Housing & Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

Roll call please. Bowie? Here. Coleman? Here. Just? Here. Kim? Here. Naker? Here. Yang? Here. Chair Johnson? Here. There's seven present, zero absent. The three items before you as staff reports, item number one is Staff Report 20 six-seventy nine, report on the authorization to designate DC Commercial and JB Vang as development partners as the tentative developer of 0 Jackson Street, District 6, Ward 5.

Alrighty. So this is a staff report that's in front of us. It looks like Ms. Anderson is coming up, so I'll hand it over to Deputy excuse me, Director McFinn.

Yes. Thank you. T. A. Anderson will be here

to provide more information this week and in two weeks since it's the fifth Wednesday next week on the sixth. We'll be back for your consideration on this item.

Good afternoon, Chair Johnson, Commissioners. My name is Tia Anderson. I'm a project manager in economic development. And as was said, I'm here to present to you the overview for the tentative development request for the Jackson Street apartments at 0 Jackson Street. So it is a proposal by a development team consisting of DC Commercial and J.

B. Bang. And they are seeking tentative developer status for a parcel at 0 Jackson Street to create Jackson Street apartments which after due diligence and design would be somewhere between a sixty and eighty unit affordable housing development. And this particular property is in Ward 5 in the district six district council. There's a piece of the project would be HRA owned land.

Overall though, the intent is to assemble a 1.73 acre development site which would consist of three properties that are already owned by the developer. Another parcel that is currently owned by the public housing authority and they're working with PHA on that acquisition. And then besides the HRA owned lots, there's also an unimproved alley that will need to be vacated in order to make this development a go. And as you can see on the map here, the HRA property is just one of the vacant parcels. It is about a point six seven acre parcel there between Jackson Street and Wheelock Drive, just across from McDonough Homes.

So DEC Commercial, they are a local emerging developer of color, really looking to branch into the affordable housing development world by really to really help contribute to our city and make the community stronger and more resilient. And they're partnering with JB Vang who has been a tested long long long time affordable housing developer here in the Twin Cities in St. Paul. And JB Vang will really have a mentor role with DC Commercial on this development project. So the preliminary proposal, as I mentioned, is to combine those parcels.

The Jackson Street apartments itself would be new construction on this 1.73 acre vacant land. It would be three stories. It will either be a mix of workforce housing, which would end up in more units or family friendly housing which would result in probably something closer to 60 units. And so then the bedroom mix would depend on where we land with that as well. It would be a combination of surface and structured parking.

And then there would be outdoor amenities space which would include a playground area. Looking for affordability at different levels of AMI and that would also include 12 supportive housing units with HUD section eight eleven PRA and housing support. And we have a concept site plan. You can see with the intent of accessing the site off of Wheelock Drive to both the surface and the structured parking, and then the three levels of housing with pedestrian access fronting on Jackson Street and the amenity spaces in the center courtyard area. So the request that I'll come before you with on May 5 is that request to designate DC Commercial and J.

B. Vang as the tentative development developer for the Joe Jackson Street parcel for a period of twenty four months with an option to extend. We'll be needing to go through probably multiple rounds of various funding proposals that end up resulting in that request for administrative extension. The project would be seeking as part of the resolution that we would bring before you on the fifth to meet pretty standard benchmarks in terms of environmental study, community engagement, completing architectural and civil plans that would be reviewed and permitted. Ultimately, having a budget and financing proposal and a negotiated development agreement with the city.

So with that, if you have any questions, I'm happy to take them. Otherwise, I know DC Commercial is here and JB Wang staff are also here, happy to introduce themselves or be available for any questions if you have them.

Okay. First, I'll take any questions that are here for Ms. Anderson. Okay. So I just want to welcome up D. C. Commercial and GB Bank's team as well at this time. I do have a question for D. C. Commercial.

Good afternoon, commissioners. I'm David Yang. I'm the executive chief executive of DC Commercial, and I'm available for questions.

Wonderful. Nice to meet you, and thank you for being here today and just making the time, both JB Banks' team as well as DC Commercial for being here. We always have an opportunity, usually if developers are in the room, to hear more about their company, but also just about the experience that you hold. And I'm glad to hear that Jibby Bang is taking on a mentorship role with you. But could you share a little bit more about DC Commercial and the work that you all do as well, just because I am not familiar?

Yes. As Tia mentioned, we are an emerging developer. We have been in business for quite a while doing real estate on the residential side, and we found that this is an opportunity to, get into the affordable housing space, more on a mission driven, path. Because for me personally, I'm from Saint Paul when I moved here. I lived here.

I know that area in the McDonough area very well. And that's kind of what I've always strived to do is try to give back to my community. In a way that I can do that is through what I'm good at is that real estate. So when this development came up, we saw that it would be a good opportunity, especially to partner with very experienced developers to go and utilize land that has been underutilized for quite a long time. So for us, we really wanna thank everybody here for supporting and for helping us to kind of move the city in a direction where we can have more housing options for everybody.

Commissioner Kim, did you still have a question?

Just more of a comment at the end.

