Prior Lake City Council approves subdivision

Prior Lake American

A new housing development will bring up to 32 houses to Prior Lake.

The Prior Lake City Council approved a preliminary plat and a “planned unit development” for a subdivision of 32 single-family homes on Monday.

The development, which will be known as Haven Ridge South, will be north of County Highway 42 and east of County Highway 18. It will also be south of the original Haven Ridge project, which has 133 homes.

The development will be villa-style houses. The developers also proposed a homeowner’s association to take care of some of the aesthetic decisions for the neighborhood.

The developer will construct a trail from a future neighborhood park along Wildflower Way to connect with a regional trail. After construction, the developer plans to maintain or plant 150 trees.

Pay raises for council, mayor

In other action at the Monday meeting, the council approved a pay raise for council members and the mayor, from $785 per month ($9,420 a year) to $966 for the mayor ($11,592 per year) and $620 ($7,440 per year) to $763 per month ($9,156 per year) for council members. A survey done showed Prior Lake had lower pay compared to similarly-sized cities and monthly pay had not been adjusted since 2008.

A task force looking into the issue also looked at providing health insurance to the council, but recommended against it. The pay change will go in effect in January 2019. The council also directed staff to solicit a survey from residents on possibly moving the meeting time for council meetings from 7 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“I just think we’re expending a lot of effort here for something that isn’t broken,” Councilor Zach Braid said.

Braid was the lone “no” vote on doing the survey. Briggs did an unofficial survey on Facebook and NextDoor that seemed to show residents preferred 6:30 p.m.

“I don’t think too much harm is being done in asking the question,” Mayor Kirt Briggs said.

The council also authorized plans and advertising for bids for the road projects at Woodside Road and Huron Street and Franklin Trail from Summer Street to County State-Aid Highway 44. The Woodside and Huron project is estimated to cost about $3 million, and the Franklin project more than $2 million.