Agenda - Council - 09/13/2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPENDIX C (continued) Statement of Need & Justification (6) Evidence of Hardship On occasion, a residential homeowner must sell his owner occupied home, but is unable to do so only because the property lies within the right-of-way of a planned road. This is known as a hardship situation. The City of Ramsey understands this specific requirement, and the underlying law, are focused on residential situations only. We also understand the Metropolitan Council may be willing to discuss commercial hardship situations. With that in mind, Ramsey believes 6401 Hwy 10 is a "hardship" for a commercial property. 6401 Highway 10 is officially mapped, and needed 100% for acquisition —which makes selling the property challenging. Selling this property is challenging due to the timing uncertainty of a Sunfish Lake Boulevard project (i.e. 5, 10, 20 years). The building on this site is currently vacant. A new business takes several years to become well -established. Starting a business, and investing in a property, is a major decision. Most investors are hard-pressed to invest in a property that has such a large amount uncertainty, risk, and will become wrapped up in future government processes and potentially legal disputes. As a result, the 6401 Highway 10 property owner is stuck, and is unable to sell their property at market rate. Further Explanation Based on updated RALF guidelines —specifically language related to "imminent development/ conversion" —Ramsey believes a situation of impasse and hardship is created for 6401 Highway 10. • From a RALF criteria perspective —to meet the imminent development/ conversion rule, the City must obtain an official building permit or site plan application (or similar evidence) that would result in the conversion of property to a "higher -value -use" BEFORE the City can utilize RALF. • From a developer/ investor perspective —no motivation exists invest thousands of dollars and a substantial amount of time to secure the purchase of a property and completion of various required government entitlement processes (i.e. site plan application or building permit) if you knew the City (via RALF) will ultimately take the property and halt your project. • In other words, the City believes these positions are opposite and conflicting, and creates a position of impasse (i.e. commercial hardship). As a result, the property won't be sold to a private investor, and property won't be purchased via RALF. The property will likely remain vacant, deteriorate, and attract crime. Update: based on a recent update from the Metropolitan Council (link), it appears there may be a desire to consider this application as an "exception" to the hardship rule.