Good evening, and welcome to the City of Falcon Heights regular meeting of the City Council on Wednesday, 04/08/2026. We'll call this meeting to order at 07:00PM. Roll call. Gustafson, here. May. Here. Morgan. Here. Milke. Here. Watsonberg. Here. Linehan. Here. Am I Marin. Here. Here. Okay. Let's see. First order of business would be approval of tonight's agenda. I didn't see any amendments to this on the website or here in front. Are there any changes to the agenda that anybody has?
Madam Mayor. Do I have somebody to motion approval of agenda as printed? So moved. So moved by Wattenberg. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion's approved. We approve the agenda. Don't have any presentation tonight, but we do have approval of minutes from the March. Has everybody had a chance to review those, make changes to staff that may have already been reflected in these printed ones? Any motion to approve the minutes from March 25.
So moved. So moved by Morgan. Further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed same sign. Motion carries five-zero. Don't have any public hearings tonight. See we've got a consent agenda that has seven items on it. First is our general disbursements through April 3 payroll through March 26 wire payments through March $16,212.28
That may be a typo, but it may be right March 6 for wire payments. Second is approval of Resolution twenty six-twenty five, authoring our application for the Livable Communities Development Project Grant Program for Fairway Commons. Three, approval of Resolution 2,626, authorizing application for the Livable Communities Small Area Planning Project Grant Program for the Les Bolstad Golf Course Redevelopment Master Plan four, approval of a Comcast agreement for Wi Fi installation at Community Park five,
approval of Resolution 2627, declaring the Public Works twenty ten Elgin Crosswind Street Sweeper as surplus to sell to Purple Wave Auction. Six, approval of Resolution 20 six-twenty eight, accepting the resignation of Joe Morseth from the Parks and Recreation Commission and declaring a vacancy. And seven, approval of Resolution 20 six-twenty nine, Appointing Caitlin Clary to the Community Engagement Commission. I move the Consent Agenda. All those in favor,
signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed same sign. Any discussion things that people wanna bring out on on the consent agenda? Okay. Next we'll move right into policy items. Our first one tonight is consideration of the Fairway Commons planned unit development amendment proposal. Administrator Linehan and Community Director Anna. Thank you, mayor and city council. So like you mentioned, we're gonna be going through tonight, a planned unit development amendment. So we have the planned unit development that was formerly called Amber Flats.
We are looking to amend this to Fairway Commons by swapping out the Amber Flats plan for the Ferry Commons plan. So just as a quick reminder, if the project had come to us and met all the requirements of the Amber Flats existing PUD, it would be authorized to move forward. Also, if it had met all the requirements of city code, which Amber Flat had three main variances from city code, Fairway Commons has two, it could also go forward, without any, public hearings or anything like that. And just to be clear before we go forward, this is not a reversal of the existing Amber Flats PUD.
This is simply swapping out the plan. Even if this were to be denied by city council, the existing Amber Flats PUD would remain in city code. So I've complete, included a map here just so that everybody can get their bearings. So Fairway Commons is gonna be in roughly the same location as Amber Flats was proposed to be. Amber Union is to the East. You've got the state fair entrance on Underwood to the West, Hollywood Courts to the Southeast, and more state fair property to the South. At the top of this plan, you will see a yellow star and a a yellow rectangle.
So right now, the entrance to this property is where the star is located. They are working with Ramsey County to hopefully move the entrance about 60 feet to the east. So moving that curb cut, which will line it up with the existing drive going down, between the building and the Amber Union there, to straighten everything out. So they are working with Ramsey County on that, and that's since Larpenter is there right of way, it's ultimately up to them. So they will, you know, let the developer know what would be needed to be done for that to happen. So I always like to include this slide on planned unit developments and why we
have them. So they are intended to allow flexibility in your site design, conservation of land and open space, and then deviations and standards such as setbacks, heights, and similar regulations. If this were a development having two or more principal uses or structures on a single parcel, that would require a PUD. That is not what this is, but just another thing to keep in mind for future ones. And then the PUD ordinance sets forth the uses, the standards, and the development plan for the actual development. So, again, what are we looking at? This is not a reversal of that Amber Flats PUD.
No decision on this request would reverse the existing PUD, like I mentioned. Comments from engineering, the fire marshal, building inspector, and Ramsey County. If we've received these back so far, they were included in your packet. These are informational for y'all only. They would be required to follow these as part of separate review processes. We cannot put conditions on the type of housing, so we can't say it has to be senior. It has to be market rate. That is ultimately up to the developer. And so the goal tonight is determine whether this new plan should be allowed to override the existing plan. So on the right side of the slide, I have the prior PD Amber Flats,
and kind of what it was just as a reminder. So it was a 100 units, 61 bedroom, 42 bedroom with a 114 parking spaces. The height was a maximum of 43 feet. And the impervious surface, I've got an asterisk on that for both of these. It was, measured a little bit differently on the Amber Flats plan. But as part of that one, it was 76% impervious. So our requirement is 75, so it's just over that. Ferry Commons is going to be a four new affordable senior living apartments, a 110. And it will have a 116 parking spaces,
44 of those on the surface, 72 sublevel. Currently, they've planned it to be 45 feet and six inches tall. They may be raising the ceilings to nine feet, which would increase it to 49 feet six inches. And then their impervious surface require calculation is 63.3%. So just going through the different city code requirements, everything on this page, with one slight exception, Fairway Commons is meeting. So it's zoned r five m, which is mixed use high density residential. It should meet or exceed the comp plan goal of 28 units per acre.
