COMMON COUNCIL MINUTES

March 4, 2002

Approved April 1, 2002

The Common Council of the City of West Lafayette, Indiana met in the Council Chambers at City Hall on March 4, 2002 at the hour of 7:30 p.m.

Mayor Margerum, who presided, called the meeting to order.

The Pledge of Allegiance was repeated.

Mayor Margerum said before we call the roll, I want to call your attention to the empty seat where Arni Cohen sat. We are sorry that he is no longer with us and I think you all know of the many contributions that Arni made to the entire community as well as the Council. So, we wanted to honor him by the flowers at his place. Linda Cohen was voted on last Saturday by the precinct committeemen and sworn in as a new member of this Council. She will take office in May, at her request. We pause for a moment and then go ahead with the roll call. Thank you.

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes called the roll:

PRESENT: KEEN, MILLS, O'CALLAGHAN, SATTERLY, SPARBY, WINDLER

ABSENT: COHEN

ALSO PRESENT: City Attorney Bauman, Director of Development Andrew, Street Commissioner Downey, Fire Chief Ford, Parks Superintendent Payne, City Engineer Snyder, and Police Chief Marvin.

MINUTES

Councilor Sparby moved to approve the minutes of the January 31, 2002 Pre-Council Meeting and the February 4, 2002 Common Council Meeting as distributed. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly and passed viva-voce.

COMMITTEE STANDING REPORTS

Street and Sanitation: Councilor Satterly presented this report.

On the monthly highlights, the construction of the east wing of the building that is being constructed for the Street Department is 80% complete. Rose Street curb/sidewalk renovation is to start in the spring of 2002. The Street Resurfacing project for 2002 has been let to Milestone Construction and the work is to be completed before August 15, 2002. Approximately 3.1 miles of roads will be resurfaced for a cost of $240,000.

Planning and Zoning: No report.

Public Safety: Councilor Keen presented this report.

For the month of February 2002, the West Lafayette Police Department answered just under 1,700 calls for the month and I thought it was interesting to note that just over 700 of those were traffic stops and accident calls. So, you're doing a good job and having a good presence out there. For the month, the West Lafayette Fire Department answered 96 calls. Three of those were fire related, 72 of those were medical related, and 21 of those were investigative related. That completes my report.

Purdue Relations: Councilor Windler presented this report.

Madam Mayor, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Brenda Shea, who is Student Body President at Purdue University. She would like to address the Council.

Ms. Shea said I appreciate the opportunity to come and speak tonight at City Council. I'd just like to briefly highlight a few of the things we've been working on within Purdue Student Government this year. We started off the year, obviously, with the terrible news of September 11, but immediately we were able to gather almost 30 student organizations to spring into action and raised about $15,000 for Red Cross. We're glad to say that we recently, in February, sent that check off along with a banner signed by about 200 students, and faculty and staff, that's headed to Ground Zero. Also, I've been working with Councilor Mills on the Community Issues Study Committee, which we are pleased to see a stronger new relationship formed between the City and the University. We've done a lot of work on the large number of off-campus students that were formerly disconnected. Glad to see that through this Committee we're able to organize them for service related activities between the University and the Community and also we can better inform the students about new regulations, laws, and policies. Just recently, we invited Senator Bayh to come and speak at campus and he came to speak about his "Call to Service" bill that he is co-sponsoring with Senator John McCain. That got a lot of great press and inspired a lot of people to ask questions about getting involved in service and we're really pleased to see that happen. Right now we are in the middle of our own elections in Purdue Student Government. So, I'm happy to come tonight and speak and just say that, hopefully with our transition, whoever succeeds me next year can just keep a strong relationship with the City Council and work together on a number of initiatives. Do you have any questions at all?

Mayor Margerum said thank you very much and I appreciate the efforts that you've made on that Community Issues Committee. I think that's a very good forum and will have continuing value. So, thank you for your work.

Councilor Sparby said Madam Mayor, I would also like to take this time to thank Kyle Kasting for all of the time he spent as the PSG Rep to the Council and we will miss him. I was sorry to learn that Kyle had stepped down. He's been very dedicated to coming to our meetings and working with us.

Parks and Recreation: Councilor O'Callaghan presented this report.

The Park Board met on February 25 and were presented with maps of the Celery Bog and trail system that were to be discussed at the Redevelopment Commission meeting later that week. We'll talk more about that later. Basketball is completed and wrestling clinics are beginning. There were over 1,400 registrations for winter and spring classes at Morton and there was also an open house at Morton for the West Lafayette Library satellite and that seems to be working well. Beautification is scheduling volunteer workdays April 6, the 20th, and the 21st, so anyone who is interested in volunteering should call Brian Tunis at the Parks Department. They also approved the Park Board Master Plan for 2002-2006 and also voted to honor the memory of Arni Cohen by naming the City softball complex in his honor. Arni gave so much to the community and loved baseball and softball so this seemed a very fitting tribute for Arni.

Department of Development: Councilor O'Callaghan presented this report.

The Redevelopment Commission did indeed discuss those maps of the Celery Bog and trail system and a very exciting 500 new high paying jobs and at the same time increase the quality of life with additional park land and an extensive greenway trail all the way from the Research Park to Pickett Park on campus. And, we'll talk about that later when we get to the bond issue discussion and have a PowerPoint presentation that I think you will all enjoy.

