4 - Widseth Smith Nolting, City Engineer

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Pequot Lakes Hwy 371 Alternate Route Joint Committee of the City Council and Planning Commission April 3, 2007 plant's (WWTP's) spray irrigation fields. As background, the WWTP consists of aerated stabilization ponds that detain, hold, and allow "bugs" to treat the wastewater. This treated wastewater is then disposed of via the pivot spray irrigators onto the fields east of the Paul Bunyan Trail and south of Derksen Road. The amount of spray irrigation land impacted would depend on the final location of the alternate route, the configuration of whatever at-grade intersection (I understand a bridged interchange is not part of the proposed improvements anymore) may be placed in this area, service roads that may be constructed, and any stormwater infiltration basins needed for the highway. One estimate of spray irrigation land impacted by an alternate route that MnDOT about 6 months ago, without service roads or stormwater basins, was about 17 acres. For reference purposes, the City's present permit allows spaying on about 100 acres. The City actually has more acres than this, but would have to rearrange the pivot spray irrigators to reach that land. With an impact of about 17 acres, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said that the City may be able to increase their irrigation rate on the roughly 83 acres not impacted by the alternate route, or use other parts of the land it already owns to make up the roughly 17 acres impacted. While the indications at this time are that an alternate route does not present any insurmountable challenges in dealing with the initial impact on the_City's spray irrigation field, we would anticipate that an intersection in this area would induce development pressure that will have to be addressed. To what extent does an alternate route limit future expansion of the wastewater treatment system? We do not see a proposed alternate route significantly limiting future expansion of the City's wastewater treatment plant's (WWTP's) stabilization ponds or spray irrigation fields. We would not anticipate a future expansion of the stabilization ponds or the spray irrigation fields towards the City's Industrial/Business Park, which is also the same direction as the proposed alternate route. Page 3 of 4 CADocuments and Settings\Canal Park Location\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK4B\040207- Joint Council and PZ.doc