Community Development Block Grant Committee - Abolished 5.11.2017 - Regular Meeting

Alright. We're good to go? Alright. We're gonna

call this meeting order at 03:05PM on 02/25/2026. All commissioners are present. I have to make sure I was saying that correctly. Moving to the approval of the minutes. Is there a motion for the approval of the minutes? Motion made by council president Dickinson. Is there second? Second by commissioner Markerson. Any discussion or corrections? Seeing none, please signify by I'm used to this voter thing.

With a thumbs up, if you approve of approving the minutes for 2026 last month. Alright. And that motion carries unanimously. Moving to our next agenda item, twenty six zero two one two, action on approval to purchase 622 Avon Street, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54603. Jonah.

Thank you, mayor. La Crosse County is auctioning off 622 Avon Street. It's a tax foreclosure on the North Side Of La Crosse. They're accepting bids on this property as well as three or four others until Friday at noon, I believe. Minimum starting bid on this parcel is $27,000. I want to offer them 35 in in hopes of, you know, having a good shot at this one. This is a vacant parcel. I included some photos with the item. It's a vacant parcel two blocks away from our 823 Avon House, so it fits our program really well.

Alright. Any questions from commissioners? Council president Dickinson.

I'll kinda tie in with two questions. So how soon do you think we'll know about this? And if we are approved, how long does it usually take for a project like this to come to fruition?

Did you ask me when we'll start developing on this one? Was that your first Yeah. I'm not entirely sure. We have I've bought a few parcels here in the last six or eight months. I think we'll end up probably end up starting development on it in September.

I need two parcels, one for Western, one for Central in September. I think if I if I get this parcel, this would be a real good fit for Western. They built a house on Avon. That Avon Street house broke ground, about this time, a little bit later in the year, last year, and that house is just about done. So it takes a little over a year before we're ready to move somebody in.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Commissioner Markerson.

Is it challenging to find parcels for these projects for Western to work on?

Challenging is putting it nicely. Yes. There aren't, as you know, there aren't a whole lot of vacant residential parcels in the city. I tend to it it's it's feast or famine quite often. You know?

Like, all of a sudden, I'll I'll get a call where there's a couple condemned homes. There might be a fire here and there, and and those are easy parcels for me to, you know, talk to the homeowners, see where they're at. Those are sort of the low hanging fruit. But, yeah, it it's it's a process. And a lot of times when I'm when I'm buying parcels with people still living there, we have to wait until they can find housing before we can close, and it can take, quite a long time for us to be build ready. So, yeah, it's it's it can be very tough.

Yes.

Are you anticipating there's going to be high demand for this parcel to ask more than opening bid?

It's build ready. So I would think there'll be some interest for sure. You know, that $27,000 is is a significant number when you consider the market. What are you gonna sell that finished house for? And I'm not trying to disparage anything, but, you know, 622 Avon isn't, you know, down on King Street. So you're gonna have a different type of development. And so how much money are folks gonna wanna have into the parcel before they start? That's that's probably what'll determine how many bids we have. I could see somebody buying it for themselves and building on it. That that's probably a a group that, would be very interested in.

We'll we'll see. I I don't think 35,000 is necessarily overpaying for it, but, you know, it's it's not a small amount of money either.

Any other questions? Councilmember Goggin.

Thank you, mayor. I've been dry I've driven by it a couple times just to because I'm a nerd. But Same. Right with you. Is there any concern with floodplain issues in the on this property?

It's a little low in the back. It's not it won't keep us from having to raise it necessarily. We probably will. Just the the very back end of the parcel is in the five hundred year floodplain, so it doesn't affect how we develop, but, we'll probably probably fill that section to base flood so the so the next homeowner doesn't have any issues with it.

Perfect. That's that's what I was wondering. Yeah. Thank you. Yep.

That was my question too, so thank you. Any other questions? Commissioner Markerson?

Sorry for the questions. My question is it's worded as offer up to 35,000. What does that mean?

I think we're gonna offer 35. We have to include 10% down. So kinda how our finance process works. I have to give them an actual number. So, originally, we were talking about where where we were gonna come in on that, but I I'm gonna offer 35,000 if we approve.

