09-17-02 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP SEPTEMBER 17, 2002 Mayor Hunt called the workshop to order at 5:00 p.m. at the Lake Elmo City Hall. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss annexation of 49 acres to Oak Park Heights. PRESENT: Lake Elmo City Council: Mayor Hunt, Council members Chuck Siedow, Steve DeLapp, and Rose Armstrong. Oak Park Heights Council. Mayor David Beaudet, Council members Mary McComber, Mark Swenson, Jack Doerr. Mayor Hunt explained the two Councils were in attendance to consider a joint request to detach from Lake Elmo and annex into Oak Park Heights about 49 acres of land. This request for annexation by landowners, Bernie and Louella Nass, Tom Bidon and Robert Buberl, came after the Lake Elmo Council denied the property owners request to approve commercial development of the 49 acres. The land parcel is located adjacent to and south of Highway 36, near the Kern Center. Mayor Hunt stated Lake Elmo wants to be your neighbor, and he knew OPH wanted to be our good neighbors. He noted that he and three Lake Elmo Council members, present, all oppose annexation. Hunt assured OPH that absent Council member Dunn would oppose annexation as well. The Council felt there is a tremendous benefit for the land to stay in Lake Elmo because the Council feels the area is very environmentally sensitive. The land needs to be developed carefully to keep from changing water drainage patterns. Lake Elmo is concerned with what could happen to the adjacent neighbors. OPH Council Member McComber said she knew there were battles before and she didn't want to go there. If there is not an agreement, she would not be in favor of annexation. OPH Council Member Mark Swenson stated every time you bring that "A" word up, somebody's getting offended, somebody's getting hurt, somebody's losing something. Somebody's not gaining enough. He suggested that officials from both cities first decide if this is something they even want. For himself, he would not support anything coming into Oak Park Heights unless Lake Elmo's entire Council supports it and all the landowners support it. Council member DeLapp criticized the landowners annexation request, which he hoped would not create a situation where we have to give in order to allow somebody to make more money than anybody else in Lake Elmo is going to make just because they happen to have contiguous property with another city. Council member Armstrong indicated the proposed annexation was beyond the scope of what Lake Elmo really should be doing, this annexation back and forth so people get a better deal.