The St. Paul City Council Policy Committee met on May 20, 2026, to hear three major agenda items: a presentation on the Port Authority's industrial land study, a discussion on mobile sauna pilot programs in city parks, and a legislative update from the intergovernmental relations director. The meeting highlighted the value of industrial land for tax base and jobs, explored innovative park programming, and reviewed state legislative outcomes.
St. Paul City Council Policy Committee to order. Roll call, please. Councilmember Bowie. Council President Naker. Councilmember Joost. Councilmember Coleman. Councilmember Kim. Council Vice President Yang. Councilmember Johnson. Seeing five present, two absent. Councilmember Bowie is excused for the first thirty minutes of the meeting. And we have three items on our agenda today. Um, and the first one, uh, we're really excited to welcome the Port Authority. Um, I think Mr. Hurley, uh oh, Ms. Arm to tag team effort to uh present on the Portland uh Port Authority's industrial land study. This is something I know all of us have expressed a lot of interest in as we talk about expanding our tax base, which is a priority for this whole council. Um, and the timing couldn't be better as we approach budget season, so welcome up. And we have a new uh innovation at the council, which is a timer for presentations. So we're gonna set it for 45 minutes and it will at some point and it'll be counting down, but you can start. Wonderful. Well, good morning, and thanks for having us here today. I'm Ashley Aram. I'm Senior Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at the Port Authority. Um we are very excited to be here today to walk through our findings of the industrial land study that we commissioned last year. Uh, we worked with North Span, who is a nonprofit um agency who works in the upper midwest on economic development. Uh and we really um wanted to make sure that this was something that would be able to paint a pick a picture of all of St. Paul's industrial land. So um different from prior studies we've done at the Port Authority. This looks at all of the industrially zone land in St. Paul and not just our business centers through the port. Um, when we kind of put this study together, we met with key stakeholders to walk through this study. Um, and we also have a lot of presentations planned in communities, our district councils and others. That being said, um, if you see this presentation today and you think there are community groups or folks you think would be interested in this information, please reach out to me. I would love to get on their calendars. We really want to make sure we're sharing this with folks and um making sure this information is really considered in land use decisions and that community members understand uh kind of the data and facts behind industrial land in St. Paul. Um, with that, I will turn it over to our president Todd Hurley, who's going to walk through the findings of our city with you today. Welcome. Good morning. Uh thank you, Ashley. Council President Acre, members of the City Council. My name is Todd Hurley, and I'm the president and CEO of the St. Paul Port Authority. I have with me today here also Mike Solomon, who is the chief financial officer of the Port Authority, and Christine Williams, who is our chief development officer. And again, reasons for having them here is this study uh at the St. Paul Port Authority has really been an all hands-on deck. Uh there are there are conversations we have across our our organization around the development in St. Paul, around the financing in St.