08-12-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Anoka County 2019 Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan 138 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS Geographic location and characteristics: The City of Columbia Heights is located at the southern tip of Anoka County on the northern border of the City of Minneapolis (Hennepin County). Ramsey County borders on the east, with the City of Fridley bordering on the west. Columbia Heights is 3.4 square miles in size and is a fully developed, urban community that is now seeing areas of redevelopment. The City of Columbia Heights is located at Latitude 45.04 N and Longitude 93.26 W and has an elevation of 922 feet. Public lands: Columbia Heights has 16 parks of varying sizes and amenities. Anoka County has one park within the City. The City has been upgrading parks and athletic facilities over the past five years and will continue as long as funding is available. The City has three wading pools in its park system though these are older pools that need expensive upgrading. Private fee areas: There are no private fee areas in Columbia Heights. Agriculture and forestry: Columbia Heights is fully developed with no agriculture or forest areas. Commercial and industrial development and trends: Columbia Heights is in the process of redeveloping the commercial areas. Many of the commercial properties are very old and cannot meet the needs of today’s businesses. The City is leading the way by joining with developers to buy up and redevelop properties. Residential development and trends: Most of the housing stock was built in the early 1900’s and then post WWII. There has been a decline in property maintenance. The City as implemented many programs that include initial code inspections by the Building Official of new rental properties prior to licensing and revoking certificate of occupancies of vacant and abandoned properties. The City’s property maintenance code was updated to maintain the housing stock. The City has also started a program of buying up properties that are in poor condition and then demolishing them for future replacement. With the redevelopment of many areas of Columbia Heights, approximately 500 residential units will be added. Most of these units will be town homes and condominiums. The recent downturn in the economy and in the townhome and condominium market has slowed this redevelopment down. Infrastructure and infrastructure projects: The City has an ongoing 7-8 year schedule for replacement/repair of city streets and alleys. Included with this schedule is the replacement of water, sewer, natural gas, and storm drains. The city is broken into seven zones with one zone being done each year. Public works finished the first phase of a storm water mitigation plan. More plans are being proposed for future storm water mitigation issues. This includes purchasing more residential properties that are prone to flooding. These properties are turned into storm water retention ponds. A City park was remodeled to include a storm water retention pond due to street flooding nearby. The City continues to inspect homes for sump pumps being deposited into sewer systems due to the sewer systems backing up in areas during heavy rains. A plan is in place to assist homeowners with the cost of installing a valve on their main sewer lines in their homes to shut off future sewer backups. CITY OF COLUMBUS Geographic location and characteristics: The City of Columbus is located in east central Anoka County in the northerly portion of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It is characterized by its large open spaces and low-density rural character. The City is located at Latitude 45.26 N and Longitude 93.07 W and has an elevation of 919 feet. Wetlands and surface waters