by Logan Gruber
A public hearing was held on the possibility of a new street just south of Graceview Estates and the city decided to move forward with a parkway design for the street, against the preference of many who were at the meeting.
Field Street, as it is referred to, would run from just south of the house of the president of the College of St. Benedict, curve south, connect at Elena Lane, continue straight, then curve south again to connect at Seventh Avenue. The road is laid out so Field Street can continue on to 12th and 16th avenues in the future.
The street would be a collector street, meaning it would take on traffic from the neighborhoods to the north and funnel it out to College Avenue or other arteries.
The public hearing, held during the city council meeting on Jan. 4, was a hearing on the merits of the project. A future date, possibly in August, will be set to discuss the special assessment.
The city received the feasibility report on the road on Dec. 3. The proposed timeline for the project says the plans and specifications were ordered on Jan. 4 as part of the meeting, right-of-way acquisition and design will take place between January and June, bids will be advertised for in July with bids opening in August, a special assessment hearing would take place in August, construction would start in the summer or fall of 2017 and be completed by fall of 2018. City Engineer Randy Sabart said the timeline is set up to be as pessimistic as possible, so things may move along quicker than this.
There were two options for the city to choose from for road design if they moved forward.
1. Parkway: The road would be made up of two lanes, divided by a center green island, with an 8-foot parking lane beside each traffic lane. Then would come additional green space, followed by a biking trail on the north side of the road and a sidewalk on the south side of the road.
2. Non-parkway: The road would be made up of two lanes, not divided, with an 8-foot parking lane beside each traffic lane. Then would come additional green space, followed by a biking trail on the north side of the road. This option would not have a sidewalk.
The parkway design is projected to cost nearly $3 million, which would result in approximately a $1.3 million assessment on landowners with the city paying nearly $1.7 million. The non-parkway design is projected to cost nearly $2.5 million, which would result in approximately $1.3 million in assessments with the city paying nearly $1.2 million. Landowners are assessed nearly the same amount for either project.
To help defray some of the city costs, the city has access to Minnesota State-Aid Reimbursement funds. The current balance the city can access (the money is not kept on city books) is $1.45 million. The city is allocated about $140,000-150,000 per year.
However, if the balance reaches $1.5 million, the city will not receive any more allocations until they spend down the balance. This means the city will need to do work on a Minnesota state-aid road at some point in the next year or so or they will stop accruing a balance. Only about 20 percent of St. Joseph roads, which includes Field Street, are eligible to be used for state-aid.
Public comment
Jerome Salzer, who is in the agriculture industry, said he rents land near the area where the road would go. He wanted to know if the sidewalk portion might be able to be delayed since there are no houses on the south side of where the road would go. Sabart said that is a possibility.
Jess and Andy Rennecke were there with their young child. They wanted to know why the road and trail are so close to four homes on Elena Lane. The Renneckes said they don’t have trees or a fence so their privacy and safety will suffer with the new road. The Renneckes also noted a daycare is in the area near the new road as well, and other houses also have small children.
Sue Palmer, vice president of finance for the College of St. Benedict, said St. Ben’s is not explicitly supporting the road, and asked why other landowners will have to pay significant costs for something which mostly benefits the Graceview developments.
Dan Rassier stepped forward and asked the council why the road is so important to them. Sabart explained the state-aid issue, and how they will have to spend the money somewhere in order to continue to receive an allocation from the state. He also said Field Street is part of the planning process for the master transportation plan. Rassier asked why they wouldn’t do small improvements around the city to draw the balance down, like additional lighting or signage or patchwork. Sabart said not all streets are state-aid. Rassier asked the city to put something on the website showing residents which streets are state-aid for the future.
Lisa Meyer said she doesn’t live near the new road but a friend of hers does and asked her to come ask questions. Meyer asked what the speed limit would be on the new road. Sabart said the limit will be 35 mph, but the road will be built with curvature which allows for safe travel up to 45 mph, though traveling that fast would be against the law.
Tim Hymens said he and the Kluesner family have no plans to develop the land they own abutting the road during their lifetime, and so they aren’t sure why the road needs to be built now instead of later.
Kevin Kluesner, also an owner of the Kluesner land, asked if the building of the road could be postponed. He said the money the city gets from state-aid annually isn’t worth rushing a project through.
Margy Hughes stepped forward, saying if the Kluesners aren’t going to develop and CSB is only going to use their land for athletic fields, the city won’t have many people to assess for the road and will be paying the bond themselves.
Ann Meyer, another landowner adjacent to the road, also said they aren’t interested in developing their farm.
City comments
City Administrator Judy Weyrens said the city started the Field Street process back in 2014. She said they had been contacted by Graceview estates, but only after they had decided they were interested in creating Field Street.
Council member Renee Symanietz said she has a home in the Graceview development she bought in 2005, before she was on the council. She said she thinks of Field Street as a safety issue, because if there is an accident on Elena Lane there wouldn’t be a way for residents to get out of the development.
Council member Matt Killam said Field Street will give relief to other streets, such as Baker, so more traffic will move south and out instead of north and out.
The council voted 5-0 to move forward with Field Street as a whole, and also order plans and specifications for the parkway design of the street.