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Home My Public Portal About2008 Apr-May NewsletterCity Calendar Ap r i l Ma y ► 1st Tues—City Council 7:00 pm ► 2nd Wed—Board of Appeal 6:30 pm ► 8th Tues—Planning Commission 7:00 pm ► 15th Tues—City Council 7:00 pm ► 16th Wed—Park Commission 7:00 pm ► 19th Sat—Council Office Hours 9 am to 11 am ► 26th Sat—Annual Clean Up Day 8 am to 2 pm ► 6th Tues—City Council 7:00 pm ► 13th Tues—Planning Commission 7:00 pm ► 17th Sat—Council Office Hours 9 am to 11 am ► 20th Tues—City Council 7:00 pm ► 21st Wed—Park Commission 7:00 pm ► 26th Mon—City Offices Closed—Holiday ► 3rd Tues—City Council 7:00 pm ► 10th Tues—Planning Commission 7:00 pm ► 17th Tues—City Council 7:00 pm ► 18th Wed—Park Commission 7:00 pm ► 21st Sat—Council Office Hours 9 am to 11 am A Bi-Monthly Newsletter of the City of Medina www.ci.medina.mn.us April/May 2008 ► All meetings at City Hall unless otherwise noted. ► Meeting agendas on web site when available. 2007 Annual Report and Accomplishments The City is currently working on completing an Annual Report of 2007 City activities, accomplishments, and fiscal responsibility. As a preview, the City has outlined summary accomplishments for the year below. The final draft of the report will be available to the public upon completion of the City’s Audited Financial Statements in May or June. Planning/Zoning/Building ► Drafted the 2010-2030 Comprehensive Plan. Conducted 21 public meetings to discuss and hear comments on the plan. ► Open Space Report completed by Task Force. ► Processed 16 land-use applications (subdivisions, site plans, condi- tional use permits, concept plans, variances, etc.) ► Permitted 410 residential building applications and 99 commercial building applications. Public Safety ► Received 1379 volunteer service hours from Police Reserves. ► West Metro Drug Task Force seized area drugs with street value of $18,737,861. Criminal charges were made on 74 suspects. ► Completed 559 hours of training to meet and exceed mandates of Minnesota Peace Officers Training and Standard (POST) Board. ► Established a Police Investigator position. 461 cases were investi- gated by Medina Police with a 69% clearance rate. ► See additional Police Stats on the front page of this newsletter. Public Works ► Prepared a Pavement Management Program for all Medina roads. ► Conducted Water Treatment Plant open house and education. ► Constructed Well No. 6 and water supply line to treatment plant. ► Adopted emergency water conservation/sprinkling ban regulations. ► Completed playground equipment, basketball court and plaza areas in Hamel Legion Park. Administration/Finance ► Facilities Master Plan accepted by Council outlining future facility needs for Public Works, Police Department and City Hall. ► Processed 97 City resolutions and ordinances. ► Prepared long-term financial and needs analysis for 2008 budget planning and Truth-in-Taxation deliberations. ► Established an Annual Work Plan including goals/objectives. ► Processed 4300 utility bills and 1563 accounts payable checks. Ju n e 2007 Police Department Stats The Medina Police Department logged 9638 general patrols in 2007. General patrols include officers driving through individual neighborhoods within Medina. The patrol division also had 6838 other activities which in- clude all dispatched calls and field generated activities. The activities below are broken down into 10 catego- ries showing the types of calls: Person Crimes 147 Property Crimes 218 Traffic Related 4627 Animal Related 242 Service Related 9638 Disturbance 363 Medicals 252 Fires 84 Others 340 Alarms 565 Total 16476 Case numbers were assigned for 5899 crimes, reports, citations, warnings and other specific actions by staff. Hwy 55/116 Intersection Open House Tuesday, April 22nd, 7 p.m. The City of Medina will be hosting an Open House for the Trunk Highway 55 & County Road 116 intersection improvement project. The Open House will be held at Medina City Hall on Tuesday, April 22nd at 7 p.m. Residents and business owners are encouraged to attend to view updated plans and ask questions. Parks & Public Works Page 2 New Lake Independence Shoreline Buffering and Stabilization Program The City has received $35,000 in grant money from the State Board of Water and Soil Resources Clean Water Legacy funds to provide shore- line buffering and stabilization for Lake Independence property owners. The City will be matching funds to establish a pilot program to assist Me- dina Lake Independence landowners make improvements. Land owners that are interested in stabilizing their shoreline or establishing a buffer can apply for grant funds from the City beginning April 2. The application can be found on the City’s website or picked up at City Hall. The program will run through June 30, 2010 or when all funds have been expended. Contact Chad Adams for more information at 763-473-4643. Rain Gardens & Rain Barrels Rain gardens help to improve local water quality by allowing rain and snowmelt to seep naturally into the ground. This helps recharge the groundwater supply, and reduces the amount of storm water entering our storm sewer systems. A rain barrel is a great way to con- serve water and reduce your summer water bill. Rain barrels should be placed under your gutter and are used to collect rain water. This rain water can then be re-used to water your lawn and garden. The City of