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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-24-00 PZM additionSEATEMENT REGARDING EKUNUbEU DEVBCDPMENT BY STILWATER INVESTMENT CORP. by St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Baytown, to be read at the Lake Elmo Public Hearing January 24, 2000. On January 10, 2000, the voters of St. John's Lutheran Church made, seconded, and passed the motion to declare to Lake Elmo City that St. John's offers its support for the development plans of Stillwater Investment Corp., for the land which surrounds the rwlty of St. John's. Furthermore, its Pastor is to make this declaration in and in writing at the Public Hearing scheduled for 1/24/00. St. John's is the first German Lutheran congregation in the St. Croix Valley, being established at it's present location in 1855. God has preserved this small rural congregation through all the changes that have taken place overthose many years. In addition, God has recently blessed us with the ability to expand our facilities. As a Christian congregation our purpose has remained unchanged since 1855. We do what Christ commissioned His followers to do, that is, to share the good news that everyone's sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ, and that heaven is promised to all who believe this good news. With that purpose before us, we at St. John's remain unaffected by any change around us. Because our purpose is not to gain members, nor finances, we do not look forward to development for those rrnsons. Rather, we recognize that any development will bring some people who have never herd of all that Christ has done for them, within close proximity of our facilities and services. While St. John's could live with any type of development around us, and our purpose and existence would remain the same, and while we would prefer to stay neutral on the issue, we fccl that in this case we should voice our preference. Having been appraised by the City of Lake Elmo of how this land could be developed should it come to be under the jurisdiction of Oak Park Heights, seeing how these 90 acres around us could be divided into three types of development: business, high density, and medium density residences, we as a congregation offer two reasons why we support the development design that is currently proposed. 1) A full one third of our membership resides in Lake Elmo, and so has an interest in seeing their city maintain its current character as much as possible. 2) St. John's is part of Lake Elmo, and so we are bound by responsibility to the City and by consideration to our neighbors in Lake Elmo, to sce its character maintained. In conclusion, we fccl that the proposed design will not take away from the character of Lake Elmo, and certainly it is preferable to what it may otherwise be developed as. Therefore, St. John's Lutheran Church goes so far as to support the proposed design of development by Stillwater Investment Corporation. Thank you. RECEIVED Pastor Dav lchow e / Chairman Jeff Downs -4/111 JW4 4 ZOOO Clay OF LAKE .MO oRllailmaL