Yeah.

Just go look out for otherwise.

I just don't like that.

Well, it's it has to be more if you touch it with that.

Just questions.

So it's uh Chris water put this together.

I'm just uh something asked for this.

Let's do roll call.

Susan Frazier.

Martin Matson.

Mike Waterman.

Nolan Campbell.

Do we have any public comment at this time?

Or should we move on to disclosures?

Disclosures.

You got that.

There's an agenda right there.

Disclosures.

Anyone?

Um I did reach out to Greg Sullivan just to verify.

We do a lot of work with Sam Bell, and uh there's no real conflict interest.

Uh, do not know the applicant and no not familiar with the project except for what was delivered to us.

So we cleared it.

Thanks, Nolan.

Any changes to the agenda.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, I'd like to request that we do item I three first and then revert to the regular order after that.

Wonderful.

All right, light conversion, USA improvements, the TIFF request.

Yes.

Public comment.

General public comment.

Do we have would you like to make a comment?

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name's Amy Hoytzma.

I'm the president of the Northeast Neighborhood Association.

Um this is a little bit awkward thing to raise, and it probably should have been raised a long time ago.

But I'm wondering if there's any provisions for conflicts of interest on the board, because there's realtors and developers, and this has been a thing all along.

Um, you know, at least in the Northeast Urban Renewal Board.

Um, there have been developers who actually have received money from the TIF money um who had sat on the board.

So and I understand from the city's perspective, um TIFF is an instrument of economic development, so it is desirable to have someone on the TIFF board who knows the projects, has connections, wants to make make things happen.

From a neighborhood perspective, you know, there is there can be a feeling of potential conflict of of interest.

And you know, ethics laws, and we have municipal ethics laws also, and they apply to all officers, whether appointed or elected, permanent, temporary, um paid or not paid, and conflict of interest also applies to the appearance of conflict of interest.

So I just wanted to raise that as the mama bear, you know, president of Northeast Neighborhood Association and on behalf of, you know, on behalf of neighbors, if like what come what happens if something comes up that someone sort of personally stands to benefit from even sort of indirectly, or the the appearance of that.

Is there any, you know, do we want to?

I just want to raise that issue so that everyone's aware that that's what the neighborhood might think in certain circumstances.

So thank you for listening to my criticism or raising an awkward question.

Thank you.

Svick, any other comments?

I see no comments online.

Wasn't there a hand raised?

Did it go down?

She's not asking.

Okay.

All right.

Shall we roll back?

Any public service announcements?

Any other changes to the agenda?

Uh none at this time.

Can we go ahead and improve the minutes from our first meeting in January?

I don't think we we don't didn't upload any minutes at this at this time.

We're we're gonna have a little bit of a minutes backlog just because of staffing in our office until Jesse gets back, but we will be publishing those at that time.

Okay.

Is there any consent agenda then?

No.

And yeah, they're public comments on non-agenda items.

Special presentations.

All right, we'll move on to action item number I one.

And we're gonna do I three first.

Oh, sorry.

I was confused.

Sorry.

We're gonna go on again to the light conversion USA improvements.

The TIFF request.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you, Chair.

So um we are uh we received this past fall um an application from light conversion USA to uh receive TIFF assistance through the TIFF assistance program.

Um this is a little bit different than we've done the process in the past, and the biggest reason is this board was needed to be seated under state law but had not been seated yet.

And so we we really held off on really all the requests until this board could be seated and had a chance to be oriented to things.

And it worked out in that the project was delayed, so we weren't holding up the project with our efforts.

But like Conversion USA has been operating in the community for quite some time under the name Altos Photonics is a little bit of a rebrand of the company overall.

So we have we have a company that's already located in the district that wants to build and expand in the district.

But those things are complete at this time.

Just because they're complete doesn't mean they'll do the project here.

You know, they have improved a lot, and that that value can accrue to the lot.

Um but that's that's where things are at uh so far.

Sidewalk curve gutter and alley.

This is a corner, a corner lot.

So if I can show you the um the viewer.

Sorry.

It's a super sensitive mess.

So this is the subject property right here.

Um and and this slot to the east.

Um the the subject property needs public infrastructure on improvements on three slides in order to develop, so they need to develop this this L-shaped alley all the way along here to provide access.

Um, and then they also have to upgrade the sidewalk improvements uh to meet the zoning standard so that the curb blocks that exist there that are the MDT standard curve blocks are uh not in compliance with with the zoning for a new project, and so they're gonna have to set the sidewalk back, install street trees and and do those sorts of things to comply with the zoning.

Um they're also uh requesting uh water and sewer service lines.

Um the parking lot is not something that we can't can fund, it's uh it's a private improvement, and so we're not going to support the parking lot improvement.

Uh but impact fees are eligible.

Um so right right at this point, uh, since this is the first request this board has seen, I'm gonna give you two bytes of the apple, and this is an opportunity to ask questions.

Um the the applicant's engineer is here, and you get you can ask questions about the project.

Um, and really what we're looking for is staff right now following board questions and discussion is should I work more on this at this point?

Should we work on negotiating a development agreement, refining this, doing a third-party uh financial performance analysis, all the things we do typically before the board makes a final decision?

But at this point, I wanted to give you an opportunity to get your feet wet on uh on an application, ask questions, and then give us some advice on on moving forward on these.

We moving forward, we're more likely to have done some additional background and work and present these to you for for approval and or disapproval in a single meeting.

But that's that's what we're doing this time.

So that I I'd take any questions from the David, just um as we're all learning here on this board.

Give us a little bit of a uh what happens if these guys get this all up, they get TIFF money, they get it all up and built and everything, and then turn around and sell the building to somebody else next year.

Assuming that you know what the TIF funds are doing is enhancing the taxable income, and that doesn't necessarily go away if somebody else you know you know occupies the building.

But this entity could stand to make substantial money because their site is now improved and meets city zoning requirements and all that kind of stuff.

Someone buying it doesn't have to put that infrastructure in it.

What kind of is that something that would be addressed in a development agreement or how have you dealt with that in the past?

Sure, I think I think it's something that could be addressed in a development agreement, but but just taking a step backwards kind of from a policy perspective.

Um the urban renewal law talks about um improving delinquent infrastructure to ready an area for investment by private enterprise, right?

So this does that.

Within our urban renewal plan, we allowed thinking about the tax base, infrastructure deficiency, investment by private enterprise, but also um thinking about job creation is it is a potential thing that you can think about.

Um but you balance that with other things.

So I think from an urban renewal perspective, you're improving the infrastructure, which stays, you have a brand new office building, which stays, you have an increase in the tax base, which stays.

Um if you're making the decision primarily on the choice related to job creation, then we'd want to negotiate something related to the longevity of the firm in this.

If we're fine just getting the improvements to this entryway corner into the into the in the into the quarter, you wouldn't necessarily have to address it.

