Hermantown council approves revised Hawk Line infrastructure package and new development contract

The Hermantown City Council approved a package of measures to clear prior development agreements and move forward with a larger infrastructure plan around the Hawk Line site, council business shows.

Mister Ronchetti, who summarized the measures for the council, said the resolutions before the council represent roughly six years of staff and landowner work and split into four “buckets”: termination of older agreements, a cooperative agreement with St. Louis County, an engineering contract amendment and a consolidated development (grant/utility) agreement. “None of the actions here tonight authorize any development specific to the site,” Ronchetti said, adding that the documents address how public infrastructure would be built and paid for.

Ronchetti outlined the scope: trail extension, sanitary sewer and water extensions stubbed at parcel boundaries, a roundabout and some access closures from Highway 53 aimed at improving safety. He said the project’s estimated construction and design costs have grown: design costs are “just shy of $700,000” and the updated hard-construction-plus-design budget is about $6.6 million.

He gave a breakdown of local commitments presented to the council: a $1,000,000 city contribution (to be paid from the water fund/sales tax and limited to water improvements), a developer obligation of $1,750,000 to be assessed to the property and repaid over 20 years at 4% interest, a county commitment of $1,850,000 and $2,000,000 in state funds split roughly $1,000,000 to the city and $1,000,000 to the county. Ronchetti said the developer has been negotiating with Scannell Development, which has expressed interest in constructing a build-to-suit distribution facility, but that no site-specific development approvals were being granted that evening.

Ronchetti also addressed prior environmental concerns about the site, noting he contacted the MPCA — identified in the meeting as the overseeing state agency for the Superfund-designated property — and that MPCA’s responses were forwarded and will be included in the next meeting’s correspondence packet; the email is available on request.

The council approved the termination resolution (2026-25) and related items by roll call. Subsequent, related resolutions — termination of a development contract involving Hawk Line Development LLC (2026-26), a cooperative agreement with Saint Louis County (2026-27), an amendment to Northland Consulting Engineers’ services to increase the not-to-exceed amount to $699,800 (2026-28), and a consolidated development contract between Hawk Line Development LLC and the city (2026-29) — were each moved, seconded and passed in separate roll-call votes.

The package consolidates prior split contracts (which had been split in 2024 to qualify for state grant money) into one agreement while obligating both parcels to state grant requirements. Council discussion and the presentations emphasized that the actions define funding, ownership and maintenance responsibilities for future public improvements rather than approving a specific building plan.

What happens next: documents signed under these resolutions establish the city’s contracting authority and funding commitments described at the meeting; permitting or project-specific approvals would be separate future steps if a private developer files building permits.