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News
By Allison Joy
CRYSTAL FALLS – The Crystal Falls City Council voted unanimously to sell its parking lot along South Third Street to Crystal Steel House for $2,000 at the council’s monthly meeting held Dec.11. The assessor’s minimum bid was set at $9,000.
“Since we started our business here, I guess we’ve kind of taken over the parking lot during regular business hours,” said Randy Peterson, owner of Crystal Steel House. “There’s times where, as we’re growing, we’re needing more capacity. If we could use that parking lot at times, possibly to put our steel there temporarily … before it actually makes its way to the door.”
Peterson noted a time when steel had remained piled in the parking lot for over a year, due to a deal gone bad, saying that he had a difficult time getting the owner of the materials to come pick them up.
“I just don’t want it to be a hazard, being that it’s on city property now, and I guess my train of thought was that I could buy that property and treat it as my own,” Peterson said.
Barbara Luck of the Crystal Falls Business Association expressed concern over the potential loss of parking to residents, pointing to the extra parking space the lot offered visitors to the local library as well as patrons of the bank and Ben Franklin.
“My question is if you take it away, where are you going to put more parking space?” Luck asked. “...It’s a good place for old people to park, physically handicapped people to park. We’re on a hill; it is very difficult for someone in a wheelchair to get around this town. So, with that, I’d like to know what is your backup plan?”
Peterson told the council that he would continue making the lot available for public use outside of regular business hours.
“It would not change as far as I’m concerned, after hours and on weekends, if there’s a need for a parking lot and parking spaces,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going to put a gate up or a fence around it or anything like that.”
City Manager Gerard Valesano noted that Peterson had been handling the majority of winter maintenance of the lot to ensure his business operations, “a lot of times earlier than we [the city] would get the chance to take care of it.”
“I just want to say what a great job your business has done down there with that building,” said Mayor Pro tem Chris Nocerini. “...You guys have been a great asset for our community.”
The city council also addressed the following matters at its December meeting:
• The council set a date of Jan. 8 at 5 p.m. for a public hearing to discuss rezoning five new building lots along Wagner Street. If approved as recommended by the Crystal Falls Planning Commission, the setback distance on those lots would go from 40 feet to 20 feet.
• The council voted unanimously to accept a bid of $950 for a property parcel at the corner of Urban and South Fifth streets.
• The council voted unanimously to spend a total of just under $1,300 annually to offer life insurance policies to all full-time city employees. City Manager Gerard Valesano called the move “an effective way to both attract and retain employees.”
• The council also voted unanimously to compensate members of the City Planning Commission $25 for each meeting attended.
The Crystal Falls City Council meets the second Monday of each month at 5 p.m. at Crystal Falls City Hall. More information is available at crystalfalls.org.
Quinn Illis contributed to the reporting of this article.