Metro briefs: Richfield to open its first off-leash dog park

Richfield city lead­ers will open the city's first off-leash dog park Thurs­day at Roo­se­velt Park. A rib­bon-cut­ting cer­e­mo­ny will be­gin at 4:30 p.m., and the first 25 dogs will be giv­en "pooch-friend­ly goodie bags."

The full­y en­closed dog park will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and of­fer groom­ing sta­tions, fire hy­drants, waste sta­tions, pic­nic ta­bles and areas for both big and small breeds. A city dog li­cense will be re­quired to use the park.

Amy Mar­kle, Richfield's rec­re­a­tion ser­vices di­rec­tor, said in a news re­lease that dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, "It has be­come evi­dent that dog walk­ing is a big way our resi­dents use our parks." Roo­se­velt Park is at 7644 4th Av., with park­ing off E. 77th Street.

Erin Adler

Bailey Lake Park has been re­named Fair Haven Park af­ter its ad­ja­cent neigh­bor­hood to make it easi­er to find, fol­low­ing a de­ci­sion by the Woodbury City Council.

The growth of neighborhoods in the area made the park feel dis­tant from the lake it was named for, said Parks and Rec­re­a­tion Director Mi­chelle O­ka­da. Nam­ing parks af­ter a near­by de­vel­op­ment is com­mon prac­tice in Woodbury. "Wayfinding is a big com­po­nent of it," she said.

City lead­ers had con­sid­ered the name Red Pine Park af­ter the state tree, but dropped the i­de­a when it was de­ter­mined the park was popu­lat­ed pri­mar­i­ly by Scotch pines. The 4.5-acre park is near Dale Road and Woodbury Drive.

SHAN­NON PRATH­ER

Inver Grove Heights lead­ers and hous­ing ad­vo­cates cele­brat­ed the grand open­ing Wednes­day of Ca­hill Place, the first per­ma­nent sup­port­ive hous­ing de­vel­op­ment for fami­lies in Dakota County.

The 40-unit com­plex, which will of­fer on-site sup­port ser­vices with the help of Dakota County, was op­ened to ten­ants start­ing Oct. 1. The $13 mil­lion pro­ject was fi­nanced through the state, coun­ty and Metropolitan Council, and de­vel­op­er Center City Housing Corp. will man­age the com­plex.

The pro­ject was ap­proved two years ago by the City Council and built on land owned by ad­ja­cent River Heights Vineyard Church, which will sup­ply vol­un­teers for the site.

KEV­IN DUCHSCHERE

More than a doz­en Anoka County build­ings will be equipped with a new in­door air clean­ing sys­tem used by Mayo Clinic and the local school dis­trict to neu­tral­ize the coronavirus.

Fol­low­ing guide­lines set by the Centers for Dis­ease Control and Prevention, the County Board ap­proved add­ing the Glo­bal Plasma Solutions sys­tem to its ex­ist­ing heat­ing and air con­di­tion­ing sys­tem in 14 heav­i­ly used coun­ty build­ings, in­clud­ing the Government Center, sher­iff's de­part­ment, jail, ju­ve­nile cen­ter and med­i­cal ex­am­in­er's of­fice. Li­cense centers won't be out­fit­ted with the sys­tem be­cause those build­ings are leased, not coun­ty-owned.

The $372,340 sys­tem will be in­stalled by Dec. 1, the dead­line to use fed­er­al CARES Act fund­ing. Board Chairman Scott Schulte said the sys­tem will deal not only with the coronavirus but also com­bat the flu and al­ler­gens.

Kim Hyatt