City Council Minutes 02-20-1990
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MIN TES
SPECIAL MEETING - MO TICELLO CITY COUNCIL
Tuesday, February 2 , 1990 - 7:30 a.m.
Members Present:
Ken Maus,
Blonigen,
Fran Fair, Warren smith, Dan
hirley Anderson
Members Absent:
None
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Assistant Administrator, Jeff 'Neill, reported that 80 acres
of land near the site of the existing Pilot's Cove Airport is
available for sale and that C uncil might wish to consider
purchasing this land in anticip tion of potential development
and expansion of the existing a rport. O'Neill noted that the
existing airport land area is 00 small to qualify for State
funding. In order for the airp rt to expand, a portion of the
land north of the airport must be purchased. At this time,
Council has the opportunity to buy 80 acres north of the land
needed for purchase and then a tempt to work a trade with the
owner of the property directly north of the airport. O'Neill
went on to note that the Stat will fund 50% to 75% of the
land cost purchase if the air ort development plans qualify
for funding. The City must provide up-front money with
reimbursement from the State 0 Minnesota when the project is
funded by the State.
In reviewing the proposal to purchase the land, O'Neill noted
that there is considerable risk involved. For instance, there
is no guarantee that the air ort would qualify for State
funding; the State does not generally fund airports with
north/south runway alignments; there is no guarantee that the
City could work out a deal w"th the owner of the property
directly north of the existi g airport; in order for the
airport to expand, rezoning ust occur, and there is no
guarantee that an application or rezoning acceptable to the
State will be approved by the I cal jurisdiction. To mitigate
the risk, the City could rent the land and resell it if the
airport did not get funded; h wever, the total cost of the
land might not be recovered. In addition, there would be
considerable staff and consult nt time and expense necessary
to see the project through wit out any guarantees.
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Mayor Maus noted that developm
investment in the City's fut
seriously consider development
not sure if it is the right ti
now available given the n
regarding airport development
nt of an airport represents an
re and that the City should
f the airport; however, he was
e to purchase the land that is
merous unanswered questions
t the site.
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Special C uncil Minutes - 2/20/90
Dan Blonigen mentioned his op osition to the idea of investing
significant money into a fa, ility that is not used by the
general public and that bene its a small group of fliers. He
also noted that it is not clearly demonstrated that the
presence of the airport woul encourage economic development.
Fran Fair agreed that sig ificant research needs to be
conducted prior to a major i vestment by the City.
Shirley Anderson agreed that we should look at development of
the airport carefully and ma e sure that we have support from
the local jurisdictions befoe investing a significant amount
of money toward the developm nt of the airport.
It was the general consensus of Council that staff, working
with the airport developme t advisory committee, should
prepare additional informati n as follows:
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Jeff
Assis
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1. Determine the tru potential of development and
expansion of the a rport at its existing site.
2. Obtain a clear idea of who is using other municipal
airports in an at empt to determine the economic
development benefi of an airport in Monticello.
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Administrator
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