Metro briefs: Exhibit planned on Terrace Theatre in Robbinsdale

A group has been formed to assemble an exhibit next summer on the Terrace Theatre, the 1950s-era movie house that was torn down two years ago to make room for a Hy-Vee grocery store.

The group — made up of the Robbinsdale Historical Society and America's Classic Cinemas, a preservation organization run by David Leonhardt, former chairman of the Save the Terrace Group — plans to collect artifacts for display starting next August at the Robbin Gallery.

Among the artifacts planned for the exhibit are large marquee letters from the theater tower and lobby chandeliers.

In a statement, Leonhardt said that fundraising efforts will be held in the next several months to restore the letters and other objects. For more information, go to www.TerraceLegacyProject.com.

Kevin Duchschere

Citing mounting costs in public safety and jumps in employee health care premiums, the Anoka County Board has approved a preliminary property tax levy increase of 4.9 percent.

The board voted 5-1 at its Sept. 25 meeting to set the tax levy ceiling, with Commissioner Matt Look dissenting. If adopted, it would be the county's biggest hike since 2009.

Commissioners touted the county's efforts to cut taxes or hold them in check in recent years, citing an average levy increase of about 1 percent since 2010. The board will vote on the final levy in December.

Hannah Covington

Fifty-one monarch butterflies were released this year from Lebanon Hills Regional Park as part of Dakota County Parks' monarch indoor rearing operation, designed to collect migration information on the species and boost its numbers.

County parks staffers, who raised monarchs captured in the wild, tagged 33 of the butterflies with a small numbered sticker to collect migration and habitat information for the University of Kansas' Monarch Watch program. So far, more than 13,000 tagged butterflies have been found and reported to Monarch Watch.

Dakota County Parks is expanding pollinator and monarch butterfly habitat at the Lebanon Hills visitors center, and plans to continue the monarch program next year.

After months of renovation work, the White Bear Lake Sports Center has reopened with a new refrigeration system and electrical, mechanical and plumbing upgrades.

The $5.5 million project — the most extensive renovation to the ice arena since the city bought the building in the 1980s — will ensure that the White Bear Lake Area Hockey Association will have a place to skate for years to come, officials said.

The association has pledged $2.5 million toward the project, and presented a $500,000 down payment to the city in late September.

The center, on Hwy. 96 just east of Interstate 35E, will hold open skates, lessons and ice time through the fall, winter and spring.