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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-16-2021 Mechanical Committee Meeting Minutes MECHANICAL COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE CITY OF CANTON Tuesday, February 16, 2021 5:30pm 2 North Main Street Canton IL 61520 Via Zoom Aldermen in attendance: Angela Hale, Angela Lingenfelter, Jeff Fritz, Quin Mayhew Aldermen Absent: Staff in attendance: City Engineer Keith Plavec, Treasurer Crystal Wilkinson, Comptroller Beka Schutz, Mayor Kent McDowell, Attorney Chris Jump, City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock Others in attendance: Alderman John Lovell, Jed Rhodes Media in attendance:The Daily Ledger John Froehling Alderman Quin Mayhew called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. PUBLIC WORKS WATER& SEWER ALDERWOMAN ANGELA LINGENFELTER, CHAIRMAN PUBLIC SAFETY AND TRAFFIC ALDERWOMAN ANGELA HALE, CHAIRMAN STREETS &GARBAGE ALDERMAN JEFF FRITZ, CHAIRMAN LAKE, BUILDING &GROUNDS ALDERMAN QUIN MAYHEW, CHAIRMAN DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RECOMMENDATION(S) TO COUNCIL REGARDING DEVELOPMENT, SALE, AND/OR LEASE OF CITY-OWNED PROPERTIES AT CANTON LAKE. The City is discussing 600 plus acres that is currently being surveyed. Alderman Mayhew explained that immediate attention needs to be brought to the lots that are adjacent to the water plant. The City previously discussed selling these lots and if covenants would be placed on them that would regulate a certain size of home, or a home that would need to be built in a certain amount of time. The City is wanting to get the maximum tax dollar benefit on this property. Attorney Jump said that the Council will ultimately need to decide if they want to sell these lots. If they will be sold, it will need to be determined how they will be sold. One way to sell the lots is to send them out for bids that requires a lengthy bidding/publishing process due to it being City owned property. The City wouldn't have to accept the highest bid. The City could also sell the lots by voting to deem them all surplus property. They would then need to be appraised.The property could then not be sold for less than 80% of the appraised value-this would then allow the City to sell the lots based upon an offer. The offers could be approved or rejected. The City could hire a realtor, or designate a City employee to handle it, or do a public auction for surplus land. The City would also need to decide if they want to sell this land as one big chunk of land-then go to a developer to further develop and to sell off, or the City could sell it lot by lot. There is an area in front of each of the properties that could be controlled by lease. The other alternative is leasing all of them like the City does with the other lake lots. It is recommended to have covenants with the bare minimum-such as for residential purposes, be subject to approval, construction to commence within a certain amount of time, etc. These are restrictions that could be placed on the terms of the sale. Attorney Jump said he would prepare the legal documents once the council determines how to handle these lots. Ron Cloninger is currently finishing up the surveying of the area. The weather has caused some delays with the survey, but plans to be completed by the middle part of March. Alderwoman Lingenfelter said she believes the best option is to sell this as one lot. Alderman Quin Mayhew said he believes all of the lots would sell without any problem. Engineer Keith Plavec explained that the lots along Delbar Road have 8 lots that could be used for houses, but these lots do not sit on the water. Alderman Mayhew said that if the City can't get this annexed into the City there really is no reason to do this. The idea behind this is to generate tax dollars for the City. The City would not want someone to buy this land and not do anything with it for 10 years- because that would not generate any tax revenue. Jed Rhodes said his original plan was to develop 12 residential lots. There was an issue with a building that is on a City owned lot. The building was built outside of the leased area years ago. There have been discussions about this previously. Engineer Plavec explained that when Old Beach Lot addition was originally put in, the land was subdivided and it was made all part of the Old Beach Addition. The City re-did the lots on Old Beach Addition because in some cases people had constructed outside of the original intent of the lease. There was a drawing with an intent, but it was never recorded. Engineer Plavec said this would be carved out of the piece that would be sold-making this area exempt from the sale.The lots are platted according to Engineer Plavec. The City platted these and had discussed going to realtors to sell the lots. The City met with property owners along Old Beach Road because they park their pontoon boats. Meetings took place at the depot to see if they would be interested in purchasing the lots, but this didn't ever take place. Attorney Jump said if you sell everything at once you lose control, but if you sell it lot by lot you have more control. Mayor McDowell said he thinks it would be a good idea to put into the covenants that you can not own more than 2 lots, if it is decided to sell