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MINUTES OF THE REGULAR ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />HELD JULY IL 1994 <br />(#5)#1922 ROBERT AND ELIZABETH MELAMED, 100 <br />ROAD SOUTH - FINAL SUBDIVISION (CONTINUED) <br />OLD CRYSTAL BAY <br />Melamed explained that he had initiated discussions with the City regarding the purchase of the <br />property at l(XX) Old Crystal Bay Road South with the intention of having two sites because he <br />planned to build a home for himself and one for his mother. The Purchase Agreement took <br />approximately 60 days to develop with last minute negotiations regarding the right to subdivide <br />immediately instead of the City’s requirement to wait for five years to proceed with subdivision. <br />There were also delays with the Met Council in obtaining the sewer stubs. In order to <br />commence construction in the fall. Melamed chose to proceed with the purchase of one lot from <br />the City rather than wait for a subdivision which would create two lots. He would then apply <br />for a subdivision of the lot in 1994. In these discussions, costs were discussed but there was <br />never any discussion relating to park dedication fees. <br />Melamed stated that although he is a contractor, he has not worked with creating subdivisions <br />a . was surprised to receive a letter from the City requiring a $12,000 park dedication fee to <br />complete the filing of the subdivision. He asked that the City consider setting aside this fee on <br />the basis that if a more orderly, relaxed purchase of the property had taken place, the City <br />would have sold the Melameds two lots instead of one. If the City had completed a three lot <br />subdivision, selling the Melameds two lots, there would have been no park dedication fee. He <br />added that approximately $58,(X)0 had been spent on restoring the property to its natural habitat. <br />Moorse confirmed that the City had offered to create two lots instead of one for the property to <br />be purchased by Melamed, but at that time the application for a subdivision of one lot had <br />already been initiated. A six week delay would have resulted if the subdivision was to be <br />created as two lots instead of one because of the requirement of re-publication. <br />Mayor Callahan agreed that negotiations had been long and delayed by Met Council. However, <br />the original discussions required the creation of one lot with a five year waiting period to further <br />subdivide. Although he had no recollection of discussions relating to park dedication fees, he <br />did not see the justification for waiving the park dedication fee. If the property had been sold <br />to a developer, he would have been expected to pay the park dedication fee to further subdivide. <br />Jabbour commented that Council deals with issues involving applications, engineering, permit <br />and park dedication fees on a daily basis and did not feel notice had to be given to each applicant <br />about all fees involved. Melamed thought the City would have sold him two lots if he had not <br />been in a hurry to begin construction. Jabbour and Mayor Callahan disagreed stating they were <br />not in favor of creating two lots in the beginning of negotiations. <br />Hurr questioned the amount of the park dedication fee. Mabusth explained that the Assessor <br />does a search of comparable properties in their undeveloped condition to determine an average <br />and arrive at a fair market value. The Assessor arrived at the value of $150,000 for this <br />property in its undeveloped state. Hurr compared this to the park dedication fees for the <br />Coffin/Dickey subdivision and felt there may be some discrepancy in arriving at fair market <br />values.