Phase I of the Banderas Planned Unit Development District (PUD) was given the go-ahead by the Frankfort City Council and the City Plan Commission Tuesday night.
“We had to have the City Plan Commission along with the City Council talk about how we’re going to move forward with Banderas Point,” said Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets. “We had Liz Stitzel of the Area Plan Commission continue to take care of that project for us. This is just some of the things that we had to do. It’s a process and it’s something we needed to do. It’s not something we’ve done in the past.”
The roughly 10.8 acre site to the north is for the gas station and convenience store located within Banderas Point in the Broad Business District. The roughly 17.3 acre site to the south is for the construction of an event center within Banderas Point in the Agri-tourism district and includes the central pond and entry road for the event center. Both parts of this development plan submittal were approved identically before annexation by the APC.
The event center is expected to be the first part of the project finished in early 2025. The overall completion date is set for 2028 or 2029.
Sheets was asked what she and the city expects to come from Banderas Point.
“I think it’s really exciting for the community to know that we’re going to have this type of event center,” said Sheets. “We’re getting a new convenience store. There’s so many things planned for Banderas Point. I think it’s great for our community. We’ve annexed in to provide services in 2025. I think we’ll see that we’re going to have some added responsibilities out in that area.”
In other news, the City of Frankfort is getting closer to a decision on the Driving Privilege Cards for immigrants without documentation.
“We’re looking at maybe the last week in April (for a meeting) to get something set up,” said Sheets. “Right now, it looks like we have about 10 people interested in the committee.”
Frankfort City Council meetings have been filled to capacity and had standing room only crowds during the past few months waiting to see what the city will do. Another 25 to 30 residents were at Tuesday’s meeting.
After hearing a presentation from Healthy Communities of Clinton County Coalition Executive Director Lorra Archibald, the council approved the Opioid Settlement Committee’s recommendation for the plan. Archibald added she still has to go in front of county officials to get their approval later this month.
“That really made me happy to see that the council was in support of how we spend our opioid restricted funds,” said Sheets. “The committee has worked very hard over the last few months to come up with projects and to prioritize what we think is important in our community as far as opioids and drugs in our community.”
In the Board of Works meeting held before the City Council met, the BOW gave its consent to tear down the garage portion of the structure at 1002 E. Clinton St. in Frankfort.
“I’m so happy that we’re able to get that taken care of,” said Sheets. “That’s been a long process for us. The safety of that building has been concern for all of us. The sooner we can get it down and make sure people don’t get injured, the better off we are.”
Downtown watering bids are awarded to Warren Landscaping and Old Stoney landscaping bids were awarded to Platinum Landscaping.