(Spirit Lake)– A new residential development is in the works in Spirit Lake. The city council Tuesday approved a final plat and agreement with developer Seth Hellenga for the 3rd phase of Pointe of Pines on the north side of 36th Street west of the water tower, on the city’s south side. City Attorney/Administrator Gregg Owens says the site has been sitting idle for years…
“It’s a development that sort of stagnated many years ago and has been needing to get finished off, and so we’re excited that Mr. Hellenga saw fit to purchase this property and come to us with some ideas about what we can do to get it going again.”
Owens says under the agreement, the city will be responsible for constructing streets, sewer and water mains at a cost of roughly $2.5 million…
“That’s a very ballpark figure right now. We’ll have design work to get done late summer, fall, and we’ll have to go out for bid early next spring. Our part of it, we’re planning on a construction deadline of early fall, 2025, so we expect to move pretty quickly to finally get this particular area finished off and ready to go for some lots which we need right now. We’re short of lots for people to build on and this opens up another 37, I believe.”
Owens says without the city’s participation, there’s very little chance the development would go forward…
“This is an area that was previously in an urban renewal area which has expired and it had a TIF draw when the first 17 lots were improved and of course those have been pretty much built out. But then nothing was done after that, so it is no longer available for another urban renewal area, it’s not available for another TIF ordinance or a TIF draw. No, I wouldn’t foresee any developer making a go of it without city participation the way we’re doing it this time around, which is a little different than we approached it the last 10 years. But in this case it’s necessary.”
Owens says the city will finance it’s share through the issuance of a general obligation bond.
