By Sara Quam
The Luverne City Council surprised about a dozen residents when it removed the Fledgling Field rezoning ordinance from the agenda.
Cornerstone Construction withdrew its request for rezoning late Tuesday afternoon. It was apparent that the council wouldn't have the two-thirds majority votes needed to pass the ordinance.
Owner Gary Verkinnes has said that if he couldn't develop the property into a funeral home to sell to Dan Dingmann, he would use the two lots to develop housing.
It isn't clear whether old homes would be moved in or duplexes or new homes would be built on the green space.
The zoning ordinance that was removed from Tuesday's agenda, if passed, would have changed the R-1 district into an R-2, which allows funeral homes as a conditional use.
As an R-1 district, Fledgling Field is a purely residential zone that is held in the highest esteem in the city codes. An R-2 district allows more flexibility to property owners because it is considered a higher density residential zone.
Last week the Planning Commission approved the ordinance as a recommendation to the City Council after much debate.
Because the zone is surrounded by R-1 property, it could be considered spot zoning and may have been overturned by state courts if the zone change had been approved.
BIS fallout
After the councilÕs regular meeting, it met with the Luverne Economic Development Authority to discuss Luverne layoffs at Berkley Information Services.
BIS leases its office space from the LEDA, and it's up for renewal in December 2004.
BIS representatives have told the city that they might be out of the building as early as the end of 2002 or beginning of 2003.
Because the layoffs or job transfers are coming in increments, the city is in an awkward position because it has a building available at an undetermined time with workers leaving slowly.
LEDA director Tony Chladek said, "How do we capture the workforce and keep them here? The only answer is to get another business."
Chladek said the labor availability is a bigger draw to a potential business than the building itself, once vacated.
"Our workforce is competent in its knowledge base," Chladek said. "They are overeducated and probably underpaid. We are what businesses are looking for."
A sidebar to the BIS layoffs is the Tri-State Insurance move that is expected to take place in 2003.
Two years ago, W.R. Berkley Corporation, the owner of both Tri-State and BIS, announced that Tri-State would move to Sioux Falls by summer 2001. (Tri-State Insurance is now known as Continental Western Group, Tri-State Region.)
The city wants Tri-State and BIS employees to have a reason to stay in Luverne so the joint bodies gave direction to city staff to start pursuing new businesses to locate in Luverne.
The new businesses may not have the existing offices, but using the workforce is the goal.
The city doesn't necessarily want to entice a competing insurance agency or technology firm to town, but Chladek said the city has to make a sound business decision. And if that means employees would leave the existing businesses for any new ones - that's still jobs for local people.
"We have to make a business decision, just like they do," Chladek said.
LEDA member Nate Golla said that the city's loyalty should be to people who need jobs, not to companies that are taking their business out of town.
"Have they done anything loyal for us other than managing to stay in town this long?" Golla said.
LEDA member Karis Gust said that a competing business would be good for the town. "It would be an industry cluster and create more synergy."
Waiting for both businesses to actually leave town before working on getting new ones would mean lost opportunities, LEDA member Mike Engesser said. "If we wait, the workforce is going to trickle away."
If any new businesses come to Luverne, a temporary office could be set up until the Berkley businesses leave, or a new building altogether may be needed.
"We built BIS; we can build another," Gust said.
Through contacts in the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, Luverne has already gotten word of some businesses interested in locating in the city.