LITCHFIELD -- A Litchfield company has offered to buy the Litchfield Woolen Mills building for $1.35 million.
Scottish Six Properties LLC and the Meeker County Economic Development Authority signed a purchase agreement for the building about two weeks ago, county administrator Paul Virnig said.
Scottish Six Properties would then lease the building to Tri-County Electric Motor Service Inc., which is northwest of the city on U.S. Highway 12, said Suzanne Hedtke, EDA director. Tri-County Electric Motor Service repairs electric motors and specializes in wind generators.
The Meeker County Board heard an update on the offer on its Tuesday meeting.
The building is currently being leased by a Rhode Island woolen mills company, but the mill has not reopened.
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The mill owner, Max Brickle, has until Nov. 30 to exercise a first right of refusal option, Hedtke said.
If Brickle does not use that option, he will have 60 days to vacate the building, Virnig said.
The county foreclosed on the Litchfield Woolen Mills property last year after the company, which was run by a group of investors, stopped making loan payments to the EDA, Mid-Minnesota Development Commission and Southwest Minnesota Foundation.
Litchfield Woolen Mills closed in late March, leaving about 40 people out of work.
If this sale goes through, the county will receive $692,000 of the sale and the other organizations will receive a total of $445,000, Virnig said. The rest would go toward other costs associated with the sale, he said.
Also Tuesday, the County Board determined that an environmental impact statement is not needed for a proposed housing development on Lake Willie. The developer is proposing to build 22 single-family residences on 64 acres of land.
The board unanimously approved 31 findings of fact and concluded that the statement is not required.
The county's findings indicated that state statutes allow for changes in the use of the property and that there is no potential for significant environmental effects that cannot be mitigated through required zoning and permitting procedures, according to the findings of fact.
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Citizens petitioned for an environmental assessment worksheet on the project because they were concerned about the project's potential adverse environmental effects. Some of the property is conservation reserve program land and 20 acres of it is wetlands. The area of impervious surface would increase by about 7 acres, according to the findings.
An environmental assessment worksheet is a screening tool to determine how the project might affect the environment and one was completed on the project earlier this year.
An environmental impact statement is an in-depth study of specific environmental issues related to a project and usually takes a year to complete.
Lake Willie Developers Inc. applied to rezone 64 acres of its property on Lake Willie from an A-1 Agricultural District to an R-1 Suburban Residential District. The proposed planned unit development is a conditional use on the lake.
The rezoning request will now go to the Meeker County Planning Commission, which expects to address the request at its Dec. 15 meeting, Virnig said.
Lake Willie is located south of Litchfield near Greenleaf.
