Faribault council paves way for extra parking, single family homes

With an eye to expanding the availability of parking downtown, the Faribault City Council approved a purchase agreement to buy the Central Car Clinic building at 505 Central Ave., with plans to tear it down and expand the adjacent public parking lot.

The city has reached an agreement with the site’s owner, Rimpila Enterprises LLC, to buy the site for a price of $166,860. However, the sale isn’t actually set to be closed until March 2025, so funding for the purchase will come through next year’s budget.

City Administrator Jessica Kinser said that closing the deal on the site was a priority when she took over from now-retired City Administrator Tim Murray last year. She said further discussion of the project as a whole would take place as part of ongoing efforts to craft the 2025 budget.

Enhancing the availability of parking downtown has long been a key priority for the city, which has committed through the downtown master plan to envisioning downtown as a hub for housing and amenities, in particular sprawling park facilities near the Straight River.

As part of the downtown master plan, the city committed to implementing its previously commissioned downtown parking study, which highlighted the need for additional parking to meet the needs of businesses and new residents.

Just a block away from the intersection of Central Avenue and 4th Street NE (Highway 60), the public parking lot set to be expanded is convenient for customers of several nearby businesses, including the State Bank of Faribault, Sunset Salon, Boxers Bar and Restaurante El Colibiri.

Single family housing

In other business, the council paved the way for veteran local developer Rick Cashin to help meet another dire need, namely that for single family housing, by approving a replatting of a portion of his Stoneridge Fourth Addition development.

The site in question is located along 13th Street NW in western Faribault, across the street from Stoneridge Park. Originally intended to be home to a quartet of twin homes, Cashin asked for the lots to be replatted to host three single family homes.

Though Cashin has built a number of twin homes as part of the development, he says that twin homes are simply not selling at the same rate as single family homes in Faribault, which like many cities throughout Minnesota is struggling through a dire housing shortage.

While Faribault has made significant progress in increasing the number of multifamily housing units with the assistance of state funding and Tax Increment Financing districts, a lack of single family housing remains a sore spot for a community with several businesses looking to grow.

With lower property values than the south metro but similar construction costs, Faribault has struggled to lure outside builders. However, hometown developer Cashin has been a consistent, steady mainstay of the city’s housing industry for decades.

As part of the replatting process, the council was required to vacate existing drainage and utility easements rendered moot by the new design. The replatting was approved unanimously by the Planning Commission and council but will need to pass a second reading for final approval.

Community and Economic Development Director David Wanberg said that one neighborhood resident came to the Planning Commission meeting to question whether the development could lead to any drainage issues, given its proximity to the Cannon River. Wanberg assured the Council that Cashin’s preliminary plans are sound and should not lead to any such issues.