Um speaking of what we've done in the past, this is actually kind of exciting because it's um it's really only the second time that we've ever been able to do the public improvements related to a specific employer coming in.

The other time was um related to the Aurora building on uh the MSU Innovation Campus, and even then it wasn't directly comparable because the innovation campus had a lot of public infrastructure, so the developer was putting in all the infrastructure for the entire campus.

And there was a second building, the what became the engine works building at the time, as well as well as the um applied research lab there on the campus.

And um the buildings, you know, they're office buildings built to suit for a particular tenant, but they're just office buildings at the end of the day, and they're owned by a developer and leased to the tenant.

So this is the first time since I've been at the city for over 12 years where we've had the the company building the structure um being the one that's benefiting from it.

I I don't necessarily know that's a problem, but it but it's something that we've we've asked, you know, just in terms of getting preliminary scoping for doing a third-party but four analysis on this project from our economic consultant, you know, they're probably going to treat it as if it was a developer building and think about an applied lease rate for it and thinking about whether it whether it's a feasible project.

Does that help?

Yeah, I was just you I know we've dealt with in, for example, affordable housing.

Um when we give you know when they get taxing financing and those types of stuff, there is a time limit that's you know that the project will be, you know, it pencils over 30 years or whatever, and then as we've talked about um city or government subsidies for affordable housing, um a lot of times those have time limits, you know, you know, placed on them as far as if you you know move out before two years or something, you gotta pay back a certain amount.

So it's just something to think about as we as we deal with these types of things where it's an individual owner.

Yeah, I I appreciate that feedback, and I I think it's something that if if the board wants to provide policy guidance on something like that, that's that's something we wouldn't want to hear from you.

Um how would we have examples of existing situations where we provided or uh somebody like this has provided like bona fides or some type of mechanism to guarantee the job creation because that's kind of the apple we have to bite into here as far as this one, I think.

And is there any examples of that in the past where we the success worked or like I said, we we've never done one for job creation before just thinking about our our broader economic development strategy and effort, we we really focus on an approach called economic gardening.

Um just thinking about our our broader economic development strategy and effort, we we really focus on an approach called economic gardening.

So like if firms are looking at Bozeman, we will roll out the red carpet and give them a tour and introduce them to people that help them make their choice.

Um but we don't go out and cold call and recruit and provide massive incentives.

Uh and really our only incentive is if they want to locate in a renewal district or one of our industrial districts.

Um we can we can assist businesses in that way.

But uh you know, I think within that strategy, incentivizing specific job creation is always a little bit fraught.

Um the buildings stay.

Um I think I think economic development is is littered with stories of people and sent paying a lot to incentivize jobs on a per job basis, and either the jobs never show up or the jobs close down and move away.

Um in this case, we we do have the luxury of thinking about the tax base, and the tax base is linked to the building, which doesn't go away.

Uh can I add a little something to that to answer this question?

I think it's also important to think about the type of business that we're talking about here.

This is a photonics company.

Formerly autosphotonics, now this new company, it's growing.

And I think the the really it's important to kind of pull back a little bit and look at what's going on in the valley in terms of photonics.

Jobs are not decreasing in this space, they're increasing.

And that's due to the work going on in MSU, it's due to the tech hub designation, that's due to the quantum core that's now online at MSU.

So the photonics industry is growing, it's not shrinking.

And so while there are no guarantees, um, there's a high likelihood that there will be job growth in this space.

I have some questions for the applicant if uh board will indulge me.

Want to come up, Robbie?

Sure.

Hello everybody.

My name is Bobby Egberg.

I'm a civil engineer with Sandbell and happy to answer any questions you may have.

Sure.

So can can you speak to the kind of the specifics of I I think I provided an overview, but can you speak to the specifics of the public infrastructure, the things that are in the public right-of-way that are part of this application?

Yes.

So there's uh an alley on the north side of the property that's going to be improved.

There's currently only a 16-foot right-of-way.

For the alley, typically Bozeman requires a 20-foot minimum.

So the alley is being expanded uh two feet within the property itself in the future.

The neighboring property to the north would then expand it another two feet.

In that direction, the alley is currently uh not improved, so it's just landscape or gravel material.

For the property where the building is proposed, it'll be improved to all asphalt within the alley.

And then beyond the property extents to the east, the alley is also being proposed to uh be improved with gravel servicing, at least uh temporarily to allow access through there.

There's currently encroachments with the properties.

There's some small sheds and other things like that that are encroaching in the alley.

Those are also have been in the works over the past uh year or two to be removed out of the alley so they're not encroaching in there.

So when the alley is improved with gravel, then it would be able to be utilized for that space for vehicle transportation.

And then as you work your way north in the alley, uh forget which street is uh to the north juniper.

So there's actually city right-of-way on the east side there that works its way north.

And there are existing Northwestern energy utility overhead power lines that are in the middle of the city of Bozeman right away and uh restricting access.

So those are also in the works to be moved by Northwestern Energy.

Um there's other utilities that are being moved underground uh to create space within the alley as well.

So the goal of the alley is to improve vehicle uh vehicular circulation and then pedestrian uh circulation as well that would service that whole entire area in addition to this parcel.

And then moving to Tamarak Street.

There are improvements to the sidewalk within the right-of-way along the entire property frontage, but then there's also improvements beyond the property frontage uh about one and a half lots further than the property to improve the sidewalks that are currently there, uh set them back a little bit from the existing curb and gutter, improve uh a new residential drive approach that's off of this property uh to clean that up.

And then within the property extents, new sidewalk, new approach, a new storm drain inlet, sanitary sewer, um connection for the building and new water services for domestic water and fire.

And then on Rouse.

There are not a lot of new proposed uh improvements necessarily, just as the connection point with the alley uh to the existing sidewalk.

I believe that covers all of the proposed infrastructure that's kind of out and around this project.

So along Rouse, we're not ripping up what MDT did last couple years ago, are we?

Other than maybe the drive up the drive approach.

Are those the existing curb and gutter and asphalt is remaining in place.

So it's mainly just the sidewalk.

Yes, the sidewalk, the sidewalk is being redone.

And that'll match what's across the street at the law injustice center.

Yes, it'll match the typical city of Bozeman spec.

Um I have a question.

Um applicants not actually here or uh anybody.

I don't know if you have access to uh what the actual kind of demolition costs were, because we I'm assuming these were presented in October, and uh you know, that seems to be a great property that I drive by almost daily.

And we're noticing that the the improvement uh demolition of the structures and the house moving and everything is completed.

Was that pretty accurate, the 200?

Because it's hard to say, but um I do not have the actual numbers uh with me.

I'm sure that's something we can pull together, though, if you want a specific number for what was actually done, since that work's already been completed.

And uh for people that drive by, it's uh looking a lot better now.

You know, it's pretty cleaned up.

The buildings, the existing building is gone, and then the existing residential building is also removed from the lot and just around the corner.

But as far as the actual dollars, I do not have that number today.

