PRSR 06-08-2005 INFORMATION #1 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

INFORMATION 5T: PAUL PIONEER PRESS WWW.TWINCITIES.COM 5-~-05 WOODBURY $9 million for park land, upgrades may go to vote Council to weigh city referendum >: BY NANCY YANG Pioneer Press A $9 million open-space ref- erendum that would help 4C'oodbury develop 80 acres south of the Bielenberg Sports Center could go to voters in November, if the City Council approves the measure by late July. The money would alsc be used to buy other parcels throughout the city targeted for open-space development. The Bielenberg site would get new athletic fields, picnic shel- ters, trails and tennis courts. . Of the total referendum fig- uie, about $6 million would be used to buy land throughout the city, with the remaining $3 million to be used for improve- ments. The question would be put to esters on school board ballots if the City Council approves. • Parks and recreation direc- tor Bob HIatt said that if approved, this would be the at5~'s fourth open-space refer- endum -the most recent com- ing in 1998 for $5 million, which helped buy more than 310 acres - and that rates for homeowners would be signifi- cantly cheaper this time around. The owner of a home valued at $200,000 would pay an addi- tional $?A in property taxes per year. - ,'7t was three times that in 1994," HIatt said. "It was two times that in 1998. It's much more affordable now." Klatt said part of the reason for that is a larger tax base. Woodbury's population in the early 1990s was just above 20,000, less than half of what it is now -meaning more home- owners share the total cost today. Woodbury in 2002 scrapped plans for a similar referendum because of an economic down- turn, but city administrator Clint Gridley said this year is a good time to revisit the propos- al. "The economy is stronger than in the earlier part of the decade and the need has really grown," Gridley said. HIatt has submitted a time- line to the City Council and said that if the members want the referendum on this year's ballot, a decision approving the measure must be made by July 27. If the council misses that deadline but still approves the referendum proposal, resi- dents could still vote on a measure by a special election or in next year's primaries. Mayor Bill Hargis expressed concern over the timeline. "It's an ambitious timeline, and I'm concerned it's not enough time to educate the residents," he said. "My con- cern is that we do this the right way and ask the right ques- tions, get the right dialogue going.... I hope residents will have time to study it and digest it. `Tve been in malty board meetings where if you ask too fast you don't get the answer you want," he said. As part of the notification process, city officials are plan- ning to produce material specifically addressing the ref- erendum proposal; the infor- mation will be sent out within the next few months. City offi- cials also plan to poll residents in June. In February, as part of the larger 2005 community survey, the city asked residents if they would vote for or against the referendum proposal Approxi- mately 52 percent of the 400 polled said they would support the plan, while 34 percent said they would wte against it; another 15 percent didn't know or didn't answer. Those who opposed the ref- erendum said either that takes are already too high or that the measure wasn't needed. Those who said they would support the referendum said they would do so because it is important to preserve open space and that more athletic fields are needed at Bielen- berg. An open-space-referendum residents group met for the first time last week The group will update the City Council on Wednesday about its discussions regarding the proposal Rico wic~ni i ~