The city of St. Joseph will look into other options to shoreline revetment plans to protect three homes, two in the 900 block of Lions Park Drive and one in the 200 block of First Street. The city commission heard from Frank Kolberg, who lives at 212 First Street, who told them he can’t afford on his pension to pay the share for his property if the city were to establish a special assessment district.
“I would be paying twice as much (as neighbors) if it goes by how much frontage I have, but my lot is the same size as the others,” said Kolberg.
He’s lived in the home his entire life, and neighbors helped him state the case that under the sand currently at risk, there is riprap and other shoreline protection pieces that were installed decades ago, before the dune was built up by both the Army Corps of Engineers and nature. Kolberg’s case prompted several commissioners, including Mayor Pro Tem Laura Goos, to table the request to establish the special assessment district.
“I would like to see numbers, dollars on how much it would be costing, and I don’t have any of that,” said Goos. Commissioner Peggy Getty said they were being asked to make a decision that would impact people “possibly in a pretty dramatic way, but we don’t know what that is and we’re being asked to make a decision on it.”
The commission is likely to revisit the issue at its next meeting on March 16.