the entire thing. If someone buys an extra lot to keep people away from them, it would be counter productive in generating the tax revenue the City is seeking. This is a desirable location and the homes would be higher end properties. Jed Rhodes said he ran some preliminary numbers last year, and on the low end it was anticipated to get$70-$80,000 in new property tax revenue. It would be a significant amount of property tax revenue. This revenue would help not only the City, but would also help the County, School District, the Hospital, the College and local business people. Alderman Lingenfelter asked if a stipulation could be made that only local labor would be used. Attorney Jump explained that once the City sells it, it's no longer the City's to make those demands. It could be difficult to state that the work would be local, as at times, some of the work would need to be found outside. Jed Rhodes further explained that he believes the City would run into problems with fair housing that would potentially open up the City to some legal problems. Jed said that all of his relationships are with local contractors, and his goal is to sell the lots to local people that wants to build homes. It's not anyone's intention to develop the land and bring people in from out of state to do any of the construction. Jed further explained that his intention is to do a couple design builds that they would then sell off, otherwise their intention is to get the water there, to get the electric upgraded to the lots, to clear paths down to the lake for access-and then to market them and sell them. Jed Rhodes said that one of their stipulations would be that construction would need to begin within 12 months if they purchase it from them. Jed would anticipate by the end of this year several properties completed with or some under construction. Alderman Mayhew said he believes the completion date would be important along with the size of the home in the covenant. Attorney Jump said that perhaps instead of going the surplus route of selling the property, go with the bidding process and then let them propose their bid as to what their covenants would be. Anyone else wanting to bid on the property would have the same rights and then the Council would open the bids to review them and see if they wanted to accept or reject the bid. The bid would not necessarily need to be the highest bid, but the bid best for the City. If the City does want to go this route,work would need to begin due to the length of the publishing requirements and the bidding process. Alderman Fritz said he would recommend doing a bidding process as outlined by Attorney Jump. Alderwoman Lingenfelter agrees. Attorney Jump said he thinks the motion should be to recommend to council that we proceed with potentially selling the property,subject to approval of an ordinance-for residential purposes. The leases in front of the properties would remain leases subject to the terms and conditions of the leases that would be determined. Attorney Jump said that our ordinances are a little antiquated when it comes to the committee, so the goal is to get this to council because ultimately the corporate authority of the City has to vote whether or not to sell a piece of property. Attorney Jump said he is trying to elevate this to council. Mayor McDowell said he would ask in the motion that this is all contingent on annexation of the property. Alderman Fritz said he agrees with this. Attorney Jump said he is not sure if the City wants to tie the leases into the ultimate bid, it would become a little tricky since there are different notice requirements for the leased portion. If the recommendation is to lease the unplated portions up to the lakefront it could be worked in as the final terms of the ordinance is made. Attorney Jump said he could draft an ordinance that could be subject to annexation. The annexation vote could take place right before the opening of the bids to approve the sale. AttorneyJump said the committee could hold another meeting to discuss lease terms. This would be helpful in drafting a document. Attorney Jump said he could go ahead with the drafting of the ordinance for the sale pending the completion of the annexation survey. Once the survey is in hand it could then be placed on the agenda to move forward. The annexation would need to be done as soon as possible. The timing of the annexation only becomes effective at a certain time due to elections. Because we are in the middle of an election season, Attorney Jump said he doesn't think it can become effective until after the general election. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Fritz/Hale to put the property out for bid- pending the annexation. Roll Call: Ayes: Alderwoman Angela Hale, Alderwoman Angela Lingenfelter, Alderman Jeff Fritz, Alderman Quin Mayhew Nays: None Absent: None The motion carried. Attorney Jump suggested holding another committee meeting in the near future to discuss lease terms. ADJOURNMENT Motion and second were made by Alderwoman Angela Hale/Mayhew to adjourn without the need for executive session. Roll Call: Ayes: Alderwoman Angela Hale, Alderwoman Angela Lingenfelter, Alderman Jeff Fritz, Alderman Quin Mayhew Nays: None Absent: None The motion carried. Diana Pavley Rock, City Clerk