Thank you. Seeing no other questions. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

No other discussion, is there a motion? Move to approve by commissioner Lee. Is there a second? Second by council member Goggin. Any any other discussion? Seeing I know. Seeing none, all in favor, please signify by raising of the thumb. Alright. And that motion passes unanimously. Moving on to our next agenda item, twenty six zero two one zero, overview and update from the Cooley Region Business Center. Oh, there you go.

This is me doing my Julie impression here today. She is on vacay right now. Something that we've gotten requests from the commissioners is to have different community partners and resources come to this commission and share some things that are going on. And so today, we're going to hear from CRBC, John, who's actually from MRRPC, and do some introductions about the I shouldn't use acronyms, Cooley Region Business Center.

Network now. Hi there. My name is John Bingle, and, I'm currently the president of the Cooley Region Business Center. I'm also the executive director for the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission. We have a a broad base of board members serving on the Cooley Region Business Center,

and I

think I'll just call it CRBC now that we know what that is. And if you're not familiar with the building, it's located at 1100 Kane Street. So if you're on George Street crossing over the railroad tracks and you get to the light as you're heading north, if you turn left and then turn left again on the 1st Street and just go back a few blocks, you'll see it on the left. Or if you're going over the bridge, you can see it pretty well, on the west side of of the, overpass. And I did include a little brochure for you.

And the only thing I warn is somehow, some way, our website disappeared sometime in mid to late November. So, we're actually in the process of kinda redoing our whole digital footprint. And I just wanted to, give attention the other new business we've had. We recently hired a new, part time director. Hopefully, we can grow this to be a full time director.

But John Krueger, give a wave, is our new director. So he just started Monday. So I didn't wanna throw him into the hot seat right away and, you know, third day on the job, come to the city. But, we look to do really big things. This organization has actually been around for quite a while since 1986, and we have had some notable graduates.

On the back of the brochure, you'll see some of, we'll say some of the smaller companies. But one that isn't on the brochure that I have confirmed from the business founder. But LHI also, once Don, Weber grew the business, too large for his kitchen table, he actually had space at CRBC. So so there have been a wide variety of companies. And as you can see on the brochure, we we try to help people from those starting manufacturing to service businesses, even just using office space.

The other thing that they've done is created 1,800 square feet of commercial kitchen. And a lot of our food trucks in the area and some of the other folks who are trying to break into the food business utilize that commercial kitchen as it is certified, and our health department requires that these food vendors actually prepare food in a certified kitchen. So we actually have a good relationship with the health department, as they try to verify that people actually are using our facility to prepare things for those trucks. The other idea with, commercial kitchen was to help people in the food business who say wanted to they had a great idea. Let's say, they came up with an award winning barbecue sauce, and they thought that this thing could gain some kind of national notoriety.

Well, they could perfect the recipe and the manufacturing process with the idea being they could then scale that business up and graduate out of the CRBC to some other facility in the area, hopefully, and get more employment in that business or work with a co manufacturer to grow that product brand, and really add to the local economy. Now we're still trying to do that, but we really haven't had that level of, I guess, opportunity yet. The other thing that we're doing is in the last year and a half, the board has really worked to streamline our strategic intent. Intent. And the purpose of the CRBC is really to help those people with an idea or the early phase of a business come in at less than market rent, utilize that space to grow and really perfect their business, and then graduate anywhere from two to five years later out into the community where we we put them in some other space, and, hopefully, they're hiring people with with good paying jobs.

Now we have had a very broad range of businesses that have utilized the CRBC. But what we're moving towards now is a little more focus on those high growth, high income producing type of businesses. So we're really at the early stages of starting to create that funnel. And one of the partners in the room on your your commission and her her other hat now working with LADCO is one of the other partner organizations along with my organization, the Small Business Development Center, SCORE, the county. We used to have WIBIK at one time, but they're not quite as active in our area.

And we're trying to create a resource center and utilize the CRBC office so we can start to promote that area that anybody can come to if you have an idea. And you wanna talk to people, we will make sure there's someone who can help you. So we're we're trying to take that no wrong door approach. So if I happen to be, on staff that day and say they need a property and and Ladco might be the right partner. We can hook them up directly.

