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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 9, 2023 5 swath along the western edge was to bring in good jobs. The County and City both put forward 4,000 jobs but if you jettison 30 acres worth of jobs he found it to be an unwise thing to do. In terms of what happens on November 1, it seems they have put the cart before the horse. He wouldn't want Alatus to show up with pretty pictures of 1,960 and everybody was supposed to nod and say yes, it looks very pretty. He felt it would be telling residents the decision had already been made but wouldn't you like to provide your input? He would like to all three options presented and let people weigh in. He didn't know if people understand who pays for affordability. Do they realize they will be paying for it? He didn't know that the County would be paying for the full cost of that. Councilmember Monson said the County has said they will fully financially support affordable housing. Mayor Grant stated the he hadn't heard the County will shoulder the whole cost. So what does that mean to the community? TIF, tax abatement? Are they taking away from the schools? What he would like to see at the November 1 community engagement is the information presented and written forms that people can provide written comments on, and they can gather feedback from the community. He found it strange that the JDA has approved 1,960 and wondered if it could change. If it can't change then the decisions have already been made without any public input. Councilmember Monson said she wasn't there to talk about the 1,960, she felt the topic needed to have its own meeting. She would like a special work session that includes a response and questions to the 1,960 that ties in visioning. She would like to have that meeting as soon as they can after the open house. Councilmember Rousseau thought November 2 would be great to talk about density and affordability. And possibly set up a second meeting to talk about the water way area and some items that are less attached to density. Councilmember Holden asked if the 1,960 wasn't going to change, why should residents go to the open house and provide input? She wanted to know if it was already decided or not. She would love to say it wasn't, that they were going to take the feedback and maybe rethink it, but she wasn't hearing that. It's nice that the County will take care of the affordable housing, but the last time the County told them everything was taken care of Alatus and the County met and came up with an agreement asking for an additional $1 million to help with a financing gap—Alatus got a better deal, the County got a better deal, and then they wanted to charge the City. Her concern was all the other factors involved in the 1,960. How big were the lots going to be with all the little houses? If the 1,960 was set in stone, why don't they just say it out loud. Councilmember Fabel stated the 1,960 is a concrete proposal that has come forward from the developer in conjunction with the JDA that was elected by respective bodies to work on coming up with a concrete development. He fully expects former members of the JDA to be critical of what they are doing. During the election campaign the question of housing density and affordability was essentially on referendum; all of their candidate material brought to the public's attention exactly what they disagreed with, and roughly 60% of the voting residents in Arden Hills elected three of them, which gave them the ability to put members on the JDA who were in disfavor of what the former JDA had done. They feel what they are bring forth is a concrete proposal, brought together by a responsible developer, working together with a responsible JDA