Omaha council approves multiple improvement district and final plat for Country Club Hills subdivision

The Omaha City Council voted 7-0 Thursday to create Multiple Improvement District No. 2025-01 and to approve the final plat and subdivision agreement for Hansen’s Country Club Hills 4, a 13‑lot single‑family subdivision located just east of 70 Second Street and Silver Valley Road.

The item package included an ordinance to create the improvement district to fund storm and sanitary sewers, sidewalks and paving; a resolution approving the final plat; and a resolution approving the subdivision agreement. Councilmember Mike Festersen moved to approve items 10 through 12; Councilmember Amy Melton seconded. The motion passed with a 7‑0 roll call.

Why it matters: Festersen called the project “an outstanding fill‑in project” and said it marks the council’s first use of a multiple improvement district in Omaha, a financing tool similar to the city’s special improvement district program. Council and city staff said the structure will allow the developer to fund necessary public improvements without assessing adjacent homeowners for the initial work.

Developer and project details: Jim Lang, an Omaha attorney representing REI Funding Group Lehi, told the council the proposal will create 13 single‑family lots ranging “about a quarter an acre to a half an acre,” consistent with the surrounding neighborhood. Developer principals Mike and Ryan Tushner attended the hearing.

Neighborhood engagement and construction timing: Martin Trainer, representing the Country Club Hills Neighborhood Association, said neighbors generally support the project but raised typical construction concerns — traffic, dust and staging. Heather Tippie Pierce of the city’s Public Works Department told the council the next steps, if the council approved the items, would be a publication resolution, then a design contract this fall and a construction solicitation cycle over the winter, with construction expected in 2026.

Cost and paving arrangement: Festersen summarized the financing arrangement on the record: the developer will pick up the initial cost of repaving portions of Glendale Avenue and Silver Valley Road that abut the development so neighbors will not be assessed; the city will then match 50 percent of the paving work as it would for comparable repaving and curbing projects. City staff said design phasing will aim to limit disruption and direct construction traffic to the planned construction entrance off 70 Second Street.

Opposition and other comments: Donnie Johnson spoke briefly in opposition, raising broader neighborhood concerns about parkland historically and urging attention to Benson Park, though his comments did not identify specific legal or procedural objections to the project.

Next steps: City staff said the council’s approvals permit the city to proceed with publishing the required notice and to enter a design contract with the selected firm; bids would be sought late winter with construction likely in the 2026 cycle.