Fairway Commons comes in at just under 40 dwelling units per acre. We there is a maximum of 40 dwelling units per acre, and it's right at that. And then, the setback from a lot line, a budding residential property, that does have to be 50 feet. Fairway Commons does meet this at a 153.5 feet from Hollywood Court. Fairway Commons is 24.5 feet on the west, side yard setback. It is required to be either 10 feet or half the height of the building, whichever is greater. So if it does get up to you'll see how we've written this in later.
If it does go up to 50 feet, it would need to be 25 or how the plan is drawn. So we'll discuss that in a moment. Again, just on the height here, if they go up to nine feet, nine foot ceilings, it'll be 49 and a half feet essentially. We've written it to be no greater than 50 feet just to allow some flexibility there. Amber Flats and Fairway Commons, for their maximum pervious surface, Amber Flats, like I mentioned, was 1% over the 75%. Fairway Commons is at 63%. Ultimately, all of those are better than it being used as a parking lot,
which is like 83%, impervious. Parking. Amber Flats was, not, in compliance with COVID this at the time because we did require two parking units per, sorry, two parking stalls per unit. Now they would be in compliance. They had 1.14 parking stalls per unit. Fairway Commons does have enough parking for the total amount of parking. However, you are required to have 80% of those parking stalls be sublevel. They are slightly under that at 72 sublevel, but pretty close.
They wouldn't be required to have 88. And then finally, a PUD has to be, consistent with the comprehensive plan. So we have a number of goals in the comprehensive plan around housing, land use, the Larpenter Corridor, neighborhood goals, commercial business goals. A lot of them about keeping housing affordable, making sure that, we are allowing flexibility and development standards on the Larpenter because we do understand that redeveloping, properties along Larpenter can be difficult. We also wanna make sure that affordable housing is close to public transportation, which this property will be.
And then also ensuring access and safety for pedestrians and those using non motorized transportation. So it's along the sidewalks on Larpenter. And again, at the we have transportation going along there. So the process that we're going through right now, the planning commission had a public hearing on March 24. We had a few residents come, mostly concerned about traffic, some concern over the safety requirements. So, property manager were being on-site. But ultimately, it was it was a pretty good public hearing. It wasn't horribly in opposition.
Everybody seemed to understand that this would be a decent use of the property. So the planning commission did recommend approval of the planned unit development amendment to city council. It was unanimous. And so now, we have brought it to you guys to make the final decision on. So there are a few conditions that have been placed on, the property as part of the, amendment. I will just go through these really quickly. The ones on the slide are not up to date, so I'm just gonna read them out loud. So the conditions for the PUD are trees that are planted or maintained
throughout the site, as shown in the plan submitted by, by the developer should be maintained. Any trees removed due to moving that curb cut that we discussed must be replaced by the developer within one year of the curb cut completion. Snow storage may not be stored in the parking area for more than forty eight hours. Open space, as shown on plans, must be maintained as open space and not converted to another use. Charging stations for not less than four electric vehicles should be presided provided on-site at a distance of at least 50 feet from the building's main entrance. The building may not exceed four stories with a maximum height of 50 feet.
