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North Branch council expands plant studyBy Barbara Brown The North Branch City Council agreed at its Monday night meeting to expand a study on the cityís waste water treatment plant, making it a facility study that would put the project on the road to design. The reason for pushing the process forward so quickly, said Jay Kennedy of the engineering firm WSB & Associates, was to make the cityís future plan eligible for low-interest loans given by a state agency. A feasibility study was commissioned by the city in August 2001, to determine a timetable for possible improvements. The treatment plant is expected to reach capacity within the next four years, Costa Dimitra-copoulous, an engineer with WSB Associates of Minnea-polis, told the council Jan. 3. Problems with the treatment plant are growing. The storage tanks used to hold sludge leftover from the treatment process are filling up and residential growth in the city has the plant strained to keep up with demand. Dimitracopoulous said his firm was working on four build-out scenarios for expanding the treatment facility. Dimitracopoulous told the council that it had two choices to fund the project. The city can get on a waiting list for loan money or work out its own funding, probably by bonding for the project. If the city works out its own funding option, the project could be completed in two years. Waiting for the loan money could add about one year onto the process, said Dimitraco-poulous. No cost estimates on the project are ready yet, Dimitraco-poulous said. He said his group is waiting for effluency limits from state agencies to determine the scope of the project. Also at the Jan. 14 meeting, the council: ï Accepted a Minnesota Department of Transportation study that said the speed along 360th Street, between Forest Boulevard and Lincoln Trail could be reduced for safety. The new speeds will be 45 mph between the intersection with Forest Boulevard and the intersection with Hemingway and 40 mph between the intersection at Hemingway and the intersection of Lincoln Trail. ï Denied a request by Chain Lake Preserve to erect two model homes before all the permits had been granted. ï Agreed to allow the parks commission and the American Legion to work together to put a tank in Northwoods Park as a tribute to the armed forces. ï Asked the parks commission to reevaluate its suggestion that the city allow a proposed skateboard park to be erected in the City Hall parking lot. Councilman Roger Else objected to the suggested because, he said, those parking spaces are used by various groups every day and that the lot is too full to give up 18 of the 50 spaces for skateboarding. The council will meet Jan. 24 from 5 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. for a special work session to discuss several items including a library grant, county redistricting, Grand Avenue sanitary sewer and budget issues. ©ECM Post Review |