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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — NOVEMBER 2, 2023 5 written in June resolving the lawsuit brought by the County against the City in an effort to terminate the agreement because the City was unwilling to compromise at the time. In that court order the judge described the public hearing "On September 4, 2018 the JDA held a meeting and heard public comments about the draft Master Development Agreement and Executive Summary. Most of the public comments addressed the need for higher density maximums or increased affordable options, in particular several entities wrote and spoke at the meeting to raise their concerns that the proposed Master Development Agreement failed to meet the City's and the County's legal obligations under the Minnesota Land Use Planning Act and that it presented potential liability issues for the County and the City under the Fair Housing Act." Councilmember Fabel said most of the people he had discussions with at the open house and most of them were favorably impressed with the proposal that had been brought in by Alatus. One person told him they didn't want any affordable housing in this area because that would cause riff-raff to move into Arden Hills. It concerns him that the sentiment lies behind some of the objections to the proposal. He looked up riff-raff and found it was people regarded as worthless, disreputable or of low social class. He didn't regard anyone that wants to get housing as disreputable, worthless of or low social class, no matter what status of housing they are seeking. He thought it was sad there are people opposed to the project because they are afraid of having riff-raff moving into Arden Hills. Councilmember Holden said as it seemed they were reliving the past, she heard during public comment that there were lengthy negations with the County but she didn't remember any lengthy negotiations with the County. There were many JDA meetings where the County didn't show up. The City always presented what their terms were. They agreed to one of the County's proposals during mediation but the County backed out of it. They met with Alatus, put another proposal together and Mr. Lux thought he could get the County to agree. They gave another term sheet and another proposal to the County, but the County never came to the table to negotiate or talk to the City, they only said they didn't like the revised term sheet. The lawsuit was settled and the summary judgement was in favor of the City, that we were negotiating in good faith. But they are back to the 1,460 instead of trying to move ahead they are so busy trying to belittle and beat everybody down on the past instead of trying to move forward and she didn't understand it. She could talk about the 1,460 and every meeting leading up to it, and about Mr. Lux in meetings in the basement and on and on. Was that what they were going to do? Mayor Grant asked if the offer put together was in writing from the County. Mr. Lux said it was not. They had conversations about it but not a written proposal. He did believe the term sheet would be accepted but it was not. Councilmember Monson said she would try to focus her comments on the 1,960 and what happened at the open house. She thought it was a fantastic turnout and well run although people had to be patient to ask questions. She had a lot of positive conversations with everyone supportive of 1,960. The bigger question was what kind of housing; can we build new houses at $350,000. Everyone seemed excited about the energy vision and she was happy to hear that support. Some people want to know all the details but they won't have them until the development agreement has been approved and a plan proposal comes before the JDA and Planning Commission. She noted the younger generation has different views on what they want, where