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Item No: 7A Meeting Date: July 25, 2005 Type of Business: EDA Business Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Economic Development Authority From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Resolution 05-EDA-205 Authorizing an Appraisal be Conducted on the Residential Property Located at 2617 Sherwood Road Introduction: The property located at 2617 Sherwood Road is vacant and currently uninhabitable. The City’s involvement began in 1998 with the issuance of a building permit to make improvements to the home. The improvements went uninspected despite the city’s efforts to gain access to the property. Upon learning of several unsafe and potentially hazardous conditions within the home, notices of violations were issued, court citations issued and eventually warrants issued to the owner for failing to appear at the Court proceedings. During this same time, many other nuisance and building code violations were present and persistent. At some point, the owner defaulted on the mortgage and the City began anew with the mortgage company and a new owner in an effort to correct all of the unsafe conditions within the house and violations on the property. After repeatedly being told corrections would be made and not following through, the City brought action before the City Council on October 11, 2004 to declare the building hazardous and to authorize the abatement of the hazardous conditions. Refer to Jeremiah Anderson’s staff report and subsequent correspondence and court proceedings on the matter. Discussion: After continued discussions with the owner and mortgage company and its representatives, it has become increasingly clear that achieving resolution of the violations present at 2617 Sherwood Road will be difficult and time consuming, in spite of the ongoing legal actions undertaken by the City. Given that, staff is suggesting an alternative means of resolution, that being acquisition by the city using TIF dollars associated with the Housing Replacement Program. Created in 1995, the Housing Replacement Program is a voluntary program that allows the City to purchase blighted residential properties from willing sellers. The purpose of the Housing Replacement Program is to reduce the social costs of blight, improve residential neighborhoods and increase the tax base. There are three stated objectives for this program—replace deteriorated lower value housing with larger, higher valued housing; eliminate blight; and increase the availability of quality housing for families. The home will likely be substandard in some way or exhibit some level of blight. This is defined as follows: 1. Substandard as to condition, property value, size or usage. 2. Obsolete and having a faulty design for block and area in which it is located. 3. Deterioration which has caused blight to other adjoining properties 4. Detrimental to the safety or health of abutting properties in the block. The owner of 2617 Sherwood Road has agreed that a potential purchase of the home by the City might be an acceptable resolution to the ongoing issues between both parties. See the authorization attached from Mike Striker granting access to the property for the purposes of conducting a real estate appraisal.