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please not read their letters to Council, as they were already a part of the permanent record. Mayor Hartnett called upon those people who had submitted speaker's cards. Carol Yeates, 3120 Montc1aire Street, Sacramento, owner of2l50 Roosevelt Avenue, said, "I am one of the awful owners of this property which you have before you tonight. I don't mean to be sarcastic about it. This is a very important piece of property we have. It has helped our family tremendously for thirty years. We did not want to sell it. We have had to, just because of changes and the fact that it is really no longer commercially viable for a large tenant." Mrs. Yeates said that Mr. Ward and Mr. Bursak had earlier explained why her family believed the Classic Communities proposal was such a great solution for the property. Mrs. Yeates said, "When we first knew we could not afford to keep this property, we did approach the City and the County before anyone else to see if there was any public use for it, for example, schools. And there was no interest expressed. But we did pursue that right away. "Since then we have participated in good faith in this planning process which was initiated by your Planning Commission, for over two years. We have worked with Classic Communities following the direction we thought was the consensus for this property, and not bringing in something that everyone said they didn't want. I think in fairness, to consider something that has come along this late in the day when there has been so much invested in good faith in this, I have difficulty with that." Mrs. Yeates said there is continuing confusion about the parking issue. "The easement was on the property when my grandparents purchased it. I am not aware of any tax benefits ITom it. That was not the intention. It was my understanding that when this area was decided, within this residential area, there would be a few small properties put into commercial use, this parking restriction was put on there, which makes sense to me, to do two things: One, so that the people coming to the commercial properties would not park in ITont of the adjoining homes; and also for equity among the commercial properties, so we don't build out our entire property and our customers park in the parking lot at Key market. That is the only reason for the restriction. The property has been posted for well over thirty years, private property for benefit of the shoppers of the market. When we lost our last tenant we fenced it because of insurance and liability mandates; and also to protect the neighborhood. We did not want this site to become a magnet for vandals and vagrants. It was never intended to provide parking for a library or Little League. Those are genuine concerns, but they are not the responsibility of the owners of this property. "We have been involved in this a long time, and I think it is good it has taken a long time. The modifications have made the project better. It is very expensive to maintain it without a tenant. I hate to see that sitting there in the middle of what is really a great neighborhood. I really feel good being in ITont of you, because this has been such a dark cloud, what this property has gone through. And I am so relieved to see such a wonderful solution." Mrs. Yeates brought a lemon and a bottle of lemonade to illustrate her point that this problem property could become a community asset. She said, "Please give careful consideration to all the good work that your Planning Commission did." REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 MAY 5,1997 MINUTES Page No. 298 PAGE 23