04-23-1997 Letter re Luce Line Right of Way

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i rLt'f F i-V 16: CITYofORONO Miinkipal OfTIccs Street Address: 2750 Kelley Parkway Ofono. MN 55356 Mailing Address: P.O. Boi 66 Crystal Bay. MN 55323 0066 April 23. 1997 Martha J. Roger MN Depaninent of Natural Resources 9925 Valley \'iew Road liden Prairie MN 55344 Dear Ms. Reger; The purpose of this letter is to provide a brief history of this issue and to summarize the meeting held Friday, April 4 at 165 Bederwood Road. Persons attending this meeting were Martha Reger and Dick Schmidt. DNR 1 rials & Walcnvays: George and Laurie Terp. property owners at 165 Bedersvood Road; Greg Gappa and Jack Urinkhaus. City of Orono. The purpose of this moolitjg was to discuss the restoration of the driveway serving tiiis residence. 'Hie driveway and a portion of the garage are located on the DNR Right of W’ay for the Luce Line Trail. The DNR purchased this trail Right of W ay in 1972 from a railroad compajiy. The bituminous paved driveway and garage on the Right of Way predate the DNR purchase of this land. In 1992 the Citv of Orono completed the Stubbs Bay sanitarv sewer project. .As part of this project, sewer service was provided to this residence. Installation of the .sanitarv sewer required removal of the paved drivewav. After sewer installation, a gravel drivewav was replaced in the .same location. Replacement of the bituminous surface vvas not alK>wed because the driv eway was located on the Right of W'ay for the D.NR Luce Line Trail. fhe property owners are requesting that they be provided with a paved driveway similar to the driveway that cxi.stcd before the sanitary sewer project in 1992. The current aggregate surface driveway is in poor condition and is a continual maintenance problem. Since 1992, several meetings have been held to discuss this situation, but no resolutirin of tlie problem has been accomplished. The properly owners are frustrated with the continual delays in resolv ing this situation. According to the DNR. federal park funds were used for the purchase of the trail Right of W'ay; so any permanent land transfers require approval by the US Park Serv ice, fhe policy of the Park Sen ice is that any lo.ss of trail property needs to be mitigated, by the DNR acquiring additional trail property. This is a v ery lime consuming and comple.x proce.s.v. and there are no guarantees that any transfers will be approved by the Park Service. Td«pboiie (612) 473-7357 • FAX 473-0510