Co Par settlement, Gethsemane move forward

At the May 12th meeting the Maplewood City Council approved, by a 3 (Juenemann, Rossbach, Nephew) : 2 (Longrie, Hjelle) vote, the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the Carver Crossing Planned Unit Development (PUD) embodied in the revised CoPar litigation settlement. The revised development plan increased the unit count from 165 to 174, eliminated the one million dollar public contribution to infrastructure, delayed any grading or construction south of Fish Creek through 2008, and preserved public ownership options with $574,200 park dedication money made available to apply towards any public purchase of land bordering and south of Fish Creek. The next step is preparation of the development contract for council consideration at the first meeting in June. If that contract is approved, League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT) appointed attorney Baker will ask the court to settle the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning parties could not bring a new lawsuit on the same dispute.

In another significant land use matter, the council approved 4:1 (Hjelle) moving the Gethsemane Lutheran request for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to the next step - creation of a TIF plan for council consideration.

The balance of the May 12th agenda was continued to May 15th, at which time the contract with the Maplewood Confidential and Supervisory Association, with backpay provisions, was approved by a 3 (Juenemann, Rossbach, Nephew): 2 (Longrie, Hjelle) vote.

Precinct boundaries were revised in preparation for the 2008 election cycle.

Staff was directed to provide information from the last two Requests for Proposal (RFP) prepared with respect to finding a search firm for hiring a city manager.

Ms. Longrie's effort to contract with the Minnesota State Auditor to review Maplewood financial processes was redirected to having Mr. Kantrud gather more information from the League and other sources, and to wait for the scheduled annual financial audit to be completed.