City Council, School Board Preview: Decisions Expected on Argenta Hills and Levy Referendum

Inver Grove Heights City Council

• On Monday, council members are expected to vote whether to approve a new labor contract with the LELS Local 84, the labor union representing the city's police officers. In negotiations with the union, city staff agreed to a 1 percent across-the-board increase in 2011 and 2012 and a one-time, lump sum payment of $250 to each employee in the union to offset health insurance premiums.

• A public hearing on a proposed $1.25 million deal between the city and IGH Investments LLC., the developer of Argenta Hills, will reopen on Monday night, giving local residents one more chance to comment publicly on the proposal or ask questions of city officials. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, IGH Investments would complete roughly 150,000 square feet of commercial development and finish site improvements, including paving, landscaping and on-site lighting. In return the city would pay for roughly $1.25 million of the $2.2 million total cost to install those site improvements. Money for the deal would be drawn from the city's Southeast Quadrant Tax Increment Financing district fund. The council is expected to vote on an amendment to the spending plan for the TIF district which would allow the deal to go forward.

• A resident living along Cloman Path in Inver Grove Heights is seeking the council's permission to construct a 65-foot-tall amateur radio tower on his property. Because the site of the proposed tower is located within an area zoned for residential development, the council must approve a variance for the project.

• The council is expected to vote whether to approve a conditional use permit for Luther Nissan Kia in Inver Grove Heights. The business is planning to construct a 20,200 square foot expansion to its current facilities at 1470 50th Street in Inver Grove, plus a roughly 43,000 square foot parking lot, and needs the permit to move ahead with the project.

• The Danner Family Partnership, the developer behind the Concord Hills development in Inver Grove Heights, has asked for a two-year extension to the development contract it signed with the city in 2006. The original deadline for the execution of the contract was Nov. 2009, but the developer requested and received two requests for extensions that pushed the deadline back to July 15, 2011. In a memo released late in June, city staff noted that many improvements the developer originally agreed to finish have not yet been completed. In addition to the unfinished work, there are several problems at the site, including erosion and discarded construction materials. City staff have recommended the council refuse to extend the contract with Danner. The council may decide to send a notice to the developer informing him that he has defaulted on the contract.

School District 199 School Board

• The council isn't the only elected body expected to make a significant decision on Monday night. The Inver Grove Heights School Board will likely vote at its regular meeting whether to pursue a levy referendum this fall. The board is considering three separate options for the referendum: The renewal of the district's 2002 levy, which generates approximately $480 per pupil in annual funding; a new capital projects levy which could generate $7 million in tax money for the district over ten years; and a third general education levy that could generate approximately $372 in additional per pupil funding annually for the district.
  
  The board could vote to send any or all of the three proposals to voters in the fall. If the board approves any of the proposed motions, local voters will be able to have their say on the proposed levy or levies during a district-wide special election on Tuesday, Nov. 8.