David, you could probably usually we do a kind of a I I just know in my industry I see a 2000 zero number.

It's usually a higher safe best bet of uh budget.

So really the number will probably be lower than the I mean I I think I'll encourage the applicant to refine that number.

It typically in our development agreements we reimburse against actuals.

So yeah, they can put 200,000 in there, but that doesn't mean we're gonna pay that full amount.

We'll pay the actual amount that they incurred.

And um just so that everyone is aware for when applicants um use tax increment dollars, we uh require the applicant to go through the public process and actually post the bid through the clerk's office.

We do the notice in the newspaper that's required by law for public bidding.

We require them to pay prevailing wage, just like it would be um a city project.

And then basically we we host the bid opening so the public can see the bid tabs, and then once the the low bidder has been identified, we hand the project back to the applicant, they keep prevailing uh prevailing wage data, certified payrolls, and they submit all of that to us before prior to reimbursement.

And that all happened with this.

The bidding project has a process has all happened.

Um I don't know what since this project I I know um I know the applicant had some like a lot of businesses had some headwinds that they wanted to investigate related to trade policy uh at the national level, and so you know, but I would expect that they will need to update these bid numbers in some way prior to actually moving forward, but I'm not certain on that.

But but I I know I know the project definitely uh ran ran into some of those headwinds that are really not local issues.

Thank you for that.

And um another thing to point out too is that this property is already in effect increased the tax base in the area by moving the house to the new location, you know, which is likely to increase the value of that property.

Since you do have ex expertise in listing commercial properties and alone, is that your experience that clearing a property for redevelopment will actually increase its value on the market?

Yeah, when we work with commercial appraisers, we usually have you know the value as is.

Um and then typically the demolition costs are kind of seen as a red or a negative value to that property when it's going to be cleared for for value.

So we always see the demolition costs as if you take the land cost minus the demolition costs, and that's the actual value of the property.

So that brings up a really good question if I do say something.

So when do they snap the line as far as where the TIFF where the tax stays?

Because if they've done the demolition and then the line is snapped at that new, if there is an increased value, and then we reimburse for the demolition, that's not necessarily being reflected in the in the tax increment if you understand what I'm saying.

Sure.

I mean, I think the way we would approach this is that we're you know we appreciate the new value that's been created by the demolition.

That that value will be there for anyone who might build on the property.

We're not reimbursing until they make actual improvements to the property.

So typically our development agreements have milestone dates where if they don't proceed and execute on it, we can actually just remove the agreement entirely.

Um and and so in this case, we we would tie reimbursement to actually improving the property.

And so they would get like they could demolition could be an eligible cost, they've already triggered that eligible cost, but they wouldn't receive any tax money until they actually did the building project and all of those that value in the tax.

So let me ask my question a little bit different way.

Sure.

The the the tax the the property tax values were frozen when the TIFF district was created.

Correct.

Okay.

Yeah, so the base for this district is from 2006.

My my concern was that the property tax values were a moving target where you know they've done the demolition, they they now freeze those.

Yes, it's been the same value since 2006.

So if you look back at the base, it's this it's the same every year.

So this any increase in value would already accrue to the increment.

I I think um I I'd like to be respectful to my um government colleagues at the Montana Department of Revenue who are hardworking and under-resourced.

Um, but you know, it might be optimistic to think that they actually captured the value related to a demolition on this lot um at the end of the calendar year.

It's a lot more likely they'll pick it up when a project pulls a building permit and and then that that starts having them look at the degree of completeness of the project.

Okay.

Um it makes sense to me as I look through this list that um sidewalk curb gutter and alley and water and sewer services would fall under the public infrastructure categorization.

Can you speak to the other things on this list and and the logic that applies to why they are or not or are or are not categorized the same way public infrastructure?

Yes.

So demolition is allowable TIFF cost under Montana State Law.

So it's not public infrastructure, but it is tax increment eligible.

And uh, you know, as we've discussed, it is a way that you add value to a property, and it is a cost related to an investing in a property that we're allowed to mitigate.

Um curb gutter and alley is uh is public infrastructure.

We've all we've traditionally paid cash in lieu of water rights, and we've run through the city attorney's office, it's infrastructure or infrastructure adjacent, I think is the way we think about that.

Uh water and sewer service lines are clearly a connection to public infrastructure.

The parking lot is a it's a private improvement, and we traditionally don't pay for parking lots.

Um we did we did pave a parking lot once in midtown um for a private industry, but that was a payment for easements we acquired from the property.

So it rather than just pay cash for it, we improve the property in lieu of paying for the easement.

Um and then impact fees are downstream infrastructure.

They they're public infrastructure that upgrades that are necessary for for the developments, but that occur downstream from the project.

That's how we think about it.

So uh when you look at that list of six things, three things are public infrastructure, one thing is not an eligible TIFF cost, and um and two of them are eligible to TIFF costs, but not infrastructure.

And I think um kind of reviewing it real quick, we're looking at about nine million dollars worth of improvements.

Is that the other thing Jackson bid?

Yes.

Okay.

Um kind of if that's like a targeted like change in value, how how long do we see uh a recoupement of say, and clearly right now we're kind of working more from like a 343 2019 basis because we we've already kind of modified that.

I will make a motion and uh amendment to that, probably.

Um if that's the preferred way to do that.

Um an improvement of like nine million dollars.

How typically do you see uh fat what type of time frame do you know?

That's more yeah.

I I think that that's I think when I said earlier we we traditionally prepare a staff report for one of these, and I we're giving you the opportunity to just have more of this as a discussion item for today, and just say generally, do you want me to keep working on this?

Um so typically when we did that process, we'd have a third-party consultant do a tax generation analysis for us.

Some sometimes applicants prepare them.

We always make sure we they get done just to make sure things are in the ballpark.

Um, and I think that's that's the time where I feel more comfortable giving that number.

Um we and we we have to, you know, those are projections.

We have to continue to refine them.

Um the Montana Department of Revenue.

Um I I don't profess to be an expert in tax modeling, but um we uh we have noticed um when actual tax bills come in from some of these projects that um the Montana Department of Revenue doesn't appear to have adjusted their model in some time as it relates to the actual cost of building property in Bozeman.

Um a great example is uh at the MSU Innovation Campus.

Um we have a development agreement um for the the engine works and aurora buildings.

We know how much they cost because it's you know in their application and based on actual bids to construct those buildings.

Um the cost valuation was you know about a third less than the actual cost of building the buildings.

Um that's a that's a broad systemic tax policy issue that's might be a function of the city's lobbying effort, but is probably beyond the scope of this board.

But it's something we have to think about a little bit with our consultants is how do we account for the fact that DOR doesn't seem to be recognizing the actual value of new commercial property from uh cost valuation?

Um without going too deep in the weeds, the the many commercial properties ultimately end up being um assessed based on their income valuation method, and so if that method's used, it's it gets you closer because the the market rents reflect the actual cost of construction.

