PL PACKET 01191988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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i 1 A they had- in' 1979 , the major. thrusts of the informal discussion with { 2 Pqr . Fiore- centered around- American Monarch 's year-to-year lease of 3 .land •from - the . • Soo Line :Railroad for parking and the "gentlemen' s 4- - agreement" reached that year relative to the retention of about 1-1/2 i 5, acres of unused property to the east for additional parking in the 6 event of plant growth in the future. I 7 Mr. Fiore indicated, as he had stated in his letter, that was not i 8 likely to happen now that his company' s owners in the East had made a 9 corporate decision ' that no further expansion would be made in Min- 10 nesota because of what was perceived to be a "poor business climate" ' 11 in the state. 12 When Chair Franzese indicated a concern there might not be enough 13 parking potential for the company who might replace American Monarch 14 if the corporate misgivings about Minnesota made them decide to move 15 the entire company, Mr. Fiore assured her there was very little 16 likelihood that would ever happen because he said his company had too 17 much invested here to move the whole plant and, even when the number 18 of employees reached the 200 cap, in five years or so he would expect 19 only a portion of the plant to be moved. 20 Mr . Fiore also assured the Chair that, as a member of American 21 Monarch' s Board of Directors , he would be vigorously lobbying against 22 any such move , having moved his whole family from the East and having 23 bought a home in Andover and a place up north.. 24 The plant manager recalled the furor with which the neighbors had 25 greeted a suggestion in 1979 , the first year he was in St. Anthony, 26 that a Country Kitchen Restaurant be erected on the company property 27 just west of the gas station on the corner which had prompted : him to 28 tell the realtors and land speculators who were looking at the 29 property that nothing more active than a low visibility professional 30 building with traffic compatible to a residential neighborhood would 31 be acceptable. 32 Mr . Fiore indicated they had returned to tell him there was a market 33 of between $160 , 000 and $250 , 000 for that one and one and one-half 34 acres between the plant building and the Amoco station which would 35 leave the plant 128 parking places on plant property and an additional 36 100 spaces on land for which the company now pays $7 , 800 a year to 37 lease from the Soo Line. The ordinance requires 170 parking spaces 38 for this building. 39 Mr. Childs pointed out that there was also space available for parking 40 on the 150 X 70 foot grassy area on the west side which was not -being 41 utilized, where it might be possible to fit in 50 additional parking 42 spaces without encroaching the area currently used for a truck 43 driveway. 44 Commissioner Wagner pointed out that large car sizes had probably • 45 been used in determining the.-number of parking spaces on the property 12