Legalectric

The Sturtevant Street project meeting was last Thursday night, and few neighbors were there. HEADS UP, NEIGHBORS!

The project has been postponed for a couple years, but for this spring, 2022, it seems to be a GO! The plan is to dig up and redo utilities and the street, from West Avenue over to Prairia, and Pine over to Putnam. It looks like a cost of at least $6,000 per house, and a spring and summer of discontent. What we did learn with the “Great West Wall” was that the City did work with people to make sure they knew the schedule, could access their homes, and for sure this will not be as complicated as the Great West Wall project:

CONTACT RYAN ILLA AND ASK TO BE PUT ON STURTEVANT PROJECT NOTICE LIST — THEY SEND OUT EMAILS AND UPDATES REGULARLY. ryan.illa@ci.red-wing.mn.us

Sturtevant in Red Wing has been a mess for a while, full of constantly refilled potholes. It’s narrow, with parking on only one side. We’re on the corner of West and Sturtevant, so impacts won’t be as bad, as we have a driveway on West, not just the short one on Sturtevant, so parking won’t be an issue here. However, the assessment? Just a few years ago, we got hit with the “Great West Wall” project assessment, and now this one, whew, it’s going to hurt!

Apparently they made some mistake in calculations regarding the sewer and water, I believe, they admitted this, $369 worth, so I’m waiting for the correction, but looking at the map, I think the 140′ on the north side is also off, but I can’t verify, because that’s not online anymore – click and see!!! We’ll be checking that out. Alan did some measurements after we got the house.

Ryan Illa is the Project Manager (651) 385-3628 and (651) 260-5956, ryan.illa@ci.red-wing.mn.us

Jay Owens is the Grand Pooh-bah in City Engineering Dept: (651) 385-3625 and jay.owens@ci.red-wing.mn.us

Red Wing is offering FREE televising of your sewer connection. Call Steve Thoms (651) 385-3680, (651) 380-0470, or steve.thoms@ci.red-wing.mn.us, to schedule. This is helpful if you’re considering, or NEED TO, replace service to the house, and city only goes ONE FOOT past the sidewalk. The rest is up to the homeowner.

If you need to replace service to your house, get on the plumber’s list early.

Rough schedule:

• February 14 – Public hearing prior to council formal approval
• April – May 2022 – “Private utilities work” (not clear what that means)
• May 2022 – begin work on the project
• Fall 2022 – project over, with luck trees will be planted in fall.
• 2023 – Assessments start to hit.

Assessments are an issue, because in these times of very, very low interest, the city’s interest rate to spread it out is way too high. Very few people are able to cough up that amount of money, looks like about $7,000 per house, before it goes into “payment” mode and they start charging interest. I’ve called Marshall Hallock, City Finance (651.385.3602 or marshall.hallock@ci.red-wing.mn.us), and will keep on this so Council is aware that this is a problem. If the City’s interest rate is an issue for you, CALL AND MAKE IT KNOWN! They’re not mind readers.

Sturtevant Street needs to be redone, the storm system needs to be extended up the hill, and yeah, we will need to replace our house service (UGH!), no doubt about it. The money end of it, though, needs attention.