Banquet hall planned

By Barbara Brown
Business owners and people planning large gatherings could have a new place to host their events if the planning process goes smoothly for one current North Branch business owner.
Jack Juve, owner of AmericInn in North Branch, has plans to build a banquet hall adjacent to the hotel.
The North Branch council approved the plans after a lengthy discussion about parking options at the Monday, Sept. 8 meeting.
Juve asked the city council for a variance on the number of parking spaces required for a building of that type because of space issues near the hotel.
He said he did not start the planning process until the North Branch City Council approved the parking variance so he wouldnít waste any money on plans for a project that may not happen.
The AmericInn is located behind McDonaldís. The banquet hall would be at the corner of Oakview Avenue and Pecan Street and visible from I-35 north.
It would include a 51-foot by 60-foot dining area, kitchen and mens and womenís bathrooms,
Juve said he does not have a timeline set for when the hall would be built. He said the planning and design process should start soon and he hopes to have the 4,000 square-foot building up next year, although nothing is set in stone.
Property owners surrounding the AmericInn, including Jim Jorgenson of Dairy Queen, Dave Melby of Tri-Partners and David Nordberg of Dominoís Pizza wrote letters to the council agreeing to allow overflow parking in their lots.
Several community organizations and businesses such as Lake State Federal Credit Union, the North Branch Area Chamber of Commerce and the North Branch Coaches Association also wrote letters of support for a banquet facility in town.
Also at Monday nightís meeting, the council certified a preliminary levy for the city at $2,313,215.
The preliminary levy is the maximum the city could impose according to state levy limit guidelines, said city finance director Dave Stutelberg.
Stutelberg said the certified levy is sent to the county auditorís office. The office also collects levies from all the towns and cities and the county and works out a tax capacity for North Branch, Stutelberg said.
He said the city could not determine yet how much, if any, a tax rate increase might be until after the county auditor returns information to the city.
The proposed levy was passed with a 4-1 vote by the council with Councilman Amy Oehlers voting no.
Oehlers said she does not believe in setting the preliminary levy at the state maximum from the start.
ìIíd like to see us certify a levy that is closer to what we will actually be asking for,î Oehlers said.
The council will continue to discuss the budget at coming work sessions and several cuts to requested staffing are already set for discussion.

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