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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-08-08 OPH Ltr to Dan Parks of Westwod Professional City of Oak Park Heights 14168 Oak Park Blvd. N•Box 2007•Oak Park Heights,MN 55082•Phone(651)439-4439•Fax(651)439-0574 August 8th,2017 Daniel Parks, PE Westwood Professional Services 7699 Anagram Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7310 VIA EMAIL ONLY: Dan.Parks@westwoodps.com RE:Annexation Area This letter is in follow-up to our meeting last week and might help guide some future conversations as well.While the concept of a commercial / retail establishment in the annexation area can be positive; there remain numerous challenges.We would offer the following information as you begin to plan for this endeavor; 1. Consistent with past developments in the City, so costs are not shifted to other taxpayers -the Developer would be responsible for all public costs associated to serve or are impacted by their development.In essence, all roadways, (including any Manning access and/or any frontage roads if viable at all), trails, ROW acquisitions,water, sewer, sanitary and related utilities would be at the sole expense of the Developer. For these such public elements; the City would perform the design, bidding and construction and would bill ALL such costs(including all related soft costs)to the Developer.The Developer would be required to post a CASH ESCROW or Letter of Credit equal to 125%of the cost estimate as supplied by the City Engineer before any designs are undertaken.A final Developers Agreement would be necessary that would incorporate these and related items. 2. Developers are also responsible for utility connection fees which are calculated depending on type of land use.The 2017 rates for such fees on commercial lands is$18,071 /per gross acre and would need to be paid up-front. 3. Developers are also required to pay Park dedication charges based on the gross land area that are as outlined in City Ordinance 402.08.E(Excerpt here)and would need to be paid up-front. E. Dedication Reouirements. Developers of commercial/industrial land,including commerciaUindusuial portions of Planned Developments. shall be required to dedicate the following: 1. At the time the site plan is approved and building permits are issued, developers shall dedicate to the City for park.trail,playground and public open space purposes,an amomt of land up to ten(10)percent of the gross land area within the development.as determined by the City. 2. In those cases where the City does not require park or open space within such developments.the City shall require payment of a cash dedication equal to ten(10)percent of the gross land area within the development. 4. The City is unsure if your group controls all the necessary lands for this concept,all land owners—as well the applicant(if different from the land owner)would be required to sign any development application;making all parties jointly and severally responsible for any and all City fees,costs,billable hours,etc.So it is vital that all parties are well aware of these responsibilities. 5. We are aware that Washington County is undertaking a study of Manning Ave and STH 36 with various overpass and ramp designs.To date we understand that this work might not move forward until 2021 and we are unsure of when a final design might be adopted — likely not until at least 2020. How this might impact available lands or access will be important to know and or if the County or State might be also acquiring land. 6. The entire question about annexation into the City and the question of certain lands being contiguous needs to be clarified. The MN Office of Administrative Hearings— Municipal Boundary Adjustments outlines very specific protocols, timelines and would require meaningful legal research and paperwork at the Developer's expense. It may require public hearings,a joint Agreement between the City and the related Township—even if NOT contested. A link to their website is here: http://www.mba.state.mn.us/and contains several sample documents. If it is a contested annexation or one that is not acceptable to the Township; anticipate further costs related to all legal matters and actions. 7. This site will require approval of the Brown's Creek Watershed District; this is a separate and distinct entity from the City. 8. From a timing stand point the City does appreciate your earnestness to move forward promptly with all your approval secured desired to be secured by mid-October.Often times,our City moves quickly through the MN STAT 15.99 process.Unfortunately,as these lands are not in the City- nor has an annexation action officially initiated, and as there has not yet been a formal application submitted- nor has there yet been any utility/roadway studies completed,thus...it would seem unlikely that approvals could possibly be accomplished by mid-October. It would seem completion of a concept approval could be accomplished — perhaps by December 2017 if all parties moved along—but this too is speculation and is an aggressive timeline. Finally, the developers of the lands your client (or perhaps their counterparts) may be interested in purchasing / developing might give some consideration to preparing a MASTER PLAN for all lands lying between Manning Ave and the Oak Park Heights western City limits —and from STH 36 south to 56th Street. The City usually appreciates an understanding of how the balance of the land might be developed and/or impacted as the community does not desire to create remnant or"orphaned" pieces of land that are unsuitable for other reasonable uses. It is through a master plan that the community could envision the total impacts of the development of this area and what to reasonably expect in the next decade—this may help to secure additional community buy-in. At the very least,this matter should be given some careful thought about options for remaining lands. So,we will look forward to further dialogue on this matter. Kind Regards, Eric Johnson City Administrator Cc: Scott Richards,City Planner Mark Vierling,City Attorney Lee Mann,City Engineer