5.4. SR 08-29-1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MN/DOT ROADSIDE LANDSCAPING PARTNERSHIPS r;:r. ~J) July 1, 1994 ~~~.....U''''''.i ~..'7$'~ ~~ The Community Roadside Landscaping Partnership Pro- gram is compet~ive to the extent that many desirable projects compete for available annual funding that may be insufficient to cover all the projects in any given year. In that case, desirable or approved projects may be deferred or downsized, . The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MN/DOT) is actively involved in roadside landscaping partnerships with communities. The Community Roadside Land- scaping Partnership Program offers technical and financial assistance to communities that want to install and maintain landscape plantings on eligible state highway rights of way. The partnership program goals include: - Roadside Beautification - Community Improvement - Environmental Stewardship Through partnerships, MNlDOT has fostered over $3 million dollars worth of roadside landscaping im- provements in communities while spending less than one third of that amount in Trunk Highway Funds. In the past few years, MN/DOT's landscape partnership projects have received 14 national or state awards for excellence. The following communities and organizations are among the partners responsible for this success: . Albert Lea Annandale Avon Bagley Battle Lake Big Falls Biwabik Cass Lake Cottonwood County Deer River Detro~ Lakes Eveleth Fairmont Freeport Gilbert Glyndon Goodhue Gran~e Falls Greater Lake Sylvia Assoc. Hamline University Hastings Hennepin County Hinckley Houston Hutchinson International Falls Jordan Kimball LaCrescent Lake City Lake Park Litchfield lillie Falls Luverne Maple Grove Maple Lake Mapleton Minneapolis Minnesota DNR Minnesota Green Mountain Iron Park Rapids Plymouth Proctor Ramsey Red Lake Falls Royalton Rush City Saint Paul Sandstone Soil Conservation Service Spring Valley Taylors Falls Thief River Falls Twin C~ies Tree Trust Virginia Wadena Walker Wheaton Windom Winona Wolverton . An application manual includes guidelines, criteria, a project application, example documents, and resources. MNlDOT's District and Metropolitan Division offices dedicate available trunk highway funds that can be used on approved projects to cover the cost of planting materials, Trees, shrubs, vines, perennial groundcovers, wildflowers, grasses, soil amendments, herbicides, edging, planters, tree grates, weed faoric, wood fiber blanket, mulch, rodent protection, staking and guying, and seedling shelters are considered planting materials eligible for Mn/DOT funding. The community or local government unit must install the landscape materials on MNlDOT right of way with volunteers, employees, service organizations, contractors, or a combination thereof...and must agree to maintain the improvements. For purposes of this program, communities are defined as counties. home rule charters, statutory cities or towns. Ineligible applicants will not be considered unless they are sponsored by a community or other unit of government capable of executing a binding coop- erative agreement with MNlDOT. Funds awarded under this program must be used for roadside landscap- ing located on state trunk highway rights of way with fee or easement title. Many areas of interstate freeways and high volume divided highways with controlled access are excluded from this program due to liability, safety, and access problems. Communities seeking approval to initiate a pro- posed landscape partnership project, with technical and design assistance from MNlDOT, must submit a written request to the appropriate MNlDOT District! Metro Division Engineer. Completed applications must include a MNlDOT approved landscape plan and they may be submitted for consideration at any time of the year. The plan may be prepared by a MNI DOT landscape architect or forester, as their schedules and workloads perm~, or by a community representative or consultant with MN/DOT guidance. Prioritization is given to applications submitted before September 1 st since this affords the preferred opportunity of completing planting bed preparations in the fall and planting the following spring. (continued on back)