PERSONNEL: No report.

BUDGET AND FINANCE: No report.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT UTILITY: No report.

REPORT OF APC REPRESENTATIVE: Councilor Mills presented this report.

I have just two items from the February 20 Area Plan Commission meeting. We gave unanimous approval to Resolution PD 02-01, which were the final detailed plans for a Planned Development on Andrew Place. It's going to be 12 efficiency units and parking in a three story building by Balaji Modur. And the second item was unanimous approval of a plat vacation on the southwest corner of Fowler and Vine and this was for John and Connie Basham. They are in the process of demolishing Fairway Cooperative and that's going to be replaced with 8 four-bedroom townhomes.

REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES: No report.

PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Mayor Margerum said I would like to bring to your attention that Monday, noon, on March 11 on the bridge will be a commemoration of the September 11 tragedy and there will be a proclamation. Anyone in the community obviously is invited and I hope that many of you can be there.

FINANCIAL REPORT:

Councilor Sparby moved that the financial report be approved as distributed. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly and passed viva-voce.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Resolution No. 7-02 A Resolution To Adopt The Written Fiscal Plan For The Annexation Of Certain Lands Into The City Of West Lafayette (Prepared by the City Attorney)

Councilor Sparby moved to change the order of business to hear Resolution 7-02 before Ordinance No. 49-01 in order to adopt the fiscal plan before the annexation. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly and the vote was AYE.

Councilor Sparby read the resolution by title only and moved that Resolution No. 7-02 be passed on first and only reading and vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said is there any discussion by the Council? You have received the fiscal plan and, due to the fact that there are no plans in place, at this time there is nothing to report on the fiscal plan. But, it is a requirement of the annexation. Are there any questions?

There was no further discussion.

Resolution No. 7-02 passed first and only reading, 6-0.

Ordinance No. 49-01 An Ordinance To Annex Certain Lands To The City Of West Lafayette (Prepared by Stuart & Branigin LLP).

Councilor Sparby moved that Ordinance No. 49-01 be amended by substitution to reflect the change in the legal description. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly and the vote was AYE.

Councilor Sparby read the ordinance by title only and moved that Ordinance No. 49-01 (Amended) be passed on second and final reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said I would like to call the attorney for the petitioner.

Ms. Marianne Owen [Stuart & Branigin] said I'm here on behalf of the Trustees of Purdue University, the owner of this property. This has been a long road, as it always is with an annexation, even a voluntary one, but in this case this will, hopefully, be the last time you have to see this mug for awhile. We've gone through all of the steps. By the approval of the fiscal plan, we are now in a position to have your second and final reading of this matter. What it is is a property that is adjacent to the City. It is to the west of the Westport development. It is to the north of the University Farm development. We've come to the City with the idea that you'd like to have an involvement with the future development of this property because we are in the process of selling it and we're selling it for the purposes of development. Thus, we request your approval this evening and I'm here to answer any questions I can in regard to this request.

Mayor Margerum said are there any questions? Councilor Windler?

Councilor Windler said the last time this was brought up at the Council Meeting, it was mentioned that there was a bird habitat on the northeast corner and you said you would look into the environmental impact of any development. Do you have anything further on that?

Ms. Owen said to clarify, it wasn't a matter of a bird habitat but just a natural habitat and that's a part of the idea of the annexation proceeding, is that the City would like to have a hand in that future and be involved in that. So, anything in regard to that will happen down the pike. So, it's essentially a non-answer answer. No, nothing at this point is happening but as the property is considered for future development that is the time for raising those issues.

Mayor Margerum said are there any other comments? I would comment that this is the largest annexation that the City has ever been involved in and I think it will set the stage for the future growth of the City and thank PRF for including wanting to include it so the City does have a say in how it is developed.

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 49-01 (Amended) passed second and final reading, 6-0.

Ordinance No. 9-02 An Additional Appropriation (Police, Lindberg/McCormick Road Improvement Fund) (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer) PUBLIC HEARING. Councilor Sparby read the ordinance in part and moved that Ordinance No. 9-02 be passed on second and final reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said we need to conduct a public hearing, as this is an additional appropriation. You heard the purposes for which the appropriation is being requested. Are there any comments from the audience? Hearing no comments, I'll close the hearing. Are there any further comments from Council?

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 9-02 passed second and final reading, 6-0.

NEW BUSINESS

Ordinance No. 10-02 An Ordinance Of The City Of West Lafayette, Indiana, Appropriating The Proceeds Of The Sale Of Real Estate To The West Lafayette Building Corporation In Connection With The Financing Of A Police Station (Prepared by the City Attorney). Councilor Sparby read the ordinance by title only and moved that Ordinance No. 10-02 be passed on first reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said I'd like to ask the City Attorney if he would review this ordinance and the purpose for it.

City Attorney Bauman said this is based on the recommendation of bond counsel that this was what was required, that the City needed to be paid for the land by the Building Corporation. The $650,000 figure is based on the same per square foot price as we had the appraisal for the western most piece at the end of the block. Lucy [Emison], did you want to comment further on that?

