RIVER FALLS — River Falls City Council unanimously approved an implementation plan and development agreement between the city and T Buck Properties LLC at the April 27 city council meeting for Dawes Place Phase I.

Dawes Place is a planned unit development in the Highview Meadows development off of County Road M. The council approved a general development plan for the Dawes Place project in Highview Meadows on Feb. 23, 2021.

The specific implementation plan includes detailed architectural, engineering, landscaping and stormwater plans.

Highview Meadows First Addition was approved and partially built in 2005. The total project will include 112 units in 13 buildings, completed in two phases. This first phase will complete the southern half of the development. Plans for phase two will be submitted at a later date.

This project phase covers 3.2 acres and will include 42 units in five six-unit buildings (traditional townhome style) and one 12-unit building. Each unit will contain three bedrooms, an at- tached two-car garage, and driveway space for two vehicles. The developer plans to own and manage the 42 units.

The overall Highview Meadows development is two to three phases from completion, according to a city memo. The next single-family development phase, which will occur later this year, will connect Meadows Drive to Williams Avenue.

Other development

At an April 7 Plan Commission meeting, developer Gordon Awsumb, representing landowners Jim and Teri Renslow, presented two concept plans for the property at 641 S. Main St., which sits directly south of the South Fork of the Kinnickinnic River. The property once had two single family homes on it, which have been demolished.

One concept plan maps out a 30-unit, fourstory multi-family development. The other concept plan is for eight cottage-style, energyefficient, single-family homes with three bedrooms, two-car garages and front porches. Awsumb said they would be rentals for at least six years.

Jim Renslow said the area between downtown and the south end of Main Street needs redevelopment as it’s “aging and unattractive.” Professors and young professionals need housing in the city, he added.

Cascade Court resident Jim Sullivan said neighbors are worried about traffic in that area, since they were told there would be no Main Street access. They also don’t want to lose trees or yard space.

Park Street resident Steven Tyler Kohlhagen is worried about traffic as he has two young children who bike on the dead-end Cascade Court.

City staff agreed to examine traffic impacts.

Other business

•The mayor declared May 9-15 as Police Appreciation Week and May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in honor of law enforcement officers who have died or become disabled in the line of duty.

•Toland proclaimed May 2-8 as Professional Municipal Clerks Appreciation Week.

•Toland recognized April 30 as Arbor Day in River Falls, which has been a designated Tree City Community since 1994.

Map courtesy of T Buck Properties LLC

Rendering courtesy of T Buck Properties LLC

This rendering shows what the six-unit traditional townhomes in Dawes Place development project’s next phase will look like.