2015-06-30 HRA_Special_Meeting_Minutes

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HRA Special Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, June 30, 2015 Page 3 1 accomplish much more; strongly encouraging the HRA to look into that going forward. Member Lee 2 expressed her positive experience in how the HRA put together the Dale Street Project. 3 4 Chair Maschka concurred, noting the HRA’s involvement in assembling parcels for the Dale Street 5 Project; and his support for the neighborhood input process used for future projects with even more 6 success using the lessons learned from that initial project. 7 8 Member Lee agreed, opining the process was phenomenal and resulted in great community input. 9 10 Member Elkins agreed that everyone had learned a lot through the Dale Street Project. Member Elkins 11 stated her interest in and ideas she wanted to bring forward specific to affordable rentals and senior 12 housing options. 13 14 Member Majerus reiterated his interest in talking about the relationship between the HRA and City 15 Council. 16 17 Ms. Raye stated that her observations of the recent joint meeting of the HRA and City Council was that 18 the City Council was excited about what the HRA did and respect for their taking on things they could 19 not do on their own. In referencing the City Council’s own recently-developed strategic plan, Ms. Raye 20 noted the number of things listed that fell into the HRA’s “bucket list” of work. While there may be 21 some areas with remaining questions or different approaches, overall Ms. Raye stated her impression 22 that the City Council had no problem with the HRA’s authority. Ms. Raye suggested it was important 23 for the HRA to know they have been invested with that authority by the City Council and had their 24 support to use that authority. 25 26 Chair Maschka concurred with Ms. Raye’s perceptions, and suggested Member Majerus, who had been 27 unable to attend the joint meeting, review the meeting tape. Chair Maschka opined that the meeting and 28 discussions had cleared a lot of air; and further opined that the City Council was aware that projects 29 moving forward would cost money. 30 31 Member Majerus clarified that he had observed a portion of the joint meeting. 32 33 As a result of lessons learned, Chair Maschka reported that he and City Manger Trudgeon had agreed to 34 meet quarterly and perhaps even schedule more frequent joint meetings of the HRA and City Council as 35 projects move forward, depending on their size and complexity, and as funding resources were 36 identified. Chair Maschka stated his personal impression that the discussion had been quite frank and 37 beneficial for all. 38 39 Member Wall agreed that it had been a good meeting with everyone saying what was on their mind, and 40 concluding with everyone seeming to be of one accord, and no indication that neither the City Council 41 or HRA were off target. 42 43 What did we learn from the Dale Street Project? 44 Ms. Raye suggested a concentrated discussion on lessons learned with the Dale Street Project, both the 45 good and bad, and individual reflections on that experience. So far, Ms. Raye noted she had heard that 46 a positive aspect was the community and neighborhood engagement; but a negative may be that a 47 resolution process for disagreements needed to be addressed and improved upon. 48 49 Chair Maschka admitted that, personally, he still wasn’t sure what had happened beyond the obvious 50 financing issues between GMHC and U.S. Bank, equity issues for the developer, and delays in 51 obtaining appraisals for the developer; all serving to keep delaying the project and as noted by Member 52 Majerus, causing breaches in the preliminary development agreement contract. 53 54 Member Etten opined that there were a series of events, and recognized that perhaps the HRA and City 55 Council should have been more diligently following up with staff to get more robust information.