Laserfiche WebLink
Lake Independence. The Project is not expected to impact Baker Park Reserve because the <br /> Proposed Route remains entirely south of the BNSF railroad and U.S.Highway 12. <br /> ' Three recreational parks owned by the City of Orono (Bederwoods Park, Lowry Woods Nature <br /> Area and Lurton Park) lie between 0.5 miles to just over one mile from the Project Area. <br /> Bederwoods Park is located approximately 1.15 miles south east of the Project. It is 8 acres in size <br /> ' and includes a baseball field, swing-set, climber, slide and bike rack. Lowry Woods Nature Area <br /> which is located approximately 0.9 miles south of the Project is a 15 acre parcel of"Big Woods"and <br /> consists of 100-year-old Red-Oak, Sugar Maple, Ash and Hickory trees. The distance between the <br /> ' Project and Bederwoods Park and Lowry Woods Nature Area along with topography, forested <br /> areas, and residential areas is significant enough that visual impacts from the Project will not occur. <br /> Likewise, the distance, topography and forested areas between the Project and these parks will be <br /> ' significant enough that audible impacts from construction of the Project will not occur at these <br /> locations. <br /> The third park (Lurton Park) is a 39 acre parcel located approximately 1/2 mile east of the Project. <br /> ' Lurton Park was donated to the City for use as a passive and natural environmental park. Visual <br /> impacts from the Project to this park are unlikely due to the elevation of the County Road 6 overpass <br /> of U.S. Highway 12. However, due to the close proximity of Lurton Park to the Project there is a <br /> ' potential that temporary audible impacts could occur during the construction of the Project. A <br /> portion on the south side of this park was recently purchased by the Minnesota Department of <br /> Transportation("MnDOT") for the construction of the U.S. Highway 12 bypass project. <br /> ' Mitigative Measures <br /> The proposed Project will not directly affect recreational areas.The Project has been routed to avoid <br /> ' impacts to Baker Park Reserve to minimize impacts to parks and recreation.Therefore,no mitigative <br /> measures are proposed. <br /> ' 6.2.10 Public Services <br /> Public services within the vicinity of the Project include sewer,water and transportation. In the City <br /> of Orono, water and sewer services are provided by city-owned wells and wastewater treatment <br /> facilities. As the Project lies at the edge of the Twin Cities metropolitan area,water in nearby areas <br /> outside of the City is obtained from private wells as well as neighboring cities. Likewise,wastewater <br /> in surrounding areas is treated with individual septic treatment systems or neighboring cities. The <br /> Metropolitan Council forcemain interceptor 8352, which is a 12-inch outside diameter ductile iron <br /> pipe,is buried between the BNSF railroad line and U.S. Highway 12 north of the Project(see Section <br /> 8.1.8 regarding Metropolitan Council response to the Project). <br /> The U.S. Highway 12 Bypass project adjacent to and north of the Project has been completed and <br /> no additional work to this project is known at this time. U.S. Highway 12 is a high volume traffic <br /> corridor providing access to the Twin Cities Metropolitan area freeway system for the suburbs and <br /> rural areas west of the metropolitan area. U.S. Highway 12 reduces from a divided four lane <br /> highway to an undivided two lane road just west of the County Road 6 overpass and on the north <br /> side of the Project. County Road 6 borders the south and east edges of the area of the Project. <br /> Additionally,local city and township roads traverse the area around the Project. <br /> ' Orono Project June 7, 2011 <br /> MPUC Docket No. E002/TL-11-223 49 <br />