Council OKs developers ordinance
December 4, 2012 at 12:59 am in The Jamestown Sun
Real estate developers will have to pay less upfront to develop property in Jamestown in the future.
A change in the ordinance regarding what infrastructure costs can be paid by the city through special assessments passed the City Council Monday by a 3-2 vote. Mayor Katie Andersen and Councilmen Charlie Kourajian and Ramone Gumke approved the change with Councilmen Steve Brubakken and Dan Buchanan dissenting.
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Surprise, surprise. The Council sells out the taxpayers once again.
Does the Mayor and Council represent the taxpayers or the special interests? Based on decisions like this, it appears that the taxpayers, and common sense, take a back seat once again.
Privatize profits, socialize losses.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I bet the lot prices don’t come down even though the developers won’t have as much skin in the game.
All this ordinance does is pad the pockets of the developers while transferring more risk to the taxpayers.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I guess you missed the part in the article where it stated the developer must purchase a bond against the unpaid portions and also must pay off the balance in five years if it goes unsold.
Easy to miss when you have an agenda against the council.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Actually the article states that the requirements CAN be placed on potential developers. It doesn’t say that the requirements are mandatory.
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You’re a fool to think that the council didn’t need to do this. Our old guidelines for developers were harder than Bismarck and Fargo. How are you going to attract ANYONE to come build in this town when they are guaranteed more houses in both cities? We needed to offer a competitive advantage to attract builders to this town. Why? Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that there are 25 houses listed for sale in town right now is a good indicator that we need new development, and the only way to spur it is by attracting these developers?
It’s bad enough we ran Jordahl out of town. Thank you, Council, for realizing this is the right thing to do rather than live in the 1980′s and fret about corrupt contractors. Jamestown is booming, and the housing market is going to get even more unaffordable than Grand Forks if we don’t get something going.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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