The side yard setback must be shown or must be maintained as shown on plans submitted by the developer. The two parcels that are involved here need to be combined with Ramsey County prior to the start of con construction. A parking lot maintenance agreement must be signed between Bel Air and Buhl Larpenter West for the main maintenance of the parking easement, which is, dedicating 54 parking stalls for Amber Union use. That is in existence now. It will be maintained. We must be we must receive a copy, and a copy should be recorded with Ramsey County. A property maintenance staff person must be maintained on-site,
and then developers should comply with all recommendations from Ramsey County, the city engineer, and the fire marshal. And obviously, the building inspector when they go to the building permitting process. So now I'm happy to take any questions, but we also have Marty here from Bellaire Development who will also be presenting. Okay. Does Marty have a presentation that he's gonna provide to us and then we'll open it up for questions? I know that's gonna work. Come on up, Marty. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, counsel. My name is Marty O'Connell. I'm here with the, developer, Floyer Development Company, and we're behind this proposal for the Fairway Commons,
apartment building, which will be, as Hannah had mentioned, a 110 unit, age restricted, affordable, building, located on the two and a half acre surface parking lot just west of Amber Union. So I'm gonna go through the slideshow to talk a little bit more about our company, the entire group that's kinda behind this project, and, the proposal itself. So we're, we're founded in 1999. We're local to the market based, in Richfield, Minnesota. You know, we have a mission statement to provide quality housing that is aesthetically pleasing, environmentally conscious, and built to last. We do all sorts of, kind of higher density apartment type,
development, including workforce affordable, senior affordable, and market rate housing. And in our company's history, we've developed, you know, a a little over 50 properties encompassing about 3,500 units. A bulk of that development has happened in the suburban Twin Cities area. We've also done a lot in Rochester, Minnesota. We have a couple of developments outstate in Iowa and Illinois. The development team consists of, Koss Wilson Architects, who will be the the architect for this project. They're very experienced in the multifamily housing space. That's kind of what they they specialize in designing. They've completed a total over 1,500
projects in their company's history, which is really impressive. And we worked with their group on the last, I think it's seven or eight developments we've done now. So we have a great working, relationship with their their team. The contractor will be the general contractor will be EcoBuilding Company, and they also specialize in doing ground up new construction multifamily housing development. They've completed, you know, a little over 4,800 units encompassing about 36 properties in the last five years, so they've been very active and busy. Pretty much all their work here is in the the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. They're also,
based locally. And then the property management group will be Valere Property Management. You know, we share, same ownership structure as as, Valere Property Management. So it's an in house property management group. They effectively manage, our entire Minnesota based portfolio. And, you know, we share corporate office space with them. So we have a really good sense of, what's going on at the properties on a, you know, day to day level. And if any needs arise, we can quickly respond to those needs. But we're tightly ingrained with, Vallejo Property Management. We kind of just view it as one company between the development side and the property management side.
So these next couple slides are gonna show pictures of some recent developments that we've completed, we continue to manage and own, and, will be kind of similar in size, scale, and use is what we're proposing here in Falcon Heights. So, this first one is Villas At Pleasant Avenue 1 And 2. It was a two phase project, 150 units and a 110 units each, both of which are 55 plus affordable buildings. This is a picture Of Villas At Pleasant Avenue Phase 1. You know, it's a four story building. You can see balconies at the, the units. These are pretty highly amenitized,
buildings. They all have a community room, which these these pictures show here. They all have a fitness center. There's a level of underground parking, on-site management office. You walk in here and you really can't tell the difference between, you know, an affordable type use versus a market rate type, housing use. More pictures here, shows kind of the in unit features, which includes quartz countertops, LVP flooring throughout except the bedrooms are gonna be carpeted. Stainless steel appliances, you know, this unit, on the right hand side has a kind of a walkout type patio as well associated with it.
Garland Commons, another similar development that we did in Maple Grove, 160 units. This was delivered in October 2024. Well, I there's gonna be a couple other pictures, I think, in there that, I might have skipped over, but it was gonna include pictures of, the the fitness center for Garland Commons as well as the community room in there. And then there was one more, Oxburgh Heights, I was gonna show. But I think you get the idea of kind of the quality of these buildings and what the typical amenities are included in the buildings and what the units look like. All the units will also have, you know, in unit washer and dryer, which I'll talk about a little bit more here in a second.
So, our development proposal is gonna be located at 1644 Larpenter Avenue West. It's a 110 unit, you know, again, senior age restricted apartment building. There'll be a mix of studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom units. It's four stories of residential over one level of, fully enclosed underground parking. There'll be a 116 off street parking stalls dedicated to our use. That's, just over one parking stall for each unit. Common area amenities amenities will include an outdoor patio with a couple of grilling stations, a community room,
a library and craft room, a fitness center, a package room for, you know, your Amazon deliveries and things. And then, we're also committing to, including four EV charging parking stalls, which is a condition of this, PUD approval as well. And then in unit features, we'll include quartz countertops, a washer and dryer in every single unit, adjustable thermostat so people can, temp control their own units, and then LVP flooring. Here's an overview of, the site itself, which I know you've seen before. Again, this is a vastly underutilized parking lot.
