Parts of southeast Gering to be designated for redevelopment

GERING, Neb. (KNEP) - The Gering City Council will be designating parts of southeast Gering as substandard and blighted and will be looking for ways to improve the area.

On Monday, the Gering City Council passed a resolution that would designate 125 acres east of Kimball Avenue, north of Nebraska 71, west of Pappas Boulevard, and south of J Street as an area that is substandard and blighted.

“I think there’s a lot of negative connotations of the term blighted and substandard, but essentially this is a good thing for those properties,” said Gering City Engineer, Annie Folck.

For the area to be designated as substandard and blighted it must meet a state statute that mentions substandard buildings as ones that are conducive to ill health, allow for transmission of disease, or have conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes. For the area to be designated as blighted it must meet at least one of the state’s conditions and the area meets two of these conditions as the area has defective or inadequate street layout, and faulty lot layout.