North Bend Eagle

Responses from town hall meeting reviewed by officials

by Nathan Arneal
published 10/28/09

Responses from the Sept. 30 town hall meeting
Shown below are what citizens at the Sept. 30 meeting deemed as priorities. In parenthesis after each response is the number of people who agreed with the statement or deemed that item as a priority, followed by the percentage of total responses that item received. Responses that received no votes are not shown.

What do you like about North Bend?
1. Schools (9, 25.7%)
2. Effort to establish new library (6, 17.1%)
3. Community atmosphere (4, 11.4%)
4. Proximity to Omaha and Lincoln (3, 8.6%)
4. Swimming, golf, bowling opportunities (3, 8.6%)
6. City hall, auditorium/community facilities (2, 5.7%)
6. Restaurants (2, 5.7%)
8. Parks (1, 2.9%)
8. Arboretum/trails (1, 2.9%)
8. People (1, 2.9%)
8. Churches (1, 2.9%)
8. Safety(1, 2.9%)
8. Community events (1, 2.9%)
8. Senior Center (1, 2.9%)

What do you dislike about North Bend?
1. Unfinished expressway (10, 30.3%)
2. Lack of jobs (6, 18.2)
3. Drainage (5, 15.2)
4. Trains (4, 12.1%)
5. Lack of community events for youth (3, 9.1%)
6. Roads (2, 6.1%)
7. Aging infrastructure/water mains (1, 3.0%)
7. Quality and source of water (1, 3.0%)
7. Age of structures i.e. city hall/library (1, 3.0%)

What is your vision for North Bend?
1. More economic development (13, 29.5%)
2. Growth of existing businesses (12, 27.3%)
3. Combined public facilities (8, 18.2%)
4. Community involvement (7, 15.9%)
5. Rural involvement (3, 6.8%)
6. Inclusiveness of neighboring developments (1, 2.3%)

What is needed to achieve your vision?
1. Grants (11, 26.8%)
1. More diverse businesses (11, 26.8%)
3. Training for community leaders/staff (8, 19.5%)
4. Tax Incentive Financing (TIF)/redevelopment incentives (5, 12.2)
5. Youth involvement (3, 7.3%)
6. Channel outside/rural involvement (2, 49.%)
7. Enhance dike/flood control to remove floodplain (1, 2.4%)

Before the Oct. 20 meeting of the North Bend City Council, the Council and the city’s planning commission met as a part of the revision process for the city’s comprehensive plan.

The main topic of the meeting was the data compiled from the Sept. 30 town hall meeting where citizens were asked four questions: What do you like about North Bend? What do you dislike about North Bend? What is your vision for North Bend? What is needed to achieve your vision?

Once the people in attendance at the Sept. 30 meeting came up with a list of answers, they were asked to place three stickers on each board next to the issues they felt were the most important.

The regular Council meeting began with a discussion with Mick Jacobs of the Nebraska Department of Roads. At a previous meeting, a citizen had complained that the newly resurfaced Main Street compounded North Bend’s drainage problems.

“The town is so flat that it’s pretty much level in some spots,” Jacobs said. “Water will drain, but it’s not a bathtub. You just can’t pull the plug and have the water disappear in five minutes.”

Jacobs said that because the town is so flat, something as simple as grass clippings thrown into street by a lawn mower can disrupt drainage flow. Leaves in the fall also cause problems.

Jacobs showed two videos side by side. One showed Main Street after a rain in May 2008, before the resurfacing project. The second showed the same thing after a rain earlier this month following the completion of the project.

The videos showed that water puddles were considerably smaller after the resurfacing project.

“On the whole, I believe we did a good job of improving the town’s drainage,” Jacobs said. “The assertion that we damaged the drainage I would take offense to. We did the best we could do given the scope of the project. We weren’t allowed to mess with the gutter line or build a new gutter all the way through town. We had to work with what was existing.”

Mayor Jeff Kluthe said he was concerned with the new stoplights at 11th and Main. He said people are rolling up too close to the intersection and their vehicles are not tripping the light signal. Large magnets buried under the street detect the presence of a car and cause the light to change within 15 seconds. If cars pull up past the white line on the street, they will not trip the signal.

Kluthe asked if signs could be placed on 11th street telling cars to stop at the white line. Jacobs said he would look into it.

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