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City Council Minutes September 16, 2019 Page 6 Councilmember Wagner believes the Veteran's Memorial is often overlooked in its current location and locating the flag and the Veteran's Memorial to Lion John Weicht Park is an opportunity to create a community asset. Mr. Portner stated the logistics still need to be worked out. He explained only a small part of planning for John Weicht Lions Park has been completed through the Active Elk River process. He indicated the Parks and Recreation Commission will be master planning the remainder of the park improvement and this can be included. Mayor Dietz stated he would like to discuss funding when the time comes as he doesn't know if it's appropriate for this to come from the Park Improvement Fund. The Council asked Mr. Portner to discuss this with the 292 Group. He noted this may be a later 2020 or 2021 project. The Council was agreeable to the timing in order for it to be done correctly. Council consensus was to proceed with the option of locating the American Legion flag and Veteran's Memorial to Lion John Weicht Park. 9.3 Downtown Development Proposal Ms. Othoudt presented the staff report. She outlined the different agreement options and questioned if the Council is interested in entering in to an agreement with Jesse Hartung of Modern Construction. Jesse Hartung, Modern Construction, explained his goal is to see if the city is interested in selling the downtown property if a development makes sense. He stated he believes entering in to a preliminary development agreement would be the simplest because it gives him the authority to do some due diligence work and come back with a development proposal but doesn't require all of the details to be worked out right away. He requested exclusivity to the property for three months so he can prepare site layouts and renderings. He explained he believes there is a demand for the type of project he is proposing and doesn't want to get in to a position where multiple developers are looking at the same project. Councilmember Ovall indicated he would want to see a traffic study done as part of this agreement. Mr. Hartung explained a traffic study is extensive and expensive and questioned if this could be put off until there is a better understanding of the full development. Councilmember Ovall stated a concept of traffic flow will be sufficient. Councilmember Westgaard noted he would like to hear more about Mr. Hartung's company and experience with projects of this magnitude when he comes back to the Council. Mayor Dietz had concerns about a development downtown. He questioned the simplest way to provide Mr. Hartung exclusive rights to the property without any P 0 1 1 R E I a 1 ■A 1 URE