Foreclosure Rates

Another sad piece of information - albeit not surprising. These are the foreclosure rates by county for the 10 worse counties in Minnesota. Isanti has by far the worse foreclosure rate by total households in the entire state of Minnesota.

I am proud that we as a City have been working so hard on this problem and we are the only entity in the entire County to date that has gone after Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds to help turn this trend around. Isanti had a high of 174 occupied and unoccupied foreclosed homes in August of 2008 and we are down to 142 by March of 2009. From January 28th of 2009 to March 4th we have had 14 foreclosed homes sell. This drop in foreclosed homes has happened before we received the $552k in NSP funds. With the NSP funds and our aggressive approach - hailed by many state wide - we expect even greater results. This is all happening of course against the back drop of a terrible national economy. Progress is happening even in these difficult times.

Here are the top 10 foreclosure rates by county by total households.



County-----2005---2006---2007---2008


1 Isanti -----0.58 ---1.41 ----2.32 ----3.27

2 Sherburne 0.75 ---1.22 -----2.41--- 2.65

3 Mille Lacs 0.6 -----1.02 -----2.27 ---2.37

4 Wright* -- --------0.77 -----1.89---- 2.35

5 Scott ----0.36 ----0.80 -----1.47 ----2.17

6 Chisago --0.62 ---0.99 -----1.77 ----2.07

7 Kanabec --0.55 ---1.01 -----1.53 ---1.91

8 Anoka ----0.44 ---0.72 -----1.43 --1.90

9 McLeod --0.39 ---0.5 ------0.98 ---1.77

10 Pine -----0.77 --1.06 ------1.98 ---1.62

Letters of Credit

The City is drawing letters of credit for numerous Iverson developments to fix the many Minnesota Pollution Control issues along with unfinished projects. We have met with the banks involved and paraphrasing one bank official 'every dollar they have to spend is a dollar they lost on backing the developer'.

This is a situation none of the banks involved wanted to be in but they have all now complied with their agreements. The failing infrastructure will be fixed and projects like the paving of 3rd by the Soccer Fields can finally move forward.

I hope this will be the final page of a sad chapter in Isanti's history.

Hillock Court

Another neighborhood will have its tranquility shattered by development. The Hillock Court neighborhood, which was first built over 20 years ago, turned out in full force Tuesday night. They laid out their case against the proposed Red Oak Development. This development would replace the cul-de-sac of Hillock Court into a through street eventually linking to Third Avenue NE. This development was originally designed to be a cul-de-sac until wetland issues arose. The developer stated a cul-de-sac would not be feasible since he would not make enough money on the project. I met with the developer and found him to be a respectable and honorable person. I disagree however with the development he is proposing.

The hardest part of my decision was the knowledge that the proposed development property needs to be cleaned up. I voted against this project due to the increased traffic and destruction of a unique neighborhood. We can not make decisions to optimize developer profits.

Hillock Court is bordered to the west by Park Brook the Elementary school to the east and by a row of trees to the north. The new road extension would in my opinion radically reduce the value of the two existing homes the road would abut. Hillock Court is also 2 feet narrower than a standard city road. This could cause safety issues if traffic does increase.

Staff stated the concern that the existing Hillock Court was in violation of the cul-de-sac ordnance. This is true. It is also true it has been in violation for more than 2 decades. We can not continually correct the poor planning decisions of the past on the backs and wallets of our residents.

I will be laying out my goals for planning in the near future. These goals will improve the planning process to avoid such issues.

Traffic Light

The traffic light at the corner of 23 and 5 has been reject as part of an overall county road project. This road project which would have gone from the traffic light to the railroad tracks come in over budget by $200,000. The traffic light was not over budget. The county commissioners who unanimously voted against the project felt the bids may be lower next year. I attend this meeting and shared my frustration with this project. There seems to be very little support for this traffic light at the county level where the final approval needs to be. The city had voted for our share in the cost of this project. The county will look into other forms of traffic mitigation until they approve a budget. I am greatly disappointed and will start to aggressively lobby our county officials to make sure they fully understand the need for better control at this intersection.

East 65 Development Update

The meeting with the 3 developers and other interested land owners took place April 7th. Council Member Kennedy was unable to attend so council Member Larson joined me in working out a compromise solution. We had reached a tentative agreement with all parties. This agreement lasted roughly 24 hours. There were several concerns with property and easement values. The developers are continuing to negotiate a final resolution. I am working to have each property owner's rights respected and that the best plan for the entire city of Isanti is adopted. The Iverson portion of this development went to the planning commission on 4/12/05.