Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Business Housing and Zoning Committee. I am Council Member Jamal Osman. I'm the chair of this committee. Before we begin, I want to remind all folks in this meeting are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. They include real-time captioning to increase the accessibility of our proceeding to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful to the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. We'll be using a speaker management, so please log in. At this time, I'll ask clerk to call the roll so we can verify a quorum. Council Member Rainville. Present. Warren. Present. Schieber. Present. Chavez. Present. Chughtai. Present. Vice Chair Chaundry. Present. Chair Osman. Present. That's seven members present. Let the record reflect we have a quorum. Our agenda is before us. We will begin with the consent agenda. Item one is approving a three liquor license. Item two is approving 26 liquor license renewals. Item three is approving a two gambling license. >> [clears throat] >> Item four is approving two gambling license renewals. Item five is approving amended guidelines for five print storefronts. Item six is authorizing multiple master contracts for public art managers. Item seven is accepting a low bid for carpet replacement for Minneapolis Convention Center project. Item nine is authorizing a contract amendment with Meet Minneapolis. Item 10 approves a compre commemorative street name to honor Officer Jamal Mitchell on the Blaisdell Avenue. Item 11 authorizes update agreements with Cowles Center. Item 12 is a set of public hearing for May 12th, 2026 to make a public comment for 2026 Housing Urban Development, also known as HUD, action plan. Lastly, [clears throat] item 13 is an ordinance related to the fence regulation being referred to the staff. With that, do any of my colleagues have any comments? I see Council Member Jason Chavez. Thank you, Chair Osman. I'd like to just pull out number seven and number nine for separate discussion. Number seven and number Nine. Nine. Right. Council Member Chaundry. Thank you, Chair Osman. I just had a quick question on the liquor license renewal for staff, if that's all right with you. Yes. >> It's very quick. The question comes from just several constituents, constituent businesses that are reaching out about renewals. I just want to know upon passage, what's the timeline for the license to be granted for them so it can be active for use? Chair Osman, Council Member Chaundry, thank you for that question. If it is a renewal, the license is still considered to be in good standing even while it goes through this process. So, there should be no stopping of their approval. They can continue to operate. We can have them certified with the state before we go through this. So, there should be no delay. And then when is the renewal just in effect? Like it's done. The actual step of us voting it and then being in place. So, when is the renewal done? When it's published after the mayor signs off and full council. >> Okay. Do you know what date that is? So, the publication depends on when the mayor signs off on it. So, if the mayor signs the Friday, it's usually published the like the Saturday or the Tuesday after. It's usually the following week. I usually like to say 11-ish days after full council. Okay. That is really helpful. Thank you so much. I'll recognize Council Member Schieber. Yes, I just wanted to make a comment on number 10. Obviously, we all were horrified with the killing of Jamal Mitchell. And I think this is a beautiful way to be able to honor and remember what happened in our streets that day and to honor his sacrifice. Thank you. Thank you so much, Council Member Chaundry. Thank you, Chair Osman. I just wanted to make a quick comment on the updated agreement with the Cowles Center. As you know, that the Cowles Center was the heart of the dance community for the city of Minneapolis. I had several constituents in the 12th Ward, who live in the 12th Ward, who are dancers, who do education for students in our public school system and throughout the city reach out when the Cowles Center was closing. And I just want to extend my gratitude to our staff for working on this lease use agreement and extend gratitude to Arts Nest um for being in agreement to help support property management and maintenance. And then, of course, thank our team in Arts and Culture. And thank you, Director Ben Johnson, also for stepping in and just being a big leader in this process. Council Member Rainville. Just a brief comment about item number 10 as well. Officer Mitchell, within days of him joining the force, was on patrol when there was a house fire. He arrived there in the in the 10th Ward. And he arrived there before the fire department. He bravely went into that burning building and saved two people. He tried was trying to save another person when he was shot. We He deserves that we should honor him. And I think this is a great way to do it. Thank you. Thank you. And I do want to second that, too. Officer Jamal Mitchell gave his life to our city and I honor him. We honor him. I'm wearing this badge today because of his honor. And I um this is a a good way to honor his name, street name change. So, with that, I don't see anyone else. I will move all items except items seven and nine. