2008-05-16 Friday NewsPILOT KNOB UPDATE
This week Guy Kullander and I met with Great River Greening (GRG)
staff along with Jennifer Otto, Jeannie and Jan, Pilot Knob Preservation
Association to discuss the verbiage to be put on the two interpretive signs
to be installed on Pilot Knob. GRG has a $6000 grant from the Minnesota
Historical Society to install the signs, and that has a deadline of the end of
June. Draft language had already been prepared, but it was lengthy and
GRG had just found out that the grant only allows 250 words/sign. Those
words also need to be in English and Dakota. GRG was instructed to
cancel the grant and the English down to about 125 words and have those
translated to Dakota. We hope that this revision can be done before the
June 30th deadline.
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May 16, 2008
METROPOLITAN COUNCIL POPULATION
HOUSEHOLD ESTIMATES WORKSHOP
On Tuesday, Jake attended a workshop put on by the Metropolitan Council to describe the
logic used in developing the annual population and household estimates. The estimates are
used to supplement the Census which is completed every 10 years. Met Council estimates
are based upon housing, and include finding out the existing housing stock, and applying a
set of assumptions regarding occupancy rates and household sizes. The Met Council strives
to keep the model current, accounting for housing and household size trends. These num-
bers are frequently used for planning purposes.
DAKOTA COUNTY REVITALIZATION GROUP
On Wednesday, Jake attended a meeting hosted by the Dakota County CDA which brought
together Community Development/Planning staff from around the County. On the agenda
were a number of updates: Met Council discussed Comprehensive Plan Updates, and the
Livable Communities Grant. CDA shared their progress on various housing projects, fund-
ing and a pilot Home Remodeling program. Maxfield Research presented preliminary find-
ings on a study they are conducting regarding commercial and industrial development in
Dakota County (the full report should be available soon). The CDA continues to provide
support to individuals having difficulty meeting their house payments – a flyer for home-
owners has been attached.
EXPENSIVE GAS
As the price of gas has greatly increased, so have the number of “drive offs”. “Drive offs”
have been a problem for all of our gas stations except the SuperAmerica on TH 55 where
they have a prepay only policy. Other stations do not have that policy because they want
patrons to come in to their stores to buy other “stuff”. The profit margin on gas is very low,
so the stations want customers to come into their stores and buy other items while they are
Page 2 FRIDAY NEWS : MAY 16, 2008
Dates to Remember in May
Airport Relations Commission Meeting 5/19/08 4:30 (MAC Tower Tour)
City Council Meeting 5/20/08 7:30
NOC Meeting 5/21/08 1:30
Planning Commission Meeting 5/27/08 7:30
Attachments
Just the Facts, Pipeline, City Council Meeting Agenda, MNSUN Article “Issues remain with Mendota Plaza
redevelopment”, .
Have a great weekend!
there. This low profit margin is about 10¢ /gal, so when I buy my 14 gallons of gas the station only make
$1.40 from me (even less because I use a credit card and they take their 3% too). The Police Department tells
me that the average loss per drive off is around $40, so it will take the station about 30 of my purchases to
break even. Of the stations that our Police Department watches over, the Holiday Station in Lilydale on TH 13
is the worst hit, 38 in 2006, 49 in 2007 and 16 already this year. (Jake tells me that there is one station in
Burnsville that makes these numbers look puny.)