2005-01-12 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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. RECEIVED .;--1"\ r; - I".:',~ L:L.~L t. ( ;"",,>J~l To whom it may concern, I am writing this letter in regards to the new development plan and/or reconstruction plan currently in progress for CR 14. After attending the past few meeting held by the county(s) and listening to both, residents and engineers, I have come to a conclusion on the new plan. This new development/construction has been poorly thought out and I can explain why. Because the number of new town homes are increasing in the Centerville, Lino Lakes and Hugo area, Anoka and Ramsey county have been put in a tough spot and are now faced with a serious problem. How to stop the current, negative impact these developments are having on traffic flow, while designing a plan to minimize congestion and create convenience for new residents. and possible future growth. However, this new plan has been pushed or is being pushed through the system, causing safety issues and other problems to possibly be over looked or never even considered. At the meeting's several residents and company owners had many complaints and questions, most of them involved safety of the children and the drivers, either walking or delivering in the . residential areas. The design shows that children would have to walk and/or cross high speed residential roads, either going to school or to various stores, while forcing delivery drivers to take alternative, unsafe routes on residential streets and exits in order to make their deliveries (the attached letter gives more detail on the new proposed routes and safety issues). Now the representatives at these meetings, the engineers and county members, tried to answer the questions fairly and honestly, but failed to make any realistic points and/or logic in their answers. ' One gentle (though I do not recall hisrniIhe) had no clue or idea where the stop signs were located on CR 14 and was unsUre of the posted speed limits, yet he is part of the support and developing team for this project. Does that make any sense to you? The other gentle was Doug Fisher, he basically gave everyone the run around, often blaming the responsibilities on other aspects or people involved in the design/development. Although, Doug did answer most of the questions asked, but his answers made no real sense. He claimed that the county could not drop the speed limit in residential areas, but claims residential safety was addressed. Was it before or after the design was drawn up? Maybe it wasn't considered until the residents complained, what do you think? Personally, I don't think anyone considered the safety factors involved in this new plan, regarding the safety of children. Honestly, do you think a child is going to walk a mile or more to cross the road at a street light or stop sign, while he/she walks to school, to a store or a friends house? Because that's what Doug seemed to think, but I don't. You know as well as I do, kids will take their chances running or riding a bike across the 45 mph. residential road if it meant getting to there destination faster, whether there is a median or not. Even if they did walk to an intersection, a child could still be in danger, considering the county is allowing legal u-turns at certain locations on CR 14 and both factors could cause serious injuries or even death. In my opinion, these factors were not consider prior to the new design and could become potential, serious hazards to residing residents, but hey what's a few injuries or death if it means increasing traffic flow and relieving congestion, right? Especially, when the engineers don't even live in the affected county's. I really feel that traffic control could be made possible by simply dropping the speed limit in the downtown, residential areas, while adding stop lights or stop signs to any and all available