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Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Tom Hedges Elected to Lobbying Group - 7/29/1985r ...„„„, CHRONICLE EA GAN a Current newspaper Bringing you the news of the people,the neighborhoods and business of Eagan ,-- Week of July 29, 1985 Vol. 6, No. 31 TWO SECTIONS City. Council news : Hedges is elected to lobbying group Y _ g g p Homeowners still by Don Heinzman ■ "Surviving the state- 4 "uevtion plans anticipated deficit" will be the goal of Tom Hedges'work in the Or Municipal Legislative Commis-apartment sion (MLC). Hedges Wednesday was ff elected vice chairman of MLC �` by Amy O'Marro tion on how the density of the and chairman of the.operating Thomas Lake homeowners units changed. She asked how committee for the suburban % '� do not want an apartment the change was made without lobbying group. He has been building constructed near their the residents knowing. Eagan's city administrator for homes. City Council members said eight years. •The residents oppose a poor records were kept at the There will be a struggle for ,, , . 228-unit apartment complex time the zoning changes were funding,Hedges said. Suburbs - � ` which is scheduledtobebuilt on made. They said it was an need to protect their ability to fy 17.5 acres northwest of Thomas `honest mistake' and the gain special revenues and aids Lake. change could not be found in from the state," he said. The preliminary plat for records or in minutes because The MLC will monitor the Thomas Lake Place was ap- the Planning Commission situation and look at ways to proved June 4, but the operated in an informal fashion homeowners still question zon- in the late 1970s. preserve funding for local pro ing changes.Many said the land Trok said she feared if the grams, he said. was originally zoned for the mistake was not corrected it MLC s 15 cities want to be development of single family would pop up repeatedly. sure they get equitable con- homes and they did not know The density around Thomas tributions from the state corn- homes j the zoning had been changed. Lake will be studied in the an- pared to the other communities i City officials said records of . nual review this fall to prevent a in the state,Hedges added. I the land's zoning history show- mistake from happening again, The MLC was organized two edit was zoned formulti-family City Manager Tom Hedges years ago to lobby for the use since 1977. said. suburbs to gain more local The confusion over what When zoning, "It is best to government aids. Eagan con- �•: ,,t caused the change in zoning look at the site, to look at buf- tributes $8,778 and Burnsville 'q -,� �„_,,„,„,.,„„•1,-, il " was addressed Tuesday during fers, compatability," Mayor $13,153 to fund MLC. • a special City Council meeting Bea Blomquist said. Members include Eagan, ; at the Fire Administration "Unfortunately, the land was Burnsville, Maplewood, Building. Adding to the zoned in the 1950s. Land Shoreview, Woodbury, -x residents' confusion were shouldn't be zoned until you Roseville, White Bear Lake, variations in the zoning records have a use for it. That is not Plymouth, Minnetonka, Maple prior to the 1977 Planning Corn- what happened in the past." Grove, Eden Prairie, Edina, mission agreement with the Other concerns expressed by Brooklyn Park, Mounds View Photo by Dominion Group, the residents included the apart- and Blaine developers for the proposed ment's impact on Thomas Lake . Thomas Hedges was elected vice chairman and apartment project. and whether the residents were Burnsville Mayor Connie One plan variation called for properly notified about the Morrison was elected chair chairman of the Municipal Legislative Commission. 144 units,or 8.5 units per acre.A development.One resident said woman of the MLC. later plan increased the density his property line abuts against Morrison defeated Woodbury Morrison succeeds Roseville should be conservative in to 228 units, more than 12 units the apartment site property.He Mayor Dan Builder. She was .Mayor June Demos, the first budgeting for next year. an acre. said he should have received a not at the annual MLC meeting chairwoman of the MLC. Mayor Demos said the MLC Lynn Trok represented the written notice from the city,but because she was vacationing in Robert Renner, MLC's chief made the state Legislature very residents and presented the Ci- did not. New Hampshire. lobbyist, warned that Min- aware of the suburbs. ty Council with a statement of These concerns will be ad- Morrison does not want to go nesota is headed for an Rep. William Schreiber, IR- concerns,questions and recorn- dressed before the final plat to war with Minneapolis, said economic dowtown and Brooklyn Park, chair of the mendations. She said the comes to the council for ap- Burnsville Councilmember legislative action might be House Tax Committee, told residents wanted an explana- proval, Hedges said. Dan McElroy, speaking at the needed to make corrections. delegates the MLC has been ef- meeting on Morrison's behalf. He reminded city managers fective because it represents She believes in the suburban andcouncilmembersduringthe 530,000 people, a significant concerns of the MLC, he said. MLC meeting that government part the state. - _ _ -.