Green light

HARTINGTON – The Hartington City Council Monday gave its nod of approval to a new 15-unit housing development.

The Council unanimously approved a new plat for the Nordby Addition and to rezone the land from agricul - tural to residential.

The Nordby Addition will be built between Highway 84 and East Main Street on the east edge of Hartington and will feature 15 lots for new rentto-own homes. A 16th lot is being set aside as a drainage area.

Eight houses will be built on the east side of Nordby Avenue stretching from the highway to East Main Street.

An additional seven houses will then be built on the west side of that street.

The developer is considering one of those lots as unbuildable as plans call for a drainage retention area, Je Ray of JEO Consulting Group told the Council.

Rob Woodling of Omaha-based Foundations Development is the lead project developer.

He told the Council Monday he appreciates all of its eorts to help get the project o the ground.

Even though it has taken several months to get the land purchased, engineered, platted and rezoned, the project has gone smoothly so far, he said.

'This has been the easy part of the process,' he said. 'Now, I've got to start getting contractors lined up, roads built and utilities installed.'

Woodling said he is hoping the infrastructure work can begin in April or May.

Once that work is completed, construction on the houses can begin, he said.

Councilman Colin Kathol said this is a great project for Hartington.

'We lose some people from Har - tington because of (a lack of) hous - ing,' he said. 'This is something we need here.'

Mayor Mark Becker agreed. 'The need for housing here is real. We think this is going to be a great addition to Hartington,' he said.

Becker said the city has done quite a bit of research on Woodling and his project since they first started communicated.

'We vetted you. Your track record has been pretty good. Your company has done a nice job of putting devel - opments in some other towns. It's been impressive,' he said.

Woodling's company has built two developments in Wayne and one in Wisner.

In a recent Cedar County News interview, Wayne Area Economic Development Coordinator Luke Virgil said Woodling's company built the Western Ridge housing addition near the Wayne city cemetery and the Crown II neighborhood near McDon - ald's.

The developments have been very good for the community of Wayne, Virgil said.

'It was a great deal for Wayne. It provided a lot of housing stock at a dierent pricing level,' Virgil said.

'We really thought it was a nice addi - tion to town. Some of the houses were for income-qualified home buyers.

This really gave a leg up to some of the folks that never thought home ownership was in the cards for them.'

Also Monday, the Council approved a building permit for Larry Lammers for property at 103 S. Capitol Avenue.

Until the mid-1990s, the property housed a trailer court. Former Mayor Gayle Hochstein then purchased the property and made plans for an apartment unit on the land. He later sold the land, but it has sat empty ever since.