02-11-2002 CC MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council M_mutes February 11, 2002 Council Meeting. Michele indicated that she .thought that staff and the Task Force had reached an agreement that contained 5 items of recommendation to t~e City Council. Page 3 Nfichele reviewed the five items: 1. Remove the Waco Street/Mississippi road/Joplin Street loop. 2. Remove the 193,d Avenue link, thereby removing the Highland Street segment. Establish a moratorium prohibiting snowmobiling south of County Road 33 except on the noted trail segments on the amended map, on property you own, and on property for which you have written permission in your possession to ride Require riders to trailer their sleds to the noted trailheads in order to access the trails. 5. Adopt the amended map. Michele noted that the River City Snow Riders have now indicated that they oppose items 2 and 3 of the recommendations. Michele McPherson noted that the e,,dsting ordinance is very clear as to where snowmobilers can ride. She showed pictures of recent snowmobile tracks of snowmobilers who neglected to ride on designated trails and that were riding on private property. Michele indicated that staff is recommending a stricter ordinance and a moratorium on snowmobiling south of County Road 33. She noted that the moratorium would allow staff time to rewrite the ordinance to severely limit the use of snowmobiles within the urbanized part of the. City. Gregg Strommen, Trail coordinator for River City Snowriders indicated that the River City Snowriders have spent much time identifying alternatives for trail corridor connections. He requested time to identify the issues and work them out one at a time. Mr. Strommen suggested closing 193~d trail during peak school hours when children are on the trail with signage that would allow the police force to monitor the trail. He suggested slowing the speed on the trail to 10 mph. Mr. Strommen indicated that County Road 30 did not work as planned and suggested closing the loop but keeping Joplin open. He noted that there are many members of the Club and other snowmobilers who are obeying the rules and suggested raising the fines for violators. Lori Collins, member of River City Snowriders and a citizen of Elk River indicate that signs have been up, but some riders are ignoring the signs. She suggested posting a map and rules on the trails. She noted that the Snowriders would like to keep the trails through town. Councilmember Kuester questioned how the snowmobiles are identified and the guidelines for licensing. Gregg Strommen stated that the DNR sets the standards on size and placement of license. Todd Bouma, Elk River resident, stated that snowmobiles are designed for use in the open country and not made for downtown locations. Mx. Bouma talked about some snowmobile incidents he has seen since the last snowfall. He recommended .that the Council proceed with placing a moratorium on snowmobiles in the City. Mr. Bouma thanked the City Council and staff for the hours put into this issue.