City council approves tax abatements for apartment complexes

The Decorah City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to give final approval to a series of tax abatements for apartment complexes proposed for the Decorah Business Park.

The proposed 48-unit apartment complexes--four such buildings in all being proposed by Echo Development--got turned down at the last city council meeting on their request that each unit be given a total of $540,000 in tax abatements--$2,160,000 overall.  The vote was 4-3 to reject the developer's request, but Monday night both Ross Hadley and Andy Carlson, who had voted against the abatements, asked for reconsideration of the ordinance, with Carlson saying discussions he had following the last city council meeting changed his opinion.

City council member Randy Schissel was the lone dissenting vote Monday night, saying the Decorah Business Park was "an improper location" for the development, since it would not allow apartment residents to walk into town.

Motions to reconsider the abatements, a motion to approve the abatements and a motion to waive the second and third readings of the ordinance all were approved by 6-1 votes.