John Murphy’s MEDINA REAL ESTATE REPORT

The Wayzata City Council held their big meeting last night at West Middle School.  About 300-400 people showed up for this very important vote.

I lost count of the number of people who stood up to publicly address the City Council, but it had to be at least 125 people.  By my count there were probably 6-7 people who spoke up against the project.  Everyone else was in support of it.

I left at about 9:45pm once the 125 people had spoken.  That took over 3 1/2 hours to get through that.  The council meeting then continued on.  I heard from someone still in attendance that the vote came at 1:40am and passed 3 to 2.

What amazes me is the overwhelming support demonstrated by the residents and business owners and employees who work in Wayzata and yet this project passed by the skin of its teeth because of a disproportionate amount of influence a few vocal dissenters had.  They clearly worked hard enough to keep this council wrapped up in deliberations for years about this project and the one before it that was shot down.

The public supported this 95/5 approximately and yet the vote barely passed.  It was great to see the peoples’ voices heard, but now it probably would make sense to unseat those who tried for so long to block this project.  I hope the citizens of Wayzata remember this vote when it comes to elections this fall.

As reported in the Lakeshore Weekly News, Erickson Retirement Communities withdrew their proposal to build over 1,700 units where the Elm Creek golf course currently exists on Highway 55 in western Plymouth.  It appears the developers will regroup and likely approach the City of Plymouth at a later date with a new plan. Click here for the location of the Elm Creek golf course.
The City of Plymouth has seen a few senior housing projects developed recently including the 400+ unit development by Trillium Woods as well as Vicksburg Crossing located at Highway 55 and Vicksburg near Lowe’s.

The Star Tribune ran this story yesterday about the proposed tax increases in Medina in order to pay for some roads.  Mayor Tom Crosby appears to be advocating a pay-as-you-go method to pay for the roads.  Traditionally, capital improvements such as roads have been paid for by bonds issued by the city.   That spreads the cost out over 20-30 years which I believe is the best way to pay for such items.

Hopefully the City Council will change their position and pay for these items by bonding instead of pay-as-you-go.

The City of Medina, MN has been working on their 2030 comprehensive plan update for the past year or so.   If you recall, last fall they held several neighborhood meetings in conjunction with the development and discussion of the various aspects that go in to a comprehensive plan including housing and business development, sewer, water, and transportation.

Medina will hold two open houses this week for the public to come in and see what’s in the plan.  Once approved by the Medina City Council, it will have to go the the Met Council where there will likely be lots of give and take and negotiating over the plan.

Open Houses will be held at the Hamel Community Building located at 3200 Mill Drive, Medina (Uptown Hamel).  The times are as follows:
Thursday, October 25, 2007 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Saturday, October 27, 2007 from 9:00 - 11:00 AM

There is an additional public hearing that is scheduled for November 27, 2007…most likely that will be held at Medina City Hall.

Trillium Woods has been approved by the City of Plymouth. This will add a wide mix of housing options for senior citizens as over 400 units will be constructed on the 46 acre parcel south of County Road 47 at Chesire Lane in Northwest Plymouth. (Note, Cheshire Lane will need to be extended to meet County Road 47. It does not connect at this time).
Construction is set to begin next year. The development is expected to be built in two phases, but it’s not expected that the project will be fully completed until 2016.

Issues with traffic on County Road 47 certainly had the Plymouth City Council members concerned. There still is no resolution as to who will ultimately end up owning County Road 47. There has been some talk that Hennepin County wants to give the road to the City of Plymouth, but I’ve heard the costs could run as high as $20 million to get the road improved.

For more details on the development see the Lakeshore Weekly News article.
The website for Trillium Woods has a wonderful map of the property located here.

The City of Medina now has a separate web page dedicated to recent news about the City of Medina, MN.  It’s helpful to be able to provide this link.

Yesterday the City of Chanhassen, MN issued a total watering ban for the city. City officials claim that because we have only received about 60% of normal rain fall for the year that the aquifiers have not been replenished. Apparently two wells have malfunctioned and two more are down for unscheduled maintenance. Here’s the press release. City officials will be driving through neighborhoods contributing to more Global Warming while they look for those breaking the watering ban.
This seems to me to be poor city management of resources. How can a city as successful as Chanhassen have to issue a TOTAL WATERING BAN! (CAPs are found on the city’s web site). I would not be happy if I were a property owner in Chanhassen.

It’s difficult to believe that the city planners have not accounted for a situation in which you would have hot weather, little rain, and a couple of wells go out.

Jason Lewis was mentioning this topic on his radio show tonight at KTLK 100.3 FM. I guess it’s too much to expect that for the fees each homeowner pays for hook up to city sewer and water that the city would actually be able to deliver the water. But this is what you get when you have a monopoly. As Jason Lewis rightly put it, this is what we’ll have when we have nationalized health care. I can’t wait to see that…”NO MORE HEART ATTACKS, PLEASE!” Sorry, but we don’t have capacity to serve anyone else who has a heart attack until further notice.

I’m sure Chanhassen has lots of money for public schools, but good luck getting a glass of tap water the next time you dine at a restaurant in Chanhassen.

This performance by the City of Chanhassen should cause all property owners to think twice before buying in this city.

BTW, does anyone know how much water is currently being consumed by the farmers growing corn for the crazed ethanol movement?

Some are proposing that the City of Plymouth and the State of Minnesota take advantage of federal dollars and pursue a toll road to solve the problem of the four lane road called 494 from Plymouth to Maple Grove.  Fortunately, it seems that most of the Plymouth City Council is against the idea of a toll road for this stretch of highway.  Thankfully the council members have some common sense.

As is the case with most of the roads in Minnesota, there is not a lot of good news on the horizon to eliminate the congestion.

The City of Plymouth has $9 million to spend on land for parks and open space initiative.  It was meant to be spent in Northwest Plymouth as that part of the city begins to developed.  However, there are now others looking to spend the money elsewhere in the city.

The most interesting thing is there is a land owner who is willing to sell his land for $300,000 per acre.  Only government would spend that kind of money on land these days.  The developers and builders aren’t spending that to develop.  I hope the city doesn’t go down the road of spending that kind of money for parks or open space.

Here’s the story from The Weekly News.