The Indianola City Council discussed the Kentucky Ridge Development project, regarding sanitary sewer and storm sewer replacement with Inception Group, the developers of the land at their meeting Monday.
The proposed development was approved by council to begin planning at a previous meeting, and is located at 1100 N Jefferson Way.
The potential development includes a ravine that holds an exposed sanitary sewer line, and dirt is needed to fill in the ravine, and the city would like to replace the sanitary sewer in that area before the dirt is moved on to make the property developable. The sewer is currently set to be replaced approximately 10 years from now, however a replacement now would save the land from being dug up after the development is constructed.
City Councilman Steve Richardson tells KNIA News it is the responsibility of the city to maintain sanitary sewer lines, but he does not support putting the burden of the stormwater sewer installation on the taxpayers rather than the developers.
“The problem is once you have one developer ask for storm sewer and pay for it up front, then all of your other developers are going to come in are going to probably want to do the same thing. So it’s a cost to the taxpayers. So the real question becomes then, why should a taxpayer on S Howard for instance who owns a home down there, pay for the storm sewer for a project up around Scooters up on the highway? And so you spread that cost out among all the taxpayers then, rather than having the developer pay the cost of that. It has traditionally been the City of Indianola’s response, and almost all cities in Iowa, to have the developer pay for the cost of that storm sewer.”
The developers said at the council meeting this is a desirable spot of land with thousands driving by it every day, and requested as part of the process the city pays up front for the sewer installation and dirt fill , rather than on the back end with Tax Increment Financing, stating that they can’t install the storm sewer without fixing the current sanitary storm sewer area. The developers also stated at the meeting there is an option for them to develop the area not near the exposed sanitary sewer, but would leave the property less desirable for both commercial and residential.
The council directed city staff to continue negotiating with the developers to find a solution.
Find a link to the council meeting and council packet with more information and discussion between the council, city staff, and developers below.
City Council Meeting, discussion of the topic begins around 1:45:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPnRt6kx9I