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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCWS 01-31-2005 ~ . ~~ILLS Approved: February 28, 2005 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION JANUARY 31, 2005, 7:19 P.M. CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Aplikowski called the meeting to order at 7: 19 p.m. Present: Mayor Beverly Aplikowski, Councilmembers David Grant, Gregg Larson, and Brenda Holden. Absent: Councilmember Lois Rem. Staff Present: Director of Operations & Maintenance, Thomas Moore; Acting City Administrator/Finance Director/Treasurer, Murtuza Siddiqui; Community Development Director, Scott Clark; and Recording Secretary, Kathleen Altman. . Others Present: Stacie Kvilvang and Sid Inman, Ehlers and Associates. TCAAP PRESENTATION BY EHLERS & ASSOCIATES Mr. Clark stated Stacie Kvilvang of Ehlers & Associates would present the tax incremcnt modeling exercise that was recently completed for the Economic Development Commission (EDe). As discussed at previous meetings, staff was attempting to provide information to the City Council parallel to the EDC process of reviewing and recommending public financing assistance policies. He indicated it was hoped that this process would allow future Council deliberations to occur more expeditiously. Ms. Kvilvang's presentation would detail the proj ections, ramifications to the City's tax base and related information. He statcd in addition, Sid Inman of Ehlers and Associates would give a presentation on how third party financial analysts for the City would review developers pro formas to determine public financing nceds. Stacie Kvilvang, Ehlers & Associates, reviewed the tax increment modeling exercise that was completed for thc Economic Development Commission (EDC). Councilmember Holden inquired what would be included in the open space. Ms. Kvilvang replied it would inelude the neighborhood parks. . Councilmember Holden asked what category did tbe Transportation Hub fit into. Ms. Kvilvang replied that would fit into the open space category. \\EarthlAdmin\Council\Minutes\ W orksession\2005\OI-31-05 Wark Session. doc ARDEN HILLS WORKSESSION MINUTES JANUARY 31, 2005 2 . Councilmember Larson asked if they were suppose to look at this as an example, and not where the Advisory Committee was today. Mr. Clark replied they were attempting to be conservative with the numbers and what they were trying to do was get down to where they think the market is. Essentially, the framework was an illustration and the numbers got down to what the market was in tenns ofTIF financing. Councilmember Larson asked if the mIn1mUm assessment agreement was an agreement between the owner and the City to agree to pay a higher assessment. Ms. Kvilvang responded the agreement could be either higher or lower. Mr. Clark stated with the ten percent administration there would need to be some future discussion regarding how much of this could actually be justified per law. Sid Inman, Ehlers and Associates, gave a presentation on how third party financial analysis for the City would review developers pro formas to determine public financing needs. Mr. Clark noted ifthey have a particular phase come in, that would not necessarily be filled only by TIF. He stated grants and other public financing opportunities would also be looked at. Councilmember Larson asked if some of the districts could be layered. Mr. Inman replied that . was not possible, unless they did a hazardous subdivision. Councilmember Larson asked if they have experience with other sites that were environmental clean up sites. Mr. Inman replied almost every redevelopment site in the Twin Cities had some sort of hazardous cleanup issues. Councilmember Grant asked what ifit took longer than anticipated to develop. Ms. Kvilvang replied the district would still end, but a district could be decertified and the process started over again also. Councilmember Larson inquired about the Administrative fee of 25 percent they had referred to previously. Mr. Inman clarified they could take ten percent for administration and 15 percent outside of the District. Councilmember Larson asked if they did not have the ten percent administration, could the remainder be placed in a redevelopment fund. Mr. Clark replied that was correct. Councilmember Holden asked if the Districts were set up under current laws and the laws changed, would this change the TIF. Mr. Inman replied the TlF would be set up under the current laws, even if the laws changed. . Councilmember Larson stated eventually the City would be looking at redevelopment projects due to the age of the buildings within the City and he liked the idea of placing funds in a redevelopment fund. ARDEN HILLS WORKSESSION MINUTES JANUARY 31, 2005 3 . Mr. Clark noted some other fees they need to consider were park dedication fees. Councilmember Grant asked what policy decisions would the Council be required to make in the future. Mr. Inman replied they would need to know if Council wanted a look back provision, and how much risk tolerance did they want. Ms. Kvilvang stated there might be some business points the Council absolutely had to have and once t11ey got these ideas from Council, they