7.7. SR 12-16-1996ity of
iver
ITEH 7.7.
MEMORANDUM
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Mayor & City Council
Pat Klaers, City Administrator
December 16, 1996
Gagne/Deziel Land Gift
On October 21, 1996, the Elk River City Council unanimously adopted a
resolution which accepted a 48 acre gift of land from Mr. and Mrs. Gagne and
Mr. Deziel. This gift being accepted by the city was contingent upon
receiving a "clean" environmental audit. The city attorney is working on the
necessary legal documents to complete this transaction (i.e. title insurance,
abstract update, correct form of conveyances and releases, etc.) and this
material is expected to be completed in the near future.
The Phase I Environmental Audit has been completed by the city
environmental consultant B.A. Liesch Associates, Inc. This Environmental
Audit uncovered no real surprises with the biggest concerns being a junk
vehicle and junk in general on the site. The city has been aware that there
has been "junk" on the site for a number of years and the building and zoning
department has been working with Mr. Gagne to clean up this property since
1992. However, once some progress is made and the site gets to be in a
relatively clean state, then, magically, more junk appears on the property. It
seems to be never-ending problem where this site, for some people, is an
unofficial landfill. The city may have to place signs on this property and even
gate the entrances in order to control this situation in the future. The
obvious recommendation in the audit is to clean up this junk material and we
may want to do some soil testing in this area.
A final item noted in the audit indicates that this site, or the adjacent
property, was the location of the now abandoned and removed Camp Cozy
Roller Rink. There is nothing obvious or of great importance
environmentally associated with the roller rink once being on this site, but
there may be some concrete building pilings remaining on this site. If this is
the case, we can choose to deal with that situation as the need arises.
For obtaining land free of charge which could be a very important piece of
public land for the city in the future, it seems reasonable that the city can
accept some expenditures for cleaning up the property.
13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425
Recommendation
It is recommended that the council accept the Phase I Environmental Audit
for the Gagne/Deziel property and that the council acknowledge that the
audit does not raise any issues which would stop the city from accepting the
land gift.
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