Council postpones decision on trees

The Mitchell City Council decided Monday evening at City Hall to postpone a decision on the fate of a wooded, city-owned lot along North Harmon Drive near Lake Mitchell.

The council voted 7-0, with one member absent, to table the issue until the first meeting in August at the latest. The vote was taken following a lively half-hour hearing at which a group of about 100 people — supported by about 1,280 petition signatures — tried and failed to convince the council to protect the property and its trees.

The postponement was the idea of Councilwoman Geri Beck, who said she’d like to investigate the feasibility of retaining part of the property and selling the rest. She wants to retain the property’s western rim of trees and enough room to install a bike path someday, but she thinks the rest should be sold.

Beck said tabling the issue will give the city enough time to determine exactly how much of the property would need to be retained, and whether the rest of the property would be salable.

“Do I feel that the city needs this land? No,” Beck said. “But I do believe that the trees lining the drive should be preserved.”

The wooded lot, measuring nine-plus acres, is a north-south strip along North Harmon Drive that has its northwestern tip at the corner of North Harmon and National Guard Road. The lot has been in the city’s possession since the 1920s and is known for the tall row of ponderosa pines along its western edge.

Monday evening’s public hearing about the wooded lot was the third such hearing since December, when the public learned of the City Council’s proposed swap of the wooded lot for a building owned by Jerry Thomsen adjacent to the city’s new soccer complex. The council conducted a hearing on the swap in December but tabled the issue until last month, when the council rejected the swap following a second public hearing. Concerns about losing the trees on the property were expressed at each of those first two meetings.

During the weeks leading up to the first hearing on the proposed swap, the City Council declared the wooded lot to be a surplus property. That was a required step before the council could consider trading the property.

Though the swap was rejected, the surplus designation remains. The group that attended Monday’s meeting wanted the council to rescind the surplus designation so that the wood- ed lot could not be sold or developed. That group included Thomsen, who said he also wants the surplus designation rescinded now that his swap has been rejected.

Various members of the pro-tree group said the wooded lot is beautiful, serves as a natural filter for air and runoff entering the lake, and provides habitat for deer, turkeys and birds. Some said the wooded lot should not only be protected, but also enhanced with nature trails.

“We should not only preserve it, we should expand on areas like this,” said LaMoine Torgerson. “We’ve got enough construction, paving and concrete. I know we need that, but we also need some greenery.”

Much of the public testimony was impassioned and supported by applause. One of the most ardent speakers was Georgi Streetman.

“I ask you to listen to the outcry of the citizens who have taken the time to write letters, to show up here, to call you, and to let you know we don’t want that property changed!” Streetman said in a raised voice. “It belongs to the city. It belongs to the citizens. We ask you to respect that opinion.”

Marc Bernard presented figures purporting to show the “priceless” value of the wooded property as it is, compared to what he described as the paltry tax revenue the property could generate if it is sold into private ownership. He said that, based on a projected assessment of $136,000, the property would produce only $824 in annual tax revenue for the city. He said that’s 0.0028 percent of the city’s annual budget.

“That wouldn’t even show up on the radar,” Bernard said.

Mayor Lou Sebert limited the public testimony to a half-hour, because he said most of the arguments from the pro-tree group had been presented at previous meetings. Sebert also criticized the group’s petitions, because he found 81 signatures from people who are not Mitchell residents. He said some of the signatures appeared to have come from residents of dormitories, apartments and assisted-living centers, and he added that those people “may be members of the city of Mitchell, and they may not be.”

Immediately following the public testimony, Councilman Dan Allen moved to rescind the property’s surplus designation. His motion died for lack of a second.

Councilman Mel Olson said he does not want to remove the surplus designation, because he doesn’t want to go through another contentious public hearing if the council eventually decides to sell part of the property and has to re-surplus it.

Discussion then turned to Beck’s idea, and her tabling motion was approved by all the members present. Councilman Scott Houwman was absent.

Councilman Travis Carpenter said he supports Beck’s suggestion to retain part of the property and sell the rest, because he doesn’t see any reason for the city to own all of the property.

“My opinion is, why are we in ownership of land that we have no purpose for?” he asked rhetorically.

In other business Monday evening, council members:

• Rejected, during the Public Works Committee meeting, a request from Mitchell Technical Institute to raise sewer rates so that MTI could qualify for grant funding available to sewer projects in cities that meet a rate threshold (citywide rates would have had to increase 11 percent just for MTI to apply for the funding).

• Heard a presentation from Finance Officer Marilyn Wilson, during the Finance Committee meeting, on the financial report that must be submitted annually to the council at the first meeting in March and submitted to the state Department of Legislative Audit.

• Were informed, during citizens’ input, of a group that has organized in an attempt to save the Mitchell School District’s gymnastics program from a proposal to terminate it.

• Applauded Councilman Travis Carpenter, who coaches the Mitchell High School wrestling team, for the team’s accomplishments and sportsmanship at last weekend’s state tournament.

• Listened to a complaint from a man who said he was upset at having to build sidewalks on his property, before it was revealed that the man’s property isn’t actually included in this year’s sidewalk projects.

• Heard and approved verbal reports from the Public Works and Finance committees.

• Awarded a bid of $56,784.80 — the lowest of six bids received — from Big “O” Concrete for about 12,000 total square feet of hazardous sidewalk targeted for repair this summer at various locations in the city.

• Adopted an ordinance that will supplement the fire portion of the general fund budget with $16,369 for an oxygen monitor, with funding from grant funds; the snow-removal portion of the general fund budget with $30,000 for supplies, with funding from the general fund’s cash balance; the wastewater-collection portion of the sewer fund budget with $130,000 for a Havens Avenue sewer relocation, with funding from the sewer fund’s cash balance; and the sidewalk construction fund with $110,000, from an operating transfer out of the special-assessment revolving fund.

• Adopted an ordinance that will supplement the 2010 budget with $6.596 million worth of items that were budgeted in 2009 but were not spent.

• Conducted the first reading of an ordinance that would supplement the water-treatment portion of the water fund with $1,200 for computer hardware, with funding from the water fund’s cash balance.

• Set March 15 as the date for hearings on an application to transfer an on-sale liquor license from Hay Company Partnership, doing business as Steak ‘N’ More, to Martinez Inc., doing business as Corona Village; an application to transfer an on-sale liquor license from Hay Company Partnership, doing business as Thirsty’s, to Hay Company Partnership, doing business as Thirsty’s and Steak ‘N’ More; and an application from Blarney’s for a special-event, malt-beverage license for the Corn Palace and City Hall for a cage-fighting event April 2.

• Set March 23 as the date to receive and consider bids for sidewalk projects on Ash and Wallace streets and other miscellaneous locations.

• Set March 30 as the date to receive and consider bids for sidewalk projects on North Mentzer Street and East Eighth Avenue, and for a boat-dock project.

• Set April 5 as the date to receive and consider bids for a curb-and-gutter replacement project.

• Set April 5 as the date for a hearing on “assessment roll for construction projects.”

• Approved an automatic supplement to the library portion of the general fund in the amount of $188, for a postage reimbursement from state grant funds.

• Approved consumption, noise, parade and street-closure permits, plus other related items, for the May 29 Memorial Weekend in Mitchell event, and also agreed to consider waiving some of the permit fees at a later date.

• Approved taxicab driver’s license applications from Brian John Berg and Daniel Lee Fechner, for E-Z Ride Taxi.

• Approved requests to conduct raffles from the James Valley Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the American Legion Auxiliary.

• Approved the paying of estimates and bills.

Tags: city council, mitchell city council, news, local, trees