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The North Branch City Council did some lengthy review last week of a development that  has single family homes included into a denser multiple residential zone (R3) and whether or not to revise city code to allow for this— or clarify the city’s guiding document be revised to not allow for this.  

The developer for Cedar Ridge, a 62-acre plat laid out for a multi-year phased construction, needs to know if the single family land use they desire is indeed allowed to be in with a plan to build 167 apartment units.   

The project site is west of the freeway and south of the outlet mall, over to Falcon Avenue.  Action was tabled from the last city council  meeting.

Community Development Director Nate Sondrol explained the applicant needs an answer and the matter is scheduled to go on the council’s June 10 meeting agenda.  Council scheduled an informal review of the issues for last week to prepare. 

Sondrol advised that a discrepancy between the ordinance wording and a table or matrix that the city provides developers for guidance  needs to be corrected.  The code prohibits the single family but the standards in the matrix indicate it’s allowed.

North Branch has 160 acres of vacant R3 land remaining which would be affected by whatever code revision is adopted.

Council made no vote but directed staff to get some information about status of roads and traffic capacity affecting remaining R3 parcels.  Lot sizes needed for single family (minimum) should be spelled out.  The density concern should be averaged out for an entire area allowing for a mixture of single and multi-family products, the council agreed.

There will be action on the Cedar Ridge plat and council asked staff to be ready with details so  the code can be clarified by the meeting June 10.

The city finance director Sharon Wright then walked council through very preliminary numbers for next year’s budgeting cycle.  If council were to agree to all the personnel and equipment needs identified the levy hike would be about 21 percent.

As expected, nobody on the city council wants to seriously consider a double digit hike.  Cities still have four months to arrive at a preliminary levy for next year.

Mayor Kevin Schieber commented on revenues in general and how the city must find any viable opportunity to boost its revenue stream outside of taxes. Council member Jeff Goulet agreed this should be investigated.

Human Resources Generalist Travis Miles told council to expect an estimated $36,000 annual expense related to providing for mandatory paid leave program benefits that are slated to begin in 2026.  City insurance providers are looking into how to structure a fund payment plan, which is currently designed as a payment to the state, which then pays the leave wages to the employee. 

In 2024 North Branch collected $8 million in total revenues, for 2025 the budget calls for $8.7 million and the early 2026 number for total city revenue is $9.5 million.

In business actions: the council approved going out for bids for the incompleted section of Flink Avenue Trail. The bids will be opened July 1.  The trail is 10 feet wide, on the west side of Flink.  North Branch got a $574,000 MNDOT grant for trails in 2024.

The council approved the final plat for Preserve at Spring Hill, for 31 homesites.  Four lots of the 35 lot plat have been developed already along the Harder Parkway frontage.

Council went into closed session to finish the city administrator’s performance review and goal setting process. 

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