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. And those opposed, say nay. The ayes have it and the motion carries. I'll recognize Council Member Chavez. Thank you, Chair Osman. I just have a few questions about some of these items. The first one is item number seven, the bid for the Minneapolis Convention Center carpet replacement. I just want to get more information on it. If I'm reading this correctly, it's nearly accepting a low bid of nearly 1.2 million dollars to change carpets at the convention center. I just want to get a little bit more information on that. Yes. Director, go ahead, please. Chair Osman, Council Member Chavez, I'm Jeff Johnson. I'm the general manager at the Minneapolis Convention Center. So, we have been in a phased approach of doing some renovations at the convention center starting in our meeting rooms. And we just completed phase three of our meeting room renovation. This carpet would be for the lobby spaces of the convention center. It's about half of the lobby spaces within our convention center. The carpet there sees a lot of traffic, 700,000 people a year. And we've had it for about 10 years. And so, it's just a normal thing that we put into our budget each uh certain amount of time frame to remove that carpet so that we have good, beautiful, not worn carpet for our guests. And do you know what the timeline for this would be? Chair Osman, Council Member Chavez, once the bid is awarded and then the contract is awarded, we are I think in our schedule we have planned for it to be installed this summer. And can you explain where the source is coming from? Just for the public. Chair Osman, Council Member Chavez, this comes from the Minneapolis Convention Center budget. So, as part of our Minneapolis budget, we have repair and maintenance uh amounts of money that we use each year to reinvest in in the building. Ultimately, these funds come not from the general fund. They come from either revenues that we create through the charges that we charge our clients or from the downtown sales and use taxes that are collected. Do you have some examples of how this funding stream has been used in other instances for the convention center? Chair Osman, Council Member Chavez, the uh the sales and use taxes are are really used for everything for the convention center. All of our resources None of our resources come from the general fund. So, all of our labor, all of our reinvestment in the building comes through the sales and use taxes. Thank you. Um I'd like to set up a meeting ahead of the full council vote next week. I don't think I can support 1.2 million dollars for carpets today, but would love to learn more ahead of that vote on Thursday. Thank you. Sorry, Council Member Jason Chavez, did you make a No, I'm just not going to support a motion to approve today. >> All right, wonderful. Um I would uh make the motion to approve this item. Second. I will um all those in favor say I. I. And those opposed say nay. Nay. Uh the eyes have it and the motion carries. And item nine. Uh thank you, Chair Osman. Item number nine is a contract amendment with Meet Minneapolis. I had a meeting with COO Anderson Kelleher, but I just think it's important to explain to the public what this is just for transparency. Director, would you mind just explain to the public what item number nine is? Yes. Uh Chair Osman, Councilmember Chavez. So uh the city of Minneapolis has a contract with Meet Minneapolis, which is a convention and visitors bureau. They all do all the sales and marketing for the convention center uh and they're also the tourism marketing for the city of Minneapolis. Uh those funds also come from sales and use taxes that are collected by people that come into the city and and use our resources. So within the uh Meet Minneapolis contract, we have several different components. One of those components is that we have incentive funding. So we set key performance indicators for them and then we have uh $800,000. So $200,000 per key performance indicator that if they reach uh their goals, they would receive that incentive funding. Sometimes uh based on many different factors, they don't reach uh their KPI goals. And so that would leave some revenues that are restricted within the contract but unable to be spent because they are not paid out as incentive because they didn't reach their incentive goals. What this amendment is seeking is to uh unrestrict those funds. So if they don't earn them uh for for an incentive, that we would be able to uh use those funds for another opportunity within that contract that we have with Meet Minneapolis. I think we all know that the hospitality industry has been very much harmed over the last few years with uh what's going on. And so uh being able to get those dollars out uh into the hospitality community would be very important and it's something that we would like that ability to do so that it's not just restricted uh and not able to be spent. Thank you. Is there any actions that you're going to be taking to help us address meeting those KPI goals in the future? Chair Osman, Councilmember Chavez. Uh so as part of the oversight that uh CEO uh Anderson Kelleher and I have of the contract, we obviously are working with Meet Minneapolis and their board to make sure that uh everything is in place to uh hopefully meet and exceed those goals. Um Obviously, we understand that there have been um circumstances that have happened over the last few years even that make it very difficult to to meet the goals. And we also want to make sure that those goals uh um have some stretch to