Wish list of local bonding request long one
A joint natural resources committee today is continuing to plow through a long list of bonding request — a number are local.
Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, is requesting $8 million to repair a threat to the Coon Rapids Dam. The dam, which funding supporters note is the last barrier to the progress of Asian carp up the Mississippi River, is leaking and scouring a hole in the river bed.
Hortman argued the pool created by the dam is of huge importance not only to the people with shore front homes but boaters, anglers, recreation in general.
Rep. Gail Kulick Jackson, DFL-Milaca, and Sen. Lisa Fobbe, DFL-Zimmerman, appeared to request $100,000 in bonding to tear down, design and rebuild a pedestrian bridge over the Rum River in the City of Milaca.
The bridge, a vestige of the WPA and the 1930s, sits on rotten foundations and its lead-paint is cracked, said Kulick Jackson.
Fobbe called it a small project, but a big one for the city.
A larger bonding request is coming from the City of Preston and Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston.
Some $3.5 million in bonding is being requested for a National Trout Learning Center proposed for construction in Preston.
