JDA to split infrastructure costs for hotel with city
The Job Development Authority will pay half of the infrastructure costs to bring sewer and water access to the Cobblestone Hotel, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2013.
The JDA board, after some lively debate, voted at its Dec. 12 meeting to split the $43,113.34 with the city of Rugby.
After being estimated to cost about $96,228, the cost was more than cut in half by having city workers doing a portion of the work.
The largest bills for the project were $19.000 for laying sewer pipe and just more than $10,000 for water and sewer mains.
Once the water and sewer are brought to the Cobblestone site, hotel developers will be responsible for the costs associated with connecting to the sewer and water.
JDA Board President Kipp Johnson asked if the city, which already has substantial savings in its coffers, would come to the JDA for funding regularly for future projects.
“If you open the floodgates now, where does it end?,” Johnson asked.
City council and JDA board member Arland Geiszler said the city is trying to keep funds for sealing city streets, a project estimated to be only a few years away.
He said the only two current city projects that had asked for JDA funds were the Cobblestone and the housing development on Rugby’s southeast side. The JDA owns all of the land being developed and agreed earlier in the meeting to purchase another 2-3 acres at $7,500 to allow for a larger special assessment area and better utility access.
City auditor Dawn Hauck pointed out that the Cobblestone would be a much bigger job creator than the Centre Cinema, which the JDA agreed to purchase earlier in the meeting at a cost of $28,550.
After some more debate, the board voted to approve the split of the costs.
JDA to wait
to decide on
correctional center
The JDA Board also voted to wait until its next meeting in early January to decide whether to accept a purchase agreement by Pierce County to purchase the Heart of America Treatment and Correctional Center.
JDA executive director Brenda Foster said she received the purchase agreement an hour before the meeting and a few of the board members said they’d like to have time to read it before making a decision.
The county had set Jan. 15 as a purchase date for the center and the JDA board indicated that it would still be able to meet that date if it voted to approve signing the purchase agreement at its next meeting.