Council approves State Bank permit

Patrick Fisher, Staff Writer

The New Prague City Council approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for State Bank of New Prague to construct its new building. They took the action at their Monday, Dec. 18 meeting.

New Prague City Planner Renee Christianson said the new bank will be located on lots one and two in Prague Estates First Addition, east of New Prague MarketPlace and on the southeast corner of the intersection of Highway 13/19 and 10th Avenue SE. State Bank has been located at 201 Central Ave. N since July 1973.

A public hearing was held for the requested CUP at the November 15 meeting of the New Prague Planning and Zoning Commission. From that hearing, some changes were made to the plans of the bank. Christianson said that a variance is being requested for one of the driveways into the bank. The driveway will be less than 30 feet in width, since it will be a one-way access.

As part of the work, First Street SE will be extended into the area to provide an access to the bank. Christianson said staff from the city, the bank and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church's long range planning committee, located east of the proposed bank, are working together on the road extension.

At the public hearing, members of the church's planning committee had concerns about how the road would impact their property.

The council approved the CUP on a 3-0 vote, with council members Kay Wilcox, a member of the bank's board of directors, and Rob Babione, a part-time employee of the bank, abstaining.

$3 Million Tax Levy for 2007

The council unanimously approved the city's budget for 2007. The tax levy for the coming year is approximately $3 million. The levy's impact on homes in New Prague, ranging from $160,000 to $320,000, would be an increase of 5.5 to 6 percent in the city's share of property taxes.

School Request Denied

The council denied a request from the New Prague Area School District to waive a park fee for the building addition project at New Prague High School.

The city charges a park fee of .25 percent based on the value of the building permit. For the addition at the high school, the fee is $30,000.

Tim Rybak, buildings and grounds operation director for the school district, was asking the fee be waived since the school district provides similar park facilities throughout the city.

Wilcox said the park fee has been waived twice and both those times it was because the work included was specifically providing recreational facilities. One of them was work that St. Wenceslaus Church did, which included improvements to its playground.

The council denied the request by a 4-1 vote, with Babione voting against. He said he thought the park fee was too much.

The council unanimously approved a request to have a Christian Rock concert in Memorial Park on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007 from 8-10:30 p.m. The request came from Livingstone Tour 2007, a production company that is setting up the concert.

Electric Budget approved

The council unanimously approved the 2007 Electric Utility Budget.

Dennis Seurer, New Prague Public Works Director, presented the budget. He said that the electric wholesale rates from Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Association (SMMPA) have increased by approximately nine percent for 2007. The electric revenues in the budget reflect an overall increase of approximately 9.6 percent to all customer classes for 2007 to help offset the whole rate increases.