Planning Commission Minutes 2018 04 12

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 12, 2018 Page 3of6 He added that it was important to have an anchor tenant. They had talked to tenants already, but they had been held back by the FEMA mapping. From day one, there has been a lot of interest even without marketing. They had not done any marketing at all, since there had been so much uncertainty about the property. With the extension they would be able to market the property, but they would not be able to do so without the extension. Howe asked about the estimated construction time if all phases were completed separately. Hartronft stated that the Grain Elevator was roughly a nine -month project and Randy's project was also about nine months. The new building would be a little more than a year. In general, construction projects take about a year. With one contractor running all three developments it might take a year and a half. With all three phases running contiguously, it could take up to three years. Brauneis asked for additional questions of the applicant. Seeing none, he asked for public comment. Jeff Meyer, 470 County Road in Louisville, stated that as a neighbor he had been excited about the project and had been to Council many times to voice his support. He has been disappointed that from the closing of the property to today, there has been no progress. Problems include that the floodplain had affected only part of the development area, there had been no marketing done, and they were relying on more public money to make the Grain Elevator feasible. He added that the applicants could have started on one plot even though the Grain Elevator might continue to cause issues. He asked that the Commission put restrictions on the applicants. Brauneis thanked Meyer and stated that the Planning Commission did not have control over the Historic Preservation funding. Rita Rosse, 421 County Road in Louisville, stated that she was a neighbor of the project and looked at the sight every day. She was frustrated that nothing had happened in over a year, especially as the property had been publically supported. She expressed worry that there may be nothing done over the next three years. Randy Caranci, 950 Spruce Street Suite 1A PO Box 658 in Louisville, co-owner of the development, noted that there was a lot of vacant commercial property in Louisville. He had worked with one particular tenant since September. His current tenant at 500 Front had two one-year options, and they came in while he was in negotiations with a long-term lease that he could not close because of the short-term nature of the leases on the development currently. He expressed sympathy with his neighbors, but emphasized that it was difficult to have short-term leases and without approval it would just delay the problem. Brauneis stated that during the recession there were a lot of extensions. He asked if staff was aware of any circumstances in which there were extensions that were different than the standard length. Zuccaro stated that the only extension he was familiar with had been three years. Trice added that there was nothing in the Code that required extensions to be three years, but they were typically three years. Meyer thanked the Commission for asking challenging questions of the applicant and not treating the extension as a mere formality. He restated that he would hate to be in the same situation in three years and that he did not feel the public support for the Grain Elevator was a worthwhile use of funds.