Transit site purchase OK'd; Weik calls it 'double taxation'
The County Board on Tuesday voted 4 to 1 for a resolution to buy the 11-acre site from Cemstone for $3,295,000. A closing on the sale is expected within 90 days.
The property would serve as a future commuter rail transit stop along the Red Rock Corridor from Minneapolis to Hastings. The land is southwest of the Interstate 494/Highway 61 interchange.
Commissioner Dennis Hegberg of Forest Lake said it is a good location for that type of project and it is a good use of public funds.
"We don't have very many willing sellers where we're dealing with this kind of project in a metro area,” Hegberg said.
Commissioner Myra Peterson of Cottage Grove said the purchase also could spur redevelopment of other area property.
The land would be purchased with a $2.55 million Counties Transit Improvement Board grant and $745,000 in property tax funds collected for the county's Regional Rail Authority.
The Counties Transit Improvement Board is funded with a one-quarter percent sales tax, approved by the Washington County Board two years ago.
Commissioner Lisa Weik of Woodbury opposed the purchase. Weik called it “double taxation” to use the Counties Transit Improvement Board funds for property located in the Metropolitan Council's taxing district.
"The last thing people need is a tax on top of a tax,” Weik said.
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