The Longmont City Council on Tuesday approved a preliminary decision to sell the building at 103 Main St. to the owners of Cheese Importers without a permanent easement requested by the Longmont Historic Preservation Commission.

Councilman Brian Bagley was the lone dissenting vote because he disagreed with using a July 2015 property appraisal to assess the current value of the building.

The appraisal listed the property value in July 2015 as $1.55 million, but the city is ready to knock $655,250 off the price because that’s the value the owners of Cheese Importers made to the building. Adding on $16,000 in permit fees the Cheese Importers owners would need to pay and the proposed sale price of the building is $901,750.

Bagley, who practices family law, said he thought Cheese Importers “was getting a hell of a deal for the price.”

“In my office and what I do, we’re probably getting one or two commercial appraisals on property as people get divorced and involved in lawsuits. … An appraisal done in July of last year, I guarantee you that it is significantly higher (now).”

The other council members, citing five people who spoke to the council in support of Cheese Importers during the public comment portion of the meeting, said the value to the city and to the community that the business adds is greater than what the city might save if a new appraisal was done.

“I understand what Councilmember Bagley is saying; however, if you take into consideration the sales tax that comes from there, the use tax and the property tax, the number of people who come here just to go to this particular store and the economic impact of that, that’s different from buying a building,” Councilwoman Bonnie Finley said. “They’re a community asset, and I don’t mind giving them a good deal.

Ultimately, the council decided not to place a permanent easement on the building first constructed in 1931 like the Historical Preservation Commission recommended.

Clara White, who together with her brother Samm runs the day-to-day operations of the family-owned business, told the council she would prefer not to have the permanent easement because it would make it difficult to change the building in the future

“It limits the future and opportunities, not just for us currently but for the future of Longmont,” White said. “It’s limiting where nobody could make any changes to it without really, really a lot of challenges. … It’s not a good decision for the community.”

The issue will be back before the council for a first and second reading before the decision is final.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci