City Council approves plats, annexation for Mission Critical

Mission Critical, a project initiated by the Aurora Development Corporation (ADC) to attract ag-based businesses to a plot of land near the “Welcome to Aurora” sign, took a major step forward last week thanks to action by the Aurora City Council.
The council voted unanimously on May 9 to pass the preliminary and final plats, as well as annexing a portion of the property into the city limits.  
Kelsey Bergen, executive director of ADC, spoke at separate public hearings for each of the three agenda items that were approved to explain in more detail what moving forward with Mission Critical will mean for the community.
“We have a lot of moving parts, but we have a lot of great partners, including the city council,” Bergen said.
The council approved a preliminary plat of 136.49 acres, 20 acres for a final plat and annexation of the final plat into the corporate city limits of Aurora as requested by ADC and at the recommendation of the Aurora Planning Commission on May 8.
The plats are located on Highway 14, the I-80 corridor, south of town. The first business that will be using the final plat will be Brandt Consolidated Inc., an ag-based micronutrients company headquartered in Springfield, Ill. Bergen detailed the process of choosing the plant for Aurora.
“Since I started with Aurora Development Corporation in 2020, I have seen a lot of prospects come...looking at this site specifically,” she explained.
“None of them have been very exciting to me just because of some of the things they did. They were huge water users, didn’t look very presentable at the entrance of our community or maybe they were loud and that would have affected the neighbors.”
Bergen further explained that around 2021, there was a refocusing on what kind of business would be best suited for the site, settling on agriculture to tie into other local businesses. She stated that Brandt will be a good fit due to its type of industry, as well as giving a good first impression for those coming in from the interstate.
“They are a great fit because we are an agricultural community,” she said. “They also look very physically appealing from the road which is what we want for the area. It was important to us to make sure it looked nice.”
Bergen stated that among other factors, ADC has worked to make sure that the neighbors are not negatively impacted by the plat in terms of drainage.
“We worked in two detention cells that will collect rainwater so that they can slowly release that water in an appropriate way so that is doesn’t negatively impact any of our residential or farm-growing neighbors around here,” she gave as an example.
“We also worked really closely with (City Administer) Rick (Melcher) and (Utility Supt.) Adam (Darbro) and a variety of council members to make sure that it fits really well within the community and the future of the community.”
When questioned by Mayor Marlin Seeman regarding the dialogue with neighbors, Bergen answered that there had been talks with those directly impacted by the project.
“We made sure to sit down with the ones directly affected and have a meeting with them,” she said. “(We) explained the prospect and explained our process. We had a lot of really great dialogue and ideas were shared on both sides to make sure this is something that doesn’t hinder people, which is what our goal is currently.”
Bergen also reported that ADC is working to get funding to help build the new roads the project will need.
“We’re also working really closely with the Department of Transportation to make sure that we’re within what they’re needing on the highway,” she said. “We applied for and were awarded some economic opportunity funds to help support the funding of the road infrastructure. This will help solidify the job creation that we need for the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant)  grant that was used to purchase the ground.”
Bergen also gave more details on the need for cooperation with the city of Aurora to provide infrastructure for Brandt.
“(It is) really for the amount of infrastructure that is needed to make sure that the first prospect is hooked up to sewer and water from the start and they have the appropriate entrance to the site,” she said. “This makes a lot of sense to bring the city on as a partner and make sure all those things are done well and get this prospect open (on the) site.”
In a letter from Brandt’s executive vice president provided to the planning commission on May 8, it was stated that the plant will provide 20 jobs and generate five to 20 trucks per day in traffic.
In other action, city council members:
* voted to reject bids and rebid for bond retaining walls near Matson Street and Lincoln Creek Bank Stabilization projects. Seeman said this was due to errors in paperwork submitted for bids;
* approved special designated liquor licenses for Deb Kalkwarf of Grandview Cafe from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. on June 17 for a reception at The Leadership Center; from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 23-24 for an outdoor beer garden and street dance during A’ROR’N Days; and from 4-11 p.m. July 1 for a reception at The Ivy;
* approved a special designated liquor license for Jim Danhauer of JoJo’s Gelato from 6-10 p.m. June 3 for outdoor event on their lot.