City leaders have taken another step to work with developers considering building single-family homes and/or townhomes just west of Stewartville. The City Council, at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25, voted 4-0 to create a special water and sewer district to help the developers save money on sewer and water access charges. Mayor Jimmie-John King and councilpersons Craig Anderson, Brent Beyer and Jeremiah Oeltjen all approved the new district. Councilperson Josh Arndt was absent. Jenna Obernolte, a professional engineer for Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH), the city's engineering firm, had recommended the city create a special sewer and water district for the West Development. In the new district, developers Wayne and Nancy Gunderson, Al Chihak and Marv Schumann, if they choose to move forward with their developments, would pay an extra $5,650 per acre for water and sewer, in addition to the current city fees of $2,000 per acre for water access (WAC) and $2,000 per acre for sewer access (SAC). At an earlier meeting, Obernolte told the developers they would each have to pay almost $10,000 per acre for water access charges and sewer access charges, considerably more than the $2,000 per acre for water access and $2,000 per acre for sewer access in a typical city development. The new proposal, therefore, reduces the developers' additional sewer and water access charges by about $3,400 per acre... For more on this story pick up your copy of the Sept. 8 Stewartville STAR.
