Agenda - Council Work Session - 12/07/2010

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• Allow TIF eligibility expansion to innovative technological products, recognizing that not only physical items create economic value; • Support changes to TIF law that will facilitate the development of "regional projects:" • Shift TIF redevelopment. policy away from a focus on "blight" and "substandard" to "functionally obsolete" or a focus on long range planning for a particular community, reduction in green house gases or other criteria more relevant to current needs. • Encourage DEED to do an extensive cost - benefit analysis related to redevelopment, including an analysis of the various funding mechanisms, and an analysis of where the cost burden falls with each of the options compared the to the distribution of the benefits of the redevelopment project. • Support TIF for neighborhood recovery efforts in the wake of the foreclosure crisis; • Consider creating an inter - disciplinary TIF team to review local exception TIF proposals, using established criteria, and snake recommendations to the legislature on their passage; and • Metro Cities encourages the State Auditor to continue to work toward a more efficient and streamlined reporting process. III -J Eminent Domain Eminent domain law changes made by the 2006 Legislature resulted in a significant philosophical and legal shift in Minnesota. Whereas prior to 2006, Minnesota law provided extensive deference to local governments, statutory changes enacted in 2006 provide significantly greater deference to property owners. Eminent domain actions for traditional public uses such as streets, parks or sewers will cost more. And except for the most extreme cases of blight or contamination, eminent domain for redevelopment purposes will be nearly impossible at any cost. The proper operation and long term economic vitality of our cities is dependent on the ability of a city, its citizens and its businesses to continually reinvest and reinvent. Reinvestment and reinvention strategies can occasionally conflict with the priorities of individual residents or business owners. Eminent domain is a critical tool in the reinvestment and reinvention process and without it; our cities will be allowed to deteriorate to unprecedented levels before the public will be able to react. Metro Cities strongly encourages the Governor and Legislature to revisit the 2006 eminent domain changes to allow local governments to redevelopment problems before those conditions become financially impossible to address. Specifically, the Legislature should: • Clarify contamination standards; 2011 Legislative Policies 21