Housing boost

City council approves development deal for 64-unit apartment

NEWS EDITOR

The city of Medford made it official on Monday when council members formally approved a contract with South Ridge Apartments for a planned 64-unit apartment complex.

The complex will be built on what is currently city-owned land originally planned for industrial expansion on the city’s south side. With major employers complaining of a lack of workers in the area, and access to housing identifi ed as a barrier to bringing people into the community, the city and economic development leaders have been working to address the problem.

The plan is to develop the 12.63 acre parcel at the intersection of Pep’s Drive and CTH O into an apartment complex.

The structure will have 64 units and 22 garages for rent. The units will be a combination of one and two bedroom apartments on two floors of the buildings. The agreement stipulates that the project must begin in spring 2022 and be completed no later than January 2024.

Under terms of the agreement, the city agrees to sell the land to the developers for $1 and to provide a $800,000 zero-interest loan to help with the project.

The land was originally acquired by the city for the future expansion in the industrial park area with roads and infrastructure such as water, sewer and electrical service installed. This made the project more palatable to developers without having to deal with additional infrastructure needs.

The project will return the property to the tax rolls. The terms of the agreement stipulate that the project must be completed by January 2024. If the developer does not achieve this deadline, the city would have the option to take back the property.

In other development action, council members approved granting a driveway easement request to Charles and Linda Gelhaus to develop the southern portion of the Rogers Addition located to the East of Malibu Drive in the city’s northeast area.

Something smelly

City residents and visitors have noticed a stronger than normal aroma coming from the city’s wastewater treatment plant located on Whelen Ave.

According to city coordinator Joe Harris, the smell is due to the city beginning to process pulp runoff waste from the decommissioned Park Falls paper mill. Mill waste is landfilled and the runoff water is captured and must go through a treatment plant. Previously the mill had its own treatment facility but with its closure the waste must be shipped elsewhere. Medford is the closest facility with the capacity and processes to treat the waste.

At Monday’s meeting Harris said they tried running three tanker-loads through the Medford plant to see if it would disrupt the city’s processes. He reported that it went through fine and that they were going to do another test of three additional tanker loads of the waste to see if there are any negative impacts before committing to a long term contract to accept the waste.

He said the strong smell people have noticed from the plant is due to this waste, but noted that it only will occur on Mondays when the tankers of waste are delivered from Park Falls.

The total waste is about 18,000 gallons a week with the landfill expected to continue to produce the wastewater runoff for another 20 years. As with other outside waste treatment, the city will charge for the treatment based on the volume and its concentration of solids.

In other wastewater action, council members approved spending from the 2022 treatment plant budget to purchase a ChemScan Analyzer for a cost of $21,589.50. The Veolia filters installed in 2018 have exceptionally low nutrient removal capability and the current analyzer does not detect that low. Having a more sensitive analyzer will allow the city to use less chemicals in the treatment plant.

Council members also addressed personnel issues at the treatment plant with job description updates and formalizing the transfer of public works employee Mike Schaaf to the treatment plant. He has been assisting in the wastewater department and expressed interest in taking an operator position there.

In other business, council members:

_ Approved setting the rate charged for city workers to do work for private groups. The cost is going from $60.10 per hour to $61.61 per hour reflecting changes in the total burden cost of employees’ wages and benefits.

_ Approved increasing the fee charged for the statement of real property. The statement is requested as part of property transfers from $10 to $15 if notice is given. The fee will be $25 if less than 48 hours notice is given. The previous rates were set in 1998.

_ Approved adopting revisions to the city’s emergency disaster plan to reflect changes in staffing and processes since the plan was last reviewed.

_ Approved the mayoral appointments naming election workers, as well as the mayoral appointments to the hotel/motel room tax commission and the city representatives to the Medford Area Fire Commission. While there are no changes to the make-up of the room tax commission with all members agreeing to serve another year, Wellner said that Arlene Parent has asked to step down from serving on the fire commission. In her place, Wellner has appointed M.J. Zenner to be one of the city representatives on the commission.

On Tuesday afternoon, city and community economic development leaders gathered at the site of the planned apartment complex. If all goes according to plan, the apartments full complex will be built by January 2024. This is the culmination of a committee formed by the Development Foundation. This committee was chaired by John Lange and Chris Schield. Serving on it were Joe Harris, Sue Emmerich, Doug Gasek, Charlie Paulson and consultant Pat Keefe. “We want to thank the city council for their support and foresight in approving this project,” said mayor Mike Wellner.BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEW