01-27-2003 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Dahlstrom Development LLC January 22,2003 Mayor Barbara Peterson City of Orono 2750 Kelley Parkway PO Box 66 Crystal Bay, MN 55323 RE: Request for Conditional Approval of Rezoning, PUD General Development Plan and Preliminary Plat for StoneBay Dear Honorable Mayor, I am writing this letter to request approval of the preliminary plat, rezoning and PUD general plan for StoneBay, subject to the conditions in the resolutions drafted by the Planning Director. While the Council did state their support for this project on December 9, 2002, no formal project approvals were given. The City did approve the draft language in the approval resolutions, with final approval to be granted when Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) approvals have been obtained and the outstanding engineering comments have been addressed. We requested conditional of approval of the project in December because we were concerned that our lenders would have concerns about funding a project that did not yet have City approval. We were hopeful that the approval of the language in the resolutions would at least show general City support for the project, but the lender has expressed serious concerns about the lack of formal City approval. The complex financial transaction, which has been approved by the Marshall Investment Corporation, requires participation from numerous banks in Minnesota and surrounding states. We cannot assume that they all have the ':apacity to evaluate the intent of the current approvals granted to Dahlstrom Development LLC by the City of Orono. The complications resulting from the delay of watershed approval, despite our Company ’s effort to cooperate in a timely manner, are not implicit in the approval. On the contrary, the current approval sends a signal that after nine months of cooperative effort by the City Council, the City Staff and Dahlstrom Development LLC, the City Council may not be in support of this development proposal. I cannot stress the seriousness of this dilemma enough. Multiple items, of which Council approval is one. are converging that may scuttle this project. Because we have not been able to extend our option with Mr. Gilbert Braun beyond February 8, 2003, 'he Council meeting on January 27, 2003 is the last opportunity to obtain City approval, even if conditional. It would be disastrous to see all the effort everyone has contributed dissolve over what is a watershed technical issue. The lender may not understand, and