Can you speak to the just the zooming out the larger picture of this TIFF district?

The TIFF budget is this request is 543,000.

Does the TIFF have 250,000?

Does that have a million?

How much does the TIFF have to spend?

How are projects brought to this group for consideration?

Is there what happens when the property to the south comes up and says, hey, we want to do that too.

How does how does this fit into the larger picture of all of that?

Yes.

So this this district has um the city commission has adopted by ordinance a plan for this district that has broad guiding principles for the kinds of projects that the commission wants to see.

This board is advisory to the city commission.

At the end of the day, awards of tax increment are a discretionary legislative decision of the city commission.

So when you know we we have a point system for these projects, the projects are um the projects are awarded points to help the commission and this board think about the ways in which a proposed project conforms with adopted priorities.

Um and and this board and the city commission can always alter or improve even those point systems.

Like that's something we could potentially do in this board.

Um but at the end of the day, this is it's an intellectual exercise for thinking about conformance with goals.

You need to meet one goal of the urban renewal plan.

And that's like that's that's a requirement for awarding it.

It does not require you to award it.

Um so I think you know, I think those decisions are gonna be made based upon actual cash on hand.

We I like to think about um tax generation.

You know, typically I can't recommend an award to a generally when it is a private application.

I'm not going to make an award to a project that it recommended an award to a project that doesn't generate more taxable value than the award over the remaining life of the district.

Um that's it, that's I think that's a good rule of thumb.

We've we have pushed past that a few times in order to encourage affordable housing during what everyone was calling a housing crisis.

So we we have made different choices, but that's that's generally how I think about it.

If if there aren't any more questions, um I I would appreciate a motion from the board on whether you'd like me to you know do some due diligence on this on this item, uh do the third party review, prepare a staff report, uh those sorts of things to move this project forward.

I'll make a motion that we direct staff to consider to review this and uh bring the board a staff report with all the normal analysis for a future decision.

I just want to remind the chair that don't forget to take public comment on an action item.

Thank you.

Do we have any public comment coming in?

Just just for the we need to say can we take a second and then take public comment if there is a second on this motion?

I would like to second the motion as presented.

Now do we have any public comment?

And can we also introduce should we for attendance sake and all should we say?

Natalie, our chair is now at the table.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thanks.

Apologies for my delay.

Okay.

Public comment?

No more.

No public comment.

So do we move on to the next slide?

You couldn't have discussed.

Yeah, sorry.

Um all in favor of the staff moving forward with researching this.

I think I say I.

I.

All opposed?

Great.

Okay.

On to the next item.

Um are we, I realize we're out of order.

Are we going um we're gonna go to midtown?

Midtown.

Great.

Moving on to midtown.

So um just want to give you a step back and think a little bit about um budget development and how this board fits into budget development over the next few months.

So two years ago, I believe the city commission uh the city adopted its first biennial budget.

Um state law doesn't really recognize biennial budgets, it's a great planning tool for forward-looking budgets.

It also creates a little bit of more space in finance for uh more granular analysis in between budget cycles.

Um, but for urban renewal, what state law requires is that we adopt a work plan and the city commission adopt a work plan and budget annually for each district.

So this board advises the city commission on the adopted work plan and budget.

What's interesting about this is that you know, to the extent we're fitting a square peg and a round hole, we're trying we're gonna try and propose a two-year biannual budget, but you will get to refine this the second year of this budget next year through the work plan and budget process.

And that may result in budget amendments that the city commission could choose to act on to update that work plan and budget.

Um from a process perspective, we the staff um participate in the city manager's budget process.

So we have proposed kind of a working budget for all five of the districts that we manage to the city manager at this point.

And it includes the projects in front of you.

That's not the end of things.

Staff is more likely not going to include those recommendations in the city manager's recommended budget budget to the city commission.

And then we'll be presenting that the board's recommended work plan and budget to the city commission as part of the final budget adoption process.

Is that clear as mud?

Okay.

So what's helpful to us in thinking about these budgets is we've we've proposed a list of projects.

Many of these projects the ways these projects end up on the list are one of four ways.

And now we're proposing to build the project that we've already designed.

So that's how they're gone in there.

And then the final way is we've really been trying to do engagement with uh neighborhood groups adjacent to to the midtown and northeast boards in this case to find projects that are that those groups can identify as useful improvements to the neighborhood that's either within or that is impacted by a by an urban renewal district.

And so that that's really where these projects come from.

So I guess I can I'll I'll give a kind of headline overview of these projects and then I'll take questions about the projects after that.

So in fiscal year 27, we have the Fifth Avenue Trail Lighting Construction Project.

Um you can see what these are.

Um two years ago, we installed a 10-foot multi-use path on North Fifth Avenue from the Westlake BMX park all the way up to uh to here.

The trail gets a ton of use, it just a lot of use, especially as new housing has been constructed in the area.

You know, obviously Walmart is primary shopping for a lot of people, and so it creates a walkable path to there.

We've we've upgraded the crossing there with a rectangular rapid flashing beacon to improve um pedestrian safety there.

And then now what um in the past budget we had funding to design pedestrian scale lighting along the path.

So we'd be proposing installing permanent pedestrian scale lighting along this piece of pathway here, and then this piece of path is is honestly um temporary infrastructure, I think is the best way to describe it.

When we um several years ago, when we installed a new sewer line in North Fifth Avenue, we constructed a gravel access road for that sewer line and the manholes along this this section, it has a three-inch gravel lift.

A three-inch gravel lift is coincidentally what you'd want to put under uh a shared use path.

And so rather than with this whole project being up in the air, um, rather than um having rather than putting a gravel lift somewhere else where where the future street configuration was, it made a lot more sense to just pave the path that's there and see what happens because like grades might not match, it's likely it'd be disturbed during construction, a number of those things.

So that exists.

There's existing Northwestern energy polls along here, and we just be they have a program where you you pay them a flat fee and they install lights on their poles.

Um that's that's what we'd be proposing for that section.

So we don't have to take out anything we just installed.

Are the Northwest Energy Lights dark sky compliant?

Or are they just their typical things?

I don't know.

I think they project down, but I I don't know to what level they're dark sky compliance.

All right, so that's that project.

Um the Whittier parking lot construction.

Um that project has been bid, and we will be uh presenting the city commission with a um uh trying to remember what it's called.

Notice um notice of award for for that bid um in a in a couple weeks.

Um this is an exciting trend I'm noticing with public infrastructure projects for bidding.

They've been coming, they've been getting lots of bids and they've been coming in under engineers' estimates.

Now it's possible.

Oh Bobby's not here, so I don't get to make fun of him.

It's possible our engineers are estimating high because the construction project has been very challenging the last few years.

Um but we'll still take the win.

We're setting budgets based on that, and and I think in this case, it was over 300,000 for the engineers estimate, and I think we got a like around 160,000 actual bid.

So we'll we'll we'll likely be updating this number here based on that that actual if the city commission accepts the bid.

