04.01 - Gloria Dei Church - Bob Olson

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PEQUOT LAKES CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 5, 2004 Tonight I am not here to comment on a bypass vrs. through the city#371. I believe the council has already made the decision for#371 to go through the city. After the disruptions and costs of relocating utilities, the council might conclude the highway through Pequot Lakes is a bad decision. I am here tonight to strongly object to the current draft plan which shows the west service road bisecting the back yard of the Gloria Dei church. At the September council meeting I had open mike where I stated our opposition to having the service road bisect the back yard of the Gloria Dei property. The council's comments were it's a MNDOT responsibility to plan the road through Pequot Lakes. I followed that meeting with a meeting of MNDOT project leader, Tim Bray, and with Tim Houle,the Pequot Lakes city engineer. I expressed my opposition to the west service road(often referred to as the backage road) going through the Gloria Dei Church back yard. Tim Bray said the planning of the road and service roads through Pequot Lakes was a city responsibility. He referred me to the MNDOT web page which shows the final layout plan must be completed in 2004. Tim Bray also said he was waiting for the plan from Pequot Lakes. Time is running out! I stated there was enough room to place a four lane highway and a west service road in the present and adjacent property. Tim doubted there was enough room so we used their numbers for lane widths and exit/entrance lanes. The total was 98 feet.. I told him I had been out there with my 100 foot tape and there was room left beyond the 100 feet. We left the MNDOT meeting with a clear expectation Pequot Lakes would submit an alternative plan. Following that meeting, I took my tape and measured a possibility for the west service road and the four lane#371. The narrowest spot is from the Super America station to the west edge of the Paul Bunion reception parking lot. I have put together a presentation showing the roads could fit into the narrowest spot. In the country 50 foot wide ditches are nice because you can see deer with more warning before they get into the highway but in the city those wide ditches are not necessary. In fact the wide ditches are a waste of valuable property. My sketch shows the ditches at ten feet wide each. The shoulder lane and the driving lanes are the same as the current#371. The shoulder(or merging) lanes are 11 feet wide while each driving lane is 12 feet wide. The east service road could be old#371 starting at Dirkson Road and proceeding northward. Reentrance to#371 could occur at#11 stop light or to merge on to northbound#371 at the diagonal which matches up to#17. 1 think that is referred to as Front Street extension. South bound#371 could exit at the road past Auto Value and Thurlows or at the#I I stop light. South bound service road could reenter#371 at the #I I stop light or merge off the west service road beyond the south car wash.