VARIANCES APPROVED FOR ST. VICTORIA
REGARDING THE BLUFF SETBACK AND PARKING
Dan Gallagher, architect for the new St. Victoria Catholic Church, spoke to Victoria city councilmembers on February 28th and asked for approval of variances for the church properties zoned Residen-tial and Shoreland District. 

The Victoria Planning Commission held a public hearing on February 5th and recommended approval of the variances.  Council passed a resolution allowing the new church to be located 0 feet from the top of the bluff rather than the 30-foot setback as required.  The resolution also allows the new parking lot to be located no closer than 20 feet from the adjacent property lines instead of the required 50 feet along the south and west boundaries. 
City Planner Mark Kaltsas said the outside of the existing church will be "pretty much as it is today."  He said one parking space is needed for every four seats in the 1,000-seat facility; but there is currently not a demand at St. Victoria for the 250 required parking spaces.  There are 230 spaces now being proposed by the architect.
Mr. Gallagher said that one home on the 27-acre site will be demolished, and the second home will remain temporarily.   He said there is 70-foot elevation down to Church Lake, the 1870 existing church will maintain the identity of the parish, the project will include approximately 20 classrooms, and they'll try to use materi-als that match existing materials.
All applicable demolition, building, grading, outside agencies, silt fence, and tree protection permits shall be acquired by St. Victoria prior to commencement of site work.

OTHER NEWS FROM MARCH
NEW DEVELOPMENT TO BE CALLED APPLE WOOD
*Council approved a sketch plat for a 37-lot single family home development (formerly owned by the Minnesota Land-scape Arboreum) located south of Hwy 5, west of Bavaria Road, and north of County Road 18.  The proposed site is approximately 17 acres and is located just east of Holy Family Catholic High School.  Due to proximity of the site to the new Diethelm Park, the petitioner is proposing to pay the city cash in lieu of the park dedication requirements for the property. 
*Mary Saarion reported she met with three user groups -- Mike Poppitz of the Victoria Vics, Jim Moss of the Victoria Athletic Association, and Chuck Weller of the Parks & Rec Board -- regarding the sideline, outfield, bull pen, and batting cage fencing for the baseball field at Diethelm Park.  Council approved the solicitation of specifications for fencing improvements.
*Council authorized the plans and specifications to place an advertisement for bids for the demolition of two of the three existing pole barns at Diethelm Park.  Also included is the removal and abandonment of sanitary sewer and watermain lines that currently exist within the proposed footprint for the Victoria Field House
*Council approved the final plat for a 105-lot single family home development (at the Kelzer/Schmieg property) located north of Church Lake Boulevard, west of County Road #1ll, and just south of the Kelzer's Pond Subdivision, to be known as Watermark.  The connecting street was also approved.
*Victoria councilmembers supported the resolution urging funding and early construction of Highway 212.
*Councilmembers approved offering the position of full time building inspector to William Schwanke, who recently obtained his full Building Official license from the State of Minnesota.  He is approved as an American with Disabilities Act Inspector and as an asbestoses abate-ment inspector.  He is nearly complete with the Building Inspection Technology program at North Hennepin Community College.  Mr. Schwanke started working for the city on Monday, March 25th.
*Councilmembers authorized the preparation of plans and specifications for the realignment and reconstruction of Stieger Lake Lane (Elm Street) and Rose Street, and authorized staff to negotiate the necessary right of way acquisition, with the purpose having these improve-ments constructed concurrently with the Stieger Lake Lane Bridge replacement project.  City Engineer Jack Griffin will schedule a meeting with residents.
*There are at least 16 lakes within the city limits of Victoria that are affected by the Shoreland Ordinance:  Lake Auburn, Lake Bavaria, Carl Krey Lake, Church Lake, Kelzer's Pond, Lake Minnetonka, Lake Minnewashta, Lake St. Joe, Schutz Lake, Sunny Lake, Stieger Lake, Stone Lake, Lake Tamarack, Lake Virginia, Wasserman Lake, and Lake Zumbra.  When any portion of a lot is located within 100 feet of the Ordinary High Water Level, the entire lot is considered a riparian lot and within the shoreland dis-trict.  A riparian lot has stricter develop-ment guidelines.
*Councilmembers approved the con-struction plans and specifications and authorized bidding of the Watermark Trunk Sanitary Sewer project.  Bids will be received on May 7th, 2002.  The bid tabulation will be presented to council on May 9th for council acceptance and awarding of the contract.  Final construc-tion is projected to be completed by the middle of July.
*Bids were received on March 27th from twelve contractors for a demolition project of a building at Diethelm park.  Council accepted low bid of $4,920 from Wickenhauser Excavating.  Contract com-pletion date is April 30th, 2002.
*Councilmembers have been asked to approve the request of Roger and Paul Hartman for a variance from the Shore-land Ordinance to permit a reduced set-back of 37.5 feet rather than 100 feet as required from the Ordinary High Water Level and a Minor Subdivision for the property located at 1021 - 74th Street on the southern edge of Schutz Lake.  The existing lots are platted as outlots and are therefore unbuildable as stated in the ordinance.  Lot 1 is approximately 1.77 acres.  Lot 2 is approximately 1.91 acres.  The petitioner provided a letter from his engineer (Duffy Engineering out of Sauk Rapids) stating he has reviewed the soil borings taken on this property and that it is possible to construct a house using poured pilings.  The issue has been tabled twice by the city council.