02/06/1993 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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-CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION SESSION FEBRUARY 6, 1993 commission will be solicited for each item. A. Common Ground Meetings The Common Ground Committee consists of two (2) elected officials and the City Administrator from the cities of Circle Pines, Centerville, Lino Lakes and Lexington. The purpose of the committee is to find areas of service with cost savings to the citizens. Tax concerns and the feeling that some efficiencies could be realized prompted the formation of Common Ground Committee. Mr. Schumacher briefly explained that the Centennial Fire District is a unique service and is working well. The Fire District provides excellent service and is of financial benefit to all three (3) communities (Centerville, Circle Pines, Lino Lakes) participating in the District. The Common Ground Committee appointed a subcommittee to investigate the possibility of forming a police protection district and a public works district similar to the Centennial Fire District. The police department report will be completed within a month. Each city council will review the report. B. Senior Housing Proposal Mr. Schumacher explained that the senior housing proposal includes 90 rental housing units which would be subsidize by federal tax credits. The site just west of St. Joseph Catholic Church was selected and public hearings are being held on the tax increment financing package. On December 31, 1992, the federal tax credits for subsidized housing were discontinued. A new tax bill has not been finalized by congress. Therefore, at this time no federal tax money is available. Without the federal tax money, the senior housing proposal cannot go forward as planned. The developer is considering owner occupied housing and has asked to hold a public hearing with the senior citizens to determine if there is any senior citizen interest. Information from the public hearing will be brought to the City Council. The proposal included private substandard streets. If owner occupied housing appears to be an option, the entire proposal will be returned to the Planning and Zoning Board and Park Board for their review and recommendations. Mr. Mesich noted that the original approval from the Planning and Zoning Board was based on rental units and if owner occupied housing is to be considered, the Planning and Zoning Board would want to do a complete review. He noted that public streets are required in an owner occupied development. This would require considerable more right-of-way PAGE 2 1