BROOKINGS A petition drive aimed at referring a Brookings Marketplace land-sale decision by the City Council to a public vote was submitted to the city Thursday afternoon.
More than 1,100 signatures were collected, Andy Johnson, a backer of the drive, told the Brookings Register on Friday.
There was no formal group. It was really just a collection of concerned citizens. There were more than 25 different people out with petitions collecting signatures. Knocking on doors, stopping in businesses, he said via email.
The petition was being validated Friday, according to information from the city, a process thats expected to be completed this week. If there are sufficient signatures, City Clerk Bonnie Foster said city councilors will need to make a decision as to when they want to hold the referendum election. She noted that theyll have two choices: Conduct a special election or place the question on the ballot for the regular municipal election in April.
The issue at hand was a 7-0 decision by the City Council at its Nov. 14 meeting to let Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies reduce the amount of Brookings Marketplace land it wanted to buy from 18.53 acres to 10 acres at a price of $1.40 per square foot. The amended sale totaled $609,840, whereas the original was in the ballpark of $1,130,000.
Concerns have surfaced over whether the city is getting the most bang for its buck in terms of the money it would get from the sale if it charged developers closer to what some folks believe its market value is.
The amendment, formally presented in Resolution 23-100, came in the wake of a prospective anchor tenant backing out of opening a store. The move was but the latest development in a years-long effort to bring the Brookings Marketplace to fruition.
City Manager Paul Briseno said Friday in an emailed statement that, We respect citizen participation in local government. The city looks forward to providing more information to help residents better understand the citys agreement to sell the Marketplace property to Ryan Companies.
Johnson, in his email, noted that the main goal in (the petition drive) was just to educate people about how the city was subsidizing/spending dollars.
He continued, Many did not know anything about the citys agreement with Ryan Companies and, when they learned the specifics, they were concerned about the amount of subsidy going into the deal and did not feel that it was a prudent way for our city to spend resources.
Johnson clarified with the Register that by subsidy, he was referring to the difference between what the land is currently being sold for and what it might earn if sold at a higher price.
Briseno noted in his statement that the sale would bring in retail development, which in turn would generate sales tax revenue that could be used for streets, firefighting and law enforcement purposes, among other things.
If voters support the City Councils decision to sell the Marketplace property to Ryan Companies, the development of the Marketplace will begin in 2024, he wrote. If voters reject the decision to sell the Marketplace property at this time, the community stands to lose further retail development, including a highly desired national-chain grocery store.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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