City agrees to pay for some public improvements at Lincoln Village

    Development work on the former Lincoln School site is progressing on all fronts.
    About one-half of the original 1926 portion of the school was down by Monday.  And Monday night the Clear Lake City Council voted 4-1 to make about $128,000 in

improvements to street and water lines in the area.  The work had been requested by the developer, The Green Group LLC.  Councilman Jim Boehnke supplied the lone no vote, saying it should be the developers’ responsibility.
    The developer had also asked for 460-feet of new sidewalk along 4th Avenue South, but that request was turned down.
    Mike Danburg, of Yaggy Colby Associates, presented information to City Council on behalf of the developer.   His plan has the city abandoning a water line which runs through the southeast portion of the property and uncharacteristically includes several kinks and bends.  Relocation of the line will allow the city to install a bigger line and improve water pressure in the area.  The city will also restore the curb and gutter along the 3rd Avenue side of the property, along with the sidewalk.  The area was cut back into the property a number of years back to provide parking for Lincoln School. 
    The city will finance improvements to the water lines using revenues from the water department.  Tax increment financing will be used to pay for the street improvements.
    Tom Green and Gary Veeder, of The Green Group, L.L.C. based in Charles City, purchased the 4.25 acre school site late last year.  The men, along with a third member of the Green Group, Cameron Green, plan to develop 19 housing units on the site.  The newest portions of the school building, a pair of single story additions comprising approximately 11,000 square feet at the north of the original building, will be kept and renovated to become six condominium units.  The remainder of the housing will be primarily twin homes.  The Green Group estimates the Lincoln Village development is a $4.5 to $5 million investment.
    In other business Monday, the Council awarded the CDBG Sanitary Sewer Collection System Project (Phase 2) bid to Wicks Construction, of Decorah, Iowa.  Wicks submitted the lowest of - Read More via e-Edition