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Chisago City Council selected a plan to provide water trunk lines out to the north and west of town last week. Staff was directed to start putting together costs and continue to negotiate with a large landowner off Deer Garden Lane who has not yet embraced the idea of running the trunkline across that land.

Council stressed that this infrastructure project is not being assessed and property owners abutting the new service will not be required to hookup if their water supply is functioning and safe.

Chisago City Administrator John Pechman told council the city has a site identified for a future well (see map) and tests will be done to determine if that location is feasible. At the same time two cooperating developers are moving forward with plans to drill their own well to service new subdivisions that will eventually be connected to the city system.

The developers of Wilderness Ridge William Sandison and partners, and Scott Thompson, developing Woodridge Preserve off of County Road 36, attended the council meeting. Total number of lots at Wilderness Ridge is 90 and there’s 50 lots in the Preserve plat.

The alignment preferred by council is marked Alignment 2 on the map (in pink.) The line will also follow what’s designated on the map as “segment 1.” (South off Jeffrey Ave. on 36 to Hwy. 8.)

Estimated costs presented to council by City Engineer Steve Heth were $877,000. Firmer costs will be determined once contractors give bids.

Council also gave preliminary plat approval for Woodridge Preserve and final plat okay for Wilderness Ridge.

Council member Don Taylor took a few minutes to show photos he made of silt fencing that has failed and related erosion control measures that he felt needed to be addressed in Wilderness Ridge. He told the developers the city takes protection of wetlands seriously. City Administrator John Pechman added that indeed the city has red-tagged other builders for similar violations and halted work on sites and won’t hesitate to do so again, anywhere erosion controls are inadequate.

Engineer Heth also made special note of run-off concerns he has on the Woodridge Preserve subdivision. Council only okayed the preliminary plat drawings, so there’s time to fine-tune the elevations and stormwater retention needs. Large lot, established homesites to the south are going to be impacted by stormwater if the plan isn’t improved, Heth warned. “I’ll be sticking to this pretty hard,” he told the builder, because he doesn’t want to deal with complaints about drainage issues later.

In other matters council cleared the required design review for a project at the golf driving range at Green Lake Trail and Hwy. 8. The business owners will add a three-season porch where there is now a deck, overlooking the range.

Council member Larry Parker questioned the work on County Road 36.

Wyoming City is extending a sewer interceptor east through Chisago City to connect into the Chisago Lakes Joint Sewage Treatment Commission’s plant and #36 has been pretty torn-up.

Council was told the final lift of tar should be on by the end of this fall. Parker suggested the county or whomever is inspecting that road become more active in checking things, expressing his concern about the integrity of the road and he feels manhole lids aren’t flush with the road surface.

Under old business, following up on a funding request from the last meeting, council was told the city’s upcoming budget doesn’t have the YMCA market study in it and there’s no place to adjust to pay the requested $2,000 contribution for the study. The council unanimously declined the YMCA request for the market study funding.

Staff is going to report back on a discrepancy in ownership of a lot on Lake Martha. The city had taken the lot as tax-forfeit from the county and performed oil tank removal and general cleanup on the lot. It appears the lot the city took ownership of may be owned by another party and an adjacent lot was the one Chisago City should have gotten.

Pechman said the city attorney is working on determining if a simple swap can be made or if the issues are more complicated than that. Accepting and doing remediation at the site required the city to agree to keep the area “open space” and that probably won’t be the case if that lot reverts to another party.

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