City Council to Consider Sewer Rate Increases

The Lemon Grove City Council will consider proposed sewer rate increases Tuesday night at the council meeting at the Community Center.

If approved, rates would increase 3.25 percent starting July 19. Rates would go up 3.50 percent next year, and 3.75 percent in fiscal years 2012-15 and 2015-16.

Annual fees on residential units will rise from $500.28 a year to $575.47 as the increases take effect over four years.

Other business on Tuesday’s agenda includes a progress report on the city’s plan for downtown village development.

With the groundbreaking of the project just weeks away, council members will be updated on milestones in the Downtown Village Specific Plan, which sets development standards and design guidelines to “maintain and enhance Lemon Grove’s downtown ‘village’ character.”

In addition to the Main Street Promenade, the city’s key piece in downtown redevelopment, the progress report highlights:

• An amendment that allowed more permitted uses to increase marketability of property in the Retail Manufacturing Zone;
• The acquisition of six parcels fronting Main Street, which will partly be used for public street;
• The Citronica I and II projects, which offer affordable housing units and commercial retail space;
• And construction projects that include the new Lemon Grove Community Church on the corner of Main Street and Central Avenue, and commercial buildings by Bank of America on Lemon Grove Avenue.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. at the Community Center. The agenda packet can be reviewed in this article’s media box.