Mayor Frank LaRocque presented a letter at the Nov. 19 Rugby City Council meeting from Affordable Housing Developers of Dickinson informing the City the developer had pulled out of a proposed affordable row housing development in the Chalmers Addition.

Council member Jay Reinke proposed visiting with the developer’s representatives in Dickinson in person to have a conversation on how to salvage the relationship and the project in general. Council member Neil Lotvedt pointed out AFD had already spent around $200,000 on soil testing and design work, and voiced his concern that they didn’t receive the funding they were seeking, which was echoed by council member Jennifer Zachmeier.

LaRocque read the letter aloud, in which the City was informed the developer had rescinded its applications for funding due to changes in level of support and division regarding the project after a meeting earlier in November from other Chalmers residents and city council members .

“Simply because our citizens came and asked questions, they quit?” Zachmeier said. “Why couldn’t they come and have a town hall meeting?”

Zachmeier, who owns property in the Chalmers Addition, said she had contacted AFD to relay her neighbors’ concerns. However, Zachmeier said she believes if the developer had been open to listening and responding to their concerns, the other Chalmers residents would have softened their views of the project.

“I guarantee you they would have pulled their horns in. Instead they just kicked. It really does make me question working with a developer that’s so fickle and frivolous with a big project that they were just like a toddler that had to eat their carrots before their dessert and stomp their feet and leave,” Zachmeier said.

Reinke raised concerns with lone city council members contacting the developer in that situation, given that the council itself was still in the midst of discussion on the issue.

“They cite these phone calls as why they were pulling out,” Reinke said.

LaRocque acknowledged that in the past other council members had sought and received permission before presenting or speaking to other bodies. Zachmeier maintained she was simply representing her constituency, did not require authorization to gather information and asked for the City Attorney’s opinion.

“When I am an elected official, and the citizens in my neighborhood are concerned about their property and they have come to me with questions; I put a phone call in. I never got one back. So I sent a letter, and she finally got back to me. I know it is in my full capacity as a council member to represent my ward,” Zachmeier said.

Council Member Jon Nelson interjected to say he thought the larger and uncomfortable reality being lost in the back and forth was the genuine need in the Rugby community for additional housing solutions.

“If this option isn’t available to us, what option is?” Nelson asked, “I don’t know what other developers would be interested in coming here. The only people I’ve heard from in this is people from the hospital, people in the school system, people in the business community, it’s that housing is a real need in this city. There’s no silver bullet to solve it.”

Zachmeier reiterated the issue wasn’t with the row homes in and of themselves, but with how the plan for them to be affordable housing rentals was communicated by the developer, and the neighbors concerns it would impact property values.

Council member David Schneibel responded saying the larger reaction to the local response at the Nov. 7 meeting was going to have consequences.

“The thing is we never gave them a chance. It was a JDA project. These people offered to come to the community and do a community meeting when they got the funding, when the project was approved and it was a go. We had council members, we had residents, we had God knows who jump the gun and got all over this company, and they pulled out,” Schneibel said. “To me, this is not a good situation because with these developers, it’s a close-knit community. You don’t think this company isn’t going to tell the next company that’s not going to come build in Rugby because ‘they’re impossible’? I think this is going to spread faster than you folks think. I think we set ourselves back quite a ways with the situation.”

Reinke motioned for LaRocque to draft a letter expressing the council’s appreciation for AHD and to resume the conversation for him to deliver. The motion passed.

The issue was revisited at the council’s Dec. 1 meeting, which began with Reinke apologizing to Zachmeier for raising his voice at the Nov. 19 meeting regarding her contacting AHD. Zachmeier accepted his apology and made a motion to amend the minutes to “protect me from slander and protect my first amendment rights.” The motion was carried unanimously.

During portfolio reports, Zachmeier discussed a planned ordinance to restrict the construction of storage containers and “barndominiums” in Residential 1 and 2 zones.