votewojcik.org

This is still 20 minutes, but I cut 75% of the hearing out.

In short, myself and Randy Staver didn’t feel the variance met the legal standard.  Ed Hruska, Bruce Snyder, and Dennis Hanson, have never supported this.  Mark Bilderback and Sandra Means were willing to go along with the variance. Compromise passed 7-0 so we all suck equally.

Northwest Investments (Kwik Trip) will plant fewer trees, leave West Circle Drive treeless, donate trees to RNeighborwoods.  The variance request also removed power from the city forester, but we were able to restore that.

Edit, I see some video is missing so I will try to fix that.

Edit 2, Should be fixed.

PREVIEW THE NEW PEOPLES FOOD COOP & GERRARD CO. PROJECT

Next general meeting of HSNA (Historic Southwest Neighborhood Association) will take place:

Tuesday, February 21, 2012
7:00PM
Zumbro Lutheran Church, Fireside Room

624 Third Avenue SW, Rochester
Note: Use “south” building entrance. Parking available at Soldiers Field Memorial parking lot.

The project is slated for the corner of 2nd Ave and 6th Street SW Rochester. This presentation will give an overview of the Metropolitan Market Place, Peoples Food Coop, plus the 6th Street SW enhancement.   Rochester City Councilman Michael Wojcik and a representative from the Peoples Food Coop will discuss the new store. A Gerrard Co. developer will describe the entire project. Mr. Wojcik will also speak to aspects of the proposed adjacent road project and how it would integrate with the new building.

Bring your questions about this exciting project.

Big congrats to Rochester’s first and only LEED Platinum Building.

Cascade Meadow Wetlands & Environmental Science Center is Rochester’s First LEED® Platinum Building

Rochester, Minnesota (February 9, 2012) – Cascade Meadow Wetlands & Environmental Science Center announced today that it has achieved LEED® Platinum certification, the highest level of certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).  Cascade Meadow is the only Platinum project of the five LEED-certified projects in Rochester and one of only nine projects in Minnesota to attain Platinum certification. 

The Minneapolis firm LHB provided the architectural, landscape architectural, and civil and structural engineering design services for the project. LKPB Engineers, Inc. of Saint Paul designed the mechanical and electrical engineering systems.  Rochester-based Alvin E. Benike, Inc. provided general construction services with specialty services furnished by HiMEC Mechanical, Nietz Electric, and Fraser Construction.  McGhie & Betts, Inc. of Rochester supplied civil engineering services plus wetland restoration planning and development services, along with ongoing wetland management consultation.  

Opened in June 2011, the 16,000-square-foot Cascade Meadow building houses exhibit galleries with interactive displays exploring wetland ecology and preservation as well as sustainable building practices.  The building is also home to exhibits curated by Cascade Meadow’s partners Rochester Public Utilities, Rochester Public Works Department, Rochester Water Reclamation Plant, and Zumbro Watershed Partnership, which examine topics related to energy and water usage and conservation, stormwater management, and wastewater treatment.  The facility also has a large, multimedia-equipped meeting room, a classroom, and a conference room plus office space for staff and educators.  These features support Cascade Meadow’s endeavors to connect individuals and communities through water, energy, and sustainability education. 

By employing innovative design elements and selecting regionally appropriate materials, Cascade Meadow is an outstanding example of environmentally sustainable construction. 

• Passive solar design reduces solar heat gain and lowers cooling demand in the summer through the strategic placement of windows and overhangs while the south facing windows allow the sun’s warmth to enter the building in the winter thereby reducing heating costs.  Moreover, the prevalence of windows decreases dependence on artificial lighting. 
• Structural Insulated Panels (SIP’s) and Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF’s) maintain stable interior temperatures for reduced energy costs
• Interior finishes utilize sustainably harvested wood products, incorporate recycled materials such as glass, plastic, ceramic, and nylon, and meet standards for low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Cascade Meadow is designed to use 53% less energy than current building code standards.  Key components of the site design and educational program are the renewable energy systems implemented throughout the site.