But that along with additional educational programs, you will see more activity at CRBC to really help create more of an we'll call it an entrepreneurial ecosystem here in the Coulee region because growth of new business is one of those key pillars to help grow the local economy. We all know that the majority of our job creation and economic engine comes from those existing businesses. But we also know sometimes those existing businesses might need an outlet to help perfect an idea. So in addition to those loan entrepreneurs, we're also reaching out to area business and say, hey. If you wanna do a little side project, the CRBC might be a place who can help as well.

Alright. That's watch for big things, and, we definitely consider the city an important partner. And as we're working to kind of bring all of our documentation up to speed. There is a relationship we've had with the city that I know Julie isn't here today, but we're trying to get some records because we have on our books alone that we have with the city. City. But we need to really understand what that loan exactly is and what the terms are so we can improve our own, we'll say, inherent knowledge within our board.

K. Well, thank you. I'll just since you started talking about the city, because my first question to you was going to be, can you share how the CRBC partners with the city, which you kinda touched on? So then what I wanna do is take that to the next level and say, future state, what do you think a strong partnership between the CRBC and the city looks like?

Well, I would hope we create this awareness and presence that when people hear CRBC, they know what it is. I still talk to people around the city, and they don't know where it is. They don't know what it is, even if I say Cooley Region Business Center. So so that's the first thing. Create that identity.

And then we really want to become that resource. So we should be top of mind when people in the city or people on the city council are thinking about entrepreneurship and who could help us grow business in Lacrosse, we need to be at the top of that list. So if there are opportunities or programs that we could partner with you on, either it's around education or even some more unique projects. We're open to that, and we really want to strengthen that partnership.

Thank you. Councilmember Gaga.

This is sort of a question. But so how long have you been at the the Cooley Region Business Center?

Myself? Yeah. A little over three and a half years.

Because that's in my neck of the woods and having walked around there a lot. I've noticed recently that it's the the area itself is very well kept, and I just wanna congratulate you and commend you for keeping that area so tight and nice. It it just makes a difference to the people around, and it makes a difference to me. So thanks for keeping it so cleaned up because it wasn't always like that.

Well, thank you for noticing. And and we also have to give a special thanks to our other local partner with the county because a few years ago, they were kind enough in their special allocations to give us $75,000, which we utilize to really do a lot of upkeep and, let's say, catch up on some deferred maintenance. And John's already got some new ideas to even take it to another level. So

Well, we because you're you're parked right in District 2, so we appreciate that. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Council president Dickinson?

I'm curious to know if you can share either what kind of businesses are there now and how long they've been there. Can the public access them in certain ways? Or just a little bit about what's happening right now.

Well, it's been a really diverse group from a small family business that's making doing some cutting edge work in the area of, say, heat exchangers, something a little different than than what we were I think it actually probably started at Chart, but kind of a unique niche, and he's actually doing work with some government entities. So hopefully, that one could be a scalable opportunity if he can get into the right right niche. And then we have some service businesses. And I think there's a couple attorneys and some, fitness people and a couple different guitar operations. One, that does more lessons and helps people in create music.

And then another, Sand Grill Guitar, where they were actually making custom guitars. And from there, one of our recent graduates actually moved to South Avenue near Gunderson, the Spice Bazaar. They actually were in CRBC for quite a while once they had that idea. So it was nice to see them get space that had previously been vacant. And then there are just a collection of other smaller ones that are trying to work their way out. I don't know if any of have heard of the bucket of bread, but, yeah, he has a really neat business model and is doing some neat things. So that that's kind of a mix.

And there's been a few nonprofits that have come out of there as well. Like, Geshia used to have office space in there. Commissioner Markinson.

So this is an economic development commission that start ups are a critical piece of economic development. Have you and I know you've done extensive work of business incubators, which is what this is. Have you seen great examples of how cities have supported business incubators?

I have. And, again, I've had the opportunity to live in several different places and and see some really interesting models. And in each of them, at least the most successful ones, they definitely have strong partnerships with their local city and their county. In several of those occasions, they actually took, say, sort of that blighted old, say, manufacturing space that really wasn't moving and then got creative to create small manufacturing units that were pretty flexible. And then many of them will provide additional services.

So the person who comes in at that lower rent might also get access to a computer, a printer, perhaps even a reception person who can help one of the best ones I saw in Michigan, they literally all have the same address and their suite would have their unique phone number, but the receptionist would answer the phone like they were answering their business phone. So you think about that. If you're starting out and you can't afford an assistant, but people calling for your company, your little company, all of a sudden get this professional introduction to you. So those kind of additional services really can help jump start a business. So we're we're looking to add more of those unique things as well.

