04/22/1996 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 22, 1996 school bus driver and having directed traffic for the City of Rochester, he had a lot of concerns about what can happen without a stop light. He said it would be a serious mistake not to have a traffic light. Mr. Rorem said he wished that MnDOT could be persuaded to change their criteria, but from a practical standpoint that is not likely to happen in the near future. He said that he has dealt with State bureaucracy on a number of different levels, and he did not see that MnDOT would be changing soon. The second issue with Option D is the access. There is only one way in and out of the school site. He understood that both the Fire Department and the Police Department have some concerns with this option including what if something happened to the only road in and out of the site. For this reason and others, Mr. Rorem urged the City Council to consider options other than Option D because of safety issues. He said he could live with Options A, B or F. The school district has indicated the same and if the people of the area could live with Option B, that would be a reasonable choice. It would provide a number of safety concerns for the neighborhood, it would meet a lot of the issues his neighborhood is concerned about and it would be a safe way of approaching the problem because it would have a signal light. The cost would be greater, however, cost should be secondary to the safety of the neighborhood and the children attending that school. Dawn Kenny, 6299 Red Maple Lane - Ms. Kenny said that when she heard postpone this for a year, she thought that this cannot happen. She explained that Rice Lake Elementary School is the third largest school in the State. It has 1,000 children now and is busting at the seams. Ms. Kenny said the middle school cannot wait another year. If the middle school is not done on time, where are all these new kids going to go? She said that we are here to educate these kids. Ms. Kenney said that she supports Option F because if warrants the traffic light. She said that she is sorry for all the traffic on Second Avenue however, it is a wide street. Ms. Kenney said that if she was considering moving onto a wide street like Second Avenue, she would have researched and determined exactly what kind of traffic was originally planned for the street. She used Ware Road as an example of a road that is used by joggers, bikers and runners and explained that the street cannot accommodate this type of traffic. She said she would take Second Avenue anytime. Ms. Kenny asked the City Council to please not wait a year for the school. Troy Weigold, 7187 Cinnamon Teal Court - Mr. Weigold said that his neighborhood has been fed misinformation and he is concerned about the ethics involved in the project since its beginning. Mr. Weigold said that he is one of the Wenzel Farms residents that other Lino Lakes residents are feeling some animosity towards. He said he has been involved in the discussion regarding the new middle school from the beginning. He said that other Lino Lakes residents have not been involved until recently and those residents have missed a lot of meetings and have not had the opportunity to review the many options submitted by the neighborhood. Mr. Weigold said that other residents have not heard from OSM or the Centennial School District Superintendent John McClellan. He said that he gives Mr. McClellan a lot of credit because for the last month and a half he has been politicking a great deal. All your petitions are affirming that your number one concern and priority is safety and these concerns warrant a signal light. Mr. Weigold said that from day one, the Wenzel Farms residents have talked about having a light and it is PAGE 27