Sponsor: Community & Economic Development
Title
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Environmental Response Fund Grant Awards
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Recommendation
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1. Approve the selection of 892 East 7th Street, GloryVille, East End Apartments, and Ain Dah Young Center Shelter Rehabilitation to receive Environmental Response Funds.
2. Authorize the award of Environmental Response Funds to the following projects:
a. 892 East 7th Street (Project for Pride in Living, Inc.) - $24,084
b. Ain Dah Young Center Shelter Rehabilitation - $83,100
c. GloryVille - $200,000
d. East End Apartments (JB Vang) - $200,000
3. Return unspent funds from two projects back to the Environmental Response Fund:
a. 3803 Stinson - $28,200
b. Lillie Redevelopment - $75,000
4. Authorize the County Manager to enter into necessary grant, loan or other agreements
and execute amendments to those agreements in a form approved by the County Attorney’s Office.
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Background and Rationale
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In 1997, the Minnesota Legislature enacted Minnesota Statutes Section 383A.80 enabling Ramsey County to impose a mortgage registry and deed taxes equal to .0001 percent of the value of transferred properties in Ramsey County to establish an environmental response fund. In December 2002, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners imposed these taxes for the express purpose of creating a fund to mitigate contamination and foster redevelopment.
Applications for Environmental Response Fund (ERF) program funding are accepted on May 1st and November 1st of each year in conjunction with similar redevelopment and clean-up programs administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County.
Four ERF applications for funding assistance were submitted for consideration in May 2024 totaling $894,284. Submissions were evaluated based on adopted Ramsey County guidelines including the degree of soil contamination clean-up, financing gap, developer capacity, project readiness and short and long-term benefits to the community. Projects are also evaluated on their ability to address the following Ramsey County goals:
• Strengthening individual, family and community health, safety and well-being.
• Cultivating economic prosperity and invest in neighborhoods with concentrated financial poverty.
• Enhancing access to opportunity and mobility for all residents and businesses.
The review committee recommends awards to four projects totaling $507,184 with the express condition that funding may be withdrawn if not spent within 18 months of approval. Some recommendations are for partial awards due to limited funding availability.
As outlined in previous request for board actions (RBAs), unspent funds may be returned to ERF or reallocated to future projects. This RBA includes two such returns of unspent funds, one from 3803 Stinson in Saint Anthony Village, a cleanup that was completed under budget and therefore did not need their full ERF award, and one from Lillie Redevelopment in North Saint Paul, which returned the funding after being awarded.
These projects will contribute to the creation of 247 new units of affordable housing (including 53 units of deeply affordable housing at or below 30% of area median income (AMI)) and 116 new permanent jobs as well as the preservation of 16 shelter beds and 21 retained jobs. They will also contribute to the tax base by increasing property values upon completion. For more project details, see attachment.
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County Goals (Check those advanced by Action)
☒ Well-being ☒ Prosperity ☒ Opportunity ☐ Accountability
Racial Equity Impact
ERF funding recommendations are guided by strategies from the Economic Competitiveness & Inclusion Plan that aim to reduce racial disparities related to housing and economic development opportunities. The recommended projects are all located in Minnesota Pollution Control Agency environmental justice areas of concern and also represent significant place-based investments in racially and ethnically diverse communities.
Community Participation Level and Impact
To publicize the availability of ERF funds, Community and Economic Development participates in regular informational webinars with the other brownfield grant programs at DEED and Metropolitan Council, as well as via regular economic development summits with community partners. Applicants demonstrate community support for ERF project applications via either a letter of support or a city council resolution.
☒ Inform ☐ Consult ☐ Involve ☐ Collaborate ☐ Empower
Fiscal Impact
There are $1,275,136 of uncommitted funds available in the current ERF budget. Total ERF awards recommended in this RBA are $507,184. Total return of unspent funds back into the current ERF budget in this RBA is $103,199. The resulting uncommitted fund balance after ERF awards will be $871.151.
Last Previous Action
On January 16, 2024, the Ramsey County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) approved $415,443 in Environmental Response Funds for the November 2023 round of funding (Resolution H2024-004).
On July 18, 2023, the Ramsey County HRA approved $335,557 in Environmental Response Funds for the May 2023 round of funding (Resolution H2023-010).
On January 17, 2023, the Ramsey County HRA approved $375,000 in Environmental Response Funds for the November 2022 round of funding (Resolution H2023-004).
Attachments
1. Environmental Response Fund May 2024 Recommendations