Abby Nadeau
Staff Writer

During the Forest Lake City Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 10 the Forest Lake American Legion approached the council, asking for help in the future July 4th celebrations.

Bob Flaherty, a spokesperson for the Legion, along with Post 225 Commander Richard Weber, came forward with next year’s dates for the carnival and celebration, as well as their concerns for the fireworks portion of the celebration.

The Legion wanted to set the dates for the July 4 celebrations from Wednesday, July 2 through Sunday, July 6.

Flaherty said with the 4th of July on Friday, he thought five days would be the right amount for the celebration.

However, Council member Susan Young disagreed.

“I would prefer to see it confined to Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” she said.

Flaherty responded saying Wednesday is more of a trial day and it is actually Thursday and Friday that are their biggest two days of the celebration.

Mayor Stev Stegner suggested the council bring the conversation back to the next council meeting for a more detailed discussion.

Flaherty then said that the Legion thought it was time for the city of Forest Lake to take over the fireworks.

He said that they have always used their own men who were licensed to set up the fireworks, but they are no longer available.

He estimated the cost of the fireworks and to run them to be around $15,000-$20,000.

“I’ve always said that the city of Forest Lake gets the benefit of this celebration and we do the work,” Flaherty said. “We would like to partner up with the city and have them take care of the fireworks so we can concentrate on other items.”

Young said that the city has an “enormous” expense during the 4th of July celebrations with the added police overtime.

“While I realize the Legion puts in a lot of hours, the city does contribute very significantly,” she said.

The council did not act on the proposal and it will most likely be brought back to the council at the next city council meeting on Monday, Sept. 24.

OWB

Outdoor wood burning furnaces have become a popular topic in the Forest Lake area recently.

Currently, the city does not have an ordinance that specifically addresses the outdoor wood burning furnaces and how to regulate them.

Therefore, the city is working to amend a current ordinance to accommodate a growing need for burning regulations on the furnaces.

However, due to a lack of environmental or governmental regulations, the city is struggling to find a solution.

The requested amendment to the current city ordinance stems from an ongoing situation in the SW 9th Ave. area in Forest Lake.

The DuFour family is currently using an outdoor wood burning furnace to heat their pool and home.

The smoke and smell from the furnace has become an issue for the surrounding residents.

The residents have taken their complaints and concerns to the city, asking for a solution.

Community Planning and Development Director Doug Borglund was instructed at the last city council meeting to research guidelines on the furnaces.

On Monday, Borglund returned with little to no additional information.

“I could not find any specific guidelines,” Borglund said. “There is nothing that is truly law.”

He said he didn’t want to suggest going by specific laws because they change with the concerns of the Environmental Protection Agency.

He added that the city has no way to regulate the furnaces because first of all, they don’t know what their inventory is like.

“We have no idea how many we have out there,” he said.

The council had several concerns of their own including health affects, property damage from the smoke and how they were going to regulate the furnaces if an ordinance were passed.

Council member Judy Bull said she would rather ban the furnaces in the city now and take a second look at them later, when the technology improves.

Council member Ochs said that he “respects the fact that they want to burn wood, but I also respect someone from being smoked out of their homes.”

Stegner said that he still felt as if they do not have enough information to make a decision. The council tabled the topic in a 5-0 vote.

Later, City Attorney Dave Hebert asked the council for a direction to take the outdoor wood burning furnace ordinance.

“You haven’t given us any instruction as to what you want,” he said, “so when you come back you’ll still have the same ordinance.”

Other news

The council voted 3-2 to move forward on a Minnesota Department of Transportation cooperative agreement funding program for the curbs, gutters, sidewalks and lighting along Lake Street from 2nd Ave. SW to 2nd Ave. NW.

The sidewalk project was to be completed when the proposed roundabouts were to be installed, but when the roundabout project failed, the sidewalk renovations also failed.

Mn/DOT continued with their mill and overlay project to resurface Lake Street to just beyond US-8.

However, now the city is looking to complete the sidewalk project next summer, thus tearing up the resurfacing Mn/DOT just replaced.

The project is estimated to cost $600,000. Mn/DOT would chip in $200,000 and the city would pick up the remaining funds.

Young said she would vote against the project because that section of road is one of only a few that actually has sidewalks.

“I would put them where they are not and not where they are going to tear them up again,” Young said.

“I have a concern with tearing up sidewalks that exist and put in new ones when we don’t have them in other places.”

Young and Ochs voted against the sidewalk project and Stegner, Bull and Bo Bogotty voted yes. The motion passed.

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