6.17. SR 05-17-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Howard R. Green Gompany March 17, 2004 File: 821880J-0240 Ms. Michele McPherson Director of Planning City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 RE: RICK HARRISON CONCEPT PLAN MISKE PROPERTY Dear Ms. McPherson: As you are aware, I have significant concerns about the Rick Harrison Conceptual Plan for development of the Miske property. My concerns revolve around two items: Safety and additional costs of operation and maintenance of the public infrastructure. As such, I have discussed my concerns and gathered information from other department heads and will attempt to quantify the various concerns in this correspondence. o The Fire Chief expressed significant concerns relative to the time required for emergency responses because of two issues. First, the difficulty in street naming and addresses and the ability of an emergency response vehicle to drive directly to that address; and secondly, with all of the curved streets in the development, the speed at which they can get to the middle of the development will be greatly reduced. There is estimated to be 721 units in this development. Generally, this type of development will generate from six to ten trips per unit. That means there will be between 4,500 and 7,000 vehicle trips throughout the development. Virtually all of the roads in the development are curvilinear. As drivers become more familiar with the street network in the neighborhood in which they live, they will tend to pick up speed, and as such, the curves tend to be straightened out by the driver. This means it will be difficult to keep vehicle traffic on their own side bf the roadway, especially on roadways that have lower volumes of traffic. With all of the curves in the development, many of the site distances required for safe vehicle travel are across the fronts of private property. These areas could easily be built up with trees, shrubs and other landscaping that will limit the site distance. The same is true relative to stopping distance at intersections. It will be virtually impossible for snow removal equipment to determine where the edge of the roadway is in large' snowfalls. With the setback of the houses all varying and the curves of the road, the snowplow driver will essentially be guessing where the edge of the curb is. This will likely lead to poor snow removal, or in the other case, removal of significant amounts of sod from the boulevard areas. Ltr-031704-McPherson.doc 2550 University Avenue West · Suite 400N · St. Paul, MN 55114 · 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389