August 15th Council Meeting

There are four items from the upcoming August 15th City Council Meeting that I want to discuss.

The first is the great news that AmericInn will be building a hotel on Main Street just north of Hurricane Carwash. This is the first critical step in having the commercial infrastructure to start capturing dollars spent by those visiting Isanti. The investments made in various City festivals and sporting/recreational activities bring thousands of people to town. In the past they have had to stay in Cambridge or North Branch. Starting next spring they will have a local option. The hotel also fits well with Spectacular Events, tremendous facility offering a large dining hall, Bar and restaurant. The hotel will spur other economic development as well.

The second item I wish to discuss is the requested 60 day rule extension by Iverson Real Estate. This is for Fairway Greens III addition. This plat consists of extremely small lots, some hovering around 5,000 feet. This plat has been denied twice by the Planning Commission and tabled once by the City Council. Mr. Iverson’s conduct at the last Planning Commission was intolerable. His mocking and heckling behavior towards me as I pointed out the technical and planning problems with his application was unprofessional and shows a lack of respect for the process. I hope he will take City Staff and Planning Commission comments to heart and correct the many errors in this plat.

The third item is the proposed change to in the City’s Storm Water Ponding Policy. Mr. Duff from the Planning Commission and a candidate for City Council is attempting to make City storm water ponds privately held pieces of property. I am adamantly opposed to this change in city policy. I have listed my objections many times and will provide the link to those statements here-- http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2006/04/response-to-commissioner-duffs-letter.html. He has made a statement that the City could save $500,000 to $1,000,000 in a 10 year period of time. I asked him at the Planning Commission what this was based on. The only answer is this is what he was told by other Cities. To put this number in perspective it would be 1 ½ to 3 fulltime public works employees working on nothing but ponds. This is of course not the case. I hope the Council follows the Planning Commission recommendation, which voted 6-1 to deny the change, and vote this measure down.

The last item is Budget discussion. I have laid out my plan to reduce Isanti’s Levy by 8%. Please read for the specifics of the plan -- http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2006/08/august-10th-budget-session-update.html . We must keep property taxes low for our residents as well as for businesses. I will also be asking that Isanti start working towards long term budgets and capital improvement plans. Purchases such as heavy equipment or land for industrial park expansions cannot be made on a whim. We must have long range planning to prepare for such expenses. Simple common sense must prevail.