And then just the guidance. You know, the mentoring from, say, the more established entrepreneurs to then the staff. And John has just a wealth of knowledge in helping businesses. So they're really able to get more of that hands on to get them to that next level more quickly.

Any other commissioner? Miller. Sorry.

Hi. Good afternoon. I was curious about the partnerships that you may have. So thank you for talking about those a little bit ago. Two questions. How on best guess, how much in square footage do you think you currently have to rent or lease out? And then the second question is, in your three and a half years ish there, have you seen an increase or a decrease in entrepreneurs reaching out kind of with their startup ideas? Do you feel like people are kind of moving forward with their ideas, or do you think people may be holding back a little bit?

I would say, and I'm gonna take these questions a little out of order, but last one first. We actually have seen an increase since I've been involved. And we've also there was let's just say, I don't wanna disparage any of my predecessors on the board or people who manage the organization, but it had been a little static. So I think there's been a renewed excitement. We actually took the time to go through, with our previous part time director and our facilities manager.

They sat down with every tenant because there were some people that they were there for the less expensive rent, and they weren't necessarily the entrepreneurial model that we were looking for. So as we actually started to follow our own guidelines, and they're supposed to be kind of a an increasing rent as you're there longer with the goal being by the time you're ready to go out, you're close to market. So you, you know, you're still getting a little bit of a deal, but you now know what it's gonna cost to go out in the world. So we had to kinda update all those rents. And when we did that, some of those businesses did leave, which opened it up then for more small business.

And we're currently pretty much full. But the neat thing about model that those two really put in force as they updated all the leases is there's a a shorter clause that either the entrepreneur can get out. Or if we really need that space for another entrepreneur, we can work with them to graduate them a little more quickly. But in the meantime, we're able to have occupancy rather than vacant space. And that's our goal is we'd really like to have that funnel built. So we're working with those people from that initial idea to when they're ready to come in so we can constantly have some movement.

Any other questions? Yep. Council president.

So I'm a little curious about the commercial kitchen just for general information. So do a number of different entities, I'll say, reserve it for certain times, and then therefore, let's say there's five of them. They can they they utilize it, but they don't have to be there seven day five days a week or whatever.

Exactly. We have a robust reservation system where they do have to reserve their time, but then everybody sees who's who has the kitchen when. But they they do have some storage areas that they can keep things there. So after they make things, we do have a walk in cooler. So if it's something that needs to be cooled or there are separate racks.

And then there are cameras on everything, and we do track that very closely because it is such a valuable resource. In fact, my predecessors who who thought this up, they actually realized if you looked at a dollar per square foot, that kitchen should be the most profitable part of the CRBC because you are able to get those people in, those shorter durations, so you can run multiple people through.

Thank you.

Thank you. Great questions.

One thing I think about is the location, like, being on the North Side, like, the not just the North Side, but, like, kind of that far. It's further out a little bit. So I remember talking to some business owners where they would say, like, well, just because of where it's located, sometimes it's difficult to get people to come to that side of town. So I'm wondering, what's your appetite on a second location?

You know, that's a great question, and we are open to multiple locations.

Okay.

But the culture we're trying to create at the CRBC and really within this this ecosystem that I was talking about is we believe the CRBC needs to be bigger than a place. It needs to be this cultural idea that if you think of entrepreneurship, it's synonymous. You you think of CRBC. And it's something that maybe we have to find some of these other vacant places and get creative because not everybody needs manufacturing space, especially in this world. If you look at our neighbors to the north in Eau Claire, Claire, they have had a lot of success really more in that high-tech area where you're putting people in not manufacturing space, but more office type of space.

So our goal is really to think more broadly and really focus on high growth, high earning potential jobs and employers because we really we wanna create really good jobs in the city so that it really lifts everybody. And I think if we're successful doing that, we'll create more opportunity. And then we can start filling some of those other nonmanufacturing or warehousing type of spaces.

Yeah. No. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Alright.

Well, thank you for having us.

Alright. Moving to our next agenda item, twenty six zero one four six. Resolution approving first amendment to development agreements with the Chalmers LLC, a multifamily housing development located at 215 Pine Street and 401 3rd Street North. Is there a staff coming to talk about this?