There's just some, there's a parking easement over a portion of the site for some of the parking needs associated with Amber Union. I'll talk about that a little bit more here in a second as well. As Hannah had mentioned earlier, there's, an existing, POD that was approved in January 2024, called the Amber Flats planned unit development. This is just what that layout looks like. I'm just showing this because in a second, I'm gonna click again, and it's gonna show our site plan, and it's gonna show that our building footprint and kind of location of surface parking areas and drive lanes and access to the site isn't really changing much at all
from that approved currently approved POD on the site. So we're not reinventing the wheel. We think, overall, you know, it's a pretty good site layout. This is the Fairway Commons planned unit development and what our site layout will look like. So we're still doing an L shaped building. We still have the same access point currently, as the current curb cut that exists today along Larpenter Avenue. We are exploring shifting that to the east about 60 feet to better align with the laser pointer doesn't work, but, better align with the existing drive lane of the the parking lot. And I'm gonna click again here because it's gonna show a better kinda closer view
of the site plan itself. So there is a as I mentioned, a parking easement for 54 parking stalls for exclusive use by the neighboring Amber Union apartment building. So, we're still, you know, they're still gonna meet their parking needs that they agreed to, when they went through approvals back in 2021 or 2022, whenever that was. Separate from that, we're gonna have a 116 parking stalls dedicated to our use. It'll be a combination of 44 surface stalls and then 72 underground parking stalls. It's kinda hard to see here, but there's an outdoor, patio that will be included kind of at the main entrance to the building,
which is kind of on the inside corner of that l shape. As you work south down the drive lane, that, the drive lane then wraps down into the underground, parking area of the building. And then, there'll be two stormwater infiltration ponds in the southeast corner and south side of the property. We are also gonna be maintaining and preserving the, eight, maple trees that are, very large trees, fully mature in the Southeast corner, and that's gonna continue to provide good shade and buffering from our property and the neighboring, single family homes along Underwood Street.
And then a few of the trees on the south side will also be preserved. Some of those trees are kind of in the existing stormwater, basin that exists there and they'll have to be removed as a part of rebuilding kind of that stormwater ponding area. Here's a view of the underground parking area, just showing it just to show that, you know, we're trying to maximize as many underground stalls as we possibly can on the site. There's really not any more room to provide more underground stalls. We're gonna have a maintenance room, which would in kind of a mechanical room shown in the bottom left hand portion of this image. And then that core space is gonna be, you know,
like your stairwells and elevator space, and room to put, dumpsters and stuff. Here's an exterior rendering of the site. This gives obviously a sense of size and scale and kind of shape of the building. This is looking at kind of the building from, from Larpenter and facing, Southwest, as you look at the building. It's kind of the main building entrance off of Larpenter. The current zoning land use of the site is guided and zoned for apartments. So, you know, our proposed use, we feel, is very appropriate for what's kind of envisioned on this site, from a zoning and land use guidance perspective.
Again, the Amber Flats PUD was approved in January 2024 for a four story apartment building. We're just proposing some changes to unit mix given that, we're doing senior oriented building, so more studios and one bedroom units and exterior facades, which, among other changes, requires a new POD to allow for a specific use. So speaking about the parking just a little bit more here, as mentioned, the 116 parking stalls dedicated to our use. Separate from that, on that surface parking lot, there's 54 parking stalls, for exclusive use by the Amber Union building.
So we're still setting aside and preserving parking for that use. The total parking ratio is just over one stall per unit. On a per bedroom basis, we're at 0.91 stalls per bedroom. That compares to 0.51 stalls per bedroom for Amber Union, which is a lot more three and four bedroom units, and 0.9 stalls per bedroom for the approved Amber Flats PUD. So we actually, on a per bedroom basis, exceed the parking ratio compared to Amber Union, and we're pretty much the same as the currently approved Amber Flats PUD.
And then I'd also like to just point out that, you know, the site is really well served by transit, which also makes it attractive for, you know, higher density multifamily use. We're less than a thousand foot walking distance from the a line bus rapid transit stop on Larpinator and Snelling. And then pretty much right in front of the site, technically, I think it's like a two to 300 foot walk from the main entrance, but, is a stop for bus route 61. So between these two bus lines, people can get to Downtown Minneapolis, Downtown Saint Paul along bus route 61, or they can go Rosedale Mall down to, you know, Minnehaha Regional Park and the light rail system on the a line bus rapid transit.
So, we like that aspect of this site a lot. This is gonna connect our residents to different services and, things of that nature. Another thing I would like to mention is that, we are actively exploring implementing, geothermal system for heating and cooling of the building. We're still doing some final due diligence on geothermal to see if the project budget will allow for this. We feel pretty good that we are gonna be able to implement it and include it in the project, but we're kinda going through some final due diligence matters on evaluating this. But the reason why I bring it up is because,
if we do implement a geothermal heating and cooling system, there are two, you know, minor changes that will occur. One is, you know, from an exterior perspective when you look at the site plan. One is that, the metal louvers that exist on the exterior facade for the magic pack units, those will actually be eliminated. So I pointed that out on one of our existing buildings. It's kind of it's hard to see here, but it's kind of boxed in red there on the right hand side picture. So by eliminating those metal louvers, if anything, it actually improves kind of the exterior facade look, the aesthetics of the building. And then the other thing is there'll be an addition of likely just one,
could be up to two, but likely just one wellhead on-site. The bottom left hand picture shows what those wellheads look like. We're looking at locating that wellhead in what would be the northwest corner of the site, away from Larpenter. It wouldn't be right along Larpenter. And we could also look at, you know, potentially screening that with landscaping and stuff just so that, you know, it's, again, from, like, a curb perspective, it's doesn't cause any sort of visual, issues or anything like that. So those are the two kind of changes I wanted to point out if a geothermal system is implemented. The housing itself, there's gonna be rent and income restrictions tied to this housing.
