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significantly affect what he wants to do and pulled their deal away. Mr. Boike stated at that point he said to Jodi that they asked for the land and should come and get it. It has been over five years and he is still standing here. If the City wants this land they should do something, otherwise they should release him so he can develop it. He is a taxpaying citizen and has spent a lot of time and money working with consultants and attorneys, and working on the first deal that went away. He would like to sell this land to someone; if the City would like to buy it he would like to sell it. Ms. Reuhle indicated Anoka County had the property appraised and the Boikes accepted that dollar amount this spring. They are still trying to work out any kind of a creative strategy to make this work. Mr. Boike understands the need for the City to acquire this parcel for the transportation improvements. From her perspective Mr. Boike has gone above and beyond with patience and cooperativeness to do this. The Boikes are not asking for any additional money, and they are still at that same dollar amount. Even so far as to if there is something that needs to happen at a later date, with some sort of good faith that they know something will eventually happen instead of being in limbo. El Tinklenberg, The Tinklenberg Group, stated from a policy perspective, this is a complicated and difficult issue for a City Council. This is a regional infrastructure improvement and should be planned for, financed, and built by the state or the region. However, more and more they are seeing cities having to participate in order to protect this kind of important corridor. As development happens along the corridor on this end of Highway 10 there are really getting to be fewer and fewer options available for another river crossing. This is one location where the land is still open, and to lose it would be a very difficult prospect for a corridor to move forward. MnDOT has no money to do this, and is not in a position to secure the corridor. The money in the RALF fund has been used up until additional money is put in; it is likely the funding will be increased next year. Clearly if this corridor is to be protected it becomes a policy decision of the City Council at this point. Chairperson Strommen stated she agrees to a point. As a policy decision regarding this purchase the Council is totally on board, but it becomes a financial position. The City only has so many funding sources, and given the housing market and the falloff in building permits they are constrained even more. She does not believe any of the Councilmembers are willing to make the decision that they will sacrifice some of the City's other services to the residents to balance the budget. She appreciates the patience of the Boikes, but the issue they are working with is that the City does not have the funding unless they can find a creative way to finance this purchase and have some assurances. If this is really the critical corridor they need some people to step up; the City cannot do it all. Councilmember Jeffrey concurred. He stated the Council is on board policy wise with the decision to try to secure the corridor. The Council has wrestled with this for months and there is a downturn in development and revenue. The tough part he has is if they cannot come up with a budget neutral situation they would be spending the residents' dollars to secure a corridor, and there is the issue of what they would have to sacrifice to get that done. He would love to come up with a creative solution, but he does not want to jeopardize the service to the residents. It becomes a tough sell to raise taxes when a crossing would not be seen for 15 years or beyond. Finance Committee I September 26, 2006 Page 5 of8