City Spending Plan funds will pay for wetland mitigation for new housing

The Worthington City Council on Monday authorized the commitment of city Spending Plan funds for wetland mitigation in both the building and right-of-way sites for the South Shore Apartments property.

Kuepers Architects and Builders, developers of the South Shore Apartments, completed wetland mitigation efforts upon the acquisition of wetland credits from the Wetland Credit Agency, LLC and payment of the Withdrawal and Stewardship fee to the Board of Water and Soil Resource Board, with a total cost of $108,949.52 that will be reimbursed from Spending Plan funds.

The South Shore Apartments project is a market rate rental housing development in which the first phase includes of two 38-unit apartment buildings with future plans for three additional buildings.

The city council established a Spending Plan in December 2022 to "provide assistance to private development consisting of the development of a variety of housing to address the city's housing needs. This includes, but is not limited to, both market rate and workforce housing along with a combination of owner occupied and rental housing."

In other business Monday, the council formally accepted three separate grants that pertain to Worthington Municipal Airport improvements.

A $5,250 State of Minnesota grant will cover a portion of the storm water pollution prevention plan upgrade at the Worthington Municipal Airport. A Minnesota Department of Transportation grant will go toward a 150- by 50-foot three-bay hangar; the local share of the $1.2 million project is now just $51,025.21. Another MnDOT grant will go toward airport maintenance and operations with not-to-exceed $77,584.21 of state aid in both fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

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