CCP 05-20-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES APRIL 29,2002 12 She preferred Opus as her fIrst choice. She stated they had not identifIed how they felt about this whole ptocess. Mayat Probst stated the selection tonight would simply gct a partner in place that would help them move forward with the potential transfer and the environmental clean-up. He stated they had a starting point with the Vento Plan and they had a commitment to move forward honoring that plan, but the fundamental challenge before them was the issues of land transfer and environmental clean- up. He stated he suppatted proceeding along the path of the motion made. He stated this motion would not neecssarily tie the City into only using one developer. Couneilmember Rem stated her preference for Opus being her the fIrst choicc and Centex being her second. Councilmember Grant stated Centex was his fIrst choice at the prcvious Watk Session; however he belicved Opus made a better ptoposal than initially presented. He statcd both were very strong players and he liked Opus' focus on the retail/offIce environment, as well as a residential aspect to the development. He stated Centex had the environmental aspect on linc, but stated they were more rcsidential than Opus' proposal. He stated he would like to scc the Council to make this decision tonight. Mayor Probst stated it was important to him to understand where everyone was at and he hopcd they would move forward tonight, but this was the biggest decision Council would ever have to make that would affect the entire community and they needed to make a good decision and put together a team that could help them get this done. Councilmember Aplikowski stated she disagreed with Mayor Probst's comment about this being thc biggest decision. She statcd the residents everyday living would go on as is whether this was approved or not. She stated this did not have the same impact for her as it did for the Mayat and this was part of her hesitancy of moving forward. She stated she would have likcd to have had more discussions as a Council to come to some agreement. She stated the reason she chose Opus was because she believed Opus presented the better proposal, but she believed she was just uncomfortable making any decision tonight. Mayor Probst stated he believed the Army was looking at disposing of thc property and it was in the best interest of the City to be a part of this. CouncIDnember Rem stated she agreed this was a very impattant decision for the City and she felt very strongly that Opus was the bettcr choice. She stated Opus seemcd to deal very well with this sitc regarding the environmental issue, other than just getting it eleaned up. She statcd she wanted to see something more thoughtful go into this process. CouncIDncmber Aplikowski stated one of her hesitancies was that other options might not have been explored. Mayor Probst replicd there was expense that a proposed dcveloper would incur, which was greater than the City funds were able to incur. He stated whichever team they choose, they may well wish to rcach into the other teams for their assistance as well.