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Mayor's Report March 2,1998 <br />1. I attended an Open House for North American Wetland Engineering on <br />February 20. A great deal of progress had been made on the acceptance of <br />constructed wetland technology in Minnesota. Some 70 sites are under <br />development in Minnesota, and the PCA is expected to remove the <br />experimental designation from these waste water treatment systems this year. <br />In addition, detail changes in design requirements, such as the amount of <br />separation from mottled soils will be made. The Open House was a good <br />event - and an unsolicited comment from my wife was that the Planning, <br />Parks and Village Commissions should be again exposed to the technology. <br />2. I hosted the Elected Officials Meeting of School District 622, on February 4, <br />and circulated the minutes a few days later. <br />3. On February 24, I sat in on the meeting of the Parks Committee of the Lake <br />Ehno/Baytown Consolidation study. Baytown park activities are passive <br />relating to walking, nature observation and some hunting on DNR lands. <br />Several bike routes are identified on the shoulders of County Roads 67 and 21, <br />as well as a dedicated route within Cloverdale Farm. There are no public Park <br />facilities, although the DNR has identified a 198 acre site adjacent to Oak Park <br />Heights as a public wildlife management area. <br />There was a great deal of interest in creating a trail through Baytown, into <br />Lake Elmo and up to Sunfish Park, returning east to Baytown and back down <br />to the small piece of Baytown which lies along the St. Croix. It was felt that <br />this was a project which required active planning following consolidation. <br />4. On February26, I attended the discussion on Minnesotan Transportation <br />policy at the Landmark Center. Curt Johnson of the Met Council, Richard <br />Stehr of MnDoT and Representative Alice Hausman were the speakers. There <br />was a strong emphasis that transportation problems were likely to increase <br />within 10 years and that a consolidated road and rail system was needed. Road <br />construction costs were prohibitive, and commuter rail costs per mile of track <br />were considerably lower. The questions related to carrying capacity and system <br />user friendliness both of which would have to be addressed for a rail system <br />to be effective. MnDot was working with the Met Council to squeeze more <br />productivity out of the existing road system,improve bottlenecks and provide <br />some expansion. None of these studies could address how the needs <br />generated by urban sprawl were to be met, and commuter rail systems and <br />dedicated bus lanes were likely to have more attention in the near future. <br />Curt Johnson emphasized that there will be no real change until people get <br />involved. Past policies in road construction will not work for the next 25 <br />years. Consequently, the Met Council will sharply constrain growth at the <br />edges, and would aim to provide incentives to incorporate more population <br />