2006-04-27 Ltr for 2006 County Ditch No. 9 Flood Study
"Also licensed in Illinois
COURl, MACARTHUR &
RUPPE, P.L.L.P.
Attorneys at Law
705 Central Avenue East
PO Box 369
St. Michael, MN 55376-0369
(763) 497-1930
(763) 497-2599 (FAX)
courimacarthur@earthlink.net
David R. Wendorf
Kristen H. Carr Jt)1.
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Michael C Couri-
Andrew J. MacArthur
Robert T. Ruppe--
""Also licensed in California
April 27, 2006
Mr. Kyle Hegna
Wilkerson & Hegna, P .L.L.P.
One Corporate Center III, Suite 300
7300 Metro Boulevard
Edina, MN 55439-2302
Re: City of Albertville v. Edina Development Corporation.
Dear Mr. Hegna:
Please find enclosed a copy of the 2006 County Ditch No.9 Flood Study
performed by the City's engineering. firm, Bolton & Menk, Inc.. and presented to the City
Council on April 17,2006. The study has concluded that the storm water system in the
Albert Villas subdivisions does not meet City ordinances and does not function properly.
As I understand the study's conclusions, the problems result from three different errors:
1) approximately 500 acres of land that drain into the developments were not factored
into the storm water calculations; 2) the storm water storage volume of the large wetland
in the development was overestimated by approximately 29 acre feet of water; and 3) the
original design assumed that water would discharge from the ponds to County Ditch No.
9 at a faster rate than the water in fact discharges.
Taken together, the effect of these three errors is that the development will
experience flooding during a 100-year, 24 hour storm event, which in turn does not meet
the City's storm water ordinance requirements. This constitutes a default under the
Development Agreements. A formal notice of that default will be sent to the Developer
shortly.
Although a feasibility study has not been conducted yet, the City engineer has
roughly estimated the cost to remedy these drainage related defaults at $1.5 to $3 million
dollars,exclusive of land acquisition costs. Given the magnitude of the errors and the
expense to remedy the problem, the City will be filing a motion in Wright County District
Court in the near future to amend the complaint to allege the above default and to add any
additional parties to the litigation that may bear some of the responsibility for the errors.
Mr. Kyle Hegna
April 27, 2006
Page 2 of2
That motion has tentatively been scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 30th. Formal motion
papers will follow next week.
Please call me at your earliest convenience to discuss how this issue may affect the
tentative settlement negotiated last year. Thank you.
;:;JJ C ~
Michael C. Couri
Couri, MacArthur & Ruppe, P .L.L.P.
Enclosure
Cc. Larry Kruse