A 910-foot lazy river for inner tubers will be built this year in the Bunker Hills Regional Park, under a bonding plan approved Tuesday by the Anoka County Board.
A second tower with two water slides also will be built with $3.1 million in bonds approved by the board, said Cevin Petersen, the county's finance and central services manager. The improvements would be ready for the 2010 season at Bunker Hills, which straddles Andover and Coon Rapids.
The aquatic center already has a wave pool and slide tower, which have attracted an average of 1,200 users a day in its three-month summer season since 2003, Petersen said. The county expects to repay the bonds from increased park revenues, said County Administrator Terry Johnson.
The County Board unanimously approved selling general obligation bonds for up to $34 million in 2009, for road work, library repairs, improved radio systems and other projects. The first $18 million will be sold in February. Those bonds will help pay for two road projects, the aquatic center improvements and the final $11.1 million for the county's $27.5 million public safety campus at Hanson and Bunker Lake Boulevards in Andover, Petersen said.
The two road projects are the Main Street bridge intersection over Hwy. 65 in Blaine and property easements needed to widen Radisson Road from Main Street north to Bunker Lake Boulevard, and then west on Bunker to Hwy. 65, Petersen said. The Main Street bridge cost a total of about $25 million in local, state and federal funds, officials said.
The board also approved an agreement to provide patrol service to Bethel starting this month. The city will pay nearly $40,000 for 664 hours of deputy patrols and calls for service response in 2009.
Bethel, which had contracted with St. Francis police for years, expects better service and will save more than $1,500 in the first year, said Bethel City Clerk Ginger Berg. St. Francis officials said rates would increase significantly more than the county will charge in the next few years, she said.
The County Sheriff's Office also will provide a log showing when its deputies patrolled Bethel, which St. Francis police refused to do, Berg said.
