City makes progress on development initiatives

At Tuesday's Sidney City Council meeting, updates were given on multiple projects the municipality currently has underway. While no official action was taken on the new community swimming pool and industrial tract, council members were asked to offer input on how the finalized projects will look.

Sidney City Manager Gary Person said a contact had been signed between the municipality and Wheat Belt Public Power District to allow the city to provide power service to the planned industrial park, located off Link 17J on the east edge of Sidney.

The industrial park is currently in Wheat Belt's service area. The contract stipulates the city will pay the pay the public power district 5 percent of the total gross yearly proceeds from customers' kilowatt hours sold in the territory relinquished for 10 years, after which payments will drop to 3 percent for another 10 years.

The contract must be approved by the Nebraska Power Review Board before it takes effect.

Engineering and the platting process for necessary infrastructure also continues to move forward. Person presented two potential options for dividing up a 20-acre section of the 86-acre tract.

Councilors voiced support for an option that contained four relatively equal acreages with a cul-de-sac coming off a frontage road.

"The problem is this length [of cul-de-sac] is not in conformance with our subdivision lengths," Person said. "If we went with this concept, we would need to at least put an easement together that would then allow us to meet our subdivision regulations."

Mayor Mark Nienhauser suggested the frontage road not be immediately constructed past the cul-de-sac entrance to reduce the cost of extending utilities.

The concept will be presented at an upcoming Sidney Planning Commission meeting.

Architect Chuck Musgrave joined the meeting via speaker phone to discuss two options for the swimming pool project.

The council provisionally opted for a plan that includes a leisure pool, competition pool, bath house and concession area, while coming in just under the budget of $4 million. In current cost estimates, additional water features – such as a slide – would exceed the budget, but the necessary pipes would be laid so that when funding becomes available, they could be more easily added.

According to Nebraska state statute, the amount of water at a swimming park dictates how large bath houses must be. The other design presented included a water slide, but to remain within budget, had a smaller bath house. If any other water features were added in the future, more toilets and showers would have to also be added.

Council Member Chris Gay said he supported the first option because it took future additions into consideration.

"With enlarged bath houses, it gives the flexibility to add," he said. "Let's get the bath house right."

A contractor will be selected for the project next month and will be able to provide a more definitive cost estimate. The council will make a final design decision then. Nienhauser added, depending on final costs and fundraising efforts, a water slide might be able to be included in in the initial construction.

Also at the meeting, E. Todd Sherlock was appointed to fill a vacancy on the planning commission and a franchise agreement between the city and McBride's Yard Waste Collection LLC was approved. While the agreement has no financial implications, Person thought it was prudent since the company will be using the public road system.

The contract allows the company to use city streets for seasonal weekly yard pickup.

The next Sidney City Council meeting is scheduled for March 10 at 7:15 p.m. at city hall.