By Robert Williams

Editor

Over the course of two public meetings and Economic Development Authority (EDA) and Frazee City Council meetings since Tuesday, Jan. 20, residents of Red Willow Heights have emphatically made their opinions known about a proposal to build one or two multi-family apartment units off of County Highway 29 in the front of the development.

Resident Chris Peluso has been the most outspoken of those who own homes in Red Willow and he presented a written petition in opposition to the development to the city council on Wednesday, Jan. 28. 

“Last council meeting I said I could get 80 percent; I think I have over 94 percent signatures, so I hope it’s clear that something we don’t want is a (multi-family) residence in Red Willow,” Peluso said. “Now or in the future. I hope this puts an end to it and stops wasting all our times.”

Peluso also claimed the newspaper was used by “a couple EDA members” as a propaganda tool, regarding a feature story in the Jan. 20 Forum where EDA President Heath Peterson and City Administrator Stephanie Poegel described the potential project in detail. He also stated not once were the opinions of residents noted in the story.

While residents are certainly against the project and comments have been made at the separate meetings by more than just Peluso, the onus of this project was on the EDA to sell the idea to the residents. The residents held all the cards. To change the covenants, 75 percent of residents would need to sign with a notary to allow the apartments to be built and multi-family housing be allowed in the development.

The entirety of their concerns were articulated in the petition Peluso submitted, printed in-full below:

We, the undersigned residents and homeowners of Red Willow Heights, respectfully submit this petition to formally oppose the proposed construction of apartment buildings within our established single-family residential neighborhood.

Red Willow Heights was developed, purchased, and maintained as a single-family home community. Residents made long-term financial and personal investments in this neighborhood with the understanding that zoning and land-use plans would preserve its character, density, and quality of life.

We are concerned that introducing apartment buildings into this development would have the following negative impacts:

Incompatibility with Existing Zoning and Neighborhood Character

Apartment buildings are fundamentally inconsistent with the single-family design, density, and intent of Red Willow Heights.

Increased Traffic and Infrastructure Strain

Higher-density housing would significantly increase traffic, parking congestion, and pressure on roads and utilities not designed for apartment-level use.

Negative Impact on Property Values and Homeowner Investment

Homeowners made purchasing decisions based on the expectation of stable, single-family zoning. Changing this undermines that investment and creates uncertainty.

Precedent for Future High-Density Development

Allowing apartments in this location sets a precedent that threatens the long-term integrity of single-family neighborhoods throughout the community.

We also note that our city already has areas properly zoned and planned for multi-family housing, where apartment developments can be built without disrupting established single-family neighborhoods or displacing homeowner expectations.

We support thoughtful growth and appropriate housing solutions; however, growth should be planned, transparent, and consistent with zoning principles, not imposed on neighborhoods that were never intended to accommodate high-density development.

For these reasons, we respectfully request that the City Council, Planning Commission, and EDA deny approval of any apartment development within Red Willow Heights and uphold the zoning and planning commitments made to residents.

Peluso reiterated he had a vast majority of the households signed to his petition and asked Poegel when the issue would be resolved.

“After the second public meeting we would review the people that attended those meetings and then after we’ve spoken with everybody in the neighborhood then we would determine where we were at with the signatures and if we did or did not have the 75 percent,” said Poegel.

Poegel repeated they wanted to speak with residents who had not attended any of the meetings so they could be fully-informed.

“What’s the timeframe here because I’ll keep coming to every council meeting until this is done?” Peluso said.

Poegel stated EDA members were planning to go door-to-door over the next couple months to which Peluso said his petition proves residents already have the numbers to decline the project.

After a few minutes of going back-and-forth with Poegel, Peluso asked again for an immediate end to the planning.

“This apartment pushing needs to stop; it’s wasting everybody’s time,” he said.

Council and EDA member Drew Daggett stepped in questioning the need to continue the discussion with residents.

“You say we have to go to every property owner; if we can’t reach one does this just keep getting postponed until we reach one?” said Daggett. “What if there is a development bigger than Red Willow that has 150 residents. Are we going to have to go to every single resident to talk to all of them?”

