09-25-1996 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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would recommend that we commission an appraisal to serve as the basis the purchase price of the property in question. We would also require the owners waive any claims to relocation benefits given the fact that these are voluntary sales whereby the owner approached the City. Funding sources for acquisition are as follows: *MSA Fund - This could be appropriate for the property at 56 West and 20 West Little Canada Road due to their impact on storm water treatment. This is a source of funds we use to assist us in storm water costs. *Park Acquisition Fund (due to open space requirements) *Closed Bond Fund *General Capital Improvement Fund Country Drive Property Acquisition The next item to consider is similar to the first in that we have been approached by a property owner in the Country Drive redevelopment area regarding the City's interest in purchasing his property (see letter attached from Charles Gregory). Ramsey County's estimate of market value for this parcel is $78,300. It is my belief the only way we will ever accomplish the long -term redevelopment objectives for this area is to acquire parcels when they become available with the goal of packaging them into larger sites to facilitate new construction. In the case of the Gregory property, it fits nicely with the L- shaped property around it owned by Bob Rude (see map attached). This tax increment district has built up some excess funds which could be used for this purpose. It is also likely that additional properties will become available for sale in the near future. Rusty Fifield is putting together some projections based on the use of this excess increment to show how we could fund property acquisitions. Mr. Gregory would like an answer by this Council meeting if we are to take advantage of this opportunity prior to him listing his property. Rice Street /Little Canada Road Property Acquisition Another item to discuss is the City's ability to acquire properties in the redevelopment area prior to the issuance of an RFP. While I feel the City needs to approach property acquisition very cautiously in order that we not become too speculative in nature, I also feel that to accomplish our redevelopment objectives, we will have to take some risks in assembling properties. This risk could allow us if we hope to control property acquisition costs whereby we are making agreements with willing sellers versus trying to acquire key parcels that may not be ready to sell at the time they are needed).