The point I want to say is Hastings is changing. We want young families. It’s good for the community, but it’s also good for the school district.”

Hastings Councilmember Dave Pemble

The council unanimously approved the South Oaks of Hastings 4th Addition, to be developed by Greg J. Homes. The development will be a 35-lot, single family subdivision southwest of 31st Street and Century Drive.

The Hastings City Council at its meeting Monday, Oct. 16 approved a budget adjustment of $385,000 to remove, dispose of and replace contaminated soils found over the summer during the redevelopment project at Lake Isabel Park.

Soil samples from an area where it is believed a school once stood contained lead and asbestos.

“The problem we ran into most recently this summer was some contaminated materials,” said City Administrator Dan Wietecha. “It appears that at some time in the past, a building was likely buried there in order to get rid of it.”

“We have to clean it up within standards that are set by the Minnesota Pollution Control agency, and their requirement is that we have four feet of separation between the materials and the usable spaces,” said Wietecha. “So essentially, dig down four feet, remove the bad fill, truck that off as hazardous waste and then bring in clean fill to fill it back.”

Wietecha said the city considered applying for grants to pay for the work, but that would have delayed the project.

“There are also some questions in terms of do we need to do some additional environmental study to even be eligible for one of those grants? Staff’s recommendation is to get this back on course. Let’s just suck it up and have the budget amendment, realizing this is an expensive project for the park, and the contractor would be able to get this in this fall,” Wietecha said.

The money will come from the Parks Dedication Fees account.

“Which means they go to this park instead of some other park in town, but it’s certainly an eligible use for it. It’s tough when you’re already in the middle of a project to have this kind of added cost to it.”

In other business:

South Oaks of Hastings – The council unanimously approved the South Oaks of Hastings 4^th Addition, to be developed by Greg J. Homes. The development will be a 35-lot, single family subdivision southwest of 31^st Street and Century Drive.

Community Development Director John Hinzman said the council still will have to approve an amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan, which identified that area as medium density.

Hinzman said under the proposal, Greg J. Homes will construct a stormwater pond in the northeast corner of the development. Ownership of that lot will be transferred to the city with future owners in the subdivision paying maintenance expenses.

The plan commission voted 4-0 last month to recommend approval of the subdivision plan after hearing concerns from two neighboring residents about the number of lots and safety of kids with the development coming in.

Councilmember Lisa Leifeld questioned lot sizes smaller than the minimum of 5,000 square feet. Hinzman explained that since it’s a planned residential development, the average of the lots just needs to be 5,000 square feet. Some are larger than that, and he said the averages is about 5,300 square feet.

Jablonske said the houses will sell in the range of $325,000-$350,000.

Councilmember Dave Pemble said the homes are needed in Hastings.

“The times have changed, it is difficult to find a house in the price point for young families. I believe this development has to go through. The point I want to say is Hastings is changing. We want young families. It’s good for the community, but it’s also good for the school district. We need to have something in this kind of price point. Yes, the size of the lot is smaller, but we’re going to be looking at homes that are in the $500,000 to $700,000 range because the costs of everything are just going up. This is 35 homes and good, solid homes. Hopefully that will bring in these folks from other parts of the community or away from Hastings who want to live here and raise their families here. Yes, there are things that are difficult about this size and this development. As we move forward as a community, we need to think about these things to try and bring in something that’s at a price point to entice these folks to come to our community,” Pemble said.

Mayor Mary Fasbender said, “I’m just excited, and I think council is to see this type of housing come to the community. We’ve been asking for it for a long time.”

New “Welcome to Hastings” sign – The council approved a plan for a permanent sign easement that would allow a “Welcome to Hastings” monument to be located on property owned by Augustine Family Far, LLC near the south side of Hwy. 55 west of the Xcel Energy substation.

The site is in Nininger Township, and the town board approved sign placement on Aug. 15. The sign will be similar to the existing sign near downtown but slightly larger. The city will be responsible for maintenance of the sign and surrounding area.

Hastings Civic Arena Ice Rental Agreement – The council approved an ice rental agreement at the Hastings Civic Arena with the Hastings School District for the 2023-24 school year.

Ice rental rates are $215 per hour under the contract with a total for the hockey season expected to be $84,246.90.