8C, City - County Joint Powers Agreement for TCAAP

Home Browse Search

Concluding Comments There are a lot of costs involved with the TCAAP project. An overriding concern is that the end market for the property can justify the cost of land acquisition and development. At this time County and City staff believes that the market will be able to afford this project. There are still lots of"unknowns"with this JPA. This is about the ninth version of the JPA and staff cannot go much further in analyzing the project without Council approval to move forward. There will be some time over the next 18 months to figure out and address the unknowns at the City level. The planning documents will greatly help us understand the best way to have the site redeveloped. The County staff is working on the Gantt Chart to identify the sequence of events after approval of the JPA. In moving this TCAAP redevelopment project forward there will be numerous activities taking place simultaneously (i.e. Bolander remediation work, planning studies being worked on, funding for transportation be worked on at the Legislature, JDA by-laws being drafted, etc). In many respects, from a City long term point of view, how the JDA will operate and review/approve/inspect the development proposals are more important than the financial investment by the City into the planning documents. The City should condition any approval of the JPA contingent upon the County approving the OTP. Likewise, it is expected that the County will not approve the Offer to Purchase the TCAAP site without City approval of the JPA. We are partners in many respects with this TCAAP redevelopment project. The TCAAP property is a unique site with unique challenges. A partnership with Ramsey County looks to be the City's best opportunity for the foreseeable future to have the TCAAP site put back into productive use. The JPA is scheduled to be on the November 26th City Council agenda. This schedule assumes that the County is ready to approve the OTP on November 27th. If the City Council would like to review the JPA in more detail, we should think about to having a special work session in the next week or so. 5