Briefs: West St. Paul to review plans for Ten Acres Center project

Further review of the Ten Acres Center redevelopment is set for the next meeting of the West St. Paul Planning Commission, scheduled for Aug. 17.

The developer has submitted several building applications, including those that would allow multiple drive-through lanes and a gas station.

Last week, the City Council announced a special meeting for Tuesday where residents would be able to speak about the development. But after meeting with the developer and discussing possible changes, officials decided the special meeting would have been too rushed, said Jim Hartshorn, community development director for the city.

The developer could still tweak the plan, Hartshorn said.

"Quite frankly, I don't know what they are going to be bringing back," he said.

The Planning Commission meeting is open to the public and starts at 7 p.m. at the municipal center, 1616 Humboldt Av.

$1M grant bolsters swing bridge project The Inver Grove Heights City Council voted last week to accept a $1 million grant for improvements related to the Rock Island Swing Bridge project.

The old bridge is being converted into a 670-foot recreational pier after being saved from demolition. The $2.4 million project is expected to be completed by the end of October.

Seniors program may become a nonprofit Living Longer and Stronger, a project launched by Dakota County to identify needs and brainstorm solutions for challenges faced by the aging population, may spin off into an independent nonprofit.

DARTS, a West St. Paul nonprofit that provides services for senior citizens and their families, has been working on the project with the county since 2007. That contract expires at the end of 2010 and Beth Wiggins, DARTS vice president of community services, told county commissioners last week that her agency no longer wants to continue hosting the project since the resources for its own program are already stretched.

A committee charged with finding a way to keep the Living Longer and Stronger efforts going decided that a nonprofit format would be the best solution. The specifics of the new organization, including its leaders and funding source, have not been identified.

Search for new city administrator begins City Council members in Northfield are searching for a successor for departing city Administrator Joel Walinski.

Walinski leaves Northfield in early September to work as city administrator in Leavenworth, Wash. He began work in Northfield as the interim administrator in August 2008. Council members hired him permanently in March 2009.