Dick Grabko and Gary Lamppa of Community Resource Development (CRD) came before the Tofte town board on Thursday, June 13, 2013 with a proposal to pursue the feasibility of developing senior housing at the Birch Grove Community Center site.
In the past, the board has looked at putting senior housing behind Birch Grove on the hillside on land owned by Tofte, but when a private developer opted out, the focus went to adding a second story for senior housing and some office space.
But before getting too far ahead of themselves, Tofte Supervisor Paul James said, “The key is getting an engineer study on the integrity of the walls at Birch Grove. If we can build up, I think this will be a real game changer. But if the walls won’t support an addition, we have to shift our focus and go to plan B, or C.”
Grabko said he and Lamppa would find an engineering firm that assesses structural feasibility work on a cost assessment to develop the project.
James said he also thought it was important to have at least two public meetings, and that one of the meetings be held at one of the senior lunches held at Birch Grove, to get the public’s input.
“We would be happy to set up those meetings,” said Grabko.
Lamppa, a former Iron Range Resources Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) member, said it was important to get as much support for the project as possible, especially when seeking grants.
Towards that end, Grabko said the Cook County – Grand Marais Economic Development Agency (EDA) recently voiced support for the project, and he added that if the Cook County board of commissioners could also be brought on board that would demonstrate how all of the partners can work together. “There hasn’t been a lot of that lately in the county,” said Grabko.
Grabko went over a proposal that included identifying prospective clients, writing grants and finding bonding, finding a developer,site prep, securing permits, building options and the final phase, paying off the debt.
Terms of the agreement with Grabko and Lamppa would be $3,000 per month plus 5 percent of the bond with two percent of that going back to the township.
But James again said that if the Birch Grove facility walls wouldn’t support a second story, then the project would have to be stopped until another plan could be formulated, and he wanted to know how much the township would owe Grabko and Lamppa.
“It shouldn’t take more than three or four months to know that. And if the walls won’t work, we would stop and end our contract,” said Grabko.
“What if the EDA pulls its support?” asked Jim King.
“Then you will have to decide to be the developer on your own,” Grabko said.
“What if the county gets involved and asks us to use ORB? We don’t want that fiasco again like what happened at the community center and the tennis courts,” asked Jerry Gervais, a citizen in attendance.
“Well, I don’t think that will happen. This would be our project, not their project,” replied James.
Upon Supervisors Allen “D.C.” Olsen, Paul James and Jim King voicing their support to hire Grabko and Lamppa, King asked for one more thing, that the township’s attorney look over the contract before it was signed, which the board agreed to do.
James instructed Town Clerk Barb Gervais to send the contract to the attorney with the hope he could have an opinion back in time for the special June 20 meeting with the township’s architectural firm which designed the tennis court. The town believes the tennis court was designed and built improperly and the township is seeking to have the matter resolved and the tennis court fixed.
Grabko and Lamppa said they felt the attorney would find nothing wrong with the housing project contract and said they would start working immediately.
In other business:
. Neither the Tofte fire chief nor the emergency responder chief could be at the meeting, but James said both departments had been very busy, especially in light of the recent fire at Bluefin Bay Resort.
. Because West End County Commissioner Bruce Martinson also couldn’t attend the meeting, Supervisor King gave his report. Most notably, said King, a representative from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) would be at the county board meeting on Tuesday, June 18 to discuss the proposed gypsy moth quarantine.
King added, “And I’m not making this up—it looks like anyone coming out of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area [BWCAW] will have to get a permit—outfitters, fishermen, and campers—showing they are in compliance with the quarantine. Apparently someone had way too much time on his or her hands. This is your federal dollars at work.”
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