• Come check us out at the Builders Club Expo tomorrow from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Harriet Island Pavilion.
   
• It's that time of year again! The Fall Parade of Homes Website goes live on Friday and the books will be at Holiday Stores this weekend.
   
• BATC leadership is meeting this week to consider housing champion candidates to support in the 2014 election. Stay tuned for more information.
   
• The Foundation's most recent project was completed on Friday! Check out Kate the Great's brand new bedroom below.
   
• New code courses are coming to BATC-U this fall. Thanks for your interest; we've been getting lots of calls and emails. Our BATCUniversity.org website will be updated regularly, with more information coming soon!
   
• Associates enter the Trillium Awards today! Partner with builders and remodlers this year. Reggie and ROMA entries are online. 
   
• Want to see more stunning photos from area homes? Follow the Artisan Home Tour on Instagram!
   
• After all her hard work and studying, BATC's event planner extraordinaire Nicole Coon obtained her Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) designation.

Jeff Johnson to face off with Governor Mark Dayton. 

Last week’s primary set the stage for November election races for the U.S. Senate, Governor and a handful of MN House legislative seats. Voter turnout was historically low, leading many calls from political leaders to consider a June primary slotted more closely to the endorsing process. Endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson winning the four-way race to take on Governor Dayton was the leading story of the night. Johnson maintained a relatively consistent lead throughout the state and boosts the perceived value of the GOP endorsement and process, which two of the candidates (Scott Honour & Kurt Zellers) bypassed.

The other winner was the business community. Pro-business interests worked intensely in GOP primaries in Albertville, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Shakopee, and Waconia – finishing with 4 out of 5 wins for the business community-backed candidate.

BATC and Housing First are continuing the daily work of our 2014 electoral campaign aimed at elevating our organization and increasing the number of housing champions in Minnesota elected offices. Look for BATC’s list of endorsed candidates in the coming weeks.

The Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) is undertaking a process to develop detailed recommendations to implement changes to the Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) for consideration in 2015. The business sector is meeting for the first discussion of changes this week. 

BATC member David Weetman (Westwood Professional Services) will participate in the discussion, which will lay the groundwork for WCA discussions in the 2015 legislative session.

Metropolitan Council staff will meet with BATC members on Wednesday, August 27th at 11 a.m. in the BATC office. The Met Council has produced a draft Housing Policy Plan (HPP) for the first time in nearly 30 years. Focused heavily on affordable housing strategies and incentives, the HPP is another piece of the planning vision that the Met Council is promoting in the region.

Contact Mary Schweich if you are interested in attending.

The Metropolitan Council has released a public comment draft of the 2040 Regional Transportation Policy Plan (TPP). The plan emphasizes transportation options by expanding and improving transit service, expanding the MnPASS lane system, and encouraging biking and walking.  Read More >>

The Council is accepting comments on the plan through October 1.

How to comment

Comment forms will be available and can be filled out at a meeting or mailed in.

Phone Public Information at 651-602-1500.
E-mail public.info@metc.state.mn.us.

Testify at the public hearing at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, in the Metropolitan Council Chambers, 390 Robert St. N., Saint Paul.

Once comments are received, the plan is revised to address comments and a final plan is presented to the Council for adoption. Adoption of the plan is anticipated in December of this year.

BATC has been working closely with the city of Saint Paul as they look at a new Construction Management Agreement. The issue stems from teardowns becoming more popular in the area. The city is planning a two-pronged approach that they feel will ease the construction burden on neighbors and protect the character of the city’s neighborhoods.

To hear more about these new ordinances and to testify on the topic of construction management you can attend the Saint Paul City Council Public Hearing on August 20th, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. Hearings are held in the Council Chambers on the 3rd floor of City Hall which is located at 15 Kellogg Blvd. W. in Saint Paul.

After the building code changes were adopted late last month, the MN Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) published the final adoption of the state’s energy code in Monday’s State Register. We are awaiting a firm effective date, but expect early 2015 as there is a statutory required 6-month window for training and implementation of the Energy Code.

Finding what future homeowners and renters want when it comes to housing is among the head-scratchers in store for the industry in the coming decades.

These challenges and others were outlined by experts at a workshop for civic leaders in Scott County last week.  BATC Public Policy Director James Vagle spoke at the workshop and stressed that the needs of millennials won’t necessarily be the same as their parents.

