TO THE SENIOR COMMISSION:
VICTORIA HAS NO LAND AND NO MONEY
The Victoria Senior Commission met with some members of the Victoria City Council at a workshop setting on Septem-ber 13^th.  The Commission includes resi-dents Ron Allen, David and Marilyn Boorsma, Tari Clay, Dave Lindgren, Dan McInerny, Linda McNulty, Jim Pehringer, and Dawn Peterson.

It was mainly a presentation of infor-mation by the Commission outlining a need for affordable housing for seniors in Victoria. 
Dan McInerny was the spokesperson for the Commission.  "These people care deeply about what they do," he said.  "There is a growing need for affordable housing for seniors.  They can sell their home but have no place to go then in Vic-toria."
"Waconia partnered with the Carver County Development Agency," said Mr. McInerny about a joint senior housing venture.  "We toured it and thought, why not in Victoria?  It would update city offices and provide affordable housing for seniors."
In July of 2006, the Victoria City Council also toured the Waconia Town Center, which was financed by the issu-ance of $7.3 million of Housing Develop-ment Revenue Bonds.  Senior housing has been a hot topic of discussion in Victoria for at least twenty years.
Continued Mr. McInerny, "We want your attention, your minds.  We'd like you to stick your toes in the water and partner with Community Development Agency ... Nancy Nelson at Waconia said the demand is incredible and that they should have built more units."
Replied Mayor Mary Thun, "Some of us have also toured the place and came away with the same feeling you did.  We've met with the bondholder and Car-ver County."
"One of our concerns," said the mayor, "is the space.  Where would we put this?  The city has to provide the land and a payment of about $300,000 per year for the space.  It's not free to the city."
In regard to the current location of Victoria City Hall, Mayor Thun stated, "We don't own the parking lot next to us nor the building on the other side of us."
The mayor pointed out, however, that there is currently housing that is selling behind Cabin Fever for $229,000 - which is considered affordable today - and there are some apartments available in Victoria.
Said Councilmember Tim Amundsen, "Comparing Waconia to Victoria is like comparing a watermelon to a grape.  We don't have the resources to provide the land for this.  I don't know if we've got the footprint available here.  And how do we make a footprint match something pro-ductive?  I understand having people cen-trally located [near services].  The con-cern is how do we get there?"
Asked Mr. McInerny, "So what could we do to help move this along?"
Replied Mayor Thun with a smile, "You could buy some land."
Perhaps referring to the recent propo-sal by Matt Crowe for the "Swap Land" - a proposal that fell through - the mayor stated, "If a private developer can't make headway, certainly the city can't.  We don't have the resources that a private developer has.  Tim is right.  We don't have the land.  Even renovating City Hall in place is very expensive.  We are really running a tight ship here and that's putting it mildly.  We really don't have any money."
In asking that the "Swap Land" be used to provide a site for affordable senior housing in Victoria, the Senior Commis-sion was unaware that the City of Victoria does not own that "Swap Land."  The September issue of the Victoria Gazette explicitly informed the public that the Swap Land is not owned by the City of Victoria, that obstacles have continued to prevent the swap with Three Rivers Park District.  The headline read:  "Is the Land Swapped Yet?  Does Victoria Really Own It?"
Commission member Dave Lindgren questioned the amount of dollars that the city earmarks each year for transportation.   Replied Mayor Thun, "The Council has decided that transportation and the up-grade of Highway 5 is a necessity as well as the reconstruction of city streets.  There are also safety issues for our residents, whether they like it or not.  If we do stop those projects, the streets will only get worse.  It's to a point where we have to do some roads now."
Stated longtime Councilmember Richard Tieden, "We've always been concerned about senior housing.  We've tried to work it out.  The money and the timing's not there.  We've got senior housing at the forefront but housing is 12% down now and we're all caught up in that."
Agreed Councilmember Amundsen, "There's no debate about this.  Senior housing is of paramount concern ... At this time I don't think the downtown vision is clear."
Holly Kreft, Director of Planning for the City of Victoria, said that the city would have to assemble three acres for a project like the Waconia Town Center.  "Trying to assemble three acres for this is difficult," she said.  "We don't have three acres."

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