08-11-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Page 3 August 11, 1997 Mounds View City Council Sewer and Water -Expires June 30. 1998 Kuehn Excavating -New MOTION/SECOND: Trude/Quick to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. VOTE: 4 ayes 0 nays Motion Carried RESIDENTS REQUESTS AND COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR: Acting Mayor Koopmeiners explained that this is the time for residents to address the council with concerns on items that are not on the Agenda. Ms. Pamela Sheldon, 7640 Woodlawn Drive, took this opportunity to thank the City Council, Planning Commission, city staff and residents for the opportunity to work with such a fine group of people over the past year. She noted that it has indeed been one of the best experiences of her career. Mr. Whiting read a plaque which he then presented to Ms. Sheldon on behalf of the City Council, acknowledging her for her dedicated service to the City of Mounds View. • William Werner, 2765 Sherwood Road, asked if the $230,000 Tax Increment Financing Loan which MSP Real Estate is requesting as a part of the Silver Lake Commons Project is a deferred interest loan. Mr. Whiting explained that it is a loan with a deferred payment, having a 1 % annually incurred interest with a balloon payment at the end of the 30-year term. Mr. Werner stated if MSP Real Estate paid $2,000 per year interest over 30 years, it would amount to $60,000. ff the $230,000 were invested it could double within 15 years. It seems to him that this is a very good deal for the developer and he feels it would be helpful for the Council to explain this more thoroughly to the residents. Bruce Braesele, 5127 Long Lake Road, stated as a Planning Commissioner he voted in favor of Silver Lake Commons as he had no legal basis for not doing so. As a resident, however, he opposes the project as he feels Mounds View has an adequate number of low-income housing units, with a higher percentage than any other suburb in the Twin Cities area. Furthermore, he was not aware that the developer would be asking for Tax Increment Financing in addition to obtaining a grant from the City of Minneapolis. Taking this into consideration, he wonders how much risk the developer is really taking and therefore how much interest they really have in the project. He also has some concern with this particular developer as they seem to want to "railroad" this development through. He stated he feels the city would be better off strictly enforcing the housing codes which would force the owners to make necessary improvements to the existing apartments. He feels perhaps if a "for sale" townhouse project were put in the area, residents would take more of an interest in their property. As a resident, he is strongly opposed to the project. David Jahnke, 8428 Eastwood Road, stated he has a lot of reservations as to the Silver Lake Commons development project as well. He is not sure that grouping low income families together in a development is really helping those families. He also wondered why the public hearing for the development project was not . published in the Focus or the New Brighton Bulletin newspapers. It appears that the notice was only published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In regard to the city's inability to market the property commercially, he does not feel that one year is a significant time to have commercial property on the market. He asked that