them so that they're not just something that would be considered an easy goal to make. And so we have uh a robust system in place and those goals uh are are challenging. And so with any sales component, sometimes you make your goals and sometimes you don't. But yes, we are definitely working with them. Uh I meet with uh Melvin Tennant, the CEO of Meet Minneapolis, uh weekly and uh uh we're hoping to meet all the goals we can in 2026. Thank you. I think like a follow-up memo of better explaining the plan would be really helpful for me as a councilmember. My understanding is that this vote would help us with the Taste of Minnesota event. Is that correct? Uh Chair Osman, Councilmember Chavez. Uh that decision I don't believe has been 100% made at this point. Obviously, uh uh COO Mark uh Anderson Kelleher would be involved in that decision. Okay, cuz I would support that. I just think that this item might need a little bit more tweaking ahead of full council next week just to make sure that it isn't fully just on the decision of our COO, but making sure that there are a variety of different uses, different cultural events that we can have if we were to give up this authority. So I'll be supporting this item today, but I hope we can better refine this ahead of full council just because I think we can since some of these goals weren't met, I feel like we can still make sure that we can have other events and other uses for this funding as well. So I'll support it today, but I just hope we can, you know, make it a little bit more tighter ahead of Thursday next week. Uh thank you, Councilmember. I I will approve this item for for approval. I'll move move forward this offer for approval. I did have a conversation with uh COO and um I think that, you know, what we're trying to do is attract uh traffic in downtown in our city, especially Taste of Minnesota, for folks to come and spend some money. That's how we make revenue. So anything that Meet Minneapolis is doing and convention center and and and and and the city leadership to create uh um revenue for our city, it's really smart. We talk about, you know, getting the NFL draft here. There are many steps that definitely we should take and uh this is one of those um items that we can twist around and and move around and I think it's very smart. So thank you so much for bringing forward. I'll recognize Councilmember Warren. Um thank you so much um Council Vice President Chair Osman. Um so I just had a question about is there like a list of other events that also have the potential to be supported with these fundings? I know that we're hosting the Special Olympics here. Um I know that there are a number of different things that are happening um throughout, you know, downtown Minneapolis and we're excited for those things, but I want to make sure that all the events that are coming do have access and fair and equal opportunity that are coming through our corridors here. So is there like events that you're not able to support or ones that you prefer to do over one or the other or what does that look like? Chair Osman, Councilmember Warren. >> [clears throat] >> What we're bringing forward right now is just the opportunity to have those discussions. Yes. And so I don't believe there is necessarily a list of of opportunities right now that that we're looking at. I know Taste of Minnesota has been talked about um as one potential opportunity, but really what this is doing is making sure that if we have those resources available, that when opportunities come forward um and we need we find it in our best interest as a city to support something uh that we have the resources to do that and we can use these and implement them and give them out into the community. And so that conversation uh will happen as the the resources uh are allowed to be used and and the opportunities come forward. So I understand that there is an excess of incentive funds because the KPIs were not met. So is this something that will be stayed? Is this um an amendment that will stay forever that if in the future they're not met, we can use those or would you have to come before council every time to ask about the direction in which funding could be going? And then how much funding are we also talking about here? Chair Osman, Councilmember Warren. It is our intention that this would become uh a part of their five-year contract. We're in year four right now and so uh we would have a new contract proposal before uh this body uh in four years. So uh that would be the intention that this becomes a permanent part of their contract. Uh right now, uh as I had said, there is $800,000 available. They met half of their goals and and so there is $400,000 that right now is restricted and cannot be used for any other reason. This action would allow that $400,000 to be used uh for something in the community that again helps to build those those sales and use taxes that I talked about that actually then come back in and fund the hospitality industry. Okay. Thank you. I'm excited to support this. Once again, I I recognize I will recognize Councilmember Chavez. Uh thank you, Chair Osman. I'll just read part of the RCA just so we know what we're voting on. It says that this request for council action would authorize amendment to the contract to allow the city operations officer to reallocate unused incentive funding so that it can be used to offset expenses incurred by community events in Minneapolis outside of the