GETTING READY TO MOVE SOUTH
ANTICIPATING ANNEXATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Council continues to study the "South Sub Area," which is the moniker for a large acreage just south of the city limits of Victoria.  Part of Laketown Township today, it's prime for annexation and de-velopment.  The city's 18-month develop-ment moratorium comes off on October  11th, 2002, and proposals for both annex-ation and development of large parcels are anticipated to arrive immediately at city offices.
City Planner Mark Kaltsas presented the plan for the "South Sub Area" which included three sections.  At its adjacent border with Deer Run, the first section includes single family residential with "mixed use pockets" allowed as in other parts of Victoria.  No high density is expected.
The second section, located just south of Marsh Lake Road is property termed "rural residential."  It is loaded with natural resources such as deep woods, wetlands, and steep slopes.  Said Mark, "People living here want the opportunity to preserve some rural areas and hobby farms."
The southern most portion of the "South Sub Area" is proposed to remain agricultural on the west side, moving east into a neighborhood/commercial/multi-family space and, finally, into a Corporate Campus on the eastern edge.
Looking ahead to the various uses of the large acreage, Mark stated, "We've got a good grid in place to take care of the expected local traffic."  He referred speci-fically to County Roads #10, #11, #43, and Marsh Lake Road, as well as some rather major intersections among those roads.
Stated Mayor Mary Meuwissen, "It's been about a year long process.  There have been meetings with about 60 township property owners.  This plan reflects our discussions of the past year."
Said Councilmember Gordon Siman-ton, "It's an opportunity to do what today is considered nontraditional.  I think it's an excellent plan."  He asked that the yet unscheduled public hearing include infor-mation on a staging of development and some estimated costs for utilities.
Local developer Terry Hartman ex-pressed concerns for the Marsh Lake Hunting Preserve, a large private hunting property with facilities, which is located in the South Sub Area.  The mayor had proposed moving forward with a public hearing in a couple weeks, listening once again to public comment and talking over concerns. 
Terry, who is the president of the Marsh Lake Hunting Club, said he hoped the public hearing could be delayed for at least a month.  "Marsh Lake has been tracking the plan as best we can," he said.  "It has been seeing implications for Marsh Lake.  Whether it's positive or negative, we haven't decided yet.  We'd certainly like some time to review it and meet with Mark [Planner Kaltsas] again for our feed-back."
No date for the public hearing was set at this time.

APPROVING 2003 POLICE CONTRACT
AND SPEAKING HIGHLY OF SHERIFF BUD OLSON
Council approved the 2003 contract with Carver County for police services.  Currently the city is paying approximately $49/hour for six hours of daily patrol time.  The new rate is $50.17/hour.  According to City Administrator Steve Sarvi, the increase is due to rising gasoline and health insurance costs, as well as anticipated union contracts.
Said Steve, "I think the Sheriff is starting to try to move the department to think outside of the box, trying to make more of a local police presence.  I think Bud is doing a great job looking outside of Minnesota for new ways.  He's been very open to the cities."
Mayor Mary Meuwissen spoke highly of Sheriff Bud Olson, who is running for reelection this fall.  "Anytime anything has happened in Victoria, Bud calls me.  From my perspective, and I can only speak for myself, Bud has done a fantastic job staying in contact with the mayor.  Anything that happens that causes concern, he calls me.  He's done a great job for us.  I've never had one bad experience, and I want the public to know that."
Councilmember Dave Lindgren com-mented on a particular evening when he was acting mayor in the absence of Mayor Mary.  "He called me three times that night.  I was next in line.  I think he has done a real good job, and I can't imagine anybody doing a better job."

HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS
A POSSIBILITY FROM CHASKA.NET
Council approved a proposal to move ahead with an agreement to provide high speed internet service to city offices through Chaska.Net.

City Planner Mark Kaltsas reported that the Chaska group came forward be-cause of Klein banks, in which the Victoria State Bank is included.  "It would require city cost, but the savings would be approximately $4,300/year compared to Sprint," he said.
He said that Chaska.Net would be able to install its own equipment on Vic-toria's water tower.  "The Catholic high school could take advantage of it," said Mark.  "It seems to be a pretty good alter-native to Sprint."  There would be a one-time fee to Victoria of $1,200 for their antenna.
Said Mayor Mary Meuwissen, "We charge $18,000 for others to use our tower.  I don't understand.  It seems we should be getting some kind of a fee.  The city is providing the tower for their revenue generating service.  We're pro-viding a revenue generating service for them, and yet they're charging us."
Stated City Administrator Steve Sarvi, "In fairness, the revenue generated from cellular is much greater than what this would be.  Cell phone companies de-rive a much higher revenue."
"The advantage I see with this," said Councilmember Gordon Simanton, "it's a great marketing tool for downtown re-development to have high speed internet access.  I see it as a revenue stream for us.  They could give us a special rate, and we could outsource it to others.  They're putting in the service."
Gordon's motion to approve the pro-posal passed, along with the mayor's "friendly amendment" to eliminate the $1,200 fee for Victoria.  "The Victoria community paid for that tower and provided that tower already and shouldn't have to pay again," said the mayor.

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