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A work session needs workers, says councilor |
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By MaryHelen Swanson
The North Branch City Council holds at least two work sessions a month.
The idea is that the councilors will get background information and learn about upcoming issues and projects and be able to talk more casually about them before having to make official decisions at the regular council meetings.
Thursday night, a work session was planned, the parking lot of city hall began to fill up as did the council chambers. But there were empty seats at the council table.
From the back of the room, Councilor Kathy Blomquist, in a voice agitated and loud enough for all to hear, said she was going to leave if a certain councilwoman did not show up. That would have left two at the council table.
City Administrator Bridgitte Konrad calmly reminded her there were some important issues on the agenda and said she hoped Blomquist would stay.
Blomquist briskly walked to her seat at the table, joining councilors Larry Erickson and Theresa Furman.
In the mayor’s absence, Blomquist called the work session to order saying, “I’m convening this work session under protest because of the continual absence of a particular council member.”
She noted that it is important that as many council members as possible be present at the work sessions, especially to express their opinions on important issues facing the city.
The vacant seats left at the table belonged to Mayor Gloria Karsky and Councilor Amy Oehlers.
That said, Blomquist conducted the remainder of the work session without another word on the subject.
Issue one, that night, was brought by Blomquist, herself.
It was in regard to the high trunk fees required by the city of North Branch. A study of neighboring towns shows just how high the city’s fees are.
A few years ago the fee system was changed to encourage commercial development such as restaurants, and smaller establishments.
Blomquist, who represents the council on the Water and Light commission, said she continues to get “looks” from staff and council members that fees are too high.
Members of the Water and Light Commission, on hand for the work session, said they had no problem with the present fee system, nor did Councilor Erickson.
Blomquist was the only one who was interested in exploring going back to the former system. The Water and Light members, however, did agree to keep an eye on the situation.
The issue may be that the high trunk fees are discouraging commercial development.
The big topic of discussion was an update on ESSBY residential development, the housing portion of the city’s development to the northwest of downtown.
The city is working with Prairie Partners, who in turn have brought to the table Duffy Development Company, Inc. Organized in 1985, this two-man company’s primary focus is rental housing. They have 13 developments in the Metro area with more than 500 units, including projects in Forest Lake and Wyoming.
Duffy comes with full endorsement of Chris Eng, Chisago County’s EDA-HRA director who has worked with them on the Wyoming project. He had nothing but good to say about the company.
Duffy proposes to build an affordable townhome rental project similar to the 48-unit they built in Wyoming. It has had almost 100 percent occupancy since opening. The style and quality is very good, noted Eng. Duffy manages their own developments.
Duffy partner Jeff von Feldt told the councilors they use quality, long-lasting products.
They make use of the IRS Tax Credit program for a large portion of gap financing on the projects, thus the developments are restricted for 30 years. That means that even if Duffy is not involved anymore, the housing must stay affordable.
In order for Duffy to bring such a development to North Branch it needs an initial letter of support from the city.
Then it must fill out an application to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. The city’s responsibility in the application process is to respond to six items. The applicant receives a point for each of the items the city is willing to help with.
These include donations or waivers of such things as development fees, assessments and water and sewer fees. Some things, like flexibility in zoning code enforcement are not monetary issues. Most importantly is the city’s willingness to fast-tract the permitting and approval processes.
Duffy must have the application in to the state by June 17.
Von Feldt said Duffy would not expect the city to completely waive fees, but reductions would be appropriate.
Administrator Konrad said things like the “density bonus” could be addressed by rezoning, flexibility in zoning code could be handled by a planned unit development and fast-tracking is not an issue.
The project, if approved, would be placed at the southeast corner of the ESSBY area, north of 400th St. along County Road 30, an area currently set aside for commercial development. Commercial development would still be created in the area where the Health and Human Services building is located.
Earlier in the evening Finance Director Dave Stutelberg told the councilors that increased TIF funding could be garnered if the market value of the project was increased through more housing and more commercial development. The current residential unit limit is 360.
The city needs to recoup $5 million for the bond that was used to purchase the land. With an increase in housing units, spread out over a longer period of time, Stutelberg figures the city can capture as much as $9 million in TIF funds.
It was noted that the city has waived fees previously for other projects.
The council may address the letter of support at its April 14 meeting. As Konrad said, if there is no letter of support, the project will go nowhere.
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