Minutes: Evansville Redevelopment Authority: August 9, 2004

Evansville Redevelopment Authority
Regular Meeting
Monday, August 9, 2004, 6:30 pm
City Hall, 31 S. Madison St., Evansville, WI

MINUTES

Chairperson Hagen called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm. Present were Chairperson Hagen, Vice-Chairperson Eager, Ald. Kooyman, Dean Arnold, Betsy Ahner and Jane Oberdorf. Ald. Connely was absent. Bill Connors, Executive Director, joined the meeting while it was in progress.

Vice Chairperson Eager, seconded by Ald. Kooyman, moved to approve the agenda as presented by the executive director, except that consideration of item 7(a) was delayed until Mr. Connors would arrive. Motion passed.

Vice-Chairperson Eager, seconded by Mr. Arnold, moved to approve the minutes of the July 12, 2004, regular meeting as presented by the executive director. Motion passed.

There were no citizen appearances on items not listed on the agenda, and no public hearings.

New Business

Discussion of Authority’s Vision for Downtown Evansville. After discussion, members concluded the authority should focus its efforts first on improving East Main Street from the intersection with Madison Street to the intersection with Union Street. Vice-Chairperson Eager commented that with the unfortunate passing of Mr. Quinnell, it was likely that the Auto Transformers property on this portion of East Main Street will become available on the market, and the authority might be interested in influencing the re-use of that property. The members asked Mr. Connors to provide each of them with an air photo of downtown Evansville with the boundaries of the new downtown TIF district superimposed for future reference.

Old Business

Members discussed a July 12, 2004, letter from David Ross, attorney for Grange Store LLC, objecting to some of the terms of the redevelopment agreement for the pharmacy to move into the Grange Building; Mr. Connors’ July 27, 2004, letter in response, and Mr. Ross’ August 9, 2004, letter in response. Motion by Vice-Chairperson Eager, seconded by Ald. Kooyman, moved to modify the redevelopment agreement (1) to permit the building owner to find an non-pharmacy retail tenant or tenants to fill the leased space if the pharmacy leaves and, at the owner’s option, not to be required to immediately repay the unforgiven principal balance, but the owner must give the same rent to the new tenant(s) as he promised to the pharmacy and (2) make all of the other changes requested in Mr. Ross’ August 9 letter. Motion carried. Mr. Connors will draft a new redevelopment agreement consistent with this motion.

New Business (continued)

Discussion of Possible Programs for Improving Non-Residential Properties in the TIF District. Mr. Connors informed the members that the city already has a building improvement program that gives grants to encourage façade improvements, but due to the limited amount of money that was available for the program, the amount that can be awarded to each property is quite small. Mr. Connors asked if the members wanted to use tax increment to fund a similar program with a larger amount available for each property. The members identified a number of issues that would need to be resolved in designing a new program or programs: (1) should the program be limited to façade improvements, or should interior renovations also be assisted? (2) should the assistance be in the form of a grant or a no-interest loan or a low-interest loan? (3) should the grant be awarded to any property that meets established criteria (provided there still is money available), or should only application guidelines be established with the decision whether to award assistance being left to the discretion of the authority on a case by case basis? Mr. Connors will present options at the next meeting.

Vice-Chairperson Eager, seconded by Mr. Arnold, moved to adjourn. Motion passed.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 pm.

Prepared by William E. Connors, Executive Director

The Minutes are not official until approved by the Authority