06/04/1990 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

6- equivalent amount of land which could be required. Next an attempt is made to provide a perspective upon the various local government park dedication fees by using specific development examples. Table IV presents three different examples of actual developments within the City of Vadnais Heights together with the actual or probable resultant park dedications for the seventeen local governments. Example No.l This a single family residential development of 81 homes upon 42.84 acres. The park dedication for the City of Vadnais Heights was $ 33,544 which was in the lower half of the seventeen local governments surveyed. This cash dedication amount translates into $ 414 per dwelling which is similar to the set fee amounts used by a number of cities (Eagan, Eden Prairie, Coon Rapids, Lino Lakes, and Woodbury) . It is interesting to note (see Table II) that small residential developments in Vadnais Heights (less than 5 acres, both single family and multi-family) are not treated equally with respect to cash dedications per dwelling unit for developments greater than 5 acres in area. The cities of Shoreview, Oakdale, Little Canada and White Bear Township would likely find it very difficult to require land dedication instead of cash in the above example when the value of the land is more than 10, 000 greater than the cash dedication. Therefore it's not surprizing that cities sometimes have considerable difficulty in taking a land dedication (even though the future park may appear on their Comprehensive Plan) , because the developer realizes that this disparity exists. Finally, it important to raise the issue of the actual fair market value of the site used in this example (See note in Table IV) . If the fair market value of $ 16, 000 per acre is used instead of the appraised undeveloped land value shown ($ 8,700 per acre) , it is apparent that the cities of Arden Hills, Mahtomedi and Roseville would have park cash dedications of $ 68, 544 or 10 percent of the fair market value. While this is a very large increase in dedication, it must be stressed that it is perfectly equitable in the context of an ordinance which requires land or an equivalent amount in cash ! Example No. 2 This a multi.-family residential development of 113 apartment units on 7 .25 acres. It is evident in this example that there is a much larger spread of park dedication cash amounts. Vadnais Heights is in the lower half of the fourteen