by Mike Knaak
editor@thenewsleaders.com
How to develop roads and utilities in southeast St. Joseph will be the subject of a study approved by the St. Joseph City Council at its Jan. 6 meeting.
The council approved spending about $27,000 to study street and utility needs in the area where an apartment building is planned.
The area in question is between the eastern extension of Dale Street and a future extension of 20th Avenue SE, south of the U.S. Army Reserve Center.
Council members want information so they can decide what type of street to build, for example four-lane divided or four-lane undivided. The study also will examine utility needs as well as the location of a sanitary sewer lift station.
Mayor Rick Schultz and council member Bob Loso wanted to make sure the study considered land use and future development to balance current cost now with what might be needed in the future.
The study is expected to take about two months.
In other action, the council voted to remove signs saying snowmobiles with studded treads are prohibited on trails in the city. The move brings the city in line with changes in state and county laws that had banned studs on paved trails.
The laws were in place to protect the trails from damage.
The measure passed 4-1 with Loso voting no because, he said, he didn’t want to see a “trail destroyed before its time.”
There are two trails in the city. The Wobegon Trail passes through the city and there’s a trail that crosses the west side of the city along CR 2.
The St. Joseph City Council voted to removed signs like this one near Millstream Park prohibiting studded snowmobile tracks.
