2005 EDA Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mounds View City Council June 20, 2005 Special Meeting Page 5 Brian Kaden, 7675 Spring Lake Road, stated he has lived in the City for 32 years and he liked the idea of Medtronic coming into the City, but he did not like Medtronic coming into the City at the cost of the taxpayers and he did not like to subsidize businesses. He stated Mounds View had the fourth highest TIF in the state. He asked if he would get a tax break if he put an addition on his house through TIF financing. He stated the taxpayers were helping the businesses pay their mortgage and that was one of the reasons he believed this was not a good deal. He stated the TIF financing was put into place to develop land that was not desirable and this practice was being abused. He questioned how much of a benefit Medtronic would have in the City being located in the northeast portion of the City. He believed Shoreview and Blaine businesses were going to benefit more than the Mounds View businesses because of the location. He stated Medtronic was a multi-billion dollar company and if they were a good corporate neighbor, why were they asking for a tax break that the citizens did not get. He asked why Medtronic was not paying the same taxes as Walgreens. He stated this would be a good project if Medtronic was not requiring TIF financing. He suggested the City look at their TIF financing programs in the future. Lloyd Bardwell, 2932 County Road J, stated County Road J was a public drag strip. He agreed that Medtronic was a good corporation, but he also agreed Medtronic should not be given TIF financing. He expressed concern about the increase in traffic on County Road J and he hated living in his home because of the traffic. He stated there was no enforcement along that road and the infrastructure was missing to go east and west on the road. He stated he was for the development, but he did not believe Medtronic was paying their fair share of taxes. He stated he was not complaining about his taxes, but the City needed to do something about the speeding traffic. Peter Martin, 2192 Oakwood Drive, stated he has been playing The Bridges Golf Course since day one. He indicated dollars are fine and the large companies are going to get the money no matter what they did, but what about the land and its value to the community and the values like families being able to play golf together, health and fitness values, natural and wildlife values, and moral values. He noted moral values are what the citizens need most and were harder to come buy. He stated golf was based on honesty, integrity, and patience and these were values needed by the children today because they were not taught in the school system anymore. Barbara Haake, 3024 County Road I, stated she has lived in the City for 39 years. She indicated Medtronic was a good company and she was neither for nor against this project, but she needed more information. She thanked the Community Development Director for preparing the options she had requested at a previous meeting. She noted Fridley had an appraisal done of $137.00 per square foot and through mediation it went down to $109.00 and the $80.00 per square foot was not a fair price. She stated Twin Lakes Development in Roseville was going for $300,000 per acre and Medtronic negotiated $120,000 per acre. She stated they were getting an appraiser price as it was not as it was built out and she believed Medtronic should pay more. She stated Medtronic should have to pay $235,000 to $260,000 per acre. She noted Medtronic had 4 billion in cash and asked why the City was doing to subsidies for a company who had this type of money. Community Development Director Ericson replied with regard to the Twin Lakes Development there were a lot of improvements made to the land in order for it to be sold and