Metro briefs: Stillwater Lift Bridge summer schedule ends Tuesday

Minneapolis police have made an arrest in the Tuesday slaying of Jessica St. Marie in south Minneapolis. A 50-year-old man was booked into Hennepin County jail Saturday morning on probable cause murder, police said.

The suspect is accused of fatally shooting St. Marie, 28, during an argument at a bus shelter at East Lake Street and Park Avenue S.

Witnesses said St. Marie was waiting for a bus just before 7 p.m. when she was shot in the head by a gunman, who then fled down a nearby alley. She was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she died.

In a span of just three days, five people have been shot and killed in St. Paul and Minneapolis. As of late Saturday, this is the only arrest in any of the cases.

LIBOR JANY

The summer schedule for the Stillwater Lift Bridge will end at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday and won't resume until April. Raising the lift section of the two-lane bridge allows boat traffic to pass underneath. The bridge opened in 1931.

Once a new St. Croix River bridge opens 2 miles downstream at Oak Park Heights, possibly in 2017, the Lift Bridge will be closed to vehicle traffic. It will become part of a loop trail for pedestrians and cyclists — but the lift portion will continue to operate during navigation season.

Kevin Giles

Dakota County is asking landowners sitting on open space to give it to the county to preserve.

The county will pay to permanently restrict development on natural lands or will buy such sites with financial help from other agencies.

Since 2003, this strategy, called the Farmland and Natural Areas Program, has protected more than 10,000 acres of land from development, said Al Singer, the county's land conservation manager.

Starting last year, the program has not accepted applications from landowners looking to sell or put easements on farmland.

So instead of spending money to preserve agricultural land, officials have focused on adding vegetative buffers between farms and streams as well as restoring wetlands, Singer said.

Officials created the open space protection program in response to community members' concerns about suburban sprawl, according to county documents. Funding for it comes from donations, a bond referendum approved by county taxpayers, and matching federal, state and local funds.

To apply for the program, landowners must submit a preliminary application by Nov. 16.

For more information, contact Lisa West at 952-891-7018 or search "Land Conservation" on the county's website, www.co.dakota.mn.us.

JESSIE VAN BERKEL

The Shorewood City Council unanimously approved Mattamy Homes' concept plan and comprehensive plan amendment last week to build as many as 140 upscale single-family homes on 118 acres of the Minnetonka Country Club, which sold in July to Mattamy for $15.21 million.

It's the largest undeveloped parcel of land in Shorewood. A summer open house drew some 700 residents, some of whom oppose it for issues such as increased traffic and housing density.