Agenda - Council - 08/14/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Gamec stated the City has been working on this project for quite some time. Staff and Council have been very diligent and worked to do what they could to bring this project forward, working with different development companies. He would have liked to have seen this, with the service that it would add to the community and the citizens of the area. However, in doing that there are costs involved. His feeling is that they have exhausted all of the options and cannot put the project together. The timetable is a question and the City would not have the funds to hold the land until 2010 or 2013 when the tax monies would start coming in. The general feeling of the Council is to abandon the project at this time and not to go forward with any more costs. They know that some day this land will develop. The City will be able to put more effort into Town Center after the possible sale of that is successful. He thanked staff and the people that worked on having this project come about. He stated the economy and housing market makes it a difficult time in the rural areas for development; this is not the only project of this type that is having difficulties throughout the country. It is in the best interest of the City and the citizens of Ramsey that they do not go forward with the project. Councilmember Elvig stated he echoes a lot of the Mayor's comments. This is disappointing. A lot of people were excited about the potential of Target in town. He understands Target would like to be in Ramsey at some point and they worked hard at trying to be here. There is the possibility of extending this, and a handful of landowners were excited about that possibility. There were a few landowners that were not that interested to sell. This included eminent domain and trying to mass a fair amount of properties at one time, and it is not fair to try to string this out. He feels strongly it has been exhausted at this point; the City would have to sit on $20 million worth of property for a few years to hold onto this. Councilmember Strommen thanked staff and Mr. Lasher for the work put into this. She stated it is difficult to see all of those efforts come to this, but from the Council's side she appreciates the open and honest discussions about the hard realities and the hard decisions that were necessary. They did not leave a stone unturned, and staff was not afraid to bring the hard realities to Council to make the tough decision. City Attorney Goodrich indicated the North Maple Holdings property, Court File C7 -06 -4642, is under a separate resolution from the 15 additional properties that are included in Court File Cl- 06-2083. Motion by Councilmember Look, seconded by Councilmember Elvig, to adopt Resolution No. 07 -07 -158 authorizing dismissal of an eminent domain proceeding for Court File C7- 06- 4642. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Gamec, Councilmembers Look, Elvig, Dehen, Jeffrey, Olson, and Strommen. Voting No: None. Motion by Councilmember Elvig, seconded by Councilmember Jeffrey, to adopt Resolution No. 07 -07 -159 authorizing dismissal of an eminent domain proceeding for Court File C1 -06 -2083. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Gamec, Councilmembers Elvig, Jeffrey, Dehen, Look, Olson, and Strommen. Voting No: None. City Council / July 10, 2007 Page 16 of 24