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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAd Hoc Business Park Planning Committee - Minutes - 5/2/2018Page 1 of 3 Minutes of the Bayfield County Ad-Hoc Business Park Planning Committee Wednesday, May 2, 2018 – 1:30 p.m. Bayfield County Business Park, Ashland, WI Chairman, Scottie Sandstrom, called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Present were: Mark Abeles-Allison, Mike BeBeau, Marty Milanowski. Absent were Preston Mikula and Leo Carlson. Larry Roecker from Bayfield Electric was also present. A quorum was present to conduct business. Public Comment. None Approval of Minutes from March 7, 2018 Bayfield County Ad-Hoc Business Park Planning Committee. A motion was made by BeBeau/Milanowski to adopt the minutes of the March 7, 2018 Bayfield County Ad-Hoc Business Park Planning Committee. It was noted that Leo Carlson was not present for this meeting. Discussion took place. The motion carried. Update on the Business Park Road Construction Timeline. Abeles-Allison reported. The storm water permit has been filed. He also reported that Russ Fisch, (person who designed the project), has left employment with C&S Design. Fisch did a remarkable job with the design and project and we will now be working with Trevor and Amber. Ritola from Mason, was awarded the bid for the road and is the contractor. Bayfield County had $250,000 set aside for the first phase of the project and Ritola’s base bid came in at $246,000. Abeles-Allison explained the phases of the road project. We have applied for a USDA Grant in the amount of $99,000 and applied for another through the Dept. of Transportation which is based on job creation. The $99,00 will take us up to where KV Tech is located. Discussion took place that if the grant is not received we would have to county on the Bayfield County Highway department to put in gravel. The USDA Grant award is in early June. The TEA grant is a year-round grant and we should hear back relatively soon. We applied for the TEA grant for both KV Tech and World Class. We are looking at creating additional incentives for business to help in job creation and investments. Ritola estimated that the job would be done in a couple of months. Reports: Abeles-Allison shared a Business Park Land/Job Formula Ideas document with the Committee. The Committee discussed the following: 1. New Job Creation Examples: Page 2 of 3 • Superior Sauna: 4 new jobs / 10 acres = .4 employees per acre • KV Tech: 4 jobs / 10 acres = .4 employees per acre • World Class: 15 jobs / 5 acres = 3 employees per acre 2. Goal: The Goal of the Bayfield County Business Park is to create 200 jobs over the next 20 years. This equates to approximately 2 new jobs per acre based on the availability of 100 acres. 3. Land Value: Bayfield County Business Park land is currently for sale at the amount of $3,500 per acre. The site has access to a single and three phase power, all season roads, natural gas, fiber and telephone services. 4. Investment Incentives: Bayfield County will provide the following incentives for investment on the property: Building investments over $100,000 per acre qualify a business for land at the rate of $2,000 per acre. 5. Job Incentives: Bayfield County will provide the following incentives for new job creation in Bayfield County on the property. 50 % land rebate for 1 job per acre 75 % land rebate for 2 jobs per acre 100% land rebate for 3 or more jobs per acre Discussion took place as to how the jobs are counted and from what starting point, what incentives we can offer to move to the Business Park. Another component discussed was investment: Job incentive is a new component. 1 job per acre; limited land. Jobs that go with the new business should be “new” jobs. A lengthy discussion took place on investment and job incentives. If a new business move to the Business Par, they would get the incentive that is most advantageous to them, either 4 or 5 but not both. Further discussion took place on the number of years a business has to complete the creation of jobs. The Dept. of Administration said it is a maximum of 3 years. Discussion turned to what other parks do to be competitive. The name of Seth Hudson was brought up by Sandstrom to contact. Sandstrom reported that Chuck Jerome expressed interest in the Business Park as well. He has an excavating business. It was noted that he also bid on the road job. He also had a concern on how the bonding was on the set up. He lost the bid, even though he was Page 3 of 3 next in line felt that it was not done correctly. Discussion took place on the base bid and the 4 alternatives and how other contractors. We had a base bid, and 4 alternatives. It just depended on how the bidders configured did their bids. Discussion turned to the cost of acreage in the Business Park. Discussed was whether the cost per acre for a business located on the highway should be the same as someone who has bought acreage in the “back 40” so to speak. It was noted that you always have room to negotiate. Further discussion on how to determine the price per acre in the Park. It was again noted that Seth Hudson should be contacted about this as well. It was noted that many other parks have water, sewer, black top roads and electricity. This should also be something to consider. The next meeting date topics will be: • Finalizing the cost per acre / equity brainstorming for new businesses; • Road construction; • Update on grants; • 3-phase junction box; have it staked, do we need to move. If it needs to be moved contact Larry Roecker. The next meeting date for the Committee will be on June 27th at 1:30 p.m. at the Business Park. There being no further business to come before the Bayfield County Ad-Hoc Business Park Planning Committee, a motion was made by BeBeau/Abeles-Allison to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dawn M. Bellile, Deputy County Clerk