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Regular Council Meeting <br />6-17-02 <br />Page 15 <br />these reasons I think that it's essential that everyone understand that this has had a lot of thought, a <br />lot of discussion, there has been a lot of patience on both sides and I recommend heartily that <br />Council recognize this and approve this project. Thank you. <br />Mr. Marquardt said I guess I'll throw out my rebuttal on this-I am encouraging Council to vote this <br />down only because of the height variance. I think all of the items that the Mayor has itemized there <br />will remain in place. It doesn't seem that Goldberg Properties is hard over on the 4-stories, they are <br />willing to go to the 3 stories, but the rest of the issues remain in place. The height variance is <br />something that is a variance. We don't have a real good justification for granting that variance. <br />Plus, we have residents, property owners who expect Council to uphold their rights in this situation <br />and enforce our zoning code when there isn't any real good reason not to enforce the thing. So, I <br />would enforce Council to vote this down and continue to work with Goldberg to plan this thing on a <br />3-story basis, which I think would be perfectly acceptable to everyone--and not upset the other <br />property owners that have their legitimate expectation that Council would uphold their wishes as <br />well. <br />Council President Buckholtz said thank you, Mr. Marquardt. <br />Mr. Bell said I am sorry to interrupt but I want to clarify one thing with respect to Mr. Marquardt. <br />We have gone through the exercise of going to a 3-story building out of respect and at the request of <br />people on Council and on Planning. We think a 3-story building presents a number of problems. <br />We are not nearly as comfortable with it as we may have lead you to believe. We think a 4-story <br />building is the right building to build here. We wanted 5 building 4 presents us with the flexibility <br />to create a Class "A" building that the 3-story building would not be able to do for us. <br />Mr. Marquardt replied but then you are requesting that you enhance the value of your property by <br />decreasing the value of the properties that are next door to you. <br />Mr. Bell replied I would never phrase it that way, sir. <br />Mr. Marquardt said that is essentially what you are saying. You are saying that you would enhance <br />your investment at the expense of the people that are living next door to it. <br />Mr. Bell replied I wouldn't characterize it that way. <br />Council President Buckholtz said I think we've let all our feelings be known on this. I think that one <br />of the key things that we've learned throughout the Progressive model and I'll just talk about it in <br />terms of a paradigm and make it very quick. What becomes an income-producing situation for the <br />Goldberg property owners becomes an income-producing situation for the Village. So, I think that <br />we are all-we may be disagreeing on our methods, but what we are agreeing upon is our end result. <br />So with that I'd like to call for a.... <br />Mr. Marquardt said the income, unfortunately, is not an issue. If you put so many square feet in 4 <br />stories or in 3 stories, it is the same income. <br />15