City to be responsible entity for environmental assessment for Gardenette
Feb. 21—JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown Finance and Legal Committee on Thursday, Feb. 20, unanimously recommended approval of a request from Stride Development to name the city of Jamestown as the responsible entity for an environmental assessment for the Gardenette.
The environmental assessment will be done for the Gardenette properties located at 902-1514 Gardenette Drive in Jamestown.
"What we're being asked to do here is very similar to what we did for Eagle Flats and probably some others," Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said. " ... It requires some government agency to be the responsible entity for this type of assessment, and whatever costs that would be incurred would be charged back to the developer."
Heinrich was also authorized to sign the environmental assessment after the city staff reviews and approves it.
The Gardenette project, also known as the Riverside Cottages project, is a multiphase rehabilitation project led by Stride Development. The $48 million project comprises three phases which will acquire and rehabilitate the 168-single-bedroom unit development into 150 units providing one-, two- and three-bedroom options. Phase 1 secured $1.1 million of 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Phase 2 received $1.08 million of 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and Phase 3 was awarded $1.03 million of 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits and $3 million in state Housing Incentive Fund dollars.
The environmental assessment is expected to be complete this week or early next week, said Brent Eckstrom, executive director of the Lewis and Clark Development Group out of Mandan, North Dakota, which is a co-general partner with Stride Development.
Once the Gardenette units are rehabilitated, those units will be leased out, Eckstrom said.
"We are working with the Great Plains Housing Authority to get rental assistance vouchers for the tenants," he said. "They have a project-based voucher, so they stay with the units there."
In order to get the rental assistance vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an environmental assessment needs to be completed, Eckstrom said.
Eckstrom said Terracon has been hired to complete the environmental assessment.
"They put that package together, they do all the notifications, all that, and then they will submit that to the city for the city's review," he said. "Once the city reviews it and the mayor signs off on it, once the mayor signs off on that, then we can go back to Great Plains Housing Authority with that assessment, and then sign the contracts to get those vouchers."
In other business, the Finance and Legal Committee unanimously recommended approval of the plans and specifications to reroof and reskin a city-owned storage building located at 1100 Railroad Drive.
City staff would also be authorized to advertise for bids on the project.
The building is where LeFevre Sales was formerly located. Heinrich said the building will be used as a storage facility for various city departments.
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