Said Councilmember Richard Tieden, "Maybe we should review this.  I feel this requires a little further inquiry."
Mayor Jerry Bohn said, "The stress we're seeing in that road is due to climatic conditions that we see elsewhere.  They were perhaps accelerated by other condi-tions, but the road is 25 years old."  He said condition of the street is also depen-dent on the soil base that the city has seen elsewhere and that city standards used to be different than they are today.
Upon hearing that the road was built in 1980, Councilmember Kim Roden said, "So we'd be doing [reconstructing] that road anyway because it's 25 years old.  I do know that we now have a road plan.  We can't change errors made in the past.  Our street plan helps us move forward.  It's still a 25-year road.  The road in my own neighborhood was built in the same timeframe and looked a lot like yours."  Lilac Lane at Parkside was reconstructed last year.
"Twenty-five years is a long time in Minnesota," stated Kim about the life of roads.
Anticipating a future motion regard-ing street assessments for 77^th Street, Councilmember Tieden said as the resi-dents departed, "Thank you for coming and expressing your concerns.  We'll be as honest and as fair as we can."

RESIDENTS STILL WANT A GOOD ROAD
THIS TIME HYACINTH WILL BE RECONSTRUCTED
Council accepted a resident petition for improvements to Hyacinth Street and Hyacinth Circle and ordered a feasibility study to determine new costs of doing the roads.
Hyacinth residents were forewarned that ordering the study probably means the streets will be reconstructed and the benefiting properties will be assessed.  Councilmember Mary Thun referred to a previous feasibility study that the city did for the Hyacinth neighborhood and then laid it aside because the residents changed their mind.
"We took $20,000 to $30,000 to do that study and diligently listened to the residents.  We took that money out of taxpayer dollars.  It wouldn't take me two seconds to vote for the project!" stated Mary.
City Engineer Jack Griffin reviewed that Hyacinth residents had come back and said, "Costs were too high and Coun-cil backed down.  That was an expensive study.  Now we've dug up roads and changed the design and will have to do the study again."
Another feasibility study was ordered to determine new construction costs and assessment numbers. 

A "SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT"
BEING PROPOSED FOR DOWNTOWN VICTORIA
Mark Kaltsas, Planning Consultant for the City of Victoria, was hired some time ago to review the Downtown Master Plan and make evaluations especially as it addresses downtown parking.
In giving an update to councilmem-bers on October 27^th, Mark reported that the new owner of the Victoria Creamery has come forward with a vision that needs to be included in the Master Plan. 
Stated Planner Kaltsas, "It is signifi-cant.  It has greater scope and magnitude than what we've envisioned.  It would greatly affect a parking plan.  The new owner has only had it for two months …
"It will potentially bring a $25 mil-lion to $30 million development project to the city.  It is only conceptual at this stage.  They've hired an urban planner, a high profile company.  They're still in that process right now …
"I've reminded them that the city has asked me to get this done in a timely man-ner.  They've hired an architect.  I'm try-ing to incorporate their plan into a larger plan.  I've put together a schedule that might also accommodate them …
"Their piece is significant.  It changes how we look at our downtown.  It's bigger than what we would do as a city.
"Road alignment will be a big item.  Open space will be a big item.  Property acquisition would have to be started up-front.  A parking plan would be signifi-cant because of their desire to provide parking for their own tenants."
Mark said the mixed-used project could include commercial, retail, residen-tial, open space, and maybe a new City Hall or library, which would warrant further discussion.  "This gives a revised vision of the downtown," he stated.
Mark passed out a preliminary phas-ing schedule.  According to that schedule the city would authorize the engineer to do a feasibility study in February 2006 and begin to look at a financial package and a tax increment finance district.
In September 2006 the city would authorize construction drawings for pub-lic utilities.  In March 2007 a contract would be awarded for this utility phase of downtown redevelopment.
Continued Planner Kaltsas, "There would be a couple of pretty big street re-alignments for Quamoclit and Stieger Lake Lane with an extension connection for Tower Boulevard.  Because they [Creamery developer/owner] are a major piece, they'd want a buy-in on the concept plan.  We're going to need their develop-ment to finance the project.  Their goal is to generate parking for their users.  Ideally they want structure parking and public parking as part of that project."

After Mark's presentation, Council-member Mary Thun stated, "It sounds like this would really change the face of Vic-toria.  I think it's great if we can partner with a developer.  I'd like to be upfront with the public so they know exactly what this may or may not be costing us.  And I'd like the city planner really brought into the picture."
New owner of the Creamery site is Mary Meuwissen, former mayor of Vic-toria and business partner at Counselor Realty located in the Clocktower building in downtown Victoria.  Her parents have purchased a condominium at the Shores of Stieger Lake in downtown Victoria.  Mary and husband Mike are residents at Water-town. 

Part of the picture could include the land swap with Three Rivers Park Dis-trict, which is still proceeding, according to Mark Kaltsas.  The swap includes city-owned property on the east shore of Lake Auburn for park-owned property near the Dairy Queen that is contiguous to the existing Victoria business district.

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