Twin homes to be built on West Brown Street

Cleveringa Construction will build a twin home at 101 West Brown on a lot the city had previously cleared of residential blight.
On the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Luverne Council approved a conditional use permit for the project, and construction will begin this fall.
The property previously faced east with a North Freeman driveway, but the twin homes will face north with a Brown Street driveway on the combined lots of 319 North Freeman and 101 West Brown.
Council member Caroline Thorson serves on the Planning and Zoning Commission and said the twin home will be good use of the property.
“It’s a great project for in-fill, which is exactly what we were hoping for,” Thorson said at the Aug. 24 meeting. “It sounds like there’s a good plan in mind.”
The house that previously occupied the lot was demolished in the spring of 2018 as part of the city’s blight removal efforts.
The property had been vacated due to heating equipment failure, which in turn caused the frozen plumbing and subsequent water damage and mold throughout the structure.
The house was declared unfit for human occupancy, and repairing the house would have been cost-prohibitive.
The city paid $15,000 to Danelle Hamilton for the property at 319 North Freeman, and the house was removed and lot cleared in April 2018.
Taxes previously paid on the property amounted to roughly $1,065. The twin homes will have an estimated value of $350,000 per side, greatly increasing the tax capacity of the lots from their previous state.
Each of the units will have two bedrooms, double garages and 1,550 square feet.
Mayor Pat Baustian said the property will be affordably priced and will likely be sold and occupied quickly, given current housing demand.
According to the conditional use permit approved for the twin home, it must observe an eight-foot setback from the south property line and no less than a five-foot setback from recorded utility easements.
One of the twin homes may be completed this fall and the other next spring.
Mayor Pat Baustian said this project and others like it are a way for the city to make small upfront investments for beneficial future returns.
“Those are perfect examples of why we do what we do with blighted properties,” Baustian said at the city’s operating budget planning meeting Aug. 31.
“Those are great opportunities to add to our overall tax capacity and spread the taxes around.”
He pointed to the duplexes on East Barck Street as an example.
“Of all those blighted properties, the initial tax capacity was $140,000,” Baustian said. “Last year, they went over $2 million in tax capacity for those units there.”