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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes February 18, 1997 Page 5 1 with noise on Highway 88. Gondorchin questioned if$175,000 townhome buyers would not 2 also be concerned with the noise on Highway 88. He expressed that if the housing code had 3 been enforced more uniformly,.the non-conforming houses on this property would not be in 4 existence. Gondorchin stated he felt there had been a lack of marketing effort for the single 5 family homes. He also suggested the City could buy the property and expand.Silver Point 6 Park. The area off Highway 88 could be used for parking and the parking area on the west 7 end of the park could be developed into park and used to, expand the ballfields. 8 Commissioner Horst stated he was not opposed to townhomes in this area. He agreed with 9 Staff s comment that this was the bestuse of the land as it would be difficult to utilize the 10 land in any other way. He noted parks and vacant lots provide no tax base. Horst stated he I I felt this was an opportunity to put quality homes together and still bring families and people 12 into the City of St. Anthony. 13 Commissioner Delmonico stated he supported the comments made by Commissioner 14 Gondorchin. He was more in support of single family homes. He felt the land next to the 15 park was very lucrative and noted that houses in that area sell as fast as they are put on the 16 market. 17 Chair Bergstrom stated he was leery of changing this area to higher density. He felt that the 18 amenities of having a park nearby would offset being located close to a busy road. 19 Commissioner Thompson stated he agreed With Commissioner Horst. He felt that Mr. Beach 20 would build a quality marketable project. He had visited the townhomes built by Mr. Beach 21 in Mounds View and was impressed with the construction. Thompson stated he was in favor 22 of the proposal. 23 Commissioner Horst noted he was not a proponent of townhomes over single family homes. 24 It would be preferable to have five buildable lots with five $70,000 homes but he did not see 25 the willingness of that to happen. He questioned the marketing efforts that were made for the 26 single family homes but also noted it is difficult to say how long the lots should have been 27 kept on the market waiting to be sold. Horst asked if the lots were being marketed with the 28 existing homes removed. 29 Mr. Beach indicated the lots were being marketed with the existing homes remaining. Mr. 30 Redlinger was asking $30,000 for the lots and there would be an additional cost of$10,000 to 31 $15,000 to remove the homes. This would result in a very expensive lot. 32 Commissioner Gondorchin stated the future economic strategy of the City of St. Anthony rests 33 on the Apache Plaza site not on the addition of seven townhomes. The tax base which would 34 be gained by the townhomes is insignificant compared to the large scale development of 35 Apache Plaza. 36 Mr. Beach stated there were many St. Anthony residents who visited the townhome 37 development in Mounds View and asked why there was not a development like this in St.