community event activation program and other things. The reason I'm bringing that up is because we will be given authority to the COO uh to decide what to do with this money. I guess part of the reason why I pulled it out for discussion is because I think the council should also have a conversation and have conversations with our COO of what other events we can do to support our communities. I'm thinking about cultural activation, making sure we're supporting our neighbors, not just uh this particular event. It's not meant to cause any problems. I think Councilmember Warren and I are bringing up some of the similar conversations here and just wanted to point it out because ahead of Thursday conversation, maybe it would be good to get a list of other activation efforts that we can do. I just want to make sure we're focusing on a holistic process, not just for one event. Thank you. All right, thank you. Seeing no one else, I will move the item nine for approval and um all those in favor say I. I. And those opposed say nay. The eyes have it and the carries. Now, we will proceed to our discussion on our agenda. We will begin uh discussing the John Cook House appeal. This last discussed at our previous meeting and it's before us now. Uh is the staff here to kind of give us an update? I know uh you gave presentation last week, but I saw Andres and this has been an item that continued to come back since last year. I think this is maybe the fourth or third time that we are uh sending back. So, if you can give us an update about what has been the conversation with uh uh developer sell a landlord selling to the neighbors and neighbors buying. Has there been any agreement between them? Yes, thank you, Chair Osman. My name is Rob Skolacky. I'm a senior city planner in the historic preservation team in um planning and CPED. Uh you are correct, Chair Osman. This has come before um BIZ a few times. So, as you recall and I'd summarize last time, this came in front of BIZ in November of last year and at that point um it was referred back to staff with a extension granted by um the applicant's team and that was for 6 months. So, within that time um there was discussion with the property owner about attempting to sell the property to an interested buyer. Um I know in discussions with the property owner that there was some interest early on in in the beginning of this year and that fell through at that time. To stay within the extension timeline that ends on May 20th, uh we had to bring this back to the last BIZ meeting. Um and at that time I know there was still some community interest in attempting to purchase the property. So, that's why it was continued to this meeting today. Since the last meeting, staff has received some comments from property owners. There's one um from from a prospective buyer that is included in public comments today for your consideration. Just detailing some difficulties that the prospective buyer has um encountered uh attempting to to consider purchasing the property. Um but with that, I'm available for any other questions relating to this. But again, to your point, this this does go back quite a while and I'd be happy to address any comments about um going back to last year. Thank you so much. I um see that um this prop this item has come back and I see the property owner's representative here. I'd like to ask him few questions. Uh Mr. Steen, um thank you for for coming. I know it's been uh um we've been seeing each other for last uh 6 7 months now. Um And as I remember, last time the conversation was was that uh you were seeking a demolition permit and um and then the neighbors came and say they want to buy it. We give them 6 months. What has happened after that? What has been the conversation? What are the some of the uh challenges that this is not being done? Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Chair Osman, council members. Jake Steen with Larkin Hoffman. Uh that's that's correct. As you as you'll recall, in November of last year uh the uh what we had uh suggested is we would uh we would take the time and work with those individuals within the community who had mentioned that they'd were interested in acquiring the property. Uh there were several folks that had had mentioned that they would be interested in buying. Uh my client uh Mr. Jabril has met with uh more than a dozen individuals. Uh had very I think a tour of 15 people at one point through the building. Uh our effort were was initially targeted to meeting with the folks uh in the community that had expressed an interest in buying. I think we had all uh been under the impression that they uh there were folks that had uh expressed that they would be be the ones interested. Ultimately, that didn't come to fruition. There were obviously a lot of other things going on in the community at the beginning of this year. Uh but in March uh uh Mr. Jabril, after nothing had come to fruition, listed it on MLS. Uh we've had a a few uh interested parties. Uh at the eve of the last meeting uh we did uh hear that it offer offer was forthcoming and it was continued. Uh unfortunately, uh that offer was uh nominal uh and it was uh not um it was not near what the the property is worth, we believe. So, uh at this point, we've worked closely with the community. We've we've tried to entertain any offers. I think this is indicative of the fact that it is uh really not economically feasible uh to renovate this building, which is why uh we've