In 1987, the City of Chaska established its Economic Development Authority (EDA) to help address the City's need to proactively deal with economic development, housing and redevelopment issues within the City. The EDA was an offspring of the City's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, who until that time had served as the entity ensuring that there was not a shortage of safe and decent housing within the City, and that key blighted properties were redeveloped into a use that would serve the entire public's best interest. The Economic Development Authority took the functions of the City's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, and added to their functions the ability to help with the development of new businesses and properties throughout the City. While the Chaska Economic Development Authority is technically a separate entity from the City Council, the EDA's power is derived from the authority that the City Council bestows upon it. Also, the EDA board's membership is comprised of the members of the City Council.

The Chaska Economic Development Authority is in existence not only to help promote new businesses within the City, but to also help retain and redevelop businesses already in existence within the City. The main goal of the EDA is to assist in increasing the amounts and types of services offered within the City, to help restore blighted properties and downtown historic buildings by encouraging redevelopment activities, to achieve development on sites which would be economically infeasible to develop without public assistance, and to encourage the development of housing within the City that is safe, diverse, and which gives our citizens affordable options to own a home. All of the activities that the Chaska Economic Development Authority does revolve around the City's mission of being "The Best Small Town in Minnesota". The staff of the EDA work hard to make sure that we not only promote development and redevelopment, but that it is done in a manner that will help preserve our small-town atmosphere.

There are many specific ways in which Chaska's Economic Development Authority is able to provide assistance to businesses interested in development and redevelopment activities. One of the main forms of assistance we utilize is Tax Increment Financing. This financing tool allows the City to provide financial assistance to a qualifying business by capturing the increase in taxes on a property because of the development or redevelopment activity, and utilize these funds to help the business defray the costs such as land acquisition, environmental studies, or special assessments. Besides Tax Increment Financing, the EDA also has a Storefront Redevelopment Loan that has been established to specifically help our downtown historic business owners with the upgrade of their buildings. This program was designed to give our historic building owners the opportunity to affordably finance the redevelopment of their historic buildings, and to do it in a manner that would preserve the historic nature of these buildings. On top of these financing tools, the Economic Development Authority also gets involved in a number of activities through the State and County to help provide the assistance necessary to attract and retain businesses, housing, and buildings within our town, which will help achieve our City's mission.

Residents and business owners interested in seeing how the City of Chaska, or our Economic Development Authority, can assist your business should not hesitate to call our City staff to discuss options that may exist for your business. Residents may contact 952-448-2851 and ask for either Dave Pokorney, City Administrator/Economic Development Coordinator, or Matthew Podhradsky, Assistant Economic Development Coordinator.

Along with the services that the Chaska Economic Development Authority provides, residents and business owners may also find the following links helpful with their development issues: Minnesota Community Profiles and Real Estate Listings, Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development.