Okay. At the end. Commissioner Bowie.

Thank you. And thank you so much, Chair Johnson. And also, I'm so happy you're here. And I have a question, not to put you on the spot or anything, but I'm just wondering when you mentioned I'm kind of like the J. Ving seeing itself as an emerging developer. And I just think about my very first time going to a ribbon cutting was a development that was led by J. B. Vang was a twelve twenty two fully all affordable apartments on university in my ward. And then just hearing that, know, J. B.

Vang is also one of the developers for the hams brewing site and many others. So when you mentioned, like, I guess, emerging developers, understanding that, you I believe, like, maybe you got your foot in the door, I believe. It's been about ten years, I would say. I'm just curious around, you know, like where do you see yourself as a brick of like no longer being an emerging developer, but also like a sustained developer.

And Commissioner Bouie, just wanting to verify when you are asking that question, you gearing it towards JB Vang's team or DC Commercial? Because Mr. Vang is actually, what, DC Commercial.

Oh, okay. Wait, is anyone here for JB Vang?

Yes.

That's where

I'm just oh, okay.

Yeah. So they're both here, but right now you're speaking on behalf of D. C. Commercial.

And just to clarify my question, because with D. C. Commercial, are they the I guess maybe I missed it in the beginning just around like the partnership and mentioning when you say emerging developer, I'm just curious to where are we seeing emerging developer because we're receiving emerging developer funds from Ramsey County? I just know those terms mean different things in different rooms, so.

Yes. So, we haven't developed any properties on the affordable side. We've generally just been limited to small residential properties. So, in terms of the emerging developer, we are within the terms of it. We haven't received any confirmation of emerging developer status, but we do see ourselves as a emerging developer, just because for the fact that, again, we are moving into this space.

And we partner with an experienced developer, because we see that experienced developers can help emerging developers move into the space more efficiently. And so, we really are giving thanks to JB Vang for them to providing that type of opportunity to people like myself, companies like myself, just because we need more developers of color and we need more emerging developers. Because the people that kind of live in the area are the best suited to develop for that area. So that's kind of where we see ourselves as emerging developers.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the clarification. Yeah. No worries. I switched the two around because I think it's

No worries at all. I actually, along that vein, Ms. Bisner, I would like to just invite you to share a little bit more about the mentorship piece and the role that JB Banks team is playing in this as one of the awarded developer as well if this were to pass two weeks from now. Just kind of wondering if you could share a little bit more about maybe what led to the mentorship and the why and also just the role that you all will be playing in this. Because I think to Commissioner Bui's point, one thing I take from it is the experience working directly with JB Ving and the JB Ving crew as obviously a developer at the Hamsbury redevelopment site in my ward.

And just knowing of all the different projects that you have, I am curious about just in particular why DC Commercial and mentorship and then also just what about the site is kind of bringing on an alignment with your team as well. Yeah, yeah,

of course. Ashley Bessner with JB Bang. Thank you for the question. From what brought us into this partnership, I think many of you know, guess JB Bang and Kubang in general are very involved in the Hmong community, I know that David and Ku know each other through there. So, through kind of discussions on what they're interested in doing in advancing their company, and what we do kind of as a profession on the affordable housing side, we thought it would be a good opportunity to kind of help David along the process.

He is heavily involved in the process through land acquisition, financing, due diligence, things like that. So, saw this as an opportunity to work with a smaller, as David described, emerging developer trying to get into the larger affordable housing development realm, and kind of help them along with that process. And as you all know, we're dedicated to affordable housing as well, and this is a site that looks as a good opportunity to be able to build in this location, assuming we're successful in acquiring two additional parcels.

Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate it. Any other questions at this time for the DC Commercial or JVP or Ms. Anderson? Seeing none, thank you guys so much for taking the time to come here as well. I'll give the final word over to Commissioner Kim.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. I am not here when this comes for final passage. I could not be more supportive of this project. I'm especially thankful for sort of like these types of partnerships where, you know, sort of sustained developers are looking out in community and thinking about how we are reaching out and building up our emerging developers. I don't think it's any secret when we talk about property taxes, at least for myself. The number one thing I tell folks is that we have to build and so we need more folks that are interested in building affordable housing or buildings downtown. We just need more folks that are invested in the city in this way. I just wanted to speak on three really quick things. One, and I know it is a potential, it's not final, I see that in the note.

But Jackson Street is going to be redone and the parking on that side is going to be eliminated. And so like I know it's not the most popular thing to talk about but like really support having a parking lot. There won't be parking on that side of Jackson after the Jackson Street reconstruction project. There will be a bike lane which I'm also fully supportive of. I'm also my office had a chance to meet with folks and really excited to see one to four units, right?

So, one to two units is super important as we look at kind of like, you know, how many different folks live in the city, but also thinking about how we offer three to four bedroom options as well. So, just really grateful for already seeing some of the things that we're interested in investing in this proposal. And the last thing that I want to mention is kind of more of a silly thing but a few times ago we were talking about all the HRA owned properties and how we do a little like here's our here's this really great property that you should invest in. And Director McMahon, you know there aren't that actually many in Word five and some of them the topography is really awful. This is like the one.

