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August 21, 2000 · .... City of Orono City Planner Paul Weinberger 2750 Kelly Parkway Crystal Bay, MN 55323 Dear Mr. Weinberger, We are writing to express our opinion on the proposed Creekside Forest development by Mr. Charles Van Eeckhout. We are against the use of Apple Glen Road, in the City of Long Lake, for access to the development for the following reasons: • In 1997 Apple Glen Road was reconstructed at a width of 26 ft. as opposed to the 32 ft. width that was originally proposed as part of Lon·g Lake's plan to · have all newly constructed streets be a uniform width. This was because the City of Long Lake determined that because there was a large mature tree along the right of way and approximately only 14 residences located on Apple Glen Road a narrower street was acceptable. An addition of 7 lots/ . residences would create a 50% increase in the amount of traffic on Apple Glen, which is clearly not what the road was designed for. • Construction traffic created by the 7 proposed residences would surely create excessive wear and tear on the newly constructed Apple Glen Road surface. • We have learned that Mr. Van Eeckhout offered an absurdly low amount of money to acquire a small amount of property from one of his neighbor to the north so that access to the development could be off of South Brown Road. It appears ha may have offered such a low price because he didn't want the· street to go by his front yard in the first place. He would rather have all of the traffic cre~ted by the new homeowners.driving by the front yards of 14 or so other residences on someone else's street (i.e. Apple Glen). • Apple Glen Road Is having a sort of turnover of young families living on it. These families have young children and any increase in the amount of vehicular traffic creates a safety concern for the children playing In the neighborhood. • It ls our understanding that when Apple Glen Road was reconstructed in 1997 the City of Long Lake approached the City of Orono _about acquiring a small amount of land on the Orono side of the border for the purpose of constructing a cul-de-sac for Apple Glen. City of Orono officials purportedly refused to cooperate with Long Lake's request. It is ironic that lhls roadway use proposal is now before the City of Orono after their lack of cooperation regarding the proposed cul-de-sac. Although we are not personally opposec;I to the proposed Long Lake/Orono merger, many of our neighbors are because of the aforementioned and other issues involving the City of Orono in which they feel Orono tries to dominate Long Lake. Allowing the use of Apple Glen for this development would greatly increase the anti-Orono sentiment. -----{over} 8 'd 80LQ·ON t890 9Lt Zl9 3183h ~=\~h ~dZQ:E OOOZ · tz·~nv