I think, this is the first stop for FNP and council for this item, and I my main role here is to hand over to Jason Arswell, then we do have that applicant here as well if there are questions.

Alright. Mister Arswell, can we just have you come and state your name and municipality and just kinda talk through not you. That's that's alright. Well then, mister Oslo, can we have you just kinda talk a little bit about the project?

Sure. Good afternoon, mayor and commission members. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Great. As was mentioned, I'm Jason Arzold with Ellers. I've been working with, Julie on this project. And in her absence, she asked me to fill in and just summarize this, pretty straightforward amendment to the TIF agreement with Chalmers. The project that the developer initially planned was going to occur in three phases. And so there were three separate development agreements that were approved back in, I believe, June 2025.

Since that time, the developer has determined that they need to construct the building, the project in one phase altogether. And so had asked that the city consider amendment to its agreement that would allow them to do just that. And so we did review that request and the amendment determined that this would actually be beneficial because the project would be done sooner. There are really no changes at all to the amount of assistance or anything else that is contemplated in that agreement. It's really just a little bit about that timing.

So rather than starting earlier this year, the start date is pushed back to December 2026, but the project will be completed sooner under the amendment March 2028 rather than out into 2031. And so those are the primary changes here. Again, no other changes to the assistance. We did review the project again and it still meets those guidelines that were set out for it. And so with that, happy to stand for any questions that you have.

Any questions from commission any questions from commissioners? In general, it's fine.

So thank you. First of all, two thank yous. Thank you for the insight in terms of what the International Building Code is doing for what I assume is the cost of construction. I also appreciate pointing out that there's going to be a flooding of the market, if you will, of two sixty units, which was trying to be avoided by doing this in three phases. So my question is, that's going to occur. There's going to be two sixty units available very quickly. Is that actually going to drive down the price of rent and the financials of this? Or how will that impact the overall market?

First of all, I'm Matt Balweg with T. Wall Enterprises speaking for Chalmers. I don't expect any negative impact to the rest of the market because of this. It it's still fairly similar to what we had originally planned. The original plan was the first phase being complete roughly twenty mid twenty twenty seven with each subsequent phase a year following after that for that'd be three years until 2031.

So there there's not a major difference in how we think it's gonna absorb the market. It's it's still similar rents. We're we're targeting the the studios and the the studio units as being below the 80% AMI level. And then the rest of the units are a mix of one and two bedrooms as well as 4,400 square feet of commercial space on the 1st Floor on 2nd Street.

I have a follow-up to that. Okay. Council member Goggin? No. Any other questions? Alright. Thank you. Motion to approve by council member Goggin. Is there a second? Second by council president Dickinson. Any other discussion? Alright. Seeing none, please for approval, please signify by a thumbs up or say aye. Thumbs up. That motion passes unanimously.

And then our next agenda item, twenty six zero two zero five, consideration and possible action on home ARP. Before you begin, Mara, I'll just read. The committee and our common council may convene in closed session pursuant to Wisconsin state statute section 19.851 e to consider the investing of public funds or conducting other specific specify, excuse me, public business whenever a competitive or a bargaining reason require closed session. Following any closed session, the committee can and or counsel may reconvene in open session. Alright. You got it now.

Awesome. Thank you. I you will notice in front of you, there are some additional questions that we got feedback from the applicants. I do think we have most of the applicants here today if there are any specific questions that we'd like to ask them. And then otherwise, I would say we could convene in closed session if we want to have more direct discussion.

I guess a little bit of background I'll also add. Really the purpose of these home ARP funds is to create housing units for individuals experiencing homelessness. And the way that we've outlined that in our action plan plan back in 2021, I think it was, before me, was to do that by creating those housing units and then funding supportive services as we know that that's really what keeps people housed, prevention being a really important component as well. So a little bit of background there, and then I will, you know, leave it up to you as to how we wanna go forward from here.

Sounds good. First, are there any questions for any of the applicants from commissioners? Alright. Seeing no questions, is there a motion to go in closed session? Motion made by council member Goggin. Is there a second? Second by commissioner Lee. By sing by a lifting of your thumb, we can signify approval to move it into closed session. All in favor? Alright. And that motion passes. So we will now move in to closed session.