5.5. SR 09-19-1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I ~\( ( i! IIi{ River MEMORANDUM TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT: PAT KLAERS, CITY AD~TOR SEPTEMBER 15, 1994 'V' SHIELY PARK DEDICATION OFFER FROM: DATE: For complete details on the Shie1y park dedication offer, please the attached material and report from Steve Rohlf, Building and Zoning Administrator. In line with how the Shiely Company has always dealt with Elk River, this very cooperative offer provides the City with an opportunity to address one of its open space and park concerns. . Everyone agrees that this 50 acres in question should be preserved and obtained by the City for park purposes. The only concern I have with the opportunity to preserve this area is with the method being proposed. I believe that the City should seriously consider purchasing some of this land and not use the park dedication approach for the entire 50 acres. This is different than the recommendation from the Park and Recreation Commission and different from the offer from the Shiely Company. Steve Rohlfs approach to finalizing the land transaction is valid regardless if 30 or 50 acres is accepted through the park dedication method. The Park and Recreation Commission indicated that they did not believe that they will need a park in the remaining developable area that would be applied against this 50 acre park dedication offer; and they may be correct. One example of the lesser need for parks in large lot subdivisions are the Greenhead Additions in this vicinity. However, the Greenhead Additions have lots that are larger than 2\1, acres per lot. Accordingly, the need for parks in the future developable area may be questionable, especially if the situation changes in 15 years and this area were to develop with municipal sewer and water. . Even if everyone accepts the premise that no additional park land is needed in the future in this vicinity for neighborhood parks, we still have to consider the revenues that would be generated by the 450 remaining acres based on park dedication rates in 15 years. Once again, this is especially true if the development occurs with municipal sewer and water, and the number of units turns out to be one house every one-half acre versus one house every two and one-half acres. Our park dedication amount is based on the number of housing units. It is conceivable that this revenue in the future may be more valuable to the City for park development than current dollars are to pay for all or part of 50 acres. P.O. Box 490 . 13065 Orono Parkway · Elk River, MN 55330 · (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425