City news

State of the City

Shoreview has always been a city where people come together to make it a great place to live, work, and play. This has remained true over the past two years as we all found countless ways to adapt to the pandemic. The city continued to find new ways to deliver services, provide help to our business community, and ensure the safety of our residents. Our staff, residents, and businesses have shown just how resilient we all are. Despite all the challenges that the pandemic continued to pose, the city completed several projects in 2021 and will launch even more this year. Here are highlights from Mayor Martin’s state of the city address. You can read or watch the full state of the city at shoreviewmn.gov.

Leadership changes

City council In January, our city lost a key leader when Councilmember Terry Quigley passed away. He served Shoreview for nearly 50 years and was a staple in Shoreview’s leadership for the last 21 years. Councilmember Quigley’s wisdom, experience, and sense of humor is deeply missed. Although no one can replace Councilmember Quigley, the city council recently appointed John Doan to the vacant seat through December 31, 2022. Read more about Councilmember Doan on page 6. City manager After 28 years as city manager, Terry Schwerm retired at the end of November 2021. Terry was instrumental in developing Shoreview into an outstanding and vibrant community. He accomplished many things in his 28 years and was an exceptional public servant. The city undertook an extensive search process to replace Terry. In October, the city selected Brad Martens as our new city manager. Brad was most recently city administrator at Corcoran, and brings a wide-range of experience and impressive qualities that will serve him well as he leads our organization.

Vision, mission, and values

In early 2021, the city council solidified our reputation of being a welcoming and vibrant community by adopting new vision, mission, and value statements. Through these new statements, the city will be able to ensure our culture and values continue well into the future. See the full statements at shoreviewmn.gov/our-city.

Shoreview Commons

The second phase of the Shoreview Commons project was completed in 2021. This phase included a destination playground and shelter, as well as a friendship garden. The playground features six different areas for kids of all ages including a treehouse tower, challenge course, and hillside slides. It is one of the most exciting playgrounds in the entire metro area.

The city partnered with the Shoreview Community Foundation to build the friendship garden on the north end of the pond. The garden features a sculpture of children playing, as well as dedicated brick pavers. The garden represents our community’s value of being welcoming and inclusive to all.

Park system master plan

The city is currently updating the park system plan and hopes to have it finalized later this year. This process included reviewing all city parks, demographics and recreation trends, meeting with the public, and developing a conceptual master plan for each park. The city will be making substantial investments over the next several years to our parks based on this plan.

Housing

Over the past few years, the city has added nearly 1,000 apartments and townhomes with projects like: • Loden SV and Emrik SV, located in the Shoreview

Corporate Center • The Edison at Rice Creek, located in the Rice Creek

Corporate Park • A new building at Midland Terrace, located near

County Road E and Victoria Street The city also partnered with Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties, a nonprofit agency, to renovate three homes and rent them as affordable housing. Two of the homes are along County Road E. The third home is in north Shoreview.

One of the city’s goals is to provide a variety of housing choices and levels of affordability. To better understand our current housing status, issues, and challenges, the city completed a housing study over the last year. The study evaluated demographics, employment, and housing and identified needs, gaps, and strategies to meet our housing goals. Staff will be using this study to prioritize actions over the next five years.

Economic development

The city continues to see reinvestment in its business and commercial areas. Over the last few years, Eagle Ridge Partners has been redeveloping and upgrading part of the Shoreview Corporate Center at Lexington Avenue and County Road F. The Lex at 4100 is now complete and two of the four floors are leased. The city is working with them on a third tenant as well and a second phase project. This project could include additional housing and a restaurant. Gradient Financial completed their renovation project at 4625 Churchill Street in 2021 and moved their software division, Nextek Development to the building. The building renovated to support their growth plan which projects up to 100 employees in the next several years. The city was also happy to see a new restaurant open across from Nextek. Churchill Street opened in late 2021 and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The city is currently working on several large projects this year including the redevelopment of the former Deluxe Campus. Scannell Properties is currently working on several plans to maximize the development of the 50acre site.

The city will issue a request for proposals to develop the 10-acre Rice Street Crossing property this year. This property is at the southwest corner of I-694 and Rice Street.

Other notable projects from 2021 include a major expansion at Mead Metals and multi-million dollar projects at Wells Fargo and Target Corporation.