Um the aspen and seventh intersection improvements.

I'll just show you that.

Um this is something we design that was a design item in a past budget.

It's to improve crosswalks at the aspen and seventh intersection to make them look more like the West Villard improvements with the bulb outs, closing the turn lane, and um rectangular rack with flashing beacons.

Um there we've noticed just by observation, there's a lot of pedestrian traffic there, and it's not a very safe place to cross.

And the pedestrians don't go down to the light of walk block away.

Um I think many of them are not making as good a decisions as they might make before five o'clock.

But that's that's a good safety improvement.

It's it's also a necessary infrastructure safety improvement related to uh final occupancy for for this project, the Southern Aspen apartments.

Um the Mendon Hall sewers, seventh to fifth design.

Um, this is an item that was in the adopted midtown action plan for encouraging redevelopment of this area.

Um this district throughout large parts of it has uh these six inch hundred year old clay sewer lines.

So the the and really they can't they can't, they're often inadequate to the current sewer loads on them because of route intrusion and cracks and other sorts of things.

So we have we have a broader long-term strategy to upgrade them around the city.

That's only funded to do a couple blocks a year at this point, and so this is a place where we can um take use tax increment to speed up that process, take the burden off future rate pairs as well as enable private investment in these areas.

So this this has been on that uh that action plan for a while.

We're now is a good time to get to it, and so we're proposing uh designing and constructing it.

Um we traditionally request uh 100,000 uh professional services line item with within within a year where we frequently have things where the board or where we uh need to investigate opportunities to to grow the tax base or to design something small that's that's necessary to move things forward.

Um so this is this is money that we have available to pursue those opportunities.

Um we sometimes do some light mains in the districts mostly for the for blight prevention.

Uh we do have some utilities costs related to some of these lights we install until we can attach them to special improvement lighting districts.

Um the fifth, and then um see the fifth and menden hall lighting development agreement.

That's something the city commission recently adopted um where we we've we've been in the midst for the last two years of designing lights to connect downtown and midtown along Main Street Fifth and Mendon Hall.

Um the developer.

So we we did the first part of it in conjunction with the downtown.

I went too far.

Um way too far.

Uh did the first part in front of the Freestone in conjunction with the downtown or rural district, but we did not do a development agreement, and I really wish we had, because that was a construction nightmare trying to work in their active site.

You know, we have to put in the pole bases and then they have to put the sidewalk in next to them, and so it's it's way you should put developer in charge of it.

And so since this the um property owner owns all of this and all of this, we were able to secure easements to set back the sidewalks on 7th and on Menedon Hall.

Um and they're gonna take over the the actual placement of lights there.

So that's something the city commission has really already directed us to include in a future budget.

Um and then the midtown asset development agreement, that's related to an existing development agreement that's adopted by the city commission.

We've been accumulating cash to make this payment, so we don't have to go through the bond issuance process.

And so we're we're expecting the first building from that project to be delivered in June and the second building to be delivered by the end of the year.

And so then we'll need to make that payment related to that development agreement.

And then finally, um it's been a long-standing goal of the district through the action plan to consider um finding a place for um to to build more public parking in this district.

We eliminated minimum parking requirements several years ago.

Um the state has also effectively eliminated minimum parking requirements for for residential through through their laws, but um just in an effort to encourage development, but also get ahead of potential challenges and future challenges, possibly existing challenges.

We um this fall we released an RFP to uh for a developer to do a public-private parking structure, and we did receive a response from boundary development.

Um they own boundary owns this part, sorry, this parcel through this parcel along here, and so we're we're exploring in response to that um opportunities for building building public structured parking within the district.

Um, and so that is uh you know 10% of the project costs related to design work, which is fairly standard budgeting placeholder for something like that.

So I'd I'd be happy to take any questions you have about any of those items.

Am I understanding correctly?

This is the recommendation for the budget.

These are recommended items from us.

You're welcome to recommend anything else that you'd like us to explore price out, probably more on the design side than the construction side in the next year.

Um but these are what we're recommending to you.

Because there are items that weren't on this list that make the that we cut.

Yeah.

We um there there's a lot of future projects that you could do in this district.

These are the ones we're recommending for right now.

I don't I don't know that we I don't know that we cut anything.

I think it's more that we had it, we had a lot that was right in front of us that we had been working on and developing.

Um this is a big district with a lot of infrastructure deficiency, so the this is what we're recommending right now.

But we we don't have it's not like we have a uh a 10-year CIP list of unscheduled projects at this point.

Can I ask you a question?

Yes.

Sorry, hi.

Um Alison, we need the commission liaison.

I apologize I was late.

Um I'm just wondering since there has not been a board to oversee either the midtown or the northeast urban renewal districts for some years.

Um yes, these were all you know, identified as desirable projects at one time.

Is it possible for the board today to say we have a few sessions to work on this and maybe we do some public engagement, a quick survey type of thing out to the midtown urban renewal district and the northeast urban renewal district because those do have neighborhood associations associated with them.

Um just thinking as a commissioner, um I value the advice of this board having adequate time to kind of dig into these and also engage with the public and see what they're thinking.

So just is that an option?

Is today a hard stop for an adoption of this?

What are we?

I know budgeting we can do.

We are not expecting adoption today.

Okay.

Um we could consider adoption at the next meeting.

Melissa might let me go to the April meeting, but then we're we're getting pretty tight from where we need to like finalize things around.

So I I think I think next meeting would be the latest we could accept new requests that we have to like research and price essentially on the design side.

Excellent.

Suggested projects.

We attempted to do that with the midtown neighborhood, and they've been having some leadership changes.

And so we we weren't able to do that, but we had heard through a number of public comments on other projects that North Fifth Avenue, which is kind of at the edge of the district next to Whittier School.

It's a it's a long block, people drive fast on it, and that we might be able to make some pedestrian and traffic calming improvements on there.

And so that's that's the um North Fifth Avenue Improvements Design.

We're not sure exactly what they are, but that it that's money for us to work with an engineer to potentially design those improvements in.

Nice.

So that came directly from neighborhoods.

It did.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Like we we it's not always a direct conversation about this board, but we try to pay very close attention to tough public comment and look for problems that the public raises that we're able to solve using this tool.

Awesome.

Thanks.

I'll know too, we are engaging the public right now.

Um we may not pack the seats like you guys do.

Um it's kind of like the championship game every night for you guys, but um maybe we could encourage, you know, I don't know how to get more public and comment and more engagement in these meetings.

Uh we appreciate you.

Um I did want to acknowledge earlier we read the public comment that came in via email.

Uh consider it very highly.

But uh I don't know.

Uh I don't know how we pack the seats in here.

Uh, you know, but we don't get a lot of attention.

And uh we appreciate the the public input as much as we can.

Yeah, but I I I think I think just in response to that, like I I think it's something I'm happy to package up and send out to the the board chairs of those those districts and um awesome, yeah.

