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Special City Council Meeting Thursday, February 20,2014 Page 16 also referenced the NW Quadrant in New Brighton and the Excelsior and Grand project with the City assembling land for the site. Councilmember McGehee spoke in support of having a discussion on property acquisition; and like Coun- cilmember Willmus noted, was unable to define where she would come down on the issue in reviewing pros and cons. However, Councilmember McGehee noted that the City was granted Port Authority in 1987 with express discretion to clean- up and market the Twin Lakes area; and as yet had done nothing other than bond for blighted parks, while losing out to another community that had chosen to pur- chase and clean-up polluted land—a former asphalt plant—that no longer existed. Mayor Roe noted that it was something to consider; however, he cautioned that not every situation was the same or having the same cookie cutter answer. While it may make sense to buy land, Mayor Roe opined that if under contract and not sold, the City would still own it, and would be more preferable if there was a fast time frame while not limiting viewpoints, and adding to the discussion. Mayor Roe further opined that it made sense to be flexible and have options, the City still made the zoning decisions. Mayor Roe sought consensus on Council preferences: whether to tweak the CMU or create two subdistricts, with one closer to Langton Lake and the remaining parcels in another subdistrict. Keeping them all the same or specific parcel to parcel zoning was another option outlined by Mayor Roe, recognizing that the development community desired flexibility, which either of the first two options should accomplish. Councilmember Laliberte noted that the current CMU District had a variety of us- es permitted, yet still nothing was happening and the City chased things away. While campaigning, Councilmember Laliberte noted the comments she heard in opposition to Wal-Mart and preferring Costco, yet not supporting that when it came forward either. Councilmember Laliberte expressed her desire to not repeat past City Council cycles by saying its CMU and other than a few parcels, not sup- porting that designation. In all fairness to past City Councils, Councilmember Willmus noted that they had approved Costco as a mixed use. Mr. Paschke noted that on the east side of Fairview Avenue there was no regulat- ing plan to guide redevelopment making it difficult to redevelop; while the west side does have that distinction, creating differences for the east and west sides. Councilmember Willmus questioned the level of incentive wanted by the commu- nity to see development as it wished, since public assistance could take many dif- ferent forms (e.g. infrastructure installation, demolishing of existing buildings, land ownership, such as done in the City of new Brighton). However, Coun- cilmember Willmus questioned how that City fared at the end of the period and even though they no longer have an asphalt plant, what other end results occurred. Jumping back to the core question of where we're at, Councilmember Willmus