EDC 06-18-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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EDC Meeting Notes June 18,2013 Page 7 o Evaluate the proactive legal options available to the City. These options would be discussed during a closed council session. o Engage a third party technical advisor to help the City evaluate the MPCA's technical concerns and requirements. Council Reaction Given the MPCA's demands and threats, staff met with the Council on June 11th. After a good discussion, Council directed the following: o The City and Barr will submit a work plan and related information to the MPCA by July 15th for review and feedback. The City is requesting MPCA comments/approval in 30 days. Once we receive that feedback,the City will follow its normal and customary process for public construction projects of this size. Staff will seek formal authorization to go out for bids in mid to late August and establish a bid deadline of mid to late September. We anticipate a bid award in early October and that the venting work will be done this fall. We can firm up the schedule once we get feedback on our work plan. o The City will prepare another sample covenant (by mid-July) for non-dump blocks and seek MPCA feedback. o The City is very interested in the agency's discussions about new development guidance on dumps and is encouraging the agency to include other stakeholders in this process in order to get a balanced perspective. o The City will prepare a letter formally responding to the MPCA's recent May 16th correspondence. We hope that these actions will be well-received by the agency and avoid further concerns with the MPCA. Staff will continue to try and work with the MPCA. Of greatest concern is the agency's internal discussion about new guidance for developing on dumps. We will keep the EDC apprised of this situation. As an aside, staff has been in contact with Colliers and Ryan Co. and learned that there are no new marketing leads with respect to commercial development. Both parties have suggested that the City consider looking at subdividing one of the parcels to make the site more attractive to a smaller user(possibly 30,000 to 40,000 SF). Given the on-going discussions with the MPCA about development issues on the east side, staff would like to hold off until later this summer until more is known. Ryan Co. has also suggested that the City allow a construction trailer to be parked on the site to help advertise the project. Staff is looking at this concept and will provide additional updates next month.