As far as city business is going, March has come in like a lion and I hope it leaves like a lion. Bellevue is prepping for major growth, and as we work on keeping existing projects going, we are working just as hard on bringing new projects in. Progress doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work.
Bellevue is in the process of bringing major sewer and water infrastructure to the Highway 34 Corridor. Part of that is the South Sarpy County sewer project. This is a $200 million county project that traverses through the southern portion of Bellevue. As that project comes through, Bellevue will be bringing MUD water alongside it. All these infrastructure improvements opened up thousands of acres for additional development with an overall goal of increasing our tax base and lowering our mill levy, which in turn brings down our property taxes and increases our quality of life in Bellevue. Additional benefits include more services, more quality jobs, and bringing family entertainment to our community.
On February 13, I testified at the state legislature and opposed a bill that was designed to stall the Belle Vue Downs horse track plans and eventually a casino in the Bellevue area. The public voted to allow gambling in Nebraska, and I do not think legislation should be made to interfere with the people’s choice nor to stop good private businesses from investing hundreds of millions of dollars in our community. The bill (LB 311) did not make it out of committee, so that’s one small victory.
On March 2, I was back down to Lincoln testifying for LB616. This is a request for the state to invest in incentives to draw chip manufacturers to Nebraska. There is $55.5 billion in federal money designed to bring chip manufacturing back to the US in a big way. Nebraska stands to get nine of these semiconductor or semiconductor-related plants built in the state. Because of our foresight to bring infrastructure to the Highway 34 Corridor, we now have a prime location for one of these plants. These plants could be upwards of a $1 billion investment providing jobs with an average of $85,000 annually. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting news.
The Bridge Flats in the new Frontier District (Olde Towne) is being redesigned into a bigger development with more retail and more apartments, including covered parking. After meeting with the real estate broker and discovering the overwhelming interest in retail, and the desire for additional parking, Mercury Builders decided to revamp the plan and is planning on bringing back a much bigger project. Pricing and supply chain issues have been a challenge but they are working hard to bring a fabulous product.
Since mother nature has been pretty easy on us by not dumping a bunch of snow, our road crews have been busy filling the potholes and keeping our streets in good order. We also have seen an improvement with fewer speeders which was a big problem last year. Keep being safe and watch out for kids with the better weather approaching.
If you look at the city’s agenda, you’ll see that we have found a new attorney for our legal department that brings a lot of experience, and I believe she will be a great fit. Many people will recognize her name, Amy Battalion, as she has served the city and the Bellevue Public Schools in the past. Hopefully she will get council approval at our next meeting.
Remember, our city website at bellevue.net has a lot of resources to find the information you need. As always, you can call the mayor’s office any time for information that you cannot find. (402) 293-3020.
