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Council Meeting Minutes July 9. 1985 Page Four I Blomquist agreed with Janecek, because of the years of commitment this council and previous councils had made to developing downtown and having gone to other communities to obtain funds to develop a downtown hotel at a specific location. Schmidt believes the developers are very much aware that we would give preference to the downtown site as long as all parts of the deal go smoothly; doesn't believe we should necessarily conclude at this point that the land acquisition is only one significant element of this Development Agree~ent; believes it important for the council to give preliminary anproval at the July 23rd public hear~ng, ~nd we can indi~ate our preference for our site downtown because that is the reason we acquired the $9 million 'in bonds. Schmidt continued that council can direct staff to put together a Development Agreement that would include land acquisition, etc. and, if we don't reach an agreement for that particular preferred site, at least we have the back-up site. ~ I Benke doesn't believe one developer should believe he has a lock on the site. The other developer should be notified so that he can put his project on hold pending the outcome of the downtown site neaotiation; he should be made aware that the council will go with-the first site if all things are equal; and that the council will do everything it can to assist him in securing bond- ing for whatever else he may choose to do on his site. Harcus stated he had talked to Mark Haggerty (Hal-Fics, Inc.) and Haggerty is fully aware of the council's first choice being the downtown site and does not believe there is a problem. Harcus explained that Haggerty understands the projects are based on compe- tition and that council's first choice is downtown. Benke stated we have to put faith in both developers and work as best we can to insure that our first priority comes true. Schmidt believes both the downtown development and the city are genuinely interested in seeing a hotel downtown. Believes staff and developer should move forward in terms of working out the de- tails to see if we are going to be able to reach an agreement on the land acquisition and all of the other requirements. If there is going to be a problem. the city should find out; if there are no problems, the projects should move forward. I 5 Ayes - 0 Nayes, Motion Carried Winkels stated he has been informed that the project is moving ahead and recommended that the council take action to approve the bonds subject to the submittal of a Letter of Credit as required and the completion of the property acquisition, both of which would be completed within the next two weeks, IRB's for Bill Henning Compa~ 7:52pm-8:04pm Blomquist asked for a further explanation of the recommendation, wondering why council couldn't wait an additional two weeks to approve the project.