06/07/2005 Special - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Special Meeting June 7, 2005 of page 20. The Mayor believes that this is talking about unbuildable lots. Ms. Welsch believes that the second mention, where she is uncertain of the location in the Plan, mentions “donate vacant property to non-profits like Beyond Housing/Neighborhood Housing Services. She understands if the lot is unbuildable, which would be alright to consider for neighborhood groups or the like, but if the property has development potential, we should not be giving it away. Mr. Ollendorff agreed that it should only go to someone that is going to build on it. Ms. Welsch would prefer that a for-profit developer is involved, as well. Mr. Ollendorff would appreciate her calling him later when she finds it in the Plan, so he can pass it on. Mr. Ollendorff said that Council’s policy has been that we should get these properties in the hands of people that will build taxable homes. Beyond Housing comes along and says we are going to build homes, but we are going to rent them out. We said that we need some balance; we will let you build some to rent out, but you have to build some that can be sold. We not only get housing for the poor, but also property on the tax rolls – which they have been pretty good about. Mr. Ollendorff would argue that we shouldn’t take any property off the tax rolls, but there are some poor people that need help. A good balance is probably the right thing to do. Ms. Welsch asked again about a sense of the Council on adding three, four and five, in some way to the Plan. Mayor Adams said that was fine, but keep in mind that in number four, buying property in Wellston means paying into a fire district. Ms. Welsch understands this. Ms. Brot asked the Mayor if he was talking about a fire district that doesn’t fit in our boundaries. Mayor Adams said that he can’t think of any municipality, north of us, that has their own municipal fire department. All of them are in a fire district. If the Council agrees to buy property in a northern municipality, per recommendation number four, he wants to make sure the Council understands the economic consequences. He isn’t saying that it isn’t a good idea; however. Responding to Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Ollendorff said that Wellston lies to the northeast. Ms. Welsch asserted that this would not even be a concern until the long range strategic vision was developed as recommended in number three. Mr. Ollendorff thought the idea was to start studying annexing, not buying lots. Ms. Welsch says that ABEP does mention possibilities for this in the more detailed report. As she understands it, this would be a stepped in process over a 20 year outlook. She doesn’t believe that we would be pushing this idea at all right now. Ms. Welsch reported consensus on Section D. Miscellaneous Comments: Ms. Brot went back to discuss Ai, concerning Council taking a progressive and active role in generating sustainable economic development. She just thinks that something along these lines should be in the Plan somewhere. Ms. Welsch thinks that what the Council is doing, right now, is definitely along those lines. As the Council comments on the Plan, she will have a better idea how the Council can be more progressive and how some of the other items brought up tonight can be brought forward. Page 16