by Dave DeMars
news@thenewsleaders.com
The Sauk Rapids City Council received a briefing from City Engineer Terry Wotzka at its Sept. 12 meeting about the plans for upgrades and improvements dealing with Second Avenue South in and around the Coborn’s Superstore.
The improvements would include installation of streets, water main, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, sidewalks, street landscaping and street-lighting improvements.
A portion of First Street South will be reconstructed as an urban-section roadway that varies from 40-feet to 54-feet wide, Wotzka said. Both sides of the road will include six-foot-wide concrete sidewalks installed behind the curb and gutter.
In the Second, Third and Fourth streets’ section of the plan, side streets will be reconstructed as 32-foot-wide urban-section roadways. Six-foot concrete sidewalks are proposed for these side streets. Sixth Street South will be reconstructed as a 30-foot-wide urban-section roadway.
Total project costs are estimated to be $2.8 million, Wotzka said. City assessment policy for street reconstruction allows for all lots adjacent to the roadway being reconstructed to be assessed 25 percent of the street cost. The city and state aid would pay the remaining street costs.
Citizen complaint
Gloria Truax from the 18th Street and Second Avenue neighborhood shared issues she and her neighbors would like addressed by the council, such as noise from dump trucks and vendor delivery trucks when making deliveries to the Holiday service station on 18th Street, as well as the loud public address used by the Holiday station.
Truax also said during the re-tarring of the Holiday station lot, 25 trucks and vehicles used side streets as a parking lot. Neighbors are also concerned about the toxic air caused by the heavy traffic in the area.
Proposed sidewalks for the area are also of concern, Truax said. She cited concerns about the elderly being able to pay assessments, the fact that people using the sidewalks would be closer to the homes, and safety concerns with neighbors crossing over the sidewalks to enter and exit their garages.
She also cited problems with the bus-stop location, which presently causes the bus to block a neighbor’s driveway when it stops for pickups. She asked the bus stop be moved to a location somewhere between the Holiday station and the new Kwik Trip station.
Service recognition
Keith Krueger of the Sauk Rapids Utilities Department received special recognition for his hard work and reliable performance for the past 15 years. In presenting the award, Utilities Director Pete Eckhoff said the work of members of the utility department is sometimes taken for granted.
“There is a lot of nights and weekends there that people probably don’t realize,” Eckhoff said. “He is on rotation at the water plant, and every Saturday and Sunday they have to go up and do the rounds at the water plant. In 2014, we had a lot of frozen services, and Keith was one of the guys (who) helped us get through that. It was a lot of late-night work in extremely cold weather.”
The council also held a public hearing and approved a request for off-sale beer license to the Kwik Trip store on 18th Street N.
Council also approved the following consent agenda items:
• Approved and authorized an addendum to the annual on-sale liquor license for Urban Moose’s Oktoberfest event.
• Approved summary of publication from the Aug. 22 ordinance update pertaining to special events.
• Approved the finance director’s continuing professional-education request.
• Approved the pay-off of Minden Township annexation payment.
• Approved roofing bid for concession stand at Bob Cross Park.
• Approved hiring for minute-taker position.
• Approved log-building-design proposal.
• Approved 2016 plumbing and mechanical contractor licenses.
• Approved training requests for police personnel to attend Toward Zero Deaths Conference.
• Approved Rotary Club’s concept and installation of a kiosk for bike-repair station.
• Approved the ordinance amending the liquor licensing code to clarify the permitted hours for off-sale 3.2-percent malt liquor.
• Approved a lawn-care service contract.
• Approved subordination request for El Rosario, also known as Manea’s meats.
• Approved the hiring of a new peace officer.
Utilities department worker Keith Krueger (center) receives an award at the Sauk Rapids City Council meeting on Sept. 12 recognizing his 15 years of service in the utilities department from Utilities Director Pete Eckhoff (left) as Mayor Brad Gunderson looks on.
Gloria Truax appears before the Sauk Rapids City Council on Sept. 12 to register complaints about ongoing noise and traffic problems occurring in the Eighteenth Street and Second Avenue North neighborhood.
This photo shows the proposed street improvement areas discussed at the Sept. 12 meeting of the Sauk Rapids City Council. The red square is the Coborn’s Superstore lot. Areas shown in black are the streets that will be improved, which includes a portion of Second Avenue, First Street, Second Street, Third Street, Fourth Street and Sixth Street at an estimated cost of about $2.8 million.
