03-08-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, February 22, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 7 of 10 14. DIAMOND LAKE REGIONAL TRAIL MASTER PLAN UPDATE (REMOTE) –Continued Johnson asked if Three Rivers is going to plow the trail once it is done. Ms. Grissman said that is a long time from now as they have a 20-30 year time frame. She would imagine that their policy and arrangement would change. Right now the arrangement with the cities is that cities have taken a very active role in winter maintenance if Three Rivers provides reimbursement of about $500 per mile. She imagines they may have a different arrangement with the cities in 30 years and may change what that winter maintenance looks like. Johnson asks because Orono took on the plowing on the Dakota Rail Trail and he thinks that it is rather disappointing that it is left to the cities to do. What ended up happening to make this work is that Orono had to start doing some plowing for other municipalities because they were not capable or interested. It puts the onus on the City of Orono and it is a trail – Johnson lives right off of it and observes it – the use is so much greater when it is plowed. He said before they take on more trail projects, they should do the very best with the ones they have. He thinks that includes plowing and making them accessible all year long before going on to expand into other trails. Seals thinks before they create more trails they are not managing full time, maybe they should allocate funds towards taking care of the trails they have. She said Johnson is 100% right, people love that trail. Johnson noted Three Rivers is doing a great job of maintaining the Dakota Rail Trail as far as usability, making repairs, making changes, but he thinks Three Rivers needs to commit to having it be all year round. Ms. Grissman very much appreciates that feedback and would be happy to bring that back to the Board for their future conversation on winter maintenance as it is something they have been discussing each year. It is an ongoing conversation and she hopes they have a plan that suits Orono’s needs and desires in the near future. Johnson said this trail is from Wayzata through Orono, Spring Park, and Mound and for the first time ever it was open all winter. That is in large part because Orono was willing to take on the lion’s share of it. Walsh hopes they can count on Three Rivers’ support for continuing those conversations in figuring out how Three Rivers can handle it, or allocating more dollars to help manage that. Ms. Beard appreciates being here to hear the feedback from the Council. She knows that Orono took the lead on clearing the Dakota Rail Trail and she appreciates them very much. 10. BIG ISLAND DECLARATION AND CHANGE ORDER APPROVAL Johnson wants to understand what it meant for the City to declare a restriction on this property as a function of this body. If something occurs with their deed that would not have otherwise been there, and as a result of this bond they have an additional restriction. Edwards said in short, any time the City takes money from the state, they incur restrictions on the property they take the money to improve. About a year ago, they had to encumber the property when they took the DNR grant so they restricted the property on the title in favor of the Minnesota DNR. Now