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2003-09-04 Friday News The Friday News September 4, 2003 Wentworth Tennis Court To Be Resurfaced On Tuesday night, the City Council awarded a bid to Dermco-LaVine Construction to resurface the Wentworth Park tennis courts. The courts will be hydro blasted removing previous leveling and color coats to reveal the original asphalt surface. Structural cracks will be repaired by routing/milling out the asphalt, 16" wide by 2" deep for the length of the crack. The routed area is then patched level with the adjacent asphalt and the entire court area receives three acrylic leveling coats and two acrylic coats followed by court markings, new winches and nets. Surface cracks will also be filled prior to the leveling coats. This work should extend the life of the court another three to six years. We expect that the routing and patching work will be done this year. The remaining work will be weather dependant. Guy Kullander will also be bringing a proposal to the Council on th the 16 to replace the fencing around the tennis court. Council Approves Modified Wagon Wheel Trail Project Staff has been working with an engineering and architectural firm to conduct site surveys, soil investigation, wetland delineation and preliminary engineering design for replacement of the cross culvert located in Rogers Lake on Wagon Wheel Trail between the "S curve" and the lake level control structure. The Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission both submitted recommendations on the project to the City Council. The City Council also heard from a number of residents concerned about the potential widening of the road. After much deliberation, the project approved was approved by City Council in a modified form. The project will include the following: Replace existing culvert with a larger culvert that provides for a water depth of three feet. The replacement culvert will be approximately the same length as the existing culvert that is sixty- four feet long; At each end of the culvert a sump pit, approximately two feet deeper then the existing lake bottom will be dug to allow for solids in the moving lake water to settle-out here rather then inside the culvert; Due to poor soil conditions the culvert must be supported on wood piling driven and placed in pairs at ten foot spacings; Additional wood pilings will be placed on the north side of the road to accommodate an extension of the culvert when the future street reconstruction project is ordered; An access opening in the trees and brush, on the south side of the "s-curve", will be necessary to allow excavation equipment access to the lake shore where a section of the sunken roadbed, approximately thirty feet long by twenty-four feet wide, will be removed to provide a water depth of approximately five or six feet and allow fish to migrate to the aerator in winter; All materials removed from the lake bottom (rough estimate 100 to 150 cu yds-10 truck loads) will be disposed of outside the project area by the contractor. Soils removed in the culvert area will, if possible be re-used, or trucked off-site and disposed of by the contractor; St. Paul Water has requested our contractor off-set/lower the existing watermain (only at the culvert) to provide additional separation between the two pipes to avoid the possibility of the watermain freezing. Water will be shut off for about 4 to 8 hrs but can be "back-fed" to provide uninterrupted service to residents on Wagon Wheel Trail; Roadbed will be repaired/patched. If asphalt is not available due to the time of year, gravel will placed until spring when a final roadway patch will be installed; Disturbed turf areas will be restored with topsoil and a turf or shoreline seed mix. We anticipate that construction work will begin in November or possibly during the last few days in October. Once work begins on the roadway we expect that Wagon Wheel Trail may be closed to through-traffic for one to two weeks, or longer if we encounter bad weather conditions. Mendota Heights 50 Year Celebration - Volunteers Needed th Planning is underway to celebrate Mendota Heights 50 Anniversary in 2006. In preparation for the celebration, the City is working with historian Bill Wolston and some ideas of possible projects include a history book, 101 best stories, newsletter articles, displays, photos, etc. The City is requesting volunteers who are interested in th helping to form a 50 Anniversary Committee to plan and prepare the project. If you are interesting in being a th part of the 50 Anniversary collaborative effort or serving on the committee, please contact Cari Lindberg, City Administrator at (651)452-1850 or email caril@mendota-heights.com Mendakota Park Trails to Be Repaired On Tuesday night, the City Council awarded a bid to repair the trails at Mendakota Park. The Parks and Recreation Commission requested that particular attention be given to trail areas where tree roots have heaved and broken the asphalt. The Mendakota Park trails, installed in 1990 have been identified as a high priority for maintenance. The approved work will consist of a thin overlay, which is a layer of asphalt from one inch to one and one half inch thick laid on the existing trail surface. The applied material fills in low points and re- establishes a strong surface level above the grass/grade line adjacent to the trail. The Council also approved a separate bid to construct a 200 ft. long new trail in Hagstrom King Park connecting the new play structure to the existing trail in the park. We anticipate this work will be completed by the end of September. Revision of Critical Area Ordinance Since the Metropolitan Council has approved the City’s revised Comprehensive Plan, the City is required to bring all ordinances into conformance with the Comprehensive Plan and state requirements. This includes the City’s Critical Area ordinance which needs to be updated to conform to the most recent standards of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This update of the Critical Area Ordinance is also part of the City’s comprehensive recodification effort. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the revised ordinance at their August meeting. The Planning Commission has now recommended that the City Council adopt the revised ordinance. If you are interested in seeing a copy of the revised ordinance, the full text of the existing and proposed ordinance is on the city’s website at www.mendota-heights.com. The City Council will be th considering the new ordinance revisions at the September 16 City Council meeting. Joint City Council/Planning Commission Workshop The Planning Commission and the City Council have recently suggested that there be a joint Council/Planning Commission workshop this year. Some of the topics suggested for discussion include: variance criteria, in-fill development policy and expectations of the City Planner. September is a month with five Tuesdays. On Tuesday th night, the City Council set the workshop for September 30 at 7:00 PM. The topics will include infill development, variances and the role of the City Planner. Final Thought “Honorable Senators: My sincerest thanks I offer you. Conserve the firm foundations of our institutions. Do your work with the spirit of a soldier in the public service. Be loyal to the Commonwealth and to yourselves and be brief; above all be brief.” -Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933), U.S. President Respectfully Submitted, Cari Lindberg Administrator Attachments: Pipeline, Just the Facts, ARC agenda, Parks and Recreation Commission agenda, Planning Synopsis, Sun Current articles “MH council approves new housing development,” “Metzen elected to Co-chair task force, ” Pioneer Press article “Mendota legacy survives activist” and Southwest Review editorial “MH should study water system transfer.”