Council delays action on 48th and O
After peppering city officials with questions and expressing doubts, the Lincoln City Council delayed a decision Monday on whether to move forward with revitalizing the area around the city's second busiest intersection, at 48th and O streets.
In August, the council voted 4-3 to declare the area — 42 acres bounded by R, M, 48th and 52nd streets — destroyed and open the door for city-guided reinvigoration.
On Monday, the council was asked to take the next step in the process and approve a redevelopment plan. The plan would allow the city to request developers' proposals to breathe life into the area, which has several vacant, crumbling lots. Then a selection committee would choose a developer or developers and plan, and the city could begin appraising and buying properties in the area.
But the council may be having second thoughts about stepping in rather than letting the private sector take its course, particularly as it wrestles with a projected $8.7 million budget gap.
Councilman Glenn Friendt said the council needs to weigh the 48th and O streets project against others "before we go off on a new venture."
Councilwoman Patte Newman, who voted in August to declare the area blighted, said the council is concerned about the cost of the project, and may have to forgo another project if it moves forward with it. She pressed city officials for more information and asked when it would be too late to turn back. She made the motion to delay a decision for two weeks to give city officials time to come up with additional answers to her questions.
Community Development Manager Wynn Hjermstad told the council that if it's not fully supportive of the effort, it should vote against the plan and save city officials a lot of time and money. But, she said, the eyesore of an intersection has had a chilling effect on the surrounding area.
"It's a central part of the city," she said. "It's losing money."
A considerable amount of time was devoted to scrutinizing the price the Public Works and Utilities Department paid for property in the area to prepare for a separate, future widening of O Street to six lanes. The city has been acquiring rights-of-way for a couple of years.
Councilman Jon Camp questioned why the city paid $923,000 for property assessed at $456,000. That figure included damages the city had to pay for cutting off access to the intersection, officials said.
Camp questioned whether tax-increment financing would be sufficient to cover the costs of the 48th and O streets project, especially if the city continues paying such high prices for property.
Representatives of the nearby Witherbee neighborhood testified in support of the project, saying the current property owner hasn't proven to be "neighborhood friendly" over the years and has had plenty of time to develop the area.
But the largest property owner in the area, Julius Misle, opposes the city interference. His attorney, Mark Hunzeker, said Misle has had numerous queries from restaurants, banks and retailers interested in the area, but the blight designation and uncertainty about access to property have derailed plans and made it difficult to develop the area.
Meanwhile, city officials are talking to developers and the council is being "leveraged into a position" where it can't turn back, he said.
"That really doesn't sit very well," Hunzeker said.
But, Hjermstad said, nothing is stopping private development from happening now.
"Do it. Knock yourselves out," she said. "The idea is to eliminate blight."
The council opted not to make a decision until it gets more ballpark figures for costs of things like associated stormwater improvements and the portion of costs that would be covered by tax-increment-financing dollars.
In other business, the council also put off a decision on whether to amend the Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan to include a plan for a new industrial park in northwest Lincoln, which is part of the Airport West Subarea Plan for an area from Northwest 27th Street to Northwest 70th Street, from U.S. Highway 34 to U.S. Highway 6.
The council appeared interested in helping homeowner Barbara Erickson, who has lived in the area for 25 years and campaigned against the portion of the plan that calls for an arterial street 20 feet from her front door — and right through the north edge of her property. She has planted 400 pine trees in the area. The council plans to take up the issue again in three weeks.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.
In August, the council voted 4-3 to declare the area — 42 acres bounded by R, M, 48th and 52nd streets — destroyed and open the door for city-guided reinvigoration.
On Monday, the council was asked to take the next step in the process and approve a redevelopment plan. The plan would allow the city to request developers' proposals to breathe life into the area, which has several vacant, crumbling lots. Then a selection committee would choose a developer or developers and plan, and the city could begin appraising and buying properties in the area.
But the council may be having second thoughts about stepping in rather than letting the private sector take its course, particularly as it wrestles with a projected $8.7 million budget gap.
Councilman Glenn Friendt said the council needs to weigh the 48th and O streets project against others "before we go off on a new venture."
Councilwoman Patte Newman, who voted in August to declare the area blighted, said the council is concerned about the cost of the project, and may have to forgo another project if it moves forward with it. She pressed city officials for more information and asked when it would be too late to turn back. She made the motion to delay a decision for two weeks to give city officials time to come up with additional answers to her questions.
Community Development Manager Wynn Hjermstad told the council that if it's not fully supportive of the effort, it should vote against the plan and save city officials a lot of time and money. But, she said, the eyesore of an intersection has had a chilling effect on the surrounding area.
"It's a central part of the city," she said. "It's losing money."
A considerable amount of time was devoted to scrutinizing the price the Public Works and Utilities Department paid for property in the area to prepare for a separate, future widening of O Street to six lanes. The city has been acquiring rights-of-way for a couple of years.
Councilman Jon Camp questioned why the city paid $923,000 for property assessed at $456,000. That figure included damages the city had to pay for cutting off access to the intersection, officials said.
Camp questioned whether tax-increment financing would be sufficient to cover the costs of the 48th and O streets project, especially if the city continues paying such high prices for property.
Representatives of the nearby Witherbee neighborhood testified in support of the project, saying the current property owner hasn't proven to be "neighborhood friendly" over the years and has had plenty of time to develop the area.
But the largest property owner in the area, Julius Misle, opposes the city interference. His attorney, Mark Hunzeker, said Misle has had numerous queries from restaurants, banks and retailers interested in the area, but the blight designation and uncertainty about access to property have derailed plans and made it difficult to develop the area.
Meanwhile, city officials are talking to developers and the council is being "leveraged into a position" where it can't turn back, he said.
"That really doesn't sit very well," Hunzeker said.
But, Hjermstad said, nothing is stopping private development from happening now.
"Do it. Knock yourselves out," she said. "The idea is to eliminate blight."
The council opted not to make a decision until it gets more ballpark figures for costs of things like associated stormwater improvements and the portion of costs that would be covered by tax-increment-financing dollars.
In other business, the council also put off a decision on whether to amend the Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan to include a plan for a new industrial park in northwest Lincoln, which is part of the Airport West Subarea Plan for an area from Northwest 27th Street to Northwest 70th Street, from U.S. Highway 34 to U.S. Highway 6.
The council appeared interested in helping homeowner Barbara Erickson, who has lived in the area for 25 years and campaigned against the portion of the plan that calls for an arterial street 20 feet from her front door — and right through the north edge of her property. She has planted 400 pine trees in the area. The council plans to take up the issue again in three weeks.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.
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