AGENDA #13
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Status Report on Negotiation of a Development Agreement with Ram Development Company and Request for Extension of Negotiating Period
DATE: June 26, 2006
The attached resolution would authorize the Town Manager and Town Attorney to continue to negotiate a Development Agreement with Ram Development Company (Ram) for the Downtown Economic Development Initiative on Parking Lot 5 and the Wallace Deck site.
BACKGROUND
On October 24, 2005, the Council approved the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding with Ram and authorized the Town Manager, with the participation of the Council Committee including Council Members Strom, Greene and Hill, to negotiate a Development Agreement.
The Memorandum of Understanding, dated October 24, 2005, contained an expiration date of March 31, 2006. On May 8, 2006, the Council authorized an extension to the Memorandum of Understanding for an additional 90 days until June 30, 2006. The resolution stated we would return either with a concluded Development Agreement or with a status report to the Council.
STATUS REPORT
Development Agreement
Ram and Town representatives have been working on the Development Agreement and other matters related to these projects. The Development Agreement discussions with the respective legal counsel have gone well. We believe we have crafted a legal framework that would enable the projects to proceed, subject to final details.
Project Proposal
The Town Negotiating Team met on June 19, 2006 in closed session and heard a status report from Casey Cummings, President of Ram Development Company. John Stainback of Stainback Public Private Real Estate, the Town’s economic development advisor on the project, was also in attendance.
In summary, we understand Ram Development Company is interested in pursuing additional land and in eliminating underground parking from Lot 5 as part of its efforts to reduce costs and to achieve an economically feasible project. Ram also is considering looking at the possibility of proposing financing approaches which would allow part of the increased public revenues generated from the project to be used to finance publicly owned improvements which will be part of the project. Mr. Cummings asked for additional time to prepare a revised proposal for the Negotiating Team’s review.
NEXT STEPS
Mr. Cummings agreed to provide a proposal package to Mr. Stainback by mid-July for his review. We expect the Town Negotiating Team will meet again starting in August 2006 to continue negotiations.
We should be able to report to the Council with a recommended Development Agreement by the first meeting in October 2006 if final cost and financing challenges are solved.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding with Ram extending the time period to October 1, 2006.