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Public briefed on Y layout; levy up 4.61 pct

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents reviewed Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) plans for the Highway 14/15 interchange, during a special open house before Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The council approved the final layout during the meeting.

Staff photos by Clay Schuldt MnDOT's plan for the intersection of Highways 14 and 15 (commonly known as the Y) would be to raise Highway 15 over Highway 14 and create an interchange bridge. The plan also calls for the creation of a walking/biking trail.

NEW ULM — City Hall hosted an open house Tuesday to allow the public to inspect final Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) plans to redo the intersection of Highways 14 and 15 known as the Y.

More than 40 New Ulm residents attended the meeting to inspect the design maps and ask questions of MnDOT staff.

The open house preceded a City Council meeting in which MnDOT project manager Zachary Tess gave a presentation on the plan.

The final layout includes: a two-lane bridge over the Minnesota River with a substructure to allow for a four-lane expansion; a two-lane bridge over Front Street designed for four-lane expansion; an interchange at the Y; a roundabout at the Highway 14 and Front Street intersection; reconstruction of Highway 14 between Broadway and Front Street; raising Highway 14 and Highway 15 above the 100 year-flood elevation; a recreational trail on the north side of the highway from German Street to the Nicollet County interchange; and removal of the existing truck station outside of town.

Tess said there were three primary reasons for the project. The first reason is the need to make improvements to the Front Street and Minnesota Street bridges. The second reason is a need to make safety changes to the Y intersection which has a higher rate of crashes than the statewide average. Between 2008 and 2012 a total of 19 accidents were reported at the Highway 14/15 intersection. The third reason is to make road and utility repairs.

During the public hearing, New Ulm residents and City Council members raised concerns about changing North 7th Street near the Broadway intersection from a four-lane road into a two-lane road with left-turning lanes.

Councilor Les Schultz said people already attempt to bypass this intersection due to traffic concerns. Reducing it to two lanes is seen as step backwards.

Mayor Robert Beussman said that, to keep four lanes and add turning lanes, businesses near the intersection would need to relocate.

Tess explained the funding available for this project only allowed for two-lane bridges if the highway 14/15 interchange was part of the plan. If the bridges were made into four-lane bridges, the interchange would need to be delayed and this would require New Ulm to shut down traffic twice instead of once.

Traffic studies conducted by MnDOT suggested the Broadway and 7th Street intersection traffic flow could be managed with a two-lane system. The turning lanes would benefit the through traffic and lead to less delay.

The most frequent questions during the public hearing were related to the project timelines. Tess said a series of construction staging workshops will be held in 2017 to plan the construction phases, including establishing local access roads and detours. Actual construction would likely begin in the fall of 2017, but no roads would be closed until 2018 at the earliest. The road would likely remain closed through 2019. The specifics of the road closure would be discussed at the first construction staging meeting in 2017.

“We don’t want this to be perceived as, we’re done talking about this after we have approval of the layout,” Tess said. “We recognize there are lots of things the city has input on, and we want to continue that discussion.”

The council passed a resolution adopting the final layout for the Highway 14/15 project.

Tax Levy Public Hearing

The City Council’s 2017 tax discussion drew a large crowd of citizens concerned with the massive preliminary tax levy increase proposed in September.

In September, the City Council set the preliminary tax levy increase for 2017 at 21.41 percent. The preliminary levy can be decreased before the end of the year, but it cannot be increased.

The reason for this relatively high levy increase was  a $1 million budget addition to cover land acquisition for an industrial park. The $1 million alone was responsible for 14 percent of the levy increase.

Prior to the hearing, City Manager Brian Gramentz gave a report on the possible acquisition of property for a new industrial park. City staff has begun reviewing potential funding sources for the land. The estimated cost of the total land purchase is $1.54 million. Gramentz informed the council sufficient money was available in the city’s fund balance to cover this cost without affecting New Ulm’s bond rating.

With this information, the council cut $1 million from the levy and reduced the tax increase to 6.91 percent. Additional steps were suggested, including dropping the hiring of a facilities manager and reducing the city building renovation fund from $375,000 to $300,000. These ideas brought the levy increase down to 4.61 percent.

Despite decreases to the levy, residents were upset with the council for setting a preliminary levy above 20 percent. A few residents accused the council of a “bait and switch,” suggesting the more-than-20-percent levy increase was put in place to make a 4.61 percent increase more acceptable.

Councilor Les Schultz admitted it was a mistake to set a preliminary levy of more than  20 percent.

“We probably didn’t spend enough time talking about how to fund that anticipated $1 million purchase and so it ended up in our budget,” Schultz said.

He added that nobody on the council would approve a 20 percent increase, and it put too much stress on people with fixed income.

“I know sitting in this chair I will never make that vote again,” he said.

Council Chair Charles Schmitz admitted the preliminary levy was high because the council added in the industrial park expansion at the last minute, but defended the need for industrial land as a method to bring in new taxable jobs.

Councilor Ruth Ann Webster pointed out the tax rate could further decrease without additional cuts if the tax rolls expanded through new property owners.

The council will need to wait until its next meeting to determine its taxable capacity.

New Ulm resident Lori Fox criticized the council for consistently increasing taxes each year and hoping next year the number of taxable properties will increase, even though New Ulm’s population has remained unchanged for a decade.

“What I heard here tonight was not reassuring,” Fox said. “It sounded like you have hopes like the Field of Dreams; if you build it, they will come.”

Fox asked the city to keep its expenses in line with cost-of-living increases and not rely on hope.

The council passed a motion to set the tax levy increase at 4.61 percent. The council also directed staff to seek alternatives to reduce the levy increase to 2.5 percent.

In other news

The owners of the former Tauschek Grocery store, Kevin and Deborah Oliva, requested a permit for an apartment on the ground floor of the historic building.

At last week’s Planning Commission meeting, the Olivas requested the step, to assist with the sale of the building.

The city designated the building a local Heritage Preservation Landmark in September 1996. Special permits were approved since then to allow the operation of a quilt shop and a cooperative grocery store in the building.

The second floor is already used for residential purposes. By allowing a ground floor apartment, the building would be converted into a duplex.

The Planning Commission recommended the approval since residential units surround the property and a duplex was considered less intense than the previous commercial uses.

Councilor Ruth Ann Webster asked if this new use would jeopardize the building’s landmark status.

Kevin Oliva said all potential buyers are aware of the historic designation and cannot make exterior changes without first coming before the Heritage Preservation Commission and City Council.

A variance request from Home Grown Properties to allow an addition on the Sewing Seeds Quilt Co. building at 1417 S. State was also approved.

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