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<br />ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES <br />MARCH 28, 2005 <br /> <br />PAGE 4 OF 5 <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />Mr. Barr stated he wanted to make sure they were doing this right and were achieving the goals <br />the City wanted, as well as not exposing the City to unacceptable levels of risk. He asked if the <br />City was committed to using up to 70 Million in TIF for this project, or was there a value <br />judgment Councilmembers held in the back oftheir mind. <br /> <br />Councilmember Grant stated he wanted a quality development, but he was not sure they all had <br />the same vision as to what quality was. He indicated the water feature was an important feature <br />for him. He stated he wanted to shoot for something high and not low. <br /> <br />Mayor Aplikowski agreed with Councilmember Grant's comments. She also believed the water <br />feature was important. She noted whatever they did, it needed to be done in a quality way <br />incorporating work force housing. <br /> <br />Ms. Wolfe noted an important point to keep in mind was Council could revise the plan if they <br />were not comfortable with the amount of TIF financing. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden stated she did not have any questions. <br /> <br />Mayor Aplikowski stated they had to stop saying this was not going to cost the current residents <br />of Arden Hills any money ever. She noted this would not be a separate City and there would be <br />opportunities that would benefit everybody. She indicated the development cost would not be . <br />carried by the existing residents, but the operating cost to the City could bear some future burden <br />to all residents in the City. <br /> <br />Councilmember Larson stated he was comfortable not burdening the existing taxpayers with <br />the cost of the development. However, he noted every decision Council made was not limited to <br />the people who benefit from it and that was how this City developed. He indicated they needed <br />to recognize that in the future there would probably be a windfall once the TIF period ended <br />because of this project. He asked them to recognize this was a goal that was different than how <br />the City normally operated. <br /> <br />Mr. Kunkel stated the EDC was struggling with the aging community and there are a lot of <br />people living on fixed incomes and they needed to be aware of those things as they moved <br />forward. He stated it was the desire of the EDC that those taxpayers are not burdened. He <br />indicated they needed to put their best effort forward in trying to achieve that. <br /> <br />Councilmember Grant believed Councilmember Larson's comments were good if this TIF <br />district was five years or less, but this was being proposed as a 26 year TIF district. <br /> <br />Councilmember Larson stated he wanted a high quality development and if they expected this <br />high quality, they would need to pay for that value. <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />4 <br />