04.01 - Gloria Dei Church - Bob Olson

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'f September 8,2004 Dear Pequot Lakes City Council Member: The following information along with a sketch is being given to you as a follow up to my open mike on September 7t'. I have also given a copy to your city engineer. At a previous meeting I had with MNDOT officials I was told they were not in favor of the backage road through the Gloria Dei back yard. MNDOT told me that was a decision made by the Pequot Lakes City Council. At the meeting last night at the Council meeting I was told it was the MNDOT plan to cross the church property. We need to have the facts on this so as to know which organization we have to deal with. I personally believe if we work together we can get MNDOT to put together a decent road plan that will serve our community for many years to come. Pequot Lakes/#371 Proposed Plan as I presented on Sept. 7t`. The current#371 draft plan showing the backage road going through the playground and park of the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church is unacceptable. Over the years the Courts have usually ruled in favor of private property especially when a roadway is already on public property and is planned to divert on to private property. Beside that, the current draft plan will be good for ten years or less before there are major traffic jams within the city as well as on#371. A few changes to that plan will make the new#371 viable for at least the next twenty five years. A ten year window is not sufficient to warrant a large expenditure when a little more money will assure a smooth,viable road system for the next 25 years. The following are the proposed changes to the plan. You can refer to the sketch as you read through this. MNDOT said,at the open house in the high school,the backage road through the church property was put in there at the request of the Pequot Lakes City Council. Last night, Sept. 7, 2004,I was told at the Pequot Lakes City Council meeting that the backage road was MNDOT's request. I want to know who requested that road through Gloria Dei property. There is sufficient room to have the west service road and 4 lanes of#371 in the existing area right-of-way. The east service road could be the existing old#371. Some of the details follow. Remove the west shoulder lane(11 feet)from the existing#371 and use that fill for the west side of the existing ditch. That will give sufficient room for a two lane frontage service road right in front of those existing businesses and private property. Two wide(11 feet)shoulder lanes are not necessary through the city—one shoulder lane is sufficient for northbound#371 and one shoulder for south bound#371 through Pequot Lakes. There is room for 4 lanes,one service road and a small ditch for snow removal between the four lanes of new#371. The current draft plan shows a stop light at Crow Wing#11 and#17. Remove those stop lights completely and make the new#371 a limited access highway. The limited access can be accomplished by adding a simple overpass at Dirkson Rd on the south side of Pequot Lakes. North bound#371 traffic could merge off#371 on to old #371 if they want to enter the city. The overpass would also allow one to change directions on#371. This overpass would allow trucks from the industrial park to enter