Ms. Emison [Ice Miller Danadio & Ryan] said no, it's just a statutory requirement that the Building Corporation buy the land from the City and actually the lease/financing. This just allows the City to spend the money on its portion of the project when the bonds are issued.

Mayor Margerum said and the plot plan is over there and you can see where the location of the building is and then that is the land over there that would be technically sold.

City Attorney Bauman said the lot that will be sold to the Building Corporation will run from about the middle of the parking lot adjacent to this building all the way to the west end of the block.

Councilor Satterly said does it include the other lot, too, for the parking or not?

City Attorney Bauman said no. We won't be constructing the building on there so that's not necessary.

Mayor Margerum said I would also like to acknowledge Dick Bossung, who has been the chair of the Police Building Committee, which was the one who chose the architect and also reviewed the plans up to this point. So, was there anything you wanted to say, Dick?

Mr. Bossung said thank you Madam Mayor, members of the Council. When we started this project a long time ago, we had several things in mind that we wanted to do with this particular project. Through the work of the Committee and a tremendous amount of work by the members of the Police Department and the architectural firm that we consulted with, we've come up with something that we think is going to work well into the next 25 to 30 years. It will be something that the City can be proud of with its architectural design and the cost feasibility of it with the work that the Department has put into it and stuff makes it a realistic thing for us to proceed with. On behalf of the Committee, we would request that the Council do everything they can to expedite this so that we can get it under way and, hopefully, be into it by the summer of 2003. Thank you.

Mayor Margerum said thank you.

City Attorney Bauman said in addition to this item, later in the agenda you will be asked to vote on Resolution No. 8-02, which is a resolution finding the need for the construction of the police station.

Mayor Margerum said all right, are there any questions about this?

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 10-02 passed first reading, 6-0.

Ordinance No. 11-02 (Amended) An Ordinance Regarding Approval Of A Lease Between The West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission And the West Lafayette Redevelopment Authority (Prepared by the City Attorney). Councilor Sparby read the ordinance by title only and moved that Ordinance No. 11-02 (Amended) be passed on first reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said we have a presentation by Mr. Andrew, the Department of Development, with a summary of the project and Mr. Payne [Parks Superintendent] will assist him.

City Attorney Bauman said the purpose of the ordinance is to approve the lease between the Redevelopment Commission and the Redevelopment Authority for this project. That would also include what's called a property tax backup. If there are questions about that then Lucy Emison [Ice Miller Danadio & Ryan] and Gary Malone [H.J. Umbaugh & Associates] are here and can answer that. I think Gary will also be prepared to discuss some of the financial information.

Director of Development Andrew said we'd like to talk with you today about the PRF and Greenway Project. Actually, there are three elements going on here. We have the Research Park infrastructure, we have the greenways, and we have additional parkland that will be added to the park system. The project goals are to build infrastructure for the next phase of economic development of the Park, connect West Lafayette neighborhoods, the Research Park and the University together with greenways for recreation and commuting, and I might add that this would be the first research park in the state that would have this type of linkage, and purchase greenspace for parks while it is still available. The Research Park is the City's economic engine. We have approximately, in Phase 1 and Phase 2, Part 1, 90 companies, 2,500 jobs. We have recent growth that has taken place over the last year with Innovation Place, Med Institute's expansion, the Purdue Tech Center, VISTECH, which is a private incubator, and BAS just expanded and they will be expanding again. They just purchased the IBM building. So, we have quite a bit of activity out there. Future growth, there are two lots left in the current phase. This is Phase 2, Part 1. The new phase requires new infrastructure and we're keying in on the knowledge-centered livable community, which is from the Strategic Plan and the Forum. In terms of infrastructure, we're talking streets, sidewalks, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, streetlights, stormwater retention ponds, common areas in the park itself (plazas, paths, greenspace), and then utilities that would have to go in, in addition to that. The City's role will be to construct the streets, the sidewalks, the sanitary sewers, the storm sewer, and the streetlights. We will install those. PRF's role will be the stormwater ponds, the common areas, and the other utilities in the area. This is an artist's conception of what that area might look like. This is Yeager Road on the east. We have Kent Avenue on the west. We have Hentschel Boulevard extending into a rotary. Then we have a road connecting with Yeager Road and with Kalberer Road to the north. This is around 800,000 square feet of new Research Park, an additional 2,500 new jobs, roughly 80 new businesses. We're also going to be increasing the tax base. The cost to the City for the infrastructure installations is roughly $2 million. New taxes generated once the total 800,000 square feet is built out would be annually about a million, $1.1 million, above and beyond what the TIF currently generates. This then opens the stage for Phase 3, which is immediately across the street from Phase 2, Part 3. This is around 240 additional acres of Research Park. The University is talking about developing that and that will give us area to the north to expand into. We are looking at a 40-acre retention pond lake that will be stocked and some additional ponds in the area. One of the things when you look at why companies locate in an area, it's not necessarily tax incentives. It's, as the Wall Street Journal has documented here, access to a skilled and educated workforce, proximity to a world-class research institute, and an attractive quality of life. We don't have mountains but we can have greenways and this is one way to bring people from the coast. They are used to this in some of the other areas throughout the country. Greenways and linear parks are essential to tie together West Lafayette's neighborhoods, the Research Park and the University. Greenways play a key role in the quality of life and the economic viability of a community. The livability of a community is expressed in the ease of mobility through and around the community without the use of an automobile. With that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Payne.

