PRSR 06-08-2005 INFORMATION #1INFORMATION
5T: PAUL PIONEER PRESS WWW.TWINCITIES.COM
5-~-05
WOODBURY
$9 million for park land,
upgrades may go to vote
Council to weigh city referendum
>: BY NANCY YANG
Pioneer Press
A $9 million open-space ref-
erendum that would help
4C'oodbury develop 80 acres
south of the Bielenberg Sports
Center could go to voters in
November, if the City Council
approves the measure by late
July.
The money would alsc be
used to buy other parcels
throughout the city targeted
for open-space development.
The Bielenberg site would get
new athletic fields, picnic shel-
ters, trails and tennis courts.
. Of the total referendum fig-
uie, about $6 million would be
used to buy land throughout
the city, with the remaining $3
million to be used for improve-
ments. The question would be
put to esters on school board
ballots if the City Council
approves.
• Parks and recreation direc-
tor Bob HIatt said that if
approved, this would be the
at5~'s fourth open-space refer-
endum -the most recent com-
ing in 1998 for $5 million, which
helped buy more than 310
acres - and that rates for
homeowners would be signifi-
cantly cheaper this time
around.
The owner of a home valued
at $200,000 would pay an addi-
tional $?A in property taxes per
year.
- ,'7t was three times that in
1994," HIatt said. "It was two
times that in 1998. It's much
more affordable now."
Klatt said part of the reason
for that is a larger tax base.
Woodbury's population in the
early 1990s was just above
20,000, less than half of what it
is now -meaning more home-
owners share the total cost
today.
Woodbury in 2002 scrapped
plans for a similar referendum
because of an economic down-
turn, but city administrator
Clint Gridley said this year is a
good time to revisit the propos-
al.
"The economy is stronger
than in the earlier part of the
decade and the need has really
grown," Gridley said.
HIatt has submitted a time-
line to the City Council and
said that if the members want
the referendum on this year's
ballot, a decision approving the
measure must be made by July
27. If the council misses that
deadline but still approves the
referendum proposal, resi-
dents could still vote on a
measure by a special election
or in next year's primaries.
Mayor Bill Hargis expressed
concern over the timeline.
"It's an ambitious timeline,
and I'm concerned it's not
enough time to educate the
residents," he said. "My con-
cern is that we do this the right
way and ask the right ques-
tions, get the right dialogue
going.... I hope residents will
have time to study it and digest
it.
`Tve been in malty board
meetings where if you ask too
fast you don't get the answer
you want," he said.
As part of the notification
process, city officials are plan-
ning to produce material
specifically addressing the ref-
erendum proposal; the infor-
mation will be sent out within
the next few months. City offi-
cials also plan to poll residents
in June.
In February, as part of the
larger 2005 community survey,
the city asked residents if they
would vote for or against the
referendum proposal Approxi-
mately 52 percent of the 400
polled said they would support
the plan, while 34 percent said
they would wte against it;
another 15 percent didn't know
or didn't answer.
Those who opposed the ref-
erendum said either that takes
are already too high or that the
measure wasn't needed. Those
who said they would support
the referendum said they
would do so because it is
important to preserve open
space and that more athletic
fields are needed at Bielen-
berg.
An open-space-referendum
residents group met for the
first time last week
The group will update the
City Council on Wednesday
about its discussions regarding
the proposal
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