Rochester City Council to Discuss Peace Plaza & Trash Collection
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The agenda for Monday's meeting of the Rochester City Council includes a possible vote on the design for the "Heart of the City" project.
The members of the Council were recently presented with plans for revamping the Peace Plaza area along with the adjoining section of 1st Ave., Southwest and the north-south alley between 1st Avenue and Broadway. The Destination Medical Center Corporation Board has already approved the plans, and with the City Council’s approval, the consultants working on the project will proceed with the drawing up the final designs. The proposed timeline for the $15 million project calls for sending out requests for construction bids by the end of this year.
The Council could also take up a possible override of Mayor Kim Norton's first veto this evening. It involved the assessments authorized by the City Council to pay for some sidewalk projects in the Woodlake Business Park near the South Broadway and Highway 52 interchange. In issuing the veto, the mayor indicated she wanted more discussion about the city's current policies for assessing sidewalk projects in non-residential areas.
The garbage collection issue also appears on the City Council’s consent agenda for Monday evening. City staff is requesting authorization to spend about $10,000 to hire an outside firm to conduct a survey of city residents in an effort to gauge their opinions about potential plans to organize the collection of waste from homes and businesses in Rochester. In years past, the Council has considered dividing the city into districts and selecting one waste collection company to pick up garbage in each of the districts. Supporters have said reducing the number of garbage trucks traveling on city streets would save the city a significant amount of money now spent on street maintenance and repairs.
As previously reported, the City Council will also be presented with the Rochester School District's plans for a parcel of lan
d along 40th Street Southwest near the Hart Farm subdivision. Pending voter approval of a bond issue this fall, the district is laying the groundwork for the construction of a new Middle School at the site in the next couple years. Long-range, the property could also be the location for a future elementary school and high school.
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