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September 2009 |
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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City Scoop Continued |
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Asked Councilmember Tim Amundsen, “Is there any easement or any construction [down Rolling Acres Road] within the proximity of a home like there was with Nelsons and Corwins?” Replied Cara, “I don’t think so.” Added Mr. [Met Council] Cook, “There’s a larger setback, a larger easement, this time compared to the first project.” He said this is true for all legs of Phase Two. He said the hole will be as deep but not as wide. It will be about 50-feet square, actually more of a rectangle, all within the right of way, he said. “In the first phase we were doing assessments on the fly,” continued Mr. Cook. “Now we’re proactive. We’ve taken it out of the realm of a videographer to a technical and structural review. Now we work with a homeowner before the contractor arrives. That’s an evolution for us.” Asked Councilmember Tim Amundsen, “Should we do anything differently? We’ve asked them to do things differently.” Replied City Attorney Norton, “I think it’s an expectation for the future. Staff better keep an eye on this.” Mr. Cook stated, “The homeowner has some rights and some obligations. In most cases the contractor will resolve the problem. If not, Tom [Buchal, principal contract administrator] will move it up the chain of command. If the homeowner ever feels he is not being taken care of, that’s when Tim [O’Donnell, communications supervisor] steps in.” Stated Councilmember Jim Paulsen, “We, the City of Victoria, really have no authority.” City Attorney Norton elaborated, “We can try to enforce the contract in court, and that could incur expenses.” Councilmember Roden asked how the Met Council is going to deal with the traffic and impact on Mount Olivet Church on Rolling Acres Road. “That road is already very stressed,” she said. Replied Mr. Cook, “We will sit down with the Church as we get closer to them with the project. We have a traffic management plan. A substantial amount of this work is underground. And we are not working on weekends. We have to make sure the contractor doesn’t leave something behind that will mess up a weekend. We will work things out so we don’t negatively impact the Church.” “We will have public information meetings before we start construction,” he continued. “We will tell residents which kind of noise or vibration they might hear or feel. The tunnel ends at the big green box [across from St. Morito Street at Swiss Mountain Farm].” Asked Councilmember Roden, “What kind of compensation do you give a homeowner for all the time spent in paperwork and hours of filing claims?” “We’re trying to make this as low impact on the property owner as we can,” said Mr. Cook. “This project is considerably different than the Smithtown project. There is no plan to close Highway 7 or Rolling Acres Road.” Councilmember Tom O’Connor made the motion to approve the amendment to the agreement between the City of Victoria and the Metropolitan Council. The project is scheduled to begin this fall, 2009, and be completed in 2012, with the South Lake Virginia Shores Park to re-open in 2013.
LMCC APPLIES FOR STIMULUS DOLLARS TO CONSTRUCT FIBER-TO-THE-HOME NETWORK Council voted 4-1 approving a resolution in support of the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission fiber optic funding request through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In simpler words, the LMCC is applying for federal stimulus dollars to construct a fiber-to-the-home network. As reported by City Administrator Don Uram, “The City of Victoria will benefit from the fiber-to-the-home project by providing residents with additional options for data, video, and telephone services as well as reducing city operating expenses, improving connectivity, and having an additional economic development asset in the community.” Asked Councilmember Kim Roden, “Is the LMCC going to be a regulator or a service provider? Seems you have to be one or the other ... How does supporting this affect our cable franchise and televising council meetings?” Replied Henry Pryor, Victoria’s representative to the LMCC, “The LMCC is part of you. We do not regulate Mediacom. We give them a franchise. We’ve had a lot of difficulties with our current provider. Everything we do we have to come to you under the Joint Powers Agreement to get permission to do what we do. This resolution is so we can apply for stimulus money.” Mr. Pryor added, “Usually the response from the city administrators was ‘How soon? How soon can we do this?’ Now we can get some financial help in pulling this together. You can’t and I can’t but we can.”
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Sue’s Album A symphony of photos and fewer than a thousand words at www.VictoriaGazette.com |