Medina will be purchas- ing 50 rain barrels to sell at a discounted price to Medina Residents. A separate mailing will be sent to residents with additional rain barrel information and an order form. The mailing will also include details on our Annual Clean Up Day on April 26th and information on an upcoming spring Rain Garden and Rain Barrel Workshop. Questions on Rain Barrel orders or the workshop should be directed to Jodi Wunsch at 763-473-4643. Organics Program & Drive-in Service In January 2008, the City began offering organics collection through Randy’s Sanitation. Organics recycling allows you to recycle your food scraps and food-soiled paper into compost. Organics makes up approximately 25% of what we throw away. Organics collection is picked up every Wednesday along with your garbage service. The addition of organics is only $4 a month, and it re- duces your recycle bill from $2.20 to $1.70 per month. By participating in this program, you can reduce your monthly trash service by obtaining a smaller container or even every other week col- lection. Recycling organics, rather than throwing them away, will take up less space in our landfills and allow the organics to be turned into compost to create a valuable resource used in landscaping and road construction projects. If you are interested in participating in organics collection or want to recycle, but are not able to bring your carts and recycle bins to the curb, Randy’s Sani- tation offers drive-in service for an additional cost of $7 a month per service. Contact Randy’s Sanitation at 763-972-3335 to sign up for organics collection, add drive-in service, change your level of service, or if you have any ques- tions. Park Commission looking for Wood Duck and Bluebird Houses Wood Ducks return to Minnesota in late March and begin searching for nest cavities in April. Almost extinct in the early 1900s, the Wood Duck has made a come back, partly due to the provision of nest boxes. The Park Commission would like to place Wood Duck houses in two of its parks (Holy Name Park and Medina Lake Preserve) and would like to hear from anyone who might have a Wood Duck house and/or predator guard to donate or who might want to build Wood Duck houses as a ser- vice project. Although bird feed and building supply stores sell wood duck and other houses, plans for building the houses are available. The Park Commission would also welcome donations of Bluebird boxes. If interested in helping out with nest box projects, contact Park Commis- sioner Madeleine Linck at 763-475-0485 or Madeleine.linck@gmail.com Park Commissioner Seat Open The Medina Park Commission has one seat open for appointment. The seat will be filling seven months of an existing term through January 1, 2009. Application Materi- als can be found on the City’s website or picked up at City Hall. Application deadline is April 30, 2008. If you have questions about the position, contact Jodi Wunsch at 763- 473-4643. Uptown Hamel Road Reconstruction Bids for the Hamel Road Reconstruction will be opened on March 26 at City Hall. A public hearing will be held on April 15 to discuss proposed special assessments related to the project, which consists of the road reconstruc- tion, streetscape, utility replacement, and burial of overhead utilities. Additional funds from the water and sewer system and Tax Increment Funds would also support the project if approved by Council through the currently scheduled pro- ject award on May 6th. Commencement of construction could begin in June with substantial completion this fall. Well No. 7 In Hamel Legion Park Work is currently underway in Hamel Legion Park for drilling of Well No. 7. The well and pumping facility is being located north of the sliding hill and just south of the picnic shelters. The well will supply raw water to the water treatment plant located on Pinto Drive before being distrib- uted to customers of the Hamel Water System. Page 3 Administration & Planning Tamarack Drive Roadway Vacation April 15 Public Hearing Following discussion during the January 15th City Council meet- ing, the City scheduled a public hearing to consider the vacation of the existing Tamarack Road Right-Of-Way/easements that extend south of Highway 55 to the Blackfoot Trail/Tamarack intersection (see map below). The City received several letters from residents requesting the vacation. A public hearing notice will be sent to affected properties in the area and this newsletter also serves as a broader notice to the general public. The public hearing will be held at 7:00 p.m. on April 15th at City Hall. During the Council meeting, City staff also provided clarification on some of the public comments: ► The existing and proposed Comprehensive Plans show no plans for a north/south road connection in this area. ► The City has not generally vacated roads/easements outside of subdivision requests. ► Right-Of-Ways and easements of similar nature are often used for other purposes, including public and private utilities. ► There is no link between reaching 5,000 population/Municipal State Aid (MSA) status and Hennepin County’s authority to require a north/south connection south of Hamel Road to the Tamarack Road/ Blackfoot Trail intersec- tion. Hennepin County, the Metropolitan Coun- cil, or other jurisdictions do not gain any power or authority to require or construct such roadways as part of reaching MSA status. Election