by Tammy Sakry
Staff writer
Landform Professional Services will be working on The COR for another two years.
Landform Professional Services President Darren Lazan received Ramsey HRA approval March 22 for his company to continue working on The COR project. File photo by Tammy Sakry
The Ramsey Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) approved a new two-year contract March 22 on a 4-2 vote.
HRA members David Elvig and Randy Backous voted no. HRA Chairman David Jeffrey was absent.
The contract gives Landform $15,000 a month for administrative fees and $10,000 in monthly incentive advancements.
The amounts are the same as the April 2010 contract, but the length of time the incentive advancements can be drawn has changed from the entire length of the contract to the first year.
Landform’s incentive remains the same at “2 percent of the total capital cost of the end use of the parcel or property sold or developed.”
The HRA can negotiate that amount, depending on the amount of subsidies or if the land is written down, according to Deputy City Administrator Heidi Nelson.
Unlike Landform’s 2010 contract, the new contract contains reporting requirements to enable the HRA to keep track of the progress.
It also requires Landform President Darren Lazan to work with QCTV to produce The COR Report, a monthly cable show to update the residents on what is happening in The COR and write an article for the city newsletter, said Nelson.
The new contract allows the city to self-perform engineering projects in The COR or use another consultant if it is in the best interest of the project, something the previous contract did not allow.
Unlike the April 2010 contract, the new contract only allows Landform to claim “2 percent of the total capital cost of the end use of the parcel or property sold or developed” for projects that occur in The COR for 15 months if Landform is terminated.
The previous contract carried that over for five years.
If Landform’s services are terminated before March 2013, the HRA will be required to pay a termination fee of $60,000.
“I disagree with the whole (contract negotiation) process,” said Backous.
The HRA should have discussed the contract and the changes it wanted without Landform being present and then it should have been taken to Lazan for negotiation, he said.
Backous was not in favor of having a two-year contract.
This world is changing quickly and it is irresponsible to agree to a two-year contract, he said.
Backous also wanted the administration compensation of $15,000 reduced.
He would rather see the administrative compensation at $5,000 and the incentive compensation at $20,000, Backous said.
“I think it’s reasonable. There will be a big payday at the end of this for Landform,” he said.
Elvig said he would rather go out for requests for proposals to sell the remaining 118 acres as a large block and the contract length is a deal breaker for him.
Hats off to Landform for getting project to this point and the excitement it created, but there may be interest from a developer in it now, he said.
Landform has met with numerous developers and there is not an interest in buying the whole thing yet because the rail station is not in place and the Armstrong/Highway 10 overpass is not done, Lazan said.
Tammy Sakry is at tammy.sakry@ecm-inc.com
