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City Council Minutes 07-08-2002 SpecialMINUTES SPECIAL MEETING - MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL Monday, July 8, 2002 - 5:30 p.m. Members Present: Roger Belsaas, Roger Carlson, Clint Herbst, Brian Stumpf and Bruce Thielen. Members Absent: None. 1. Call the meeting to order. Mayor Belsaas called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. 2. Ice Arena/Community Recreation CompleX Proposal. Jeff O'Neill provided some background on the proposal to construct an ice arena at the 7`' Street location. In a previous meeting, the Council was asked to consider the donation and/or lease of the land and would upon submittal of financial information give consideration to the waiving or reduction of development fees. At that time the proposal by the group was that the facility would be owned and operated by a non-profit corporation. Since that meeting there have been changes to the proposal and representatives from the various groups involved were present to explain the new proposal. Al Gagnon from the Pointe Group stated that initially just a single ice sheet was proposed and it has since developed into much more. The group had just begun the fund raising to get the project started and had contacted Silver Creek Development. Silver Creek Development expressed an interest in the facility and became involved in the proposal as did the Monticello Youth Hockey Association and the Monticello Youth Soccer Association. The proposal now includes two ice sheets, a domed soccer field, related facilities such as locker rooms, concessions, restrooms, parking and also a retail development. Chuck Freiberg presented some preliminary sketches showing the proposed layout. Silver Creek would be involved in the construction of the recreational facility and would develop the retail portion of the proposal. Brian Stumpf asked if the parcel was fully utilized whether there would be sufficient parking area. Chuck Freiberg stated that parking spaces were laid out based on the retail use and not the recreational use. He indicated that there would be cross easements between the recreational and commercial use for parking. They did not expect that parking would be fully utilized except possibly when tournaments were held. It was estimated that construction costs could run between $100-$110 per square foot. Amenities could add to the square foot cost. Estimated schedule for the project would be 6-10 months. Todd Banek and Gregg Engle, representing Monticello Youth Hockey, spoke to the Council for the need for the facility. They noted they are 60 hours short of the ice time needed this year and there is no time available at any area facilities. The Hockey Association stated they are committed to fund- raising a considerable amount for this project. They felt not only the ice facility was needed but also Special Council Meeting Minutes - 7/8/02 that the commercial development would bring notoriety to the City bringing in people who would be spending time and money in the city. Todd Banek emphasized the need for the City's help in getting this project done. With the five entities involved they felt there was a good base for making this development happen. Gregg Engle added that the Hockey Association is in their 26`x' year of existence and emphasized repeatedly the need for more ice time for the hockey participants. He felt this proposal was a good venture between private and public entities. Kent Johnson from Monticello Youth Soccer spoke about providing a facility for the 700 youth involved in the soccer program. There is an indoor and outdoor soccer season. Most of the domed facilities, however are in the metropolitan area. For the Soccer Association there were two key concerns: 1) Competitive fee for use of the facility - the fee must be low enough for the existing clubs to handle. 2) It must be a full sized facility. The Monticello Youth Soccer Association was looking at a 20 year lease. He emphasized that the City's participation would help keep the fee competitive so that the Association could afford to lease the number of hours needed. They did not want a pared down facility and felt that what was proposed would be attractive to other communities. It would also make the City of Monticello more visible and bring in more people. He thought maybe they could work with the Community Center for multiple use of the facility such as indoor walking area. Tentatively it is proposed that the Monticello Youth Hockey Association would be operating the ice facility. Silver Creek would do the construction operating as a bank as far as financing the construction of the facility. The City would not have liability for the operation of the facility. Al Gagnon indicated that Silver Creek Development would own the building and lease it to the group. Pat Cruikshank of Silver Creek Development stated that they have a number of development in the City of Monticello such as the 6' Street Annex, Towne Centre and a 35 unit apartment complex currently under construction. He noted there is no other project out there like the one being proposed and he looked forward to their partnership with the various groups involved. In discussing development costs, the group indicated that they had talked to Fred Patch and they came up with an estimated $115,000 in development costs. The group was asking that these fees be waived or reduced. In addition they would like a ten year tax abatement on the property. They are also looking at acquiring the entire parcel (approximately 17 acres). The extension of 7"' Street in this area was discussed. Roger Belsaas noted that with the ever increasing traffic on Broadway the need becomes greater to get 7"' Street extended on the west to County Road 39 and on the east to County Road 18. The question was how the City could fund the street extension. The Council pointed out that the City had a considerable amount of money invested in this parcel and there was some reluctance on their part to give the land away, especially for private development. Although the Council had earlier considered donation/lease of the land it was only for the amount of land that would be needed for the ice arena and they were not looking at development of the entire parcel. Recreational complexes like this had been done in other communities such as Plymouth, Champlin, Stillwater and Prior Lake/Savage. Bruce Thielen indicated that while he liked the concept he would be interested in getting information from the other communities on how they put the package 2 Special Council Meeting Minutes - 7/8/02 together. He added that the Council has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers and as a result there is a concern with giving property away for commercial development and waiving of fees. Bruce Thielen stated that if the ice arena is put in and at some point no longer used as a recreational facility the City should be compensated. He talked about having a "sunset clause" wherein if the recreational facility operated as such for a given period of time such as 15 years the City would feel that they had been compensated for the land donation. In discussing the commercial area, Pat Cruikshank indicated that they were looking at a restaurant, something like Applebees in their initial concept. Bruce Thielen stated the Council was comfortable with the donation of the land for the recreational use but not with donating land for commercial development. Pat Cruikshank stated the project would not be viable for them without the City giving them the land. The land would solidify the deal for them. He added that they would not be asking for a tax abatement on the commercial portion of the property. The Council discussed whether land should be given away for commercial development. Bruce Thielen stated the Council is trying to arrive at a rationale for what is being done and needs to analyze what benefits would be received for what the City is being asked to give. Brian Stumpf suggested offering the land to the hockey association but that the Council not consider waiving of the development fees or a tax abatement on the parcel. Bruce Thielen felt that should be a time limit that the facility would need to operate as recreational complex and suggested 15 years. In addition, he felt that by donating the land to the hockey association it would give them greater flexibility. It was noted that without the tax abatement, it could mean higher user fees for the hockey association and soccer association. The consensus of the Council was that they were comfortable with the donation of the land to the association but would not consider waiving of fees or a tax abatement. The Council felt this proposal would not unfairly burden the taxpayers. Bruce Thielen said he would like to see some guarantee that local groups would get preference in use of the facility. Rick Wolfsteller stated that the $115,000 in development fees was most likely based on the area for the recreational complex only and that if the full parcel was being donated the fees should be calculated on the frill parcel. He suggested that the development fees be rechecked and then the group would have a better idea of the fees involved. It was noted that if the property was utilized for commercial development it would require rezoning. There was a also a question of the amount of stormwater ponding area that would be needed by the City. The proposal that was submitted to the group by the Council was: 1) Donation of the land to the hockey association; 2) No waiving of the development fees; and 3) No tax abatement. The group stated that they would have to do additional study to see if the proposal was still feasible. The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m. Da,u SS Recording Secretary J