WILLMAR -- Construction of streets, utilities and homes in the embattled Westwind Estates Third Addition could begin this year if the Willmar City Council complies with a settlement to avoid a lawsuit threatened by the developer.
If the Planning Commission and the City Council approve the proposed settlement, construction could begin, said Rick Goodemann, executive director of Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership of Slayton, the project's developer.
Under the settlement, Southwest will drop its request for a conditional use permit, which would have allowed the developer to sell leaseto-own twin homes.
The permit had been approved by the Planning Commission but was overturned by the Board of Zoning Appeals. Southwest believes the city's denial of the permit was unlawful and has threatened a lawsuit.
Instead, Southwest is proposing to build rental units, which are allowed by zoning ordinance and do not require a conditional use permit.
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The settlement was negotiated last week by attorneys for Southwest and the city and explained to the council Monday night by City Attorney Rich Ronning. No action was taken. Second Ward council members Ron Christianson, who opposes Westwind, and Steve Gardner, who supports it, declined to comment Monday night on the settlement.
The settlement requires the Planning Commission and the council to approve a revised plat of the project and the council to approve construction of infrastructure, which will be paid by Southwest. Southwest would release the city from liability, according to Ronning.
"The partnership is dropping the conditional use permit,'' said Goodemann.
The 22 lease-to-own units would change to rental units, and there would still be the original 6 rental units -- for a total of 28 rentals -- and 6 single-family units for sale. Goodemann said a manager will still live at the site, just as had been planned under the previous proposal.
"Really nothing has changed substantially, other than the conditional use permit,'' he said.
Gary Peterson, an adjacent landowner who appealed the permit and opposes the project, said Tuesday the settlement changes nothing. He says Southwest went with rentals because Southwest lost the appeal.
"What's changed?'' he asked. "It sounds like they're saying if you give us what we want anyway, we then won't sue you. There's nothing in it for us. It doesn't sound like a good deal to me.''
Peterson hopes the four council members who have so far blocked approval of Westwind streets don't change their stance.
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Peterson said Westwind must be built by the end of 2009 or funding expires. Goodemann said the project has a twoyear deadline.
"If they want to go the court route, how long is that going to take? They have to be moving dirt now to start building these things. If they can't get dirt moving, then it's not going to happen,'' said Peterson.
Goodemann said Southwest operates roughly 900 rental units in other cities, the closest of which is Montevideo with a 24-unit complex.
Goodemann said Willmar is the first city where Southwest has ever encountered major opposition.
"Possibly people don't understand it and the concept got mixed up with Elm Lane issues, and a group got together and more or less attacked us with the worst connotations on public housing disasters in the nation, which this is nothing like that and nothing we've ever done has ever turned out that way,'' he said.
"We've been painted with a rather broad brush, and it's been very, very difficult to come back and try to have a reasonable discussion and present our case.''
Westwind has sparked neighborhood opposition, but Hipolito Jasso, a Latino homeowner in the vicinity, says implications of racial discrimination involving Westwind, even from two clergy persons, are not true.
In a letter to the council, Jasso said a congregate low- to lower-income housing development among moderate to high-income single-family homes will devalue his home.
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"The allegations of racial or religious discrimination are false and have only distracted the debate from the real issue and have the potential of poisoning and severing our neighborhoods and communities,'' he wrote.
