Minutes - Council - 04/05/2011 - Special

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Mr. Goodrich cautioned this is a special meeting — we have identified this one subject so we will be a little constrained to talk about one development. We will put this on the work session in the future to be able to lay out more Senior Planner Gladhill stated we are bringing this forward because of the timeline. It will be brought back for formal adoption. Councilmember Wise stated he did not like not allowing occupancy. If weather prohibits landscaping, etc., they should still be able to occupy their building. He added that now that he hears we can reduce the letter of credit as we go, we can streamline what we are doing but he is not interested in giving up any financial backing. Councilmember Backous asked for an example which Mr. Gladhill provided the following: If a project we have identified needs an extension of roadway and the project to the west needs that roadway as well, it might be one project waiting for another. There might be a lapse between when we let the plat for recording — it's when the Certificate of Occupancy is given. Director of Public Works Olson explained that in order to receive a Certificate of Occupancy when there is a lapse between the time the improvements can be completed — they will be required to provide a surety /letter of credit to cover these improvements. With regard to the assessment portion — we say we cannot go past five years; however, the State allows 20 years. To make them pay this off within five years, that percentage could create a substantial hardship. Councilmember Elvig stated he has no problem with helping a certain developer but looking at changing the overall ordinance — he wasn't sure about. The best thing we can have to protect the City is cash. Attorney Goodrich stated that in order for the City to negotiate and have some flexibility, we need to change the ordinance unless we want to do that for every specific item. We are not proposing that we even do any changes — we are saying this gives us the ability to do that. Mayor Ramsey stated that this gives Council some more flexibility. We want to be a little more friendly to developers and removing some barriers that seem to exist — he has no problem with that. Mr. Goodrich added that staff will be going through each item. Councilmember Jeffrey stated this is introduction tonight and prior to adoption, we will have that discussion. Mr. Goodrich explained that the plan is to adopt this ordinance on April 12, for an effective date of May 12. We will have a work session to discuss the final terms that we have arrived at for the development agreement but that agreement will not be signed until we get the bids. They may not go forward until they see what the bids are and we may not want to either. All this will come together near the end of May. Special City Council — April 5, 2011 Page 5 of 7