St. Cloud City Council to Address Major Sewer Project, Discuss Housing Expansion, and Predatory Offenders

(KNSI) – St. Cloud is holding a joint work session and city council meeting on Monday to review bids on a $25.5 million sewer project, discuss housing needs and talk about predatory offenders in the city.

St. Cloud is looking to replace a critical part of the Metro Forcemain System. It takes 98% of the wastewater from St. Cloud, Sartell, Sauk Rapids, St. Joseph, and Waite Park to the treatment facility. The City of Foley will be connected to the system later this year.

The work includes installing new 30″ and 42″ diameter pipes in two sections, each over three miles long. The current concrete pipes, installed in the 1970s, will be replaced by new fiberglass pipes.

The force main installation is estimated at $15.7 million. The bid comes from Geislinger & Sons. Other parts of the project have already been approved.

The project received a $1 million grant from the state, leaving $24.5 million to be paid at the local level. St. Cloud is responsible for 52% of the costs, the remaining 48% will be paid through wastewater service charges from other cities using the service. Work on the project should start in June and be completed in 2025.

After the regular meeting, the council will move into a work session to discuss the results of a housing study. St. Cloud is working on bringing more available space to live into the city. They have a goal of creating 1,000 units downtown. The city has also been talking about changing zoning to allow “light touch density” housing. That would let single-family homeowners turn their property into a multi-unit facility.

The next topic on the agenda is a conversation about predatory offenders living in the community. St. Cloud is home to nine level three sexual offenders. They’re considered the most dangerous and the most likely to re-offend.

The session gets underway at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, followed by the council meeting.

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