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North Branch works on community goalsBy Barbara Brown The North Branch City Council started hammering out some specific goals for the city for the coming year at a special meeting last Wednesday, March 13. City staff had organized the top nine suggestions developed from community meetings late last year and came up with rough outlines for when and how those goals could be accomplished. The lists were presented to the council at the March 14 special meeting. The top goals from community input were: new schools, affordable housing, community center, creating a business park, encourage high-paying industrial development, creating a nice city in a rural setting, revitalize downtown, slow residential growth and reconstruct the bridge on Hwy. 95 that crosses I-35. The council spent the majority of its two hour meeting talking about the affordable housing goal. While almost all the council member agreed that the city should take some responsibility in responding to the needs of lower income workers to find decent housing, the suggestion presents the city with some interesting challenges. First, the council does not have a zoned section of the city that would encourage affordable housing. Current construction requirements demand certain size lots, a minimum square-footage in the home and garages. All of those requirements add to the cost of building a home in North Branch. City Administrator John Moosey said the city would have to consider creating a new zone, changing current zoning restrictions or taking building permit requests on case-by-cases bases. Council member Rodney Lofquist suggested that the council was jumping the gun a little. He said the council should decide first how much of the construction in the city it wants to determine ělow income.î He also said the council needs a better idea of what affordable housing means. Lofquist also suggested that the staff put together information that would give the council an idea about what the current housing market is in North Branch. Council member Amy Oehlers said the council should also consider spreading affordable housing zones throughout the city and not concentrating the zone in one area to give people a choice of where they want to live. Issues such as slowing residential growth and creating a city in a rural setting have been taken up by committees. The council also is expected to call for the formation of another committee at its next regular meeting to examine what residents would want in a community center. The city is working with county, state and federal agencies to get funding and support for the reconstruction of the I-35 overpass on Hwy. 95. City staff was asked to take the suggestions and brainstorming back to the drawing boards and fill in some gaps of information, and examine the feasibility of some suggestions. New information is expected from staff at an April 11 special council work session that would reexamine the goals. The council hopes to adopt the goals formally after more information is given. The next regular council meeting is March 25. The councilís next work session is March 28, during which it will discuss a plan for revised library hours and funding, the cityís assessment policy and the fee schedule for city services. ©ECM Post Review |