WAYNE – A petition has been going around the community of Wayne in light of the R. Perry Construction (Sioux City, IA) and City of Wayne sale of land to bring in an apartment complex.
Currently R. Perry is going through Tax Increment Financing (TIF) meetings as B.J. Woehler, who serves as President of Wayne Rental Association has put together a series of ‘Letter to the Editor’ information.
The proposed apartment project site is the parking lot on the southwest corner of the soccer fields, on the way to the softball complex.
The goal of this group of concerned citizens is to gather 700 signatures from registered voters who are City of Wayne residents. This would delay, for one year, the City’s plan to sell 7.94 acres of public land to R. Perry Construction.
B.J. Woehler will also be at the project site on Friday, April 22 from 5 – 7 p.m. as well as 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 at the Wayne Fire Hall (510 Tomar Drive) collection signatures.
For more information and/or to sign the remonstrance petition call or text 402-369-0049; email wayne.rental.association@gmail.com or visit the Wayne Property Tax Payers: Wayne Rental Association Facebook page.
When the City sells land, per state statue, there’s a 30-day remonstrance period where the public has a chance to challenge the sale of the property.
City Administrator, Wes Blecke said the petition would challenge the action by city council.
“Not the project necessarily, it’s the action of selling the public land to somebody private or non-profit; just to sell the land,” said Blecke. “Then there’s rules and regulations on what a petition is and how that works.”
Election Commissioner, Deb Finn at the Wayne County Courthouse would validate the signatures.
Saturday, April 23 is the deadline for signatures as the petition group would have the next business day on Monday, April 25 to submit to City Hall.
Blecke added if the election commissioner validates the petition, council would then hold a public hearing.
“They (City Council) have to validate the certification by the election commissioner that there were enough valid signatures,” Blecke added. “They also have to say that the petition was valid. So, then they’re going to look at were there any issues with the petition process that they’re aware of.”
The group who is circulating the petition will also have an opportunity to state their process.
If the petition would be valid and is passed, for one year the City of Wayne would not be able to sell the piece of property as the process would be put on hold until next year.
Mayor Cale Giese mentioned this is not something the City of Wayne has stepped into lightly.
“We’ve been working on this one project for over two years,” Giese mentioned. “So, it’s not like this was a snap judgment that we made and one year is going to clarify things for us. No, all points were already weighted and considered.”
Reach out to City Hall at 402-375-1733 or contact your councilmember for more information.
Hear portion of the ‘View from Wayne America’ below where questions about the selling of land between the City of Wayne and R. Perry Construction were answered by City of Wayne Mayor, Cale Giese.
2022-04-19 Letter to the Editor
2022_04_12 Letter to the Editor
2022_04_05 Letter to the Editor
