08-12-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, July 22, 2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. Johnson stated Bederwood would be a great spot for an ice rink. Edwards indicated the project is currently out for bid right now and that he will be bringing that forward to the City Council on August 12. Johnson asked how many rinks there are in the City. Edwards indicated there are two and that they still have the foundations of a rink over at Hackberry. That rink has not been flooded for three or four years. A clay base and berms are still there. However, none of the ice rinks have boards, which would be required for hockey. The City Council took no formal action on this item. PLANNING DEPARTMENT REPORT 13. LA19-000017 STEPHEN AND JENNIFER PAIDOSH, 4300 NORTH SHORE DRIVE AND 1453 PARK DRIVE, RIGHT-OF-WAY VACATION — RESOLUTION NO. 7006 Stephen Paidosh, Applicant, and Justin O'Keefe, 1453 Park Drive, were present. Curtis noted the City Council reviewed this application at their June 10 meeting. At that time the Council directed Staff to bring back a vacation approval resolution for consideration. The Council directed that the draft approval resolution include a condition requiring a drainage and utility easement covering the existing utility. The Council also discussed an agreement between the adjacent property owners and the City regarding compensation. Last week the applicant provided an offer of $35,000 in total for the property to be vacated. Staff has provided a draft approval resolution for the Council's review. The necessary easement language has been incorporated into the resolution. Stephen Paidosh noted Justin O'Keefe is the adjacent neighbor to this right-of-way. Paidosh stated after trying to come up with some type of value, the two of them decided they wanted to do something that was good-hearted and provide the City with some funds that could be put to good use. Two real estate developers were contacted. Brian Benson with Coldwell was one of the real estate agents and he has developed some properties around Orono. The purpose of the discussion was to try to understand what the value of the land would be based on whether it is considered buildable or not buildable with the drainage ditch. His opinion was that the land the way it is today is unbuildable, so it comes down to what the value is to either of them, which is how they arrived at the $35,000. Paidosh noted they have been maintaining the area over the years and that they plan to split those costs between the two of them. O'Keefe stated he is actually not a Minnesota resident but that he bought the property approximately five or six years ago. One of the reasons he liked the property was because there was an easement and the property taxes were pretty low. The property is only used by them in July and August. When the Paidoshes approached him about this vacation, he originally was not in favor of it due to his property taxes increasing, but at the current time the Paidosh's driveway is really dangerous and they are trying to relocate it on to Park Drive, which makes a lot of sense. After a conversation with his wife, they decided to split the cost 25/10. The 25 feet on his side does not have the drainage pipe. Page 8 of 10