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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes June 16, 1998 • Page 3 1 C. 98-08 Krause Anderson- Conditional Use Permit. 2 Chair Bergstrom opened the public hearing at 7:13 P.M. 3 Ms. Moore-Sykes reported that Bill Warner of Krause/Anderson has applied for a Conditional 4 Use Permit to locate Robodyne Corp. in the vacant building at 2550 Highway 88, formerly 5 known as the Town& Country grocery store. In discussing the possibility of putting another 6 retail/commercial use at that site, Mr. Warner reported to the Planning Commission during a 7 concept review that he was unable to interest any potential tenant because vehicular access to the 8 St. Anthony Shopping Center is somewhat difficult and the rent/cost per square foot is too 9 expensive for many who would be interested. 10 Mr. Warner and the owner of Robodyne Corp., Mr. Joseph Alvitd, have stated that the vacant 11 building meets the expansion needs of Mr. Alvit6's computer development and research 12 company. Mr. Alvitd reported that he has researched relocating in the Industrial Park of St. 13 Anthony, but there is nothing available that meets his current or future business requirements. 14 Mr. Alvitd has stated that he will lease the building from Krause/Anderson for five years with an 15 option to buy at the end of the lease. He is also interested in purchasing other buildings in the 16 Shopping Center when and if they become available in the future. Robodyne has a 17 manufacturing facility in North Dakota and Mr. Alvitd has indicated that he intends to use the is proposed site for offices and computer research and program development. 19 Staff talked with the City Attorney regarding this request and he indicated that this use could be 20 allowed either as an allowable use if the City determined that the use is educational and will have 21 scientific research offices with no laboratories; or a permitted conditional use as computer 22 research and program development. He also indicated that the City may also deny the request 23 because the use is deemed incompatible with the other uses in the area. The City Attorney 24 advised that if the City approved the proposed relocation of Robodyne to this site, that they 25 should do so as a permitted conditional use. 26 Ms. Moore-Sykes read into record a letter received by the City from Rodney Johnson, Real 27 Estate Manager for St. Anthony Minneapolis Inc., dated May 28, 1998, stating that he was 28 adamantly opposed to the granting of the conditional use permit for the relocation of Robodyne 29 to 2550 Highway 88. 30 Mr. Alvitd stated he is still interested in the property. He stated he appreciated the letter from the 31 Real Estate Manager and understood why he was scared. However, he did not agree with the 32 letter and noted that Krause/Anderson has tried for a year to lease the property for commercial 33 use and has not been successful. 34 Bill Warner of Krause/Anderson stated he had gone to great lengths to secure a retail tenant for this property and had also spent a lot of time and energy on the concept of a new building containing a strip center with an end cap gas station on this site. Neither effort was successful. 37 He stated that an office use of property can stimulate growth and traffic as well as a retail use.