During the recent Big Lake City Council meeting, Layne Otteson with engineering went over the plan for 2022 street projects. 

After a couple of neighborhoods asked that no work be done in there area, plans changed to include different neighborhoods in the streets project for next year. At the last regular meeting, the council was concerned about trying to do too much too quickly, but for the second meeting for October the council was concerned for the opposite reason. Otteson proposed a one-inch overlay on some of the roads instead of heavier maintenance. The council was concerned that putting an overlay over a bad base would cause the overlay to deteriorate more quickly and be a heavier burden on the taxpayers in the long run. Otteson justified this choice by saying he was looking for a happy medium between needing at least some work done and not trying to tackle more than with what the council was comfortable. 

The council motioned to move forward with the plan, and open houses are scheduled for the areas in question for later in the month. 

Open Forum

Gloria VanDeBrake of the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce encouraged the council members and the audience to attend the chamber’s Halloween scavenger hunt and compete for prizes and candy.

Updates to the Comprehensive Plan

The Big Lake Planning Commission recommended making some changes regarding the Big Lake Business Park, specifically regarding a 85-acre site that was recently annexed to the city. With the annexation, the Planning Commission thought it best to make some changes to the land use plan. The area was initially zoned for agriculture, but this would be changed to business, industrial, and residential instead. 

Premier Marine will be moving into this area. The council was presented with a site plan for the facility. Council asked Premier Marine to continue to work with staff to improve where the plan was in violation of city code (which is fairly common for a site plan in the early stages.) 

Prairie Meadows Concept Plan

Prairie Meadows is a plan for a neighborhood which includes 22 twin homes and 55 townhomes (three or four units each). The neighborhood will be located off of 172nd Ave. The neighborhood would feature a private park and dog run to be maintained by the HOA.

The council gave their preliminary impressions of the plan, and several expressed concern that the road was not wide enough, as well as the placement of the parkland.