Lots happening in April

New downtown

A new sign was being installed on Friday.

The Clinic of Family Medicine is no longer on Grace Street across the highway from the hospital but is now in downtown Rensselaer.  There will be a ribbon cutting in May for a new clinic in what was the Clinic of Family Medicine. I do not know the details of what is happening.

Ayda's has finished recoating its Harrison-Street wall. They have also been busy working on outdoor seating to the east of the building. There were a couple of concrete trucks on site last week for a new floor. Their goal is to open this seating for Cinco de Mayo.

There will be a new fountain in the center of Filson Park. This is the base and it seems to have come with the water already in it ;-)

The fountain will go in the middle of this ring. I am not sure what the purpose of the ring is.

The Brick Street project continues with installation of various underground utilities. This picture was taken near the eastern end of the Harrison-Street section.

The workers dig holes, put something in them, cover the hole up, and dig another hole.

The Alliance Bank Blog has an article on what is happening to the former Walter's building on the corner of Harrison and VanRensselaer.

Art show

The Annual PAC Member Show is on exhibit at the Fendig Gallery from April 15 till June 2

This last item is unusual because it is made of paper.

Gallery hours are Tuesdays noon until 4:00 and Thursdays 2:00 until 6:00. The closing reception is on June 2 at 2:00.

Rensselaer Advisory Planning Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Planning Commission held a meeting on the evening of Thursday, April 18. The first item was a public hearing to change the zoning of a lot of land west of the Interstate and north of Burger King from B2 to A1. The land is currently farmed. The City of Rensselaer would like to have an easement through some of this lot to run the proposed water and sewer line and this was discussed at the Plan Commission in March. I am not sure what the advantage of having the zoning A1, but it was passed and will now go to the City Council for approval.

There was a discussion of having the fees that the Building Department collects go into an account that the Planning Commission could access. They currently go into the City's general fund. The City Council would need to approve this change.

Prairie Street is the name of an undeveloped Street north of Merritt Street and partially between Owen and McKinley Streets. The area in which this undeveloped street is located is on the boundary of three additions to Rensselaer, which confuses things. Also, the petitioner was not able to find records of what had been done in the past. Apparently part of the street had been abandoned, but instead of the property being split between adjacent property owners, only the northern neighbor received land. The petitioner would like the rest of the street vacated with all of it going to him. He would like to run semi-trailer trucks on it, but cannot presently because his northern neighbor stores stuff on the property. Nothing was done at this meeting but it will probably resurface at a future meeting.

Rensselaer Board of Public Works meeting.

The Plan Commission meeting ended about a half hour before the scheduled start of the BZA meeting. The first item was old business, a property on South Airport Road that the neighbors have complained about. The home has been under construction for several years and the neighbors say it is an eyesore. The Board gave the owner 90 days to make significant progress and will review the situation in July. (The property is not in City limits but in the City's buffer zone.)

The first item under new business was a request for a variance for a property on North McKinley Avenue. The house is used for two residences but is in an area zoned B2. It recently was sold and now it needs a variance to keep it the use it has always been in. The variance passed.

The second item was a conditional use variance for the Truth Bible Church, which is a new church meeting in the Ritz Theater. Churches can be located in any zoning district, but all need a conditional use variance. The variance was granted with the condition that it waive the right to contest any liquor license being granted within 300 feet.

The third item was a variance of use for Paul's Auto Repair & Towing. It is located in a B2 district that allows auto repair but towing is not on the list of the permitted uses. The towing company keeps towed vehicles behind the buildings where they are not easily visible. One member was hostile, saying he did not want another junk yard in town. The owners responded that 90% of the vehicles they store are abandoned vehicles that the City, County, and State asks them to tow. They cannot dispose of the vehicles until they get title to them, which can take the State up to 6 months to grant. They are then hauled and sold to a junk yard in DeMotte. The variance was approved with conditions that the maximum number of unclaimed vehicles allowed is 75, that no parts be sold, that no unclaimed vehicles be left on the front of the lot, and the part of the lot containing unclaimed vehicles be fenced.

The final item on the agenda was a variance of use for D1 Towing and Recovery. They are located to the west of the Amtrak station in an area zoned residential. Amtrak and the City would like to pave the access road to the station and Amtrak was concerned that the heavy trucks would destroy the road. D1 does not haul heavy trucks to this location; their storage yard is on Walnut Street. They also said that they would like to move to a location closer to the Interstate. Their variance was approved.

While the discussion of the towing was underway, about five people came into the meeting. They were residents of South Airport Road and wanted to comment on the first item in the meeting but had gotten the time wrong. They received a summary of what had happened and expressed their concerns.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met for its second April meeting on Monday night. Barb Michal, representing the Art-in-the-Alley event, requested that the section of Van Rensselaer Street between the alley and Kellner be closed on July 27 if the event is held in Filson Park. If the Park is not finished enough, the alternative site would be Foundation Park. The request was approved.

The next item on the agenda, an apprenticeship graduation, was postponed until the next meeting because the person making the presentation was not able to attend.

Two ordinances involving accounting changes were then passed to allow the Street Department to purchase a new garbage truck for $257,065. One established a Sanitation Depreciation Fund and the second approved a loan from the Water Depreciation Fund to this new Sanitation Depreciation Fund. The new truck should arrive in early May.

The Council approved the acceptance of several roads as City roads. Parts of Daugherty, Schuster, and Sparling were added to the City road map as well as part of Melville. Some of the 2.39 miles were previously SJC roads and others were County roads. I believe that all were being maintained by the City.

The Council approved changing Sanitation accounting from a cash basis to an accrual basis. The change is connected to the change of Sanitation from a City department to a City utility. The Council also approved a public relations request of up to $150 for potting soil and flowers for the front of the Police Station.

The meeting then ended with a series of announcements and reports. The Police Department has begun tagging abandoned vehicles. The annual fish-fry dinner for the Fire Department will be on May 3 from 4:00 until 7:00. The new roof on the Electric Department building has been installed. In the first week of May Amtrak may be working on the depot. On May 7 the City will be zooming with Amtrak to discuss closing some rail crossings. The first tournament at the Blacker fields will be on May 4-5. There is an 811-awareness open house with lunch at the Gas Department on Friday from 11 to 1.

I missed the first April meeting. The official minutes are on the City website here.

Odds and ends

A company from England is testing drones at the Jasper County Airport.

Bazz's Roller Rink is changing owership. It opened in 1953.

The Fendig Summer Theater will be presenting Seussical this July.