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Council Memo September 16, 1999 Page 2 have to be located elsewhere in or on the project site -- presumably on the Music Off 10 site or on one of the parcels currently owned by the Mermaid. Shifting the pond in such a manner would take up critical parking spaces, thereby rendering the project nonviable at least with respect to the hotel portion of the proposed project. The Mermaid owners believe that sufficient parking could still be found for the banquet center part of the proposed project, but there is a good chance that DTED would reconsider its $333,333.00 grant if the hotel component is deleted from the project. In short, retaining the hotel component (and perhaps, the DIED grant money) will probably be contingent upon fmding a location for the new retention pond that would enable the Mermaid to use all of its own property and all of the "about-to-be-acquired" parcels (i.e., Rent All and Music Off 10) for parking. One possibility that has been suggested would involve putting the retention pond on the south side of County Road H, somewhere between the road and the creek. This might be a longshot, because although various environmental benefits would result from improved stormwater handling in the area, there are significant restrictions on new construction in designated wetland areas and/or in close proximity to the creek itself. Another possibility that has been suggested would involve routing the stormwater to the west, along the north side of County Road H or through an drainage easement area immediately behind the Music Off 10/Lambert/Herbst properties, and then into a retention pond located somewhere between the Herbst property and the lift station located to the west of that property. The fee owner of the property along County Road H in that vicinity is the North Suburban Sanitary Sewer District, and the taxpayer is Metropolitan Waste Control (presumably a division of the Met Council). The property to the north and west of that area, which is owned by the school district, includes a [possibly man-made or at least"man- enhanced"] pond, adjacent wetlands and a walking trail. A small stream runs south from the pond and flows under County Road H through a culvert located just east of the lift station. This second option would still involve construction in or near wetlands, but at least the work would be done further from Rice Creek. An attractive retention pond located to the immediate west of the Herbst and Lambert sites might enhance the redevelopment potential of those parcels, but at a minimum, it would improve the surface water drainage from those two parcels and from the entire Mermaid redevelopment area project area. The Rice Creek Watershed District has indicated that these parcels (the Mermaid property, Rent All, Music Off 10, Lambert/Pettibone, and Herbst) collectively represent the largest surface area of untreated stormwater run-off in the City of Mounds View. In my opinion, the complexity of these issues requires the advice and assistance of a consultant. The City has used Short Elliott Hendrickson [SEH] in such situations in the past, and SEH has both the requisite expertise and the familiarity with Mounds View's hydrology that is needed to analyze the feasibility of the options outlined above. I have attached, for reference, a cost estimate that SEH prepared at my request, which indicates a