KIMBALL -- The construction crew on the Clean Harbors’ housing project is building the roads and preparing to install utility lines.

According to Senior Vice President of Facility Engineering Paul Whiting, the crew has roughed out the road and now has approval from the Nebraska Department of Transportation for the actual road cutout of the street and will widen it to put the road base in. The company is also finalizing the utility design to submit to the city. 

The remainder of the timeline is to pour the foundations of the two model homes by the end of October, set the homes in early November, and host open houses by the end of November. 

The single-family housing project will consist of 120 lots open to everyone in Kimball. The lots will vary from 11,000 – 18,000 sq/ft, which exceeds the city’s regulation of 6,000 sq/ft minimum lot size. 

The lots are located on the south end of town, across the street from Ace Hardware. 

People interested in purchasing a house will have a choice between two housing models. The two-bedroom, two-bath house will be 1,200 sq/ft, and the four-bed, 2-bath house will be 1,800 sq/ft. Each model will also have a full unfinished basement that will have two egress windows to allow bedrooms to be built. Each one will have an attached single-car garage. 

Whiting said with the company bringing in an estimate of 175 new hires, there was not enough available housing in Kimball. 

The company wanted to create an opportunity for existing and incoming Clean Harbors employees, which is why they have set up a special program where the employees receive a discount and other potential perks when buying one of the houses. 

“We want to add permanent housing base to the community over time,” Whiting said. “We have the temporary rental housing North of town but believe many of those employees will want to take advantage of the opportunity this opens up for first-time home buyers who in turn become long-term committed employees.” 

The purchase of lots will be open to the community as long as they commit to break ground and build within a stipulated time period, Whiting said. If existing residents choose to build a property through this development, it could then open up more affordable housing around town.