MAP: Are Apple Valley and Rosemount Helping to Deplete the Metro’s Water Reserves?

The Metropolitan Council is warning about dwindling groundwater supplies. Find out how much water Apple Valley and Rosemount residents are using.

The Metropolitan Council is warning about the increasing use of groundwater across the metro. Until the late 1970s, the seven-county region relied primarily on the Mississippi River for its water needs. But today, about 70 percent of the metro, including Apple Valley and Rosemount, relies on municipal and private wells that pump groundwater. “Aquifers are being depleted; lakes, streams, and wetlands are being damaged; and in some areas, groundwater levels have declined by as much as 40 feet, roughly one foot each year, since the 1970s,” a news release quoted said Keith Buttleman, assistant general manager of the Council’s Environmental Services division. In Rosemount, water usage is expected to rise a whopping 65 percent between 2010 and …

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Cedar Avenue Construction Slows as Winter Approaches

With the onset of winter, construction along the corridor has slowed significantly.

A trip through Apple Valley along Cedar Avenue yields far fewer orange traffic barrels than just a few short weeks ago. With the onset of winter, construction along the corridor has slowed significantly. According to Ross Beckwith, construction engineer for Dakota County, there may be temporary lane closures, usually in off-peak hours, as crews work on lighting and fencing, but the majority of the roadwork is done until next spring. The project will result in bus-only shoulders and extending six-lane traffic through Apple Valley south to County Road 46. Additional turn lanes have been added. Crews have also been building retaining and noise walls, updating public utilities such as storm sewers and water mains, relocating private utilities…

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Transit Station Construction Begins in Rosemount

The new park and ride will replace the temporary transit stop near the Rosemount Community Center.

Like us on Facebook | Get our newsletter | Follow us on Twitter | Start a blog Editor’s Note: This press release appears on the City of Rosemount website. Construction began [this month] for a park and ride location in downtown Rosemount. When open, it will replace the temporary transit stop outside the Rosemount Community Center. The Rosemount Transit Station will be across from City Hall on 145th Street between Burnley Avenue and the railroad tracks. The 55,000-square-foot site will have parking for 102 vehicles and a shelter with indoor and outdoor seating. The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) designed the facility and will provide express bus service to downtown Minneapolis. The project is made possible through the cooperation…

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Apple Valley Population Growth in Metro-Area Top 10 for 2010-11

Apple Valley added 717 residents from 2010 to 2011, according to the Metropolitan Council, while Rosemount added 265.

Among cities in the seven-county Twin Cities metro, Apple Valley came in as the city with the seventh-most residents added from 2010 to 2011, according to the Metropolitan Council. Apple Valley added 717 residents in that span, according to data released Monday by the Met Council, for a total 49,801 people. The seven-county metro grew by 0.8 percent during that span, bringing the population up to 2.87 million. Minneapolis led the pack with 5,295 new residents, followed by St. Paul with 1,299, and then Woodbury, Blaine, Maple Grove and Bloomington. Plymouth, Lakeville and Shakopee round out the top 10. The latest Met Council numbers are a continuation of the figures from 2010 U.S. Census, which showed that the population of Apple Valley had…

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Menards Looks to Build New Apple Valley Location

The Apple Valley City Council approved changes to the city’s comprehensive plan that would let Menards move to another site and build a new store.

Tell us in the comments section: If the Apple Valley Menards builds a new location, what would you like to see take over its current building? Apple Valley residents will be shopping at a new Menards in town if all goes according to plan. The Apple Valley City Council earlier this month unanimously approved a change to the city's comprehensive plan that would allow Menards to build a new building southeast of 150th Street West and Flagstaff Avenue, just down and across the street from its current location along 150th between Foliage and Flagstaff. The city council's approval actually makes 56 acres of land into a mixed-business campus, of which Menards would occupy a 25-acre plot. The entire 56 acres would extend east to Johnny Cake Ridge …

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Color Scheme of BRT Buses Latest Point of Contention in Transit Development

The disagreement between Metropolitan Council and Dakota County Commissioners and suburban officials is the latest snag in the development of Bus Rapid Transit along Cedar Avenue through Apple Valley.

Grants to Help Apple Valley Move Ahead With Projects in 2012

Installation of new pedestrian trails and an analysis of the Hanson Concrete site should begin in 2012, while a couple of grant requests the city made last year went unfilled.

The current development climate can make it difficult to predict exactly which development projects in a city will get off the ground, and when. "It's kind of like Legos," said Apple Valley Community Development Director Bruce Nordquist. "Everything fits together in a certain way." But while these types of projects take time to conceive, plan and execute, a few grants the City of Apple Valley received last year could help get some new ones get going in 2012. In December, the Metropolitan Council, a regional planning body for seven Twin Cities metro counties, awarded the city more than $1 million in grants for two projects as part of its Livable Communities Act Grant Program. One was a grant of $896,000 to buy land for a 214-unit senior …

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Apple Valley Gets More Than $1 Million in Met Council Grants

The grants will help fund an addition to the Cobblestone Lake neighborhood, and sidewalks and trails to connect to the bus line, among other projects.

The city of Apple Valley has received more than $1 million in grants from the Metropolitan Council for development projects—more than any other suburb in the metro area, according to a report by the Star Tribune. A grant of $896,000 was awarded to buy land for a 214-unit senior housing complex in the Cobblestone Lake area, and add features to the park space there. The Star Tribune article says 30 units would be affordable housing. A grant of $174,800 will go toward the creation of pedestrian trails from Founders Lane and Garrett Avenue, where housing is planned, to the Apple Valley Transit Station. The Met Council awarded $9 million in grants in 2011 from the Livable Communities Act Grant Program. The Apple Valley City Council gave the go-…

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$3.2 Million From Transit Board Puts Bus Rapid Transit on Track for 2012 Start

The Metropolitan Council's Transportation Advisory Board found money for the new bus system slated to run along Cedar Avenue in Apple Valley.

Dakota County Out of Money for BRT Buses

State budget cuts took away the funds to buy the new buses for bus rapid transit system. As county commissioners looks for more money, Cedar Avenue construction will continue, according to the Star Tribune's Katie Humphrey.