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 YMCA Midway Program Center and The Beasley to receive Environmental Response Funds.
2. Authorize the award of Environmental Response Funds to the following projects:
a. Midway Program Center, YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities - $422,000
b. The Beasley, Rondo Community Land Trust - $50,000
3. Amend previous awards of Environmental Response Funds to be:
a. GloryVille, GloryVille LLC - $225,000
b. East End Apartments, JB Vang - $225,000
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.
Two ERF applications for funding assistance were submitted for consideration in November 2024 totaling $828,330. 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 two projects totaling $472,000 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.
These grant awards will support the creation a new childcare facility, 20 new affordable homeownership units (replacing 4 rental units), 29 new permanent jobs, and at least 23 retained jobs. For more project details, see attachment.
Recommendation #3 is to amend awards from the May 2024 ERF solicitation for GloryVille (Gloria Wong) and East End Apartments (JB Vang) from $200,000 each to $225,000 each. The grant amounts in the board action were incorrect due to an editing error (Resolution H2024-009).
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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 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 through 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 $1,146,645 of uncommitted funds available in the current ERF budget. Total ERF awards recommended in this Recommended Board Action (RBA) are $472,000. The amended awards in this RBA result in $50,000 in additional committed ERF funds. The resulting uncommitted fund balance after ERF awards will be $624,645.
Last Previous Action
On June 25, 2024, the Ramsey County Housing and Redevelopment Authority approved $507,184 in Environmental Response Funds for the May 2024 round of funding (Resolution H2024-009).
Attachments
1. Environmental Response Fund November 2024 Recommendations