Inver Grove Heights City Council Round-Up

The Inver Grove Heights City Council had a packed agenda on Monday night. Here's a quick review of the actions the council took and didn't take during its meeting.

• Ask and you shall receive: The council unanimously approved a liquor license for El Loro Mexican Restaurant, a new eatery planning a July 15 opening in Inver Grove Heights. The restaurant, which will be owned by Alex Gomez, is slated to open in the former location of Baja Sol along Blaine Avenue in Inver Grove Heights. The restaurant will feature a full bar and a number of classic Mexican American dishes, including fajitas, enchiladas, carne asada and more.

• For months, to help the city improve its pedestrian connections and traffic safety. On Monday, the council adopted the consultants' final report, which identified 29 gaps in the city's trail and sidewalk network, including nine "priority" gaps. Just because the city adopted the report doesn't mean it will invest more money into expanding the trail network, councilors made clear on Monday. At least one councilor, Dennis Madden, also expressed concern over the cost of maintaining an expanding trail network, if the city chooses to create more trails and sidewalks. To view the results of the trail gap study, click on the PDF file attached to this story and scroll down to page 97.

• The council stopped short of transferring roughly $750,000 into the city's parks maintenance fund as part of a . City officials said earlier this month that maintenance issues facing the city's park facilities would require drastic action over the next 19 years. Under a proposal presented in June by Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson, the city would siphon $3 million from the Host Communities Fund, $4.28 million from the general fund and $1.15 million from the capital facilities fund over the next 19 years for the city’s park maintenance fund. The city would also use $256,000 generated from the sale of to round out the parks maintenance fund. But Councilor Rosemary Piekarski Krech expressed reservations about approving the initial transfer of $750,000, and asked for a deeper conversation about the city's budget priorities. The item was tabled for discussion during the next council work session in July.