Housing tax credits are the primary financing mechanism for this project. And so we're going to be required as a part of that, financing program to, have rent and income restrictions that will average to the 60% area median income limit, which in twenty twenty five twenty twenty six limits haven't been released yet, but in 2025, the 60% AMI limit for a two person household was right about $63,000 $64,000 The rents are designed to be affordable at based on those income limits. So, the studio, rents are underwritten at $6.48 to $1,100
per unit. The one bedroom rents are underwritten between 1,300 to 1,500 per month, and then two bedroom rents are right about $1,800 per month. As far as age restrictions go, at least one member of each household must be 55 years or older, And then all their household members must be 40 years or older in order to qualify a household to live in the unit from an age perspective. And then again, this is independent living. There's no assisted living component tied to this project. So we just talked about kind of the age requirements. We just talked about kind of the income qualifications at a very high level.
The two other big things in order to qualify to live in the property is, every household must be, they they must go through a criminal background check and be approved by that criminal background check, and then also a financial credit check, which just ensures that they have the ability to meet the rent requirements, and things of that nature. And then the management security plan. So, you know, we're gonna be at Valaire. We're actually required through the the housing tax credit program to be a long term owner of of the property. So we're required by the program to basically own the property minimum of fifteen year
period. Oftentimes, it's actually gonna be longer than that because after fifteen years is up, you either can refinance, you know, kind of your loans and stuff and own it longer. And, also, the affordability restrictions are required to be the property is required to be affordable for a thirty year period. Also, a requirement of, the program here in Minnesota. Access control, you know, all entrances are always gonna be locked, and access is controlled via, you know, a resident issued fob. There'll be a lot of security cameras kinda throughout the property. So we estimate there'll be, like, 30 to 40 cameras.
These are situated in the outdoor parking area, underground parking area, the elevator, common area spaces, hallways, basically everywhere but in units or, there'll be like a, resident public restroom kind of in the common area space. And, obviously, there'll be no cameras there as well. On-site personnel will include, you know, a property manager, a maintenance technician. From time to time, there'll be a regional property manager on-site, and then, there'll be third party caretaking services provided to the property as well, at least twice week weekly. And then, as a standard practice at Valaire, we always between the development team,
the property management team, we, like to set up a meeting with the local police department. So in this case, the Saint Anthony Police Department, a couple months before the project opens up just to, you know, discuss best management practices and also just gives us an opportunity to establish a relationship between the actual property managers and staff that will be on-site and the local police department So that, you know, everyone has each other's contact info, and, you know, we understand that relationships are important, and people, should be able to communicate really well based on those relationships.
Key benefits to the city. You know, again, this is providing 110 units of new senior housing at a, you know, modest rent level. More households drive more commercial demand. So, you know, in some shape or way or form, there'll be a boost to kinda local commercial users, especially probably those centered around LARP and DER and Snelling. We're projecting that the property tax base will increase, up to about $80,000 on an annual basis. And then there'll be a one time bond issuance fee that we pay to the city of between 50 to $60,000.
It ultimately will be dependent on the kind of the final bond issuance amount. And then, we see this as kind of a highest and best use of a key development site. It's a very underutilized site as it sits today, and we think our proposal is very compatible with the surrounding uses and is in alignment with kind of the vision that the city is, you know, it seems like it's had for this site. And then last but not least, you know, there's no financing assistance that we're asking from the city at all. I guess the only assistance is that, the the City will be acting as a,
conduit to the bonds. So the bonds come from the State, Minnesota Management and Budget. They actually have to go through the City before they go to the project. It's not the city's bonds that are being provided this, the project itself. It's just it flows through the city, and as a part of the city conducting or being kind of that, conduit, that's why we pay that 50 to $60,000 issue bond issuance fee. I think this is the last slide, but, the development schedule here, you know, we conducted a workshop with city council in December. We went through a neighborhood meeting in February and received good feedback from that neighborhood
meeting. Planning commission was on March 24. Obviously, city council is here today, April 8. If we get all of our approvals and we can get some a couple of final financing sources that we're applying for, then we're hopeful that we can start actually construction, and break ground in July, about the July of this upcoming summer. And it'll be, you know, like a fifteen to seventeen month construction timeline. So we expect probably mid to late fall, maybe '27 completion. So with that being said, really appreciate the time, and I'm here to stand for any questions that city council may have.
Thank you, Marty. Yeah. Council, any questions of, Marty or Hannah? I would just, like to comment that, I applaud your investigating the, use of geothermal heating and cooling. It's, it's efficient. It's long term makes good long term financial sense, and it's really I see it as an important part of the the low carbon future for our state. So thank you for taking a serious look at that. Thank you. I'd love to have it in my house. I think it'll be a great addition to our city. Thank you. And I'd like to just thank you. You've been very receptive and open and willing to work with the city and the planning commission on this.