The covenants of Red Willow Heights are atypical; not every development would have this particular issue. However, Mayor Mike Sharp joined Daggett in questioning the need to pursue the issue further with residents.

“I feel that the residents have expressed their will and we can go through the added steps of spending weeks reaching out, but I think it’s very clear what the residents…the residents have spoken,” said Sharp. “My only concern is if we drag this out the developer is kind of in limbo if we want to look at some other options of where multi-family housing could go.”

Council member Mark Kemper provided some historical context in the fact that Red Willow residents have been down this road before with the EDA.

“My biggest concern is this is the third time they’ve come forward on this now because of so-called proposals for it; they’ve brought petitions before; the EDA was well aware of that,” said Kemper. “They have never once reached out to the residents to ask them what they want. Not once and that bothers me a lot; that we have an EDA that is supposedly helping develop the town, but to a certain extent doesn’t care about the people who live here. We’ve got 60 people that live out there and nobody has been contacted of what you’d like to see in your area. That bothers me that the EDA doesn’t care enough about the people that live there to ask them. If this was the first time it’s happened I can see, okay, we’ve jumped the gun but this is not the first time this has happened. This is the third. That’s the part that bothers me. The EDA kind of, to put it mildly, doesn’t listen to what the constituents are asking for or wanting.”

Council member Andrea Froeber called Kemper’s insinuation “unfair” stating there are members of the EDA, including herself and Daggett, who are new to the process.

Kemper rebutted stating it is not new to other members of the EDA.

“Times change and something that we thought was a very good venue; I think that we are exploring the next phase of asking the residents and working with the residents as to what they want,” said Froeber.

Froeber and Kemper continued the discussion of perception with Froeber arguing it may appear the EDA does not care, but that is not true.

“That’s not the intention,” Froeber said.

Kemper cited Peluso for confirmation.

“If you asked Chris I would say that is the perception he gets,” said Kemper.

“Absolutely,” Peluso said.

The perception of residents was proven a week earlier when at least 40 appeared at the Event Center, arriving at the same time, to enter as a group and express their disinterest in the project at the first of two public meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

The second public meeting a week later was sparsely attended.

Commercial avenue 

provides a way forward

The proposed lots in Red Willow are currently zoned for single-family residential or commercial. Poegel has previously stated she would recommend pursuing commercial interests to the EDA if there is no agreement on a covenant change.

Peluso has stated he and other residents are very open to commercial development options over multi-family in Red Willow Heights.

Hoping to keep 

developer on board

Both the EDA and City Council want to pursue a future project with the developer Turnkey Solutions & Development (turnkeysolutionsdev.com) and its Vice President Jason Francis.

Sharp specifically asked for continuing discussions with Turnkey to be placed on the agenda Wednesday night. He asked the council if there was interest in continuing discussions with Turnkey on alternative properties for development.

“I truthfully believe that Turnkey is the right developer; it just comes down to we have to find the right space,” said Sharp.

“I think they’re a good developer too and I think we should continue to try to find a place for them,” said Council Member Jim Rader. “It seems some of the products that they have turned out in some other communities is good quality stuff. I’d like to see them have the opportunity to do something for us. We have needs in town. We have businesses that need customers. We could use an increase in our tax base. This is a developer that has not been seeking a lot of public monies. We haven’t really had that in the past. Most people that have approached us, and I’m just speaking frankly, the people who have approached us want the city to take on the risk all the time, which means we have the cost of projects that could potentially be put back on our taxpayers, who have seen enough tax burden in recent years. I think we should encourage and continue conversations with them.”

Daggett stated he agreed 100 percent with fostering the relationship with Turnkey.

Sharp acknowledged other properties in Frazee have their own limitations, singling out the open lot near Dollar General and that incentives will be needed to attract a developer there.

“I strongly feel that, as a council, we need to look at ways to provide some incentives to overcome some of those financial limitations,” said Sharp. “I think we have to provide some incentive; that’s the direction we need to go.”

Sharp expressed the city needs to pivot away from Red Willow Heights and he wants to set up a special meeting with the developer to discuss future opportunities in Frazee with the full council and Daggett and Froeber representing the EDA.