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HRA 03/06/2008 - 30949CITY OF FRIDLEY HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY COMMISSION MARCH 6, 2008 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Pro Tem Holm called the Housing and Redevelopment Authority to order at 7:30 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: William Holm John Meyer Steve Billings Members Absent: Larry Commers Pat Gabel Others Present: Mike Jeziorski, City Accountant Paul Bolin, HRA Assistant Executive Director Jim Casserly, Development Consultant Richard Pribyl, Finance Director Molly Hamilton, HRA Attorney ACTION ITEMS: 1. Approval of Ezpenditures MOTION by Commissioner Billings to approve the Expenditures as submitted. Seconded by Commissioner Meyer. UPON UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPER50N PRO TEM HOLM DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED 2. Approval of February 7, 2008 Meeting Minutes Chairperson Pro Tem Holm had noted clarification on pages 4, paragraph 3 and 7. MOTION by Commissioner Meyer to approve the minutes with the noted corrections. Seconded by Commissioner Billings. UPON UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON PRO TEM HOLM DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED 3. Approval of Rail Station Site Appraisal Paul Bolin, HRA Assistant Executive Director, said that since January 10`�, when the HRA authorized the acquisition for property necessary for the Northstar Community Rail Station, a number of tasks have been completed. One of those tasks was an appraisal that was done in 2006. In mid-January the appraisal was updated to reflect the current value and predevelopment costs. The new appraisal is $3,165,000. The HRA needs to officially approve and accept the appraisal through a resolution prior to the HRA depositing funds for the acquisition through the quick take process. Attorney Casserly has provided the HRA a copy of the resolution. Jim Casserly, Development Consultant, introduced Molly Hamilton who has been working on this matter and assisting throughout the process. Molly Hamilton, HRA Attorney, said the reason the next step needs to be talcen is because the HRA is looking to acquire this property through the quick take procedure. This is an expedited process for exercising the power of eminent domain given the fact that there is a certain time frame in which the construction needs to begin. Under 117.042, the quick take statue, before the funds are deposited the appraisal needs to be approved. Tonight this step needs to be covered so the quick take process can begin. The resolution approving the appraisal was distributed. Chairperson Pro Tem Holm asked who would receive the deposit for the quick take. Ms. Hamilton said it would be deposited with the Anoka County Court Administrator and kept in an interest bearing account until a respondent moves for the funds. Mr. Casserly said the amount would be deposited by check on or after Apri130, 2008 because that is the earliest the property can be acquired through the use of quick take. The amount of the deposit would be $3,165,000, which is the amount of the appraisal. MOTION by Commissioner Billings to approve the resolution approving the rail station site appraisal as if it were read in its entirety. Seconded by Commissioner Meyer. UPON UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON PRO TEM HOLM DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 1. Northstar Rail Project Update Jim Casserly, Development Consultant, said that this has been occurring very rapidly. A memo was sent out on February 29 that provided a status update as to what is going on with the site. The memo also talks about the condemnation heazing that took place last week. Molly Hamilton, HRA Attorney, said that the hearing was seeking court approval of the petition. Counsel was present contesting the petition. Three witnesses were called and were able to testify on the allegations that arose regarding the petition as well as the issue of the Northstar project. The respondent did ask for additional time to gather information and the next hearing is on March 11�'. Continuing arguments will be heaxd from both sides as to why the petition should or should not be approved. Chairperson Pro Tem Holm said that he read the memorandum and it appeared that the attorney for the owner of the property wanted to have more information about the authority for this condemnation. He asked if there were any other issues. Ms. Hamilton said that the main issue was the authority because this is an acquisition done in conjunction with some other entities. There were some questions about who is the condemning authority and whose authority is relied on. It is our position that the HRA has its own authority to do this as well as the authority with Anoka County Rail Authority and MnDOT. Issues of public purpose of whether the HRA has a redevelopment project were also discussed. Paul Bolin, HRA Assistant Executive Director, said that a hearing on the tax increment bill the HRA asked for last legislative session will be heard before the senate t�es committee. Some disheartening news was received about the bonding bill request that the County Regional Rail Authority has been working on. The bills that ended up going forward did not include the funding for Northstar. Northstar is up on everyone's radaz and there is a possibility to get back in later this session or next year in another bill. People are aware of the difficulties and the gap that does exist to get the station built. The only bills that moved forward were bills and projects that were in the proposed bonding bill last year. Mr. Casserly said that our tax increment legislation that was vetoed last yeaz is included. A number of issues which are non controversial are included in the bill. This should be approved in the next week or two. The language in this ta�c bill is good as it allows us to use resources from three of our tax increment districts. It also allowed us to create a tax increment district that included a large area around the Fridley station. We would like to amend the language in this bill to state that the very large area should be defined as a project with the ability to create a number of tax increment districts. As it is worded now, it would be a single tax increment district and that is not how it will be developed. Even though a tax increment will not be created this year, it would be helpful to amend the language. This would give the area more flexibility to create a number of districts, a11 which can pool within that single project. In regards to the bonding bill, that is a story that is still unfolding. A lot of things will happen between now and the time the legislature adjourns and there may be an opportunity to get a portion of the funds, which in itself would be extremely helpful. 2. Gateway NE Update Paul Bolin, HRA Assistant Executive Director, sta.ted that he received a call from Dan Wilson and the property owner of the former Sinclair Station has verbally accepted the offer that was made last Friday. This included the appraised value plus relocation benefits for the tenant. This is moving forward and the purchase agreement does provide for HRA to get on the site to get some soil borings to do an environmental review. The vehicles and personal property must be removed before the closing. The Tae-Kwan-Do site owners, the Kims, axe in discussion with Dan Wilson over value. The Kims value is higher than the appraisal value but they have not come forwazd with a formal response or counter offer. The Alano Society has come forward and asked if the HRA was interested in their building. A walk thru for the appraisal was completed this week. 3. Monthly Housing Report Paul Bolin, HRA Assistant Executive Director, said that in February one revolving loan was closed on and HRA may see a spike in loans in March. A lot of applications were sent out in February and flyers have been mailed out and distributed at the Home and Garden Show to promote this program. Remodeling Advisor had one visit and more are set up for March. NON-AGENDA UPDATE Paul Bolin, HRA Assistant Executive Director, said that Mr. Fogerty, owner of the Columbia Arena, has agreed to sell the east side of the area to a candy factory. This will make it di�cult to split the rest of the building to get the density needed for any housing on site. The original plan was to use the entire site for a senior campus that would include independent living, assisted living, memory care and traditional nursing home. The Greco Group wanted some tax increment financing and needed a rezoning and a replat. They were not able to get those things done in the time frame given by Mr. Fogerty so the sale did not go through. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Commissioner Billings to adjourn. Seconded by Commissioner Meyer. UPON UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON PRO TEM HOLM DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:05 P.M. NON AGENDA ITEMS 1. Target-NOC, Onan-Cummins Building 2. John Allen Project — 5510 Main Street 3. Gateway West ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Commissioner Meyers to adjourn. Seconded by Commissioner Gabel. UPON UNA1vIMOUS VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON COMMERS DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:40 P.M. Respectfully submitted, ^ � � Krista Monsrud Recording Secretary CITY OF FRIDLEY SIGN-IN SHEET HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHOI�ITY MEETING ���� � Name and Address Agenda Item of Interest � � � � � � CITY OF FRIDLEY SIGN-IN SHEET HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING Name and Address �� . Agenda Item of Interest