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.‘ - - TO: Mayor Peterson and Council Members FROM: Ron Moorse, City Administrator / DATE: November 10, 2005 SUBJECT: Senior Housing/Office Condo Access/Frontage Road Issue Some residents of the Orono Woods senior housing complex have expressed concern about the proposed Amber Woods office condo development gaining access from Brown Road through the senior housing property. When the Orono Woods development was planned, the property included the land currently planned for the Amber Woods office condo development. At that time, the developer of Orono Woods planned to build an office building on the land currently being developed as Amber Woods. The access to the office building was planned to be via a right-in, right-out access at Highway 12, and via a frontage road/driveway through the Orono Woods property to Brown Road. The frontage road/driveway system through the Orono Woods property includes two one-way traffic lanes. One of the traffic lanes is a driving lane on the south side of the Orono Woods parking area for eastbound traffic. The other is the driveway through the Orono Woods parking area for westbound traffic. The attached map shows the plan for the two traffic lanes and how they relate to the Orono Woods parking area. At the time of the Orono Woods development, there was significant review of the frontage road/driveway concept. It was determined that, due to relatively low traffic volumes, and relatively low usage of the Orono Woods' at-grade parking area, the concept was an acceptable access solution. The concern of the residents is that mixing the commercial traffic with the Orono Woods resident traffic will be unsafe, particularly where the commercial traffic is using the driveway through the Orono Woods parking area, and where the frontage road intersects with the entrance/exit for the underground garage area. Staff has visited the site to review the safety concerns. It appears that the placement of stop signs at key intersection areas would substantially address the safety concerns. A related concern is the use of the frontage road by construction equipment during the construction of the Amber Woods office condo development. Staff agrees that construction equipment, particularly trucks hauling dirt from the site, need to access the site from Highway 12, rather than through the frontage road. There is a right-in/right-out access from Highway 12 at the east side of the Amber Woods property, and a left turn access from Highway 12 at the west side of the Amber Woods property. In addition to the safety issue, a question has also been raised regarding whether the city has the legal right to create a public roadway through the Orono Woods property. While it was initially Planned that the City would obtain an easement from the property owner for the public roadway, the City actually became the owner of the property as part of the development financing process. To obtain the greatest amount of control over the use of the property, the City acquired title to the