And just so they can be aware and and tell people I am not sure that there's very much that's if there's anything controversial in this list, the city commission already acted on it.

Okay by approving development agreements.

So that like that's that's um right, those are set in motion.

Those are already set in motion.

Yeah.

Um I have one more thing, David, too.

Um some of the people may have not served on a board.

So I served on the Northeast Urban Renewal Board for years and uh the North Seventh Urban Road Board.

I think I did both at the same time at one point.

Um so some of these projects are that we went over today or things that we worked on years ago.

Um, you know, maybe to explain to some of the new boarders, and you you've got you guys have experience with some of this.

Um a lot of these are you know, like the hundred thousand dollars contract to professional services.

Um we add we put this in the budget.

We're not gonna use all of it.

But if it's not in the budget, we can't do it.

You know, it's kind of the way this mechanism works.

Um, you know, we don't have a pizza party line item because we can't do a pizza party in here, but we'd love to do that.

Um how does this total amount reflect to the amount of money that we have to allocate for our budget?

Is this the max?

It's it's it's not the max.

Um we were at at the time this had to go to press.

We were working on projection with finance related to the other process, and I I thought it would be more confusing to take the fact that my number and their number didn't match and put put it on this agenda.

So I'm giving you a list of projects for night now, and I want to focus on projects people want to see, and then we can focus on trade-offs of what we might have to take on and off.

This is this right here is a doable list.

We could do all of these things within the amount of available budget.

I feel really confident with that.

I'm just not sure how much extra we have, and that I'm not saying that's discourage future projects.

I'm just saying I don't know.

So any future projects may involve some trade-offs.

I'll have clear answers for you at the next meeting about what those are.

David, I got a really quick question, and this is not a recommendation.

I just am wondering if you could give us a quick rundown on Eighth Avenue north of Aspen.

What what if anything is oh privately or board-wise?

What is going on there?

You anything?

You've been paying attention to this in multiple capacities for a while now.

So I don't remember.

I think it was in 2021 or 2022.

This board recommended in the city commission approved a development agreement for this site for a project called that at the time was called the 910 project.

It was 90 to 100 units of for sale affordable housing in two four-story buildings.

Actually building the project.

Quite a bit, quite a few more units.

That was a um I think a close to a 300 unit project with mark small market rate units and small low-income housing tax credit units, so taxable and non-taxable components of that project.

And I guess that's that's why I was asking that question is there is eighth something we should be thinking about as far as trying to encourage the development on there.

If you if you zoom out on this picture, we're looking at on the and hopefully the people watching online can see that, but there is quite a bit of property that opens up once we get infrastructure in that area.

You know, I think this is always been a and I think this is a really important kind of policy level call for this board and potentially for the city commission is whether we want to build North Eighth Avenue all the way down here, or portions of it.

You know, if the if this property that the um the 910 North Eighth project were to go in, you know, they would need to build the piece between Juniper and Aspen from a transportation perspective.

They wouldn't have to build other sections.

Um the the property owner that owns all of these parcels has historically shown um an intense aversion to redevelopment of their property.

Very diplomatic.

Um so you know, just given the fact that these public infrastructure depreciates, like you could it's not that useful for transportation.

You know, you can't come down here and turn left too close to the intersection.

You'd actually probably need to block that turning movement, according to engineering.

Um, it with a different property owner, um, putting that in might encourage redevelopment.

I'm not sure that you could count on that with this property owner.

Um, I think I think I think there's some trade-offs involved, but like when you have other inadequate infrastructure that is more likely to have an ROI, whether this is the best one, but there's definitely compelling reasons to choose this one.

It's just they're compelling reasons to choose or not choose a number of projects.

And so that's something we would think about.

For this project, you know, be right now.

There's a an old sewer line that actually goes underneath this building, um, because those were the days.

Um sins of the past.

But I I know with with a lar with large projects like when we talk about infrastructure deficiency, that's that's kind of an infrastructure deficiency to be discharging a lot into a pipe that you can't maintain effectively.

Um so one of the things that has been a requirement of past projects here is that they put in new sewer line in North Eighth that parallels the existing one just to take take that flow off um the line that goes under the building.

Um the property to the east.

What is that?

It's the same property owner.

I think what's the use of that use case.

You know, I I think you would have to ask the property owner what their plans are.

I I I know there are commercial real estate brokers who approach this property who when they get calls about going after this property owner, give people the owner's cell phone numbers, they have fun, which is is not typically what commercial brokers do when they get an opportunity to assist someone in buying property.

You'll probably see human beings on Mars before.

Um but that's my opinion.

Um also I wanted to just kind of point out to the public too.

Like this property was developed or bought and purchased by a developer for the 910, sold to another developer.

Price keeps going up.

And I just want to point out we've given them no money from a tip uh perspective.

We we're not contributing to these inflated values of price.

We are saying if you bring affordable housing to this project to this project, we will we will get likely give you money.

Um but we haven't given them uh any money, we're correct.

No, no, no money has been spent so far.

The TIFF district is benefiting from that value increase, though.

Yes, right?

Yeah, me too.

Yeah, and I I mean we we've we I mean the improvements we have done in this district have um done on done what they've been intended to do in terms of encouraging uh investment and um increasing value.

Great opportunity to thank David and Britt for their hard work on that I that there was a period of time where you know I don't know if you guys saw me and girls back in the day, but when I was talking about midtown, it was like stop trying to make fetch a thing.

Um it just it people would be like, what's this midtown thing you're talking about?

Like, why would I ever invest in this strip?

Like that seems insane.

And we showed them the picture that it's like a 10-minute walk from downtown where there was a lot of interest in investing, and people are just like, no, we're not doing it.

And we we seem to have changed the conversation and and the interest.

And while projects don't all pencil, people are interested in doing projects, and that's that's progress.

I just want to say uh we've been you know doing this in a couple different boards over the years.

Uh David and Britt always kind of provide a great recommendation uh for the budget.

Um we could probably modify some things if we wanted to.

Um, but usually um in my experience, these are these are very well thought out kind of budgets.

Um anybody has any, you know, is anybody I guess if we bring up discussion like or maybe this chair's uh thing of any modifications or um one thing I see is the utilities are really low.

Um 3,000, um, just kind of an earmark.

It's it's an electric bill.

Yeah, it's not that high.

These LED lights don't use that much power.

We and I wonder, and I just bring this up from past experience.

We had a proposal in the midtown district for what would have been a uh Hispanic grocery store that is now they needed a power upgrade.

Um, and then that became a bookstore.

And um we always thought that was a great idea to bring up a grocery store in there, they needed more power.

Um, and I think we provided them 12,000 in the past.

No, it was like three times that.

But but I mean I think I mean I think this is an example, and I'm just for for the reference to the folks on the board.

Um El Mercadido received uh a TIFF award for extending, I think they needed to extend like three-phase power um because it wasn't on these lines, like almost two, three blocks away from from where that needed to happen.

