[Music] Welcome to Agenda Edina, a program summarizing the actions taken at city hall that affect you most. I'm your host, Dorothia Marty. A new pedestrian bridge over Minnesota Highway 62 will likely not have stairs to accompany its ADA compliant ramps. This is unless the project comes in greatly under budget or another funding source is secured. The current bridge was built in the 1960s and is owned and managed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The bridge currently does not meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and was closed for most of 2022 after it was struck twice by trucks traveling below on the highway. The state will provide $6 million in funding for the new bridge, which would then be given to the city to own and maintain. Designs for the bridge, which drops into Rosland Park, are about 30% complete and far enough along for the city to begin discussions with Mindot about the details, including height, location, construction, staging, and architectural cladding or covering. The cladding is particularly important to some members of the city council who would like the bridge to serve as an iconic gateway into the community. Designs by project architect Snow Kryik feature a steel truss bridge clad in wood slats. At a city council meeting earlier this month, engineering director Chad Milner said the $6 million will not cover the cost of stairs or bury nearby overhead power lines. We're right at that budget number right now with just a little bit of contingency for those unknown things that we always find during construction. Could be soils, could be other construction contingencies that we see. a little bit more expensive than we had liked, but we're still going to get a great product at the end with bridges and ramps and most likely not stairs or buried power lines. If final approvals are given this year, the city could move forward with obtaining bids for construction in 2026. To reduce spending and ease the municipal property tax levy burden, Henipin County will take over assessing services in Edina no later than July 1, 2026. Edina's assessing division, which currently includes six full-time staff members, establishes estimated market value and determines the property classification of every Edina property each year for property tax allocation. The division also maintains property records, performs annual quintile property reviews, performs property reviews based on new construction and building permits, administers the appeals process, including the board of appeals and equalization, and works with Henipin County on programs related to property assessment and classification. The county currently provides assessing services to most cities in Henipin County as well as Fort Snelling and the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. Maple Grove is also moving assessing services to the county. The change is estimated to reduce city spending by approximately $500,000 in 2026 and by $1 million annually starting in 2027. A site has been approved for a new water treatment plant in the greater Southdale area, but before it can be built, a longstanding building must be demolished. Last month, the city council approved using the land currently occupied by Fire Station 2, which is set to be replaced with a much larger building at a new location later this year. Edina TV shows us why a new water treatment plant is needed in the area. Thousands of homes and businesses in Edina use millions of gallons of water every day. This is water treatment plant number six. This is one of five treatment facilities. Most of it is treated in a place like this. So we have various wells that produce raw water into this facility. And this line right here is that raw water line. It's filtered and treated to make it clean and safe to drink. After all the treatment trains, clean water is distributed out this dark blue line into our distribution system. But if you're in the South Dale area, that glass of water likely has a unique flavor. There's taste and order issues because we got to use water right from the aquifer that doesn't go through a treatment plant. It's still safe to drink. A solution to these issues lies in a new water treatment plant and the city council has approved its location. We finally zeroed in on the Yorktown Park or where the fire station number two site is because we were starting to build a new fire station. So, we looked at that site previously, but with a fire station there, there wasn't enough space to make it happen. The city council will be asked to approve the demolition of fire station 2 in 2026. A new plant will also take the load off of plant number six when others are taken offline for maintenance. The design of the building will be decided after a redesign of the nearby Adam Hills Park in Ridgefield. So, they're going to do some master planning for the parks in 2026. Once we understand what the community wants for the park, then we'll see how we integrate the water treatment plan at that time. Once built, the new facility will serve up great tasting water for at least 50 years. It's something you build once and hopefully maintain for a very, very long time. I'm Dan Carpenter for Adina TV. The public will have an opportunity to provide input on the design of the new water treatment plant in 2 to three years. Construction is projected to begin in four to six years. Is there a tree in Dina that is special to you? Does it look the best in your neighborhood with holiday lights? Is it the most climbable? Does it dazzle passers by with its fall colors? Is it spooky? Is it meaningful to your family for some reason? To raise awareness about the importance of trees, promote good tree care, and recognize those who own and care for significant trees in Edina, the Energy and Environment Commission is taking nominations for its second annual tree recognition campaign. The main goal is to celebrate the trees. And by celebrating the trees, we want to you know uh create awareness of of the benefits that the tree has like you know not only of our well-being but also about the all the environmental services that they give us. Trees of any size, color, species or stature that are interesting, unique or significant to residents can be nominated. The tree can be on public or private property. To nominate a tree, visit betterto togetherina.org to fill out a form which requires users to upload at least one photo of the tree. Nominations will be accepted through midocctober. The commission will select trees for recognition and notify nominees and owners of the award later in the year. If you can't see Edina's Independence Day parade in person, tune in to Edina TV at 10:00 a.m. July 4th for a live broadcast of the event. The parade is organized by the Edina Community Foundation and presented by Explore Edina. It runs from behind Edina City Hall to the 50th and France district ending at West 50th Street and Halifax Avenue. The hour-long parade will include marching bands, floats, and other crowd favorites. The live broadcast can be viewed on Comcast channel 813. Thank you for watching this episode of Agenda Edina. I'm your host, Dorothia Marty. [Music]