HEADS UP, THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN THE AIRPORT ANNEXATION ISSUE !

Those of us in the Township who have been paying attention lately know that there is a very real possibility of the AirLake airport being annexed to Lakeville. There have already been a number of meetings at which this was explored, including a joint meeting with Met Council representatives, the Planning Commission, and the Town Board- refer to earlier blog.

Following the joint meeting on March 29, the Town Board received a letter from the Council confirming statements made by its representatives that evening. Part of that was detailing what the Township would have to submit to the Council to even be considered for the possibility of providing sewer and water to the airport. (Citizens were very concerned about this at the Annual Meeting and had asked the Board to look into what might be doable to keep the airport in Eureka and still meet MAC's needs for service under its policy.)

At a following Board meeting, Supervisor Behrendt asked that Sherri Buss, Senior Planner at TKDA, (the Township's planning and engineering firm) attend the June 13th Board meeting. The purpose of her appearance is to provide a realistic and broader understanding of the costs, time, and effort necessitated by providing what the Council is asking. This a prudent move because the Township and its citizens must understand what would be involved to achieve the retention of AirLake before making any decision on the matter. And that's providing that the Council would agree to the proposal. Those of you at all familiar with the Metropolitan Council know that there are no guarantees ahead of time. Eureka would have to fit in with the current systems statements, and the Council would have to agree that there is a regional need for Eureka to move now in the direction of becoming an urban township. This has been detailed in earlier blogs, too.

The purpose of this posting is to be yet another means to let you know of this opportunity to hear the consultant's input and the Board's discussion.

Regarding citizen information, at the Annual Meeting, Yours Truly proposed USPS notification of all Township landowners for all Text Amendment Public Hearings.  This is not required by state statute, but could go a long way to inform a public which unfortunately seems, over the years, to be a little out of timely contact with its own government. (My opinion) The Board approved this measure.

At a recent text amendment hearing, a person who has been perhaps the loudest in publicly complaining over many years (I've been there!) that he doesn't know what is going on, in spite of newspaper publications (These are required by statute), possible email notifications, calls to the clerk, website checks, not to mention attendance at Town meetings and even a personal letter of explanation on this topic from Yours Truly several years ago, complained at the hearing about the "scrawny/crummy" (paraphrasing) postcard that he had received notifying him of the hearing. He's complained that he hasn't been personally notified and then complained how he was personally notified!
If the Township had sent something which cost more money than the postcard (and this issue of how to notify was discussed at the Annual Meeting), then I suppose he might have complained that too much money was spent and that a postcard would certainly be sufficient. (Applicants for Text Amendments must pay for the USPS notification in addition to the other costs of the hearing.)

You can lead a horse... 
Please attend the Board meeting on June 13th to be up-to-date on the annexation matter.


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JUST SAYIN'...