Adopt Resolution #14-06-112 Approving Sale of Permanent Easement over dedicated Park property in Alpine Acres.

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to adopt attached Resolution #14-06-112 approving the sale of permanent easement over the city-owned parcel in the Alpine Acres development as related to the Anoka County led CSAH 5 (Nowthen Blvd) / Alpine Drive Intersection Improvements project.

Background:
On January 28th, the City Council adopted Resolution #14-01-017 approving a Joint Powers Agreement between Anoka County and the City of Ramsey as related to the Anoka County led CSAH 5 (Nowthen Blvd) & Alpine Drive Intersection Improvement project.  As discussed at that time, this project requires stormwater ponding improvements and Anoka County is proposing to construct the stormwater ponding improvements on the City-owned 0.57 acre parcel of property in Alpine Acres in the northwest quadrant of the intersection.  This parcel is dedicated in the Alpine Acres plat as parkland and is essentially undevelopable due to access and grading limitations, and because most of it is classified as wetland.
 
Attached are pages 20 - 22 of the Appraisal Report which include a property area map, plat map, aerial photograph, and property easement map.

No notifications were required for this case.

Anoka County has offered to purchase permanent easement over the 0.57 acre city-owned parcel in Alpine Acres for stormwater ponding purposes for an amount of $13,000.  
 
The appraiser justified the appraisal amount of $13,000 by noting that the subject property has little financially feasible and/or productive use due to the fact that it is essentially 100% wetland/lowland area and has minimal roadway frontage.  These factors would both work against the property in trying to develop it due to required setbacks and existing regulations related to altering lowlands/wetlands.  As such, in order to construct an improvement on the subject property, mitigation of soils and wetlands would be required, which are not cost feasible.  The appraiser therefore feels there is no practical use for this property considering current land supply and prices so the highest and best use for this property would be to assemble it to abutting land for recreational use or, more likely, to preserve it for positive view-sheds from the adjacent residential development.
 
Attached is the Comparable Land Sales table from the Appraisal Report.  Four comparable properties are listed in the table, all of which contain areas of wetland/lowland but each comparable property can be immediately developed with single family residential improvements without requiring significant soil or wetland mitigations since all have some upland area and more conventional shapes with greater roadway frontages.  In summary, the adjusted sales price of the 4 comparable properties range from $8,665 to $16,502, and the adjusted average sales price is $12,940.
 
A condition of the City Council when approving the JPA for the Anoka County led CSAH 5 (Nowthen Blvd) / Alpine Drive Intersection Improvements project in January was that any proceeds realized from the use of the city-owned property in Alpine Acres for stormwater ponding be deposited into the Park Trust Fund for use on future trail improvements in the general area.  This condition has been included in the attached resolution.

No funding is required for this case.

Staff recommends adopting Resolution #14-06-112 approving the sale of Permanent Easement over the dedicated Park property in Alpine Acres (PID #233225240064).

Motion to adopt Resolution #14-06-112 approving the sale of Permanent Easement over dedicated Park property in Alpine Acres.