Laserfiche WebLink
Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,January 12, 2015 <br /> Page 13 <br /> HRA meetings, Councilmember Laliberte noted how brisk they were; and sug- <br /> gested the HRA take more time at their meetings to ask the right questions, since <br /> the community granted the HRA a good deal of money to operate. While the City <br /> owned the property, Councilmember Laliberte noted that one of the repercussions <br /> of the delay was that a great deal of time had been lost, with City staff and the <br /> community at large having put a lot of time and energy into the planning stages, <br /> with the end proposal highly praised. Councilmember Laliberte opined that it was <br /> unfortunate that some much time had been lost, and expressed her disappointment <br /> that, when it was first determined that financing was problematic, it should have <br /> raised more flags than it did. <br /> Councilmember Willmus stated that he was not in any way pleased with the time <br /> lapse for this project as noted by Councilmember Laliberte, but also remained <br /> thankful that the City held the property title, and ramifications were few other <br /> than reversing drainage and utility easements. However, Councilmember <br /> Willmus reiterated the need for the City Council, HRA and staff to be in a better <br /> position to keep track of various projects. <br /> In recognizing that this item will come back to the City Council for discussion at <br /> their February 9, 2015 meeting, Councilmember Laliberte noted that, while some <br /> other proposals initially came before the City Council, it had been determined at <br /> that time that they were never going to work, and cautioned that they really didn't <br /> need to be reviewed again, since the community meetings had supported that the <br /> GMHC proposal was the best option, and there should be no need to start over <br /> again with less viable proposals. <br /> Mayor Roe shared the disappointment expressed that things were not better <br /> tracked during the process, while recognizing that everyone was working toward <br /> the end product and were confident that financing would fall into place more <br /> quickly than it did, which to some extent was out of the City's control. However, <br /> Mayor Roe admitted that he would have been more comfortable if that infor- <br /> mation was brought forward before now. Mayor Roe stated that his takeaway <br /> from tonight's discussion was that the GMHC proposal was the best concept <br /> brought forward, and suggested the directive to City and HRA staff should be to <br /> see if other developers were willing to pursue that concept. <br /> In recognizing that the former Owasso School property, now vacant, had received <br /> proposals for higher-density, owner-occupied homes, Mayor Roe suggested that it <br /> may interest the same developers as part of this development to mix single family <br /> homes with higher-density units that may make a larger package more attractive <br /> to them versus them attempting to propose something completely different than <br /> what had already been ruled out based on community input. <br /> City Manager Trudgeon advised that staff would pursue a package similar to that <br /> proposed by GMHC with the development community. Mr. Trudgeon addressed <br />