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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes March 18, 1997 Page 2 1 Jeff Wirth, Apache Medical Building, stated he was specifically looking at uses allowed in the 2 light industrial zone such as laboratories for research and testing. He noted there is interest 3 from several graduates of the University of Minnesota who are interested in opening their own 4 businesses have approached Mr. Wirth. They are interested in the Apache Medical Building 5 because it is set up with laboratory facilities tht would allow them to provide bio-medical 6 research services to health care providers. 7 Mr. Wirth stated drainage is the biggest issue. The Apache Medical Building is unique in that 8 it is a medical building and is designed with drainage throughout the entire building and 9 would accommodate the aforementioned uses. He explained that originally Apache Medical 10 Building had been built to support St. Mary's Hospital. The medical building was built but 11 the hospital was not. Mr. Wirth stated he would prefer to maintain the medical image of the 12 building but it is difficult to attract medical practitioners to this location as there is not 13 enough traffic or an interest in the community. 14 Mr. Wirth noted that some people from the University of Minnesota are currently engaged in 15 something similar to what he is proposing at the Columbia Heights Professional Center on 16 40th Avenue and Central Avenue. The Genesis Business Center is located there and acts as 17 an incubator for new businesses. Harlan Jacobs runs the program and is interested in placing 18 some of the businesses at the Apache Medical Building. 19 Mr. Wirth explained the disadvantage for Apache Medical Building is that it is not located in 20 Anoka County where funding is there for start-up companies. The advantage for Apache 21 Medical Building is that it is designed to accommodate these types of businesses. These 22 businesses are generally small, start-up and are well-financed. These business have the 23 opportunity to grow and become quite large and at that point may decide to locate in the City 24 of St. Anthony and help the economics of the City. 25 Mr. Wirth stated he is requesting that the City expand the definition of what is allowed at the 26 Apache Medical Building to include basic bio-medical research laboratory and testing and 27 possibly, on a limited basis, manufacturing of the product they intend to sell. 28 Commissioner Horst expressed concern that bio-medical research would include animal 29 experimentation and disease. 30 Mr. Wirth stated he did not believe this was the case nationally. He indicated the types of 31 bio-medical research and device research he was aware of included a special type of forceps 32 to be used in delicate surgery, a special type of drug for anti-rejection of organ transplants, 33 and platelets to replace old platelets. He also noted there are state and local agencies which 34 would be governing these businesses. 35 Commissioner Horst expressed concern with regard to waste disposal and pollution. He again 36 questioned the possibility of animal research.