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ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETNG—NOVEMBER 28, 2011 6 themselves will invest over $400 million; the state will invest money. All of this is coming together now for a once in a lifetime opportunity and will never happen this quickly for a private development. She stated that in her opinion, the stadium proposal is the best opportunity for development of the TCAAP site that the City will have in a long time. Mayor Grant stated road improvements mean putting up with road construction. As far as traffic for non-game days at the proposed stadium, most of those events are smaller and the traffic will come in on I-35W. Mayor Grant then read a letter of support for the proposed stadium from former Mayor Stan Harpstead, 1277 Nursery Hill Lane, who could not be present for the meeting. Councilmember Tamble commented that this is a big decision for the Council. He stated he lives about a half a mile south of the stadium site. With the funding question aside, he stated he does support the resolution and believes it is written with the best interests of the City in mind and items one and two in the resolution ensures ongoing communication for the City. He stated he believes the stadium proposal is a favorable idea for a parcel this size, it will get the area cleaned and will bring some vitality to the north metro area. Councilmember Werner stated this is the biggest vote of his life and he does not take that responsibility lightly. He stated he has been consumed by this issue since February and it is a complicated situation. He commented that he has worked as a researcher for the Minnesota House and Senate and prided himself in doing his homework regarding reasons for and reasons against. Mayor Grant commented that if you consider Arden Hills and the size of the TCAAP property and what it would mean to reuse the site, it is an important decision. He stated he firmly believes that the stadium proposal is the City's best opportunity to get the property remediated and put back into productive use. It's an acceptable use of the property and a viable option. He agreed with the comments made by former Mayor Harpstead. He thanked Congresswoman Betty McCollum for her efforts on this project. He stated he believes the City needs to move forward on this project. He stated he is in favor of this proposal. Councilmember Holden stated she has been weighing the pros and cons of this project for several months and believes that the pros for the City are tremendous. As far as concerns about 40,000 car trips generated by the stadium, she stated the Ryan development would have resulted in 50,000 car trips a day. She stated there will be a lot less daily traffic with the stadium proposal than there would be with a private development. She stated she also likes the fact that the stadium will have LEED certification which a private developer could not afford to do. Also, the City has been waiting for remediation of this site for a long time and the Army wants to sell the site in one lump sum. There are no private developers that can afford to purchase the 500 acres, remediate the site, and then wait until the economy improves to develop. She pointed out that the City has asked the state to remediate the site but were told this is a local issue. Also, she stated that the Ryan development would have resulted in 40 foot lots at a density of 45 housing units per acre which would have significantly impacted the surrounding area.