Kathy Fredrickson: "...the CRA Board of Directors requests that the City drop the current schedule of public meetings on the Flanders Project..."

ABSTRACT: At the City Council Meeting on Tuesday, 7 April 2009, during Appearances, Carmel Residents Association Board of Directors Member Kathy Fredrickson addressed the public and the City Council concerning the Flanders Mansion Project, specifically, the delayed release of the Economic Feasibility Analysis prepared by CBRE Consulting, Inc., the delay of completion of the report until after the public comment period was closed on the Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report on the Sale of the Flanders Mansion (RDEIR) and the timetable for public hearings. Kathy Frederickson’s remarks are transcribed.

City Council
AGENDA
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, April 7, 2009

VI. Appearances
Anyone wishing to address the City Council on matters within the jurisdiction of the City and are not on the agenda may do so now. Matters not appearing on the City Council’s agenda will not receive action at this meeting but may be referred to staff for a future meeting. Presentations will be limited to three (3) minutes, or as otherwise established by the City Council. Persons are not required to give their names, but it is helpful for speakers to state their names in order that the City Clerk may identify them in the minutes of the meeting.

Always speak into the microphone, as the meeting is recorded. The City Council Chambers is equipped with a portable microphone for anyone unable to come to the podium. Assisted listening devices are available upon request of the City Clerk. If you need assistance, please advise Heidi Burch as to which item you would like to comment on and the microphone will be brought to you.

Kathy Fredrickson, Member of the Board of Directors of the Carmel Residents Association:
“Mayor McCloud, Council Members. My name is Kathy Frederickson and I am a board member of the Carmel Residents Association and I would like to have this read into the record. The topic is the Flanders Mansion Property.”

“Regarding the Flanders Property divestment project, the Board of Directors of the Carmel Residents Association hereby expresses its concern with the delayed release of the Economic Feasibility Analysis prepared by CBRE Consulting, Inc. for the City of Carmel, transmitted to the City Administrator on February 23, 2009, and the delay of completion of the report until after the public comment period was closed on the Draft Environmental Report on the Flanders Project. This delay prevented the public from having the opportunity to comment on the CBRE Report during the public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Project. Opportunity for public comment on the CBRE Report during the DEIR comment period was important because the DEIR concluded that lease of the Flanders Property was the environmentally superior alternative and the CBRE report presumably will be used by the City as a basis for rejecting that alternative as not meeting the underlying purpose of the Flanders Project of divesting the City of the Flanders Property.”

“The Board of Directors of CRA also is concerned with the timetable for the hearings which the City has set regarding the Flanders Project which is extremely short, squeezed to close together and set even before the Final EIR on the Project has been completed by the City or issued. The proposed timetable severely impairs the opportunity for the public to be prepared for participation in this process and for the city boards, commissions and council to be prepared for the hearings.”

“As the Flanders Property is irreplaceable, valuable parkland of the City of Carmel held in public trust by the City for the benefit of its citizens, the CRA Board of Directors believes the City should be providing the maximum opportunity for public participation in the process regarding its sale or retention, rather than the truncated process which the City has adopted.”

“Accordingly, the CRA Board of Directors requests that the City drop the current schedule of public meetings on the Flanders Project and wait until the Final EIR is released to the public to schedule further meetings on the Flanders Project and then set the hearings at times and spaced sufficiently apart so that the public and the city boards and commissions which are to review the Project and its EIR can be adequately prepared for the hearings.”

“Thank you.”

(Source: Archived Videos, Regular City Council Meeting, April 07, 2009, 26:18 – 29:35)