On the agenda

1. 1Call to Order - Roll Call▶ 0:00
2. 2

   Approval of December 17, 2019 CRA Meeting Minutes

   approved

   The CRA Board approved the minutes from the December 17, 2019 CRA meeting.

   • motion:Approve the December 17, 2019 CRA meeting minutes. (passed)

   ▶ Jump to 0:22 in the video

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   [00:00:22] Thank you. [00:00:23] Next item is the approval of the December 17th minutes. [00:00:24] Move for approval. [00:00:25] Second. [00:00:26] Any discussion? [00:00:27] Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. [00:00:28] Aye. [00:00:30] Motion passes.

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

3. 3

   ↳You arrived here from a search for “Ford & Associates” — transcript expanded below

   Resolution No. 2020-07: Authorizing Interfund Loan Between the Water & Sewer Fund and the CRA

   approved

   The CRA Board approved Resolution 2020-07 authorizing an interfund loan of $1.7 million from the City's Water & Sewer Fund to the CRA for a three-year term at 1.8% interest, to help finance the $1,750,000 purchase of the former Walgreens property at U.S. Highway 19 and Main Street. Staff evaluated three financing options and recommended the interfund loan as the lowest-cost, most flexible alternative.

   Ord. Resolution No. 2020-07

   • motion:Approve staff recommendation for a three-year interfund loan from the Water & Sewer Fund to the CRA at 1.8% for $1.7 million to fund the Walgreens property purchase. (passed)

   📍U.S. Highway 19 and Main Street🏢Bryant, Miller, and Olive🏢Ford & Associates🏢Walgreens👤Chalmers👤Debbie Manz👤Mrs. Feast👤Murphy#CRA Resolution No. 2020-07#Gateway / Main Street frontage preservation (40x80 feet)#Interfund loan#Purchase agreement dated October 29#Water & Sewer Fund

