06/20/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/20/2000 most appropriate comment I may have heard in this chamber in the two and half years I've been sitting here. It's not an issue of green space. It's an issue of principle. These residents deserve to know what is going on. They have not been told so. This Councilman deserves to know what is going on. I have not been told so, and I have asked. My vote tonight is no And I give this caveat, and I say that I hope the administration will sit down with the City Council and we will review green space in this town. Once we get together a full plan of what it is that's out there, what it is that we can possibly do with it, then I look forward to supporting the administration, working with them to proceed to purchase green space in this town. My vote is no." Roll call continued: Limpert, yes, with comment. "We've had so much debate about this, and quite frankly, I strongly believe that purchasing this property is the best thing we can do to give everybody what they truly say they want. We heard comment about the debt. This is the third consecutive year in a row that the city's debt has gone down. Even with the purchase of this property, it will continue to go down. We've heard concerns about adversely hurting the environment in the area. It will. developed by somebody with something. If the city buys this property, it will be the least adverse change to that environment. We have heard people concerned about more traffic coming to the area. Quite frankly, what else is new in North Olmsted except when it comes to more traffic? Traffic is coming whether or not this is developed into green space, whether it's developed into U-house it storage, whether the multi-family area gets developed, traffic will increase no matter what. We've heard concerns about access to private residents, this will protect those residents from keeping their private roads being used more than likely. As we've said, there's no guarantees. We've heard concerns about cost. What significant project doesn't cost several million dollars. We've heard concerns about not having the total picture laid out. Every time part of the total picture was tried to be laid out, it was then fired back as being a problem. The question came up, 'What is it going to cost to acquire the rest of the property?' The administration goes forward to start getting appraisals. Then it's, 'How dare you get appraisals on people's properties.' I think we've done the best, or the administration has done the best they can. Sure we'd all like to have all the cards face up on the table. Unfortunately, that's not always available. When I took the, ran for Council, they said, my mother told me make sure you look at yourself in the mirror afterwards and you made the right decisions. I've heard people telling me their voting no saying that they think this could have been the right decision. I hope everyone will be pleased with their decision. Thank you." Roll call continued: Miller, no, with comment. "This proposal is one that is well intended, but accomplishes little. In fact, the negatives greatly outweigh the perceived positives. The site was first proposed to be used as a passive recreation area, basically left in its current state. Tonight we heard plans from the administration to move the soccer field parking to this site. Then we were told that we could receive rental income from the existing home on the site, coming complete with a brand new tenant, a city employee no less. When asked questions about how the price was determined, and what involvement the city would have in justifying the 'gift' valuation, we were told that was between the IRS and the selling party. As a party to the transaction, with numbers that don't add up satisfactorily, it's clear to me that the city would be involved in acknowledging this so-called 'gift.' The parcel involved has been purported to be an effort to conserve green space. In order to obtain this property, '"~' we would have to place our city further in debt. In order to use this property for athletic 23