Ellendale project draws fire

Darrin Stadheim said he was “caught off guard” by the reaction of Ellendale residents to his proposal for new workforce housing in the town of about 800 people.
“I had hoped I had enough clout and respect in the community that they would’ve said, ‘well, Darrin is doing it, so it’ll be fine,’ but that didn’t happen,” he said.
In fact, it didn’t appear residents knew much at all about the apartment building that could be open for tenants by May 2023.
“There was a lot of misinformation in the community,” said Stephanie Kibler, a member of the Ellendale City Council, “so I anticipated a large turnout.”
It was that misinformation that prompted the city council to host an informational open house last week at the Ellendale Community Center.
Dozens of residents stopped by the displays, which outlined everything from the construction timeline to an explanation of “market rate” rent to blueprints of floor plans.
The No. 1 concern, Kibler said, was that the apartments would be subsidized, or “low-income” housing.
It is not subsidized housing. The current market rate for a one-bedroom is $800; a two-bedroom is about $1,100.
“We had people attend city council meetings,” she said, “and I had people stop by my house. The comfort levels have been challenged. But low-income doesn’t mean you don’t take care of your home; once they see (the new building) go up, they’ll see that it’s a good project.”
Phase 1 of the project will be a 20-unit building with one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. It will feature a secured entry and surveillance, as well as heated underground parking.
Matt Durand, EDA Coordinator for Ellendale and a member of Community and Economic Development Associates, or CEDA, said a 2016 housing needs analysis indicated 55 new housing units were needed in the city.
A few single-family homes go up annually, but not enough to fill the need.
CEDA, he said, “is trying to look for equations to solve a problem that no one can answer, trying to figure out how to meet the need” for work force housing.
The city-backed project was awarded $162,000 grant in October from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, which will be used to prepare the property. The area is an overgrown green space with several dilapidated buildings that need razing.
But what Stadheim – an Ellendale native who still lives there – and the city are really banking on is an additional $491,000 grant from the state’s Workforce Housing Development Program. Now in its third – and final – year, the program’s money is crucial to the project.
The city didn’t apply the first year; last year, it was one of seven to vie for an available $2 million. Two cities dropped their application and three received funding. Ellendale was one of two that was rejected.
This year, Stadheim believes the city’s chances are better – but the competition has grown. There are 23 applications for a share of $4 million.
“We’ve made progress. There are good things that we’ve done” to increase the chances of getting a share of the funding, Stadheim said.
But, Durand said, “there’s a lot of competition, a lot of need in small-town Minnesota.”
The state will announce the grant winners in April.
That’s too late for Sarah and Phil Schneider, who own a home next door to the site of Phase 1.
Forty feet away, to be exact.
The couple bought their home a year ago, but are “1,000% selling it,” Phil Schneider said.
“We moved away from the Cities to get away from this, and I look out my front door and see this monstrosity,” he said, pointing at the artist’s rendition of the proposed building.
“They never even considered a privacy screen until I suggested it to (Stadheim) tonight,” Schneider said. “I’m the one who brought it up. We’ll see what they do.”
So are they angry? Disappointed?
“All of the above,” Sarah Schneider said.
To top it off, her husband works from home; he’ll have to contend with construction noise as he conducts business on the phone.
“It’s going to be a loud summer,” she said.
They might have felt differently if the site of Phase 2 were developed first, Phil Schneider said.
“This (Phase 1) property is close to ours, they can tap into the water, the sewer, the electric,” he said. “I get it, it’s cheaper to do that.”
Should Phase 2 be developed, that infrastructure will have to be added, which increases the cost of the project.
Filling the first building doesn’t worry Stadheim at all, but “100% occupancy is my trigger for Phase 2,” he said.
While he and the city leaders believe the apartments will draw seniors, teachers, single parents and new families, they may not all be local.
“If it doesn’t fill with Ellendale (residents), we’ll open it up to Owatonna, to Albert Lea,” Stadheim said.
“It’s market rate – for hard-working people like you and me,” he said, to the obvious relief of another neighbor to the project.
“Thank God,” the man said. “You see HUD housing up in the Cities – that’s where all the shootings are. I’d have to tell my grandchildren not to walk over there.”
That didn’t matter at all to the Schneiders.
“We’re going to contact a realtor tonight,” Phil Schneider said, “and we’re remodeling very quickly.”