On Monday night, the Chaska City Council voted unanimously to accept the feasibility study for the 2012 Downtown Street Re-construction Project.
The $2.5 million project will result in 38 to 40 assessments for affected property owners. City Engineer Bill Monk didn’t have an exact figure for the assessments, but estimated them to be around $7,500. A neighborhood meeting is planned for later this month.
The 2012 project is the continuation of a complete reconstruction of downtown Chaska’s streets. Last year, Spruce, Locust and West Third streets were reconstructed.
This year’s project will incorporate elements of the newly adopted Downtown Master Plan, like trails. It will include replacement of sanitary sewer, water main, utility services, streets and sidewalks as well as the addition of a storm sewer. Monk estimated that 90 percent of the boulevard trees along those streets will be removed.
“The next couple of years will be difficult in that area,” Monk said.
We publish an annual Resident’s Guide for each of our communities. It’s a tremendous source of local information – containing lists of services, names of organizations, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and much more. Keep it handy; use it often. You can find information from the Resident’s Guide here, or order a copy of the publication from our Circulation Department by calling (952) 345-6682 or e-mailing circulation@swpub.com.
Southwest Newspapers’ weekly community papers have histories that go as far back as the Civil War era. Several were started from scratch as our communities began to grow in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. These popular newspapers routinely win awards of excellence from organizations like the Minnesota Newspaper Association. 
From what I've heard, many downtown business owners would rather delay the street reconstruction as long as possible because it will affect access to their buildings and likely will result in costly assessments to the property owners.