Reminder: Medina Comp Plan Neighborhood Meeting: Mon. Oct 16th
Just a reminder that the City of Medina is hosting several neighborhood meetings to dicuss comp plan issues with residents.
Tonight’s meeting is scheduled for the neighborhoods of Wild Meadows, Foxberry Farms, Cherry Hill, Belle Terra, Medina Highlands, Gramercy, Regency Estates, Independence, Holy Name, Medina Morningside and Park Ridge Estates.
Location: Hamel Community Building, 3200 Mill Drive in Uptown Hamel. The meetings are scheduled to run from 7-9pm.
For those with additional ideas and opinions regarding the County Road 116 issue, this would be an excellent time to voice your concerns with the Planning and Park Commissions. Remember, it’s the Park Commission that is responsible for the bike trails in the City. Perhaps they can help get the trail finished along County Road 116.
County Road 116 Medina Update
Thanks for all of your tremendous response to the call to reduce the speed limit on County Road 116 between Hackamore and Highway 55. We have 70 signatures from Foxberry and Regency Estates home owners.
During the past two weeks I’ve had conversations with Chad Adams, City Administrator of Medina, and Bob Byers one of the main contacts for transportation issues in Hennepin County. In addition, I was able to speak to the Medina City Council on October 3, 2006.
The jist of it is, the City of Medina must request that the County ask the State of Minnesota to conduct a speed study. The State of Minnesota (MNDOT) may say no. We won’t know for some time.
In addition, I did find out that there is some money that Hennepin County has dedicated to complete the bike trail along County Road 116. It sounds like this is new money that the City of Medina was not aware of. It may come in good use as the City still needs to gain the easement rights from a couple of property owners in order to complete the trail. It’s my understanding based upon comments made at the City Council meeting that there remains one home owner and one business that has not granted easement rights. Chad Adams will be in touch with Bob Byers from Hennepin County to discuss the potential use of those funds.
I’ve been told by both Chad Adams and Bob Byers that it’s a real longshot that the State of Minnesota is going to allow a reduction in speed along County Road 116. At this point, it’s worth the longshot because I believe there are several lives at stake as that traffic continues to build and more and more people try to ride and walk along side that road in order to get to their jobs at the new Target development.
If you need to see the original petition you’ll find it here.
Is the Worst Behind the Housing Market?
Yesterday I came across this story that reported that Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve Board, stated that the worst may be behind the housing market and that we might be in the early stages of the recovery.
Additionally, some Wall Street analysts have recently upgraded some of the big housing stocks stating the worst is over according to the BusinessWeek story this week.
One of the things I have been trying to get my arms around is how fast the housing market decelerated in the past twelve months. I believe because of the pace of the world we live in today, 24/7 news, the internet, technology and the power of the media in conjunction with modern business practices that has enabled “just in time delivery,” we have witnessed an operational response by the home builders that might put Silicon Valley to shame. We are used to reading about the rapid response of today’s leading medical and information technology companies…but home builders?
In a previous post, I commented that the local building permits were down 50% from one year ago. That is a remarkable adjustment and deceleration of projects. While the doom and gloomers will note that the world must be coming to an end, I see this as an unprecedented, swift, smart response from the local home builders to get the pain over with quickly.
There are many people I know who are waiting to buy or sell to see if the market is any better come spring. The pent up demand could surprise the “experts” over the next 12-18 months.