And so, I could do a little like here's the property that we should develop in Ward 5, this was really it. And so, to kind of to see this come to fruition having this been vacant for so long and it be an HRA property, it's just a tremendous opportunity. So really grateful for our staff and the folks that are interested in developing this property. And then you know, you can count me on to do some sort of like advertisement for the other parcels in my ward but just really excited that this is the one, you all, of HRA property in Ward 5. So really grateful to see this come to fruition and I will not be here. So you know, please vote your conscious but know that I'm 100% supportive supportive of this project when it comes to HRA when I am not here. So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Kim. And understood. We will have this item in front of us two weeks from now. But yes, I think that it's a really great opportunity to develop a parcel well, parcels that have been vacant over in Ward 5 for quite some time and also on the HRA role for a while as well. So, yeah. We'll talk about it next the next meeting. Thank you for your comments. Commissioner Kemp.

Item number two is Staff Report SR26-seventy seven, downtown 2050 plan and comprehensive plan update.

Alright. So going back to we decided to combine the downtown 2050 plan and plan update into one staff report presentation. And I see that we have several teammates here, so I'll hand it over again to Director McMahon to introduce whom we have in front of you.

Thank you, Chair Commissioners. We have Spencer Miller Johnson and Anton Jervi here to present on both. Spencer will be covering the Downtown 2050 Plan and Anton the Comprehensive Plan update.

Hello, Chair Johnson and Commissioners. As we pull this up. Again, I'm Anton Jervi. I'm the manager for long range planning, and I'll be talking about the comprehensive plan update. And I'll then hand it off to Spencer who will give a little more detail about the Downtown 2050 plan.

Just a little background on the comprehensive plan. The plan is a blueprint document kind of describing how we wanted to grow over the next twenty years. It's used to guide decision making and kind of weigh trade offs as we're making decisions. An example of this is zoning decisions. So a lot of times, zoning cases will have to refer back to the comprehensive plan and kind of weigh all the policies in there and and decide whether to support application or not.

You'll see on the right there just a snapshot of the cover of our current 2040 comprehensive plan with the land use map that I'm sure you all are pretty familiar with. So, just a little more background and description. The comprehensive plan process is a ten year cycle. It's required by state law through Met Council. So Met Council develops a regional framework for the metro area and comes up with growth estimates for all the cities in the metro area in terms of employment and population.

They then send these to us and frame it all within a regional plan. This time, the 2050 plan is called Imagine 2050. And once we get those system statements, which are the the estimates and requirements for our plans, we then begin to to start work. And the plan includes policy guidance, chapters on land use, transportation, housing, parks, water resources, and heritage preservation, as well as the Mississippi River Critical Corridor area. And just note that the Mississippi River critical corridor era area or MRCA will not be updated as part of this process since we just passed the zoning regulations just a few months ago.

And also note that heritage preservation is not a requirement of Met Council, but it's something that we've included. So in terms of timeline, right now, we're in the spring to summer twenty twenty six part. We have not quite kicked off the project yet. So this is kind of a sneak preview. We are starting to develop our outreach plan and get organized as staff.

There's several staff that will be leads on individual chapters for the comp plan. And we're starting to get organized in terms of what kind of research and analysis we need to do. One of our top priorities for this year is the downtown twenty fifty plan that Spencer will talk about. One of the areas of the city that's had the most amount of change since the last comp plan has been downtown. So we're prioritizing that work now to to understand the needs and policies for downtown, and then kind of build out the rest of the plan around that.

Getting into fall of this year, into summer next year, we'll be focusing on outreach and developing policies, draft policies. And then into next year, we'll have review chapters that we can then review, planning commissions can start reviewing. And then 2028 is the formal review and adoption process through Planning Commission, Met Council, adjacent jurisdictions, and Metropolitan Council. So we all know our our adoption process can take a while. It's even longer with comp plans because it hasn't been reviewed by Met Council in all affected and adjacent jurisdictions.

And then we'll adopt it. And part of the work for the comp plan has been funded through the HRA 2026 budget. The focus of that budget is on the downtown planning piece of it that Spencer will give you a little more detail on. And as I said before, that work will inform the comprehensive plan generally. And the biggest piece of that is a $250,000 contract for consultant services, and we're currently in the contract execution process with that.

And I can pause for questions specifically related to the comp plan or Spencer can just keep rolling.

We have a couple of questions, so maybe we'll pause here. Start with mine the sense of just wanting to hear a little bit more about in the past, the 2040 like comp plans and some of the previous years, have we always used a consultant? And if so, just kind of what is the scope? And if not, then what kind of led to the consultant services piece for this one? And if you could just refresh our minds. I know we, during the budget cycle, talked about that. But if you could just share a little bit about why about the decision to actually do consultant services because I don't think that that was used in 2040, but it could be wrong.