Parks Superintendent Payne said this graphic just represents part of the work that was recently done by a study of trails in Indiana, in 6 different communities, primarily rail trails. The research was put together through the Eppley Institute at Indiana University with sponsorship from the Indiana Department of Transportation, Department of Natural Resources, and the National Park Service. The entire study is available on a web site, if you wish. There are some interesting pieces of information in the study. What this largely shows is that the bulk of the users are pretty much the folks that we would think. It's not necessarily just the college kids. It's the folks that work and make up the people who are employed in the City, that serve on the City Council. It's the bulk of the population. Here in West Lafayette, I think we would have a little different skew than you see here. We would have more older people and I think we would have more younger people. We'd have a broader spectrum of the population. So, the type of activities found on these 6 trails are largely walkers, bicycling being very close, and a little less in the way of running and skating. Again, I think we would have a broader spectrum in West Lafayette because of the broader age range. As you know, we put together a brochure as a result of the Five-Year Master Plan we completed in 1997. We have been able to develop at least partially three greenways at this time. We also have the Wabash Heritage Trail in parks along the Wabash and we are working to connect that. The Northwest Greenway Trail begins at Kalberer as it proceeds north right across from what's known as the Whirlpool Building. It proceeds around the Tippecanoe Memory Gardens, across Morehouse, and out to almost Hadley Lake. This is the Cattail Trail. This is just north of the intersection with Lindberg Road. It proceeds up to the Nature Center and south to McCormick Woods on Cherry Lane. Recently paved just last fall, the Trolley Line Trail segment bisects Happy Hollow Park and except for about 50 feet is a complete paved connection from Indian Trail, the road, and the lower part of Happy Hollow, which provides pretty easy access right on down to the Wabash and Mascouten, as well. This is a map that I know the Councilors received. There is a large poster of it over by Brad [Councilor Windler]. It indicates the locations. I would also point out particularly the location of Cumberland Park, for which we just a little over a year ago completed a master plan for, and Pickett Park, which is just north of the Horticulture Park and the Purdue West service center. A closer look at the Northwest Greenway Trail, I mentioned where it travels from Kalberer across Morehouse through Sagamore Point Subdivision, and actually the piece from there on to just short of Hadley has recently been rebuilt and we will be reinstalling the trail on a new greenway easement as part of the Lakeshore Subdivision development. In the upper left you see probably the part that is in most need of rehabilitation and that's in a very narrow area along the ditch through the Sagamore Point Subdivision. The lower left is the part that has recently been rebuilt, a new detention area. Looking from what is the new greenway easement you see Hadley Lake through the trees, just above the horizon. The lower right is a piece that we've had an interest in for some time. That's part of the four acre parcel that's being donated by Purdue Research Foundation to serve essentially as a trailhead park and that again is right at the south end of the Northwest Greenway Trail, across from the Whirlpool Building. That provides an interesting point for joining the trail that would continue on east to Cumberland Park. The Kalberer Road area, of course, as it proceeds east it is along Kalberer Road. Some of that alignment has to be fully determined, work in Purdue Research Foundation. Part of that is because the property Josh [Director of Development Andrew] showed earlier north of Kalberer Road is still in the design stage. Amberleigh Village is actually under construction, houses are up and slabs are going in. The lower right is existing trail that has already been developed around the detention area that is even partly on the Cumberland Park property. In the graphic in the upper right it shows the loop just to the right center, brown, that goes around that detention area. Then, the Master Plan pieces of trail that connect through Cumberland Park up to the intersection of Kalberer and Salisbury. On south, southeast of Michaud-Sinninger Woods, south of the Arni Cohen Memorial softball fields to the parking area for the West Lafayette High School Athletic Complex. The piece that extends south from Kalberer Road to Cumberland is in the design phase. We are completing greenway easements. That goes right through the heart of the Research Park. You see some of the buildings, Purdue Technology Center of course, being essentially the nerve center for the Research Park. In the lower left, Med Institute, which has expansion plans in the future and the newest opened operational building VISTECH. The trail also goes along the PEFCU building and two other lots yet to be developed that are owned currently by the Research Foundation. The Cumberland Avenue piece was constructed as part of the extension of Cumberland Avenue. The lower right shows that piece that is on the south side, across from the Cumberland Place Exhibition Center with the new Lodge residential complex, student housing complex, in the background and the beginnings of the restoration work that's part of the mitigation for the wetland for Lindberg Road construction on the north end of Celery Bog Nature Area, on property that was donated to the Foundation for inclusion in the Nature Area. Of course, on the left are slides of the signs for the two newest developments there, The Lodge and Cumberland Place Exhibition Center. The Celery Bog Nature Area is a piece that extends a piece of the Cattail Trail south of Cumberland Avenue. We had hoped to try to build that last year and we did acquire the necessary land but we were prevented by the construction of The Lodge. We had to wait for that to be completed. The trail goes along the east side of The Lodge through land that we acquired partly by acquisition and partly through donation and then connects to the trail near the Nature Center. In the upper left, you see part of what the field looks like. We are in the process of restoring that to savanna. There, in fact, will be additional mitigation work going on as part of the McCormick Place project on the Celery Bog and it's a nice mutual arrangement between the developer and the use of our property and it accelerates some of our restoration of agricultural fields to more of a pre-agricultural condition. The lower right is the roundabout at the north end of the current Cattail Trail very near the Nature Center. The Cattail Trail proceeds on south. The lower right shows the fenced area behind the backyards of 12 homes in Blackbird Farms. Then on the left, which is to the east, is the Purdue Golf Course. In the lower left you see the McCormick Place development. The upper left, of course, is Blackbird Farms. There are other developments in that area, most notably perhaps is University Place, which has accomplished a significant amount of site work this winter due to a mild winter that we've had. It's a very heavily used stretch of trail. It's been much more so since school started. Many of the students use this that live along Lindberg Road or in that area for commuting. They actually asked us to stop closing the gates at night, which we started doing at the request of some of the folks involved with our trail design. We haven't had any problems. They are happier. We're keeping people off the road in a pretty dangerous area, particularly that stretch of McCormick between Lindberg and Cherry. Our plan is to extend the trail on west along Cherry Lane, actually on the north side of the road in the road right-of-way to McCormick, crossing at the stop sign and going along the east side of McCormick on Purdue easement out of the road right-of-way until the trail meets the woods and the golf course. Then it would go back in the road right-of-way. That's shown in the lower left. That is the east side of McCormick Road along the golf course. If you've been by there recently, that's quite a bit changed even. They completely have fenced that and removed much of the worn out landscaping, if you will. That's going to be an expensive piece of trail for us to construct. We have to do storm pipes as part of the trail construction. It will also probably be the most heavily used piece of trail that we'll ever build because I'm sure you've seen all of the folks that run and jog and bicycle along that area. The lower right is the south end of the current Cattail Trail at Cherry Lane, across from the corner of McCormick's Woods. The Pickett Park sign. In the lower left is Hort Park. The lower right is a view from Pickett Park overlooking the residential housing units on the west side of Purdue campus. This has been worked out as a plan mutually with Purdue Physical Facilities and the planners over there and our interests in trying to connect Purdue West, Hort Park, Pickett Park with the Celery Bog and, of course, continue the connection all the way up to near Hadley Lake and back east to the Cumberland Park area, which in itself serves two of the bigger residential areas of the City, University Farm and Barbarry. The part of Cattail Trail that goes along Lindberg, of course, connects back to the bicycle lane system on Lindberg at Northwestern. This is the northern part of Cumberland Park, a look at the Master Plan that was prepared for that. The major thing that came out of that plan, and we knew this going in, is that we need more open space. That's come out of our master planning for Parks. That's been part of the Community Forum and Strategic Plan process results for forever, I think, relative to Parks and Recreation. We have a large ditch that bisects this north part of the park. We would like to re-route part of the water that comes out of the pipe that was installed to help handle the drainage off the high school athletic complex, handle the extra water that's going to be coming out of the ditch out of the woods, which comes from the detention area for Amberleigh Village, handle that in a wetland area, that detention pond. Then the outlet from that, put that in a storm pipe and take it underground up to near Kalberer Road into the existing detention area with perhaps minor modifications. That will virtually double our amount of existing open space there at a very reasonable price. I think many of you are aware that we've been paying upwards of $90,000 an acre for recent acquisitions of former farm fields for Celery Bog Nature Area. That's the primary first step that's needed for Cumberland Park. Then, of course, we want to complete the trail network within the park. This will enable us to have a much better layout of existing soccer fields and we've recently just signed our agreement again continuing letting the Greater Lafayette Recreational Soccer Alliance use the fields at Cumberland Park. The area highlighted in red, just to the left middle-center of the slide is a 30 acre parcel owned by McNorman Realty. We have reached an agreement with the owner to acquire that. It has not been available for our acquisition for some time. We are pleased to be to that stage. The agreement is, at this time, for $80,000 an acre for the R3 zoned portion, which is approximately 20 acres, with the 10 acres being provided as a gift as part of the acquisition. It's the final piece in a 10-step process for acquisition of the 185 acre Celery Bog Nature Area and it certainly isn't going to get any cheaper and there is probably very real development potential for that site, particularly due to some recent legal proceedings about wetlands and their development. That would be in a total package, obviously, the $1.6 million. We're looking for assistance on that development and on that acquisition perhaps from the Indiana Heritage Trust, as well. The summary of project costs, do you want to provide this, Bob [City Attorney Bauman]?

