10/20/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Council Meeting 10-20-08 Page 12 Mt. Sinai Cemetery also in this period. So the pattern that we have followed has been one of strategic assemblage of land for park purposes. The frontage of this property on White Road extends for about 300-350 feet. In terms of an assemblage for another parcel, many of the homes up on White Road are more modest and for development purposes it would reflect a likely strategy for someone to assemble those parcels and seek rezoning. Yes, we have our zoning. What we have found in the past is that rather than be combative, what we have tried to do is promote these arms-length negotiations and again this is a property that very specifically we have had at the top of our list for the better part of a decade. So, the reason Mayor Rinker is responding as strongly as he is is that tonight is absolutely the first time he has heard from Mr. Saponaro such a strong statement suggesting that somehow we are forcing everyone's hand. That is how it came across. Mayor Rinker would think anyone in the room would agree. You had to compose yourself before you launched into it. Mr. Saponaro replied because of the way that you decided to address it. Mayor Rinker said he did not decide to address it tonight with all due respect, you did. Mayor Rinker decided to address this weeks ago. Council has been aware of it. We have undertaken negotiations which Council has been aware. We have the property owner here. We have negotiated in good faith. We have looked at alternatives. We have tried to do this in a way, and frankly, Mayor Rinker thinks there are still some alternatives, where the money that has been set aside can be used to an advantage. We have done that with every arm's length negotiation if we can split up the pay, we do that. Believe me, the last thing he wants to do is start frittering away dollars. For example, there is a property on Wilson Mills we looked at. We paid for an appraisal. We looked at it. We have advised that property owner we are not going to go forward because we are prioritizing these properties. This is not at the center of the Village, but it is part of our park system. Mayor Rinker thinks that its location is ideal for creating that gateway entrance that we have off of White Road. Don't forget that with the Costanzo negotiation there is a portion of land that lies opposite Governor's Village that the Village had as parkland which we had to surrender as part of the transaction that we settled on the Costanzo lawsuit with. We currently have the 7%2 acre former Costanzo property there. The concern that Mayor Rinker has had is that at some point, it may not be now, it may be years from now, but the opportunity is now for us to acquire this property and do it in a way that really is to Mayor Rinker very low key. With regard to the economics, we are candidly looking at the last two years as flat. We are looking at next year as one two. We are limiting capital projects. We are limiting land acquisition, except for probably one other property that Mayor Rinker can think of that would be strategic. It's not on the market. It's not coming up, but Mayor Rinker could anticipate that it might be. This is probably the only other one. Mayor Rinker just wanted Mr. Saponaro to understand that this is not something where we are trying to jam it, but the opportunity has presented itself. In the long run, it is a quieter, and more comfortable way for us to add to lands that we have that we have already dedicated to particular public uses. This is one where we can worlc an arm's length and comfortably for the property owner because Marie is going to be able to stay there and frankly if she wants to stay there longer, we should be able to work something out. Mayor Rinker thinks in the long run that is to everyone's advantage.