Open Space and Andover

The headline in this week's Anoka County Union:  "City Adds 20 Acres of Open Space" is a continuing positive development in Andover, and a recognition that what voters approved in 2006 can be realized by thoughtful decision from the Open Space Advisory Commission and the City Council.

Here is an excerpt from that article:

Andover will be protecting another property from future development, which is an initiative voters signed off on in 2006.

The Andover City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved spending $320,000 to buy a 20.6-acre parcel east of Hanson Boulevard and north of 161st Avenue.

The property has been referred to as White Pine Wilderness and had been approved for urban housing development, according to a March 2010 new residential development map. It is immediately east of an already developed neighborhood.

http://abcnewspapers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13688&Itemid=26

 

Hope and Jeff Luedtke previously donated a parcel of property by the Rum River, and now Karen and Lawrence Emmerich have donated this property, which lies between homes developed at 161st and Crane and 161st and Wintergreen.  I drive by this parcel all the time, and this will will be a fine preservation of land for use by our community and will be easily-accessible to the homeowners living betweeen Hanson and the rail line in that neighborhood.   Thank you to our property owners for recognizing Andover's future.

And thank you to the decision-makers who moved ahead in securing this latest property.

Making land available for Andover's future is an important choice.  As we continue to look at choices of what Andover looks like in 2020, 2030 and beyond, it will be a difficult balancing decision between the needs for housing developments, protecting Andover's traditional rural/farm community, and providing more Oopen Space choices.  This decision must always remain a choice for our land owners.  While these owners will continue to be paid well for their land, there may be an offset of potentially greater future benefits for the same land.  This choice must remain voluntary, it can not be coerced.  Someday, having Open Space may be at a premium, and those owners should never be put in a position of doing so for the community good at their own persaonal expense.  Hopefully there will always be fair value and intrinsic gain associated with selling land to be protected as Andover Open Space.

If you want to know more about the Open Space Advisory Commission, please use this link:
http://www.ci.andover.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B02DD7137-2F73-4D34-91C5-AAF9627F114A%7D&DE=%7B72D2803B-D486-4EE3-9EC7-D986AD242525%7D

The FAQ is informative:
http://files.andovermn.net/pdfs/Commissions/OSAC-FAQ.pdf

The Citizen's Guide to "Protecting Your Open Space" is informative - and an excellent starting point:
http://files.andovermn.net/pdfs/Planning/Open%20Space/ProtectingYourOpenSpace-Andover.pdf


This is an example of good, efficient government services that we receive in Andover.  I appreciate what Mr. Bednarz, the City Planner, and his staff have done in preparing very accessible resources for this community.  These are the types of services the City needs to commit to providing for Andover's future.

City Council Meeting Observations (9-7-10) and 12th Wedding Anniversary Weekend and Labor Day Activities

I attended the City Council meeting last night. The 2010 property tax maximum levy was passed at 0% last night. We received a good explanation of how that impacts us in Andover. The average decline in home value from 2010 to 2011 is 8%. Now, if your home value declines by more than 8%, you should see your share of property tax to the City go down in 2011. If your decline is less than 8%, you may experience an increase in your property taxes next year. It's expected that homes valued over $400,000 may lose more than 8% value into 2011. Homes under $250,000 may see less than an 8% decline in value, so property taxes could increase modestly for those owners. The City will receive the same amount of revenue in 2011 as it received in 2010, by not increasing the percentage of the tax levy.


At that point of the meeting, the Council was not opening up for questions or comments from the audience. They approved the 0% levy unanimously. I did have two potential questions to ask. I was hoping they might share what the preliminary expectations are from Anoka County and the two school districts - Anoka-Hennepin and St. Francis - but they didn't. I also read in the Administrator's report that after department consolidations and layoffs, a priority if money becomes available would be to rehire/replace one Public Works position that was laid-off. I would be interested to know from David Berkowitz what the impact of losing that person has been, and whether the City considered that position essential enough to efficient operations to have looked at a 0.5% or 1.0% max levy position, before completing the budget process and approving the budget and final levy amounts in December.

Personally, I'd have preferred leaving the room open to look at those modest amounts of property tax levy increases, if not doing so has a detrimental impact on city operations. But the question was not asked last night, the issue was not addressed last night, and only the Council members and Administrator know if and how it has been previously addressed.



Over at my Facebook page (Wes Volkenant), I've posted photos from our Labor Day 2010 weekend.  On Sunday, Cheryl and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary.  We were married September 5, 1998 in Highland, Minnesota - near Lanesboro and Preston in SE Minnesota - in the same church that Cheryl's grandparents had been married 75 years before.

We drove over to Osceola, WI on Sunday, and took a train ride!  It was the Osceola and St. Croix Valley Railway, and we took a 45 minute trip back into Minnesota over the St. Croix River to William O'Brien State Park - and then back again to Osceola.  Monday, we had tickets to see the Twins at Target Field for the first time this year!  The Twins won 5-4, behind Jim Thome's monstrous 480 ft. HR off the flag pole in Right Field.  It was rainy throughout the game - I have photos of us sitting under our ponchos during the intermittent drizzle and sprinkles.