Yeah. Chair Johnson, that's that's correct. We haven't used consultant services on the 2040 plan. For this plan, a piece of the consult services is for downtown, just given how dynamic everything is downtown, the amount of changes we've had after the COVID pandemic. We just need a little extra help for downtown specifically.

Beyond that, we have other potential uses for consultant services is sewer analysis. That was kind of a piece that we learned through the 2040 comp plan that needed a lot of focus in terms of Met Council requirements and we want to make sure that we are linking up our growth projections and desires with the sewer capacity. And although sewer department has the the capacity to analyze that to some extent, we wanna don't wanna overburden them with this kind of new tasks. So we wanna be able to support that work. In addition to that, the other main need is is just support for outreach.

I think last time we did the plan, we had a completely different organization for PED. So there was kind of 15 planners and one planning director and basically the whole planning department was working on the comp plan and and we had a small army of interns doing outreach. This time, we have a current planning team, long range planning team, and no interns, so we will be probably needing a little bit of support there. The other thing that's changed is is just the the nature of how we're doing outreach and different tools, how we display things. So there are new technologies that we can use in terms of like mapping tools, how we display the comp plan.

Like last time it was just you know, paper and a PDF, but there may be different opportunities to make it a little bit like user friendly whether it's on a smartphone or that kind of thing. So it's to basically just increase capacity.

Okay. Thank you so much for just kind of bringing that up and also explaining that just a little bit more in-depth. I just wanted that to just be talked about as well as a refresher too. So I saw two question hands from Commissioner Coleman and which I think may have been answered. Wonderful. And then we'll go over to Commissioner Nieker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm just wondering if you can speak a little bit to the comprehensive plan is such a broad document, think sometimes frustratingly broad because you can sort of decide which policy you're going to choose to justify whatever particular thing you want to do at the time. So I'm curious and I think that's by design because it's intended to cover a broad range of things and be applied on a case by case basis. But as we think about what has changed in the last ten years, you mentioned downtown being a specific focus. Are there other can you give us sort of a sneak peek or just your own thoughts on what are the kinds of things that we would be looking at to see whether policies should change?

Because in some ways, seems like they're so broad that it's hard to imagine what we would want to change about things like have as many types of housing as possible and encourage multimodal transit. So I'm just wondering what maybe from plan to plan what sorts of things often become the focus or the areas that might actually change in ten years?

Yeah, Chair Johnson, Commissioner Nacre, I that it's a great question. And I I one of the things we're doing right now is like analyzing what policies we've actually used in the last ten years or eight years since this the 2040 plan was updated to see, like, what is what's working and what was maybe a good idea at the time, but hasn't really been referenced or used in our daily work. Because I think it is a very broad document, but it's also a document that you shouldn't just be collecting dust on the shelf. It should be something that like all of us are using in our our daily work and and referring to. So that's kind of the first step in in terms of that analysis.

And then beyond that, I I think there'll be, we'll have to link it back to like the outreach we will be doing and, you know, is this kind of speaking to what people's expectations and hopes and dreams are today? And are there kind of gaps in in what we need? I know that's a vague answer, but it it's a tough one to totally tackle. And

if com if commissioners are interested in weighing in on just the overall scope that would be given to the consultant that they would be responding to or things that would be focusing on, especially related to downtown or questions that one may think is worth looking at when it comes to the update, especially because this plan, you know, is in existence for ten years after the fact. How would folks be able to be able to get that input to you?

Chair, we can definitely email out the scope for the 2050 plan to everyone. And but just to be clear, we don't have a scope for consultant services for the broader 2050 comprehensive plan yet. We wanna we're Our first step is to have a kind of comprehensive outreach plan for that work and then decide what what we'll need help on before we develop that. But we can we can share that with with you all when the time time comes.

Wonderful. Thank you. Commissioner Kim, did you have a question?

I did. So I was on the planning commission when Terry Tao embarked on the last big one. And one of the questions that we had, and I think there was maybe a few sessions where this happened, but where this isn't unique, every city is doing it, right? Where are we in conversations with other cities and areas to look at our like even bigger region like how are we aligned or different? Like it'd be interesting if at the end of this there were some similarities that we and heaven forbid, like into Washington County, like where we had similarities because we think about like building out, I know this is state, but like transit systems and things like that, like are they thinking about sort of similar things in the ways that we are?

Are we really far off? And I don't know whatever came of that truthfully, but I think a few folks met just to say, here's what we're thinking. Isn't it interesting to find areas that we overlap and also where we're different? And I think positionality as a city then as we think about like what are our priorities and what are we building towards, it just would be interesting then to see other cities that had alignment and where they're making investments that can be paired or connected. So it's like a huge like weight on the line question, but just to plant the seed now and I know they met, I don't know what came of it. I have no idea where the notes are. But it just was sort of interest. If everyone's doing this together, what are ways that we're all thinking about it, not just for us but in a broader regional scope? So, my 2¢.

Yeah. Chair Johnson, Commissioner Kim, I take that under advisement. And you're right. We had semi regular meetings with Minneapolis in particular because as the two core cities, like, our the issues we're dealing with are very similar. In addition to that, there are, like, ongoing committees through Met Council that, you know, kind of allow us to talk about what issues we have. But we can be intentional about that as as we move forward.

