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by Lois Rem 5 The City Council and staff held two State of the City meetings in Sep- tember, one on the morning of the 18th at Flaherty’s Arden Bowl and the second on the evening of September 23 at City Hall. TCAAP Mayor David Grant opened the meet- ings with an update on a popular topic: TCAAP. Remediation is well underway on the 427 acres purchased by Ramsey County. The cleanup is expected to be completed in 2015, when the entire area will have been cleaned to residential stan- dards. The site is being overseen through a Joint Powers Agreement and Joint Development Authority between the City and the County. Current work on zoning is planned for completion by the end of this year. The parties hope that private development will begin in 2017. Roadways The Mayor also briefly described road work on the Highway 96 and I-35W interchange that is planned for 2015. He reviewed possible transit additions that would connect Rosedale Mall to the Green Line, and north as far as TCAAP, when the property develops. Councilmember Ed Werner talked about pending improvements to County Road E from Snelling Avenue to Lex- ington Avenue, including the addition of double left turn lanes at Lexington. There are also plans for landscape-related im- provements and new street lights. Development projects Development projects of 2014 were highlighted by Councilmember Brenda Holden on September 18 and Council- member Dave McClung on September 23. They reviewed the Lexington Station project that includes nine new businesses; Arden Flats apartments that includes four affordable units; and Gradient Financial’s significant building upgrades. They noted that the City is working hard to catch up on trail maintenance even as the trail network expands. Beginning in March 2015, recycling carts will be available to residents, businesses will be able to opt into the program, and residents also will have the option of recycling organic mate- rials. Business recycling information can be found at LessTrash.com or by contacting Ryan Streff at City Hall. Councilmember Fran Holmes updated the group on Round Lake Road improvements and the proposed work on Lexington Av- enue from I-694 to County Road F to be done in 2015. The Pavement Management Plan for 2015 focuses on the Rolling Hills- Venus-Glenview Avenue area and near Lake Johanna Boulevard, Grant Road, Noble Road, and Lake Lane. Meetings with residents will be held later this fall to present the projects in detail. MnDOT plans Sheila Kauppi and Mark Lindeberg of MnDOT presented fairly detailed plans for several major 2015 projects that will im- pact our entire community: the Highway 96 bridge over I-35W, the County Road E bridge over Snelling (to include a ten-foot trail), and the County Road F bridge over I-35W (also to have a trail added). In 2016 the County Road E2 bridge over I-35W will be redone. Plans are also in the works to repave I-35W from I-694 to Highway 36, to improve the I-694 interchange, to add a general purpose lane to I-694 be- tween Rice and Lexington, and to improve County Road H over I-35W. All of these plans can be seen on the City website along with all slides from this State of the City meeting. As these road projects move along, the City will also provide links to MnDOT’s website. Arden Hills Foundation The meeting closed with a brief presenta- tion by Nick Tamble of the Arden Hills Foundation, which continues to grow. Re- cent projects include Karth Lake improve- ments, City entry signs, and park benches. More information on the Foundation can be found on Facebook. City leaders host “State of the City” events The entire State of the City presenta- tion is available on the City website, currently linked from the home page. Want to learn more? The City’s Pub- lic Works Department plows snow after two or more inches of accumula- tion. Lesser amounts are only salted/sanded as needed. Plows will not go out until after the snow has stopped, unless the snow becomes too heavy. In that case, roads will be opened, then cleaned up after snow has stopped. The City does not have a bare street policy, as this requires tons of salt, around the clock plowing, and heavy traffic. Plows will get as close as possible to the mailboxes, but the cleaning of the mail- boxes is the responsibility of individual residents. It is also the responsibility of adjacent homeowners to clean snow from fire hydrants. The City plows the walks and trails to the best of its ability after all the streets are done. Some trails are not plowed if icing occurs due to them being too steep to plow. Parking when it’s been snowing: No vehicle can be parked on the street after the accumulation of two or more inches of snow and continuing until after snow plowing has been completed. Remember, there is no parking on any City street between 2 and 6 a.m. year round. Snow: it’s coming! Want to see the City’s complete snow removal policy? Go to www.cityofardenhills.org/ snowplowing. See the entire snow-removal policy