Laserfiche WebLink
Councilmember Cook stated that it seemed like they keep going back to the issue of the parking <br />ramps and they all know that the development hinges on those parking ramps. He questioned if <br />the problem is who is going to control and run the parking ramps at buildout. <br /> <br />Mr. Engen stated that they want the structured parking, but they have to look at the economic <br />aspects as well. Parking ramps are very expensive to build and if they had to take $25 million <br />and split it 50/50 and assess their 50 percent to the benefited parties, it becomes very expensive <br />to build within the site. They do not have the advantage of TI3', or tax abatement with this <br />project. As an example, he explained that they currently have a purchase agreement for $5.00 per <br />acre for the Charter School. If they were to charge the Charter School their share of the <br />assessment, their land cost would go up to $7.78 a square foot. <br /> <br />Councihnember Cook inquired if assessing the cost of the parking ramps would make it cost <br />prohibitive to sell the land. <br /> <br />John Feeges, Ramsey Town Center, LLC, replied that it impacts the viability of the project. He <br />explained that determining the benefited party is very difficult because it is a new concept and in <br />actuality the structured parking provides a benefit to the City because it creates more area for <br />commercial development, which brings in tax revenue. He stated that the City is limited on <br />options for constructing the parking structures, but as a private entity they have other options <br />they can look at, such as adding retail components to the parking structure to offset the cost. <br /> <br />Councihnember Cook inquired if Ramsey Town Center, LLC were to build the ramps themselves <br />could the City receive some type of guarantee that the ramps would be free for the life of the <br />project. <br /> <br />Mr. Bray noted that the discussions have been about the initial financing of the structure not who <br />will own it. <br /> <br />Councihnember Cook stated that if the Developer has creative ways to construct the ramps with <br />retail components or housing it might make sense as long as they do not charge for parking. <br /> <br />Mr. Engen stated that what Mr. Bray has done on behalf of the City is to say that the Town <br />Center project requires structured parking and the City wants some guarantee that that will be <br />done. One thing they have discussed is placing a moratorium on development in the TC-1 <br />district until they are able to resolve the parking structure issue. <br /> <br />Councihnember Elvig stated that this was the first time he was hearing the possibility of the <br />developer paying for the structured parking. He did not understand why they were having all this <br />disct~ssion when all the plans have been set around structured parking and now they are trying to <br />determine how to finance them. Now they were discussing the developer paying for the structure <br />parking and finding creative ways of doing so by using mixed use to pay for it. He inquired if it <br />would be possible to have the developer bring in the retail components as part of the structured <br />parking for their 50 percent of the cost and the City covering the other 50 percent. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session/September 2, 2003 <br /> Page 4 of 8 <br /> <br /> <br />