02-14-1994 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

; . , ..i 28, 1993 Recycling I id weekend classes. .iiusiness adminlstra- J computer systems, s and law enforcement. g business, criminal nore .tration iSf. P au I 34 1-7250 In ing infbnrtAtion sessions: uesday. June 22 Noon and 6 p.m. St. Paul Campus 00 E. Seventh St. Rm.301. Bldg. A tan ity University System iducator ULD LIGHT D V/E did! Its. the streets and aii ched the fireworks in lould not have done it ns of money and time individuals. RS ighborhood group growing in effort to close Hwj^Tjexit lsMe“\^’T5e~on counciTs~^ug. 2~a|eftda By John Mugford Last month, the Excelsior Ci ty Council decided it would not pursue steps to close the exit from eastbound Highway 7 onto Division Street. Since that decision, however, residents in the area betwe^ the trunk highway and Mill Street have organi^ in an ef fort to close the exit. In its quest for satisfaction, the group has met with state Rep. Jerry Knickerbocker, IR- Minnetonka, <^ned com munication with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), and gotten its plea back on the Excelsior City Coun cil agenda for the Aug. 2 meebiig. -At a meeting two wedis ago, 40 residents showed up and organized into eight groups, or neighborhood blocks. Elach block has two or three chairper sons who inform neighbors about upcoming meetings or ac tions by MnDOT or the city. Cin dy Studer, an informal leader of the residents, said she is now working a couple of hours a day on the quest. “We thought the council ig nored us as a group,” said Studer. “But we don ’t think they’re going to be able to ignore us much longer.” Mayor John Anderson said he did not agree. “We’ve put in some signs ovw there and reduced speeds in some places, just like the residents want^,’’ Anderson said. “And we’re certainly open to listening to anything m(x« they have to say or that the state Han to say. But when it comes to closing the exit, we just might not be able to please them. When you’re on the o)uncil, you realize you can ’t satisfy all the people all the time.” Last week the residents in- EXCELSIOR vited Knickerbocker to visit their neighborhood and watch as cars exited off Highway 7 onto Division Street, some taking ri^t turns onto Second Avenue and traveling to Mill Street. About a dozen residents stood with Knickerbocker at the exit ramp. Hie group’s goal is the same as when it started lobbying the council earlier this year — to get the exit closed. But now, in addi tion to pushing the idea that residents are not safe because of what they call high traffic counts for a residential area, the neighbors are also pushii^ the idea that the exit its^ is simply not safe. “We’U be asking the council to get an independeni engineering firm to look at whether the exit is safe,” Studer said. “If a firm finds that it’s unsafe, we want it closed. MnDOT recommends that exits like this one be 300 feet long. But this one ’s only 130 feet. Besides, I think it makes driven slow down too much while in traffic, and it comes up so quickly.” When the neighbors first ask ed the council earlier this year to consider closing the exit, their main complaint was that more and more residents of new sub divisions in Chanhassen were using the exit instead of taking alternat e routes. Neighbors such as Cathy Lar son and Tom Sweeney, 1)o^ nei^iborhood block chairs, said the problem increased when Shorewood closed off the Christmas Lake Road access to Mill Street. And now they say they fear that the opening of a Target Store and a Fleet Farm store in Chanhassen will increase traffic even more. But at an Excelsior City Coun cil meeting last mon^, council members cited a city traffic count of the area as one reason not to close the exit. ’I^t study showed that 414 cars exited di^y frwn Hi^way 7 onto Division Street. Of those, 17S, or what council members called a relatively low number, traveled to Second Street. They also said closing oil the exit will f«T:e motorists to take the Christmas Lake Road exit and come back through the Divi sion Street nei^iborhood. Bill Mason, president, of the &celsior Area Chamber of Conunerce, presmted the dty with a letto* expressing die chamber’s view (hat cutting off an y exit to Ihc City will hurt the business an^l resid ent ial communities. Knickerbocker told 'the residents he didn ’t have any im- me^te answers to their cm- cems, but said he would begin talking to MnDOT officials as W6ll. “I guess I want to know if the exit is safe,” Knidterbocker said while standing on Second Avenue. “I’d like to get the dist rict engineer of MnDOT out here to look at it and go fimn there.** studer said Monday that MnDOT crews will be out to look at the exit this wedi. “All the people living in new housing in Chanhassen keep us ing it as a shortcut to Mill Street and into those new bousing developments,” Studer said. “It’s created an unsafe situa- tion. Someone ’s going to get hurt or killed; our children are especially at risk. We want U closed and if the council isn ’t gt>- ing to do it, then well con tin ue working with the state.”