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<br />'. <br /> <br />November 12, 2003 <br /> <br />Honorable Mayor and Fellow Council Members <br /> <br />I will not be in attendance for tonight's meeting due to a family emergency. I did want to express my <br />opinions and concerns and am requesting this to be read into the public record regarding the proposed <br />rezoning of the commercial property on 20th Ave. to a residential classification and the proposed TIF <br />district. <br /> <br />Rezoning and amending the Comprehensive Plan - To my understanding by State Statue you can <br />change the classification of a zoned area with a simply majority, but you need a super majority to change <br />the comprehensive plan. It is to my understanding the comprehensive plan is the legal document over any <br />zoning ordinance. Therefore in order to make the change to the proposed property it would take amending <br />the City's Comprehensive Plan. Even with my absence it requires a supermajority vote of all of the <br />members to adopt and amend the comprehensive plan or portion thereof as the official municipal plan. <br /> <br />Rezoning of Property - I am opposed to the rezoning of the present commercial property on 20th Ave. to <br />residential. This City has limited commercial property available for development and I personally feel it <br />should not be rezoned for residential. There are good arguments for the tax value of high-density housing <br />verses commercial development. On the flip side of that high density house requiring more public service <br />therefore in my opinion the benefit is outweighed by the expenses we historically have incurred by this <br />type of housing verses the same tax value of commercial development This City needs to evaluate the <br />increased public service costs we will be facing from the current advancement of housing within our City <br />before we add anymore. <br /> <br />Livable Communities Act - The numbers that we all seemed to be concerned about from what I have <br />found out are merely goals set by Met Council and are only requirements ifwe want to apply for any Met <br />Council Grants under the Livable Communities Act. The City has had these goals since 1995 and we have <br />never applied for any of these grants. <br /> <br />TIF District - My personal opinion regarding the proposed TIF district on 20th Ave. for the purpose of <br />developing residential is only a benefit to the developer and not to the City. I am disappointed in the <br />Councils opinion to only offer TIF for housing in this area and not for development of this area for its <br />intended use as commercial. Mr. Drilling had request to building town homes in this area without TIF so <br />why would be give TIF now. <br /> <br />Soil Corrections - If we believe as stated soil corrections need to be made due to possible hazardous <br />material having been buried on this site then I feel we should contact the EP A regarding possible <br />hazardous dumping and have the current property owner take responsibility for the problem they have <br />created. Rather than burden the taxpayers with this expense. <br /> <br />Respectfully <br /> <br />Mary Capra <br />Centerville City Council Member <br /> <br />*Informational documents attached for your personal review. <br />