City Attorney Bauman said the PRF infrastructure, as we discussed before is $2,047,000, the greenways a $1,600,000, the parks $1,550,000, for a total under the bond issue of $5,212,000 with additional costs from grants and TIF funds on-hand or coming in of $1,877,000. Here's a little summary of costs versus benefits. Of the costs here, the projected payment, which Gary Malone can speak to, is $615,000 a year. The total construction and acquisition cost is $7,089,000. For that the, we're looking at 27 acres of park land from PRF, 30 acres to complete the Celery Bog Nature Area, providing infrastructure for future development of Research Park which should bring in, when fully developed, $1.1 million of additional increment, and we're looking at taking the pieces we have now and forming a comprehensive greenway network for recreation and transportation and it's securing the next generation of parks for the community. We think it is important that we need to act now. Originally, the staff looked at this project that might be done incrementally out of revenues as it became available, but studying it more closely it became obvious there were some unique opportunities to do it all now, one of which is that the Research Park needs new infrastructure for expansion now. Right now, we have very low interest rates. We have sufficient available TIF income and to get that in place before any negative changes in the tax law. We have available to purchase some scarce lands for parks at this time. We see a certain efficiency in combining the projects in one bond issue rather than doing them separately. It's a unique opportunity to take existing greenway segments and turn them into a usable network where the whole is more than the sum of the parts and it's certainly an opportunity to address some quality of life issues at the same time we're working on economic development. Here's a collage of some of the Research Park developments and some users on one of the trails.