• An “energy trail” adjacent to the building offers visitors a demonstration of a solar hot water system, three photovoltaic panels, and both horizontal- and vertical-axis wind turbines.
• In another part of the site, geothermal coils are located in a newly-created ten-acre lake and provide both heating and cooling for the building.

Cascade Meadow’s extensive stormwater management program features substantial use of native plants, green roofs, a bio-retention cell system, and pervious pavements making it a model of best practices.  Targeted for completion in 2013, Cascade Meadow is restoring approximately 90 acres of wetlands, showcasing seven of the eight types of wetlands native to Minnesota plus three upland (dry) ecosystems and a Monarch butterfly habitat.  Once finished, visitors will be able to access these beautiful and diverse landscapes through a two-mile-long system of trails. 

Cascade Meadow Wetlands & Environmental Science Center
2900 19th Street NW

Rochester, MN 55901

507-252-8133

I was excited to learn today that I was appointed to the National League of Cities Community and Economic Development (CED) Steering Committee.  In 2011, I served on the policy committee, but the steering committee will allow me to provide more input into policies for doing community and economic development the right way.  As always I will focus on sustainable mixed use, mixed income, high quality development.

Here is the note:

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a memo from Doug Knott discussing the proposed city involvement with the Metropolitan Market Place project.  As I have said before, so long as I am a board member (and finance chair) of the Good Food Store Coop, I will continue to recuse myself from council discussion / votes even though I technically probably don’t need to since I don’t have a financial interest.

Here are some highlights:

• City will sell Minnesota Energy site for $1.
• City will offer $1.45 million in redevelopment TIF.
• The project now includes the entire South end of the 500 block between 1st and 2nd Ave SW.
• The building project is worth $15.3 million.
• The coop space has grown to 27,000 sq. ft.
• There are 62 market rate units planned above ground level.
• I have sent a question as to that the building taxes will be, but it appears there will be a very fast payback for taxpayers.

Here are all the gory details from Doug Knott: Read the rest of this entry »

We have definitely found that there is a sewer issue at Orchard Hills Villas with the existing sewer line.  The issue is that previous work on Fox Chase Rd. sewer was not done correctly.  The city council has been asked to have the taxpayers fix this.  While I am very supportive of Orchard Hills Villas and think it is a great project, I am not willing to put additional taxpayer subsidies into the area.  Here is the staff note from Doug Nelson: Read the rest of this entry »

At the Monday council meeting a neighbor asked that the developer rotate a planned home so they didn’t have a view of garage doors.  I see this as a unfair complaint since it could have easily been addressed by agreement when they purchased their property, now after the fact they are asking for us to step in and force this on another land owner.  Further adding to the hypocrisy of this request is the fact that immediately across the a detached garage was built, a fence was erected, and the garage door already faces the very same homeowner.  All of these violate the standards that neighbors are trying to force on the new development.  I asked about this and the response was this was OK because the neighbors approved it.  Needless to say we are not going to force the developer to redesign a home so that the garage door does not face a home…

We had a few complaints at the Monday council meeting about grading at Orchard Hills Villas so I went to check it out.  Per our permit grading has to be to the level of adjoining lands there the property line is at.  I verified that this has been done.  There was also concern that the Homes would be up to high.  Based on what I found and the picture here, you can see that the elevation of the home is both just fine, and complies with our special district.

There have been a number of concerns raised about how work is being done at Orchard Hills Villas.  In addition, an ethics complaint was filed.  I will not comment on that complaint while it is progress.  I will say that I am grateful that we now have an independent ethics commission that can address these complaints.  The person who filed this complaint also previously filed a complaint that was thrown out dismissed. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a piece that I wrote for fellow young elected officials on trying to get job creation via PACE loans.

http://www.yeonetwork.org/content/yeo-frontline-news-job-creation-wojcik Read the rest of this entry »