Albert Lea residents weighed in Tuesday on the possible designs and location for a new water tower.

About 25 people attended the open house in the Council Chambers at City Hall, getting the opportunity to vote for their favorite design and top three of the proposed locations.

Residents were almost evenly split in support for the composite and spheroid designs.

The composite design is made of a concrete base and a steel tank, and the spheroid design is made up of a sphere-shaped steel tank on a narrow steel base.

The cost for the composite and spheroid designs are between $4.2 million and $5.7 million. The cost to maintain the composite design would be cheaper because its concrete base would not need to be painted. This includes costs for the tower itself, along with demolition of the old tower, piping, miscellaneous site work, engineering and other costs. 

The cost for the hydropillar design, which is made of all steel, is the most expensive of the options and would be between $4.8 million and $6.6 million. The entire tower and tank would also need to be painted.

While some residents said they thought the tower should be moved away from Fountain Lake and the downtown, others said the tower represented a landmark for Albert Lea in its current spot off of Fountain Street near Newton Avenue.

Resident Annie Mattson said before the meeting she liked the spheroid design best and liked the option that would place it north of the new fire station near Newton Avenue and College Street. She was against it being built at the same site.

During conversation at the open house, she said she recognized the need for the tower but preferred it to be away from the lakes at a location such as Blazing Star Landing.

Assistant Director of Public Works Philip Wacholz said at that site, it would likely be in the northwestern part of the property and would have minimal impact on possible development.

Resident Elisha Marin spoke of the asset of Albert Lea’s downtown historic district, and he said after seeing mockups of the tower — which would have to be taller to be in line with the other towers in the city — he thinks it would greatly detract from the aesthetics of the downtown.

He said he thought it was a no-brainer to place the tower at the Blazing Star site, as it would have no aesthetic impacts or parking impacts like some of the other options.

“I would be devastated to see this structure go up anywhere within our downtown,” Marin said.

Resident Linda Bryan said she, too, liked the option of the Blazing Star Landing after listening to some of the other comments made during the meeting.

Bryan said she thought the current site should be used for something other than a tower. She also liked the site that would be near the new fire station.

One resident asked if putting the tower at Central Park had any engineering or financial pros or cons.

Wacholz said from an engineering standpoint, the site would lay out well and would have an easy connection to existing water lines. The biggest barrier, he said, would be public perception of having it at that location.

Other possible locations discussed included the municipal parking lot behind Jake’s Pizza, in the gravel parking lot across from the Freeborn County courthouse, in the parking lots near the Department of Human Services building and the Eagle’s Club, north of the North Broadway parking lot near the splash pad and in the parking lot near the intersection of Main Street and Washington Avenue.