1998.07.29 CC Minutes - Joint meeting with Lino Lakes & White Bear Township

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JOINT COUNCIL MEETING JULY 29,1998 Acting Mayor Lyden suggested Option B2 and explained his idea. Mr. Museus explained that the area is already developed and wetlands would be impacted. There was another suggestion from a lady in the audience. Mr. Angus explained that development of the area is imminent. The lady asked why the residents concerns are not being considered before the developers concerns. Mr. Angus explained that it up to the City Council to decide upon an option after receiving all pertinent information. Acting Mayor Lyden discussed his option further and Mr. Museus again said that the wetlands would be impacted. Mr. Angus said that is something the City is taking a guess at. More studies have to be conducted. Another gentleman from the audience said that Hugo does have an east/west access to the freeway. He asked why Hugo could not improve Highway 61 by adding more lanes and widening Main Street to make it four (4) lanes. Main Street is a county road and is maintained by the county. Mr. Angus explained that one of the main concerns for Hugo is to reduce the traffic through the downtown area. The gentleman noted that downtown traffic is good for the businesses. Mr. Angus said that Hugo has to make a decision as to whether there will be a road crossing Clearwater Creek south of Main Street. If there is not to be a crossing, the city has to look at options for improving downtown traffic. However, if there is ultimately going to be a road crossing Clearwater Creek, the city should be looking at how the road will go from Highway 61 to Elmcrest Avenue. A gentleman from the audience asked if it has been decided that Elmcrest Avenue serves no purpose to the City of Lino Lakes. Acting Mayor Lyden said that the city has not had those discussions yet. Mr. Powell explained that the City did a detailed study in 1989 on that roadway and one of the problems here is that not only do we have three (3) cities in this area but also have three (3) counties. Elmcrest Avenue runs along the border between Anoka County and Washington County. He explained how state aid funds could be used to improve the road. At this time, from Lino Lakes perspective, Elmcrest Avenue is not taking a lot of traffic. However, the City is looking at this area again because the Metropolitan Council is looking at aligning a sewer interceptor across Cedar Street. If they go forward with this plan, that may provide an opportunity for the Metropolitan Council to pick up some of the cost of improving the roadway. Another gentleman in the audience said Metropolitan Council has already made the decision to construct the interceptor along Frenchman Road (Main Street). Mr. Sand explained that this looks like what White Bear Lake went through 25 years ago. He explained the decision to build a parkway that would take traffic off of I -35E and route the traffic out of downtown White Bear Lake. Downtown businesses did not like the idea of routing traffic away from the downtown. Today they have a parkway, however it is not a thoroughfare route but is for the industrial businesses along the parkway. Highway 96 continues to carry traffic to Highway 61 and through downtown. During the past two (2) years there has been considerable upgrading of Highway 96. PAGE 9