The Grand Forks City Council and the Growth Fund Authority approved a set of loans and tax abatements for a local company's expansion during Monday meetings.
Applied Products Inc., a manufacturer of truck bed covers, received $480,000 in economic development loans and $96,000 in interest buy-down loans for construction and equipment costs for the company's planned 20,000-square-foot, $2.4 million building in the Grand Forks Industrial Park. It also will get a five-year declining property tax exemption, starting at 100 percent in the first year and dropping to 20 percent in the fifth year of the exemption.
The company expects to add 15 employees through the expansion.
The council also voted to give 11 city-owned vacant lots to the Grand Forks Community Land Trust for the development of homes for moderate-income families, along with $355,000 in state housing money. Members discussed the question of whether other potential groups, such as Habitat for Humanity, were being excluded as developers of the properties.
Community Development Manager Meredith Richards said the city chose the land trust because the council wanted to get the lots out of city ownership.
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"There has been a desire to wrap it up quickly," she said. "There's no prohibition against Habitat for Humanity and the land trust forming their own partnership."
The council members agreed to give the land and money to the trust but keep any unused land or money available for future projects.
Other actions
Council members approved a request from the Grand Forks Police Department to buy seven police cars for $159,000.
They also changed the liquor licenses for the Alerus Center and the Ralph Engelstad Arena to allow the sale of beverages in aluminum cans.
Also at Monday's meeting, council members adopted recommendations from city staff on how officials should plan infrastructure projects before the June 12 vote on the Measure 2 initiative to eliminate property taxes.
Because the measure is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2012, officials say that the city will not be able to issue bonds now to cover projects that would be paid for by special assessments. City Engineer Al Grasser recommended that the city get developers to agree to pay for street and sewer infrastructure until the outcome of the Measure 2 vote is decided.
Reach Bjorke at (701) 780-1117; (800) 477-6572, ext. 117; or send e-mail to cbjorke@gfherald.com .