asked to to demolish it. Uh that being said, there should be a letter in your packet. We have uh prior to the last meeting, we submitted that to staff. Uh so, hopefully that made it into your packet. Um but I can summarize it uh if it's not. Um it was eventually or essentially an update of what I just said. Uh and what we would ask We we don't want to keep coming back here if if we can avoid it. Um what we would ask is for the city to approve the demolition uh today, uh but then we would commit to continuing to list it. You know, we we don't want to demolish a building if we don't have to. Uh ultimately, we that was the original intent for redevelopment. Uh that redevelopment has stalled, but what really prompted us today is these excessive vacant building registry or yeah, extended vacant building registry fees. So, what we would say is we will continue to list it until July 15th. Uh again, subject to uh holding any further enforcement. Uh we'll we'll keep meeting with folks. There've been a few folks that have ex- expressed interest. Uh but at this point, uh we just don't want to have to come back here. So, again, we would commit to to that as long as uh we would still have the uh the demolition permit issued today. Yep. I the way I I understand that the decision has to be made. Uh this is um the final deadline. City attorney, can you kind of talk about a little bit of uh what the deadline is? Chair Osman, according to the MOU signed between the city and the developer, I believe the final decision needs to be made by May 20th of Well, this is the final. I hear you. Uh thank you um um for being patient. And has there been any official offer from anyone? Yes, we we did receive an offer for $25,000. And the cost of the building the sale of the building, how much was it? Uh the pardon? The sale of the building. >> of the The list price currently is 250. Uh you know, I think we paid probably about $75,000 in in penalties alone. Yeah, I I would um you know, definitely uh uh want to make a decision on this soon, but I uh intend intend to to vote this in um in favor of of of uh uh awarding the permit, but I would like to move this item without recommendation to see if there's any opportunity from now until Thursday or I guess following week, next Thursday, to see if there's any movement on that. Um I'll second that. Uh thank you, council member council uh vice chair. I will recognize council member Warren. Thank you, Chair. Um may I ask you a question again? So, how much is it going to cost to demolish this building if that's what you're looking to do? Yeah, thank you, Chair uh Council member Warren. I don't believe we have a a current bid. Uh as I don't know if you uh well, I suppose you may uh this may have come before you. So, just a uh kind of a refresher of how we got here. This building was on the vacant building registry for 5 years before my client acquired it. Mhm. Um it at the time the intent was to redevelop it in conjunction with an adjacent property. Uh ultimately, it was condemned after he acquired it and then a year after it was condemned, it was put on uh the city's uh is designated as a landmark. Uh so, it's been quite some time since we had an active bid. Uh but my uh I I I don't want to speculate what it what it would cost today. As you can imagine, prices have gone up and I suspect there's probably some asbestos in the building. Okay. And so, you have received an offer at 10% of what the listed price was. That is correct? >> That's correct. And we know that there is a need for significant rehabilitation in the property itself if the property is to remain standing. I received an email from a group of a coalition of architects and historians, preservationists, and contractors, artists, um local stakeholders. They stated that they have the capacity and the commitment to restore the home um responsibly and in full compliance with the HPC standards um and that the property, although it was available and had been vacant after the previous ownership for a number of 5 years, didn't take the MLS listing until um uh until March, which was nearly 4 months into the reparative period granted by the city. So, I know that it's taxing and it's mentally and emotionally taxing to to come down here and see our lovely faces. We don't mind seeing you, you know? Um and we appreciate you coming. But um but I I do believe that this holds some significant value to the community. And from the information that I'm receiving here, there you know, these individuals saying despite the barriers, our group has demonstrated both the willingness and a capacity to acquire and rehabilitate um the property and this is coming from Daisy Warren who is um a member of this of this group and there's been several articles that are cited here in the Star Tribune and the Northeast coverage um uh letter of recommendation um to the HPC um that was sent to CPED um that you know, they they wanted to deny the certificate of appropriateness for demolition and found that there's a reasonable alternative. You know, so and then the historic study um design study work that's also been included in here. So um I don't think I'm going to support this. I think I'm going to ask that you wait and that you know we we see what is going to happen. Is there a a deadline on acceptance? Because ultimately what I look at is this. Whatever the cost it is it's going to be to demo this property. If they've made a 10% offer, I understand what you're asking