Thank you so much. We'll move forward to the 2050 downtown plan just to want to make sure that we get through all of everything and we still have a bunch to actual presentations. And so we'll hand over to you, Mr. Miller Johnson. Welcome.

Thank you, Chair. Commissioners, hello. Spencer Miller Johnson, I'm on Anton's team. Thanks, Anton. Downtown twenty fifty plan, really excited to be at this stage where we do have something very tangible to talk about in a very exciting effort in PD. I would almost consider it extra exciting. Though we do get excited about stuff like signs and everything else in between, this is going to be a fun one. So the Downtown 2050 plan, it's essentially an update to our existing downtown development strategy, was adopted back in 2003. So this runs on a very different cycle than what Anton just described, where we're required to update the comp plan every ten years. Downtown is a little more flexible, and it's been a while since we've given it the intention it deserves.

So really the goal of this project is to facilitate the type of development that we're really hoping to see downtown. And we're hoping to do that via new policy and modern zoning regulations. Anton mentioned this, but in order to do that we did release an RFP to procure a consultant because we envision this as a partnership between city staff and a consultant team. And so the RFP was released in January. Responses were due back in February.

We received eight really great responses from teams across the country and we interviewed three of those. And now we do have a selected team that we are currently contracting with. So excited about that. Now we've organized the scope so that the consultant team focuses on kind of the core substantive components of the project. And staff plays more of a management and support role.

So the consultant would develop a policy framework that would be used for the downtown section of the 2050 comprehensive plan, as Anto mentioned. But as part of this, there's also a separate document, the downtown 2050 plan. And that would have more kind of strategic policy direction that's really specific town. And as I've said before, on this very diocese, and I'll probably say again, one of the best ways to implement new policy is through new zoning. And so that's why the consultant would help tee us up for new zoning recommendations by assessing some of the challenges and giving some kind of an outside perspective on what they think could be shored up in our zoning code.

Now staff would lead any engagement as part of the project, but we do really want to be strategic and not duplicate with any other ongoing efforts. Because there is kind of a lot going on downtown right now. Particularly the reimagined downtown effort that's being led by Downtown Alliance. It's a huge engagement push. So we're looking to kind of piggyback on that. And build on some of the great output that they're getting there. But we also plan to talk to Capitol River Council to see what they think the neighborhood needs, then just use the output from the reimagine downtown effort to figure out where the gaps are. And then we'll also lead the adoption process. So staff would be back up here for planning commission for city council leading the adoption process for the downtown twenty fifty plan itself, and then any zoning amendments that come from it.

Commissioner Bowie.

Thank you, chair Johnson. Yep. Thank so much. I just have a quick question regarding the slide eight here or page eight, the city staff. Can you list, like, what specific staff that we're assigning to these tasks?

I can, chair and commissioner, I can raise my hand on that. So I'm going to project manage this one with Anton's help as kind of the supervisor. We think Anton, that's the team for now. I'll defer to Anton on who else you'd like to put on this. But between us and the consultant, at least that's the designated capacity, we'll probably get some support as needed. I can get back to you with a name at my supervisor's discretion.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Not specific names. Wouldn't want to put anyone on the spot, but just I'm wondering in terms of, like, the numbers of FTEs that were

Oh. I guess

Sounds good.

1.5.

Sounds good.

Through the chair, I've we will be for various tasks within this, know, we'll bring bringing in DSI and and other folks and other planners. Sometimes with these projects, there like you have like a really intense week with lots of meetings and so you'll see other planners just kinda come in for that week and then gone. But then as we do things like Spencer was saying with the zoning, it'll be probably a combination of planners from our team and then the current planning team as well as DSI kind of working through those issues.

Okay. Thank you.

So in terms of timeline, we expect that the consultant kickoff will take place in the next few weeks. We just need a fully executed contract before we can do that, but ready to get that going. Throughout the process, we'll attend Capitol River Council meetings and we'll update them and also get feedback on what they think we need to be doing. Later this year, we anticipate to have kind of the draft policy framework and then also some zoning recommendations that we can share with the Planning Commission and HRA for some initial feedback. And once that's in a good spot we'd finalize the zoning recommendations with the consultant.

And And then that brings us into spring and summer of next year when we would bring the final draft policy framework and zoning forward to Planning Commission and City Council. So we're looking at about a little over a year in terms of the I basically mentioned this already, but just to hit the point home. The project really is a partnership among many invested agencies, particularly that includes the Downtown Alliance, Capital River Council, our consultants, us of course. And the Downtown two thousand fifty plan especially builds on previous work that Downtown Alliance has done. So we really envision the investment strategy to kind of be the key driver of a lot of this work.

We wanna elevate the three goals that they outline in that strategy and kind of do our part as a city to either turn that into policy or just work concurrently with the goals that they've kind of published. And then again, we're looking forward to leveraging also existing work in reimagine downtown where they're doing this community outreach push to get a better sense of how the core of downtown can function. So between all those things, it's all connected. Looking forward to doing our part as a city to have new policy and zoning for downtown. That's all I had. You.

