New water tower proposed for Woodbury’s northeast corner

• Water tower

A new 2 million-gallon water tower is proposed to serve the northeast part of Woodbury. Staff photo by Riham Feshir

Talk about it

With the residential growth anticipated in the northeast part of Woodbury, city officials decided a new water tower will be needed.

But not until the city can purchase the land best suited for the structure.

The city has been trying to acquire the land, located a few hundred feet east of Settlers Ridge Parkway on Brookview Road, since 2007.

According to city staff, an offer was made to purchase the site, formerly home to an old barn and farm house, in 2008.

The owner verbally accepted but later decided to back out of the deal.

“We tried to come to an agreement between the two parties and it was never finalized,” said Aaron Nelson, principal engineer for the city of Woodbury. “We’re looking at picking up the conversation again and making a new offer for the property.”

Another offer was made in 2009 when the land was valued at $138,600, according to city staff. The owner verbally accepted again but ultimately declined for personal reasons.

A council letter asking for approval to make another attempt this year stated that an offer was made in again in 2011, but was declined.

Before trying one more time, staff said a new appraisal is necessary to determine the current value of the land.

“The appraisal shows today’s land value is $105,000, and temporary easements are valued at $10,000,” staff said in the council letter.

Nelson said that spot is the best for the 2 million gallon northeast water tower because of its elevation levels and the city is not looking at any other options.

“The higher the land, the less height that the water tower needs to be,” he said. “It’s built on the highest point in that part of town.”

The city had originally budgeted $225,102 for the land and easement acquisition, but since the value has gone down, the final number will end up being significantly less.

The design of the northeast water tower is expected to begin in 2015 with construction starting in 2016.

Staff requested authorization from Woodbury City Council to move ahead with the negotiations last week due to the amount of time necessary to buy the land.

“We’re scheduled to build the water tower within a few years here. Before we can start construction we need to acquire the site,” Nelson said, adding that it takes more than a year to build a water tower.

Woodbury has built a number of water towers in the past as the city’s needs for water storage continued to grow with population growth.

The timeline to build the northeast water tower is determined by the anticipated growth that the city’s Comprehensive Plan identifies, Nelson said.

It’s hard to say if it will be needed before 2016, he added.

“Right now that’s our best estimate,” he said.

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