The Star Tribune quoted Vagle in an article on the issues facing industry leaders. Read the story here >>

Five year old Kate, who often goes by “Kate the Great” finally got a peek at her brand new dream bedroom on Friday.  Her mother Stacy says that “she had been trying to figure out a way to see it since the work started.”  The door had remained firmly shut however, until Friday’s big reveal.

Working with Special Spaces, a local organization that brings dream bedroom makeovers to children with life-threatening illnesses and Build Partner Bob Michels Construction, the BATC Foundation was able to help sponsor the dream bedroom.  Kate was diagnosed at birth with Type 2 Pheiffer Syndrome, a rare genetic mutation characterized by the premature fusion of skull bones. She has undergone more than 60 procedures, eight of which were major surgeries for facial, skull and tracheal reconstruction.  Kate goes to school with help from her sign language instructor, and loves girly things like Disney princesses, fairies, dress up and tutus. Kate’s new bedroom was designed to be fit for a princess.

Squeals of delight could be heard coming from Kate’s room as she took in the combination of monster trucks and Disney princesses that decorated the shelves and walls.  Custom-built cabinets provided by Bob Michels Construction provides a place for Kate’s medical equipment and gives her additional play space.  Mom is especially grateful for the visual fire alarm and the video monitoring equipment so that she can keep an eye on Kate at night.

When asked what she thought of her new room, Kate (who is mostly deaf) responded with a big smile and an enthusiastic sign for “like!”

There was some taste testing involved during our photo shoot for the KARE 11 News Backyard Cookbook. While we may not be food critics, we know delicous when we taste it! The mouth watering recipes include; Belinda’s Mother-in-Law's BBQ Ribs, Fire and Ice Wings, Anchor Crunch Burgers (or Dip n’ Chip Burgers). The cookbook will be available for download online at ParadeofHomes.org this Saturday. 

Houzz used BATC as an example of one of their best HBA partnerships during the Association Leadership Institute. 

Show your BATC pride on Houzz by adding the BATC badge to your affiliations list! 

This graph shows what a 0.79 correlation actually looks like. Year-over-year home prices in Minneapolis – St. Paul tend to look like national changes but a little bit ahead.

The Twin Cities are ahead of the trend! Trulia wanted to know if any local housing market could predict what's to come nationally.  They did so by measuring how closely the ups and downs in a local market’s home prices match the national ups and downs one year later. Among the 100 largest metros, the housing market with the highest crystal-ball score is Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Millennials, what are you waiting for? You should be buying a home right now. That’s the conclusion of a pair of recent studies that looked at homeownership.

Assuming that home values stayed constant and that a home buyer would put 20 percent down and take out a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, Zillow found that a D.C. area buyer who waits one year to purchase a home would probably pay an additional $186 per month. Read more about the study here >>

American production housing has always responded to the times. Whether it was war, recession, urban flight, energy shortages, or consumers’ desire for more space, the industry always has provided adaptable, sustainable, and affordable solutions. Learning from housing's past can also lead us to a brighter future. Read more >>

3 Reasons to Sign Up For Class

1.The new "secret code" will be revealed. New Minnesota Building and Energy Code Course is being offered at BATC University starting in September. This course will be eligible for two-hours of continuing education credits. Get details to learn all the secrets in the new code and sign-up here.

2. Refresher courses keep you up to date. EPA Lead Renovator Refresher Course being offered at BATC University starting in October. EPA lead renovation certifications expire every five years ... be aware of your expiration date. This course will be eligible for four-hours of continuing education credits. Get details and sign-up now.

3. Learning is Fun! We promise you'll learn something new and have a good time doing so. Dates are listed below.

We need more judges for the Reggie awards. Interested individuals can sign up here >>

Please complete the form by end of the day, Fri. August 22nd.

August 12
Primary Election
August 14
Member Orientation [Contact Deb]
September 9
Sponsorship Luncheon [Register]
September 17- December 3
New Building/Energy Code Courses [Register]
September 23
BATC Foundation Golf Open [Register]
October 2014-June 2015
BATC-U Lead Recertification [Register]
October 7
BATC Clay Shoot [Register]
October 11
Builders' Warehouse Sale [Contact Perri]
October 23
BIG Night [more info]
November 4
Election Day - VOTE
November 13
Member Orientation
November 13
Give to the Max Day
November 18
BATC BE Fast Forward Showroom Mixer [register]
December 4
BATC Buck Auction & Holiday Food Drive [more info]

For a complete list of events, visit our website at WWW.BATC.ORG.