To: Mayor and City Council
From: Michael D. Franzen, City Planner
Date: July 27, 2005
Re: Midwest Asphalt –New Brighton

Midwest Asphalt operates a similar facility in New Brighton. The 32 acre site is located in the northwest quadrant of 35W and 694.

In 1998 the City of New Brighton included this site as part of a redevelopment district in the Comprehensive Plan. In 1999, this site was rezoned to mixed use.

The redevelopment district is a 100-acre site, just north of I-694 and west of I-35W, and is expected to be the home to over 1000 new residents and at least 2000 employees, with construction starting as early as 2005.For the west side of Old Highway 8, the City Council has approved an agreement with co-developers David Bernard and Sherman Associates for the development of approximately 750 new housing units. There will be a variety of styles – townhomes, condominiums, lofts, rentals – and prices. A small, neighborhood-oriented retail center is planned for near the center of the site. All units will have direct access to the adjacent 225-acre Long Lake Regional Park, and many will have views toward the park and lake. It is expected that the site plan will be refined later this year, with construction starting in mid-2005.

In 2001, the City made a $4,560,000.00 offer to buy the 32 acre Midwest Asphalt site, but discussions were postponed based in part of the Walser case in Richfield regarding the use of TIF. Negotiations have recently resumed regarding the purchase of the property. The estimate for market value today is $5,472,000.00.

The New Brighton decision to purchase Midwest Asphalt was based on the following reasons.
• The site is adjacent to a lake.
• The site is adjacent to a 225 acre regional park.
• The land was previously a stockyard and refining plant area.
• Redevelopment for higher land value and increase tax base. The 100 acre redevelopment area was a 17 million dollar value and the redevelopment plan was estimated over 300 million.
• To develop a more liveable community with land use plan.

Midwest Asphalt is located about a similar distance away from residential in New Brighton. For the most part the stockpiles are not visible and complaints are few and far between.
On Wednesday, July 27, 2005, staff met with representatives from L.G.Everist and Midwest Asphalt to observe the unloading of granite from rail cars. The material was offloaded into belly dumps and driven to across to the Midwest Asphalt site.

Staff also measured noise levels on site and in the neighborhood south of Edenvale Boulevard.

• 9:15-9:21 AM on railroad property 15 feet from the rail car – 68-70dba.
• 9:25-9:31 AM on Industrial Boulevard adjacent to the proposed L.G.Everist site -62-65 dba. The unloading of the railcars could not be heard. The noise levels represent general excavating and unloading of material on the Midwest Asphalt site.
• 9:40-9:46 AM at south side of Edenvale Boulevard at driveway entrance to an industrial site – 60-63 dba.
• 9:55-10:01 Am at intersection of Stratford Road and Cantebury Lane – 56-60 dba.

The City code has maximum noise levels based on land use. For residential between 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM the L10 is 65. For commercial, office, and public the L 10 is 70. For industrial the L 10 is 80. (L 10 represents noise level for 10% of an hour or 6 minutes.)

Weather conditions during noise meter readings were temperature 67 degrees, wind calm, visibility 10 miles, dew point 49, humidity 52.