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CommuNiTYGRowTH <br /> �. I N S T I T U T E <br /> June 25,2007 <br /> Mayor and City Council <br /> City of Pequot Lakes <br /> 4638 County Road ii <br /> Pequot Lakes,MN 56472 <br /> Re: Planning Commission Report <br /> Dear Mayor and City Council, <br /> The Planning Commission met for their regularly scheduled June meeting at which they held <br /> two public hearings. The Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit request for <br /> an expanded fitness center (Snap Fitness), reviewed an ordinance amendment for park <br /> dedication, and held discussion regarding updating the ISTS Ordinance and drafting a <br /> development bond policy. <br /> The Planning Commission is forwarding the following recommendations for your consideration: <br /> HEARING: Ordinance Amendment Establishing New Criteria for Park Dedication, <br /> City of Pequot Lakes. Over the last several months, the Planning Commission has been <br /> working on developing an Ordinance to the Park Dedication section that equitably applies the <br /> fees and sets criteria for those fees. Presently, all subdivisions, regardless of the number of new <br /> lots being created,are required to pay up to 1o%of the value of their land if no land is set aside <br /> for public parks or open space. The Ordinance, as it is currently written, can result in what <br /> appears to be incredibly high fee requirements for some properties.A lakeshore property valued <br /> at$850,000 would require a fee of$85,000,even if there are only four new lots created.On the <br /> same vain, an off-lake property may be valued at only $4o,000, but the developer may be <br /> creating 4o new lots and only be required to pay $4,000 in park dedication fees. As has been <br /> discussed over the past year and has been brought to the forefront more recently,this method of <br /> calculating fees does not appear to accomplish,in a fair and consistent manner,the overarching <br /> goal of creating and supplying parks for the expected increases in population resulting from new <br /> land subdivisions. <br /> Legislation passed in the summer of 2oo6 has tightened up the requirements for the fees that <br /> municipalities are able to charge. Minnesota Statutes 462.353, Subd. 4 requires that fees that a <br /> municipality imposes be"fair,reasonable,and proportionate,and have a nexus to the actual cost <br /> of the service for which the fee is imposed."Further, Minn. Stat. 462.358, Subd. 2e details that <br /> "[t]here must be an essential nexus between the fees or dedication imposed...and the municipal <br /> purpose sought to be achieved by the fee or dedication. The fee or dedication must bear a rough <br /> proportionality to the need created by the proposed subdivision or development." (emphasis <br /> added) <br /> As such, the Planning Commission has used the following formula to calculate park dedication <br /> requirements. The numbers used in this calculation are to be updated on an annual basis, as <br /> reflected in the amended Ordinance below. <br /> 14084 Baxter Drive, Suite 7 1 Baxter, Minnesota 56425 1 218.828.3064 1 www.communitygrowth.com <br />