St. Joseph Council Ready to Move Forward on New East Park

(KNSI) – St. Joseph City Council will consider seeking requests for proposal for engineering work on the new East Park.

Situated on 95 acres next to the Sauk River, it is in a flood plain, which restricts the amenities that would be available. City Administrator David Murphy talks about what the park will look like.

“So, really what the project is going to be is a parking lot and a boat launch, you know, for the small like personal human propelled type watercraft; canoes, kayaks, those kinds of things. And then a trail system out there for people to walk, [or] run.”

The hope is to open the park by next year. Engineering work required to prepare to put out construction bids includes doing a topographical survey, finishing schematic drawings, and determining a cost estimate.

Murphy says the property is not developable because of the thaw and snow melt. “For my understanding, it’s mostly a spring issue when we get the snow melt, and that is when it floods out. So, that really limits what we can put out there. We can’t put any real structures or anything like that out there.”

Grants from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources and the Department of Natural Resources will help pay for the project. Murphy says the other major item of business tonight is to approve a new franchise fee for Xcel Energy customers totaling $45,200. The change would be in place for the next 20 years.

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