Item 5.1 L• Item # 5.1
Elk
River
MEMORANDUM
TO: Planning Commission
FROM: Michele McPherson;Director of Planning
DATE: September 20, 2001
SUBJECT: Review Land Acquisition of Land for Consistency with
Comprehensive Plan
Request
The Commission is asked to review the purchase of land adjacent to the library for consistency
• with the Comprehensive Plan.
Attachments
• September 17, 2001 City Administrator's Memo to the Mayor and City Council
Analysis
The City is interested in purchasing additional land adjacent to the library in order to provide
space for a future library expansion. A purchase agreement has been negotiated with Mrs.Bailey
for acquisition of her home under the terms of a life estate.
State Statute requires review by the Planning Commission of all land acquisitions for consistency
with the City's Comprehensive Plan. The City's Comprehensive Plan does not speak directly to
public uses other than parks and open space. The underlying land use of the property is MR,
Medium Density Residential. The R1C zoning allows Government Buildings and Facilities as a
conditional use.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission recommend to the City Council that the
proposed land acquisition is consistent with the City's Comprehensive Plan.
•
S:\PLANNING\MICHMC\PLREPRTS\Library Review.doc
Iteml 4.4.
• �i
City of
Elk
River
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Pat Klaers, City Administrator
DATE: September 17, 2001
SUBJECT: Consider Bailey Purchase Agreement
This past winter the City Council reviewed an appraisal (by Jerry Smith) for the Bailey
property. The City Council authorized and paid for this appraisal. The Bailey property is on
Quinn Avenue between 5th Street and 4th Street and is adjacent to the southwest part of the
library parking lot (see attached map). After review of the appraisal, it was the consensus of
• the City Council to pursue the purchase of the Bailey property. The purchase of this
property makes good planning sense for the future library expansion.
Last spring, the city and the attorney for Mrs. Bailey looked at a draft standard purchase
agreement. After discussion of the purchase agreement and evaluation of the situation it was
decided to consider a life estate arrangement. Staff feels that this is the best type of
arrangement for the city as we pay now for the property (at the appraised value) and the city
obtains the property when Mrs. Bailey moves out or is no longer living. With this
arrangement the city has no issues with leasing or renting the property back to Mrs. Bailey,
dealing with maintenance of the property, insurance, taxes, etc. The city has no immediate
plans for expansion of the library or its parking lot and we can wait a number of years to
obtain control of this property.
The total amount of funds for this purchase is available in the library reserves. If this
transaction moves forward, the city will continue to look at the site configuration and will
have discussions with adjacent property owners as appropriate.
One final item to note, and this relates to the Planning Commission review of land
transactions. The City Council can waive Planning Commission (review by resolution
adopted by two-thirds vote) if the Council finds that the acquisition has no relation to the
comprehensive plan. If Council wants to dispense with the Planning Commission review, it
can adopt the attached resolution and subsequently approve the purchase agreement. I think
• that the Council could make this finding, as the library is not specifically mentioned at all in
the comprehensive plan. Parks and Streets and Utilities are the only government facilities
• that are reviewed in the Comprehensive Plan.
If the City Council wants the Planning Commission to review this proposed acquisition, then
staff should just receive Council input on the attached proposed purchase agreement. We
will then have the Planning Commission comment on the acquisition at its September 25
meeting and the Council can then reconsider this purchase agreement at its October 8
meeting.
•
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