Two conflicting votes from the Seward City Council regarding a blight designation led to the mayor vetoing the first vote.
On Dec. 4, a motion to approve a blight designation for four lots on the northwest corner of Lincoln Street and North Columbia Avenue was met with a tie vote.
Councilmembers Jonathon Wilken, Ellen Beck Karl Miller and Chris Schmit voted in favor of the designation. Councilmembers Sid Kamprath, Dean Fritz, John Singleton and Alyssa Hendrix voted against it.
Mayor Josh Eickmeier broke the tie with a yes vote during the meeting.
Next, the board considered a motion to add the newly designated area to the city’s blight map. It failed with a 5-3 vote.
All councilmembers except Schmit kept their vote the same.
Schmit said Dec. 6 that he voted to designate the area as blighted to send a message to the property owners. But he voted against adding it to the map because he is not in favor of using Tax Increment Financing for this project, which includes building apartments.
Areas need to be designated as blighted to qualify for TIF. Seward can only designate up to 35 percent of the city as such.
On Dec. 5, Eickmeier said the vote to designate the four lots counts against the city’s 35 percent limit. But the council’s decision to not add the lots to the blight map means they can’t be used for TIF.
So on Dec. 7, Eickmeier vetoed the first vote by the council. This means the area will not be designated as blighted.
This is the first time the city considered naming a residential area as blighted. This topic led to more than two-and-a-half-hours of discussion.
Plex Homes, a developer, paid for RDG Planning and Design to conduct a blight study on the area to see if it qualified.
The council approved a memorandum of understanding with Plex Homes, which outlined the developer was to pay for the study, during its Oct. 16 meeting.
The study found the four lots blighted and substandard.
Thomas Kayton of Plex Homes said he wanted to purchase the property to demolish the homes and build three apartment buildings. He planned to use TIF for the project, which is why Plex Homes commissioned the blight study.
Kayton said he had a purchase agreement with the landowners, Sandra Nuttleman and Roger Duerr, contingent on approval of the TIF application.
Building/Zoning and Code Enforcement Director Ed Gonzalez said the city planning commission recommended approval of the blight designation by a unanimous vote.
Andrew Willis with Cline Williams law firm, who works with several municipalities on TIF, said the council was only to consider the blight designation at its meeting. He said vertical housing is an allowed use of TIF.
However, discussion on the agenda item often turned to potential plans for the lots and how the city handles problem properties.
If the blight designation and the map update had passed, then Plex Homes would have filled out a TIF application outlining its plans for the area.
TIF applications are reviewed by the community redevelopment authority and the planning commission before a final vote by the city council.
Willis said it’s not unusual for a project to drive a blight study and designation.
Willis said “blight and substandard” is a statutory definition within TIF and not a comment on the area. He said the designation could be called a “redevelopment area” and accomplish the same thing.
To be considered blighted, an area has to meet objective and subjective criteria.
In the objective category, Willis said the area only needs to meet one of five criteria.
The blight study on the four lots checked two of those boxes—there’s a decrease in the population in that area and the average age of the buildings is older than 40 years.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re nice [buildings] or not,” Willis said.
In the subjective category, Willis said the review looks at the area overall.
Some of the buildings on the lots have been cited for multiple issues.
Gonzalez said he has received multiple complaints about these properties over the last few years.
He said neighbors have complained about the property on 34 Lincoln St. because of junk, rodents and odor.
He said the post office filed a complaint about a home on Lincoln Street because the mail carrier did not feel safe on its porch when he or she was delivering mail.
Another issue was reported by Kayton, the developer. He said he saw a person dumping waste from a recreational vehicle on 645 N. Columbia while he was there taking measurements.
“I saw Ed [Gonzalez] later that day and I guess I would think any citizen of Seward would probably say something if they saw sewage just going onto the grass,” Kayton said.
Gonzalez said he followed up on these complaints and found the gas company turned off service to 645 N. Columbia because of a delinquent gas bill and a furnace that had a gas leak.
That building has been condemned because of unsafe living conditions.
Several people who live near these lots said the city should be more proactive in dealing with problem properties, rather than designate areas as blighted.
Eickmeier said the city can’t randomly search homes for issues, which is why the city follows up on complaints.
Earlier this year, the city council directed Gonzalez to focus on problem properties. He said he has deferred several cases, including the properties in question, to the county attorney for prosecution. Some also have received police citations.
Willis said the complaints themselves are not definitive parts of the study, but the findings after the complaints are. He gave examples like foundation cracks or unsafe furnaces. He said some complaints may be minor and not factor into a study.
“The complaints are irrelevant to this conclusion,” Willis said. “The conditions that exist on those properties now are driving that conclusion.”
During the public hearing on the designation, residents who live near the area in question spoke against the designation.
“I don’t know if I should be insulted or if I should be enlightened or I should be scared,” resident Hobbin Wolfe said.
She said was uncomfortable with her neighborhood being called blighted. She also said this vote could set a precedent in blighting an individual building or block.
Willis said the blight designation does not affect nearby properties, their values or use of the land. It only makes projects in the area available for TIF.
“There’s a visceral reaction to the term ‘blight,’” Willis said.
Nearby resident Gary Rolf said while the area is zoned residential-4 and allows for apartments, he does not see them as an improvement.
State Sen. Mark Kolterman said the lots in the study area need to be fixed and that there’s an opportunity in having a developer who wants to improve that area.
Kayton said Seward needs different types of housing. He said the area is close to Concordia University and could be used by college students.
He said TIF is the only way to make the project work.
“The city provides that tool for a reason,” Kayton said.
Scott Seevers, senior vice president of enrollment management and marketing at Concordia, said the university did not want to take a position on the matter, though he said it would like those properties to be attractive.
Eickmeier said the designation was not an issue of immenent domain. He said if the current landowners don’t want to sell, they don’t have to, and the city will continue to work with them to bring the properties into compliance.
Nuttleman, one of the property owners, said during the meeting that, in discussion with the prospective buyer, she felt no need to make repairs if the homes were going to be demolished.
Nuttleman also said she felt pressured to sign the purchase agreement.
“I gave in and I shouldn’t have,” Nuttleman said.
Eickmeier said Dec. 5 no one from the city was involved with the purchase agreement between the property owners and Plex Homes. He also said the city would not consider a blight designation if a purchase agreement were not in play.
He said the citations on the property and the purchase agreement just happened to take place at the same time.
Once the public hearing on the matter was closed, Kamprath said he was concerned about setting a precedent with this designation. He added that it sounded like Nuttleman was under duress regarding the purchase agreement, and he did not feel comfortable with the situation.
“I don’t want the city to play a part in that,” Kamprath said.
Miller said he doesn’t think it makes a difference if the city or a developer leads a blight designation.
“The area is what the area is,” Miller said.
He said it doesn’t make sense to designate areas and hope someone develops them later.
“We have a developer now,” Miller said.
After the mixed vote, Kayton said Plex Homes is reviewing its options.
amanda@sewardindependent.com
