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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes • June 23, 1998 Page 6 1 Mayor Ranallo stated that City Attorney Soth will not be able to offer any specific legal opinion 2 in relationship to the Conditional Use Permit due to his relationship with Krause/Anderson. 3 City Attorney Soth confirmed that the professional Code of Ethics would not allow him to make 4 specific recommendations in this matter. 5 Florence Iverson, 2812 Highway 8, questioned the impact of the traffic and if there would be big 6 trucks. 7 Commissioner Makowske stated this will essentially be used as office space with on-site research 8 and development of robotic cells. It will primarily be an administrative office with employee 9 traffic. The manufacturing plant is located in North Dakota. 10 Mr. Bill Warner, Krause/Anderson Realty Company, stated he had researched this property for 11 development opportunity of a 25,000 retail space with an end cap gas station. It is difficult to 12 find a tenant with a base rent of$12 - $14 per square foot. He noted that the parcel is zoned 13 commercial and other uses besides retail, such as a mortuary, could be located there. Robodyne 14 has been a good neighbor and employs 37 people in the community. Mr. Warner asked that the 15 Council work with him to keep Robodyne in the community. 4P6 Mayor Ranallo asked if Robodyne would be charged the same rent as a retail use. 17 Mr. Warner stated it would be the same rent. It would include a rent of$3.50 per square feet,the 18 landlord will replace the roof at a cost of$27,000, the tenant would pay the tax of$1.27 per 19 square foot and the utilities, and would have the option to purchase the property at a cost of$1.5 20 million after five years. 21 Cavanaugh asked why a service station would not work. He asked if it was an issue of a 22 semaphore for egress and ingress on Highway 88. 23 Mr. Warner stated he had contacted all the major users in the area and they were not interested in 24 locating at this site. The issue is the speed limit on Highway 88. Gas station owners prefer a 25 speed limit of 25-35 miles per hour. He stated he believed there was good egress and ingress but 26 had been unable to lure a tenant with the current rent structure. 27 Cavanaugh stated that the wounds to the residents of losing the grocery store are too fresh. That 28 retail use was important to the community and they would like to see it return. 29 Mr. Warner stated that the competition was too high for a grocery store of only 37,000 square 30 feet. He understood the desire for retail and stated this is why a convenience store would work at this location. However, for it to work,the gas sales need to be there too.