CCP 02-27-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . '- . CITY OF ARDEN HILLS .- MEMORANDUM . DATE: February 23, 1995 . TO: Brian Fritsinger, City Administrator . FROM: Cindy S. Walsh, Parks & Recre~tion Director C) V SUBJECT: City Park at Old Snelling and Ridgewater . I Back!!'round On November 28, 1994, I received a letter from Mr, Peter Pelletier expressing an interest in purchasing a parcel of land from the City of Arden Hills to construct a single family house, This . parcel is 13,679 square feet (.31 acres) and is designed park property, Although Ramsey County has the value of the property listed at $20,400, the fair market value of the property would likely be much more given its location, I recommended that the City Council consider selling this -e property to the highest bidder and depositing the money from this sale into the park fund. Can the City sell this prooertv? . In discussing the possible sale of this property with City Attorney, Jerry Filla, he informed me that land acquired through dedication for park purposes must remain as a park. . I have researched the sequence of events that lead to the City's acquisition of this property and passed that information on to Attorney Filla, He has not found evidence that Arden Hills is the fee o~er of this area of land which would enable us to convey it for development. Without fee . title, the City's only option, should it choose to vacate the property, would be to give the property back to the underlying title owners, whomever they might be, A copy of Attorney Filla's . summary of findings is attached, Recommendation . After discussing Attorney Filla's summary with you, we seem to agree that the issue needs to be resolved, In researching the property, I found an instance in 1987 where an interested party also inquired about purchasing this property, It appears that Arden Hills cannot sell the property . because we do not hold title to it. However, the sequence of events that lead up to the development around this property do not clearly make the possible sale if this area is out of the question, I recommend that Attorney Filla be directed to further study this issue in order to give - council a definite answer. .e .