Farmington council OKs 4 ordinancesSub

By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post

FARMINGTON – Months of discussion came to fruition Monday with the passage of several new ordinances by the Farmington City Council.

The council voted unanimously, and quickly, in favor of four ordinances and tabled another. Votes had more to do with discussions having already take place than with the chilly conditions of the council chambers, where mini-split heat pumps were not working.

Approved were measures to vacate South Sunny Street, to acquire a vacant lot in the Wasson Ridge Subdivision, to enter a TIF agreement with Scott Anderson and to establish new regulations for solar installations in the city.
Lozier Oil will rebuild the vacated South Sunny Street to the city’s approval and will allow the public to use the street moving forward.

Ken Balagna and David Arrenholz of Cramer Road Developers, LLC are donating Lot 1 in the Wasson Ridge Subdivision to the city. Mayor Kenn Stufflebeam, who wore a stocking cap during the chilly meeting, said Balagna has offered to continue mowing the lot.

Anderson will receive $3,337.50, which is 75% of the cost of installation of a mini-split HVAC unit in the Subway restaurant at 17 E. Fort St.

The ordinance for solar installations is designed primarly to allow firefighters to know the whereabouts and type of solar structures in the city in case of fire.

Existing solar structures are grandfathered in without paying the $100 fee that will be required of new systems. The ordinance also stipulates various requirements for new solar installations.

Tabled was an ordinance that would pay Dana Cardenas and Mi Casa Farmington, LLC a total of $60,000 in TIF funds to reimburse for eligible project costs incurred at 94 and 100 E. Fort St.

Under terms of the ordinance, a series of five $12,000 payments are to be paid out over the next five years, provided that Mi Casa Farmington, LLC remains in business and is current on property tax and sales-tax payments during terms of the agreement.

Local business owner Cassandra Anderson said Cardenas, who attended the meeting, was not aware of terms of the ordinance. Stufflebeam suggested the parties meet Tuesday night during a TIF 101 informative meeting.

As for the lack of heat in the chambers, Stufflebeam said four rooms in the municipal building are scheduled for repairs by Spoon River Mechanical. Freon has apparently been leaking from lines to those rooms.