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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 [06] Jun 01 June 1, 2016 Page 1 of 2 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the St. Joseph City Council met in special session on Wednesday June 1, 2016 at 5:30 PM in the St. Joseph City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Rick Schutz. Councilors Dale Wick, Bob Loso, Renee Symanietz, Matt Killam. City Administrator Judy Weyrens. Citv Reqresentatives Present: Police Chief Joel Klein, City Attorney Tom Jovanovich, LMCIT Attorney Ryan Zipf, Community Development Director Therese Haffner. Others Present: Corey Gerads. Closed Meetinq: Schultz made a motion to go into closed session pursuant to Minn. Stat.§ 13D.05, subd. 3(b)to discuss pending litigation against the City. The motion was seconded by Wick and passed unanimously. The Council came out of closed session without taking action. Tax Abatement/Tax Increment Financinp: Weyrens reported that the financial advisor for the City, Jason Aarsvold, has�nished reviewing the financial assistance applications for both Country Manor and Fortitude Senior Housing. To provide clarity to both the applicant and the City, Aarsvold has prepared a Term Sheet for each project that outlines the project and the maximum amount of assistance available and the terms. With regard to County Manor, the developer is CM of St. Joe LLC and Country Manor of St. Joseph LLC. The proposed development is located on the former Arcon property. The developer is requesting Tax Abatement and based on the capacity of the City and the need determined by Aarsvold, the maximum amount of assistance is$650,000. Weyrens reminded the Council that the City only utilizes pay-as-you- go assistance. The developer is reimbursed the amount of taxes agreed upon only after they are paid. If the taxes are not paid, the reimbursement does not occur. The City had requested Stearns County and ISD 742 to participate to shorten the time period for abatement. At this time the County has declined the request and ISD 742 is still considering. With abatement, the amount of assistance is limited to the amount of taxes paid to the City;therefore the maximum abatement is$ 650,000 if ISD participates and $ 636,000 if it is just the City. Additionally, the abatement will still allow the City to receive 25%of the tax generated. The developer for Fortitude Senior Housing is requesting Tax Increment Financing (TIF)for a senior project to be constructed in the Graceview Development. TIF requires the County and School District to participate and the project must be evaluated on a"but-for"test; that is, without funding it is not financially feasible. Aarsvold has reviewed the financial analysis and has determined that the maximum amount of assistance in present value is$ 526,824 extending over a 14 year period. Again, this assistance is through pay-as-you-go, reimbursement after the taxes are paid. Weyrens stated that Aarsvold is recommending the City Council authorize execution of the Term Sheets, with the understanding that they are not a binding contract; rather a statement of understanding. Loso made a motion authorizing the Term Sheets as follows: between the City of St.Joseph and Fortitude Senior Housing for Tax Increment Financing and between the City of St. Joseph and CM of St.Joe LLC and Country Manor of St. Joseph LLC and the City of St.Joseph for Tax Abatement. The motion was seconded by Symanietz and passed unanimously. AUAR—Countrv Manor: Weyrens reported that the comment period has ended for the AUAR update for the Country Manor project. The draft AUAR was published in the EQB Monitor and was sent to all the required agencies. The City only received one letter and that was from Stearns County Environment Services. The correspondence just indicated that any wetland impacts would require a permit. Therefore, the City did not receive any comments to address and staff is requesting that the City Council adopt 2016-020 Adopting the updated AUAR for the Country Manor project. June 1, 2016 Page2of2 Schultz made a motion to authorize the Mayor and Administrator to execute Resolution 2016-020 Adopting the ARCON Development AUAR Update and Mitigation Plan as submitted to the EQB for publication. The motion was seconded by Symanietz and passed unanimously. Discussion: Wick questioned the verbiage in the AUAR regarding the connection of 92f`'Avenue to Jade Road. He stated that it was his understanding the north/soufh connector linked Jade Road to 16t" Ave SE and 20th Ave SE. Schultz stated that he believed the connection was 12th Ave SE. Weyrens stated that she would verify the connection with the adopted Transportation Plan amended in 2012. Citv Facilitv Sale: Weyrens reported that the Collegeville Credit Union has indicated that they will not be moving forward with the sale of the City Facility at 25 College Ave N. Weyrens stated that she has had some correspondence and wil!continue the discussion with the Credit Union to see what needs to happen for the sale to continue and will report back to the Council. Lease Actreement—ISD 742: Weyrens stated that the School has indicated that they would like to extend the current lease of the Colts facility for an additional year. She requested input from the Council and what terms they would like to see included in the amended lease. Loso stated that he would rather ISD 742 submit a proposal to the City Council for reaction. Weyrens stated that the School is questioning what the City is looking for, so it would be best if the Council could provide some input. Loso stated that he would like to see participation in the Tax Abatement for Country Manor, one contact person for the facility, a lease payment, reduction of maintenance fees and for the School to take over the snow and lawn maintenance. Wick stated that he concurs that minimally the District should participate in the Tax Abatement and pay a monthly lease payment similar to the other tenant in the building. Weyrens responded that the District has added Gary Gange as the contact for the City if/when issues arise at the facility. This addition has made a significant difference and issues are resolved quicker and extremefy efficientfy. In addition, the District will have some staffing changes at Colts that will help transition the space needs. Schultz stated that he concurs with Wick and Loso regarding participation in Tax Abatement and will continue the dialog with District Leaders. Adiourn: As the agenda was finished the meeting was adjourned at 6:35 by consensus. �.� l�f��,���%'�/l�c�-'� �"u Wey�ens � /Ad inistrator