So, appreciate your help and your company's willingness to, meet us in the middle. Thank you. Yeah. I'd just say, lastly, we have heard, quite a bit from residents lately, about the need for more affordable senior housing. A lot of folks have lived in our community for a long time. They want to continue to live in our community and be a part of it, as their houses become too much for them. And this is an important element to help them do so. So we appreciate that. Yep. Thank you, Marty, for working with everybody through, these last few months and bringing this project, to the table quickly and effectively looking forward to it.
Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. We're really excited about this project should it be approved. And we look forward to working through final steps and hopefully getting the project in the ground here in July and then delivering a high quality housing that can serve, you know, seniors kind of throughout Falcon Heights and the surrounding areas. So thank you. Okay. Thanks. I love it. Great. So based on that further discussion from counsel on the proposal in front of us, we would have ordinance 2,603 and summary ordinance 2,603 that
makes it affordable to print it properly in the paper to what goes on, but for the Fairway Commons planned unit development. Do I have a motion to pass the ordinance amending Chapter 113 of the Falcon Heights City Code concerning the Amber Flat's planned unit development, changing it to Stairway Commons planned unit development. So moved. So moved by Wassenberg. Further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of passing, ordinance 2,603 and summary ordinance 2,603,
Signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion carries five-zero. Alright. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's a complicated project but it looks really good. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks. We have a second policy item, before the council tonight and that's approval of resolution twenty six thirty, authorizing the execution of a real estate purchase agreement for fourteen o seven Larpinter Avenue and 0 Larpinter Avenue West. Administrator Linehan. Yeah. Thank you, mayor and council. So, tonight before you is a resolution to authorize our execution of this real estate purchase
agreement. I'm sorry. Little bit of history kind of on this property. 1407 commonly known as Get Crest, Corner Of Larpenter And Albert. This property has a long history of use as a commercial use in the city b one zoning. You know, original or most recently, it was a dry, dry cleaner. At the end of its cycle as a dry cleaner, it was drop off only. And prior to that time, it was, a on-site dry cleaner. Prior to that, it was a fuel station, with some sealed underground tanks. So there's a lot of environmental challenges on this site.
We had known that. The current buyer, also was aware of that as well. So when he purchased, he purchased as is in 2018. So then in 2023, as we started to work through and figure out a way to help this project, how could the city use our, you know, grant support, other things to get this cleaned up. The neighbors had a lot of concerns. We were having pollution, general pollution concerns, and also just graffiti, dumping, etcetera. So we've gotten a grant, for a brownfield assessment grant, from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. They did a phase one, phase two environmental assessment on the site.
So hired a third party company, Bay West. They did a lot of work on this site, kind of doing investigations, soil sampling. Even during one of the soil samplings, they accidentally hit one of the tanks. Did a little extraction with that. And so there's a lot that kind of went into that. In total, it was about a $100,000 worth of in kind grant services provided by Bay West, and MPCA. They did find there were pollution, contaminants on the soil samples that they took, and the EPA created or the MPCA, sorry, created a response action plan for the city.
So or for the owner and the city. This estimated the cost of cleanup to be 370,000 to mitigate this site, and they kind of created some some tips to do it. The owner of this site has brought forward to the planning commission in workshop setting, never a formal submission, two different proposals that were quite similar. The first proposal was for 12 townhomes on the site, two buildings of six and six. It got okay feedback from the planning commission. There was a agreement that, you know, housing made sense there,
residential made sense to change the zoning, but it was very tight. There was a lot of changes he'd have to make. He came back, about six, seven months later with a 10 unit proposal. Again, planning commission said this is, you know, in line with what we're thinking, looking forward to submission. But where he's ran into issues is essentially he could only operate these as market rate with his proposal, and he could not do that without the grant funding to help clean this up. The numbers never would work without that. The long story short is there just wasn't a path forward as we worked with the MPCA, Ramsey County,
and our other partners. And their suggestion is we asked them what would be the best way to clean this up. They've suggested to acquire it for fair market value. So last summer, the city hired a, professional real estate appraisal firm. They did an appraisal on the site. They determined that if it had been mitigated, if this was a clean commercial zoning highest best use potential, it would be at about 675,000 give or take. Because it needed that work, because it needed $370,000 worth of cleanup, their estimated value for the site was 300,000.
So the city knew that we went into negotiations with the owner, starting of July. Council gave authorization for myself to make offers on the site, took a bit of work. The owner had purchased the site for 235,000 in 2018. The owner had paid approximately, 45,000 in taxes on the site over that period. He had other costs he had claimed, you know, from, regular mowing, others. So he just wanted to break even was his goal. He wanted more than our offer. We ended up settling for,
the appraised value at 300,000. So, drafted a purchase agreement, got an original intent to purchase, he signed that. Our attorneys drafted this purchase agreement. There are a few other caveats that we will pay the outstanding taxes on the property. We'll pay the closing costs, All this up to 25,000. No more. So if it ends up being more dragged out, his legal fees, we will not cover that, but we will cover these other additional costs. So our attorneys drafted the agreement. He has signed it already, and now it's awaiting our approval to sign.
