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Minnetonka staff outline $5.2M TIF transfer, housing rehab and sustainability work in annual report
Summary
Community Development staff presented the department2025 annual report to the Planning Commission, highlighting a recent $5.2 million tax-increment pooling transfer to the affordable housing trust fund, an $11 million rehabilitation project at Villas of Chasewood, grants supporting transitional housing and Habitat homes, and sustainability and inspection statistics.
Miss Wischnak delivered the Community Development Department2025 annual report at the commission's March meeting, summarizing housing, economic development, sustainability and licensing work from the past year.
She highlighted housing activity including the Villas of Chasewood projectabout 188 units across 21 buildingswhere the city helped issue debt for roughly $11,000,000 in repairs and improvements. On financing, Wischnak said the city used a tax-increment financing (TIF) pooling authority to transfer $5,200,000 into the city's affordable housing trust fund and that roughly $7,500,000 now sits in the account to support things such as rent assistance, homeless intervention and long-term affordable units. "We just recently did it, $5,200,000 transfer into the affordable housing trust fund," she said.
Wischnak described smaller grant activity and pilot programs: a $150,000 local housing trust fund grant to fund a transitional unit (the city pays rent on a unit to provide temporary shelter as part of a homelessness intervention pilot), about $420,000 in grant funds to a Habitat project, and $300,000 for the Homes Within Reach land trust. On vacancy and market information, she said the city created site-specific web pages for major vacant office properties to provide consistent information to potential buyers and developers.
On sustainability, staff noted ongoing greenhouse-gas tracking since 2007 and increased energy- squad visits (staff cited about 54 visits a month). On enforcement and inspections Wischnak reported roughly 531 average inspections per year in regulated facilities, around 2,500 nuisance complaints over four years with 10 citations and about 50 abatements, and more than 10,000 permits issued in the past year across residential and commercial work. Commissioners asked about the status of a proposed green cost-share program (staff said they are applying for grant funds to create such a program) and about metrics used to track the department's outreach and website activity.
Commissioners responded positively to the report and commended staff for outreach and for the department's housing and sustainability work.
