Lincoln City Council:
Lincolnland Technical Education Building & Trades to build home on Ninth Street

 

[March 04, 2021] 

On Monday March 1st, Lincoln aldermen approved by unanimous vote a request from Lincolnland Technical Education Center Building & Trades Director Matt Puckett to switch properties within the city for the next building project.

Puckett had brought the request to the city at the February 24th Committee of the Whole meeting. He was seeking to switch building site locations of city owned property from a site on Pekin Street to the vacant lot at 201 Ninth Street.

The city had turned the Pekin Street property over to the LTEC for new construction homes after the completion of the city’s Municipal Services compound. The property given to the LTEC was the building site for three homes. LTEC has completed and sold two homes at that location. The remaining property, Puckett said is pretty small and not an ideal building site for the building trades program. However, it is a desirable site for another entity in town, the Veteran’s Assistance Commission.

Puckett said that the VAC was interested in obtaining the property and building a 600 square foot dwelling for a single veteran in need of housing. Puckett said he would like to return the property to the city who could then decide if they would work with the VAC. At the same time, Puckett said the property on Ninth Street was more than suitable for the building project. He said he would like to ask the city to give him the right to lead his class through a new construction home project on that property instead.

As with the previous agreement for the Pekin Street properties, the LTEC would construct a new home on the site and offer it up for sale. When sold, the profits from the sale would be shared between the LTEC and the city.

Puckett warned that he was not optimistic that the home would render a great deal of profit. He said that with the coronavirus pandemic had come much higher prices for lumber, so even though the home would be comparable to those built in the past, Puckett was not holding out hope for a good profit.

In early 2020, the abandoned home at 201 Ninth Street had burned. The city had been out the cost of demolition and clearing of the debris after the fire. Aldermen then discussed the ownership of the property, discovering that the owner had died and that no family member had come forward to claim the property. There was a lien for child support on the property that would have to be considered as well as property tax due.

In August, after researching the issues with the property, city attorney John Hoblit recommended the city move forward with the purchase of the property for the property tax debt in the hopes of reselling it and reclaiming some of the costs incurred with the demolition and clearing.

On February 24th, when the topic was opened for discussion, Acting Mayor Tracy Welch said he felt it was in everyone’s best interest to do the switch. It would involve a new intergovernmental agreement with LTEC. He said questions about the VAC sponsored home on Pekin Street could be addressed later directly with Dan Benedict of that organization.

Welch said in both cases new builds would result in new owners and new property tax revenue.

Steve Parrott agreed that it would be good to see a new home built on Ninth Street, but he had a concern as to whether the new home would be built to fit in with the community. He noted that Ninth Street has several older, two-story homes. Would the new build blend in with the rest of the homes?

Welch said that he lives on Ninth Street and can attest that there are both older two-story homes and newer single story ranch-like homes. He noted in particular the 200 block on the same side of the street as the vacant lot there are a number of single story homes.

Bateman said he too was in favor of a new construction, but also shared Parrot’s concerns. He added that he felt like this was a good answer to city owned properties that need to have something done with them. He said that the city should do more of these agreements.

Jeff Hoinacki also agreed and noted that the city had sold the empty lots of the former Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital parking lot on Eighth Street with the hopes they would be developed. He said thus far nothing has happened there and the lots are standing empty.

On March 1st the intergovernmental agreement for the Ninth Street property was on the agenda. The motion to approve was made by Bateman with Ron Keller offering the second.

Matt Puckett was on the phone ready to field questions. Again, Parrott asked about the design of the house and if it would fit in the community.

Puckett said he felt that it would. The plan is to design the floorplan to fit the lot with a footprint of between 1,600 and 2,000 square feet. He said the design would look much like the homes on Pekin Street, but that the two-car garage would be on the back of the home, facing the alley.

Puckett also said that he would share the blueprints with the city prior to construction so that everyone was in agreement.

There were two votes to take place regarding the switch of building sites. One vote was pertaining to the Ninth Street property and permitting LTEC to build on the site. The second vote was in regard to the Pekin Street property and removing LTEC’s commitment to build there. Both motions passed unanimously with all eight aldermen present.

Puckett said that city approval was step one of the process. He will take the city’s approvals to the Lincoln Community High School Board of Education as well as the Lincolnland Technical Education Center Board for their approval. Once all three parties are in agreement then plans for Ninth Street can move forward.

If all goes well, the home on Ninth Street would be the building and trades project for the 2021-22 school year.

[Nila Smith]