By MaryHelen Swanson

The city of North Branch will hold a public hearing July 24 to discuss placing a moratorium on new construction, re-construction or expansion of residential, commercial/retail or industrial buildings and construction of new public facilities in the Central Business District.

The area under consideration would also include a proposed downtown revitalization district that has been laid out by the cityís Downtown Revitalization Task Force.

The request for the public hearing came from Councilwoman Amy Oehlers who serves on the task force.

She told the Post Review Tuesday that a survey has been done among downtown business people.

Majority of those surveyed want some kind of theme to the city, she said, to make it more attractive.

The idea of a moratorium comes from the task force because they want to be able to present a plan for revitalization to the city council before businesses make expensive changes that might not fit into the new plan.

ìWe want to have everybody on board,î Oehlers said, if the downtown area is redone.

The eight-member task force is guided by city finance director David Stutelberg and assisted by a hired consultant.

The new district laid out by the task force encompasses an area big enough that tax increment financing might be available.

ìWeíre trying to envision for the future,î Oehlers said adding, ìWe need to develop design guidelines,î she said.

Oehlers noted that while the moratorium would be for six months, the ordinance that would be adopted to set the moratorium in place also includes a hardship provision and a waiver may be granted to an applicant.

The ordinance is not intended to prohibit maintenance and necessary repairs of existing structures within the moratorium area.

Oehlers encourages business owners and anyone with an interest in the revitalization of the downtown area to attend the public hearing July 24.