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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL – JANUARY 9, 2023 10 the JDA in order to move the TCAAP project forward and encouraged the Council to be open to moving in a new direction. Keith Gilbert, 1466 Skiles Lane, welcomed the new Councilmembers. He indicated he was not on Facebook but noted he had read Tom’s letter. He believed the letter was well reasoned and did not sound like a coup or takeover. He stated he supported the letter. Steve Erler, 1704 Chatham Avenue, congratulated Mayor Grant and the three new members on their election. He stated according to the agenda the Council would be appointing new members to various committees and commissions per City Code. He indicated one of those bodies was the JDA. He explained at the Council’s last meeting the previous City Council voted to extend the terms of Mayor Grant and Brian Holmes another two years. He indicated one of the motions before the Council this evening was to formalize those extensions. He stated subsequent motions propose to rescind those appointments with replacements from the new Councilmembers. He indicated the newly elected Councilmembers ran as a unified slate on a platform that very prominently promised to engage with Ramsey County to negotiate a settlement and to get the development or Rice Creek Commons started. He noted all three Councilmembers won by comfortable margins and therefore have a mandate to do that. He explained the appointment of Mayor Grant and Brian Holmes to the JDA appears to be an attempt to preempt the incoming Council’s ability to make those appointments, undermining the ability to usefully engage with Ramsey County and thus circumventing the will of the majority of the voters in Arden Hills. He recommended the Council rescind the previous appointments and be replaced with appointments made by the current Council. Steve Nelson, 3475 Siems Court, welcomed the Councilmembers and congratulated Mayor Grant on his reelection. He stated he was in favor of some development on TCAAP. He commented on the history of this project and discussed how Ramsey County went forward with cleaning the property having a full understanding of the density of the property. He indicated the County now wanted the City to bail them out for their mistakes because they spent too much money on the cleanup. He noted the density has been approved by the City and the developer. He reported the County does not want to do it because their costs would not be recovered. He stated the County jumped before understanding how far they had to fall. He understood there could be some compromise, but the density desired by the County would not be in the best interest of the City. He commented on the hidden costs the City would have to pick up, such as public safety and long term maintenance. He indicated the current Council has a lot of experience with the County and the County has ignored the City. He supported the County having to work with the City and not the other way around. He reported he would like to see the project moving forward, but not with the density being requested from the County. He discussed how the number of police calls would increase if the entire development was low income housing. In addition, he feared the development did not have the proper transportation in place should the County’s density move forward. Lastly, he suggested the City not spend $1.2 million on the proposed roundabout at Old Snelling and County Road E, given the fact he intersection did not currently have any problems. He stated he lived in this neighborhood and he feared how he would be adversely impacted, along with the pedestrians using this intersection. Steve Scott, 4286 Norma Avenue, explained he was defeated in the recent election. He welcomed the new Councilmembers and stated he hoped they succeeded. He reported he did not care for the