South-metro news briefs: Burnsville seeks bids on 3,800 hydrant nozzles

Burnsville has called for competing bids to provide the city with new Storz brand nozzles for all 3,800 fire hydrants in the city. The city plans to replace them over six years starting this year.

Storz nozzles allow fire departments to connect hoses with a fast quarter turn, which is expected to save Burnsville 60 to 90 seconds in fire response time, said Public Works Director Steve Albrecht.

The city has $125,000 set aside to retrofit about 300 hydrants this year.

Privately owned hydrants will also be fitted with the new nozzles as the owners make arrangements with the city to pay for them, Albrecht said. So far, 43 of the 1,300 private hydrant owners have requested the nozzles. The cost will be billed to the owners via their water bills.

Wal-Mart is asking the city of Burnsville to approve a conditional use permit to allow TNT Fireworks to sell fireworks in the Burnsville Wal-Mart parking lot at 12200 River Ridge Blvd. from June 26 to July 7.

The planning commission recommended approval. The request will be before the City Council on Tuesday.

The fireworks will be sold from a tent from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. if the city approves the request. The operation would require a permit from both the city fire department and police department.

The Burnsville Rotary's annual fundraiser brought in $66,000, the highest total in club history.

The fundraiser took place April 27 at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center.

The Walser Foundation, the Dr. LaChapelle Family Charitable Fund and 32 corporate sponsors donated and contributed to the event.

The money will be distributed to 31 charities, including the Burnsville YMCA and Meals on Wheels.

The St. Paul Farmers market will come back to South St. Paul this summer starting July 3.

The market was formerly located in front of South St. Paul High School, but it had to close there in August to avoid causing a problem with school traffic. The early closing prompted farmers not to reopen the market there last year. It had been at the high school location for several years.

Residents missed it last summer and wanted the market back. So the city worked to find a new location that will be open into the fall, said Deb Griffith, city spokeswoman.

The city of West St. Paul last week approved on first reading an amendment to the city fence ordinance that allows sideyard privacy fences in addition to the backyard privacy fences already permitted.

The ordinance currently permits frontyard and sideyard fences only if they are 75 percent open. The amendment would allow sideyard fences that completely screen the sideyard from view.

A survey of communities by the city staff found that Richfield, St. Paul, St. Louis Park, Inver Grove Heights, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Brooklyn Center and Roseville all allow privacy fences in sideyards, and South St. Paul is in the process of amending its code to allow them.