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MINUTES OF THE
<br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING
<br />Monday, May 11, 2020
<br />6:00 o’clock p.m.
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<br />Page 3 of 22
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<br />refinements. They would like to review potential routes with the Council to make sure they are okay with
<br />Three Rivers Park District (TRPD) going public with them, which they will do after they meet with all of
<br />the City Councils involved. He asked for feedback, comments, and support from the Council. As far as
<br />public engagement, they will try to get out as they are allowed and engage in community events if they
<br />occur. The public engagement process will be oriented more online and on the website due to COVID-19,
<br />especially if community events are canceled or restricted. The website will include a map where people
<br />can make comments, similar to placing a pin on a Google Map, which TRPD can preserve. After the
<br />public engagement process, they will create what they think is the best route for the community, bring it
<br />back for Council approval, and draft a master plan document, which will include a 30-day comment
<br />period containing a resolution of support from the City Council. After that process, TRPD will go through
<br />approvals with its own Board and the Met Council. He then displayed potential routes through Orono and
<br />stated when the route comes out of Medina, they are looking at 3 alternatives. With the northwest route,
<br />they are not able to go through properties such as Wolsfeld Woods due to SNA regulations, but they hope
<br />to be adjacent to it because it would be a scenic area. The middle route coming out of Medina would be
<br />road-based along Tamarack Drive within the road right-of-way. The easterly route would come down
<br />Hunter and also be road-based but would connect to the Holy Name Lake area and head north into
<br />Corcoran. Moving south on the map, he said they would like to utilize Spring Hill Road either on the west
<br />or east side. If the route is on the west side, they would look at a potential underpass on Highway 6. There
<br />are trail options along Spring Hill Road to East Long Lake Road; and he understands the City plans on
<br />reconstructing that portion of the now-abandoned East Long Lake Road into a trail. TRPD would like to
<br />take advantage of that route because there are not any good ones that could bring the trail to the south.
<br />They would prefer to be along the east side of Long Lake. The trail route would go to Summit Park,
<br />which would be an area they would consider as a trailhead, which consists of some signage, a parking lot,
<br />an access for the trail, and information about the trail. Heading south, along East Long Lake Road, they
<br />understand the area will be a challenge given the steep and narrow road. They have looked into going
<br />through Summit Park, but the topography does not allow for that on the western side. An alternative
<br />would be to secure an easement from the property owners in order to build a trail adjacent to the road; but
<br />if that cannot happen, consideration may be given to a shared-road situation: cars, bikes, and pedestrians
<br />would share the road for that distance until reaching the park. He said there are 5 homes and the park that
<br />the road would access, so it would not be much traffic volume. He discussed the option of going along
<br />Old Long Lake Road through the SNA property using the road right-of-way, so people could experience
<br />it but not be on it. He noted there is a small parking lot in the area so people could get off the trail, park
<br />their bikes, and walk through the SNA property. He said that this corridor is one of the nicest areas to get
<br />to Dayton. Another route could take users to Wayzata Boulevard, to the existing trail that was built with
<br />the reconstruction of the highway, and then come back to the Luce Line and utilize the trail that is there
<br />now. Other trail options moving east would be to either stay on Luce Line all the way to Ferndale or go
<br />on Old Long Lake Road to Wayzata Boulevard. Using another map, he discussed utilizing the existing
<br />bridges crossing over Highway 12, whether it is along Wayzata Boulevard, which is an 8-foot paved path
<br />on the north side, and/or Ferndale. There is an option in the future to make improvements to the bridge
<br />structure deck to accommodate a wider trail crossing over. He stated the trail could continue south into
<br />Wayzata, continuing down Ferndale to Dakota Rail, and staying on Wayzata Boulevard over to Barry to
<br />Lake Street, which is where the Dakota Rail project is being constructed, and extending the trail to
<br />Broadway. He stated that although it was not part of the trail project, he wanted to let the Council know,
<br />panning to the east and south on the map, that there are a couple other search corridors in the area. He
<br />said they are looking at a master plan that would extend Dakota Rail all the way through Wayzata to the
<br />Minnetonka City Hall/Community Center, which would connect to the Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail.
<br />They are also looking at a search corridor that would go along Bushaway Road and over to Central and
<br />work its way north, essentially parallel with the DLRT but farther east.
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