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<br />Board Member Bentz thought that there should be an explanation similar to what City Council <br />Liaison Strommen stated on the first page. He advised that the current draft does not seem <br />smooth to him and thought it was confusing in the current format. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Miller agreed that a similar statement should be added to the <br />beginning of the report. <br /> <br />Board Member Freeburg stated that in the general background information on page four it reads <br />that the Mississippi River separates the City from Hennepin County and thought it should be <br />added that the area is designated as a National Park. He also thought that the possibility of <br />having the commuter rail in the future should be mentioned in that section of the report. <br /> <br />City Council Liaison Strommen advised that the commuter rail is mentioned in the report. <br /> <br />Chairperson McDilda arrived at 6:45 p.m. <br /> <br />Board Member Sibilski advised that they also put together some different funding options and <br />explained that the most viable option would be general obligation bonds, which in order to place <br />on the ballot would require the approval of the City Council. He stated that the second most <br />viable option would be CIP bonding and explained that the City Council could approve this <br />option without a referendum ballot. He advised that if the City Council turned down that option <br />the residents of the City would have a 30-day window in which they could bring the issue to <br />referendum by getting signatures from five percent of the residents in the City. He added that <br />another option would be County, State, or National matching grant programs. He stated that also <br />included in the report is the tax base of the City and the impact that this would have on the <br />average homeowner. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Miller noticed that the repayment schedule was set for 20 <br />years and questioned if they had looked into the possibility of a ten-year repayment schedule. <br /> <br />City Council Liaison Strommen advised that they tend to use 20-year repayment plans and <br />explained that, to her knowledge, all of the open space bonds had been done on 20-year <br />repayment schedules thus far. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Miller questioned how the five percent interest rate was <br />determined. <br /> <br />City Council Liaison Strommen advised that the five percent was used as an estimate. <br /> <br />Board Member Freeburg questioned if the impending bike trail froni St. Cloud to Minneapolis <br />should also be included on page eight. <br /> <br />Parks Supervisor Riverblood stated that he did know of such a trail but advised that there is a <br />large network of bike trails developing nationally and added that there would be a trail along the <br />Mississippi River. He advised that the opportunity would be in the near future and explained <br />that the funding would be done with mostly grants. <br /> <br />Board Member Max agreed that the bike trails should be mentioned. <br /> <br />Environmental Policy Board / June 17, 2008 <br />Page 3 of8 <br />