Commissioner Nacre. Thanks, madam chair. Mister mister Miller Johnson, I really appreciate this presentation and also staff's receptiveness to feedback over time as you design the scope for the consultant. I know one of my initial concerns was we've done a lot of downtown planning, as you mentioned, and I really don't want to do yet another plan that doesn't respond to those or take into account what those have already talked about and recommended. So I know that some work was done to make sure that the scope would either already have done that or preclude doing that or make sure that we're getting new information that's going be useful.

The question that I have relates to design standards. I know you talked about zoning and policy recommendations. I'm wondering if there will also be design standards. And as an example of that, one of the things we talk about a lot downtown is the need for street level retail. And one of the things that comes up a lot is none of the buildings were designed to have street level retail because what you have are huge podium buildings with a huge lobby not subdivided into reasonable spaces for retail and therefore you don't have it. And obviously we don't have a lot of new construction going on downtown at the moment but we might have it soon hopefully. So I'm just curious would I could imagine a development framework and guidelines for downtown being something like the 1st Floor must be constructed so as to encourage small local retail. Is there anything at that level that's contemplated?

Chair Johnson, Commissioner Nacre, yes, absolutely. That's I think core to this project is one of the biggest gaps. And I think our regulatory and policy framework out there is urban design and place making. And so this project is going to try to hit that point home a lot. So whether that's through policy direction that relates to urban design and place making, and or if there are design standards that we adopt in the zoning code that relate to kind of what you're describing. That will be very a big part of this.

Thank you.

Wonderful. And I think that that would be really helpful because I agree that there's we have different plans. And even in this space, I'm like, okay, it's two plans looking into downtown, trying to hone in on what the vision would be like for 2050, very important. But yes, if they're both surface level, then that's kind of the reaction that we will get. So I think the specificity and the level that we can go into detail, especially now because we've taken a citywide comp plan and also brought it to downtown and also investing a significant amount in a study that can go towards downtown's 2050 vision as well.

Think it will be really important. It's only going to be as good as the recommendations are. So that would be really helpful. And I'm looking forward to just being brought up to speed. And especially just on how these can bounce off of each other and not necessarily be duplicative, but as the process is going along, making sure that we are brought up to speed or at least able to kinda see the direction it's going and able to provide feedback where appropriate would be really helpful, and the mighty team of 1.5. So really do appreciate you both for being here and presenting and just kinda keeping us updated on this. It's helpful.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, chair.

Item number three is staff report 26 dash 78 HRA quarter one budget and budget to actual.

All right. As Deputy Director Green is walking up, I really appreciate the conversation that has continued to take place with commissioners as we further engage in our budget to actual reporting. This is again round one of our requested quarter one budget to actuals. And as we go through this exercise, I think it's really important that we also have opportunity for feedback. So really excited to just kind of dive into our budget to actuals here for PED and HRA. Handing it over to Director McMahon. Thank you, Chair, Commissioners. I actually just wanted to

thank our CFO, Nicole Green, for the work that her and her entire team have put into this. I know it's doing it for the first time and trying to make sure it's responsive to what you all are looking for and conversation continues. So as we continue to do this, that we can continue to work and refine to make sure that we're providing the best information possible. And so I know a lot of work went into it, I just wanted to say thank you and turn it over to CFO Green.

Thank you, Director McMahon, Chair Johnson, and Commissioners. Glad to be here today. I'm going to

need some help on the PowerPoint. Sorry.

Thank you. Nicole Green, CFO and Deputy Director, and excited to discuss our first quarter to actual quarterly budget to actual report this afternoon and appreciate the opportunity to be able to work with staff. Thank you Rhonda and our accounting team and also a huge thank you to our division directors and budget leads who have been engaged in having the discussion that we're about to review today. Thank you. Real quick, just to recap responsibilities and PED's responsibility here in terms of quarterly updates is to engage and deliver action and responsibility for the information and the planning that goes into our budget.

So throughout the year, we work to streamline our operations to, again, as I said, bringing in our program managers who have more detailed information than we have available in the system that really allows us to be able to deliver a more detailed report than, say, our OFS, our central accounting could provide. And then we objectively review proposals to inform you all regarding our ability to effectively execute on the objectives and the expectations that you have. And then our job is to update the budget line items, which we do constantly and we're getting better at that communicating and connecting on the program side so that we understand what the actual spending can be and getting improving at that and then also understanding any known or anticipated program changes as well. And then any significant budget changes which we've already had this year on our ERA side, we try to initiate those after the final budget adoption and they occur through an administrative order of or a budget amendment. We've done both of those this year.

And then on the HRA side, you know, just the leadership, establishing leadership for budget management and establishing the priorities is really where we rely on the governing bodies for. So we appreciate connecting with you on that. This year we want to be sure to focus some time on ensuring our HRA funds, special fund balances are stable and sustainably replenished. In some cases, we've had four sources for our housing trust fund and that's welling down to one. And so we want to engage with you and seek your follow your lead in how we address those those special fund balances.

