Council OKs purchase agreement for old YMCA

• The Old Y

The former Worthington Area YMCA location between Second and Third avenues is shown.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — The Worthington City Council on Monday approved a purchase agreement with the Worthington Area YMCA for the former YMCA site on 11th Street.

The agreement states the YMCA would be responsible for the first $10,000 of expenses to address the existing contamination. The city would reimburse the YMCA for costs above that amount.

When contaminants found during an environmental study of the site are stabilized, the site will enter “closed status” with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. At that point, the city will take ownership of the building for $1.

A longer-than-expected timeline for the contamination stabilization means it could still be more than a year before development of the property into a senior citizens’ center begins.

“Essentially we thought it would be more like a six-month process, but unfortunately that proved to be overly optimistic,” explained City Administrator Craig Clark. “The MPCA suggested that it might be more like nine to 18 months.”

“It is hard to wait,” added Alderman Mike Woll, “but we’ve begun the process.”

The YMCA will use the MPCA’s petro fund program, which provides state funds of up to a 90 percent reimbursement of the costs of stabilization.

Council members also authorized negotiation of a contract with Buetow & Associates for architectural and engineering services for the new fire station.

The council has committed $4.1 million in hospital sale proceeds to the facility, but the total project cost is not yet known.

“In the last four or five years there have been some really nice fire halls build for less than the communities were willing to pay,” said Mayor Alan Oberloh.

The next step in the process will be completion of a feasibility study for the proposed fire station location on the former Campbell Soup Co. site.

“We have a general square footage that we’ve given out, but we haven’t gotten into the design yet,” reported Director of Public Safety Mike Cumiskey.

Council members also stressed the importance of using an owner representative, who would serve as a liaison between the construction site and the project architects and look out for the city’s best interests.

In other business, the council:

* Approved a resolution pre-certifying the tax levy collectable in 2011 at $2.78 million, a 4 percent increase over 2010. It also pre-certified the Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s proposed levy in the amount of $93,241. A public meeting to discuss the final 2011 budget and levy will be 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at City Hall.

* Approved contracting with K & H Construction & Seamless Steel Siding LLC to repair the Prairie View Golf Links clubhouse shake roof by adding a steel roof for a cost of $9,400. The city administrator was authorized to investigate options for removal of the shake roof.

* Set a public hearing to discuss issue of general obligation capital improvement plan bonds and plan to refinance the City Hall improvement project for 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at City Hall.

* Authorized roof replacement for the current fire station.

* Received a report from Rolin Sinn of the Minnesota Department of Transportation regarding the U.S. 59/Minnesota 60 project within the city.

* Set a hearing for a series of proposed paving, sanitary sewer and water main improvements for 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at City Hall.

Tags: city council, news, worthington, ymca