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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes April 23, 2002 Page 6 • be room for such a restaurant,which he views as very important to quality of life in a community. Councilmember Thuesen asked if it was easier to pitch the product, in terms of grants, if the project is further along. Pratt stated that, if they pre-design a project that does not align itself with the particular grant criteria, then it is a method of dismissing their application. He stated that they are developing a matrix of what the grants might be, and what the required design criteria may be to access them. Councilmember Faust stated that the City of St. Anthony has had a lot of longtime businesses to the area, and would like to see their fitting in to the design of the future project to be considered when designing. Pratt stated that was one of the reasons that the plan has not been finalized. He indicated that in his meetings with the business-owners, he is asking them what their plans are. He concluded that there are a lot of experienced business-owners that love the community and have served it for a long time. Mayor Hodson asked how city staff has been to work with. Pratt indicated that the staff has been very engaged, open and good to work with. Jim Prosser, Ehlers &Associates, came forward with a couple of preliminary comments. He stated that the selection of developers by the Council was very well done. At the same time, he added, the timeline that they are working with is very aggressive and has procedures and steps that take time, but need to happen. He stated that those elements of the process would not slow them down. Prosser summarized the role of a Preliminary Development Agreement, stating that the purpose of the Agreement is to provide assurances that the City will not assist other developers during the time that the specifically accomplishes the following: • Provides that the City will not enter into an agreement with other developers to assist with land assembly or provide financial assistance for properties within the redevelopment project area during the term of this agreement. • The project area as defined will exclude the Exhaust Pro's and the Hardee's site being developed by Culver's and also excludes Equinox Apartments. • The agreement, in its current form, allows the City to terminate the agreement if the developer is not pursuing the redevelopment with due diligence. • The developer agrees to deposit $75,000 reimburse the City for costs related to project costs including financial, legal, and planning services. • Establishes a time period of one year or the approval of a final development agreement, whichever occurs first. The issues in the final development agreement include project timing, land use approval process, project financing, financial assistance, land assembly and project timing. Prosser walked the Council with some of the changes that have taken place. He reviewed the Undertaking and Exclusive Rights portion of the agreement. Essentially, it indicated that, upon termination of the Agreement, the City agrees to refund to the Redeveloper any portion of the Advance that has not been expended for expenses in connection with the Project.