Minnetrista puts brakes on water treatment plan after residents protest

Minnetrista has hit the pause button on a hotly debated plan for a water treatment plant after hearing from residents outraged by its price tag and recent news that installing new water mains could require ripping up some homeowners' trees, landscaping and driveways.

"I want better-quality water, but at what cost?" said Pat Maund, one of the residents who packed a City Council meeting this week to vent their displeasure. She called the $20 million cost alarming, given that only about 1,200 users are now tied to the city's water system.

The delay is the latest speed bump on a long journey by the western Hennepin County community to improve water quality and plan for future growth. In late 2013, the city approved one company's plan for a water treatment plant but later discarded it for one crafted by Bolton & Menk, an engineering firm with offices in Minnesota and Iowa. That move sparked political turmoil over costs and how the selection was made.

Maund said she fears the new water mains could damage $30,000 worth of her landscaping. Some neighbors have up to $50,000 invested in trees, gardens, lighting and irrigation systems that could be affected, she said. Residents said Bolton & Menk hasn't explained how homeowners will be reimbursed.

"How can you replace two mature maples?" Maund asked representatives of the firm. "I don't want sticks."

The City Council voted unanimously to delay giving Bolton & Menk the green light to proceed with a final plan and directed it to explore less costly alternatives that avoid intruding on neighborhoods.

The council will take up the matter again in January after two new members come on board. Lisa Whalen already has assumed the post of mayor after winning a special election in November.

Resident Brad Cole urged the council to hold off so the city's new leaders can make the final decision on the ambitious project. After the meeting, he said he was encouraged by the vote.

"The council listened and agreed to take a look at this without ramming it through neighborhoods," he said. Cole said the city previously had done a poor job of communicating with residents, saying he learned his yard lay in the likely path of a new water main only when he discovered survey markings on his lawn.

Maund said a Bolton & Menk surveyor told her that digging could extend from the street and boulevard into her yard and driveway.

Whalen noted that while boulevards are city-owned, the trees on them are about 15 years old — planted when the neighborhood was developed. "If you replant them with little tiny ones, we're basically starting all over again,' she said. "It changes the character of the neighborhood."

Peterson said the firm had considered routing the water main away from the neighborhood to an area near the Dakota Rail Regional Trail. However, he said the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority owns the right of way along the trail and has a policy to not grant an easement if there's a reasonable alternative for a route elsewhere.

"We simply said, 'Do your homework and make your request,' " Noonan said. "They just withdrew."

Bolton & Menk's plan with one water treatment plant initially was priced at $16 million, about twice the upfront cost of the discarded plan for a decentralized system with two smaller plants. But the decentralized system would have additional costs down the line.

Rising construction costs have pushed up the price of Bolton & Menk's project to about $20 million and could mean higher-than-projected increases in user rates.

Cole said he pays up to $400 per quarter for city water. Under the $16 million project cost, his water bill was expected to rise an average 7.4 percent a year from 2015 to 2019.

Whalen suggested the council reconsider the decentralized system, which would be cheaper now and less invasive to neighborhoods.