2015 Vol. 9 Issue 4 June - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Gem Lake News Page 5 of 6 New Cell Phone Tower Approved for Area The Vadnais Heights City Council approved the construction of a new Verizon Wireless cell phone tower in late May that will be installed on the property owned by Structural Wood Products on LaBore Road. The tower will be 100 feet high and will also have a nine foot lighting rod on it. It is designed to alleviate the dead spot for cell phone coverage that exists in the area of I-35-E between roughly County Road E and Highway 96. It will abut the freeway to the west, industrial properties to the east and north and some residential properties to the south. It was approved without objections from any of the affected property owners. Verizon Wireless is going to lease about 8,000 square feet of space, which will include room for a 300 square foot equipment building. The tower is being designed so that in the future, other companies could add antennas to the structure. It is unknown at this point when construction will start. MS-4 Report Gets Public Hearing A state mandated report on storm water management, called the MS-4 Report, has been completed for 2014 by engineer Ron Leaf from SEH, the company that acts as Gem Lake's City Engineer. The report was the subject of a public hearing on June 16 during the city council meeting, as required by law. The report details the city's efforts to educate citizens on the subject of storm water runoff. It also documents inflows and outflows of storm water in the city, as part of a Storm W ater Pollution Prevention Plan. In past years, City Council Member Jim Lindner volunteered to do the leg work, walking around the city to document and inspect the storm water facilities. This year, SEH played the lead role, due to complexities in the new reporting requirements. The city also had to detail in the MS-4 report things like its post construction storm water management procedures, pollution prevention efforts, illicit discharge detection and elimination and efforts to involve the public in the process of storm water management. Procedures for completing and filing the annual MS-4 report have become more complicated in the past year, necessitating the use of expert engineering services to get the job done. The report shows that the city has met its MS-4 requirements, including doing the inspections need and completing all suggested community education and outreach required on the subject of storm water management. During the hearing on June 16, SEH also highlighted the city’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) and the status of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit. The City of Gem Lake is operating under its 2013 NPDES Permit for the purposes of this report on the 2014 year. The reports and documents presented at this public hearing can be viewed and inspected by the public at Heritage Hall. See page 6 for contact information.