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4. Discussion on State Bonding request for Gateway Trail pre-designA bill for an act relating to local government; modifying expiration of metropolitan agricultural preserves; authorizing the sale and issuance of state bonds for predesign and design of the Gateway Trail; appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 473H.08, subdivisions 1, 4, by adding a subdivision. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 473H.08, subdivision 1, is amended to read: Subdivision 1. Till expiration started. Agricultural preserves shall continue until either the landowner or, the authority, or a state agency or governmental unit initiates expiration as provided in this section. EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment. 
Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 473H.08, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: Subd. 3a. Expiration for park and trail purposes. (a) An agricultural preserve expires immediately when a state agency or other governmental unit purchases the property or obtains an easement over the property for the purpose of creating or expanding a public trail or public park. This subdivision applies only to the portion of the agricultural preserve acquired for trail or park purposes, and any portion of the property not acquired for trail or park purposes shall remain an agricultural preserve. (b) The acquiring state agency or governmental unit shall give notice to the authority as provided in subdivision 5. The notice must specify the portion of the property being removed from the agricultural preserve and the date on which that portion expires. 01/05/18 REVISOR LCB/RC 18-5335 EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment , and applies to any situation where the previously required 8-year termination period required by Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 473H.08 has not yet expired. Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 473H.08, subdivision 4, is amended to read: Subd. 4. Notice to others. Upon receipt of the notice provided in subdivision 2 or 3a, or upon notice served by the authority as provided in subdivision 3, the authority shall forward the original notice to the county recorder for recording, or to the registrar of titles if the land is registered, and shall notify the county auditor, county assessor, the Metropolitan Council, and the county soil and water conservation district of the date of expiration. Designation as an agricultural preserve and all benefits and limitations accruing through sections 473H.02 to 473H.17 for the preserve shall cease on the date of expiration. The restrictive covenant contained in the application shall terminate on the date of expiration. EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment. Sec. 4. GATEWAY TRAIL PREDESIGN AND DESIGN. Subdivision 1. Appropriation. $500,000 is appropriated from the bond proceeds fund to the commissioner of natural resources for predesign and design of the Gateway Trail from William O'Brien State Park to downtown Scandia. The commissioner must grant at least two-thirds 10 percent of the appropriation to the city of Scandia for local involvement in the predesign and design process and for predesign and design of connections between the Gateway Trail and safe connections to the Gammelgarden Museum and safe cycling routes within the city and may retain up to one-third of the appropriation for use in assisting the city of Scandia with the Gateway Trail predesign and design. The predesign and design must include consideration of suitable connections between the Gateway Trail and the William O'Brien State Park campground and trail center. Subd. 2. Bond sale. To provide the money appropriated in this section from the bond proceeds fund, the commissioner of management and budget shall sell and issue bonds of the state in an amount up to $500,000 in the manner, upon the terms, and with the effect prescribed by Minnesota Statutes, sections 16A.631 to 16A.675, and by the Minnesota Constitution, article XI, sections 4 to 17. EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment. 1 Neil Soltis From:John Herman <johndiane.herman@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, January 30, 2018 4:13 PM To:sen.karin.housley@senate.mn; rep.bob.dettmer@house.mn Cc:Neil Soltis; c.maefsky@ci.scandia.mn.us; Mr. John J. Kaul; Lisa Philippi Subject:Re: Scandia Bonding Request for Gateway Trail Attachments:JH 10% Gateway Comments to Lauren Bethke draft.docx; Untitled attachment 00234.html Sen. Housley and Rep. Dettmer, Thank you both again for your support and assistance in the bonding request of the City of Scandia for the Gateway Trail extension from William O’Brien to downtown Scandia. As you recall from our earlier meetings, I am working with a volunteer group at the City to advance this effort and the Mayor asked me to send you this email update. First, and most important, we are very pleased to advise you that John Kaul, who lobbies for Washington County, has agreed (with the County’s consent) to represent Scandia on this matter. We know John has worked with both of you on many matters and brings to the effort great legislative expertise and credibility for this endeavor. John said he would try to see both of you in the next week or so to touch base and discuss co-authors with you. Second, we have reviewed the draft bill Karin kindly had the Revisor’s office prepare and the City has a few comments on that draft. I agreed to send the comments to you and request that Karin ask the Revisor to modify the bill accordingly. John Kaul said he would check in with your office, Karin, and see if he could run the bill over to Lauren Brethke at the Revisor’s to make the changes. The changes are basically two: 1. having more of the funds go to the DNR (90%) since they have the largest role here (both on the trail segment and in design of the connections in the Park) and clarifying that the funds to the City can be used for connections to Gammelgarden and Olinda Ave. in Scandia, and 2. making it explicitly clear that the amendment to allow the trail easement to be removed from Metro Agricultural Preserves Tax treatment apply to our pending situation. Here is the Revisor’s draft with these changes shown. Let me or John Kaul or me know if you have any questions. Thank you again for working with the City, Cycling Scandia and our larger Gateway Trail coalition to make this happen. Please call either me or the Mayor with any questions or concerns. February 7, 2018 Senator Karin Housley Representative Robert Dettmer Re: Scandia Trail Legislation—Thank you!! Dear Karin and Bob, On behalf of the entire Scandia City Council, thank you for your authorship and support of the City’s proposal for bonding funds to do the design and predesign for the Gateway Trail segment from the William O’Brien State Park to downtown Scandia and to allow immediate use of the already acquired trail easement by the State. We believe this will be a great recreational and economic benefit to our community. Scandia is already a major bike destination for serious bicycle club training and recreational use. With this connection, we can begin to bridge the most difficult gap to connecting to both the Hardwood Creek State Trail to the west in Forest Lake and the Immigrant State Trail to the north in Lindstrom. Doing so will open up many new trail loops for serious cycling and make our community a hub for bike recreation in the Metro Area. To further foster this work, Scandia is committed to exploring a network of low volume bike routes (we have one already—the Sand Lake loop) throughout Scandia, and to working with the DNR on connections from t he State Trail to our downtown businesses and the regionally significant Gammelgarden Museum. Scandia is proud to be the location of many parks and natural amenities. We are bordered by the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway on the east and are home to O’Brien State Park and Big Marine County Park. We envision a city that provides a full range of recreation opportunities to encourage multi-day park stays and multiple uses. For example, for the O’Brien family campers, the City already provides two major tot-lot playgrounds for younger children—all within a few blocks on safe routes from the proposed Gateway extension trail terminus. Similarly, for our residents, this will allow easy access to the swimming beach at William O’Brien, the only public beach along the riverway for over 30 miles. Bringing access to the center of our community to and from William O’Brien will open up many new recreation options for the 500 plus campers that use O’Brien on busy weekends and for many community residents. It is why the State’s recreation plans have consistently ranked connections to State Parks as a high trail priority. We believe this will have long -term benefits for our City and the whole of Northern Washington County for decades to come. Thank you again for your foresight and support. We look forward to working with you on passage of this crucial legislation. Sincerely,
 Christine Christine Maefsky Mayor, City of Scandia