Duffy Development is the lead developer on this project and is asking the city for up to $1 million on tax increment financing.  This request has already been approved by the Minnetonka Economic Development Advisory Committee.  The project is also requesting financing from Hennepin County because the apartments would be located next to Two Metro Transit bus routes that would allow the residents to ride the bus to work, increase ridership and decreasing traffic.  These units would help Minnetonka toward its goal of creating 383 affordable housing units by 2020.

The City of Minnetonka officials are pushing to have 48 of the 64 units reserved for low to moderate-income households.  This would translate into about 60% of the area’s media household yearly income.  The building would be made up of 11 one-bedrooms, 32 two-bedrooms, and 21 three-bedroom units.  Additionally, 4 of the units would be set aside exclusively for families coming out of homeless shelters with assistance from the Salvation Army.  Some of the energy needs for the building will be supplied by 24 solar panels on the roof which will heat the water for the resident’s use.

At the May 2 City Council meeting, the project was granted a change to the City’s comprehensive plan to accommodate the land-use change for this project.  The council is expected to approve the building plans and master development plans at its next meeting with Final approvals to occur the meeting after that.  Duffy will need to finalize its financing and plans before breaking ground.

The new proposal being considered by the Metropolitan Council growth planners is for the site to contain over 1000 housing units from inexpensive condos to million dollar mansions.   The development would bring thousands of new residents into the area.  In fact, this massive project would alone double the size of Minnetrista!

The driving force behind this push is the Met Council’s 2030 Regional Development Framework which sets residential density standards in developed and developing areas where urban services are located or planned.  Unfortunately, it appears that the Metropolitan Council is the one pushing the agenda.  Despite objections from the cities of Minnetrista, Minnetonka, the Watershed District and the Three Rivers Board, the Met Council refuses to change its mind.

The parks and a 300-acre wetland known as Six Mile Marsh adjacent to the Woodland Cove land form an expanse of habitat attractive to bald eagles, ospreys and other animals that need to roam.  Additionally, the property has some undisturbed natural wetlands near the lake where lily pads and American lotus grow wild.  Of the total 488 acres, over 100 acres are undevelopable, consisting of wetlands, wetland buffers, floor plains, and steep slopes.

St. Albans and Gideon bays were denied, but treatments for Carman, Phelps and Gray’s bays will continue as planned. The DNR sites concerns about potential damage to native water plant species as the reasoning. They will monitor both the good and bad plants over the summer of 2010 to plan out a new strategy. Each Lake Minnetonka bay is on a 5 year management plan.

Almost 97% of the $55,000 to treat St. Albans Bay was raised through pledges and donations. Greenwood donated $5000 and Excelsior allocated half of their $5000 donations for St. Albans and the other half for Gideon. Tonka Bay is also providing $5000 for Gideon toward the $79,000 expected cost of treatment.

Mayors from Excelsior, Greenwood, Shorewood and Tonka Bay have called for their state representatives to get involved and broker an agreement between the cities, Lake Minnetonka Association, DNR and Lake Minnetonka Home owners.  The DNR has committed that if native plants return or exceed pre-treatment levels, the DNR will consider a proposal for treatments to resume in 2011 for St. Albans and Gideon bays.

Many of the bays have seen an improvement since treatments began.

• Grays bay is 99% milfoil free and curly-leaf pondweed free
• Phelps Bay is 80% and 97% free respectively

Residents hope that they will not see these statistics reversed by the DNRs refusal to treat the 2 bays.

The Minnesota DNR had committed to increase inspections in 2009 to combat the problem.  Unfortunately, according to Lake Minnetonka Conservation District own documents, it increase inspections 6% in 2009, despite committing to a 40% increase previously.

Dick Osgood recently wrote an article about the problem in his blog.  Read the full article here.