We also keep working at the campaign.  My business cards are ready for pick-up today.  My lawn signs are finally approved and in production.  I sent off my campaign literature to the printer yesterday.  I'm working on ads.  We're deciding if we'll have hand-out gifts, like pens or pencils.  I'm printing a few shirts for my door-knocking weekends and evenings.  I've answered questionnaires....

Why I'm Running for Office - MetroNorth Chamber Leadership Fund Questions - Top Business Priorities for Andover - Improving the Business Climate

I've submitted answers to three questions I received from the MetroNorth Chamber Leadership Fund - a PAC that represents commerce and industry interests in Anoka County.  Their objective is to research and identify pro-business candidates in Anoka County each business cycle.  They are seeking candidates who will provide the greatest opportunities and success for the Anoka County business climate. For a select few, this PAC will award their endorsement in the political race in question.

Here are my replies to their three questions, sent to Michael Thorsland, September 7, 2010:


City of Andover Councilmember



• Please describe why you are running for office?

My wife and I moved to Andover, from Anoka, ten years ago. In Anoka, I’d been active, first in the Republican Party in the pre-Reagan years, then in the DFL, in the 1980s and 1990s. I was a member of the Anoka Charter Commission for several years, and I was an active member of the United Methodist Church of Anoka and member and chair of the Church Finance Committee throughout the 1990s. I was an active Education Association member during years teaching in southern Minnesota in the 1980s, and was a Vice President of the Jackson EA. Since coming to the Human Services Department of Hennepin County in 1990, I’ve become very active in AFSCME Local 34 – Hennepin County Social Services Unit. I served as Membership Secretary for five years, have edited/created the Local’s 12-16 page monthly newsletter since 2001, was elected Local 34 Vice President in 2005, have served on the negotiations committee for three rounds of bargaining, have led Meet & Confer with management for the past five years, and participate in a joint labor-management insurance committee looking at the County’s wellness and insurance initiatives that have contractual implications.


So, it is with a sense of duty, responsibility and purpose that I have found myself serving fellow employees, neighbors and my church family through the years. Isn’t that how members of the Chambers of Commerce would see themselves, as well – as stewards to their community with a sense of duty, responsibility and purpose to those they employ, those who are their neighbors, and those who are their own church family members or friends in civic organizations? Ten years is a long time without giving back to my community in Andover, so I run for office out of a sense of duty, responsibility and purpose.



Andover’s been well-represented for a decade by Julie Trude, and for many years more by Don Jacobson. There are six of us running who think it is time for a new voice to represent Andover – to embrace its future, not to dwell on its past.


I don’t run as the representative of any group or agency in the community. I run as a homeowner who will offer different perspectives and insights on how Andover needs to go forward. I bring the perspectives of someone who has awareness of large-county issues and concerns; I bring the perspective of a unionized workforce; I bring the perspective of a well-read, politically interested homeowner and settled resident of the community.

I will bring balance to the office, between the issues and concerns of fellow residents, of the greater community, and of the employees whose work performance and results are the heart of Andover’s continuing success – but these are also employees who’ve seen their numbers reduced in the name of efficiencies due to limitations of funding, who’ve seen their wages frozen, and furloughed hours mandated in an effort to balance the city budget without significant increases in revenue. I run as someone who appreciates good government and efficient government, but who does not begin at “doing more with less” as the answer to achieving good and efficient government.


• If elected, what would be your top priority as it relates to business in Andover?

The trite answer is to say “economic development.” But the more complex answer should be government/business community partnerships and civic planning.


• As Councilmember, please expand upon the previous and describe how you would improve the business climate in Andover.

Is there a business climate in Andover? What is the state of that community? Is it as it should be, or does it truly need improving?




I’d like to see a “summit” of Andover’s elected representatives and administrative leadership meeting with the leading contractors, realtors, business owners, and pastors to look at Andover’s future and to compare it with its neighbors.



What is Andover? What should we expect of the city? What is realistically possible in this city?




