Charles City Council officially approves Parkside Housing Development agreements

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council voted to take the final official steps needed to move forward with a housing project that could add more than 20 new residences in Charles City.

“Everything is ready to go, the ball is in our court now,” said City Administrator Steve Diers.

The project combines Parkside Villa — an energy-efficient subdivision off of South Main Street that was started seven years ago but not completed — with Crown Point Builders of Garner, Stewart Realty of Charles City and incentives from the city.

In August, the city approved a letter of intent with Crown Point Builders to finish the buildout of the Parkside Housing Development, but the action Monday night made the development agreement official and amended a city TIF district to include the project.

There are 18 remaining twin homes and six remaining single-family homes to be built. Parkside Developers is proposing to sell the lots as needed, four lots initially to build out twin homes and single-family homes until the development is complete.

The city agreed to help cover the cost of infrastructure per lot, at a rate of $17,500 per lot. It is proposed that the city will use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to collect the available incremental tax value to make the city whole for this upfront cash payment.

“We plan to cover this cost via payment from the general fund, and do not see the need for any interim financing via loan to initially cover these upfront expenses,” Diers said.

The twin homes are intended to be 1,300 square feet, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 9-foot ceilings and heated double garages. The homes won’t have basements, but each unit will feature a reinforced area that will double as a storm shelter.

Ground was broken on the project in November, and several foundations have already been laid.

The homes will be heated and cooled by tying into the underground geothermal system that serves the existing Parkside homes, and the homes would have optional solar power available also.

The intention is to release them starting at $235,000, and have upgrade packages including fireplaces, tiled showers, locker systems and luxury closet systems. Diers said the hope is to have the projected completed in three years.

At Monday’s meeting, the council approved an urban renewal plan amendment for the South Grand Urban Renewal Area as recommended by planning and zoning. Diers explained that urban renewal areas have to be established by ordinance, and the ordinance basically outlines the actual physical territory within the urban renewal area.

“It will have its own independent lifespan of 11 years, but we are asking to add the optional five-year extension to bring the total length of the TIF to 16 years,” Diers said. “The cashflows might be tight to repay the city if we only did the 11-year-life.”

In other business, the council approved the taxable and non-taxable loans associated with the Charley Western Bridge project. Both taxable and non-taxable Loans are being split between First Security Bank and First Citizens Bank.

One loan is for the portion of the project that reimburses the city of the direct cost of the demolition of the previous bridge structure which totals $220,000, with an interest rate of 1.5 % and a term of 10 years. The other loan is for the portion of the project that pays for construction of the new bridge, which totals $1,313,000, at an interest rate of 1.75% and a term of 10 years.

The council also approved a payment estimate in the amount of $978,047.15 to Portzen Construction for continuing work on the Water Resource Recovery Facility project. The costs are mainly for excavation and piping work for the reed beds as well as work on the oxidation ditch, headworks building, and fencing.

The council also voted to accept the Main Street Bridge repair project. Jasper Construction Services was the general contractor for the project. The construction work has been completed, final paperwork submitted, and the city has received a recommendation for final acceptance from Calhoun-Burns and Associates.

The purpose of the project was to protect the existing structure and help extend the life of the bridge. The repairs consisted of injecting polyurethane material under the pavement within the bridge’s arches to solidify the existing fill material.

The total project cost was $327,059.80. The amount of Jasper’s contract and approved change order was $309,176.00. The additional overrun costs resulted from additional sidewalk removal and replacement quantities and modifications to some of the storm sewer intake outlet pipes through the bridge sidewalls.

In other action, the council approved a change order for the public housing/parking lot/sidewalk project. The change order is for additional restoration work of the HMA surface at Kneisel Circle, additional parking lot striping at South Cedar Terrace and Morningside Apartments, and additional work at North Cedar Terrace. The total change order amount is $29,681.95.