RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY
FOR THE NEW STIEGER LAKE LANE BRIDGE
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new Stieger Lake Bridge was held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, December 9th, 2002.   City Council, Staff, and Bridge Offi-cials were present, including, left to right, TKDA engineer John Sanders, TKDA engineer Mitch Reiners, Mayor-Elect Jerry Bohn, City Planner Mark Kaltsas, Public Works Director Bruce Osborn, City Administrator Steve Sarvi, Council-member Dave Lindgren (seated), City Engineer Jack Griffin, Mayor Mary Meuwissen, TKDA engineer Roger Cole, and Victoria Building Official Tom Gray.

Lunda Construction Company Inc, Rosemount, Minnesota, was the con-tractor for the Stieger Lake Lane Bridge Replacement project.  Current total con-tract amount was $857,437.  With the addition of lighting, other details, and clean-up, one could call it a million dollar bridge.  The city paid $130,000 toward its cost; the rest came through the county from state bridge funds.

IS THERE ENOUGH SCHOOL CAPACITY
TO ACCOMMODATE CITY GROWTH?
The City of Victoria's Planning De-partment has been reviewing and conduct-ing research to create an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance for the city.  Such an ordinance will help ensure that adequate public facilities and services -- such as roads and sewer and water and schools -- will be available should property owners in Laketown Township request annexation to the City of Victoria.
On December 12th, 2002, City Plan-ner Mark Kaltsas presented the related draft ordinance to councilmembers, ex-plaining that its purpose is "so develop-ment doesn't get ahead of city facilities."
Mark Anderson of Lundgren Bros., developer and builder of homes, referred to part of the ordinance and stated, "We're surprised at the reference to the school district.  They operate totally independent of the study ... We're talking with the dis-trict now and maybe we can do something with them.  Typically they're out there doing their own thing."
Mayor Mary Meuwissen read out loud a section of the proposed ordinance that refers to schools.  Article V states:  "All new residential development shall be served by public schools, which are cur-rently adequate or programmed to be im-proved by the school board of the school district within which the proposed sub-division is located ... The Planning Com-mission and the City Council shall deter-mine whether public school facilities are adequate for the proposed new develop-ment upon recommendation by the Plan-ning Department of the City of Victoria after evaluating enrollment information provided by the school district that has jurisdiction over the land being evaluated.  The Planning Commission and City Council shall determine that a school is adequate if the school has the capacity to accommodate student enrollment without exceeding 105% of the school's capacity rating for each school."
Explained Planner Kaltsas, "We thought it was prudent to include the school in the development and planning process.  This is happening all over the country.  Victoria just happens to be the first here in Minnesota."
Added Mayor-Elect Jerry Bohn, "We just want to be cognizant of the needs, in-cluding school needs, of people moving into the community."
Agreed Mayor Mary, "We just want to be sure that necessary services are available, including roads, water, sewers, and schools."
The ordinance continues to be re-viewed and fine-tuned.

CITY GETS $100,000 DOWN PAYMENT
EARNEST MONEY FOR STIEGER LAKE PROPERTY
Victoria secured earnest money in the amount of $100,000 for the development of the Stieger Lake property currently owned by the city.  That property lies just west of the new city bridge and was re-cently cleared of the three homes that once existed on the contiguous parcels.
City staff will be working with the developer to proceed with the redevelop-ment approval process.  The developer has until March, 2003, to complete the city review and approval process and ob-tain the Conditional Use Permit.

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