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   [00:00:31] Next, Resolution 2020-07. [00:00:32] Resolution. [00:00:33] CRA Resolution Number 2020-07, a resolution of the City of New Port Richey, Florida, Community [00:00:40] Redevelopment Agency, a public body corporate and politic, authorizing the execution of [00:00:45] an interlocal agreement with the City of New Port Richey, Florida, providing for approval [00:00:48] of the repayment of a loan from the City's Water and Sewer Fund for redevelopment activities [00:00:53] and providing an effective date. [00:00:54] Thank you. [00:00:55] Ms. Manz, would you care to explain this? [00:00:58] Yes, I sure will, Mr. Chairman. [00:01:00] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. [00:01:01] As all of you are aware, on September 24th of last year, thank you very much, I presented [00:01:15] an opportunity to you to purchase the former Walgreens building at U.S. Highway 19 and [00:01:22] Main Street. [00:01:24] At that time, I felt confident that the purchase price would be $1,750,000 and in that respect, [00:01:36] the property owner agreed to sell the property for that price and we entered into a purchase [00:01:43] agreement on October 29th of that same year. [00:01:50] The City currently has $850,000 on account in the CRA budget for the purpose of property [00:02:02] acquisition. [00:02:04] If we were to use that funding, there would be a shortfall of $900,000. [00:02:12] There are, though, some other acquisition projects that you all have indicated a taste [00:02:19] for, and so when the City entered into discussions with our financial advisor, Ford & Associates, [00:02:30] as well as Bryant, Miller, and Olive in their capacity as bond counsel to us about our options, [00:02:41] we asked them to consider a loan amount in the amount of $1,700,000 with the expectation [00:02:49] that we would use $50,000 that's currently on account in the CRA. [00:02:57] There were three opportunities considered in order to determine the best course of action [00:03:06] For the City, of course, all three options are achievable. [00:03:13] They each, though, have varying degrees of advantages and disadvantages associated with [00:03:18] them. [00:03:20] The first option that was considered is an inter-fund loan, and that would be between [00:03:27] the Water and Sewer Utility Fund and the CRA. [00:03:31] For purposes of that, I need to tell you that there are sufficient funds in the Water [00:03:39] and Sewer Fund to supply a loan for the CRA purchase without undermining its ability to [00:03:47] conduct its business. [00:03:50] If the loan were to be considered, it would be a short-term commitment. [00:03:55] We are talking about a three-year period of time or less with a 1.8% interest rate. [00:04:05] It certainly is the easiest of the three options, and it carries the least amount of cost associated [00:04:19] with the administration of the loan. [00:04:24] The second option that the City considered was for the City to borrow the funds from [00:04:30] a bank and then, in turn, to loan the money to the CRA. [00:04:38] In that case, because at this point the future of the Walgreens property is unknown, it would [00:04:48] be considered a taxable non-ad valorem rather than tax-exempt transaction, which would add [00:04:55] cost to the issuance costs that are normally associated with bonds, and it would require [00:05:04] the City to amend its existing interlocal agreements between the City and the CRA. [00:05:11] The third option that was considered was for the CRA directly to borrow money from a bank [00:05:18] and that option turned out to be the most expensive in large part because the CRA is [00:05:29] much smaller in financial magnitude than the City is, and additionally, the bank would [00:05:39] likely place limitations on the CRA's ability to operate freely as it relates to the future [00:05:47] disposition of the property. [00:05:53] After consideration of all three of the options, I think that the decision should be based [00:06:02] on the cost of issuance and the potential protective restrictive covenants that might [00:06:09] accompany a loan from an outside source. [00:06:12] The internal funds certainly provide us with the flexibility of maintenance of the funds [00:06:21] and leave us with a healthy reserve in the Water and Sewer Utility Fund. [00:06:30] As indicated to you, we worked with the City's financial consultant, Ford & Associates, as [00:06:37] well as Bryant, Miller, and Olive, and then the City staff, we're all collectively in [00:06:44] agreement that the best way to finance the purchase is to do so through the Water and [00:06:50] Sewer Fund for a three-year period of time at an interest rate of 1.8% for the $1.7 million [00:06:59] balance. [00:07:01] I'm not prepared to respond to any questions that you may have, and so is Mrs. Feast, who [00:07:08] is here and quite under the weather today, but still answer any questions that you may have. [00:07:15] Just stay back. [00:07:16] Yeah. [00:07:17] I'll open it up for public comment, anyone? [00:07:23] Seeing no one but the Chief coming forward, I'll close some of the comment and bring it [00:07:28] back to the Board. [00:07:31] I'll kick it off with one question. [00:07:35] Are we still looking at selling the bulk of that property sometime very, very soon after [00:07:42] closing? [00:07:46] That would be the preferable position of the CRA without question, but we are not currently [00:07:52] involved in any type of a purchase agreement. [00:07:56] If it were to come to fruition, we would bring that back before you. [00:08:02] But I think part of your question is prompted by the fact that you would like to preserve [00:08:09] a portion of the property as it relates to the Main Street frontage of the property, [00:08:17] and our plan would be to preserve at least 40 feet by 80 feet so that we could have some [00:08:24] transitional treatments put in place linking that property to the city's downtown. [00:08:31] It's twofold. [00:08:32] I definitely want to have the area for the gateway, but I'm also very concerned about [00:08:40] buying a large amount of property without some fairly concrete plans to get rid of most [00:08:48] of it as quickly as possible. [00:08:55] If there's no questions about the item before us, I'd like to make a motion to approve the [00:09:00] staff recommendation to take a three-year loan transfer from the utility as recommended. [00:09:08] Very good. [00:09:09] Do we have a second? [00:09:11] Yeah, I'll second it. [00:09:14] Yes, I think some of you may have seen, but we've talked about that corner since I have [00:09:21] been involved in the city going back in the 80s and 90s. [00:09:26] We've paid consultants to come back and tell us they'd like to see us. [00:09:29] We've talked individually on the council about our desires. [00:09:33] I think a corner, which is one of the busiest corner intersections in the county, it used [00:09:41] to be until Ridge Road, is a valuable piece. [00:09:46] I don't think it's a speculative piece on that. [00:09:50] We've seen interest in typical corner properties, whether it's a gas station or an auto parts [00:09:55] store or whatever. [00:09:58] So I think that from a risk standpoint in the real estate market right now, that's not [00:10:02] a problem. [00:10:03] I've asked and I would like to see when we ask if there are intentions that we as a CRA [00:10:11] board sit and talk about what we would like to see happen versus asking what is going [00:10:16] to happen. [00:10:17] As we are at this point in the year and we have a budget in about four months, this is [00:10:23] the perfect time for us to test the private market to see what interest we have. [00:10:28] And I suspect that we will find that there is interest, and with the momentum we have, [00:10:35] this gives us an opportunity at both corners of that large track of land to maybe implement [00:10:41] some of what we learned today at our conference in terms of green infrastructure and finding [00:10:48] incentives that would not put cash in the developers' hands, but potentially help them [00:10:54] to solve the problems that cause these projects to be expensive, like parking and drainage [00:11:00] and the common sense with the fact that that land is in a floodplain and in 100 years or [00:11:08] in a large storm, all of the buildings out there are really not viable without some [00:11:15] hardening, which we can't require businesses to do unless they come to us with improvement [00:11:21] requests. [00:11:22] So I think this is an opportunity to test that market, and I feel it's a safe one, so [00:11:28] that's why I made the motion. [00:11:33] You know, I'm concerned about that corner, and I don't really want it to be a parking [00:11:38] lot. [00:11:39] I don't want a Walmart where the store is in the back and the parking is all up front, [00:11:43] so I think controlling the church and that piece of property will help us help the private [00:11:49] business that comes there and help them guide them through what we want as a city. [00:11:54] Mr. Chairman? [00:11:55] You all know where I stand. [00:11:57] I'm not opposed to the other three funding mechanisms. [00:12:00] I think this is definitely the way to go, but I'm not in favor of us purchasing the [00:12:05] property, so regardless of the funding mechanism, you all know where I stand. [00:12:10] Mr. Murphy? [00:12:11] No, I think Councilman Chalmers said it best, is we have to remember why we're buying the [00:12:17] property in the first place is to have control over it and make sure it doesn't turn into

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

4. 4Communications▶ 12:18
5. 5Adjournment▶ 14:25