Mayor Margerum said thank you. I would like to thank Mr. Andrew and Mr. Payne and Mr. Bauman, who put this together and took pictures themselves. I think it gives us a good comprehensive view of what this bond issue will entail. At this time, call on Gary Malone from Umbaugh and Associates who will talk about the financing in greater detail.

Mr. Malone said you should have in front of you a set of schedules that is addressed to the members of the Redevelopment Commission. You should find two sets of schedules, but we'll talk about the other one a little bit later. These schedules contain information relating to the financing of this project. The structure that is intended will be identical to Wabash Landing. You recall, late last year the City issued bonds for the parking garage at Wabash Landing. That bond issue was very successful. The City received a AA rating on the bonds. The bonds were well received in the marketplace. The interest rates the City received were very competitive for that point in time. So, the model that will be used for this project will be identical to the Wabash Landing project and just to refresh your memory, those bonds were financed using the Redevelopment Authority. The Redevelopment Authority issued bonds, tax-free bonds, used the proceeds to construct the improvement, and once the improvements were finished those improvements were leased back to the City's Redevelopment Commission. The Redevelopment Commission paid lease rentals to the Redevelopment Authority and those lease rentals were then used to repay the bonds. So the same structure will be used here. The lease rentals in this instance will be paid from the tax increment revenues now being generated within the KCB economic development area. That's the area where the Research Park is located. In addition to those revenues, there would also be a special benefits tax as a property tax backup and, as we will see in a moment, we do not have any expectation that a property tax would actually need to be levied. Page 2 summarizes the estimated cost of the project. In addition to the $5.2 million of construction costs, there are a variety of other costs that need to be taken into consideration with respect to issuing the bonds, one of which is capitalized interest. As you recall, when a Redevelopment Authority and Redevelopment Commission enters into a lease, there are no monies available to pay interest on those bonds until those facilities are completed and ready to be leased back to the Redevelopment Commission. So in the meantime you'll need to borrow money to pay interest on the bonds until those lease payments begin and we've estimated that cost at about $180,000. Another cost is to fund the debt service reserve. We will set aside about one year's payment into a reserve account so in the event that there is a shortfall in the TIF revenues due to timing or other factors, there is at least one year's payment on hand that can be used to pay the principal and interest on the bonds. Any further reductions would require an ad valorem tax, at that point, as a backup. Total costs are estimated at about $6.2 million. Since the bids have not been received on these, you'll find in the lease where the lease provides for a maximum project cost of $6.8 million. Page 3 shows how these bonds might be repaid. We're anticipating the bonds would be repaid over a 15-year period. Even though the lease provides for a 20-year maximum period to provide some flexibility, we fully anticipate the bonds will be paid off over 15 years. If they were issued today, those bonds would bear interest ranging from 2.5% to 5.3% but, as you know, interest rates change daily. So we'll build in some flexibility in the lease to accommodate that. Payments at today's rates are expected to average about $615,000 per year. You'll find in the lease it provides for a maximum lease rental payment of $725,000 and that's to take into consideration the uncertainty of the cost of the project and the uncertainty of interest rates. Once the bonds are sold and we know the exact amount of bonds to be sold and we know the exact interest rates on the bonds, that lease rental will be reduced to reflect only the actual principal and interest payments on the bonds and the related trustee fees. So, the $725,000 is a maximum lease rental payment. Page 4 compares the expected lease rental payments with the TIF revenues within the KCB area. TIF revenues for the year 2002 are expected at $1.1 million. These revenues are shown to grow to about $1.4 million over the next few years as properties that have received tax abatements, as those tax abatements go away, and as construction that is now underway is fully completed and assessed. The new development in the future phases, the increment from that development is not reflected in this schedule. The only tax increment reflected in this schedule is the increment based on the investment that presently exists. So as the park develops, those incremental tax revenues should be greater than shown here. When we compare those revenues with the lease rentals we find that there is a sufficient amount of TIF available to pay the lease rentals. As a matter of fact, we can pay those rentals 2.3 times, so there is sufficient coverage to market the bonds. As I said, we're also suggesting that there be a property tax backup and this is done as a credit enhancement. As you may recall from earlier discussions, TIF bonds tend to be the more risky types of bonds that local governments can issue. By using a property tax backup we can reduce the interest rates on those bonds and conservatively, for a TIF bond issue, the property tax backup would reduce the effective interest rate at least one-half of one percent on these bonds. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Councilor Keen said Gary, is the minimum coverage percentage, is that 125% or is there a minimal amount?

