BROOKLYN CENTER

June 23: Starting later this summer, replica firearms will be banned in Brooklyn Center. The City Council passed an ordinance that prohibits facsimile firearms, defined as "a replica of an actual firearm, which substantially duplicates an actual firearm or which could reasonably be perceived to be an actual firearm." The ordinance will go into effect Aug. 2.

It will be illegal to carry or transport in a vehicle any facsimile firearm that is not in a secured container. It will also be illegal to aim a facsimile firearm at a person, occupied vehicle or building.

• Council members also asked city employees to look into restrictions for adult entertainment establishments. Currently, these businesses are allowed only in the industrial park (I-1) district in Brooklyn Center. A Minnesota statute passed in 2006 includes limits on days and hours of operation for adult entertainment establishments; proximity to other adult entertainment establishments, residential areas, certain educational facilities, and religious institutions; and limits on who can own or manage the businesses. The statute allows cities to opt out of the state law or enact different restrictions.

BROOKLYN PARK

June 23: Plans for a T-Mobile cell phone tower in Edinbrook Park were approved by the City Council. The 120-foot tower will be built in the 5.7-acre city park south of Hwy. 610, between 300 and 450 feet away from the nearest residents. The equipment on the ground will be enclosed in a building designed to match the park's picnic shelter. The city is still working out a lease agreement with T-Mobile that will need to be approved by the City Council. Any money from the lease of the land will be added to the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development fund.

• Also, new restrictions on garbage container storage in Brooklyn Park were approved by the City Council. The changes say that garbage containers, bags, yard waste and recyclable materials cannot be stored in the front yard or side yard if it is adjacent to the street. The containers must be fully screened from all front and adjacent side streets and the front yards of adjacent properties. While screening materials do not need to be approved by the city, they must be structurally sound opaque materials, such as a fence. Shrubs, bushes and trees cannot be used as screening materials. Containers cannot be placed in the front yard for pickup before 3 p.m. the day before pickup and must be returned to their storage location on the same day of pickup.

FRIDLEY

June 23: The City Council is beginning to take action to improve the municipal water utility, after voters approved utility rate increases last fall. Because the cost to provide services were rising, but the rates were not increasing, funding was needed to maintain the water and sewer systems, city officials said. The City Council gave preliminary approval for the sale of $3.7 million in bonds that will finance improvements to the utility, such as repairs for the rusting water tower.

The bonds will be repaid with money from the water utility fund. Money collected from water and sewer rates cannot be moved into the city's general fund.

• Members also approved up to $30,000 for a water and sewer rate study. The study will provide three water-rate structure options, water conservation techniques, an analysis of the different types of water customers, analysis of the sewer rate structure and other findings that will help the city determine how to establish rates.

LORA PABST