DEDA Meeting Means No For Coffee Creek
A proposal for new housing rentals for students, senior and low income families in Duluth was turned down at the April 3 Duluth Economic Development Authority meeting. After one vote, the proposal was able to sway one council member to a yes, but that wasn’t enough. With council member Roger Reinert’s nay, the proposal was turned down.
The proposal of a development named Coffee Creek included 40 town homes and two apartment buildings. It was slated to include 20% of its housing to be affordable or set aside as senior or student housing for at least 5 years.
A sketch of the development was passed out with many of the council members giving the same reaction.
“After quickly doing math, it sounds like the affordable housing will only be in the apartments,� said Reinert. The tone in his voice indicated dissatisfaction.
Brothers Ted and Dan Stahke proposed this development. They agreed and said the disbursement of the affordable housing units would be dense.
According to the council, another weakness in the proposal was it’s uncertainty.
“This is strictly conceptual,� said Ted Stahke referring to a large black and white drawing of Coffee Creek placed on an easel. “It will be factual when we are ready to build.�
“We don’t know what we are getting into,� said council member Gary Krause. “That makes me nervous.�
“Why I can’t support this proposal is because the segregation of affordable housing bothers me,� said Reinert before he voted no the second time on this proposal.
Also brought up at the DEDA meeting was parking in canal park. Council members thought that employee parking in canal park needed to be addressed.
“We should encourage people to use long term parking,� said Reinert.
Also, members were informed that the 50% increase in the cost of public parking would be effective in June.
DEDA decided that supporting the Coffee Creek development was not in the best interest for the city of Duluth. During the meeting, other properties were approved to be sold and bought. Issues for future meetings of DEDA were mentioned. This meeting was business as usual.