Discussion on amending the city of Wayne's Future Land Use Map highlighted the Tuesday meeting of the Wayne City Council.
Earlier this year a request had been made to re-zone an area on South Main Street to allow for residential housing in the area.
City Planner Joel Hansen told the council the Planning Commission had discussed the request and voted to leave the map as it currently stands. This area is currently zoned B-1 and houses are not allowed.
This means the houses that are currently in the area are grandfathered in as a non-conforming use and allowed to remain. However, if they were destroyed more than 60%, they would not be allowed to re-build in that location.
Council member Matt Eischied asked "is there no solution to this that would allow someone to re-build a house? There is not a lot of businesses wanting to come in to that location."
Following the public hearing on the topic, Ordinance 2023-10 received first reading approval on a 6-1 vote with Council member Eischied voting against.
In other action, council members voted to approve a resolution approving a domestic water well permit application from Lucas and Hedi Thompson.
Council members approved an application from McLaulvis LLC for a Class K (Catering Endorsement) license. This will allow the establishment to have unlimited special designated liquor licenses and not be required to pay the $40 fee to the Liquor Commission and city of Wayne.
Phil Monahan was re-appointed to his position as Fire Chief for the city of Wayne. He has held this position for 12 years.
Monahan shared information on the number of members currently on the department and invited the council to view a new fire truck the city will be receiving in the coming days.
Several agenda items dealt with the buying and selling of land near the Wayne Community Activity Center.
The city is purchasing a small parcel of land that is part of an easement for the trail and selling real estate to Wayne Community School District #90-0017. This will be used for the construction of a pre-K through second grade facility.
The ordinance directing the sale of the land was passed and the three readings waived.
Ordinance 2023-12 was approved on first reading. It allows for the release and abandonment of a portion of Lots 1 and 2 in the Hillcrest Addition of Wayne. Discussion was held on the need for an easement for the property in question.
Considerable time was spent during the meeting discussing water leaks at the Wayne Aquatic Center Pool.
City Administrator Wes Blecke explained to the council what has been done in an attempt to locate the leak. He also said city staff is attempting to find a firm that may be able to assist in this process.
Council member Jason Karsky told council "the leak is way worse than I thought. This is hard on the heat pump and there is a lot of chemical loss. We need to do something. This pool should last another 30 years. If we don't do something, we are throwing resources away."
Blecke said the city "has done lots of things and still didn't find anything."
Additional work will be done to see if there are any other options to assist with locating the leak.
Executive session was held for the purpose of discussing potential negotiations on real property. Following the session, council members directed staff to negotiate on the property.
The final item on Tuesday's agenda was a resolution for the approval of the city administrator contract. Following discussion, council members voted to approve the contract with a 5% pay increase.
The Wayne City Council will next meet on Tuesday, May 30 for a mini retreat. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Wayne Fire Hall. The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, June 6 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers.
