RIVER FALLS — The council heard the first reading of a petition to annex land at Powell Avenue and Woodridge Drive from the Town of Troy to the City of River Falls with plans for development.

Senior Planner Harley Mehlhorn presented the annexation petition. In the future, the plan is for the annexation of 7.28 acres of land off of Powell Avenue with plans of developing a 24-unit twin home development.

“Notably, this is not a request for development, and no formal plans are part of this particular request before you tonight,” Mehlhorn said. “If the property is annexed, plans for future development would be reviewed for conformance with city ordinance at that time.”

Only properties that have requested to be a part of the annexation are annexed by the city. The property would be zoned residential and is surrounded by already residentially zoned property.
The May 13 city council meeting will feature a second reading and disposition to determine if the property will be annexed.

There was another site development item on the agenda April 22, as a development plan for the Sycamore Two project off of Sycamore Street was approved. Included in the plan is a 24-unit senior living memory care facility and an additional eight units of independent living patio townhomes.

“The proposed site consists of five total buildings, that being a ~17,000 sq. ft. memory care facility and four 3,500 sq. ft. ‘villa’ buildings, each containing two units of the aforementioned ‘independent living’ townhomes. All proposed buildings are single-story,” city documents state.

The resolution was packaged with the discontinuance of right-of-way on East Charlotte Street in order to convert a portion of the street to a private drive for the site.

Council approved a $109,586 purchase for a new 120 KW portable generator for well 4 (adjacent to the Sycamore water tower) from Woltor. The amount additionally covers cords to plug in Well 4 and the city lift stations. They also approved $88,825 to Monarch Paving Company to restore the Wastewater Treatment Facility parking lot.

Alderperson Jeff Bjork asked what costs and time the city would lose to prepare for Monarch to pave. Water/Wastewater Superintendent Dean Seemuth said the Streets Department of the city will pull out the current pavement and do some prep work before Monarch comes in. Seemuth did not have an amount of man hours or cost estimation for the project.

The mayor and council also designated May 10 as World Migratory Bird Day, acknowledged Police Appreciation Week from May 11-17, recognized the UWRF women’s hockey team for winning the Division III National Championship hosted in River Falls and recognized Professional Municipal Clerks Week from May 4-10.