They ultimately weren't able to make the project work for themselves.

But I think this is an example of where when you address infrastructure deficiency, you're you're potentially um you can potentially benefit other projects because um you know there's uh there's a site plan application in for the the northern project on the on the EcRoth side, they're likely gonna need that power upgrade, and it's now a lot closer to them, so they're not gonna request it.

It's already done.

They can request something else.

Um I think that's an example.

But just for examples, if we did see a project come in that needed a like a utility upgrade like that, uh we wouldn't have the budget for that.

Or that we I think we could that's a good conversation to have once we're like balancing these out is like what do you want to have kind of dry powder available for responding to these opportunities on the capital side as opposed to the design side?

Um I do I do want to flag something for this.

Like it's a little new to me.

I we when we had these board meetings and there were one district, I tried really hard to get them done in an hour and a half and to start on time and end on time.

And to start on time and end on time.

But I do want to be respectful of people's time.

So just to the extent people have anything they want me to think about researching for next time.

Are there any is there anything that you would suggest we consider adding to this list?

We could theoretically also add to the list next meeting.

Is that right?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

Don't reply all to everyone because we don't want to create a virtual quorum.

But you can email me directly with some ideas, and I'll I'd be happy to research that stuff and bring it back for next time if if something crosses your mind.

But to be on the up and up with our friends on the budget side, we need to finalize our vote next month, correct?

Um it's ready to roll for April.

I I think I think that's that's a possibility.

I mean, you're not giving me a huge amount of feedback, so if it doesn't change that much, you could you could pretty easily adopt this budget next month, and we get we can move on to other things if if you're there.

I'm I'm prepared to ask Melissa for more time if if we need it, but if we don't need it, let's move on.

It's a great opportunity for people to provide public comment and neighbor associations to provide further input on recommendations and in this district and uh Northeast Remember New.

Okay.

Um I I don't need any motions at this time, so if if if we're done with Midtown, we can move on to Northeast.

Before you move on, yes.

Since it was scheduled as a action item, I suggest that you take public comment.

Thank you.

Okay.

Is there any public comment on the midtown proposed budget?

All right, no public comment.

We can move on to Northeast.

Great.

All right.

So Northeast urban renewal district.

We've this district had a board.

Um previously, the board had a long list of kind of unscheduled projects that we were able to work through.

We we've mostly gotten through that list of projects.

And so this fall we went out to the Northeast Neighborhood Association and asked them to suggest things that they thought we should do.

And uh Amy Hoytzma Um led a robust engagement process and got us that feedback.

We were able to look into it.

So the the things um the things you're seeing in FY27 reflect that um kind of right-of-way enhancements at church, cotton, wood, and aspen, these are places where the streets don't all have curb and gutter.

Maybe they don't have complete sidewalks.

We're not sure exactly all that we might put in there, but we're looking at doing some conceptual design and renderings.

We can go back to neighborhood, bounce those things around and then and then pursue more design related to that and potentially bake it more.

So this I I think this is a high number, but it allows us to do a couple rounds of of review related to that.

Um the neighborhood also recommended removing the wallace uh traffic calming.

Um this one makes me chuckle.

Um the reason it makes me chuckle, I'll just so everyone can see it, is that um when we constructed North Wallace Avenue, there was a lot of public engagement discussion, and the thing everyone wanted was to encourage traffic calming on North Wallace.

Um the interesting thing was that once North Wallace got paved and there became more commercial interest in the district, is that um we now have natural traffic calming called cars parked at tree line and other uh other visit businesses, and so that that does seem to slow down the cars quite a bit um along there.

And so uh the request of the neighborhood folks asked us to get rid of this piece of traffic calming.

Uh just creates difficult terming movements.

Uh we looked into what it's it's pinned down, so it's pretty easy to pick up and take away.

Uh we we asked what the public works would charge to get rid of it, and the the um the streets division, which has handles plowing, was thrilled to get rid of it and uh was willing to do it for free.

So we're we're responding to uh to to public engagement and uh it's costing us no money, but we did the work.

Um and then the other thing we heard from from the neighborhood is uh tree design.

Um we say we say tree design, but really uh they wanted more trees in the neighborhood.

They want to plant trees.

There's a lot of infrastructure conflicts in this neighborhood, buried.

So you we have to do quite a bit of survey just to work around all the gas lines and power lines and other sorts of things, but the goal is to add more tree canopy um in the district.

And so that's what we're gonna ask the landscape architects to do.

Um for FY28, the city commission already adopted a what's called a pay-go agreement for the Wallace Works projects.

The Wallace Works project right here.

It's a mixed-use project with some affordable housing.

That's a market rate housing.

Um for folks that have not been on an urban renewal board or for the public, uh a pay-go development agreement.

Is we're not giving the development, it's kind of the lowest risk way to frame one of these deals for um for the city in that we don't pay anything until the project's done.

We don't make any, I mean, we make estimates about the the taxable value return from the project because that's part of what we're trying to get.

But in the event that DOR screws it up, we're giving them a percentage of the project generated tax increment until they're made whole for their infrastructure asked.

So we're not even touching other increment that's generated through appreciation or through other investment in the district.

It's just a it's just a way to pay them back.

So this is this is an estimate related to what we'll need to pay them related to that agreement and their and their final tax generation.

Um but that that's what that is.

Dude, are are those those pay-go agreements?

Are they I mean, how much extra work is that for you guys?

I mean, is that pretty decent way to do that?

You know what?

No one's ever actually made a pay request under a paygo agreement, so I don't know.

Um but there's two tax bills a year, and it's it's uh it's a percentage.

So you just take the tax bill times the percentage and pay them.

It's not that hard.

You can do it through the claims process.

Um it it's it's yeah, it's it's pretty easy to do.

Um I expect, since I haven't done it yet.

Um Bozeman Yards is an approved development agreement.

We will need to issue bonds to reimburse them.

Um some great news.

They went through the public bidding process for that project.

The engineer's estimate was uh close to 2.6 million for the infrastructure that was going out for bid, uh that that portion of it.

Um the low bid came in just a little over 1.7.

So we got nine responses, and the the three low bids were within a thousand dollars of each other, so um it's just something we haven't seen in a long time in our in our public bidding.

So exciting, and also since we reimburse against actuals, good for this district and good for the taxpayers.

So um we're slowly moving forward with the quiet zone project.

Um this is the sixth year I've worked on this project.

Um I'm I'm grateful.

It you know, I'm grateful for state government because it makes local government seem really efficient.

Um state government's grateful for the federal government and the federal government is grateful for railroads.

Um and so um the this this has been a long, a really long process, but we're uh we're hoping that we can we can build summer of 28 for this.

Sorry, summer of 27 is is what we're hoping for to get that project done.

Um and that's uh that's kind of a joint project between the pole yard district and and this district.

And you'll see those you'll see those budgets next time.

They're really simple.

Uh budgets just because of those districts are less active than these two.

