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<br />FROM : BEACON CONSTRUCTION
<br />
<br />FAX NO. :763 479 3836
<br />
<br />Nov. 13 2001 02:54PM P2
<br />
<br />Beacon Construction, Inc.
<br />
<br />Mr, Aaron Parrish
<br />Ciry of Arden Hill.
<br />\245 Wesl Highway 96
<br />Arden Hills, MN 5S 112-5794
<br />
<br />RE: Apartment Project on Co, Rd, E2 and Cleveland Ave.
<br />
<br />Dear Aaron:
<br />
<br />In anticipation of the upcoming site meeting and the city council meeting on the 29th, ) want to give you an
<br />update of the progress we have made on the two request. for infonnalion that the council ""ked for. We
<br />have had the building location staked out and have contracted wilh Benshoof and Associates to do a !rip
<br />generation study of an IIpartment building vs, the office buildins we had originally proposed, We may haye
<br />the results of this study a. early.. tomorrow.
<br />
<br />We are trying 10 be as helpful iUld straishtforward on this developmont as we can be, My personal style is to
<br />lay my cards on the table and disclose every relevant piece of infonnation 10 all concerned porties, which I
<br />have done and will continue to do, I much prefer cumpromise and cooperation to connicl and litigation,
<br />
<br />That bein2 said, on the advice of my attorney, I am hereby making a formal response to tlie two main issues
<br />surrounding the approval of the project, tramc and trees,
<br />
<br />EssentiallYI these two issues should be non-issu~s. Why? If we were to develop our originally proposed
<br />office building on the property, which is a permitted use under the Neighborhood Busine.. zotting and
<br />which requires no variances, the council could not legally deny the project based on trees and traffic, The
<br />present scrub trees and brush would be gone and would be replaced by a more lUl,thetic, professionally
<br />designed landscaping job that complies wilb all applicable city ordinances, no different than lite landscape
<br />plan we've proposed for the apamnen. building. In fact, we have gone above and beyond the landscape
<br />requirementg in our apartment project, in 8. spiril of compromise and cooperation.
<br />
<br />To the traffic issue, our trip generation report will confinn that the apanmenl project will generate less
<br />traffic that an office building, When the parcel was zoned NB by the city council two years ago, logic would
<br />tell me that they had no is!l.ue with traffic counts M concerns with 8 much denser project than what we are
<br />proposing. Again, the council would have nu legal basis for denial of the office project for traffic issue..
<br />
<br />So the iosue here is, ., expressed well by councilperson Aplikowski, does the city want anything at all
<br />developed on my property? It seems tbat a small group of neighborhood activists is determined not only 10
<br />block us from gening on apartment project built, but also to see that the site ., never developed. Again, my
<br />approach is to be !<Iraightforward about my motives, which are to build. qualiry project that pays taxes and
<br />provides me with a fair return on my invesunent, You 9hould know thac Liz Modesette's motives in
<br />opposing the project might not be as pure as she represented, Sbe bad a deal with Bethel to buy a lot that
<br />she ov.rns a few lots south of ours on Cleveland, nn which Bethel had con!idered building an apartment
<br />building, When soil tests showed that the building would have to he built on pilings, Bethel became
<br />interested in our site, bec:ause the soil is good and we have no weiland i~Jue('ll to work around. That meant
<br />,hat iflJetheJ went to our site, she loll oul on making money. It is the heiehl ofbypocrj,y for her to oppose
<br />a projecl that faces the S4fflC \ssue5 with traffic and trees mat 8 project built on her land would have to face.
<br />1 hope that the council will see this opposition group for what il is, and discount their "concern"',
<br />
<br />P.O. Box 174 Loretto, MN 55357 Phone aDd FAX: (763) 479-3836
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