening. They keep getting worse. The neighbors are frustrated. Um once we work through that list and try to bring somebody in to take advantage of it voluntarily, I could see this prog this program morphing into something else where they may use us to identify um elderly folks that are interested in selling their home. They want it to be an affordable starter home for somebody else and we might recommend them to plug into this program and it becomes something like that which is actually what they've done in Edina and Roseville. Um, but at this point it's it's specific to those blighted properties first and and open to the whole pool that um uh Habitat works with. So we would leave it to them to find um a low-inccome buyer >> or lower income. I think I can assume the answer to this question, but is there anything that would make a property ineligible for purchase or um that we would stray away from whether it be safety concerns, investment concerns, anything Habitat can't touch, >> something along those lines? >> U Madam Chair, Commissioner, um uh any property that is beyond repair, they have they have certain standards, uh that they look at in terms of what would qualify for a property that they could flip. one of the worst properties unfortunately in Burnsville might be at that level and may not be eligible. Um, but generally speak that's that's the kind of the number one thing that I think of that would make uh a property ineligible uh because we're limited to a $500,000 budget. Anything that's a little bit on the higher end probably would be out of our reach um unless we go back to council and say we're going to need a little bit more LAA to to get this one. But uh the the acquisition price and I think the condition of the property are the primary limiters >> at least that we're kind of foreseeing. >> And again, this is purely voluntary. So if the property owner um is not interested in selling, >> they're not obligated to. >> Any more questions, commissioners? >> All right. Um, in terms of next steps, our goal is to finalize contracting around the down payment assistance program and the productive properties, actually all three of the programs, uh, by the end of January of 2026. From there, we'll work with our in-house communication team as well as Habitat's uh, and Center for Energy and Environments uh, marketing team to develop a communication plan. And then ultimately our goal is to launch uh all three programs in 2026 understanding that we probably if we're lucky we'll probably have that first uh vacant rehab project not happening until maybe late 2026. And then uh we also anticipate kind of conducting a an assessment of our LA hog programs including phase one which are the rehab and senior rehab loans uh in quarter two of 2026 to kind of get a gauge of how everything is going. Are we spending down dollars fast enough? Are there new needs that we have and engaging you all at that point and I can stand for any other questions. We hear none. We put you through your paces already. We get to move on to reviewing the draft of the 2026 Economic Development Commission work plan. This will be presented by Beth Weber. She is the economic development coordinator for the city of Burnsville. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. commissioners. Um, so if you recall, uh, earlier this year, we had perhaps a more delayed work plan discussion for 2025. The reason that we did that was because, as you've heard tonight, we've had a lot of, um, really important work that we wanted to include in the work plan so that you could be recognized for your input and efforts towards that. Uh, keeping that in mind, we did want to be more mindful for 2026 and your work plan given that we have kind of more clear direction um on the things that we've accomplished this year and the things that we foresee you all working on next year. So, with that, we'll do a recap given that tonight is our last meeting of 2025, which is incredible to think about. Um, so some of the notable items that uh we've done so far, these numbers will change, um, but so far, open to business has helped 40 businesses and residents um, through just the third quarter. Um, so you've heard reports annually from Natalie, our business advisor at Open to Business, on the great work that she does through technical assistance and marketing help for our entrepreneurs and then as well as the financing that they provide uh for our businesses as well. The Grow Minnesota program continues with the chamber and we have visits uh with our local businesses each month. And so you heard from Jennifer, the president of the chamber earlier this year as well. You worked on uh the update to our sale and rental of city property policy um to allow kind of the change in how we review things and uh the process for reviewing surplus property of city- owned land. Um and that review we finished our economic development strategic framework design uh which was a long process and we certainly appreciate all of the feedback that you provided on that. Uh so the change going forward will be continued implementation of that and your feedback on future programming. And then obviously tonight you also received a LAA uh and housing program update from Travis. So, when we think about your work for 2026, we certainly want to continue with uh the open to business partnership that we have, we will I'll continue inviting you all to ribbon cutings that you can attend as you're available. It's a great way to connect with our local businesses and our community and help celebrate kind of the economic development milestone that a ribbon cutting represents. Uh when training presents itself that might be applicable to you all, we will um extend that opportunity to you. In the past, we've done training with the Urban Land Use Institute, ULI, um, in partnership with our planning commission and I think some of our city council as well. So, um, if there are future opportunities of applicable training, we'll certainly keep you in mind for that. We already talked about the economic development strategic framework. Uh if there are any uh financing applications that the city might receive related to tiff or some other funding that would come directly from the city, we would bring that in front of you for your uh feedback and ultimate recommendation to city council. Grow Minnesota will have another update from Jennifer next year. We'll have continued updates and program changes and feedback for LAHA. And then uh community visioning is something that we had discussed kind of for 2025. We're still working through that on the staff side of things. So I don't believe we've selected any consultants or anything like that to help facilitate. Um but we would certainly engage you uh as that process continues as well. Um these are kind of the identified objectives that I have for you all. Uh certainly open to questions or feedback or if there are other um additional initiatives that you don't feel have been captured here. Um but we feel that this is a robust work plan that will keep you uh busy next year. for the commissioners to be aware um we will be completing this portion of the conversation with a motion and uh hopefully to approve or adopt this work plan. So if there are things you want to bring to that before we move for that this is a great time for it. >> Wow, that was very well covered. Then at this point, I would like to ask for a motion to recommen recommend to the city council the adoption of this 2026 economic development commission work plan. >> I'll carry that motion. >> Okay. Uh Commissioner Merall has moved. >> Second. I'll second it. >> A second from Commissioner Pico. And all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, that motion passes. Thank you, Beth. >> Finally, we get to move on to any updates. The one in particular is that our next Economic Development Commission meeting is scheduled for January 14th, 2026. And at this time, I would like to request a motion for adjournment of the November 12th, 2025 economic development commission meeting. >> I'll make that motion to adjourn 7:24 on today's date. >> Commissioner Sweeney has moved >> that motion. >> Commissioner Winters has seconded. All in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose say no. Hearing none, we are adjourned at 7:24.