03-11-2014 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MARCH 11, 2014 Page 3 of 7 Mayor thanks Nick for presentation. Steve DeLapp speaks about parking. Hopes they do marketing study to find out how many parking spots are needed. Dean asks about Laverne. Anne in favor. Mayor also in favor. But a little fearful of cost. Anne talked about burying utilities. Thinks it’s a key component of dressing up the downtown. Would look so much nicer and friendly. Hopes its something that is looked at. Would encourage desire to come to our downtown. Mayor agrees. Nick added that this is the opportunity to do it because the street is being redone at this time as well. Mr. Reeves asked about parking and would it be possible to envision a parking ramp. Nick ansered that would need quite a bit of redevelopment for that to become cost effective and necessary. Would need a lot of demand. Asked Stillwater city councilman about private entity lot next to Lowell inn. Answered that Lowell inn owner donated the land and that it was done before he got on council. Major part of their downtown. Mr. Reeves would like to keep an open mind about doing a vertical ramp. Nick briefly went over the project schedule. Don’t have a lot of time to decide what city wants to do. Really have to decide by September. Mayor comments that doing Laverne at the same time makes sense. V. How Can We Pay for it? – Establishing a Downtown TIF District Tammy Omdahl(?) from Northland Securities presented on TIF. Challenge is paying for infrastructure before you have a project. Needs to be new tax base generated or there is no way to pay for new improvements – it would fall to existing tax payers. How would a redevelopment TIF district work? Establishing a redevelopment TIF district. There are specific findings that Council and EDA need to use. City will need to adopt a project area, including findings as to development authority powers being used and public purpose findings. Need to define the project area for redevelopment. Goes over what is a TIF district. Redevelopment must meet certain qualifications. Needs to be blighted parcels with structurally substandard buildings. 2 tests that you need to meet. 70% of TIF district must be occupied by buildings, streets, parking lots, etc. and more than 50% of buildings must be structurally substandard. Bloyer asked what chances of LE qualifying would be. Tammy answerd that she cannot answer to the buiding code part. Bloyer asked follow up question on shaping of TIF district. Mayor asked about lack of sanitary sewer would be part of structurally substandard. Tammy answered that utilities is a part of it. Reeves asked if there is a new development TIF district – portion of downtown with buildings that qualifty with some open space area. can you use space with no buildings. Tammy answered that bare parcels can be included if you meet the minimum tests. Want to be able to capture the increase in taxes. Nick gives example of 25 acres of substandard buildings you could add 25 acres of green space, as long as you stay at or above the 50%. John asked if Lumber Yard would constitute as substandard buildings. Tammy answered if they are substandard with respect to building code, then yes. Preparing the findings for use of TIF. But for clause. Revelopment would not occur but for the use of TIF. These findings are documented in a TIF plan. TIF plan contains the following: authority’s objectives, list of development activities, estimated source and use of funds, estimated bonded indebtedness to be incurred, duration of district (max is 25 years), estimated captured net tax capacity and original local tax rate, list of parcels within the district and other required info/findings. City would need to hold a Public Hearing. Must provide notice to county and school district at least 30 days before public hearing. After notice and the public hearing, the City approves the TIF plan and establishment of the district. TIF plan is then filed with Dept of Revenue and State Auditor’s Office. Request is submitted to county.