The Hormel Foundation has approved plans to provide more than $600,000 for a new Arc Mower County facility at the Mower County Senior Center, which will also receive renovation funding for the 2009 proposal.

“Everybody thought it was a great project, and I think everyone is 100 percent behind it,” Hormel Foundation treasurer Jerry Anfinson said, adding that the money would refurbish Arc’s lost programming and fit with the senior center’s intended direction.

“It’s just utilizing the facility to a greater extent,” he said.

But before the foundation can launch plans, it must gain approval from the Austin City Council, which is scheduled to review the project next Tuesday.

The foundation will ask the city to assume development plans and swallow extra utility costs to the sum of $17,000 annually based on preliminary estimates.

“It’s a pretty small price to pay to take care of a lot of people,” Anfinson said.

Some costs, he noted, would be offset by about $92,000 available to the senior center for renovation work, such as a roof, currently included the capital improvement plan. About $569,500 will be available for Arc, putting the total to $661,760.

The city first heard about the proposal during a work session meeting late July and expressed general support. Some, however, voiced concerns about the recurring costs of additional space, particularly as the council grapples with the new jail and justice center expenses.

“I’m just looking at the organizational cost of the building,” 1st Ward council member Brian McAlister said.

Austin city administrator Jim Hurm said the city will have the opportunity to better analyze net costs and inherited responsibilities if it approves a new lease agreement with the senior center to accommodate the project. It will include closer inspection of engineering plans, bid needs and utility costs.

“I think the city council indicated that they would be willing to absorb some of the additional cost,” Hurm said.

If approved, Anfinson said the hope is to open bids in January 2009, with a construction date slated for spring. Arc director Dawn Helgeson said she’d like work to begin the Wednesday following.

For four years, Arc has shared the senior center after its Main Street facility, formerly by the YMCA, was ravaged by the 2004 floods. The organization has provided programming and advocacy for people with disabilities and their families since 1952. Its membership is about 300.