05-16-2023 EDC Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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EDC Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 2 of 4 around the current campus here at Pequot Lakes. He said the Safe Routes to Schools continues to progress and they will have a final report done around June 1st. He stated Tad Erickson from Region 5 again has led the Community group through this process and so he would like to organize groups which include the Pequot Lakes School Board, City Council, Breezy Point City Council and have them adopt it. He said there's no financial commitment to adopting it, but he said it would look better with all of them adopting it. He stated they are still monitoring kindergarten and preschool enrollment. Discussion ensued about how many of the staff has an address within the Pequot Lakes City limits. Mr. Stumpf stated he will get that information. The EDC consensus was also to obtain a breakdown of the costs of the ball fields. 6. Chamber Update Nichole Heinen recapped the events happening this summer, Stars and Stripes, Bean Hole Days and reminded the EDC Commission that funding is still needed for the Fireworks. She also explained that there will be a registration link on the Chamber website for vendors. Discussion ensued about firework donations. 7. Small Cities Development Program (SCDP) Grant Gail Leverson from Widseth gave a summary of the SCDP grant program. She stated it is intended to rehabilitate homes for low to moderate income homeowners with homes that are in substandard condition. She said mobile homes, contract-for-deed homes, and rental homes are not eligible. She said homes must be the primary residence of the owner, and not seasonal. Ms. Leverson said the rehabilitation would consist of essential needs such as heating, roofs, windows, doors, energy efficiency improvements, and handicapped accessibility improvements. She said if the application is funded, the City would receive a grant award letter from DEED and the funding would be allocated to the City in small increments, up to $25,000, for each home to be rehabbed. She said homeowners would have their homes inspected and apply for funding individually. She stated homeowners would need to meet"low to moderate income," using Housing and Urban Development(HUD) income limits. She said if they are income eligible, they would borrow the money from the City as a 0% interest, deferred payment loan. She said these loans would be forgiven when homeowners stay in their homes for seven to ten years. She said if homeowners move prior to the repayment years being completed, they would repay a portion of the loans back to the City. Ms. Leverson explained the process to Apply is a two-step process. She said the pre- applications are due in the fall and include a housing survey of the City of the conditions of homes using a HUD assessment criterion. She said it also includes an income and interest survey of homeowners to show if we have enough interest from income-eligible homeowners. She stated it also includes a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a qualified Grant Administrator which submits grant reports and payments. Ms. Leverson said strong pre-applications are invited to submit a full application and they