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City Council Minutes June 21, 1982 Page Three Mayor Hinkle then opened the public hearing .to the public. Mr. Joe Flaherty in- dic~ted that he felt the shopping center should not be cut down in size and further indicated that he felt the bigger, the better. Mr. Flaherty indicated that a larger shopping center would bring in more people, and if the community wanted the town to grow, they should support a large shopping center. Mr~ Flaherty in- dicated that there are the same number of businesses downtown as there were some years ago, and yet the population has increased and that he recommended that the City Council not hold down the development of the community. Councilman Engstrom explained that the concern of the shopping center size was important because too large of a shopping center could take away from the down- town area. Councilman Engstrom indicated that the shopping center should be de- veloped in phases as to compete with the downtown area, rather than cause the down- town to die. The City Administrator explained that the question of size of the shopping center was important and the impact that the size may have on the downtown. The City Ad- ministrator further explained that the outlying shopping center should compete with the downtown area, rather than take away from the downtown. Mr. Conrad Johnson of Johnson's Department Store, indicated that he did not oppose the shopping center and further indicated that he felt the developer should make the decision regarding the size of the shopping center and further indic~ted that he did oppose the issuance of industrial revenue bonds to the developer. to subsi- dize the rental fees for the commercial space in the shopping center. Mr. Johnson indicated that he felt the City Council should make a decision th~t is best for the City of Elk River and for all concerned. Mr. Johnson indicated that the default of industrial revenue bonds can affect the rating of the City. Mr. John- son further indicated that frequently building figures are inflated and rents can be cut to major renters to get things going for the shopping center. Mr. Johnson further indic~ted that who pays for fixtures, carpeting, and other leaseholder im- provements, should also be a concern of the City Council with regard to the total project. Mr. Johnson again expressed his opposition to the issuance of indus- trial revenue bonds for the shopping center, and further indicated that he felt the marketplace should decide the size of the shopping center. Mr. Gary Santwire submitted a letter from Mr. Scott Anderson regarding Mr. Ander- son's concern of the Barthel PUD and the impact it may have on the Barrington Place PUD. Mr. Santwire also submitted a letter from Gar-San Enterprises, Inc., regarding the conditional use standards and Barthel's PUD compliance with those conditional use standards. Mr. Dave Schowalter, planner and architect representative of the downtown area people, indicated.that he reviewed the impact the shopping center would have upon the downtown people. Mr. Schowalter explained that he had accomplished four tasks regarding the development: #1, the plan methodology appeared to have no problems, #2, the evaluation of the sourCes of information - Mr. Schowalter indi- cated that there was a definite slowdown in growth and even with the revised pop- ulation figures, the proposal submitted by the Barthel Planned Unit Development was still very optimistic; #3, Evaluation from the outside on the impact of a 95,000