Last week, the Big Lake City Council finally approved final plans for the controversial street improvement project. 

Open Forum

Following the trend of the last couple of months, several individuals spoke during open forum on various topics around the city, and of course, Powell St. was the main focus.

Ketti Green stated that she was glad to hear many different sides of the issue from those who reached out to her as she is running for the vacant council seat. Brandon Backes presented two polls of his neighbors to the council, showing overwhelming support for sidewalks on Powell St. However, Cory Gardner, Kathleen Poslusney, and Rev. Donna Poulliot all urged the council to take the results of the poll with a grain of salt, since the results could be skewed by the way the poll was presented. Reanne Danielowski noted that Powell St. is a part of the “Safe Routes to School” program, and it was important to make sure students walking to school could do so safely, and that the city may be liable for any accidents caused by a lack of sidewalks. 

Street Improvement Project

Layne Otteson once again presented the street improvement project, requesting the council approve final plans and authorize the advertisement for bids. 

After discussion with the Minnesota State Aid Engineer, it was discovered that Powell St. will not be eligible for funding from the state after all. However, if the city does not spend state funding on this project, their state aid account will continue to accumulate and more money will be available to the city at a later date for an eligible project. Council member Paul Seefeld suggested reevaluating the question of sidewalks on Powell St. since there will be no state aid available to help reconstruct the road either way. The council asked the city attorney whether they would be liable for accidents in areas that lack sidewalks on a “safe route to school” street. The attorney stated that anyone could sue the city for any reason, but liability is a tricky question. Likely, the city would not be found liable unless there was clear negligence. 

Ultimately, the council decided to add sidewalks to Powell St., and approved the final plans with that stipulation.

Zoning Ordinance Change

City staff has been working on a map rezoning areas in the city to match with the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Staff focused mostly on undeveloped areas, setting up a plan for the city to eventually develop those areas. Most of the changes involved rezoning land currently designated as agricultural or business to be used instead for medium or high density land, though some designated residential areas were rezoned to be used for business.

Kamren Gaddes spoke against the ordinance change earlier in the meeting, saying the change would hurt his property value. 

The council approved the change. Mayor Paul Knier said he liked the plan, and the blend it created with commercial and residential areas. 

Marketplace Crossing Concept Plan Review

The council reviewed the plan for the upcoming Marketplace Crossing apartments. The developer wants to create a building with 60 units, varying between one, two, and three bedroom apartments. The developer anticipates putting in a second building sometime in the future. There is no planned underground parking, and no outdoor living areas (patios, balconies).

The council gave informal feedback on the plan. The council members all agreed they would prefer to see covered parking and outdoor living areas included.

One of the project representatives explained that including underground parking could cost around $30,000 per stall, adding millions of dollars to the project and increasing the cost for future renters.

Consent Agenda

In other news, the council:

• Approved claims and previous council workshop minutes;

• Made changes to public works positions;

• Changed Lucinda Meyer’s employment status as city planner from probationary to permanent;

• Approved an agreement to use a grant of $50,000 from the state towards the city recycling program;

• Accepted the resignation of Jake Osowski from the liquor store, as he is away at college;

• Approved the outside employment request form for 2021, which allows city employees to request employment outside of city government in addition to their city jobs;

• Approved the final plat for Big Lake Car Condos second addition;

• Approved the hiring of John Koller as a fleet maintenance worker for public works;

• Made the final payment for the 2019 Street Resurfacing project to Knife River Corporation.

Mayor Knier removed the approval of the previous meeting minutes from the consent agenda, revising the minutes to more accurately reflect a statement he made. On page 10 of the minutes, it was stated that Mayor Knier said the city could not know today what the costs would be in the future (regarding the street reconstruction project.) Instead, the line will now read, “Knier stated that Ken [Halverson] was exaggerating the increase in costs when he used numbers like $100 today and $200 in four years, and that [the city doesn’t] know it would increase to that extent.”

While not included in the consent agenda, a later item that was approved without discussion was the acceptance of a $4,000 donation to the Big Lake Police Dept. from the Eddy Family Foundation.