There was a lot that was discussed during the Austin City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Bonnie Rietz and Mary Anne Wolesky, co-chairs of the Austin ArtWorks Festival, shared with the city council some of this year’s festival highlights.

“It was a fantastic festival,” Rietz addressed. “We really cannot do this without the city of Austin.”

Rietz went on to mention that this year’s weather for the festival was “the best they’ve had” and that at least 50 percent of the artists and authors who were a part of the festivities were new to the Austin ArtWorks Festival. Wolesky and Rietz also announced Tonja Ihlenfeldt as the winner of the Austin ArtWorks Festival City Art Award, which gives the winning artist $500 and to have their artwork displayed at Austin City Hall.

Ihlenfeldt, who was from Mason City, Iowa, was also the 2017 Purchase Award Winner. Her piece titled “Unity” features a painting of the Paramount Theatre, and was selected as the work that Stiehm will hang somewhere in the building. Stiehm also thanked Wolesky and Rietz for their continuing work on the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

“Bonnie and Mary, you’re the heart of the festival,” he added.

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Deer Hunt

Kevin Nelson, director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, shared that there was further discussion on possibly adding properties to the designated City Archery Deer Hunt during Tuesday’s work session. The following was agreed upon:

•Adding a treed area at the bottom of Knob Hill (city property) with an added provision that hunting on this specific property will end for the season with the first accumulating snowfall. This was to have hunters out of the way because of kids or families making use of the sledding hill.

•To seek adding Stiver’s Nursery (private property) to the hunt with the owner’s written permission and from Austin’s police chief.

•To be able to add other private properties to the hunt should they meet the approval of the established City Hunt Committee and Austin police chief and that they also receive written permission and of said property owners and chief.

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Tax abatement for economic development projects still a debate over Grandstay Hotel

Councilman Jeff Austin cleared the air with the public about his decision not to cast his vote in support of the tax abatement application submitted for the GrandStay Hotel project. The city council had approved the request in a 4-2 vote last month, despite the Mower County Board and Austin Public Schools rejecting the proposed tax abatement.

The abatement request for the proposed 56-unit hotel that’s looking to be built on Fourth Avenue Northeast, west of The Tendermaid, was brought up in April, and the estimated $6.5 million project had requested abatements of up to $200,000. If all taxing entities participated, then Austin’s share would have been $85,000 with a payback time of 2.8 years.

Austin stated that although he supported economic development and that he was not against the project entirely, he believed that there needed to be more specific criteria for businesses interested in building that’s different from those who apply for housing tax abatements. He also felt it was unfair to other local projects that didn’t request a tax abatement.

“It’s not because I’m against the project,” Austin clarified. “I just don’t think it’s gonna make it on its own. In the future, I think it’s in the city’s best interest to have some kind of criteria to grant a tax abatement. I just wanted to make clear of my feelings for a project like this. The GrandStay Hotel project did not meet the criteria to receive a tax abatement.”

During the open discussion at the work session,  Austin made his thoughts known to his fellow council members about his dissenting vote for the GrandStay Hotel abatement request. He also expressed his frustration that the abatement’s approval by the council.

Since the council approved the request, the city can still request the Port Authority to reconsider its stance on requiring all three taxing entities to approve the abatement. It’s possible that the project could still move forward without the abatement, or just be stopped in its tracks completely.

Councilwoman Laura Helle stated that downtown was a key location for Austin, and that there needed to be an incentive to bring developers into the city, when it’s already difficult to attract larger-scale firms and businesses to a rural area as opposed to the metro.

“Economic development takes forever in Greater Minnesota and rural Minnesota cannot wait for the perfect developer or project,” Helle added. “If we do, then it’s basically having developers saying essentially ‘we’re going to go down to the city that’s willing to do this project.’”

Councilman Steve King also stated that every city has incentives for drawing economic development, and that in order for the city to further develop, they needed to compete.

“We gotta compete,” King said. “It takes money to make money.”

Austin disagreed, stating that with the GrandStay Hotel project struggling to find funding, he doesn’t believe that a tax abatement would necessarily mean that the project would continue forward and that by offering a financial incentive for a project with a shaky future, he doesn’t want to see the city get blamed if the project fails to proceed.

“I would rather have someone say that they can put a shovel in the ground tomorrow,” Austin said. “Not we will see in two to three years. I’m just saying that the city needs to consider its tax abatement projects and that there should be other qualifying criteria. This project might not happen. It’s not our fault if it didn’t get done.”