Newport to buy out home near levee for $75K

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The Newport City Council has approved the purchase of a riverfront property as part of the city’s plan to buy out an area of flood-prone homes near a weakened Mississippi River levee.

Council members OK’d the $75,000 purchase of a home at 1605 Cedar Lane at the June 21 meeting. The home is one of seven low-lying properties the city has identified as purchase targets to help mitigate flooding risks, city officials have said, and to increase public access to the river.

The property’s owners approached the city about buying the home in the spring, initially offering to sell the property to the city for $85,000. City officials made a counter offer of $75,000 following a May 3 workshop.

The purchase price is $138,000 below the property’s market value, City Administrator Brian Anderson said.

City officials say the total cost of purchase and demolition of the home will be $89,600, with the city paying almost $43,000 from its Economic Development and North Ravine funds. A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant will fund the remainder of the cost.

Newport sought more than $3 million in state-borrowed funds in a bonding proposal during last year’s state legislative session that had support from Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Cottage Grove, and Rep. John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove. Gov. Mark Dayton also voiced support for the measure during a flood preparation meeting with Washington County leaders last March.

The measure was not included in the state’s bonding bill.

The home purchase is the second undertaken by the city as part of its flood mitigation plan.

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