Once it's, done, there's essentially a sixty day due diligence period. We're confident where we're at, but there is kind of the general closing. You know, should be a relatively quick closing. We will come forward, for the actual purchase. We wanna do an amendment. Obviously, this wasn't a budgeted fund just because as of July, we didn't have traction that this would move forward. We have identified funds that we can use this for between our healthy fund balance, healthy fund in the general, capital four zero three. We have plenty of funds on cash on hand to pay this all in cash.
So that would be the plan. We bring that forward. The long term use of this site hasn't fully been determined. There has not been additional long term plan. Our greatest goal is to mitigate it, clean it up, and even if in a, you know, kind of a short term, once we can get grants to demo the building, mitigate it, and at least get it as a clean green space, is a great first step. And then we can work on the long term plans as well. So happy to answer questions as to what I know, or other information on the purchase agreement or the proposal. Okay, thank you. Counsel? Hi. I think you did a great job on negotiating,
and I'm excited to be able to move forward on this property. It's It's gonna be really good to get the contaminants out of the soil here in Falcon Heights, which seem to be to a large degree remnant of the of the dry cleaning business, the trichloroethylene and the trichloroethylene. They're not great things to have lying around here. So let's get rid of them and clean it up. Yes. That's the way I feel about it too is it's, feels fairly urgent to get a hold of this property and clean for the cleanup purposes. And having being a public entity, and we can get those grants from,
like, the MPCA and get it done because they've been detecting these carcinogens at some distance from the site. I just wanted to comment, because part of the process of purchasing the property is in a closed meeting, so the public didn't get an opportunity to see some of our discussion from before. I just want to put on the record that the idea of buying a property without having a specific plan and without guaranteeing or knowing whether we are going to subsidize a future development or make money off the
sale, I think was an important part of the discussion that we did have, and at least for me, came to the conclusion that this is, in the public interest even though we don't necessarily have that plan because of the necessary cleanup, because of the blight of the unused property, and because, having even, you know, even if it does end up costing us some amount, that that is worth it in order to put it into a better development in the near term because it did not look like it was going to do that
anytime soon. So that was my takeaway from our closed door meeting. That's a good point. Good point. Thank you for sharing that because that as we looked at it, that was a, from the very beginning and this, it's a blighted property and it's in bad shape and it's got carcinogens and needs to be cleaned up. So it was a tough decision to not have a plan going forward with how are we going to do it and what are we going to do. But I think that we're confident that we can at least recoup our money,
by getting it done something that couldn't be done by the private sector. So the city may come out net neutral or cost neutral or it may give us a great opportunity for something better on the property than what has been there for twenty years. So Yeah. With that your honor, I move a resolution twenty six thirty. Okay. Further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of, Resolution 20 five-thirty, authorizing the execution of a real estate purchase agreement for 1407 Larpeture Avenue and 0 Larpeture Avenue West,
signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. I vote. Just for the record, I think you said twenty five thirty. Did I say 2530 again? Because I, It's twenty six thirty. It's twenty six thirty because I misread it. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. And so will, our note takers. Yeah. As that goes. The, next on our agenda is information and announcements. Anybody want to start on one side or the other? I don't have any great announcements. I did, joined with,
Paula to, go to a, presentation at the University of Minnesota on strong towns, and I'll let you say what you what what was spoken about. But it was a great con great conversation from a guy named Chuck Marone who talks about development in a different way than many people are used to. And it's a good primer for what we're getting into in the West Boultonstead property. And there's an article by Evan Ramsden in the start review and already, summarizing it. So, he's people say listen to Chuck. He brings out new ideas for how to fund it and how to especially starter
homes, which are were lacking so much. Mhmm. No. So that was good. And, there's a resident who lives on Arona whose family members were some of the original business owners of that guest press slot, so it'll be really fun to talk to her about it. And, otherwise, Jean Mossberg and I attended the ribbon cutting for of the pen right here. Any lab tests now Oh, good. This week. And I just wanna encourage people to attend the sustainability fair on April 18 from eleven to two. And you can bring your old,
technical equipment, which is hard to get rid of. You can bring textiles, bring paper to shred, but definitely come inside. There'll be a lot of tabling from, local organizations on gardening and recycling and energy, etcetera. Cool. Okay. I just have one announcement. A wonderful community support organization by the name of Northeast Youth and Family Services is turning 50 years old this year, celebrating fifty years of service to, to our area. Along those lines, they are having their big annual fundraiser meeting,
the leadership luncheon on May 6 at 11:30. If you are interested in attending and learning a lot more about NYFS and if you think that affordable health care services are important to our community, I certainly encourage you to attend. As an added carrot, the Ramsey County attorney John Choi is planned to be the, A speaker, so that is undoubtedly going to be interesting. So, today's the last day to sign up. Go ahead and check out nyfs.org. Well, Paula covered the important points about this. I just get so sick of understanding what sustainability affair.
