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THERAPY CAT: New 4-legged resident finds home at Keystone PAGE 10
Polar explorer witness to melting ice
Concerns with proposed bus garage
BY SARA MARIE MOORE VADNAIS HEIGHTS EDITOR
When polar explorer Will Steger heard the news, he couldn’t believe it, but knew it was real: The 1,250-squaremile ice shelf he had crossed in Antarctica by dog sled had collapsed into the sea. “It caught me by surprise,” Steger told an audience gathered at the Shoreview Community Foundation’s annual dinner last month. Steger also spoke at an environmental awareness event Nov. 21 at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi. Steger had been standing on the ice shelf a decade before. It was the moment when Steger knew it was time to focus his energies on education, not just exploration. “That was my wake-up call,” he said. A portion of the Larsen B Ice Shelf — about the size of Rhode Island — broke up over a month’s time in 2002, during Antarctica’s summer. The ice shelf had been stable for an estimated 10,000 years. Steger believes the collapse is due to climate change caused by increased carbon dioxide levels. The monthly average carbon dioxide concentration has risen from about 310 parts per million (ppm) in 1960 to almost 400 ppm in 2015,
BY SHANNON GRANHOLM EDITOR
SEE BUS GARAGE, PAGE 13
OOF NEW R S! NT DISCOU
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Polar Explorer Will Steger speaks at an environmental awareness event held at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi last month.
SEE EXPLORER, PAGE 12
COURTESY CLIMATEGEN.ORG | SUBMITTED
The monthly average carbon dioxide concentration has risen from about 310 parts per million (ppm) in 1960 to almost 400 ppm in 2015, according to Mauna Loa Observatory data from Hawaii. At right, Polar expedition members use kayaks to cross open water.
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HUGO — The Planning Commission and residents had an opportunity to make comments on White Bear Lake Area Schools’ sketch plan for a proposed transportation and maintenance facility Nov. 21. The bus garage located near White Bear Lake Area High School North Campus will likely need to fi nd a new home to make room for the one-campus high school expansion approved by voters last month. The school board approved a purchase agreement Nov. 12 for the 7-acre proposed site, located on Fenway Boulevard north of 130th Street N. Tim Wald, assistant superintendent for fi nance and operations, and Sal Bagley, of Wold Architects and Engineers, attended the meeting to gather feedback from the commission and residents on the sketch plan review and seek a conditional use permit (CUP) for exterior storage exceeding the size of the principal building planned for the site. City Planner Rachel Juba explained a sketch plan review “shows a concept of how the site could be laid out” and offers the opportunity to receive nonbinding comments. “A critical part of the recently passed referendum was unifying our split high school into one high school,” Wald explained. “A significant increase in our population is coming from the north end, so moving our bus garage a little farther north makes good sense for us. It will be fairly centrally located and allow us to operate in a pretty efficient manner. We think this is really an ideal site for us, and we are interested in putting a facility there.” The proposed sketch plan shows a 15,000-square-foot building with an exterior storage area of approximately 46,000 square feet. The facility would include bus and van/ shuttle parking for approximately 75 vehicles (varying in size), offices for transportation and maintenance staff, space to perform vehicle maintenance (indoors), staff parking