Providing spending priorities is important and understanding with the administration, constituents, and the stakeholders what those are. If you provide us that information, we can make sure we're working with operations to determine what it what the cost of good looks like. And then you're reviewing the proposals and engaging the public and department leaders, and finally, reviewing those recommendations from the administration and coordinating to determine the final final changes prior to authorizing the vote. So that's kind of between us two, here's what we cover. And specifically to our budget background for PED specifically to that, the initial implementation of budget assignments for PED division leaders happened in last June, so we're not even a year into this kind of rhythm of business in this practice.

In November, we introduced the implementation of annual spend plan with our division leaders. That's a new reporting support that you all have received previously in the last couple of weeks. Is kind of our initial dive into that type of reporting and spend plan. So the reporting development continues. The numbers in that those documents are preliminary estimated and unaudited.

So we are moving toward a stronger budget to actual and in this initial phase, there's a lot of estimation going into it. And then in December 2025, the resolution was adopted requiring quarterly budget to actual reports. And so we are thrilled, I'm thrilled that we've gotten through this first quarter and able to provide a preliminary draft for discussion. So looking forward to that continuing work. And then early in in 2026, we focused on coordinating between HRA, PED and OFS on the objectives, needs and reporting format.

And we're still engaging with division directors. I was talking to folks this morning, right before we came over here, just to make sure we understand the program plan and their key line item budget responsibilities and expectations. In Q4 between Q2 and Q4, we'll proceed with further coordination across these three units and determine and confirm with you all directly what it is, how you'd like to see it, or what additional information you're seeking or questions that we need to be prepared to answer. Going forward, we're also very focused on establishing fiduciary training for all that are involved so that they also understand your expectations on an ongoing basis. We don't have to revisit them all the time.

So that gets us to the actual report. And again, our projections are estimated based on our conversations with our program folks. So we have another a number of programs here like supportive housing, home line contact that we work with other departments to they are actually coordinating with the spending. We are not. It's a transfer out.

And so our involvement currently is really on the transfer out, but wanting to make sure that if there's information that you need or areas and times that we need to be involved with those departments to look at the financial situation, we're happy to do that. Our major programs are down payment assistance, emergency rental assistance in our downtown vitality fund as well as our commercial corridors and inspiring community small scale development. Those leaders are planning and are getting used to talking with us about what their anticipated expenditures are. So, at this moment, it appears at the end of the first quarter, we have a plan or we have reservations, projects identified to get through the majority of the budget allocation. That said, we will know more and can kind of scrub that information a little bit better in the second quarter.

So we may have updates at this time at that time, but right now there's a plan, there's a project, there's things that have been assigned in those areas. Any questions on the

Yes. I see a couple of hands.

So Commissioner Niek. Thanks, Madam Chair. Could you speak just a bit to the programs where we're projecting zero spend or in a 100% variance, the supportive housing, familial families pilot and then the two fix up programs, the rental rehab and fix up program?

Sure. So, the supportive housing, it's just because that's a different department. So, that's kind of some of the nuances of our reporting within PED. So, I think we have a meeting scheduled soon to understand more of what they are planning, but we don't have that information. It's not necessarily ready readily available to us throughout the quarter.

So we're not anticipating that we won't spend it. It's just

It's just we don't have the information. Yeah. So we try to base the information on what what we have access to in the system to start just so that we know that very thing. We either do have the information or we don't.

And then the other

And then the others, you mentioned the MHFA fix up program. That is actually old allocation. That program no longer exists that they provided to us, awarded to us some years ago. So, I said, Jules and I were just talking this morning on that specific program and we expect to send them a letter letting them know our program is closed. We'll probably return that funding to that group.

And is the same for the HUD rental rehabilitation?

Nope. We hit rental rehabilitation. There is some plan to to utilize that funding and that they just we just didn't have the project information and that will come out through the

year. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any other questions there? Okay. So on the special fund revenue side and as we said, we want to really work closely going forward to ensure that we have appropriate balances set and that may be a policy decision for our special funds in terms of our utilization level and then what balance we want to maintain in our special funds. That's going to be really, really important.

And so this shows our city general fund usage is really specific to our sustainable housing, power of home, healthy homes program. And so that variance that's projected there is likely just timing. And so when they'll be able to get through their contract with CEE. So we'd probably be looking for a carryforward on that one into next year. The other significant balances here are underutilization of funding is really based on, you know, our bond fees.

It's an estimate and we may or may not receive them all. We know in our loan repayments and loan interest program that significant variances we're anticipating an update on our agreement with one of our loan recipients. And so I just wanted to consider that here because we've already begun those meetings in the first quarter. And hopefully, we'll know by June on that one. So the second quarter update would clarify and rectify any changes we need to make there.

And otherwise, there aren't very many variances here in terms of the revenue that we're anticipating and hopefully this conversation just allows us to talk a little bit more about the overall position special funds at the end of the year to the extent we feel like most of them will be nearing depletion. And so we'll want to have that conversation. Any questions there?

