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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 08/19/13 Item No.: 7.d Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Approve an Access Permit with the St. Paul Regional Water Services Page 1 of 2 B ACKGROUND 1 Since 1997, the City has utilized a portion of the prope rty owned by the St. Paul Regional Water Services 2 (SPRWS) to gain access to a city-owned parcel located at 1901 Alta Vista Drive. This parcel houses a 150’ 3 wireless communications tower that is owned by the C ity and leased out to a number of wireless service 4 providers. 5 6 The 1901 Alta Vista Drive parcel was purchased from the SPRWS in 1997. The Purchase Agreement 7 provided for the use of adjacent SPRWS-owned parcels fo r certain uses by the City. This access was later 8 affirmed in 1999 when the SPRWS acknowledged the alignment of a city-constructed bituminous trail 9 across their property. Attachment A provides an aerial view of the applicable parcels. 10 11 For the past 15 years the City has enjoyed the use of the bituminous trail to access the tower and for 12 recreational purposes. However, during a recent due diligence process involving Verizon Wireless’ 13 proposal to locate their antennae on the tower (which required access to the trail); SPRWS Staff concluded 14 that the previous access approvals across their propert y were somewhat vague and not as explicit as was 15 once believed or desired. 16 17 City Staff originally disagreed with this assessment, but in the interest of more clearly defining the access 18 rights for all intended City uses, we concurred that a formal access permit should be used. Over the past 19 several months, City Staff and the City Attorney me t with SPRWS Staff to develop permit language that 20 was suitable to both parties. Attachment B provides the final draft of the Permit as approved by the 21 SPRWS. 22 23 The Permit retains all of the existing rights and privile ges granted in the original land purchase agreement 24 and it preserves the current status and uses. It shoul d be noted that the SPRWS retains the right to revoke 25 the permit if they determine that the SPRWS-owned land currently being used for th e trail access is needed 26 for other purposes. However, this is consistent with the same conditions imposed upon us under the land 27 purchase agreement. SPRWS Staff have indicated th at there are no plans to re-purpose the land in the 28 foreseeable future. 29 30 City Staff will be available to answer any Council inquiries regarding the proposed permit. 31 32