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<br />, <br /> <br />. When this shopping center was approved by the Ramsey City Council on <br />April 24, 2001, the City's plans included having a median opening where the <br />Sunfish Lake Blvd. left turn access is located. A backage road is to be <br />constructed between Sunfish Lake Blvd. and Ramsey Blvd., south of the <br />railroad tracks. The median opening on Sunfish Lake Blvd. is to provide <br />access to this backage road. When I brought this up at the 4/19th <br />informational meeting, I was told the County Highway engineers did not <br />know anything about this backage road. In talking to a City staff member, <br />he indicated that the City continues to plan for this backage road to pick up <br />the access from the various properties along the north side of Highway 10 <br />that now have their only access to Highway 10. One cannot have a major <br />roadway like this planned without some way to get on to the roadway. <br />The first we heard that Anoka County was considering a median closing <br />off the left turn access to Sunfish Commons was the fall of2002 when the <br />Shell station was being reviewed. Our shopping center was approved in <br />April of2001 with our first tenants opening for business in late fall of200L <br />Anoka County's engineers apparently were on-board with our plans in 2001 <br />since they did not object to the access plan as submitted by the City to them <br />.in the spring of2001. MnDot did comment on the plan and requested that <br />one of the shopping centers two drives to Highway lObe eliminated, which <br />we did. In 2002, with the Shell station review, Anoka County indicated that <br />" .. . the future section of CSAH 57 will likely include the construction of <br />raised median canalization. . ." The County had not brought this up during <br />the review of the shopping center 1 ~ years earlier. <br />I must request that the recons,truction plans continue to include the left <br />turn access at the north end of the Sunfish Gommons Shopping Center, <br />which will also serve the City's planned backage road. It may take some <br />design work that is unique to this situation, but such design work can be <br />accomplished. Sunfish Lake Blvd. does not carry an extreme amount of <br />traffic, even at peak times and has had a very limited accident history at the <br />Sunfish Commons access point. There are so many other situations in the <br />metro area where there is more traffic, more congestion and yet access to <br />abutting properties is provided. We are all doing a disservice to the area if <br />we do not prepare the best engineered plans possible to provide left turn <br />access into Sunfish Commons. <br />It turns out that this whole Sunfish Lake Blvd. reconstruction plan for that <br />area south of the railroad tracks will just be a temporary thing. The State <br />plans to purchase and remove Sunfish Commons in the future with the <br />realignment of Highway 10. Thus, any road improvement on Sunfish Lake <br />Blvd. south of the tracks should not be looked at as a permanent plan that <br />has to meet all design standards into perpetuity. The shopping center will be <br />condemned and removed before the highway design standard criteria ever <br />kicks in. requiring all the severe access restrictions. <br /> <br />R.~e~ct!llI.J ly Submitted, <br />C~C'0~ <br />Alan J. Hamel <br />