Clearwater authorization passes

Eleven Waseca citizens spoke during the public comment section of the regular Waseca City Council Meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 19 talking about the Clearwater Preserve project or the flooding of homes. 

 

Advocating for the Clearwater development were six prominent Waseca leaders and business owners including Mikhail Rostislavovich, Larry Johnson, Blain Nelson, Aaron Casterton, Tom Sankovitz and Bernie Gaytko. Two citizens spoke strongly against the development, expressing concerns with the debt the city is incurring and dissatisfaction with the quality of answers they have received to  their questions. 

 

The council approved the final plat for the Clearwater Preserve subdivision with a 5-2 vote; council members Jeremy Conrath and James Ebertowski voted no. 

 

Prior to the vote, Ebertowski had stated council members voting against the project have  varied reasons for doing so, but, “I don’t think any of the three of us that voted no on the last meeting are hoping for this project to fail. We’re all rooting for the project if it moves forward to be successful, although we have our own concerns.”  

 

A vote authorizing city staff to advertise for bids on phase 1 of the project also passed, with four council members voting in favor and three–Gary Conrath, Jeremy Conrath and James Ebertowski–voting no. 

 

The document requesting bids for the first phase summarized, “this project phase consists of mass grading for Phase 1 and 2, and the construction of sanitary sewer, water, and storm sewer mains and private service stubs paid for with public funds, stormwater management features, and bituminous street for the first phase of a residential subdivision.”

 

Phase 1 will create a total of 17 single-family lots, Phase 2 will create seven single-family lots and 11 twin home lots, and Phase 3 will create nine single-family lots and six twin home lots. This proposed completed development will have 33 single-family lots and 17 twin home lots for a total of 67 housing units. 

 

Bids for phase 1 are scheduled to be opened Sept. 18, with a report on the bids and contract award anticipated to take place at the Oct. 7 council meeting. The project is to be substantially completed on or before Sept. 25, 2026 with final completion to be reached by June 18, 2027. As presented, the cost of construction for Phase 1 is estimated at just over $2 million.

 

“It’s been hard to give any numbers to people that request them if we haven’t even requested the numbers ourselves,” councilmember Stacey Schroeder said. “This will give us the numbers that everyone is seeking.” 

 

Councilmember Jeremy Conrath said he appreciated all the information given at the meeting. “I’m going to give you some reasons for my no vote. We paid over $600,000 for the land, and right now [Stantec is estimating] when all three developments are developed and all the lots are sold in those three phases, a loss of $576,000 on top of what we paid for the land.” 

 

In other business, Lori Bonin and Ryan Torbenson of Rebound Partners were present at the meeting to provide an update for the Waseca Marketplace project. Bonin said they are very excited to reach a point where they are confident they will be able to break ground and start construction on the project this fall. She added a study showed that housing is needed in Waseca, with 4,000 people commuting daily to Waseca. Also, she added, no new apartment building has been built in town  since the 1990s. 

 

The Marketplace project consists of a 36-unit building, with 28 units at market rate and eight to be rented on an income-based basis. Amenities include modern apartments with stainless steel appliances, in-unit washer and dryer, tile in living space and each unit having either a balcony or patio. There will also be a community room, fitness center, patio and grilling space. 

 

“Very excited to bring this product into the community to address a strong housing need,” Bonin said. 

 

Torbenson said the development is currently on schedule; planners are currently trying to close on land and bank within the next 45 days, with construction starting in early October. 

This $7 million development has several sources of financing according to Torbenson, with United Prairie Bank as a financing partner and a total of $450,000 of grants in forgivable loans. He added there has been great local support, with 15 local investors.

 

The Marketplace is set to open in August or September of 2026. 

 

The council also approved adding park surveillance cameras to additional parks. The Parks Department began installing cameras in high visibility parks in 2023 due to vandalism. City staff planned to install additional cameras in two parks per year through 2027, however, the installation of park cameras did not make the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget in 2025. The budget impact of installing new cameras is an estimated $7,818, but will be used from excess funds from the 2025 CIP from the Northwest Park playground project and park trail improvements. 

 

“I think it’s wise that we’re protecting our investments and I like the fact that we can use the excess funds from these projects that came in under budget to fund them. It just makes sense,” Schroeder said.

 

In the commission reports, councilmember Mark Christiansen said the dog park shelter update is going forward with a donation, so there will be no cost to the taxpayers. The Tink Larson Community Field grandstand project is also moving forward, as is work on the Maplewood Park lodge. 

 

Councilmember Schroeder mentioned in her report from the tourism board that rack cards are being distributed throughout the city and that if a business would like a rack to reach out to the Chamber. The cards offer lists of businesses, agencies and locations which provide various types of services including lodging, specialty shops, and points of interest.

During announcements, councilmember Daren Arndt asked city staff to clarify, for the sake of the public, how unsafe water comes to be in area lakes during times of flooding, and what type of water it is. Sonnenberg explained during the most recent event, somewhere between 5 and 6 million gallons of rainwater combined with raw sewage were pumped out of the sanitary sewer system. He went on to say an estimated one-tenth of the water was sewage, but a definite number is difficult to pin down.

 

“A rule of thumb that we’ve estimated is that half is city pipe problem, half is private property owner problem. The council very clearly said, ‘Let’s work on our problem before we require the private property owners to do the same,’” Sonnenberg said. 

 

He added, “Our number one priority is to try to keep sewer water out of peoples’ basements.”

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:12 p.m.