And then building the actual improvements, that's kind of a placeholder number for the church cottonwood aspen.

Since we haven't designed what we're doing, we're just kind of reserving capital for that.

I might have missed so what's the highlights mean versus the non-highlight?

The highlights mean those numbers are subject to change because they're still being baked.

Do anyone have any more questions?

Is there any public comment in regards to this?

Thanks, actually.

Um Amy Hoitzma, president of the Northeast Neighborhood Association and resident of the Northeast Neighborhood.

Um I appreciate all the you know the back and forth we've had with economic development about uh about um since we don't have a board anymore about what to uh what to do with that money.

I feel like the right-of-way enhancements, maybe there is a mis of communication on that because what we're talking about, maybe you can draw it up on the map.

I feel like the the right-of-way enhancements, maybe there is a miss of communication on that because what we're talking, maybe you can draw it up on the map, um, that church between Cottonwood and Aspen is just one short, very short block that it's just north of Cottonwood.

You're talking cottonwood and well, that's what you're saying.

It's between Yeah, I think I think it's like it's a short block, it's unclear.

I think when I think about this, it's it's from peach to it's it's everything on North Church from peach to essentially the trail.

Okay, well, I'm I'm I think I'm speaking on behalf of the neighborhood.

Please.

Um and you know, we care a little bit less about curb and gutter and sidewalk, whatever, especially with that this stretch because there's just not that much traffic on church, and right in front of the trail, if you go a little bit scroll down, that has um I don't know if you've all been on that little creek trail.

So the block before is unpaved and no sidewalks, but there's also really pretty much zero traffic and doesn't what I would suggest, and what what I think people are excited about, and I think it's a great opportunity now because of this.

If the um what's the the uh the arcos or um what's the other project that we just heard the presentation of today?

No, no, no, just today.

The photonics uh the photonics, yeah.

Yeah.

So they're talking about what what the neighborhood has been talking about is improving from the uh across Tamrak, the city right-of-way on church that is right along the creek where the creek is actually exposed.

The other thing the neighborhood is interested in is working with the C.

Bozeman Creek and the Bozeman Creek Vision process.

And now that um uh I'm sorry, I don't know why I can't remember the photonics place, is wanting to extend that North Alley all the way to church.

Um it seems to me that now the access, the opportunity to improve that stretch of the creek between Tamrak and uh the alley south of Juniper is I think this money should be spent on that would be prep it would be I think the neighborhood's preference.

And I think I can speak for the neighborhood on that.

Um I'm gonna speak for myself.

The um the quiet zone construction is something that's a real uh uh diverse opinions in the neighborhood.

Some people think it's great and important, and some people say I love the train.

Oops, do I have do I have a three-minute thing?

I you know, I love the train.

I don't, you know, I don't want to change that.

But the bigger thing for me is that um I'll speak specifically to Bozeman Yards, which received 3.66 million dollars in TIFF award.

They stand most directly to benefit from this quiet train because they chose to build an Uber luxury unit, through two units, right next to the immediately next to the railroad.

I mean, we are uh we live on East Peach, so we hear it, we get woken up at night, we hear the highway also when the windows are open, but um so I feel like you know, to the extent that the TIFF is a subsidy, they're getting a subsidy, and then they're getting another subsidy with other TIF money to do the quiet railroads project.

That is my that's my personal feeling, and I think it merits some discussion.

I think it's already in the works, and I know, and I know you worked really hard on it, and I I don't think it's a dumb idea or anything, but I the idea that it's getting that amount of which is a lot of TIFF money causes me some angst.

So those are those are my comments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any discussion?

I think I I think I would just add on the on the quiet zone project.

Um that project's been in the works since 2020.

So before Bozeman Yards was even a project.

Um at the time we were approached by originally by Outlaw Partners, which has the the cotton um the what are they calling it now?

Clover Leaf Project in the district.

Um but they they worked and we worked, and I think we got seven or eight developers that actually contributed money to the initial quiet zone study.

So, you know, not just in this district, a few in this district, um, you know, like uh Nest Partners who did Wallace works also contributed.

Um but also you know, folks from the cannery district, folks in the pole yard district, which is funding the Rouse improvements um related to this project, um some develop some property owners, not even developers, some property owners over on this side of uh side of this.

So there it I just want to make sure that it's clear for the record that while there's one notable project which seems to be moving forward faster than other projects that will benefit from this, there were a number of interested parties looking at projects that brought this forward initially.

David, if I can just add not specifically talking about this project, but I have been involved in several quiet zones in other communities, and um number one, I think the benefits are huge and far reaching.

So um I think there's a lot of other positives besides just being quiet in this one little area.

Um and then secondly, if we decided not to do this, it will n the railroad will never consider it again.

So the fact that you've gotten this far with the railroad, even if it's not tip money or whatever, we I mean, I would just say don't don't slow down on working on this because if we've got the railroad going, um you know, if you say now's not the right time, you know, a hundred years from now won't be they won't want to talk about it again.

So this is not something the railroad likes to do at all.

It's a it's a real um it goes against everything they want, they want a lot of signals and all that kind of stuff.

So I I applaud you for as far as you guys have gotten, and I would say however we have to do it to keep moving.

Because I think the other thing to think about is that once we get one of these in our region, it's that much easier to do the next one and the next one, which some of those others could you know could have huge benefits for the community.

So it's just my two cents.

Also to point out too on the development side, uh when developers looking at buying a property, they're typically faced with uh doing an ESA report, um, environmental kind of study, and what we've been seeing pop up on those is actually sound uh has become a a big item on those uh things.

So I know it's kind of like the luxury development is kind of a target.

I mean, uh one of our main goals is affordable housing um on this board, the things that we tend to approve 10 times out of 10 almost.

Um you know, those developments will face greater scrutiny um by having some of these things on those reports, and uh, I think this is a way to make this uh easier for future developments of all kinds.

Um and I think we have to kind of paint a wide brush there.

Yeah, without taking up too much time, I just want to add to that we had a project in in Maryland that was a low-income project that was required to attenuate for the sound from a railroad crossing and added about a million and a half dollars to the project uh to put in new windows and and uh sliding glass doors on that on that affordable housing in order to meet the federal requirements for affordable housing.

So there are you know other far-reaching, you know, implications of this.

So in the interest of time, I think we do we need to public comment.

See if there's no public comment online.

Okay.

Were there any suggestions from this board things that you'd like me to work on?

I I did hear the public comment that maybe something got lost in translation, and um my colleague Jesse who'd been working on some of this stuff is on maternity leave, so I'm I'm picking I'm picking up some of her very good work that she'd probably be embarrassed that I got wrong in describing it.

But so yeah, can we add to the list to revisit or get clarity on how to spend those funds and look at the water or the creek?

I will definitely do that.

Make sure we're getting the right thing.

Great.

Um okay, unless anyone has anything else move to adjourn.

Meaning adjourned.

I need to learn my terms clearly.

Oh, are we uh is