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8í g,gsJus,f.,,*"*Jon Commers,Þincþal <br />ph) 651.645.4644 <br />fax) 657.227.4215 <br />comrners@doniek.com <br />www.doniek com <br />August 16,2007 <br />Sandy Peine, City Clerk <br />City of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota <br />City Hall <br />4638 County Rd ll <br />Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 <br />DearMs. Peine <br />As the City concludes the substantive fact-finding work undertaken by the Highway 371 <br />Study Group over the last several months, and leads into some form of suwey analysis of <br />the residents and business persons in Pequot Lakes, I am pleased to submit a-w¡itten <br />sunmary of the work I have performed since May. Very generally, the presentations I <br />gave on Jure 2l and August 7, and the discussion with business commr:nity members on <br />July 19, focused on potential impact for the City's tax base and ways to mitigate any <br />negative impact a bypass might exact on the downtown and the buiiness e.rnitonment us <br />a whole. In each step of this analysis, I considered the three options examined in the <br />environmental impact statement: No-build, "through-town" and an altemative alignment <br />or bypass. <br />As I described in the first public presentation, there have been a multitude of studies <br />conducted to look at the impact of bypasses on property values, job creation and retail <br />activity. Variations abound among the communities studied: No two towns a¡e identical <br />in the compositon of their ta,x base, the development pattems and geographic features, or <br />in their sense of place. still, few communities face a planning choice úkó a bypass <br />regularly, and the decision making process is enhanced by looking elsewhereiı gauge <br />impacts. Among the studies, some undertaken up to 40 years agoand -*y .*tãtrtl], irt <br />process, there emerge some points of consensus. <br />First, macroeconomic factors drive the nature of local impacts; in other words, the <br />broader economic health and trends of a community influence the economic impact more <br />than the specific route for moving highway trafflrc through the community. Second, the <br />size of a towr¡ its 'þull factor" or relative status as a regional attraction, and the <br />composition of its economic and tæ< base also influence outcomes. Third, certain <br />segments of a local economy - businesses that are most sensitive to through-town traffic <br />volumes, in particular- will likely experience less benefit or more harm than other <br />segments such as ofüce, housing, and local retail. Auached to this letter is an annotated <br />bibliography of the studies most applicable to the city's decision on this issue. <br />Appendix E - Donjek Final Report Page 1 of 1'1