*Councilmembers received two Con-cept Plans for the 1,371 acres of Lake-town Township under consideration for annexation to the City of Victoria.  Coun-cil did not approve either one, but indicat-ed the developers group seemed to be headed in the right direction.  Council is looking for more plan refinement.
*Council approved a resolution sup-porting accelerated funding for Hwy 212.  According to Steve, the approval helped to "tip the Governor's hand."  State funding of approximately $210 million was approved for the year 2005 rather than 2013. 
*Council approved a resolution sup-porting an elementary school in Victoria, and dictated that language in the bond referendum this fall clearly and explicitly state that the school will be built in Victoria, or else School District #112 will not receive support from Victoria in that upcoming referendum.  During the last school referendum, there was only verbal agreement to build the school in Victoria and the district reneged on the agreement after getting the votes of the residents of Victoria.  The State Attorney General said he could not enforce an agreement unless it was clearly stated in the bond language.  Steve said that District #112 officials stated they will include the proper language this time.
*Council approved an ordinance re-quiring permits for construction signs.
*Council approved a sketch plan for a subdivision of property on Rolling Acres Road formerly owned by Allan Sauter of Victoria.  The plan consists of 17 single family homes ranging in price from approximately $500,000 to $750,000 on 13.9 acres.  A large portion of the proper-ty lies northwest of Rolling Acres Road, a smaller portion to the southwest.  Since the site includes two trail connections, the City of Victoria will require cash in lieu of dedicated parkland for this particular development.
*Council approved low bid of $9,000 from Ron Olson for demolition of the Sidco building in downtown Victoria.  The property was purchased recently by the City of Victoria.
*Council approved low bid of $144,865 from Jerry's Floor Store for completion of the gymnasium at the Victoria Field House.  This project in-cludes a wood floor, 6 adjustable basket-ball supports, 6 wall pads, one electric divider curtain, and 4 volleyball inserts and supports.
*Council awarded the Joint Tennis Court Project with Holy Family Catholic High School to low bidder Metro Paving at $152,363.  The City of Victoria's con-tribution to the project will be $76,181.  Eight tennis courts will be constructed on the Holy Family property.
*Council learned that only 18 surveys were returned out of the 48 sent to proper-ty owners between Lions Park and Hwy 5, regarding the upgrading of their residen-tial streets.  The extent of interest means those streets will not be upgraded in con-junction with other neighborhood streets this coming spring.
*Council is committed to keeping the streets in the Parkside Estates area (down near Schutz Lake) as rural as possible in working toward final design.  A recent hearing with neighborhood people lasted "very long," said Steve.
*And last, but certainly not least, Steve Sarvi was called to active duty again.  He will leave in October for approximately one year in Kosovo to help "keep the peace" between Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Albanians.  This assignment affects the City of Victoria, obviously, and also the City of Watertown, for which Steve is mayor, but most importantly it affects his wife and children.

VICTORIA COMMITS LAND FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PREPARING FOR DISTRICT #112 SCHOOL REFERENDUM
On July 10th Victoria city council-members voted 5-0 to commit and provide to School District #112 a parcel of land on the south side of Victoria for a public ele-mentary school. 
Approximately 1,000 acres on the south side, currently located in Laketown Township, are being studied for orderly annexation to the City of Victoria.  About one-third of this area, or approximately 300+ acres, is being called the "Lundgren development."  This development is only in the sketch phase at the city staff level.
It has been said that an elementary school requires 20 acres.
Bev Stofferahn, Superintendent of School District #112, spoke to Victoria city councilmembers on Thursday, July 10th, regarding the upcoming school referendum this fall and the recurring possibility of locating an elementary school in Victoria.
A school referendum in the fall of 1999 was also to have placed an elemen-tary school in Victoria. 
"It's certainly no secret that this area is growing," said Ms. Stofferahn.   "I want to be clear that the intent is to locate the school in Victoria."
She referred to the 20-acre parcel in Victoria, on the east side, that the school district bought a few years ago from Jerry and Jane Michel.  After the successful 1999 referendum, however, the district put the new elementary school in Chaska and came to propose a school bus garage, instead, on the Michel parcel.
"We've asked ourselves if that was the best location for a school," said the superintendent.  "We came to focus on an area south of Deer Run out by Lake Wasserman."
She said the City of Victoria could possibly capture that southern site for the school through land dedication.  When the property develops, a percentage of land dedication to the city is required.  In this way the city would have land to give to the district for a school.
  "It would be a better location," she said.  "It would be in a neighborhood.  It would walk more students and save trans-portation costs.  The taxpayers would obviously benefit.  And yet the property on the west side is a good site and I don't want to diminish that."
In a July 9th correspondence to the City of Victoria, Ms. Stofferahn wrote of the Lundgren site ...
"It would anchor a school within a neighborhood ... Our architects, RMA, have informed us that if we plan to con-struct and open the Victoria elementary school in the fall of 2005, they need to know the site location very soon; in fact for them to stay on schedule, they would like to already know ... The district needs to know the city's intent as soon as pos-sible or we will need to direct architects to plan to use the district-owned [Michel] property on the east side of Victoria.  If we later change our minds and re-direct them to the Lundgren site, it will nega-tively impact both the construction and the budget.  Please let me be clear that it is not the district's intent to force the city into a decision if it is not ready to do so."
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