Since citizens at the 2008 Tofte Annual Meeting agreed that the township should pursue a senior apartment-assisted living facility, the town board has been researching ways to make it happen. Before extensive planning is conducted or significant funding sought, a housing market analysis needs to be done. At the Thursday, April 8 town meeting, the Tofte board agreed to apply for a $6,000 grant to the Minnesota Housing Partnership, matching with $3,000 if the grant is awarded.
Supervisor Paul James said the housing study is the first step in the process. In early 2008, former Tofte Town Treasurer Bill Hansen made contact with the Northland Foundation for assistance. He learned that Northland Foundation may be able to help the township develop a facility, but first the foundation wanted to see a market analysis to see if the community need is there.
Supervisor James said, “This is step 1. We need to see if there are enough people of an elderly age that want such a building. If it is determined that there is a need, Northland can become involved.”
Nancy Grabko, the Lake – Cook County housing coordinator, first met with the Tofte board in September 2009 when she assisted with an application to Iron Range Resources to fund the market analysis. IRR turned down the request, stating that a market study is the developer’s responsibility. Grabko promised to keep looking for funding.
Grabko encouraged the Tofte board to apply for the Minnesota Housing Partnership grant to fund the market analysis and the board unanimously passed a motion asking her to apply for the grant on its behalf. The board also agreed to set aside the required match.
” “We’ll probably do the study whether we get a grant or not,” said James. “This is something the community wants to see. We’ve talked about something small, eight units or so. But we want to do it as costeffectively as possible.”
A few days later, at the Cook County – Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) meeting, Grabko updated the EDA board on the quest to bring assisted living to the West End of the county. The EDA also passed a unanimous motion, directing the housing coordinator to work on this with the town of Tofte.
The potential site of an assisted living facility in Tofte is on the 27 acres owned by the township near the Birch Grove Community Center.
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