Apartment blister parking, updated blight study approved
The Aurora City Council faced a full agenda March 12 where members authorized the issuance of $8.5 million in bonds to pay for street and infrastructure improvements, approved a study updating the city’s blight and substandard property determination, and gave the green light for blister parking on two proposed multi-unit apartment complexes in the Streeter Subdivision.
The three-page agenda listed numerous public hearings, all of which sought input on storm sewer districts proposed on Grant Street, 1st Street, and in the Mission Critical Subdivision, Northridge Subdivision and Matson Addition. No comments were offered for or against any of the resolutions, allowing the council to proceed quickly through the agenda.
The final piece of that puzzle was for Cody Wickham, with financial consultant D.A. Davidson, to explain his company’s recommendation for funding the combined $8.5 million in street improvement district and related water and sewer improvements.
“We find ourselves in an interesting interest rate environment,” he explained of an inverted yield curve graphic. “You’ve got interest rates on the shorter end that are actually higher than the ones that are further out on the curve so what that allows is an opportunity for the city to potentially earn some arbitrage on the bond anticipation notes if the debt is sold properly and the proceeds are reinvested properly.”
Wickham said his company could sell bond anticipation notes in the high 3 to low 4 percent range, then suggested the city could invest those proceeds with local banks and potentially get a 5 to 5-1/4 percent return.
“So that 1 to 1-1/4 percent arbitrage that you can earn, that’s money that the city can actually apply toward these projects,” he explained. “We think it’s a good plan.”
Based on IRS guidelines, however, Wickham said the city would only be allowed to issue $5 million with of bond notes this year, thus his recommendation is to sell that amount this year, then issue the rest in 2025.
After brief discussion, the council voted unanimously to approve Wickham’s recommendation. Council member Wayne Roblee was absent from the meeting.
Blight study
The first presentation of the hour-long meeting involved an explanation of both the details of and the need for a blight and substandard property analysis.
Jeff Ray with JEO explained that a blight study was last done in 2014, though in order for the city to apply for either Tax Increment Financing or CDBG funding that study must be less than 10 years of age. Ray said the main purpose for updating the study is so that the city could be eligible to receive CDBG funds through the Nebraska Department of Economic Development for improving the downtown area.
“We’re doing it again to make sure that you maintain eligibility to be able to apply for that grant,” he reported. “The other criteria under the federal rules are low to moderate income (requirements) and your community doesn’t even come close.”
Ray walked the council through JEO’s 18-page blight study report which documented a number of factors, including that a substantial number of structures are deteriorating; that the city’s population is stable or decreasing; and that the average age of structures is more than 40 years old. The average age of residential structures in Aurora, according to Hamilton County Assessor records, was listed at 88 years.
The JEO report included a color-coded graphic which showed all of the areas determined to be blighted in yellow, also showing a comparison of the 2024 findings to that of 2014. The council voted unanimously to accept the study’s results.
Blister parking
The other major agenda item addressed at the March 12 meeting involved a recommendation for blister parking on two multi-unit housing complexes in the Streeter Subdivision.
City planners had already approved a request to allow blister parking along the south side of Matson Street west of Highlander Lane where an eight-plex is planned, as well as along the west side of Highlander Lane south of Matson Street where a four-plex has been proposed. Jordan McHargue was listed as the builder for both projects.
The council voted unanimously to approve the blister parking requests.
In other action, the council:
* approved a $775,265 bid from Mid-Nebraska Land Developers for paving and storm sewer improvements in the Mission Critical Subdivision;
* approved a $182,449 bid from Mid-Nebraska Land Developers to build the Grant Street approach on the south side of Highway 34;
* approved a noise control special variance application from the Aurora High School Prom Committee regarding prom activities at The Leadership Center on April 13 from 8 p.m. to midnight;
* approved a plumber’s license request for Ryan Logue of Logue Plumbing of Phillips.