(Arnolds Park)– Meeting in special session Wednesday, the Arnolds Park city council signed off on a joint agreement between the city and Iowa Lakes Regional Water, formerly Clay Regional Water, to bring water to the Bridges Bay development southeast of Arnolds Park.
It didn’t come without some discussion and concern, though. Resident Rich Meyer felt the council should hold out for a better agreement with rural water, saying the city has the development “in a corner right now”. Bridges Bay developers have requested they be voluntarily annexed into the city in exchange for the city helping provide water to the development.
Meyer also expressed concern over the cost of getting water to the first phase of the development, estimated at nearly a half million dollars. He says it’s an open-ended agreement that could wind up costing the city even more. Several council members and City Administrator Ron Walker disagreed, saying that would NOT be the case. Walker said the city should easily be able to pay off its share of the cost of the water project. He says the new development, as it is right now, is valued at about 11.5 million dollars for the resort and about 16 million for the residential portion. In turn, Walker says that will generated about 53-thousand dollars a year in residential taxes and 268-thousand in tax increment financing that will be used for other infrastructure for the development.
The council voted four-to-nothing in favor of the agreement. Councilman Jason Christensen was absent.
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