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Mounds View City Council Page Twelve ~egular Meeting July 13, 1992 Kay Weseman stated that the people of the City of Mounds View are willing to pay to have the wetlands preserved. Councilmember Rickaby will bring in a copy of the newsletter. Councilmember Quick stated that the people want a lot of things but the bottom line is that the people in Mounds View do not want their property taxes raised. Councilmember Rickaby stated that she has a copy of the 1988 and 1990 survey and there was a question in the 1988 survey that asked, "Do you favor the City buying wetlands to preserve them." Over 50$ of those surveyed answered yes. Muriel Brainard, How many homes could be built without making special considerations? Roos, without the variance there could only be two to three homes. Roos stated that he wanted to make a point that the City is not giving up the wetland. Roos explained that the wetlands were exchanged to create a larger area of wetland. Councilmember Rickaby asked why then there wasn't a development plan to ~evelop a wetland. Roger Stigney, 8400 Eastwood Road, asked what the City Attorney's opinion is in regard to legal concerns with this development. Mayor Linke stated that if Harstad met all of the criteria and we still said no to the development, we would go to court and loose. To not approve this development, the City has to make sure that it has legal grounds that are defensible in a Court of Law. Jim Thomson, City Attorney, stated that the Council has to act reasonably with regard to this matter. Thomson stated that the ordinance should be looked at to see if the did follow the criteria stated in the ordinance. Even if the criteria is followed, but the City deprives the owner of full use of his property a court case could take place. If in compliance the City Council has to make a decision. Councilmember. Rickaby stated that not only is the City guided by ordinance but also by past decisions in this area. She asked if the City sets a precedence when it makes a decision. Jim Thomson responded yes in some cases. Does it mean that the City has to do the same thing for all situations. Thomson stated it is very difficult to have two cases exactly the same, but if they were it would be very difficlut to do one thing with one and another thing with another.