Mr. Malone said well, on the Wastewater there is a minimum coverage of 125%. That is standard by the SRF. The coverage on this is really dictated by the marketplace and the coverage is simply the relationship between the revenues available and the amount of the lease rental payments. It's simply a mathematical calculation and it's really shown to give you some comfort that it's not likely that that property tax backup will be necessary.

Mayor Margerum said and I think mentioned at the Pre-Council meeting, this is based on the present buildings there. This doesn't take into account the new buildings that would be constructed after the infrastructure is done.

Mr. Malone said that's correct. Nothing in the new park is reflected here. This is existing investment only.

Councilor Satterly said you made some comments about possible changes in the tax structure? How are we doing down in Indianapolis as the present time?

Mr. Malone said well, as of about 9:00 this morning, that bill has passed the Senate. It's known as House Bill 1004. It's passed the House. It's gone to the Senate. The Senate has its own version that's gone past the Senate. It's going to go into conference committee and we have been meeting with lobbyists and various representatives over the last several weeks trying to convince them of a need to provide replacement revenues for TIF bond issues in areas. The present version that exists would result in a reduction in revenues of about 38% for this area, if those revenues weren't replaced. A 38% reduction in the revenues would still leave a 125% coverage with this bond issue. We think that is an extreme outcome and we're hopeful that that's not going to be the case.

Councilor O'Callaghan said as of 2:00 this afternoon the House did officially dissent so it now will officially go to conference committee.

Mr. Malone said this changes by the moment. Thank you.

Mayor Margerum said does anyone have any questions or comments? Does anyone from the audience have any comments? I think it's a rare opportunity to be able to do these things with money that we will be generating from that TIF district. I think it's a rare opportunity to be able to complete these segments of the greenway but, more importantly, to do the infrastructure in the Research Park.

Councilor O'Callaghan said I think it's very exciting that all three of the projects can be together to increase economic development and increase the quality of life. It's just exactly the kind of things that TIF districts are made for.

Councilor Mills said I actually got on the Research Triangle Park web site and it's actually part of the Durham city web site. But Durham has just approved 113 miles of greenways that go all through their city and link up the Research Triangle Park. So I think that's the type of thing we'd like to do here, to be competitive with that great Research Park that I think is one of the most well-known in the country. It's a great idea to me.

Mayor Margerum said any other questions?

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 11-02 (Amended) passed first reading, 6-0.

Ordinance No. 12-02 An Ordinance Adopting A Revised Deferred Compensation Plan For The City Of West Lafayette (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer). Councilor Sparby read the ordinance by title only and moved that Ordinance No. 12-02 be passed on first reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said this is a copy of the deferred compensation and this will just bring us into line with the changes in the state. Was there anything you wanted to add to that, Judy [Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes]?

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes said this is actually a benefit for our employees so that they can take advantage of some of the very good features in new federal legislation. Our state plan has implemented those. It also gives the City additional flexibility in designing the plan. So, we have been participating for a number years and we ask for your support so we can continue in that program.

Mayor Margerum said any questions?

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 12-02 passed first reading, 6-0.

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes said I would like to ask the Council to consider a second vote tonight as we are actually adopting the revised plan, effective January 1.

Councilor Sparby moved to suspend the rules and vote for Ordinance No. 12-02 on second reading. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly and the vote was AYE.

Councilor Sparby read the ordinance by title only and moved that Ordinance No. 12-02 be passed on second and final reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Ordinance No. 12-02 passed on second and final reading, 6-0.

Ordinance No. 13-02 An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 4-02 Fixing The Biweekly Salaries Of Appointed Officers, Employees And Members Of The Police And Fire Departments Of The City Of West Lafayette, Indiana For The Year 2002 (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer). Councilor Sparby read the ordinance in part and moved that Ordinance No. 13-02 be passed on first reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said I think you have a memorandum from Diane Foster, the Human Resources Director, to state that this reflects the additional accounting responsibilities and web site duties that have been added to this position creating a need for a higher skill and competency level. Do any of you have any questions on this change?

There was no further discussion

Ordinance No. 13-02 passed first reading, 6-0.

Mayor Margerum said I would like to ask for suspension of rules and passing on second reading.

So moved Councilor Sparby. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly and the vote was AYE.

Councilor Sparby read the ordinance by title only and moved that Ordinance No. 13-02 be passed on second and final reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Ordinance No. 13-02 passed second and final reading, 6-0.

Resolution No. 8-02 A Resolution Finding A Need For The Construction Of A New Police Station And Pledging Economic Development Income Tax Distributions For Lease Payments (Prepared by the City Attorney). Councilor Sparby read the resolution by title only and moved that Resolution No. 8-02 be passed on first and only reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said you have this resolution. There is a petition by 64 taxpayers stipulating the need and this will be financed with EDIT funds. There will not be any property taxes committed to it but there will be a request for a property tax backup for the same reason that Mr. Malone stated earlier, to make the bonds more saleable. Does anyone have any questions about this?

City Attorney Bauman said I would just call the Council's attention to the presentation that we had last month about the need for the facility. The Police Department has certainly outgrown what was planned and completed 30 years ago and the Department has doubled in terms of personnel and, while many of them work in the field, all have some duties every day at the facility. If you recall, the presentation also discussed at length the work that the Committee went through arriving at the plan that has been proposed.

