Two businesses move forward with plans after council votes
A pair of Imperial businesses got the go-ahead Monday from the Imperial city council to move forward with their plans.
One is a new business, Rainbow Playhouse LLC, that needed a Conditional Use Permit to operate, and another gained approval for a requested LB840 business loan that will help new owners purchase MorningStar Cafe.
Estefania Franco Escobar owns Rainbow Playhouse LLC, a child care center which will rent space at the United Methodist Church on East 5th Street. Rainbow Playhouse will take children age 3 and older with a maximum of 10 youths, Escobar said.
The UMC property is zoned residential, so her commercial business had to acquire a Conditional Use Permit to locate there. The Planning Commission earlier approved the CUP.
UMC Pastor Deb Copple and Tammy Siverson, Rainbow Promise Preschool Director, joined Escobar at the meeting.
An opening will be set after the state conducts its reviews of the property.
The potential new owners of MorningStar Cafe, Daniel and Kelly Long, received a $165,000 LB840 loan after council action Monday, that will help in the purchase of the restaurant from Jeff and Cindy Castor.
The loan, to be paid off in 10 years at 3% interest, comes from Imperial city sales tax revenue, half of which goes into the economic development, or LB840, side of the fund.
Dan Long told council members they moved from Colorado and had originally looked at purchasing an Ogallala business. He said they’ve always been interested in the restaurant business and the couple operated a food truck in the past.
They moved here because “Colorado was getting too big and too many people,” he said.
In anticipation of the potential purchase, the Longs have been working at MorningStar the past two months, Cindy Castor noted, to learn the operation.
He said they like the community and “it’s a good fit.”
Castor said they hope to close on the sale Oct. 17.
Long added the only change at this point they plan to make is possibly added hours. They will apply for a liquor license which MorningStar currently holds, as well.
Prior to Monday’s council approval, the loan request was also approved by the city’s Loan Review Committee and Citizens Advisory Committee.
Other business
On a 4-0 vote, the council approved creation of a sewer extension district for the WellPark Subdivision owned by Dennis Kunnemann.
Kunnemann has begun the development of the former high school football field into 15 lots for homes. The creation of the district will extend the city’s septic sanitation service to the lots on Kunnemann’s property between Wellington and Park Streets, south of East 12th Street.
The city is currently advertising for bids for that sewer extension, along with bids for a 12th Street water main between Shorthorn Street and Highway 61.
City Clerk/Administrator Jo Leyland said by combining the bids together, the city’s engineer Miller & Associates hopes to draw more interest.
Public Works Supt. Pat Davison said the 12” water main project being bid in conjunction with the sewer extension district will complete a loop in the city’s water main. Now, the water mains dead-end at Shorthorn Street and at the Imperial Inn on Highway 61.
Bids on both projects are due Oct. 13.
In other business, the council gave its annual okay to the city’s One & Six Year Street Plan, as presented by David Blau of Miller & Associates.
There is one project on the one-year plan—the paving of Shorthorn Street and East 10th Street from Chase to Shorthorn.
Supt. Davison said it’s up to the council if property owners along Shorthorn and East 10th Streets are assessed for the costs if that paving materializes. The plan can be easily altered if other street priorities arise and funds are available, he said.
Three city properties were removed from the nuisance list located at 336 West 15th, 410 East 11th and 331 East 5th.
A new nuisance was declared at 332 East 4th, while another property at 323 East 5th will be abated.
Action on the nuisances was recommended by Amber Kuskie of West Central Nebraska Development District, the city’s nuisance officer.
She reported since their review of properties in April, there has been a 92% success rate in clearing nuisance violations her office found. Of the 50 property owners receiving the first courtesy letter, only four remain in the program.
Due to lack of participation, the council voted to discontinue its Owner Occupied Rehab program, which offered funds to eligible homeowners to make repairs to their properties. The $37,400 in the fund will be returned to the state.
In other action, the council approved Scott Wheeler as an Imperial Volunteer Fire Department member.