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11 ~ <br />~.. <br />., <br />1 ~!}.y <br />e ~. <br />-_ <br />Fellowship Lodge <br />i pri~c~i ~i~~F1~~ CFi~°~~i~i Issc. <br />TO: Mr. Jeremy Barnhart, City of Elk River Planning. Manager <br />RE: Recall of Request to City of Elk River for Permitted Use of 9824 NW Highway 10 <br />The purpose of this letter to you is for me to recall my meetings with the City of Elk River <br />regarding our request for the above property to be classified for "permitted use". <br />First, I admit to misplacing all of my notes, approval from the city and other correspondence <br />regarding this transaction, therefore, any validity of what my recollections are can only be <br />assessed by you and hopefully interested others. In about 1994, after we had been in operation <br />for about two years as a state licensed chemical dependency care facility in Elk River, we made <br />inquiry to purchase the adjacent property located at 9824 NW Hwy 10. This inquiry was <br />consistent with and at least partially influenced by the Riverplace Centers now nearly three <br />- decade track record of providing chemical dependency care in the "least costly, least restrictive <br />manner possible". The result being Riverplace of Anoka and Elk River has now documented <br />savings to the state and others of between forty and sixty million dollars due to lodging and <br />many other services provided at no cost to any source of funding. This highly successful model <br />of care was expanded to Elk River using this property only because we made a decision to <br />purchase this .property based on the contingency understanding we could use it to provide <br />lodging at no cost for our clients. This involved my visits to the city in order to determine if we <br />could obtain a "permitted use". Here are my recollections: <br />1 researched the city code definitions that could be most appropriate for our intended use and <br />settled on the definition that referenced "motels". 1 visited with someone at the city (sorry, forgot <br />name, but 1 assume in a similar capacity as yours, Mr. Barnhart) and submitted a written request <br />for "permitted use" based on the city definition 1 thought was most descriptive. I later received a <br />call (don't remember how long after) and when 1 went back to city hall and remember l was <br />assured that we could go ahead and operate as planned. 1 clearly recall the individual 1 discussed <br />this with stated that the city definitions were "weak and needed to be re-written, but that was not <br />my fault". 1 think, but am not sure, that he indicated this determination was passed by either the <br />zoning & planning board or committee and or perhaps the city council - I don't exactly remember <br />this part of the discussion. <br />At any rate, Mr. Barnhart, based. on this assurance from the city as well as other considerations, <br />we purchased the property and in a few months began operating it as intended. Our son, Pete, <br />now owns the property as well as the Riverplace organizations, operated by Pete, his daughter, <br />Heather and son Pete Jr. (into the 3~d generation). We all request you favorably consider the <br />current Riverplace request for the now suggested "Conditional Use Request" based on our 20 <br />year history of Riverplace successfully offering a vital service for our Sherburne County <br />residents, Riverplace has been compliant with all requirements relating to fire and safety as well <br />as sanitation and in the spirit of my recollection of what happened nearly twenty years ago. <br />Dennis Medved <br />Founder, Riverplace Counseling Centers & Lakeplace Retreat Center <br />3/29/12 <br />25704 County Road 338 <br />Bovey, Minnesota 55709 <br />218 245-1395 <br />