10/28/2002 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL MINUTES OCTOBER 28, 2002 • good but can do a lot better. He stated credit goes to Community Development Director Grochala when he said that "two wrongs do not make a right" in relation to Hodson Road. • • Mr. Dunn stated he was disappointed that Mayor Bergeson and Councilmember Reinert could not agree at the meeting about whether it was or was not a three or four lane highway after all the debate that had already been presented. Mr. Dunn stated he felt what Councilmember Dahl did was incomprehensible; to sit on the Council and work sessions and then abstain from the vote thinking it was a nay vote. He stated that putting your head in the sand is not representing the City or its residents and life and death issues depend on the decisions of the Council. He stated that he does not know if a vote to abstain is even legal in this situation. Mr. Dunn stated that Councilmember Carlson was tardy with an excused tardy but he does not like to suspect that there was some behind the scene activity between her and Councilmember Dahl to not attend to vote that night. He stated he hopes that he is wrong and that it never happens. He pointed out that if Councilmember Dahl's abstain vote was a no vote, the letter would not have been sent. Mr. Dunn stated to Councilmember O'Donnell that he wished he would have taken a stronger leadership role to get consensus before that meeting amongst three Councilmembers. He urged him to get the safety issues on the table and dealt with properly".. He stated all have been reminded this last week of how fragile life is. Mr. Dunn stated he would like to see some overt action on the part of Council and staff to deal with safety of the community, not when they come up but as a short- and long-term plan. He noted that a stop sign has been discussed on Lake Drive_for years and asked them to look at the overall community and not take a "bits and pieces" approach. Mr. Dunn closed by saying congratulations on the. upgraded bond rating and especially to Finance Director Rolek who played a key roll' in le lersliip. Tim Baylor, JADT Property, stated :=he"wanted to address the precepts inherent in the understanding of the assessment process. He stated that he signed a development agreement acknowledging the proposed assessments. Mr. Baylor asked about the tax abatements given to Ryan Companies, Kohls, and Target. He suggested that economic incentives should be ascribed to those who really need it and stated they have demonstrated their commitment to Lino Lakes over the past five years, expended extensive development dollars and personal resources to make Lino Lakes a better place, and bring this vision to reality over the past five years. Mr. Baylor stated these assessments will impact them substantially and maybe there should be some consideration to tax incentives or tax abatements to portions of the land that will comprise commercial development that will enhance the City. With regard to Mr. Dunn's comment on the stop light, Councilmember Carlson suggested he have a further discussion with the City Administrator for minutes regarding that since the majority of the money had been released back to Mr. Uhde. 4