4 - Widseth Smith Nolting, City Engineer

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i Pequot Lakes Hwy 371 Alternate Route Joint Committee of the City Council and Planning Commission April 3, 2007 Submitted by Tim Houle, Widseth Smith Nolting According to the schedule of questions laid out earlier in this process, WSN/City Engineer was to answer three questions, shown in bold later in this memo, related to utilities and the wastewater treatment system/spray irrigation field. My comments on these three questions come from a broad engineering perspective. The Committee may also want to hear from the City's water/wastewater operator on these three questions from maybe a more operational perspective. The Committee may also want to consider some recent correspondence from MnDOT as well as market pressures on the City's Industrial/Business Park. The recent correspondence from MnDOT, dated March 9, included a draft Memorandum of Agreement laying out MnDOT's and the City's obligations. The market pressures on the City's Industrial/Business Park are related to whether the City should or should not sell their lots along Morehouse Drive to prospective buyers with the realization that the present proposed alternate route alignment cuts through about 5 of these lots. I know MnDOT's March 9 correspondence and the market pressures on the City's Industrial/Business Park are not part of the pre-arranged questions that this Committee was scheduled to review, but I submit that the Committee may want to adjust their schedule to address these. For my information below, please refer to the proposed alternate route indicated on the map on the bottom part of the wall in the City Council Chambers. What is the impact of an alternate route on the City's utilities? The proposed alternate route appears it will cross existing City gravity sanitary sewer and watermain at the very southern end of Morehouse Drive in the City's Industrial/Business Park. The proposed alternate route will also cross the existing City forcemain sanitary sewer pipe that goes out to the City's wastewater treatment plant's (WWTP's) stabilization ponds. This crossing will be north of the WWTP's ponds, east of the City's Industrial/Business Park, and south of Tree Farm Road. The rest of the proposed alternate route does not cross any other existing City sanitary sewer or watermains. Page 1 of 4 CADocuments and Settings\Canal Park Location\Local SettingsUemporary Internet Files\OLK4B\040207- Joint Council and PZ.doc