Approve Resolution R2020-006 to submit a Redevelopment Grant to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and to accept same grant upon award.

The Redevelopment Grant Program was established by the State Legislature in 1998 to assist complex and costly redevelopment projects.  The Redevelopment Grant Program applies only to sites where there was a past use and the need to "recycle" the land for a more productive use.

The program has funded more than $65 million in grants since its inception.

The city is proposing to submit a grant for the removal of the majority of the existing barns at Canterbury.  The grant requires a fifty percent match, which Canterbury has agreed to provide.  Most of the barns are blighted and will be replaced with new barns located further to the north.  The existing barns sit on some of the most visible property at Canterbury that can be put to a much higher use and will help with job creation. Canterbury has been successful in attracting development in the areas where there are not impediments like the barns but the cost for the removal of the existing barns and construction of new barns is impacting the financial viability of the barn removal and replacement.