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COUNCIL MINUTES July 27, 2009 APPROVED 91 6B. Public Hearing, I-35E/CSAH 14 Interchange Improvement Project 92 93 Community Development Director Grochala reported that the council is holding a hearing for 94 the purpose of soliciting public comment on a proposed interchange improvement project. The 95 council has previously received a feasibility study prepared by SRF Consulting Group, Inc. that 96 lays out project details. He reviewed the estimated cost of the project(approximately$23 97 million), federal, state and county funding involved and noted that approximately$5.5 million is 98 proposed to be assessed to benefiting property owners. More work is being done seeking 99 funding sources and that may lower assessment amounts and would be a part of final assessment 100 consideration later in the process. He noted that there are provisions available for deferment of 101 assessments. He is asking that the council open the public hearing, accept public testimony and 102 then close the hearing. 103 104 When asked by a council member for a definition of the term "green acres", Mr. Grochala 105 explained that in this case it generally refers to a tax classification intended to encourage 106 continued agricultural uses. 107 108 The public hearing was opened at 7:10 p.m. 109 110 Jerry Filla, attorney representing the Rainier Family Farm LLP, thanked staff for their help in 111 answering questions about the proposed project and assessments. He expressed concern that the 112 project is a regional improvement and should not be funded locally. The council should 113 recognize that the assessments can be very large(possibly more than $500,000 for his client) X114 and there are significant additional costs attached to deferment. 115 116 David Graetzer, 7306 24th Av S, announced that he questions the fairness in how this project 117 will be funded. He is concerned that his assessment of approximately$20,000 could become as 118 much as $130,000 with deferment interest; he would like to know as soon as possible what the 119 interest rate would be. In the interest of fairness,he suggests that an entity should step forward 120 (perhaps the city and pay the deferment interest so that only the principal is assessed. 121 122 Jerry Broker, representing Eagle Brook Church, reported that the church was not informed of 123 hearings that were held previously; they would like to ensure that they are informed of any 124 hearings in the future, especially the assessment hearing. (Mr. Grochala replied that there were 125 two informational meetings held previously that were sponsored by the consultant, SRF 126 Consulting Group. He also reviewed the entire schedule outline for a county based project.). 127 Mr. Broker noted that Eagle Brook Church has already contributed $100,000 to roadway 128 improvements for the intersection area and there could be consideration of that. In addition,he 129 reported that when the church's engineers looked at the determination of usable acreage, they 130 came up with a lower figure than is included in the project study. 131 132 Lee Perrault, representing the Rainier Family Farm, stated that the family is concerned that their 133 property(55 acres) is located in a second tier area of the project but the proposed assessment 134 ratio is the same as for property directly adjacent to the interchange. The zoning that causes the 135 inequity isn't appropriate. He suggests that the whole process being proposed to determine the 3