We actually have a question from Commissioner Bowie.

Sure. Thank you, Chair Johnson. Please let me know if we're running tight on time. I can make sure it's quick here. But just piggybacking from the conversation we had earlier with the quarter one budget that was given by Director Kammu or excuse me, Director Lachlan from OFS, around Council President Nacre had mentioned like budget to actuals on a quarterly basis, if there's could be like a projection or a column that just shows us like when we should be receiving, you know, if it's large sums of revenue upfront, if you know, that would help us know where we're at on track.

And I know you mentioned that some of these different revenue have different time frames of when we're actually able to capture that. So just a note, would love to see that in the quarter two report as well.

Thank you, Commissioner Bowie, Chair Johnson. The for the most part, the good news about PED is because we are utilizing special funds, we're utilizing a balance that already exists. The majority of our revenue is available on day one of the budget year for that purpose. So we don't necessarily have the similar constraints as OFS where they're waiting on tax receipts. Some of our funds do, especially our debt service funds, but not all.

The majority of our funds, if it's general fund, it's available and we our department is able to spend on that balance even if the revenues don't necessarily align.

And I want to just simply time check us for at about 02:58. I'm trying to hold to the three p. M. So I'm going have you finish your last slide and then if we have time Commissioner Nyker, we can come back to your question.

Sure. So this just shows again for our special funds, our revenue and expenditures that we're planning. Again this 12,000,000 below balance may be covered by other funds grants that we're not showing here because this focus is on HRA special funds.

Okay. And I think one of I want to take a chance to just also note here for commissioners' attention, and Deputy Director Green, think it's really important for us to continue to reiterate how the HRA's revenue sources and a lot of the special funds within the HRA are depleting. And so when we look at the actual housing trust fund being at $2,000,000 or parking at $1,000,000 low enterprise fund at $6,000,000 that that's like the total size of the fund. Is that correct?

At the end of this year, so the parking revenue doesn't necessarily include the reserves. I'm looking at

that. Sure.

Yes. So we have reserves. So that balance may be larger in the in the parking revenue fund. This is just use of the what this reflects is use of the budget that was allocated this year. This is what's left. And so you may still have some fund balance, and that's the conversation that we need to focus on moving forward.

Sure. Because I think that's a little bit different, right, than some of our general fund conversations where we anticipate that to be completely replenished. Some of the initial investments and things like the housing trust fund, the loan enterprise fund. And as we continue to get back, kind of go back to maybe we remember last year or the year before having Director Newton in front of us at the time talking about the depleting resources, just know that as we continue to rely on the HRAs, Housing Trust Fund, the Loan Enterprise Fund, some of our general fund pieces to fund a majority of PEDs, full time staff, or even just to talk about some of the other transfers that we have or even the program costs of doing business here to continue the programs that we are currently invested in. If they're coming from the HRA, that is a depleting source.

And so in some ways, you know, it's helpful we do at this time budget for the max levy that the HRA is able to do, and we have consistently for years. And so just thinking about like how we are able to rely on the levy to continue to fund our work, it's just something to it that was important to note. Commissioner Naeger, did you have a closing question and then I'll probably adjourn us afterwards.

Just a closing comment. Thank you, Chair. I wanted to just say to Councilmember Commissioner Bui's point about the budget year to date, I agree and I think maybe if our revenues are all there and accounted for the beginning of the year, the year to date might be more helpful on expenses just to make sure that we're not we're looking at helpful information and seeing what we should be expecting versus what we're seeing. And then just a huge thank you to you, Chair Johnson, and to the team. It's going to be so helpful, I'm already thinking, as we go into our budget season, to be able to have real time data about how our programs are spending down versus last year's data or no data. I can already see some things that are going to be questions during our budget process, and it's

just so helpful. Thank you. Yeah, Absolutely. And thank you, Deputy Director Green. Thank you, Rhonda, and so many members of the team too that are going through this exercise with us.

I think any time that we see things like programs that were like, oh, that program is nonexistent, but there's a $500,000 line item towards it, that sometimes I can be like, oh my gosh, this exercise in quarter to actuals is never meant to have been gotcha. I think that that really is just around fiscal responsibility and everyone doing their due diligence to ensure that what's reflected in the budget is actually something that we plan on doing. And so I see that as really helpful when it comes to now we have $500,000 that we could potentially either do something different with or go a different path, especially if the program itself nonexistent. And so those are things where we've had other opportunities like that that have come from this exercise, but people have to be willing to do that. And I've just really appreciated the willingness and partnership of PED's team because not every department is the council or the HRE board able to really kind of exercise that partnership in the level in which we're able to do with PED and PED staff.

So thank you. Thank And if you have further questions especially related to some of the materials that we were able to talk about individually, feel free to again share that with us. We can share that out. That's always going be the preference. In this case, Vice Chair Jost or I, you know, we have weekly check ins with the PED team and are happy to bring your questions as well and elevate them to get a response. With that, we are adjourned.