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City of Elk River 2004 Annual Report Staff anticipates the single and multi-family home markets to remain strong in 2005. In addition, an increase in the commercial sector is expected with projects like the Wal-Mart expansion on the horizon. ENVIRONME.NTAL IssuE.S Energy City-The most significant Energy City highlight was the Elk River School District's involvement in the Sustainable School Project. This program continues to receive national attention. The new elementary school proposed within the city limits in 2005 promises to be the most energy efficient to date. Another major Energy City project in 2005 will be the construction of Energy House III in cooperation with the Suburban Northwest Builders Association and numerous other governmental entities and private companies. Cleanup Days-The city hosted its normal Spring Clean-up Day at the Maintenance Garage. Sherburne County granted $8,615 of SCORE funds for this event. The high amount of SCORE funds granted by the county reflects the success of this event. In addition, a week-long Fall Clean-up event was held in cooperation with the Elk River landfill. Citizen participation at this event was not as high as anticipated. No SCORE funds were received for this event. A week- long Spring Clean-up event will be held in 2005 starting at the Elk River Landfill and culminating with the city's normal Clean-up Day at the Maintenance Garage. Staff will discuss the fall event with Council prior to making plans. Residential Garbage/Recycling Contract-The city licensed 17 refuse haulers that pick up commercial accounts. This is up from last year's licensing due to stepped up staff enforcement. To help encourage residential recycling the city offered a $15 rebate. There were 232 households that received this rebate as compared to 129 in 2003. The city's haulers estimated that 61 % of the households in the city participated in the residential recycling program in 2004. Recycling reduced the amount of waste disposed of in the city by 17.5 %; up from 15.9% in 2003. In 2005 the city will be offering a $25 rebate as an added incentive. In total, the city's refuse and recycling program collected 14,847,540 pounds of material in 2004. County Ditches-The city paid Sherburne County approximately $80,616.98 in ditch assessments. The bulk of this money (over $61,000) was spent for cleaning out Ditch 31, which runs from the Elk River Country Club to north of County Road #33. This work was necessary to keep properties from flooding; however, as a result a DNR public water in Woodland Trails Park was drained. Staff anticipates an additional large expense in 2005 for restoring this pond. The other big issue was the Subordinate Ditch Agreement that will set the one branch of Ditch 28 (that is mostly in Big lake Township) off from the other two branches that are mostly in Elk River. This issue will be finalized in 2005. Gravel Mining-Two gravel excavation permits were processed. Schuer Mining expanded their IS-acre pit by an additional 66 acres and J & B Mining received approval for an approximately 40-acre pit, which included mining into the ground water. In 2005, Staff anticipates Midwest Asphalt to request an amendment to their permit to mine into the ground water and a possible new pit being proposed by C. S. McCrossan (south of 221 st Avenue). Landfill- The Elk River landfill is currently conducting an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding a proposed expansion to their mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) operation. They are proposing to expand to the south of their current MSW cells. The Landfill will submit an