4.8. SR 06-30-1997City of
iver
MEMORANDUM
Item # 4.8.
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
Mayor & City Council
Pat Klaers, City Administrator
June 26, 1997
SUBJECT: Area Learning Center Proposal
At the June 16, 1997, City Council meeting, information was presented on
the latest Area Learning Center (ALC) building concept. This building
concept shows a facility being constructed in the Oak Knoll complex. The
City Council asked a lot a questions about this proposal, including whether or
not the School District had adequately looked at alternate sites, and also
whether or not the city would be obtaining ownership of the varsity field as
part of the proposal.
I have reviewed the issues, comments, and concerns that came out of the
6/16/97 Council meeting with Dr. Flannery and he in turn has discussed the
issue with the School Board at its 6/24/97 meeting. Dr. Flannery will be
present at this 6/30/97 meeting to answer questions from the City Council on
the ALC proposal.
At this time the School District is still pursuing the construction of the ALC
building in the Oak Knoll complex and is flexible as to the precise location of
the facility.
As noted on 6/16/97, the Park and Recreation Commission is opposed to any
project that calls for the removal of an Oak Knoll field. This position was
stated at the 6/11/97 Commission meeting.
After reviewing the February and June concepts for putting an ALC building
in the Oak Knoll complex, staff believes that the best alternative may be a
combination of the two. This alternative would call for the building to be
constructed in the Community Education parking lot and for soccer field #1,
nearest the homes on the east side of this complex, to be converted into a
parking area that is adequately bermed and landscaped. Any building
proposal in this complex will require the removal of at least one field and this
"combination" proposal will meet with the objection of the youth soccer
13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425
organization. This proposal will allow the school to use their property in a
reasonable manner and it makes the school take a field out of use that is on
school property. It should be noted that replacing a soccer field is cheaper
than replacing a baseball field and that the school is willing to replace this
field at Meadowvale School if youth soccer will participate. Overall, this
layout is believed to have a better land use scheme, provide better screening
for the residents, provide for expansion opportunities, and also provide for
adequate parking for all the activities in the area.
As noted in my previous correspondence, I support this concept from the
School District based on two reasons. The first reason is that included in this
proposal is an offer which allows the city to purchase the balance of the youth
recreation fields. In this manner we can control the future of the youth
complex. This would mean the purchase of four to five acres from the School
District at fair market price. Additionally I support this proposal because it
allows the School District reasonable use of their property. The concern here
is that the school could sell the land to a private developer and the city could
not reasonably restrict a private owner to use this land for public recreation
purposes.
As noted above by its omission, the proposal from the School District does not
include the varsity field. The school is not willing to sell this property.
Additionally, I don't believe the city could afford to purchase an additional
twelve or so acres from the School District at fair market price in order to
own this one field. On the other hand the School District has indicated that
it would support entering into a new maintenance and management
agreement which would give the city more control and responsibility over the
field.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council support the concept of an ALC
building being constructed west of the Community Education building on
school owned property in the Oak Knoll complex with the knowledge that this
calls for the removal of the soccer field closest to the residential property for
parking, conditioned upon the School District selling the balance of the youth
recreation property (approximately 4-5 acres) to the city at fair market price.
X\elkriver\sysXshrdoc\council\alc630.doc
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