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RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ACCEPTANCE OF CERTAIN FREE CONVEYED TAX FORFEIT PARCELS FROM ST. LOUIS COUNTY PURSUANT TO MINN. STAT. § 282.01, SUBD. 1(a)(e).
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CITY PROPOSAL:
RESOLVED, that the proper city officials are hereby authorized accept the free conveyance of those tax forfeit parcels listed on Exhibit 1 from St. Louis County pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 282.01, Subd. 1a(e).
Statement of Purpose
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: This resolution authorizes the City to accept the 378 parcels listed in Exhibit 1 with total estimated market value of $3,389,600 covering 2354 acres on a free conveyance basis under Minn. Stat. § 282.01, Subd. 1a(e).
The free conveyances authorized by this resolution are pursuant to:
1. City Council resolution 18-0240 approving the Imagine Duluth 2035 Comprehensive Plan whose Open Space Policy Two directs the City to acquire and protect tax forfeit property that has considerable ecological, recreational, and/or stormwater management value.
2. City Council resolution 20-0617R approving guidelines for the selection of tax forfeit parcels to be acquired for permanent protection.
3. City Council resolution 20-0878R approving an agreement with St. Louis County establishing the process by which the parties would negotiate the selection and transfer of select tax forfeit open space parcels from the County to the City.
4. Unanimous recommendations of the Natural Resources Commission, the Planning Commission, and the Parks Commission
All of the parcels in the Lester, Hartley/Downer, Piedmont, and Mission areas to be conveyed in this transaction will be conveyed under state statute to be used as parkland on the basis that they are each already improved, used, and maintained by the City substantially as if they were parkland. Administration will bring ordinances later in the year to formally designate these parcels as parkland under City Code.
In addition to properties to be conveyed for parkland, the resolution also authorizes the acceptance of parcels necessary for the construction of Cross City Trail Segment VI in Irving Park and parcels in the Fairmount neighborhood that are part of the Duluth Community Garden program.
Administration will bring a resolution forward later this fall authorizing acquisition of non-recreational open space properties in the Lester, Hartley/Downer, Piedmont, Mission, and St. Louis River areas that merit protection for their environmental value and stormwater management functions. These properties will be purchased for 5-to-20% of their Estimated Market Value.
The current round of negotiation between St. Louis County and the City of Duluth did not decide the future ownership and use of open space in the Spirit Mountain, Brewers, Observation Hill, Miller Hill, Hillside, and North Shore Public Land Areas. These parcels will be addressed in a subsequent round of negotiation in a future year.