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Home My WebLink About2A Redevelopment Commission Minutes 6.8.23 South Be n d Redevelopment Commission 227 West Jefferson Boulevard, Room 1308, South Bend, IN SOUTH BEND REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION SCHEDULED REGULAR MEETING June 8, 2023 – 9:30 am https://tinyurl.com/RedevelopmentCommission or BPW 13th Floor Presiding: Marcia Jones, President The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. 1. ROLL CALL Members Present: Marcia Jones, President – IP Troy Warner, Vice-President – IP Vivian Sallie, Secretary - IP Eli Wax, Commissioner - IP David Relos, Commissioner – IP Leslie Wesley, Commissioner - V IP = In Person V = Virtual Members Absent: Legal Counsel: Sandra Kennedy, Esq. Danielle Campbell, Asst. City Attorney Redevelopment Staff: Mary Brazinsky Sears, Board Secretary Joseph Molnar, RDC Staff Others Present: Caleb Bauer Erik Glavich Rosa Tomas Charlotte Brach Zach Hurst Leslie Biek Alex Sejdinaj Jim Conklin Matt Barrett DCI DCI DCI Engineering Engineering Engineering Code Works Cultivate Resident South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – June 8, 2023 2. Approval of Minutes • Approval of Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Thursday, May 25, 2023 Upon a motion by Secretary Sallie, seconded by Commissioner Relos, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the minutes of the regular meeting of Thursday, May 25, 2023. 3. Approval of Claims A. Claims Allowance 5.23.23 Upon a motion by Commissioner Relos, seconded by Vice-President Warner, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved the claims allowance of May 23, 2023. 4. Old Business 5. New Business A. River West Development Area 1. Resolution No. 3575 (Disposition Offering Price 1202 S Lafayette) Joseph Molnar noted that this property has already been through the disposition process and asked the Commission to table this item at a later date. Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Vice-President Warner, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission tabled items 5A1, 5A2 and 5A3 related to the property at 1202 S Lafayette submitted on Thursday, June 8, 2023. 2. Approval of Bid Specifications (1202 S Lafayette) Joseph Molnar noted that this property has already been through the disposition process and asked the Commission to table this item at a later date. Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Vice-President Warner, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission tabled items 5A1, 5A2 and 5A3 related to the property at 1202 S Lafayette submitted on Thursday, June 8, 2023. 3. Request to Advertise (1202 S Lafayette) Joseph Molnar noted that this property has already been through the disposition process and asked the Commission to table this item at a later date. Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Vice-President Warner, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission tabled items 5A1, 5A2 and 5A3 related to the property at 1202 S Lafayette submitted on Thursday, June 8, 2023. South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – June 8, 2023 B. Redevelopment General Fund (Pokagon) 1. Budget Request (Digital Storefront Program) Caleb Bauer Presented a Budget Request (Digital Storefront Program). The Digital Storefront Program, which was originally piloted in 2021, will provide technology assistance grants to small businesses to help them create or enhance their digital presence with the goal of increasing revenues and allowing business owners to drive growth with new technology tools and systems. We are requesting $300k from the RDC General fund with a matching grant from READI. This will allow sixty small businesses to be assisted through the program by 2025. Alex Sejdinaj, Co- Founder, Code Works notes that they design building and launching products in a digital space. The grant and matching dollars will help a lot of businesses create and update their websites. They provide training and on- call support with materials for three to six months for businesses. They anticipate each business to use $10k to $5k. Alex states that his team helps small businesses make the most of their internet potential. For a lot of smaller startups creating a website is overwhelming for them. Code Works takes a holistic approach to technology that takes the end-user, business processes, and their financial impact into consideration. As a technology partner, we will help them make decisions as a domain expert that will lead them to developing an exciting solution with a real impact on their business. Upon a motion by Vice-President Warner, seconded by Secretary Sallie, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Budget Request (Digital Storefront Program) submitted on Thursday, June 8, 2023. 2. Budget Request (Cultivate) Erik Glavich Presented a Budget Request (Cultivate). Staff is requesting $100k from the RDC General fund to assist Cultivate in the construction of a new 21,000 square foot cold storage facility. On July 28, 2022, Cultivate acquired commission owned land located at 1503 Prairie Avenue and committed to building the new cold storage facility. Commission approval is requested. Jim Conklin, Executive Director of Cultivate gave a presentation to the commission. Jim stated that they are revising the business as it has grown40% over 2022. Last year they served seventy pantries and this year they are up to one-hundred fifteen pantries. They partner in the cold storage business with Trader Joe’s, Fresh Thyme, and Whole Foods. They are not large enough to partner with larger food chains such as Martin’s and Kroger. Their mission is redirecting food that would otherwise be discarded to feeding our communities from families to school children to the homeless. There are 43,000 children in our three-county area with food insecurity. He stated sixty-eight hours is how long a child can go without food on the weekends. The need is great but so is their plan to build a facility that will increase the cold storage capacity by twenty times. The facility will be available free of charge to our community pantries to feed the vulnerable. With the larger facility they will expand their backpack program. Cultivate went from 40M to 200M pounds of food rescued. They have hundreds of people that volunteer on a yearly basis but can always use more hands. South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – June 8, 2023 Jim stated that there are grants and tax credits that they are applying for. The new facility is looking to start construction in July with an August 1, 2023, groundbreaking at 2:00 pm. Vice-President Warner stated that he has been to the facility and helped. This is an amazing service for our community and to the outlying community. President Jones thanked Mr. Conklin for his presentation. Upon a motion by Commissioner Wax, seconded by Vice-President Warner, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Budget Request (Cultivate Culinary) submitted on Thursday, June 8, 2023. C. Administrative 1. Resolution No. 3574 (Determining Tax Increment to be Collected 2024) Mary Brazinsky Sears Presented Resolution No. 3574 (Determining Tax Increment to be Collected 2024). This is the annual resolution that is needed to satisfy obligations of the commission letting respective taxing units that no excess assessed value may be allocated at this time. If commission approves, letters to those tax units will go out in the mail within the following week. Commission approval is requested. Upon a motion by Vice-President Warner, seconded by Secretary Sallie, the motion carried unanimously, the Commission approved Resolution No. 3574 (Determining Tax Increment to be Collected 2024) submitted on Thursday, June 8, 2023. 6. Progress Reports A. Tax Abatement 1. Erik Glavich stated that Common Council passed a resolution on a four-year real property tax abatement for David A. Nufer, LLC at 521 North William Street/Burton Laundry. 2. Tax abatements going to Common Council next week: • Verbio North America, LLC/Ethanol Plant at 3201 W Calvert Street (5) year Personal Property Tax Abatement • Verbio North America, LLC/Ethanol Plant at 3201 W Calvert Street (8) year Real Property Tax Abatement • Reconfirming Resolution Diamond View Apartments, LP – (8) Year Tax Abatement • Declaratory Resolution RealAmerica Development, LLC - 8) Year Tax Abatement • Resolution Designating Area GLC Portage Prairie, LLC – AMG expansion for their military production. • Resolution Designating Area Historic Property (Monarch Printing) (2) Year Vacant Building Tax Abatement • Resolution Designating Area Historic Property (Monarch Printing) (2) Year Real Property Tax Abatement South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting – June 8, 2023 B. Common Council C. Other 1. Joe Molnar noted Fire Station No. 9 on Mishawaka Avenue has started improvements to the roof, drywall, electrical work to finish the space. All permits have been pulled through the building department. 7. Next Commission Meeting: Thursday, June 22, 2023 8. Adjournment Thursday, June 8, 2023,10:09 a.m. Vivian Sallie, Secretary Marcia Jones, President