could bring those to the developers. She noted where business development standards were today was where the market was. Councilmember Larson asked what the considerations were in setting up the TIF districts. He noted large portions of the project area they were not intending to develop. Mr. Inman replied the TIF plan was a finance plan. Ms. Kvilvang noted the primer tracer area was not included in the TIF district at this time, but it could be added if the City wanted to add it. Mr. Clark statcd that the exact amount of public financing needed to complete the TCAAP project can not be estimated at this time. The next step in the process, after review and action on the Economic Development Commission's policy recommendations will be the City and the . developer constructing business terms. Past of that process will be the creation of TIF estimates. Councilmember Holden stated at one time they had discussed what they were willing to give as TIF. Mr. Clark rcplied it appeared the primary goal was to do the TCAAP process and if they could have both, that would be ideal, but right now he did not know what the number was in terms of what the project would take in terms of public financing. Mr. Inman noted interest rates would also affect this because interest rates are what drive the market. He statcd what made it difficult was estimating where the market was going to be in the future. Councilmember Holden asked who applied for the grants. Ms. Kvilvang replied the City would apply for them. Councilmember Larson asked where did the cost of clean up come in under their analysis. Ms. Kvilvang replied those figures were not in the figures they presented - they assumed the land was clean in those figures. Mr. Clark asked what additional information did the Council want to see to get more comfortable with this, or did they want to wait until the EDC recommendations at the end of the month. . Councilmember Larson stated he would find it helpful to have a list of all of the issues Council might need to make decisions on. ARDEN HILLS WORKSESSION MINUTES JANUARY 31, 2005 4 . Mayor Aplikowski asked if Council IS still on the same page to move forward. Councilmember Larson replied yes. Councilmember Holden replied maybe. Councilmember Grant replied maybe. Mayor Aplikowski asked what more would they need or who else would they want to talk with to make them more comfortable. Councilmember Grant stated it would be helpful to see the EDC's recommendations, but he noted this Council had not been through anything like this in the past, so it was difficult to know what they should be looking for. Mr. Inman replied they would try to come up with a comprehensive list for the Council. Mayor Aplikowski asked if it would be helpful to review the current TIP districts. Councilmember Holden replied she did not believe that would be helpful for her. Councilmember Larson stated what would happen if the COlillcil decided they did not want to pursuc public financing. He asked what would happen with the property. Mr. Inman replied if the City could not get enough TIP or grant money, there was a chance this would not develop there. . Councilmember Larson stated they could not look to a developer to do what the City does not want to do such as the utilities and street infrastructure. Mr. Inman replied the developers may not be able to finance all the infrastructure and they would need City assistance for this. Mr. Clark stated it appeared the goal of the City was to clean the property and design the best plan they could. He indicated there were a lot of costs out there in addition to what they wanted to achieve. He asked how aggressive did the City want to be. Councilmember Grant asked if they would even have this as average because he believed they needcd to offer something better to overcome the stigma ofthe site. Mayor Aplikowski stated they had spent a lot oftimc coming up with a large, high quality plan, that they wanted to stay as close to that high quality as they could and this was one of the tools that would allow them to do this, so it was important if any Councilmembers have any reservations or any questions, that they express those now. Mr. Inman suggested they get the list together and then have another meeting with Council for further questions. Mr. Clark asked if they wanted another discussion on the framework plan prior to sending it back to the Council for action. Councilmember Holden stated she had questions regarding the community center and the . transportation hub. - - . . ARDEN HILLS WORKSESSION MINUTES JANUARY 31, 2005 5 . Councilmember Larson asked when was Council going to act on the work product that came out of the Advisory Committee. Mr. Clark replied the Planning Commission would be reviewing this on Wednesday night. He asked if Council wanted an informal session regarding this prior to bringing it back for action. Councilmember Larson replied he would like to see this again. Mr. Clark asked when they had that informal session would they want Mr. Shardlow at that meeting. Councilmember Larson replied he would like him present. The meeting adjourned at 8:49 p.m. P:~A~ ~~' \/l((~ ~ Beverl ApI" owski Michelle Wolfe Mayor City Administrator . .