Laserfiche WebLink
Mounds View City Council April 14, 2008 <br />Regular Meeting Page 6 <br /> <br />Planner Heller indicated that she received further information since this Staff report was 1 <br />completed. She then said that the Applicant has not paid outstanding fees, and is present to 2 <br />discuss this matter with the Council. 3 <br /> 4 <br />Ron Lillestrand of Integra Homes agreed that there has been a delay with this project, and part of 5 <br />that is due to the delays in approval early on, and then the real estate market has taken a 6 <br />downturn that he has not seen in 35 years. 7 <br /> 8 <br />Mr. Lillestrand said that there is too much unsold inventory on the market and they have been 9 <br />waiting for the market to turn around, and the experts in the field have said that they think that 10 <br />the market should turn around by the end of 2008. 11 <br /> 12 <br />Mr. Lillestrand requested an extension on this for as long as Council would allow. He then said 13 <br />that he would like an extension for six months and then come back before Council again. 14 <br /> 15 <br />Mr. Lillestrand said that there is someone who is interested in incorporating this property into an 16 <br />assisted living project, but that makes him nervous and he is not sure whether the project would 17 <br />be approved by the City. 18 <br /> 19 <br />Mayor Marty noted that in December of 2006, the property owner was given six months and now 20 <br />we are in April of 2008. He then said that there was a roundtable discussion with Council, EDC, 21 <br />and a number of developers trying to talk about developing along the County Highway 10 22 <br />corridor, and one thing that was a consensus was three, four, or five years ago townhomes were 23 <br />the big market, but now it is apartments and no developer will build townhomes. 24 <br /> 25 <br />Mayor Marty indicated that residents were much more agreeable to an assisted living facility 26 <br />rather than owner occupied townhomes in their backyards. Since then, he has talked with Ms. 27 <br />Johnson, and Mr. Ericson, and the assisted living needs to acquire more property. Mayor Marty 28 <br />said that Mr. xxxx gave two requests to Council. The first is an unlimited extension, and the 29 <br />second was to work with the assisted living developer on the property. 30 <br /> 31 <br />Mr. Lillestrand said that he would like to have the option of coming back in six months, but 32 <br />would be happy to sell this property to a developer, if he can get everything lined up within six 33 <br />months. 34 <br /> 35 <br />Mayor Marty said that this is almost a year past the deadline and Council is being asked to 36 <br />consider another extension. 37 <br /> 38 <br />Council Member Stigney said that if an extension was granted, the fees would be paid. 39 <br /> 40 <br />Mr. Lillestrand said that he will be paying the fees anyway. 41 <br /> 42 <br />Council Member Flaherty asked if the townhomes may not actually go in there. 43 <br /> 44