04-22-2013 Local Board of Appeal and Equalization Meeting Minutes

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BOARD OF REVIEW MINUTES April 22, 2013 APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 BOARD OF APPEAL 4 5 DATE : April 22, 2013 6 TIME STARTED : 6:00 p.m. 7 TIME ENDED : (recessed once) 7:10 p.m. 8 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Stoesz, Roeser, Rafferty, 9 O'Donnell and Mayor Reinert 10 MEMBERS ABSENT : none 11 12 Staff members present: Community Development Director Michael Grochala; City Clerk Julie Bartell 13 Anoka County Assessor Staff present: Peggy Nordrum, Appraiser; Randy DeJong, Appraiser 14 15 Mayor Reinert reviewed the process that would be used for this meeting. 16 17 Anoka County Appraiser Nordrum explained that after appellants are called on to present their 18 appeals, county staff will respond if they've had opportunity to review the appeal. The county has 19 received 22 phone calls regarding Lino Lakes' property. Staff was able to resolve the issues brought 20 up by those calls with the exception of two cases and they may attend this evening. Overall, she 21 noted, values in the city are going up and that tends to generate valuation questions. 22 23 The council heard from the following appellants: 24 25 Gary Uhde, Century Farm North 4t" Addition, Outlot A — Mr. Uhde explained that his appeal 26 relates to classification. The property has been and will continue to be farmed (he presented a letter to 27 the council explaining the farming of the land). For taxes payable in 2014, the property has been 28 reclassified to residential but he would argue the land is not ready to be developed and will remain as 29 farm land. He is complying with state statute to meet agricultural standards. He introduced Mr. 30 Richard Gannon (sp) who is personally farming rye on the land. 31 32 County staff explained that the change from agricultural to residential occurred because a portion of 33 the land was sold off and the remainder doesn't meet the statutory threshold for farm designation. 34 The property must be at least 10 contiguous areas and this parcel is now 9.79 acres. Ms. Nordrum 35 added that the agricultural designation also normally implies more intensive farming that just rye. 36 The council discussed the amount of the increase in taxes due to the classification change. 37 38 Mayor Reinert said he is sympathetic to Mr. Uhde's situation and would be inclined to allow the 39 agricultural designation based on factors involved (poor economy, the developer's good reputation 40 with the city, close to meeting statutory requirement). The council concurred to allow the farming 41 designation for one year and a motion to do so was made by Council Member Roeser. Council 42 Member O'Donnell seconded the motion and it was adopted on a unanimous voice vote. 43 44 Pete Hitchcock, 448 Tanglewood Drive, Shoreview regarding his property in Lino Lakes 45 located at 355 Ash Street and the two acre lot next door — Mr. Hitchcock explained that he has a 1