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Letter to Ralph Conner January 27, 2003 Page 2 of2 . Our planning team and the Development Team have all agreed that no one would choose to develop quality housing sandwiched between an 80-acre maintenance facility and an 82- acre truck tenninal. They further agreed that high valued office and commercial buildings would not be located in proximity to such heavy industrial uses. These factors, combined with the fact that the initial location indicated by the Post office is among the least polluted, highest visibility sites within the entire project area, cause us to seriously question the viability of this facility within TCAAP. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you, or your staff, to discuss our findings and conclusions. The successful reclamation and redevelopment of the TCAAP site faces many challenges. Our goal is to realize the vision of the Vento Re-Use Plan, by planning and developing a high quality mixed use development on the portion of the land to be transferred to the City of Arden Hills. To accomplish this vision, we must screen and eliminate many eyesores, remove dilapidated and blighted buildings, reforest major portions of the site and create a combination of natural and man-made amenities. This will be critical as We seek to create enough value through the redevelopment to cover the clean up and development expenses. If we thought that there was a way to successfully accommodate this use and preserve the opportunity to realize the Vento Re- Use Plan, we would gladly explore it with our Advisory Panel. Unfortunately, we are convinced that this use is fundamentally incompatible with both the Vento Plan, and the Arden Hills Comprehensive Plan. We further believe that the development of an 82-acre Post Office Distribution Facility would render the redevelopment of this property uneconomical. . We thank you for your consideration of our position. Please contact us if you are interested in reviewing the information that we reviewed in reaching our conclusions. We remain open and eager to work closely with you and your office as this process continues. Sincerely, Beverly Aplikowski Mayor of Arden Hills CC: Senator Norm Coleman Senator Mark Dayton Representative Betty McCollum Arden Hills City Council Mr. Joe Lynch, Arden Hills City Administrator Mr. Glenn Rotundo, GSA Deputy Regional Administrator Mr. Joseph Whitaker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Mr. David Eales, United States Postal Service CRR, Inc. DSU, Ine. .