A new Worthington Police Department officer was sworn in during Monday night’s Worthington City Council meeting.
Hsa Eh recently joined the WPD. He was born in Burma, and his family fled that nation due to civil unrest and spent eight years in a refugee camp in Thailand. The family was able to leave the camp as the result of a United Nations program and moved to the United States.
Hsa and his family eventually settled in Marshall, where he graduated from Marshall High School in 2020. After high school, he joined the National Guard and later attended and graduated from Minnesota West in 2023 with a degree in law enforcement. Hsa started with the WPD in February and is currently working full-time shifts for the department.
Worthington Director of Public Safety Troy Appel hailed Hsa – who had numerous members of his extended family in attendance Monday night – as a “great example of the American dream.”
In other business pertaining to the WPD, the council approved a pair of donations to the department. New City Buffet donated $500 to the WPD to benefit public safety programs, with the contribution to be utilized as part of a future public safety equipment purchase. Rodney Kullman donated $500 to the WPD to benefit the public safety canine program.
Among other matters, council members approved a pair of property tax abatements. The first was for KJSM Investments for a two-unit condominium to be built on Cherrywood Lane, while the other was for a new 26,000-square-foot retail, showroom and shop facility for NTRA Properties that will house New Tec. That property is located on Bioscience Drive on the west side of U.S. 59.
The council also took action on amendments to a pair of Planned Unit Developments during its meeting. The Worthington Planning Commission had recommended the approval of each during its meeting last week.
Southwestern Mental Health Center, located at 1210 Fifth Ave., applied for an amendment to Planned Unit Development #11 to allow for additional signage on its property. The applicant, which is rebranding itself as ElevaCare, plans to install a monument sign and a post/panel sign. One sign will replace the current building sign, and the other two are new signs.
The Planned Unit Development was initially adopted in order to allow for an office building to be constructed to serve the needs of the non-profit alongside a residential treatment facility. The subject property was previously zoned ‘R-4’ Medium Density Residential, which did not allow for office services. By establishing a PUD, it allowed for office services but otherwise maintained the requirements of the ‘R-4’ District.
The vote on Monday’s PUD amendment for the signs was unanimous at 4-0, with councilman Larry Janssen not in attendance. This was the only required reading of the ordinance.
Also approved unanimously was the first reading of an amendment for PUD #14 Glenwood Heights Second and Third Additions that would remove minimum roof requirements, including pitch. Roof pitches less than 6/12 would be allowed as well as alternative roofing materials. The city had received a request to construct a home that would not meet the minimum roof pitch requirements.
City staff brought the request to the Glenwood Heights Housing Committee -- a group consisting of council representatives and Water and Light Commission representatives, which are the two entities that funded the construction of the Glenwood Heights expansion. This committee was in favor of pursuing an amendment to remove the roof requirement from the PUD.
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