5 - Widseth Smith Nolting, City Engineer

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Pequot Lakes Hwy 371 Alternate Route Joint Committee of the City Council and Planning Commission June 5, 2007 The big difference will be a little more visibility of the Business Park with the alternate route than the present Hwy 371 alignment. To what extent does an alternate route limit future expansion of the Business Park? During past discussions, even before improvements to TH 371 were brought up, we have pointed out that the City's existing spray irrigation field on the property south of the present Business Park is probably not the best long-term use for this property. Under either route scenario for an improved TH 371, we feel that this spray irrigation property will eventually be better suited for either commercial or industrial use due to its proximity to the highway. Setting aside planning and zoning type issues, from an infrastructure standpoint, there is no insurmountable reason that the Business Park could not expand south into this property after construction of the alternate route. Roadway/street improvements have been discussed above. Installation of sanitary sewer and watermain infrastructure in conjunction with the alternate route (casing pipes, at a minimum, under the alternate route) would be strongly recommended to facilitate expansion in this direction. What costs will the City incur in the construction of an alternate route? The answer to this question depends largely on decisions that will be made by the City regarding what improvements it will install in anticipation of future expansion. We have prepared a list of possible cost items in conjunction with construction of either route, which is included as an attachment to this report. In this list, we have divided the cost items into three categories: Required—These would be cost items required of the City in conjunction with the expanded TH 371 construction. Recommended—While not required, these are items that we believe will eventually be needed by the City, and will generally be much more expensive if not constructed in conjunction with the expanded TH 371 improvements. Page 3 of 5 CADocuments and SettingsWawnb\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK13D\060507-Joint C.nuncil and PZ-dnr.