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Staff recommends that the City hire a strategic brownfield consultant to assist in developing a 73 clear understanding of the brownfields situation and a strategic brownfields response plan. The 74 type of work that the strategic brownfields consultant would perform exceeds what is typically 75 accomplished with a testing only company and includes advising the City on risk management 76 strategies, best management remediation practices, grant writing, and work plan. There has 77 already been a lot of testing performed in the area, but it has not been brought together in a 78 manner that provides a comprehensive, strategic understanding of the conditions. One way to 79 get an impression of how many separate brownfields data points there are in the Twin Lakes area 80 is to use the MPCA’s “What’s in my Neighborhood” tool which is located at 81 http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/data/wimn-whats-in-my-neighborhood/whats-in-my- 82 neighborhood.html 83 Currently, the City has substantial funds available that are limited for only brownfield 84 remediation purposes, yet there are no significant brownfield cleanup activities underway or 85 planned in Twin Lakes. In addition, regional, state and federal agencies have substantial cleanup 86 funds available that could potentially be brought in as well but often have a significant lead time 87 to deploy. All of these funds have not been able to be used as effectively as they probably could 88 due to the lack of a brownfields strategic action plan. 89 Having a more clear understanding of the brownfields situation also can assist in other aspects of 90 the redevelopment process including making decisions about how much to pay for property, 91 whether the City should be purchasing land or working through the private sector owners, 92 enforcement actions, etc. 93 Market Understanding 94 Understanding market conditions assists in allowing cities to be more proactive in their 95 redevelopment efforts by identifying market opportunities that can be exploited and market 96 barriers that may need to be overcome with additional actions by the city. 97 Currently, the City does not have any Twin Lakes specific market studies and it may be 98 premature to order any at this time. However, since brownfield redevelopment is rarely an issue 99 of pennies, there are relatively simple “rules of thumb” types of analysis that can still assist with 100 decision making. 101 For instance, it is often possible to estimate the market viability or subsidy necessary for various 102 land uses simply by tracking known arm’s length transactions or contacting developers/brokers 103 knowledgeable in the local market and industry sector. By comparing these known data points 104 with a proxy of value such as the assessor’s perception of value, a City can get an order of 105 magnitude understanding of potential subsidies needed to redevelop particular sites for various 106 land uses. Of course, this is just a crude estimating tool suitable for planning purposes and any 107 detailed decision making would need to involve more refined tools such as appraisals, 108 contamination cleanup investigation, estimation of relocations costs, infrastructure needs, soils 109 analysis and the underlying owner’s minimum profit needs in order to make detailed decisions. 110 Some known arms length redevelopment purchase prices/developer interview values for various 111 land uses in the areas ($/SF of land): 112 Medium Density Residential/Townhomes $1.50 – 2.50 /SF 113 High Density Residential $6.00 – 7.00 /SF 114 Retail $10.00 – 20.00 /SF 115 Headquarters/Office (CSI – New Brighton) $1.15 / SF (with additional State subsidy) 116 Page 3 of 8