Building Rehab Requires City Assistance
The old bank building on the corner of Fifth Street and Minden Avenue is on the market and two developers are interested in the property. Sharon Hueftle from South Central Economic Development District (SCEDD) spoke to the Minden City Council on the matter during their February 21 regular meeting.
Hueftle explained both developers have discussed rehab of the building to include 4-5 units on the second level for housing and commercial space on the ground floor. The building itself is in such bad shape that rehab is not feasible without assistance. There is an affordable housing trust fund grant available, but it must pass through a non-profit organization or municipality.
If awarded, it will be a no match grant up to $750,000 administered on a reim- bursement basis. A pre-application is due by March 9 with a full application due on May 11. Hueftle told the council it will take a lot of resources for this rehab to go forward and asked to be authorized to pursue the trust fund grant at no cost to the City. The council approved a motion to submit a pre-application for the Nebraska Af- fordable Housing Trust Fund Grant for the old bank building located at the northeast corner of Fifth Street and Minden Avenue.
Mayor Larry Evans reviewed public participation policies held by other municipal- ities and proposed a similar policy for the Minden City Council. There would be no changes to the current public comment guidelines, they would simply be outlined clearly in policy form. The council approved Resolution 1753 for Public Participation Policy.
Quotes for pool repairs including heaters, piping, and circulation pump were pre- sented to the council for consideration. The repairs total approximately $134,000. The City’s budget has $87,000 for the repairs. The council was informed there are funds available in the Light Fund that can be transfered to cover the overage. The council approved the pool repairs of the heaters, piping, and circulation pump.
Police Chief Bradley Butler proposed a parking ordinance near Minden Country Club in an effort to ensure emergency services can access the site during large events. Butler explained vehicles often park on both sides of the surrounding streets when the country club is hosting an event which narrows the streets to a width that doesn’t allow emergency service vehicles enough space to get through.
Ordinance 1277 would ban parking on the east side of N. Colorado Avenue from 13th Street to 16th Street, the north side of 16th Street from Colorado Avenue to Brown Avenue, and both sides of 16th Street from west city limits to Brown Avenue at any time. Butler reached out residents that would be affected by this ordinance as well as the country club board and received no negative feedback from any party.
Check out March 1 edition of Courier for full story.
