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5.0. HRSR 04-05-2004 ITEM # 5. . , 11/ City of Elk -�-� River MEMORANDUM TO: Housing & Redevelopment Authority FROM: Catherine Mehelich, Director of Economic Development DATE: April 5, 2004 SUBJECT: Downtown Revitalization Project Update Attachment * River's Edge Downtown Business Association March 10, 2004 meeting minutes. Project Update Since the March 17 joint meeting of the HRA and City Council there has been no new • developments with regard to the proposed MetroPlains project. Sid Inman of Ehlers & Associates will be present at the meeting to discuss the project status. The Preliminary Redevelopment Agreement between the HRA and MetroPlains was recently extended on February 2, 2004 for a 60-day period,which expires April 5, 2004. Two financing applications remain in process,including: • City application to MN Department of Employment&Economic Development (DEED) for Small Cities Development Program grant funds to be utilized by downtown property owners for building rehabilitation, as well loan funds toward the rental housing component of the MetroPlains proposed Jackson Block development. Announcement of the grant award is anticipated April 8, 2004. • MetroPlains submitted a second round application to MN Housing Finance Agency for additional housing tax credits for the proposed Jackson Block development. Award announcement is anticipated April 22,2004. 411) F" Rivers Edge Downtown Business Association Minutes • March 10, 2004 The meeting was called to order at 8AM at the Elk River Chamber of Commerce Meeting Room. Attending were: Tony Mikols (Mikols River Studio and framing), Lance Lindberg (Century 21), Heidi Steinmetz (City of Elk River), Pat Klaers (City of Elk River), Jeff Beahen (Elk River Police Chief), Marlys Ellingson (Elk River Star News), Roger Hebeisen (First National Bank of Elk River), Jeff Gongoll (Elk River Chamber of Commerce) and Wendy Simenson (Kemper Drug). Secretary's Report: The minutes from the last meeting were accepted Treasurer's Report: The Balance is approximately $2152.25. Old Business City Update: Heidi reminded us of the special meeting that the Elk River City Council and HRA are holding on March 17 at 6:30PM at Lions Park Center. This will actually be a working session to get the City Council up to date on progress with the downtown revitalization process. This meeting is open to the public. The next regular HRA meeting will be held Monday April 5, 2004 at the Little Theatre. You can get the agenda for HRA and City Council meetings at the City's Website (http://www.ci.elk- river.mn.us/under government and agendas) on the Friday Prior to the meeting. Lance receives a copy of the packet given to HRA members prior to the meeting. Contact him if you are interested in backround prior to the meeting. City Hall's move date is scheduled for March 22. City Hall will be closed March 26. The April 5th City Council Meeting is scheduled to be held in a work session meeting room at City Hall. Jeff Beahen,Elk River's Police Chief, was invited to the meeting to discuss downtown parking issues. As many of you are aware, the police were monitoring parking in the lot behind Kemper Drug the week of March first through the fifth. They were marking tires and ticketing vehicles that were left in the lot overnight. The result of this monitoring was that 6 commuters are no longer parking there and 2 vehicles that were disabled in the lot have been moved—freeing up 8 spaces for our customers. The lot is no longer being monitored by the police. At this time, business owners and employees will not be ticketed for parking in this lot for longer than 3 hours. In the future, we will be notified in advance that the city is undertaking monitoring parking downtown before they begin. If you have any questions or concerns about this or anything else, the Police Chief is more than happy to talk to Yq you about them. Please call him at his office. If you are interested in freeing up more space for parking downtown, we were told that we can park without permits in the lot across hiway 10 by the railroad tracks. Also, if you see commuters parking in the lots on the river side of highway 10, tell them or leave a note on their cars, that there is commuter parking in the 20 spots on the west end of the lot across highway 10 by the railroad tracks and that they don't need permits to park there. There was some discussion of downtown • businesses coming up with a plan to reward employees who are comfortable parking in the lot by the tracks. If you have any comments on this idea, please talk to Tony. li -,)) D A Parking Courtesy Downtown: When parking behind the brick block, business owners and • employees can best serve the needs of their customers by not parking in the parking spaces in the first two rows of parking adjacent to their businesses or other businesses. The preferred parking spots for employers and owners, when available, are in the rows by the utilities building and adjacent to highway 10. If these spots aren't available, the lot across Jackson avenue is always an option. Parking on the street in front of businesses should be left open for customers. Remember, if our customers have difficulty parking, they will find somewhere else to do their business. Police Chief Beahen also told us that the biggest increase in crime in Elk River has been computer crimes and identity theft. He said that reports of computer crime has increased from 3 or 4 a year to 4 or 5 a week. Currently there are three individuals in Elk River who were scammed out of considerable amounts of money over the internet by Nigerian money exchange schemes. Also he said to be wary of using credit cards over the internet. That even supposedly safe sites like PayPal have been hacked into. The Police department has put together packets regarding identity theft- how to prevent it and what to do if you are a victim of it. Call the police department if you would like a copy. Updating Downtown Directory: Approximately 100 businesses in the downtown area were contacted. We have received 30 forms back. We are compiling the data that we have and will be visiting and phoning businesses to complete this task. Lance and Roger volunteered to help with this project. Anyone else interested please contact Wendy. • Downtown Promotions: We have revisited the idea of printing placemats advertising downtown businesses on them with a photo of the mural or other downtown attraction in the middle of them. The placemats would be distributed free of charge to any of the non-profit community groups holding fundraising meals. Marlys Ellingson from the Star News will be talking to businesses about being included on the placemats. New Business: Music Downtown: Wendy talked to Michele Bergh from the City of Elk River Recreation Department about the possibility of having a free concert downtown either on a stage by the river or by the Gazebo. The Rec department does not have a lot of funds available but would consider helping us. The price of renting a stage and having it hooked up to electricity would be approximately$2000 plus there would also be the cost of the musicians. We are also going to look at the possibility of having a street dance. Suggestions were made to have a Big Band Sound one night and a rock and roll sound the next night. If you are interested in helping bring music downtown, please talk to Wendy Creative Genius will be closing on May 31. The Cut Hut has also closed. The Bead Bag is moving into the space that the Cut Hut is vacating. The meeting was adjourned at 9AM. II The Next Meeting will be held Wednesday April 14. 2004,at 8AM at the Elk River Chamber of Commerce Meeting Room.