02-20-1991 Planning Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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V PLANNING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING HELD FEBRUARY 20, 1991 very sure of where that might happen. MNDOT does have the to unilaterally object to Highway 55 no matter what stand the City of Orono may take." Dodd Cosgrove, 1895 Fox Ridge Road, stated that one of the problems is that the City is considering the City of Long Lake to be an adversary. He said, "The City of Long L?ke is potentially our Greatest ally. How can we possibly ally ourselves witn Long Lake if w- take a position to locate the corridor through the middle of their city? It seems to me that the strongest stance we have is to say 'no build' and send it someplace else. That also supports our Comprehensive Plan." John Massopust said, "I’m not sure that we would get a 'no build' consensus from the City of Long Lake, because they want something changed to move traffic through there better. Bruce Carlson said, "It seems to me that we have i..rlated the negative impact in our own minds of what could be a c. eative solution on the existing alignment to the point where we t link it is going to wipe out Long Lake. Tnat causes us to thi;.k that there is no way to compromise and that the only solution is to get everyone to support Highway 55. \Je should consider this as a negotiating process with MNDOT. 'We look at what is best for Orono and what is best for Long Lake to see if there is way we can come together on the issue. We can start out by saying that Highway 55 is the preferred solution. If it later becomes apparent that it will be more sensible to upgrade existing Highvjay 12 and other existing roads, that will evolve out of the process, but it will be something that may be acceptable as a reasonable solution. Another point is that it seems to me that there has been some reference made about the north and south groups. Our feeling in the northern group is that we want to cooperate with the City ot? Orono to help develop a consensus and a negotiating strategy that makes sense for Orono as a whole. We are also dedicated to getting the line off of the map that goes through our particular property. The gentleman representing our group is quite convinced that the Highway 5 5 issue is not dead. Discussions have taken place with the Metropolitan Council about the differentiation between through traffic to western Minnesota onto major thoroughfares that are logical for that kind of traffic, such an Highway 55. The Highway 12 corridor currently exists in a form that best serves local traffic. I do not believe we have given up on Highway 55 at all in our group. Our advisor indicates that is a very rational approach." Sherokee Use asked the Planning Commission members to express their own opinions relative to the Comprehensive Plan and what they believe they could agree on at this point. She further asked, "Can the citizens walk away from here this evening feeling - 14 -