for. What you're asking for you're going to tear it down. And so it's better to get some change than no change. You know what I mean? And it's costing you less you'll walk away with a loose something in your pocket instead of spending something for something that you're listing that is not meeting that expectation and requirement because we know that it's going to take more to put into the property to bring it up to standard than it would to you know tear it down and sell it. I could see making the request as previously stated about pulling the permits in advance and ensuring those individuals have the permitting fees and all of those things to pull the permits for the restorative value of the property. But if it's going to cost you about 25 or 30,000 dollars to tear down the property, why not just take the 25 or 30,000 dollars to get the property and let the people have the space that they need to repair the property. Uh yeah, Chair Osman, Council member Warren, couple of thoughts. So we we are also under the impression that that group is that group has made that offer uh several times uh over the last 6 months or even longer. Uh but they've never nothing has actually ever come to fruition outside of this this one offer. Uh but I think what you're you're saying is is that the the there's a recognition that uh it's economically infeasible, but there's somebody out there who's willing to do it. The the second piece is not the legal standard. The first piece is the legal standard under the city's code. If it's not economically feasible to repair it, if you would end up upside down and you're forced to take zero dollars, um that's that's the standard under the code for demolition of a historic resource. So I think what that's exactly our point. This demonstrates that the standard has been met and there is some value in this property. There is value in this property uh for redevelopment. Uh we're committed to working to redevelop. Uh but the standard under the city code to demolish a historic landmark is if it's economically infeasible and it can't be done. And and the truth is uh it would cost over a million dollars to repair this. Um we've never really see received a bonafide offer outside of this 25,000 dollar offer. And we know that even if it was fully constructed, it would be worth significantly less than a million dollars. So again, the legal standard is that we're upside down and uh and that standard has been met. Uh so that's why we'd like to uh we'd like to demolish it. But again, the demolition was really driven by the uh the extended vacant building fees. We're committed to uh continuing to uh to list this. Uh we're comfortable with with moving forward with a a recommendation or no recommendation to next meeting. We're happy to uh to meet with folks over the next uh week and a half uh and try to find somebody. That's what it's always been about is trying to find somebody who will take this property. But but again, you know, there is a we we can't be asked to my client can't be expected to take uh you know, essentially all value from his property uh be and end up with with nothing. Well, that's what's going to happen if it's demolished. He's going to take all value from the property and >> [laughter] >> end up with nothing. You tear it down, he's still owe a bag. What is he what does he have to sell then? Well, then he would have a a vacant a lot that can be redeveloped for housing. And uh and he had originally brought forward a a project that was uh supposed to incorporate this this property um for housing. So it's there's still very there there's still real economic value um in this property and and I think what we would be asked to do is take nothing and it would be deprive my client of all economic value of the property, which is the standard in both the Minnesota Constitution, United States Constitution for a taking. >> So what is the value of the land at currently right now? Uh you know, there's a lot of factors that go into it as you can imagine. Right now, the uh market is a little bit uh wonky, but he does own about a half a block adjacent to this property and uh there is uh there's some real value to that and uh again, it was always intended to be a housing project. This area, the city needs housing. Uh is committed to doing that. Um you know, and and that's what that's what this property was acquired for in the first place. Okay. All right. Thank you for for um answering all of those questions. Uh before I recognize uh Council member Chavez, I see City Attorney um on queue here. Yes, thank you, Chair Osman. I thought this might be a good opportunity to to remind the body that this is a quasi-judicial matter. Um I know that we have spoken about it briefly in Supercow, but I think this might be the first time that we've had that discussion here in Biz. And so I just wanted to remind you of your obligations in that setting. Um so when you're taking an action involving applying existing laws and rules to a particular request, you're exercising what's called quasi-judicial authority. You do have less discretion when acting quasi-judicially. Um courts in reviewing your decision will um examine whether you applied the rules in place to the facts before you. So um you should be considering things like is there a complete record of your proceedings? Was fair notice of a hearing given? Um was prejudgment bias avoided? And particularly, it's important for you to make a decision on the item