(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake city council took no action Tuesday on a proposed hydric soils ordinance after hearing from the Chairman of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
Pat Butler told the council the P & Z at this point is recommending against such an ordinance that would require special precautions be taken when building in areas in the city that have wet, or hydric soils. He says there would be too many technicalities involved and that it could open the city to legal issues. Buttler added it was the commission that most contractors are already taking the necessary precautions…(click here for comment from Butler.)
Councilman Steve Balm differed, saying it’s important that given the high water table in parts of the city, that future homeowners know upfront what they could be getting into in those areas…(click here for comment from Balm.)
Following some additional discussion, the council directed the City Attorney’s office to research some legal questions on the issue, including whether it would be possible to put some type of notification on abstracts whenever a home built in a hydric area as depicted by a map produced by the federal government.
In other action, the Spirit Lake city council Tuesday took the necessary steps to refinance some urban renewal and general obligation bonds. Travis Squires of Piper Jaffrey told the council the refinancing will save the city about $1.2 million in interest costs…(click here for comment from Squires.)
The council also Tuesday awarded the low base bid of $566,801 for the Memorial Park project. The bid from Sande Construction of Humboldt came in over the engineer’s estimate of $483,988. The council also approved an alternate bid of $7,100 from the same firm for construction of an ice rink in the park. Work on the project is to start approximately July 9th. The project is slated for completion this coming December. The park will
be closed during construction.
(File photo).
