01-24-2000 Council Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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LAND USE IMPACTS ON TRANSPORTATION As density of residential development increases, the demand on local and collector streets similarly increases. However. Qrono's commitment to low- densitv residential development for protection of Lake Minnetonka, and the concurrent infrastructure limitations that functionally and hv desitzn prevent commercial expansion into the 80% of Orono that is zoned tor low-density residential uses, have resulted in a level of development that does not require major additions to or expansions oF the existing local and collector street system. The maiorin of Qrono’s existing collector road system was established many decades ago to ser\c the separate needs of the Cit> ’s hvo priman historic land uses. The straight-line road tirid system in central and northern Orono was established alomi section lines a century ago to efficiently serve the auricultural activity in the Citv. This tirid has rcadilv adapted to use as a collector system for the many local and private roads that have been created to serve new rural residential subdivisions in the last 30-40 years. l.ikewise. the seasonal recreational uses that iirew up along Qrono ’s 40 miles of l ake Minnetonka shoreline a centurs' atio resulted in a network of windinu roads that commonly followed the center of the narrow peninsulas between bays, creatimi local road frontaee tor lakeshore lots while also often servinu as the main road between settlements. One significant result is that manv existirm homes have their onlv access directly to the collector roads rather than to local streets. Manv of these collector roads have over time evolved into minor arterial roads based on their level of use: the increased traffic is incompatible with direct individual driveway accesses, and elimination of individual accesses is virtually impossible in many locations. County Road 15 ;s the primar\- minor arterial for commuter traffic throuah southern Orono. Because County Road 15 abuts the shoreline alona much of its route, the Citv is committed to retaininii its character as that of a scenic parkway servine local residences. Such a character is incompatible with its minor arterial function. It would therefore be preferable to reduce the volume of tralfic on County Road 15 bv providing an additional east-west corridor in southern Orono,. However, the confiuuration of Lake Minnetonka ’s bavs and the severe topography between them, as well as the laree number ot wetlands in the shoreland areas, preclude the development of such a corridor. I CMP 4A - 10 I I I