My apologies. And and I was gonna I was gonna say that, I was also recruiting for some more help, but I already did it. So, and then the city is going to offer opportunities for mattress recycling. That will become available on April 15 to schedule it. So watch your Falcon Heights newsletter, which is always a great source of information. The Environment Commission meets next week. So the only thing I can give an update on is that we're working on sort of how to really go about implementing the Climate Action Plan and the Energy
Action Plan through a subcommittee that's working hard to get that facilitated, shall we say. And then the other update is that Jim Wattenberg and I have been working interviewing candidates for the Community Advisory Committee to advise the Lee Les Bostat redevelopment. And we have 14 interviews ongoing this week and next. I'm just so impressed by the commitment and interest and energy of our residents from
so many different walks of life and approaches and viewpoints, I think we're going to be really successful. And our successful is going to be we're going to have a hard time making our decision. But I just want to express my appreciation for those residents stepping up to do, which is a fair amount of work for this project. Absolutely. Yes. So that's my updates. Cool. From the Parks and Rec Commission, we'll be the details on the exact date haven't were to be double checked today and tomorrow.
But in June, like, around June 11 or something, we'll have a music event at University Grove where you bring your picnic supper, and we'll have musicians of some kind there at University Grove to have have an event. So that should be fun. May 16 is you plan your calendar for civic events. That Saturday is Spring Together. That'll be at Curtis Field Park in, so that one. And then, July, the July will be the ice cream social. That likely will be here at City Hall because but if the,
if the new park development happens like in a miraculous, fashion, that could be a great grand opening, event for, for that. Parts and rec commission would love to have have that happen there, but, we'll still have ice cream bars here and some events and and some kind of fun. Tuesday, August 4, the first Tuesday in August will be Night to Unite, throughout Minnesota and throughout Falcon Heights neighborhood block parties, all about public safety and neighbors connecting with neighbors. And in October and I think it's on the eleventh or twelfth,
it's a Saturday, The, final negotiations haven't been made with the school district, but it's been cleared through the elementary school. Even though you you register it with the with the district, we thought it would be best to, get it okayed by the local folks before we said, hey, we're coming to your we're coming to the backyard of, Falcon Heights Elementary for a party. And that'll be the Fall Fest. Last year, it was a great, great event, so we'll be there there. So look for those events this, on your calendar as you're putting them together.
And, again, if how many hopefully everybody from here is gonna be joining Jim's table. You can sign up. Put Jim as your organizer on the, when you apply online tonight with, Northeast Youth and Family Services on the website. And, it's free to attend, but bring your checkbook and your open wallet and heart for what really goes on there and what they do for our community. And, fifty years, tremendous. So those are, some of the things that I would bring to attention where, the Parks and Rec Commission is excited about things and,
happy to see the progress that's being made, over there growing all the time. And what else is going on in the city commissioner administrator, Linehan? Yeah. Thank you, mayor and council. You guys did a great job covering all of our events coming up, but a couple of other things. So look for your spring newsletter. It's at the printers. I'm gonna feature the, sustainability fair and kind of our spring summer, schedule. So there's a lot of latest news coming there. We have another installment of our Discover Falcon Heights coming from intern Ainsley Brown. That's gonna be posted on the city's Facebook this week,
with a focus on the sustainability fair. Trying to drive some attention there. Public works, has been out at and then we'll be out at Curtis Field Pond cleaning out vines, tree growth, working on that. They're also gonna be going and repairing the planter boxes on Larpenter that were hit, in an accident over the winter. And speaking of that too, our decorative street lights at 1550 Area on Larpenter, are scheduled to be replaced, in the next couple weeks. We got the parts ordered, got insurance claim for it, and so we'll get those new lights back up and running. And then public works also and city staff are working on with the sustainability fair,
we'll have, document shredding there. We're also our goal, we've gone through identified, lots of old, unused, you know, redundant records. So going through the rec in our basement, essentially, we have boxes and boxes of, unneeded bills and other stuff that meet the state's retention requirements far exceed it. So we'll be going through clearing out space and continuing to kinda clean through some of that. So good opportunity for us to participate in that as well. So that's what staff is working on, and that's my update. Okay. Great. Further to add?
The, now at this time I'd open this up to community forum. We had some potential, spots, but I think questions must have been answered and, maybe John didn't found his question answered when he was here. So thanks John for showing up for a while. But anyway, and there, this is a beautiful evening. Maybe we can get out and enjoy a little bit of the late dusk. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Alright. The motion has been made to adjourn by council member Milke. All those in favor further discussion? Hearing none. For all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed,
same sign. Thank you very much. At we are at 07:59. We are adjourned.