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Item No. Meeting Date: September 20. 1999 Staff Report No. Type of Business: WK WK: Work Session;PH:Public Hearing; CA:Consent Agenda;CB:Council Business Mounds View City Council Work Session Staff Report To: Mounds View City Council From: Kevin Carroll, Economic Development Coordinator Item Title/Subject: Investigation of Stormwater Handling Options (Mermaid Project Area) Date of Report: September 16, 1999 HISTORY/BACKGROUND: As you may recall, earlier this year the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development [DTED] awarded the City of Mounds View a grant in the amount of$333,333 to assist with certain anticipated expenses related to the proposed redevelopment of the Mermaid site. Our grant application indicated that the majority of the funds would be devoted to improving surface water drainage and treatment in the Mermaid"project area." The original plan, as reflected in the grant application, anticipated that the Mermaid owners would acquire four nearby parcels: the Rent All site, the Cabot Industrial parcel (the flag- shaped property that includes the existing retention pond and the access road between County Road H and the business park to the north), the Music Off 10 site, and the Lambert/Pettibone site. The Mermaid's attorney (Mr. Bob Hajek) has indicated to me that he has reached agreements with the owners of the Rent All and Music Off 10 sites regarding mutually acceptable sale/purchase prices. However, Mr. Hajek has indicated that the owners of the Lambert/Pettibone site have proposed a purchase price that is so much in excess of the actual market value that the Mermaid cannot or will not be able to acquire it. In addition, Mr. Hajek reports that he has had significant difficulty getting the owner of the Cabot site (a real estate trust based in another state, as I recall) to negotiate with him and/or to even indicate whether a sale of the property would be considered. The unavailability of the Lambert/Pettibone site and the uncertainty regarding the availability of the Cabot site create some problems with respect to the original redevelopment plan. The Lambert/Pettibone site was seen as the desired location for a "new and improved" stormwater retention pond that would be created to replace the existing pond (which is located on the Cabot parcel). This new (larger)pond would serve the same area that the existing pond serves (primarily the business park area located to the north)plus all of the parcels in the Mermaid project area (which are not currently served by any stormwater holding pond). However, if the Lambert site is not available, the pond would