Edgewater City Council Meeting Recap: February 7, 2023

Edge 26 residents share their frustrations with Trion Properties to the Edgewater City Council.

The Edgewater City Council met for a business meeting last Tuesday, February 7th. All City Council members were in attendance, either physically or virtually, and the room was full of community members with concerns about the Edge 26 Apartments.

As always, the meeting kicked off with the approval of the night’s agenda and the Pledge of Allegiance, then moved on to communications from the City staff. Police Chief Sonstegard spoke briefly on the passing of former Edgewater Police Chief Duke Smith and welcomed Edgewater’s newest officer, Renee Rhoads. Next, City Manager Maples gave a few brief updates about transportation grants to study traffic flow around Edgewater’s elementary schools and solar panels for the Civic Center. Finally, Community Services Director Lammers updated the Council on several projects for 2023 including traffic calming and walkability projects.

At the request of Mayor Beltrone, City Council gave a brief update on tenant rights conversations had during their recent retreat. Next, Jeanette Papp offered a short summary of a forthcoming letter from the Edgewater Sustainability Board.

The meeting moved on to the Public Comment portion. The room was full of residents of the Edge 26 Apartments, formerly Terra Village. In total 17 Edge 26 residents spoke before the Council. They had a litany of complaints about the complex since the change in ownership, and Trion Properties out of California took over. Each speaker had different experiences, none of them good, with Trion. Some of the complaints, in no particular order, were; no heat, no hot water, sinks flooding the neighbors beneath, flooding coming from the neighbors above, sewage leaking into apartments, unusable laundry facilities, no maintenance staff, no office staff, no response from Trion regarding concerns, massive spikes in water bills, wait times in the weeks or months for repairs, raises in rent and a general concern for both the cleanliness and safety of the property. The common sentiment, expressed time and again, was “they do not care” about the issues or the residents.

Council wrapped up a few more business items then used the Mayor and Council Comments to address some of the concerns of the residents of Edge 26, thanking them for taking the time to speak out, and making it clear that they plan to discuss further during work sessions in the near future.