Andover has limited business opportunities. It has a considerable number of churches and is over-represented by pharmacies. It has two groceries, but because of stores located in neighboring Blaine and Coon Rapids, it lacks any major grocers such as Cub, Rainbow, or perhaps Byerly’s, despite being a city of over 31,000 residents. There are just five gas stations/convenience stores – none in the northwest part of the city. Except for McDonald’s and Subway, no major restaurant exists in the city – no Burger King, Culver’s or Wendy’s to rival two McDonald’s franchises; no Arby’s or Taco Bell or Kentucky Fried Chicken to rival Subway for the non-burger market; no major sit-down franchises such as a Perkins, an Applebee’s, a PJ Chang’s or a Broadway or Green Mill Pizza restaurant. Restaurants seldom last long in Andover – as we’ve seen Serendipity, Oodles, Figaro’s, Tasty Pizza and Quizno’s come and go through the years. Andover has many small businesses – insurance agents, animal hospitals, chiropractor offices, and hair salons – but I seldom see a coordinated plan, which seemingly has left holes in the city – not the least of which is the lack of restaurant choices in a principally spread-out bedroom/commuter community with lots of families, lots of hungry children. There is no laundromat in Andover. There is no “Super” store in Andover – there is no Super Target or Super Wal-Mart. There is no big-box retailer like a Menard’s, Home Depot or Lowe’s in Andover. Again, some of these are in neighboring communities, but will residents of northeast Andover always have to drive 15-25 minutes away to Riverdale or Northtown or to Highway 65 in Blaine to find these stores to shop at?




Complicating matters is that there are no significant highways in Andover, just arterial Boulevards like Bunker, Round Lake, Crosstown and Hanson. This presents community limits. The community is limited by competing and contrasting concerns: rural, exurban and suburban commuter residences each forge different values and competing needs. What is the city’s housing plan? How will it incorporate open spaces? Where do businesses build – and thrive? What businesses will thrive in Andover, which will not, and which are integral to Andover’s future, such that we’ll want to provide assistance to retain that company and help it become successful?




The City Hall/Community Center area represents a community core away from the major economic and business area along Bunker Lake Blvd. But there are only three-partially filled business strips in the vicinity. It has a major sense of incompleteness. The developers of Clocktower Commons have never delivered a clocktower – nor a restaurant, that I believe was planned for the site years ago. A large, unfilled field is recently furrowed across the road from City Hall.


Hanson Blvd. is in poor shape – especially north of Crosstown as it leaves City Hall. Crosstown itself is in poor condition leaving north and east from City Hall. Andover Blvd, 157th, 181st – all are streets regularly driven, but getting greatly worn. Many of these streets are not safe for the resident commuters – even adding marked right-turn lanes can add to the safety of these streets.




Making access easier, and providing commuter efficiencies is terribly lacking in Andover for anyone driving south out of Andover on either Hanson or Round Lake Boulevards – or on 7th Avenue in the morning. Andover should explore adding expanded Coon Rapids and Anoka MTC routes into Andover for morning and evening rush hours – perhaps along Bunker Lake Blvd. or north up Hanson to City Hall and the Community Center.


Andover is a city of over 30,000 residents, but it hasn’t got a full-service Post Office. We have a large Carrier Annex near City Hall, but to buy stamps, send packages, etc, one has to use a postal station inside the local Super America store – or drive to Anoka, Coon Rapids or Blaine – or go to little Bethel or to St. Francis to get full service.



Despite the efforts to build the Station Parkway and Jay Street Station North areas as business centers, Andover lacks both a business center and a business identity. Smaller, but older cities like Anoka, Bethel and St. Francis have Main Street identities. Other cities – admittedly along highways – such as Cambridge, Elk River and Forest Lake – have more highly-developed business cores than Andover.



So what is Andover’s identity? Drive through Andover with a fresh pair of eyes this week. What do you see? Go up Round Lake Blvd. to 161st, head east to Hanson Blvd, then drive south past City Hall down to Bunker Lake Blvd. Finally head west back to Round Lake Blvd.


With little exception, this is where you’ll find Andover’s businesses located. Compare that drive to driving through Anoka on Main St. or driving through Coon Rapids on Coon Rapids Blvd., and Andover is not as old and decayed. Compare it to Hanson and Foley Blvds. in Coon Rapids, or driving along Highway 65 in Blaine south of 105th, and it’s probably pretty comparable. Compare it to driving around Riverdale in Coon Rapids, or to the Village or the Baltimore St. area off Highway 65 in Blaine from the Sports Complex north, and Andover doesn’t compare with that vibrancy.



So, I think we must first decide – what is Andover’s identity and what should it be going forward? Is it to be a bedroom commuter community with just enough hodge-podge of businesses and amenities to take care of basic needs of its residents? Or is Andover a rural, exurban community that focuses on the pursuits, pleasures and economic tidings of living on the edge of suburbia, with the spacious lots and traditional farm properties to do much of whatever one desires?



Can Andover attract a future Riverdale-like center of commerce? Should it? But if not, how do we better organize and reconcile the interests of its residents with the hodge-podge of business choices that awaits?




There is much that remains to develop Andover’s economy, and to improve its business climate. There’s much for both sides to do. I don’t see us becoming the next Riverdale or Elk River, frankly, but I do see us moving forward to make Andover more complete – to fill-in or finish off some of the gaps that still exist. I think we will be unique – and not obsolete 15, 20 years into the future – but we do need to successfully provide enough amenities and consumer choices here at home for Andover’s residents to be happy and take pride in our city.