Minutes - Council - 03/08/2004 - Joint Meeting with City of Anoka

Home

congestion in the area. She and Councilmember Cook met with the residents who asked pertinent questions. They were able to answer some of the questions, but some of them related to the City of Anoka. She suggested the cities conduct a question/answer session with the residents, representatives of Ramsey staff and City Council, and representatives of Anoka staff and City Council. Councilmember Cook stated the congestion is a regional problem. There will be more development occurring in Bums Township, Ramsey and St. Francis, and something needs to be done laterally to solve the problems. Mayor Gamec inquired if Anoka has conducted any studies regarding improvements in this area. Anoka Planning Director Braun indicated the City of Anoka has been working on acquiring grants for the McKinley intersection. They inquired of Anoka County if there are any plans for this area and were informed there is not. She indicated the City could initiate discussions with the county regarding this again. Anoka Mayor Skogquist explained just after the recent fatal train accident, Anoka endeavored to look at the crossing by Schwartzman's. There was a very inexpensive option for the City to pursue that would make the intersection safer. The state would allow them to study this option, but would likely find that the option would not meet construction standards for the state highway. He suggested if Anoka, Ramsey and St. Francis were all involved they may have more political force to get something done. Mayor Gamec indicated Ramsey has extra land almost all the way up to their border for widening the road Anoka Mayor Skogquist inquired what the concern is regarding Highway 116. Assistant Public Works Director Olson explained further to the east the road is two lanes in each direction, however, it then goes down to one lane. With development pressure further to the west it will be changed to two lanes in each direction. The City of Ramsey is concerned about the bottleneck, and there will be an issue in the future where it affects Anoka on the western portion of their City. He indicated the study on this highway has been completed and will be brought before the Council at the next Council meeting for adoption. It will also need to be adopted by the county. Anoka Councilmember Freeburg stated it will be very expensive to complete the needed improvements on Highway 47, and it will require major land acquisitions. He questioned why the county has not widened any of the roads when doing improvements and stressed the need to look into the future, and to work on this regionally. Councilmember Elvig stated to look at this as a simple equation or quick fix would be an error on their part, and they need to get together on this issue. City Council/March 8, 2004 Page 3 of 6