Road projects

The city hit an important milestone in 2021 when it finished is street reconstruction program. This program, which started in the 1980s, was created to bring all city streets to current standards with curb-and-gutter and modern storm drainage systems. Moving forward, the city will focus on maintenance and rehabilitation.

The city will be partnering with Ramsey County on several large projects over the next few years. The first is the reconstruction of Lexington Avenue between County Road E and I-694. This project will start soon and should be finished by the fall. Next year, the city and Ramsey County will work on two projects along Hodgson Road. The first is a reconstruction project from Gramsie Road to Highway 96. The second is to improve the intersection at Hodgson Road and County Road J.

Community survey

This fall, the city will conduct a community survey. This will be the first time in over 30 years that the survey will be conducted via mail with an online option. We encourage you to participate so we can know best how to serve you.

Stay connected

We are committed to providing an open and accessible government. We do this by televising and live-streaming our city council and planning commission meetings, publishing the ShoreViews newsletter four times a year, publishing Access Shoreview—an e-newsletter sent twice a month, and engaging with residents on social media. Mayor Sandy Martin holds office hours from 3 – 5 pm every Tuesday. We look forward to serving you in 2022!

John Doan appointed to Shoreview City

Council

The Shoreview City Council appointed John Doan to serve in the vacant seat caused by Councilmember Quigley’s passing in January.

Councilmember Doan has served on the Shoreview Planning Commission since 2015.

Councilmember Doan was born in Saigon, Vietnam and moved to Minnesota as a refugee. He grew up in affordable housing in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, and attended St. Thomas Academy. His urban home life and suburban school days led him to pursue a degree at Carnegie Mellon University in civil and environmental engineering and a master’s degree in public policy, with a concentration on housing, urban development and transportation from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. John and his wife Erin have two college-aged children who graduated from Mounds View High School. When asked what he most looks forward to in this new role Councilmember Doan said, “My mom told me that God gave me two ears and one mouth, so I should listen twice as much as I talk. With that in mind, I am so honored and excited to listen, learn, and problem-solve with our great residents, staff, and fellow councilmembers.”

Walk and Talk with the Mayor

Meet Mayor Sandy Martin and Rafa, her friendly Australian Labradoodle, to enjoy some fresh air and exercise. This year, “Walk and Talk with the Mayor” will take place on the following Tuesdays. June 14 July 12 August 9 Walks begin at 3 pm. Check the city’s website at shoreviewmn.gov or Facebook page for information on where to meet. In the event of rain, the outdoor walk may be cancelled and the office hours will be moved inside at city hall. Mayor Martin has regular office hours most Tuesdays at 3 pm. She is also available by phone at 651-490-4618.

Elections

Primary election – August 9, 2022 General election – November 8, 2022 Precincts and polling places Earlier this spring, the city took part in the redistricting process. This happens every 10 years after the census. Due to new legislative boundaries, the city needed to redraw precinct boundaries and add one more precinct. Postcards were mailed in April to residents in precincts 2 – 7 letting them know about their new precinct and/or polling place. View new precincts and find your polling place at shoreviewmn.gov/polling-place.

How do I register to vote?

Online: at mnvotes.org • Mail: an application to: Secretary of State, 60 Empire

Dr., Ste. 100, St. Paul, MN 55103 • On election day: Absentee voting for primary election • If you cannot make it to the polling place on election day, you can vote by absentee ballot. With absentee voting, you can vote in person before election day or by mail. • In person: June 24 – August 8, 2022

Shoreview City Hall, 4600 Victoria Street N, Shoreview or Ramsey County Elections Office, 90 Plato Blvd W,

St. Paul, MN

August 2 – 8, 2020

Several early voting locations will be open in the county. • By mail: Mail an application to: Ramsey County

Elections, PO Box 64098, St. Paul, MN 55164

Ballots must be received by 3 pm on election day For more information on absentee voting and early voting locations, visit rcelections.org.

Council vacancies

The mayor and two councilmember seats are up for election in November. The filling period is August 2 – 16, 2022. You can file at city hall, Monday – Friday, 8 am – 4:30 pm. The cost is $5. Those interested in running for office must be: • An eligible voter • A Shoreview resident for at least 30 days before the election • At least 21 years’ old

Voting guide

View all this information and more online at shoreviewmn.gov/vote.