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Sunday, December 24, 2006

What's fair, what isn't?

Everyone makes his own judgments, forms her own opinions.

What I see may have fair explanations. But what I see is Patti Kurak having sat on council and having gotten a windfall condemnation bonus when Hwy 116 was being put through Kurak land thus boosting the land's value. It was handled smoothly, perhaps fairly, the way the condemantion suit was shut down in a way that did not delay the Kurak closing with Ramsey Town Center LLC beyond a contract deadline. A big Kurak land profit resulted from the Town Center promotion. Committments for putting sewer/water to the property and allowing housing densities not previously authorized were a prelude to the profit-taking.

Sewer/water got routed to the gun club.

Jerry Bauer took his position in chain of title down, and Elvig, son-in-law Elvig, thereupon voted to break a tie to start the dominoes falling for that sewer/water routing step.

Now, there is this "Ramsey3" whatever it is. I think it has to do with acquiring greenway easements; a laudatory aim, in and of itself.

We also have an effort to revert to 4-in-40 north of Trott Brook, at the time this Ramsey3 is festering, back burner.

Land values would be less north of Trott Brook if 4-in-40 were reimposed, and costs of acquisition of greenway easements there would thus be managed indirectly into lower amounts, against the interests of those landowners out there not having nearness to a seat on council.

At the same time, land South of Trott Brook would benefit - increasing the number and eagerness of people neighboring the gun club to cash out their land there.

How would that affect the John Peterson bottom line, having new hook-ups to that sewer/water situation, the Northwest trunk that Peterson put some cash into routing?

City files and records are public data, and as such citizens have the right to demand that they be made available for inspection and copying. It's the law. Even computer files. Minn. Stat. Sect. 13.15, Subd. 3(b).

Go to City Hall and look at the contracts the City has with John Peterson and his Oakwood Land Development venture if you own land affected by the 4-in-40 proposition, and see what Peterson's position is when others hook up to "his" sewer and water trunk lines. And my understanding, which could be wrong, is that while originally the sewer/water routing was drawn to coincide [both services] at the gun club and the cornfield on Hwy 5, but not elsewhere along routing; the actual pipe in place was contiguously routed from gun club to cornfield, making all properties in between able to buy into a share of the sewer/water/housing density game, so that the exact routing of the pipes in ground might tell us an interesting story.

And in order to do all that, the wetlands that had developed from ditching allowed to go fallow have been adversely impacted, by ditching to aid dewatering during installation of trunk sewer piping, which led to and fostered gun club and cornfield ownership interest prosperity.

Who bought some of the bigger parcels in that gun club neighborhood, near to the gun club, before the sewer/water decision-making was finalized? Along the contiguous northward sewer/water routing lines running to the cornfield on Highway 5?

Some LLC, with "Sunfish" in the name, I believe, bought some land on Variolite, although I am not certain. I cannot find the identity of the principals in that firm from the Secretary of State's website, which does not list them in free public access records online. All I have is the following, and I am not sure I selected the proper LLC, but it is the one LLC with "Sunfish" in the name and in Ramsey, that much we ARE told:

Sunfish Land Development, LLC
6601 McKinley Str NW
Ramsey, MN, 55303
No Agent Filed

Who is that? Perhaps with a different party now in power in the Sec. of State office there may be informational gains for the public. Perhaps not. We shall see. I bet on the status quo remaining.

I have a hard time going online and looking at tax parcel taxpayers of record. Strangely, the county does not allow an online search by taxpayer name. It seems the most natural and logical way anyone would want to access the records. And it is not there, access that way.

So I am left to say I think it was the Sunfish Land Dev. LLC that bought some land on Variolite - or took title, I should say, somewhere there, but I cannot easily confirm that from online public data and am left wondering why. Someone with meat in the fire, perhaps facing a 4-in-40 reinstitution attempt might want to do a bit more investigation. I would gladly post any information anyone else determines.

BOTTOM LINE QUESTION: Is a reimposition of 4-in-40 a prelude to hosing people for purchase of greenway easements when the founding fathers carefully wrote into the Bill of Rights that there shall be no taking of private property without due process of law? What is "due process of law," if not being fair and giving a fair price? What's fair? What's Ramsey?