BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
East Omaha neighbors continue to wait for answers about what will happen to their homes, whether they can stay, or if they should sell.
This neighborhood, just west of Eppley Airfield, is where a business park is mapped out to go, but Thursday, a meeting months in the making, prompted the new board to ask more questions.
"It seems a little bit cart before the horse," said Carmen Tapio, board member of the Inland Port Authority.
The 9-member Inland Port Authority, which will oversee projects and investments in this mapped-out area, pushed back on the business park project.
"From my perspective, I think it is super premature to even approve a letter of support today," said Terrell McKinney, chair of the Inland Port Authority.
The authority, now led by state Senator Terrell McKinney, discussed a letter of support for the project which is a requirement from the Department of Economic Development for the business park to move forward.
Michael Maroney president of the Omaha Economic Development Corporation says this letter of support leads to the release of funds from the DED which would allow further conversations with neighbors to happen.
"We need to be able to give these folks who live in that area, definitive information about what it looks like so they can have a comfort level as to whether or not they are going to move, they are not going to move and we can have a better feel for that process too," Maroney said.
Maroney said at a community meeting 2 weeks ago they gathered about 68 responses from the homeowners.
"About 18 said they were interested in selling, I think it was about 9, half that number, that said no they didn't want to sell, there were like 44 who said I need more information," Maroney said.
Members of the Inland Port Authority ultimately requested additional information on their end, including a presentation of how the funds will be expended and community engagement meeting feedback.
The board also outlined the process for assembling the required Community Advisory Committee.
The applications will be available on the city clerk's website on the Inland Port Authority tab starting Friday, August 9.
And will close on August 30 at 4:30 pm.
Those applications will be discussed at the September 5 meeting.
