4.0 HPSR 04-14-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Elk River -J Certified Local Government 2004 Annual Report fiver 2004 Projects Ongoing Review of Development Proposals The City of Elk River Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) continued its review of development proposal in 2004 using the recent archaeological modeling completed for the city. The HPC considers the potential of proposed developments to negatively affect sites that are likely to yield information important to prehistory or history. If such a site is indicated, the HPC recommends to the Elk River City Council that a Phase I Archaeological Survey is done (for the known sites) or that any item or condition found indicating the potential presence of such a site be reported to the city immediately. Further, the city reserves the right to stop the work authorized in its approval until the site is appropriately investigated and work is authorized to continue by the city. Archaeological Work To follow up on the city's 2003 archeological modeling and historic literature search, the city applied for and received a $10,000 grant through the State Historic Preservation Office to test this model. The grant was matched by city funds and in-kind services. Some very interesting sites were discovered including a potential Paleo site and apparent sites from the city's early logging industry. To involve the public, the city in conjunction with the Sherburne County Historical Society hosted an "Archaeology Day" in May of 2004 and an "Archaeology Tour" in July of some of the sites discovered during the testing of the model. Approximately 30 people participated in the former event, while well over 100 attended the latter. A separate tour of the sites discovered was conducted for elected officials. The archaeological work done in Elk River was featured at the 25`t' Annual Statewide Preservation Conference and in Minnesota Archaeology. Lastly, a video produced by the city on this work is being periodically aired on the local government access channel. 2005 Proposed Projects Archaeological Work The city has applied fox a $14,800 grant in 2005 to excavate a Paleo site and one of the logging industry sites discovered during archaeological work conducted in 2004. The plan is to allow the public to participate in excavating the logging site, if the grant is awarded. Oral Interviews Several oral interviews of prominent people in the city were conducted in 2004 in an effort to preen their knowledge of local history. The Elk River HPC will truly begin this task in earnest in 2005.