based on the findings of fact in the record. Um so you can find that standard for how to make a decision in staff's report. Um that is the report that was attached to the agenda item. And of particular note here, um in order to make that decision on destruction in a case like this, you need to be considering um one of two possibilities, whether the destruction is necessary to correct an unsafe or dangerous condition on the property or whether there's no reasonable alternatives to the destruction. And in determining whether there are no reasonable alternatives, um you're to consider it issues such as the significance of the property, the integrity of the property, and the economic value or usefulness of the existing structure including its current used, cost of renovation, and feasible alternative uses. And so I bring that up to say that um while these other discussions might be of interest to you, ultimately in making a decision on this item before you, you are limited to um the standard that is to be applied in this case and the findings of fact on the record. And if you do have any questions about um what that standard means or what findings of fact are in the record, I would encourage you to ask for clarification from staff. Thank you so much, City Attorney, for that uh information. And I will recognize Council member Chavez. Uh thank you, Chair Osman. And what is the recommendation from staff here? Chair Osman, Council member Chavez, um so staff's recommendation was um the HPC voted um consistently with staff's recommendation to deny the demolition. Um in that the the findings that um the City Attorney just read, uh staff did not believe that the applicant submitted materials met those or were consistent with them. Um so staff recommended denial and the HPC um voted unanimously in support of that. Okay. That's good [clears throat] clarification and thanks for that information. Um okay. I do have a question for uh folks. I I just wanted to know what the listed price is right now. Yeah, thank you, Chair Council member Chavez. I believe it's about uh 245,000 dollars right now. And then how much was it purchased for in 2019? At it that amount. Exactly that amount. And I think >> same amount? Same amount. Correct. And then I have a few questions. I think a lot of neighbors have come up and said that for the past 6 years it's felt like the property has been left to deteriorate. Have you taken any action since then, since this community has had more time to purchase or come to an agreement? And what actions have have been taken to address the safety concerns? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I would I say that it's been a near constant project for my client. Again, he had acquired this property after about 5 years of vacancy being on the vacant building registry. And since that time, I think we've counted probably more than 15 instances of having to have maintenance out, boarded, boarded up the building two times since November, really two times in the last month. I've received emails from the city attorney's office and we immediately went out within 24 hours to to clean up glass on site and I've been corresponding with the city attorney's office regarding that. So, it's been a pretty substantial and constant project. And if this motion is approved next week or whenever this vote happens, um when will the demo occur? Well, what we've committed to right now is is we would continue to maintain it and list it on the market and entertain offers until July 15th. And we would again, that it's contingent on not continuing to have those extended vacant building. So, there'll be no demo until July 15th. Correct. >> Okay. Correct. >> And then just for the public to follow along, Council Schazman, Vice President Osman has made a motion to move without recommendation. That does not mean that whoever votes for that, it does not mean they support the demolition. I just want to be clear about the council process. There's no recommendation with that motion. The debate will then happen at full council next week. So, I'll be supporting the motion without recommendation, but I don't want that to be interpreted as a position on this today. So, I just want to be clear. All right. Thank you. All those in favor say I. I. And those opposed say nay. The eyes have it and the motion carries. That's our last item, but I do want to make exception and suspend the rule and allow Mr. English, seeing Mr. English to come on the podium and address us about important of affordable housing. I do want to make a motion if that's okay with with my colleagues here. Second. Um All right. With that motion to suspend the rules to have Mr. English speak with us, all those in favor say I. I. Those opposed say nay. Nay. Eyes have it and the motion carries. