Title
Amending the financing and spending plans in the Department of Public Works Capital Budget to assemble final funding for the demolition of the City-owned 677 Pierce Butler property, as part of the Pierce Butler Realignment Project.
Body
WHEREAS, in 2005 the City of Saint Paul (“City”) purchased the property located at 677 Pierce Butler Route (“City Property”), and later purchased two adjacent properties, for the Pierce Butler Realignment Project, which proposed to realign the roadway up to and easterly of Dale Street to I-35E; and
WHEREAS, in preparation for the Project the City performed environmental assessments of the City Property and adjacent land as required by law prior to demolishing the existing structure and remediating the contaminated soil; and
WHEREAS, the environmental assessments revealed that the soil in and around the City Property was heavily contaminated with arsenic, which triggered cleanup oversight by the State of Minnesota’s Department of Agriculture, along with the involvement of Bayer Crop Science, Inc.(“Bayer”) as the successor to the company that originally contaminated the soil; and
WHEREAS, Bayer, as the party responsible for the overall cleanup of the City Property and adjacent land, has agreed to pay the cost of said cleanup, but has requested that the City pay the cost of demolishing the structure, and has estimated the City’s cost at an amount not-to-exceed $350,000; and
WHEREAS, the City has agreed to pay said demolition cost in conjunction with the overall cleanup project, and has already secured a majority of the funding for this purpose but now requires an additional $40,000 to meet its full obligation; and
WHEREAS, there is $40,000 available to transfer from 2021 Municipal State Aid Contingency into the Pierce Butler Realignment Project; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor, pursuant to Section 10.07.4 of the Charter of the City of Saint Paul, does certify that there is available for transfer of appropriation funds of $40,000; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, by the Council of the City of Saint Paul, upon recommendation of the Mayor and the advice of the Long Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee, that $40,000 is available for transfer of appropriation of funds in the Capital Improvement Budget, as heretofore adopted and amended by this Council, be hereby further amended in the Improvements Budget in the following particulars:
See Attachment.
CIB Recommendation
The St. Paul Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee received this request on January 10, 2022 and recommended approval.