Chair Mike Schell presided and called the meeting to order by Zoom conference at 4:00pm on Wednesday, April 29th, 2020. Committee Members present: Jim Wright, Bill Carlblom, Jeff Erickson, Bobby Koepplin, Joe Faure and Dave Carlsrud.
Others: City Attorney Carl Martineck, City Assessor/Acting Secretary Sandy Hansen. Audience members: Wesley Wintch – Vice President of VCSU Business Affairs, Bath Kalin HGA Project Engineer and Bradley Roath – HGA Civil Engineer.
Public Hearing for Rezone Request public use of West ½ of Lot 10, East 74.25’ of Lots 11 and 12, Lots 13 and 14 less the North 105’, and Lot 15 of Block 3, Andrus and Sifton’s Addition (VCSU Center for Arts).
Chair Mike Schell opened the public hearing and asked if there had been any contacts or concerns regarding the rezone request. City Attorney Carl Martineck said there had been no calls or concerns. Bill Carlblom moved to close the public hearing with Jim Wright second and full board approval. Chair Schell then asked if those in attendance had any other information to share other than the presentation sent to all members. VP Wesley Wintch gave a brief history of the project which started about six years ago, including having to qualify for state funding by buying properties through the VCSU Foundation, having the project stall when the state surplus was no longer a surplus, and finally getting state funding approved for $32 million when the state legislature met last spring. Wintch said the rezoning is just another step toward the construction for the new Center for the Arts which will house the university’s arts & music programs and faculty, plus feature an art gallery and concert hall as a benefit for the entire community. The HGA team were willing to walk the board through the presentation they had shared by email, but the
Zoom technology did not allow for that. Bobby Koepplin moved for a do-pass recommendation to the city commission for rezoning the property from R-4 to Public, with Dave Carlsrud seconding and unanimous board approval. Martineck reminded the representatives from HGA and VCSU that the rezone request/recommendation will be presented to the Valley City Commission next Tuesday, May 5th at 5pm if they would like to attend in case the city commission members had any questions.
Adjourn
Chair Schell called for the meeting to close at 4:09pm.
Submitted by:
City Assessor andy Hansen, Acting Secretary