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NOR,T'HiNE;$T A.S,;SO.CItATED C991;SULTANT:5;, INjC. <br />5775 Wayzata Boulevard, Suite 555, St. Louis Park, MN 55416 <br />Telephone: 952.595.9636 Facsimile: 952.595.9837 planners @nacplanning.corn <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Little Canada Mayor and City Council <br />FROM: Stephen Grittman <br />DATE: April 24, 2002 <br />RE: Little Canada — Drywall Supply <br />FILE NO: 758.09 — 02. <br />This memorandum is intended to clarify staff's position on the possible re -use of the Knox <br />Lumber site by Drywall Supply. Knox had received a Conditional Use Permit for a Planned <br />Unit Development to occupy and develop the site as it is presently configured. This approval <br />was based on an approved site plan, and on the nature of the use as a retail lumber dealer. <br />Included in this approval was a use of the front area as a garden store, sales to the general <br />public from a combination of enclosed and partially enclosed buildings, and a substantial need <br />for retail parking due to the attraction of larger numbers of retail customers to the property. <br />The Drywall Supply use appears to have a number of characteristics that differ from the <br />approved Knox use. This includes an emphasis on wholesale distributorship, rather than retail <br />sales (although the applicant has stated that retail sales may occur). The applicant has stated <br />that their primary business is warehousing and distributing building supplies (mostly drywall <br />and related products) to other users, including contractors and other end - retail operations. <br />There would be limited need to accommodate either visual exposure or traffic capacity for the <br />Drywall Supply business, and in fact, the applicant has indicated that they would occupy the <br />rear portion of the site, expecting that the front portion would be sold or leased to another user <br />that could take advantage of those assets. <br />As a result of these differences, Drywall supply would not qualify to occupy the site as they <br />have proposed since the proposed used is substantively different than the Knox use pursuant <br />to the approved conditional use permit. Moreover, because Drywall Supply wishes to <br />establish an outdoor storage area that was not a part of Knox's PUD, they would use the site <br />differently than Knox had under its PUD permit. <br />-4 <br />