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to address this uh committee, this business committee and economic development committee. We have a serious problem but you know almost 6 years ago this city invested considerable amount of money to acquire what is now called the Upper Harbor Terminal Redevelopment Project. That plan was developed from the ground up and citizens met over 4 years to put together plan that this council approved. Council funded the acquisition of this land. 46 acres once charted the Negro Slum. More than 40 to 50 citizens participated over 4-year period often without meals and over on Saturday to put together plan first plan come from the bottom up from the community up. They were a lot of help from the CPED staff and that expertise to develop this plan. Well, since that time and three applications later Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has refused to finance any housing for that project. I will remind you that the city has spent this money to acquire the land. They have spent money to clear the land. Metro Council has put in all the public utilities. And on May 4th we'll celebrate the grand opening of the amphitheater. Which is a wonderful project that the community approved and embraced. But if you ask me priority wise while I'm happy and will be participating in the May 4th celebration where is the housing? You're talking about a city that has the highest number of homeless people. >> [snorts] >> Has had the highest number of encampments though we've done a good job of moving those around. We send more money to the state than any other city. And let me just tell you the area they call the Negro Slums >> [snorts] >> could spend and that's African Americans, not not our black immigrant brothers spend $6 billion to the economy in this state every year. Those aren't my figures. They were done by uh uh Dr. uh uh um excuse me, his his wife Emma Emma Corry, Dr. Bruce Corry who now works for the mayor of St. Paul. Anyway, he they he did that study. $6 billion and over $600 million in taxes. Those are facts. If we contribute that much isn't it time for us to get our fair share of housing in North Minneapolis and other parts of the city? We just have to. And to to deny us this housing has been first of all, we did invite the Commissioner of MFHA to a community meeting to explain why. It cost the developers $40 to $50,000 to submit an application. And over three applications we were denied even though they said we wrote the best application. The first statement was it was too large. So, you're telling me 700 units of mixed income housing, a third affordable, a third workforce housing 50 to 60% AMI and a third market rate. If that's too many houses for Minneapolis and you can send $10 million to dollars to Moorhead excuse me. If they find 10 homeless people in Moorhead, they're lucky. But they're getting money for affordable housing. I don't have a problem with that. But what about your largest city and those of us where have the greatest number of housing and unemployment? Unemployment and those jobs rebuilding those houses, we have agreement with the union, the trades. Everything is in in place for those houses to be built. And so I'm asking this council and this committee to move to the general to the full city council and ask every Minnesota legislator why are they permitting us to our city to go without affordable and mixed income housing? Why? And that more offer we since this year was a bonding and a policy change we submitted proposal for them to bond all 700 units. And a policy change so that MFHA will report annually to the legislature and the community how much investment have they made in marginalized community. I would beg this group of August council members to really understand the kind of impact that that will have on our community. The kind of housing it will bring. The gentrification that we were trying to minimize with the Upper Harbor plan. Part of that was to avoid gentrification. And so all of those objectives have been worthwhile and it deserves your support. So, I ask for you and I appreciate you giving me this special opportunity to speak. But we need you. We need each one of you to insist that our legislators support all of Minneapolis. Not just North, and North is suffering more than any. But all of us need housing. They did give the Little Earth some rehab money. And they built that monstrosity or old New Salem Church down there on Plymouth Avenue as you all know. And it's just got the neighborhood upset because it's too much concentration of affordable housing. And we know that doesn't work. We know mixed income housing is the best way it works. And that's the plan was for the Upper Harbor Terminal and it's now time for this council to exercise its authority to ask our legislators that that represent each one of you to take a position and get this project bonded. Now, the city will come to you with another plan. And and that is the for the city to consider bonding this plan. And if they do I hope you will support it because we need the housing. We support it. If one if if if the state won't help us, then part of government closest to the citizen of Minneapolis are you. You are the ones. So, we have to depend on you when the state treats us second and third class. But we're not aware of knowing there's an election coming up in November. We will not forget. So, those council those legislators who won't support that, we will be telling our people vote your name in instead of them. So, if you're running for office, you better come up with a plan and say you embrace our getting what we need or we're going to tell our people write your name in and let's see how they go. So, thank you for the time. I appreciate it. I really appreciate the work Councilman and so I will ask each one of you, Council member Chavez, Sister Warren, and uh Council member Rainville, and Chughtai, I hope I'm saying your name right, and Ms. Frey thank you so much for this time. Thank you so much, sir, uh for stopping by. Seeing no further business before us with no objection, I will declare this meeting adjourned. Thanks, everyone.