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New City Hall The city council conducted a special meeting April 29th as a visioning session for the proposed city hall and event center. BKV Architects for the project. lead the session and showed pictures taken by the city council, staff and the architects of positive images in the city. The group also reviewed a concept plan of the building located within Riverside Park north of Elm Street. The group also provided words that best captures the City of Rockford. The top four words were as follows: river, historic, natural and strong. The architects showed slides of different architectural features that each person in the group voted on. There was a discussion about the site and the size of the proposed event center. The architects will use the information from the meeting to begin preliminary design of the building. Those plans and a preliminary budget will be reviewed by the City Council in 4-6 weeks. The meeting date and time will be posted. City Council Accepts Annexation Petition There is a proposed industrial development west of the city limits being planned. One of the first steps in this process is to annex the property into the city. Property owner Mr. Berthiaume submitted a petition to the city council requesting his 49 acre parcel be annexed into the City of Rockford. However, since the Berthiaume property does not abut the city the city must first annex two small parcels. A petition from one of these parcels was submitted to the city on April 17th and the public hearing for annexation by ordinance is scheduled for May 27th at 7:00 p.m. The city must still hold hearings with 30 day notices for two other parcels. map Rockford Housing and Redevelopment Authority The next HRA meeting was held on April 22nd. Joanne Foust of Municipal Development group suggested that the HRA work towards removing some blighted non-conforming structures located in the C-O Downtown District. Ms. Foust also presented housing needs and an action plan that was tabled due to the time constraints. The HRA also heard from Jim Ford a representative from Hennepin County Housing and Transit Department. Mr. Ford informed the HRA about the programs that are available for Rockford such as the CDBG, HOME, etc. Chuck Callendar, a representative from the MN Housing Finance Agency also gave a presentation about the housing loan programs that are available and could be used in Rockford. Business Summits The City of Rockford's economic development consultant, Municipal Group has coordinated 4 very successful business summits. The next business summit is scheduled May 8th at Bank West, 5801 Main Street from noon to about 1:30 p.m. The main speaker will talk about Identity Theft. The business summits give local business an opportunity to meet and discuss issues they may have in common. At each summit we have asked three businesses to give a brief presentation about their business. An affordable lunch is catered by one of our local restaurants at a cost of $6.50 each. If you are interested in more information about our business summit, please contact city hall at 763-477-6565.
City Council Goal Setting For 2008 The City Council and staff held a special workshop meeting to discuss goals for 2008. Many projects were placed on the list that have been discussed by the city previously. These are the results listed in order of priority:
Flood Control Funding The city's request for funding at the state level this year was not met with much enthusiasm in the House Committee Meeting. Federal Funding through the Army Corps of Engineers to stabilize the river bank has also been denied. The city council plans to move forward with this project and is considering a local sales tax to fund the project. The city plans to educate the residents on the need for the project and how a local sales tax will fund the improvement. Watch the local government channel for more information and read our quarterly newsletters. New Developments In the past two years the city approved five new residential developments,. If you are interested in the location of these developments staff has included them on a city map. Map
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New Public Works Facility The public works department has moved into their new facility. An Open House is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. -7 p.m. on May 13th.
Rockford Fights for Crosswalks on County Road 33 Wright County adopted a crosswalk policy at the end of 2007 and then closed four crosswalks in the City of Rockford along County Road 33. The city council worked together with our Wright County Commissioner Jack Russek to get some of these crosswalks re-opened. The city did get a crosswalk that connects Winfield Road east into Elmwood Street. The city staff attended the Wright County Transportation Committee meeting January 4th and requested that the High Street crosswalk be re-opened. The city must construct a trailway on the south side of County Road 33 at this intersection prior to obtaining permission from the county to install a crosswalk. This intersection leads to the Rockford Middle School fields and many children cross at this point every day. School Events On Government Access Channel The city is working together with the Rockford School district to obtain computer disks of local sporting events, concerts, debates, etc. The city will then play these CD's on our government access channel. We are hoping to begin this process soon, as our council member Graner has been in contact with staff at the Rockford High School. Charter Cable Channel 12. City Hires Economic Development Consultant The City hired Joanne Foust of Municipal Development Group to work for the city until the end of the year. Certain goals were established, one of those was to meet with our existing businesses and complete a survey on what their needs are and how they view the business climate in the city. Ms. Foust has already visited over 25 of our businesses and contacted many of the commercial property owners about marketing their property. Ms. Foust is in the process of getting a quote for a market study to be used to lure commercial/retail business to Rockford. Ms. Foust works at City Hall the 1st and 3rd Thursdays each month and presents progress reports to council monthly. Highway 55 Coalition An environmental assessment has been completed on the Hennepin County portion of the Highway 55 Corridor from Plymouth to Rockford. A consulting firm SRF was hired by Hennepin County to complete the study. The city council is expected to preserve the corridor for the project. The area in the study will include Highway 55 from 494 west to the Crow River bridge in Rockford. The Highway improvements are not planned for another 20 years. Although some intersections may be improved prior to that time.
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