Mayor Margerum said Mr. Malone, would you review this one also?

Mr. Malone said you should find a second schedule, a set of the presentation schedule, dated February 20 and this presentation includes information regarding the police station. Once again, this project will be financed through a lease. Instead of using the Redevelopment Authority though, this will be using the West Lafayette Building Corporation, which is a not-for-profit corporation. But, it works very much the same way. The holding corporation will issue bonds on behalf of the City, construct the facilities, and once the facility is completed, it will begin leasing the facilities back to the City, and the lease payments will then go to repay the bonds. The lease will be payable from the Economic Development Income Tax and then with a property tax backup as a credit enhancement to reduce the interest rate. The costs are laid out on page 2 and those are estimated at just under $6 million. If I might call your attention, we have capitalized interest for the first couple of payments and that's to allow sufficient time to complete construction. The interest on the bonds during the construction period will be paid from bond proceeds and that gives us sufficient time to begin the lease payments, to start making payments in the future. I might point out something that is not there that is on the other financing, is the debt service reserve. There's no reason to fund the debt service reserve with this financing because it's paid from the Economic Development Income Tax. The City receives a certification from the State each July spelling out the exact amount of dollars the City should receive in the Economic Development Income Tax for the subsequent year. So, there's no real reason to fund reserve in that instance. Once again, since the costs are still being determined, the lease provides for a maximum project of $6.6 million so it provides a little flexibility. Page 3 shows how the bonds might be repaid. We are anticipating that these bonds would be paid over about a 20.5-year period. We're going to stretch the payments out over a little longer time than the other bond issue. Interest rates are shown to range from 2.6% up to about a little over a 5.5% at today's rates. At today's rates, those payments would average about $485,000 per year. Again, to provide some flexibility, because we know interest rates will change before the bonds can be sold, the lease provides for a maximum annual payment of $580,000. Again once the bonds are sold, the lease payment will be reduced to reflect the actual bonds sold and the actual interest rates. After all of the bonds are paid off then the ownership of the building reverts back to the City. Page 4 compares the lease payments with the EDIT distributions and, conservatively, we've estimated the EDIT revenues at about $1.1 million. When we compare those revenues with the lease rentals, we find that those revenues are sufficient to pay the bonds about two and a quarter times. So, there is more than sufficient coverage to market the bonds. The property tax backup is simply in place to reduce the interest rate. Unlike the TIF revenues though, the EDIT revenues are a little more secure than the TIF revenues so we would expect the savings in interest rates on this bond issue to be closer to 25 basis points, or in other words one quarter of a percent, as opposed to one-half a percent as we would expect on the other bond issue. Any questions?

Mayor Margerum said does anybody have any questions? Councilor O'Callaghan?

Councilor O'Callaghan said do we anticipate using the EDIT funds for other things as well, and so that's why it's good that there is extra coverage? We can still use the EDIT funds for other things but at least we have this set aside for the Police.

Mayor Margerum said yes.

Councilor Keen said great segue into my question. I was going to ask Josh [Director of Development Andrew], with the EDIT that's remaining on each one of these years, and I know this is kind of a forecast kind of a thing and it's going to be kind of hard to say, do you project that with all of the other things that we do fund out of EDIT that these amounts that are left over would be more than sufficient to cover those kinds of things?

Director of Development Andrew said yes.

City Attorney Bauman said one point of clarification. The amounts set forth here are for the amount of the project that is going to be financed through the bond issue. There have been other related facilities such as the purchase of the land and the construction of the parking lot over on Salisbury Street, which are being paid out of savings or funds on-hand.

Mayor Margerum said are there any other questions? We worked very hard, the Police Department as well as the architect and the Building Committee, to keep this within the limits that we felt that we could afford and we think we're going to get a very good project and still keep it within a very conservative payment. Any other questions?

There was no further discussion.

Resolution No. 8-02 passed first and only reading, 6-0.

Resolution No. 9-02 (Amended) A Resolution Requesting The Transfer Of Funds (City Hall, MVH, EDIT) (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer). Councilor Sparby read the resolution in part and moved that Resolution No. 9-02 (Amended) be passed on first and only reading and the vote be by roll call. Motion was seconded by Councilor Satterly.

Mayor Margerum said the City Hall transfers are related to computers in Parks and my office and some additional troubleshooting. The transfer in MVH is to install a shelter to cover the newspaper and oil and also to replace a lower section of the outer west wall of the old garage building. I believe you are thinking you will get some help on that recycling building?

Street Commissioner Downey said we're attempting to get $2,000 of the estimated cost to construct that. The estimated cost was $11,000, so we should get $2,000 of that back through a grant through Wildcat Solid Waste District.

Mayor Margerum said OK. Then, from EDIT, this is to pay for additional required work at Wabash Landing. Are there any questions from the Council?

There was no further discussion.

Resolution No. 9-02 (Amended) passed first and only reading, 6-0.

COMMUNICATIONS

None

CITIZEN COMMENTS

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ADJOURNMENT:

There being no further business at this time, Councilor Sparby moved for adjournment. Motion was seconded by Councilor Keen and passed viva-voce. The time being 8:41 p.m.

 

Office of the Clerk-Treasurer Judy Rhodes

 

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