Precinct Division On March 3, 2008, the City Council passed a resolution approving the division of Medina’s one election precinct into two separate precincts along school district boundaries. Orono (ISD #278) and Delano (ISD #879) school dis- tricts within the City will vote at Precinct 1A, which will be located at City Hall, 2052 County Road 24, Medina, MN 55340. Wayzata (ISD #284) and Rockford (ISD #883) school districts within the City will vote at Precinct 1B, which will be at the Hamel Community Building, 3200 Mill Drive, Medina, MN 55340. All affected voters will be re- ceiving postal verification cards in the mail in August. With the creation of a second precinct, the City will need to solicit additional election judges. If you are inter- ested in serving as an election judge or would like more information on what is involved, please contact Election Coordinator Jodi Wunsch at 763-473-4643. Comprehensive Plan Update The City Council approved the draft 2010-2030 Com- prehensive Plan on February 6th. As the next step, City staff distributed the plan to area jurisdictions in February, which begins their formal review period. Area jurisdictions have up to six months to provide comments on the plan. Following the six month review, the review process by the Metropolitan Council will begin. The Met Council has up to 120 days to review the plan and respond to the City. The City has also adopted a work plan for updating land-use controls. City staff has begun researching and preparing draft ordinances for Planning Commission re- view. Based on the timeline needed to update the land-use controls, and receive comments from area jurisdictions and the Met Council, land-use applications may not be encour- aged until February 2009. While a formal moratorium pro- hibiting land-use applications has not been instituted, the City is discouraging applications on properties that will be affected by new land-use controls. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the Planning Department. Local Board of Appeal & Equalization Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 6:30 pm The Local Board of Appeal and Equalization meeting is held for the purpose of reviewing and correcting the 2008 assessed prop- erty values in the City of Medina. All persons considering them- selves aggrieved by said assessment or who wish to complain that the property of another is assessed too low, may appear at the meet- ing and show cause for having such assessment corrected. No com- plaint that another person is assessed too low will be acted upon until the person so assessed, or his/her agent, shall have been noti- fied of such complaint. Remember that the burden of proof is on the resident to justify a decrease in property value. A West Hennepin Community Climate Change Awareness Event On Sunday, April 20th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the City of Orono will be sponsoring a free event open to the general public on climate change awareness. The event will feature Chief Meteorologist Paul Douglas of WCCO and J. Drake Hamilton, Policy Director of Fresh Energy. The event will take place at Orono Middle School Auditorium and include music, speakers, exhibitors, eco giveaways and eco drawings. More details at: www.ci.orono.mn.us. c Printed on 20% post-consumer recycled fiber content paper City Hall Office Hours Mon-Fri 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Telephone Numbers City Hall ..............763-473-4643 Fax ......................763-473-9359 Police emergency ....................911 non-emergency .... 763-473-9209 Official Newspaper South Crow River News 33 2nd Street NE , Box 280 Osseo, MN 55369 Telephone Number: 763-425-3323 Mayor Tom Crosby..........612-766-8605 City Council Carolyn Smith.......763-475-1003 Daniel Johnson.....763-473-0744 Elizabeth Weir .....763-473-3226 Joe Cavanaugh...…763-473-5123 City Administrator Chad M. Adams….763-473-4643 e-mail: chad.adams@ci.medina.mn.us City Council Meetings First & third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Planning Commission Jeff Pederson, Chair Charles Nolan Mary Verbick Robin Reid Michele Litts Victoria Reid Jim Simons Planning Commission Meetings Second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Park Commission Ann Thies, Chair Ben Benson Madeleine Linck Brian Kingsley Galen Bruer Beth Nielsen Park Commission Meetings Third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Newsletter Editor City Administrator Chad M. Adams Other Contributors Jodi Wunsch 2052 County Road 24, Medina MN 55340 2052 County Road 24, Medina MN 55340 www.ci.medina.mn.us Inside this issue: 2007 Annual Report & Accomplishments.Pg. 1 Hwy 55/116 Open House..........................Pg. 1 2007 Police Department Stats ...................Pg. 1 Rain Gardens & Rain Barrels....................Pg. 2 Wood Duck & Blue Bird Houses..............Pg. 2 Park Commission Seat Open.....................Pg. 2 Lake Independence Shoreline Program.....Pg. 2 Uptown Hamel Road Reconstruction........Pg. 2 Well No. 7.................................................Pg. 2 Organics Program & Drive-in Service......Pg. 2 Election Precinct Division.........................Pg. 3 Local Board of Appeal & Equalization.....Pg. 3 Comprehensive Plan Update........................Pg. 3 Tamarack Drive Roadway Vacation..........Pg. 3 Climate Change Event...............................Pg. 3