Agenda - Council - 05/26/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Administrator Ulrich went through a Power Point presentation of the Settlement highlights on positioning on how this positions the Ramsey Town Center for the Future. He reviewed the community's initial vision for a 322 acre, award winning mixed -use development along Highway 10. He stated that the initial vision included creation of a Master Development Agreement and the property was owned by a private developer. He noted the successes that have happened in the Ramsey Town Center such as PACT, 223 units of life cycle housing, Coborn's, the transit hub and a City Park. He reviewed some of the challenges since 2006, including the death of the developer and bankruptcy, which resulted in about 150 acres being trapped in the foreclosure process. He stated that the land is currently owned by 25 banks, which has complicated negotiations. He reviewed. some of the potential risk in both moving forward and not moving forward. He stated that the proposed action is a settlement of litigation where the City will purchase 148.2 acres at a cost of $6.75 million, which secures a marketable title, with a closing date of June 26, 2009. He reviewed the map of where the property is located, and noted that 61.3 acres is commercial land; 51.8 acres is residential; and 30.9 acres is parkland. He stated that this would help position Ramsey for the future because it frees the property for development, pays back taxes, builds a tax base and reduces the need for future tax increases. Councilmember Look publicly thanked everyone on the Council for the countless hours spent in meetings that have taken them away from their families to hammer out details and get answers to questions. He stated that he also wanted to thank staff for their continued work in updating the Council as things have changed. He stated that this project may not end up having one developer taking the project and running with it, so it may need to be parceled out. He stated that this was probably the last option that the City would consider but it will help control the use of the land. He stated that his plan is to sell this property at the price that we paid, if not a profit and thinks it is important for the citizens to understand that this is going to be done through an internal loan transfer, not a bailout in terms of people's taxes paying for this project. He stated that with $6.75 million, the City will net about $500,000 in back taxes and will be able to apply a $1.5 million Letter of Credit, which brings it down to about $4.5 million from the internal loan. He stated that it will also allow the City to bring forth a Met Council grant for an amphitheater that would have just fallen apart if this purchase hadn't moved forward. He stated that this is an investment in the future of the City. Councilmember Elvig stated that there have been hundreds of hours between the Council and the staff working on this, which also has certain costs associated with it. He stated that he has historical perspective on this project, having been around to see the various stages. He stated that because the City created a very stringent Development Agreement this will allow us to get the things that the City wants here. He stated that you have to ask "But for not the City" whether this thing would fly and he feels that it wouldn't fly without the City getting involved. He stated that he commends the Council for this difficult decision and he understands it will be contentious, but he is very impressed with the Council and the tenacity of questions and the thought process throughout the discussions. Councilmember Dehen stated that the Council needs a vision and the- only way to position the City in this vision, was to purchase this. He stated that he thinks this option was the last resort for everyone. He stated that he thinks the other important issue is for the City to continue fighting and pursuing the transportation issue and the potential train stop. Special City Council Meeting /March 17, 2009 Page 3 of 6