08-12-98 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTGS CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 12,1998 The Administrator reported that the City has received inquiries fcom a couple of develo~ers ~bout the northeasY corner of Rice Street and Little Canada IZoad. "i'he City may be ~etting some developmenY proposals for this corner. Also, Shermsin Rutaicl< has expressed frusCration over tl~e lack of action in the <uea, and indic<iCed th~t he may brin; forCh ~ development propos~l. The Administr2tor inforined Clte Council tflat the relocation co~~sultant has made conCact wit'h the tenants of the G~ierin property and has ~iven them 90 days notice. Ho~~vever, the City I~as indielted to these tenants tl~at the City would wor(< with them on exCendin~ this deadline. '1'he Aciminiscraror reported th~tt Dicl: 13oss of `Cierney's Liquors has asked about~ the potential p~u~chase of the Tierney's property. The Administrator 11so repoiCed that he has a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with Ramsey County to disc~is^s the retlesign of LitCle Canadl Road. Fahey asl:ed how lon~ it would t11<e to obtain an apprlisal of the Tierney's business operafion should the City tlecide to pursue acquisition. The City Administr~tor esCimaCed a tlu~ee-weelc time fraine to obClin an evaluation ofthis site. Marl< Lendway, Tierney's Liquors indicated that they support the City's continued negotiations ~vith Cinemarl:. I-[owever, Lentlway 2sl<ed that the Council be~in Co Yhinl< xbout other options shouid the Cheater project not move forward. L,endw~y steted that the exist~in~ businesses do not want to eontinue to operate ~-vith the uncertainty thlt h1s existetl for the past several years. Lendway s~i~~ested t'h~t one o~tion to consider would be for the City to use't'II^ money to provide funtls for existing businesses to remotlel or rebuild. Fahey pointed out~ t~hat Cinemarl< h~s been infonned ofthe September 15`~' deldline. r~hey stated that he has had some disc~issions with I<im Wise and fe1C more confidant that the project will move forwartl. F-Iowever, it may t<il<e until the end of Se~~tember t~o get the ~greements finalized. Fahey su~gestetl thet the CiCy will I<now more about the ce~rtainty of the ~~roject once Mr. Wise comes to clo~vn to Pinalize the agreements with City st~ff. Fahey ~~ointed out th~t over the past few ye~rs the Co~mcil h1s been told that a draw is neetled to assist in the redevelo~n~ent of the Rice Street/LitC(e Canada Road ~trea. ConsequenCly, he was »ot excited about a housing tlevelopment ~s m1y be pro~~osed by Mr. Rutzick. Fahey suggested thaC the message to Mr. R~itzicl< should be that any developmenY 7