By John McLoone

The Hastings City Council tackled a busy agenda at its 2-1/2-hour meeting last Monday night. Its actions will allow for development of two apartment complexes in the city, following public hearings and council unanimous approval.

Large-scale apartment developments that are moving forward are the 211 units in two buildings for the Enclave Apartments at County Crossroads (Vermillion Street and 33rd Street West) and 89 units for the NJS Development plan on the former UBC Lumber site in the downtown area.

The Enclave Apartments site, under council action, was rezoned from C-4 Regional Shopping Center to R-4 High-

Page 7 Density Residence and the final plat and site plan were approved. The project site on 33rd Street West is roughly between Terry’s Hardware and Vermillion State Bank.

“There’s shared roadway networks throughout this area that would be improved as part of this development,” Community Development Director John Hinzman said.

Each building would be three stories with detached garages included as part of the project.

“We’re looking at access to the development to come off of 33rd Street at a couple of existing locations,” said Hinzman.

The city’s planning commission recommended approval of the project on a 7-0 vote in February.

The site is 15.66 acres in size. As far as traffic concerns, the site would generate significantly less traffic as an apartment development than it would have as a commercial development. Trips per day as housing was estimated at 1,477, while the commercial trips per day were estimated at 7,577.

City councilmember Tina Folch was assured that the project would include electrical vehicle charging stations.

“It was brought up at our last workshop my concern about electric vehicle charging stations and those structures being installed in these new developments as we’re moving forward,” she said.

Since there is no parkland included in the project, the developer will make a $219,920 payment to the city for parkland dedication. The developer will also make a payment of $102,335 for sewer interceptor fees.

For the NJS Development site downtown, several unanimous council actions took place following a public hearing. The site was rezoned from Industrial Park to Downtown Core, and an alley was vacated. The site plan was approved for the 89-unit apartment building.

The land is currently owned by the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority which has been working with Nathan Stencil of NJS Development on the project since last summer. HEDRA and its predecessor have owned the site since 2006.

The project is being financed in part through a Tax Incremental Financing District in the downtown area, and those costs will be paid back to the district by tax revenue generated by the additional value of the development.

The development will also pay the city $97,900 for park dedication and $43,165 for sewer interceptor fees.

The building will be five stories tall, with four stories of residential units over first-floor parking.

One resident questioned parking for the complex and its visitors at the public hearing.

Hinzman pointed out that 109 parking spaces are proposed, 65 of them in the garage and 44 on the site, which meets the city’s parking requirement.

“The excess parking for visitors is incorporated into the parking standard,” said Hinzman.

Stencil also pointed out that electric vehicle charging stations will be included within the parking, four to six to start with, depending on demand.

A question was raised over whether the fence should be more than six feet in height, because of the height of the building. However, City Attorney Korine Land pointed out that a six-foot fence is all that’s allowed by city ordinance.

Photos courtesy of City of Hastings.