2023 Fall Newsletter - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

TUNE INTO Government Channel 16 for community updates and to watch City meetings Hugo City Hall 14669 Fitzgerald Avenue North Hugo, MN 55038 651-762-6300 • www.ci.hugo.mn.us Fire Department 651-762-6362 Washington County Sheriff’s Office Non-emergency: 651-439-9381 In this issue... Water Wisely .................................2 Kids ‘n Biz .................................... 2 A Word from Public Works ............3 Glacier Hills Regional Trail Plan ....4 Highway 61 Visioning Study .........4 Construction Update ....................5 School Traffic Safety ......................6 Updates from the Fire Chief .........7 Open Burning Reminders .............7 Food Waste Reduction ..................8 Butterfly on Purple Cone Flower A feature of Hugo that makes this a fantastic place to live is our community’s creative use of open space and landscapes, creating an environment that continues to draw people in. Residents benefit greatly from the community’s shared sense of pride in maintaining beautiful properties with healthy landscapes. The luscious parks and green space along with the many flower gardens I see while driving through Hugo’s neighbor- hoods wouldn’t be possible without responsible use of our water resources. All outdoor land- scaping, public and private, typically requires irrigation with an abundance of available water. However, Hugo and its neighboring communities are facing a threat of not being able to use the water resources available to us, putting the beautiful ameni- ties we’ve grown to love in danger. As many of you are aware, all communities within a 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake are implicated in a Court Order regarding the water level of the lake. The Court Order imposes a complete ban on all residential irrigation at all times except when the lake is at very high-water levels. This ban includes any form of irrigation from watering lawns with sprinklers to watering flowers and vegetables grow- ing in gardens. The City of Hugo has appealed the court- ordered restrictions and is committed to finding alterna- tives to the strict court order that continue to promote healthy landscapes while conserving drinking water. Meanwhile, the City of Hugo is permitted by the Minne- sota DNR to draw a certain amount of groundwater from the aquifer each year, and with the ongoing White Bear Lake court order, we have understood that the permitted amount is not likely to increase as the City grows. City staff have had to find creative ways to conserve water resources in order to make the development of new neighborhoods and community amenities possible. Over the past decade, the City has been encouraging the development of stormwater reuse systems for irrigation and water conservation. In such a system, developments constructing storm- water management ponds can reuse the collected runoff to irrigate their lawns, rather than draw from the City’s municipal groundwater supply. In turn, stormwater that is not used can recharge the aquifer and increase the supply of treatable groundwater for drinking water. A highly visible example is the system that was fitted to the pond at Frenchman Road and Oneka Parkway. Runoff collected in this particular pond is used to irrigate the grounds at City Hall, Lions Volunteer Park, the Jack Pine Place apartments, Keystone Place at LaValle Fields, and the landscaped boulevard along Frenchman Road. There are now ten large-scale stormwater reuse systems irrigating devel- opments within the City of Hugo. As a result, the City is on track to have saved over 100 million gallons of drinking water this year, simply by reusing stormwater for irrigation and recharging the aquifer. This level of groundwater savings has made the construction of new neighborhoods and the growth of the City possible. By focusing our efforts on responsible stormwater-based irrigation and water conservation, wherever possible all Hugo residents should have more water available for their needs. Tom Weidt, Mayor Hugo and its neighboring communities are facing a challenge of managing the water resources available to us. If you have a question you would like to ask the Mayor, send it to info@ci.hugo.mn.us Your question could be featured in the next newsletter! FALL 2023