Central Bank seeks to expand downtown; council asks planning review after street‑vacation, traffic and storm‑sewer concerns

Jeff Hunt, president of Central Bank’s Princeton branch, told the council the bank seeks to expand north from its Main Street site so all 25 local employees can be under one roof. Hunt said the preferred option would require vacating a segment of Company (referred to in the transcript also as Crown) Street between Main Street and the adjacent alley and acquiring nearby property to add parking.

Hunt said the bank conducted its own counts and "we average about 175 cars per day going through our drive‑thru," and described operational benefits from consolidating locations. He said neighbors on the immediate corner have been contacted and at least two adjacent homeowners indicated support for blocking the street.

Council members and staff raised several concerns: whether state authorities would permit vacating a public street and how utilities and storm‑water flow under the roadway would be handled; possible emergency‑vehicle access impacts; the risk of setting a precedent that could encourage other requests to close downtown streets; and the need for a formal traffic study with clear methodology to distinguish bank traffic from through traffic.

Michael, the planning and zoning official who spoke, and other council members urged the applicant to take the proposal back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for engineering review (Champlin was mentioned as the city's engineering firm), a utility locate and, if required, a traffic study and storm‑water mitigation plan. Several council members expressed support for the concept of cleaning up and redeveloping the corner, provided technical and regulatory questions are answered.

No formal action was taken; the council asked staff and the applicant to continue planning‑level work and report back to Planning and Zoning and the council.