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<br />industrial business park market has changed and become very active. It is, therefore, <br />appropriate that the City review the results of those studies to see if they are still valid <br />and whether the proposed plan meets current requirements. There have also been <br />changes to the State/Federal laws which would apply to wetlands and interchange <br />locations which make it nearly impossible to construct Twin Lakes Parkway at the <br />location called for in the original plan. In the spring of 1996, the consultant firm of BRW <br />was hired by the City to review the 1988 plan and make recommendations concerning <br />the appropriate roadway alignment, excess right-of-way that should be vacated, and the <br />design of Twin Lakes Parkway, and to resolve associated utility issues. <br /> <br />The City Council has received a copy of the report recently completed by BRW. The <br />report recommends that the location of Twin Lakes Parkway, west of Fairview Avenue <br />be changed to line up with the existing 35W ramps. These recommendations follow <br />numerous discussions with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Minnesota <br />Department of Natural Resources, the Rice Creek Watershed District, and others <br />concerning the ability of the City to relocate the existing interchange further north <br />through the existing DNR protected wetland. Based on those discussions, BRWand <br />City staff determined that the ability to move that interchange to line up with the <br />proposed location of Twin Lakes Parkway would be nearly impossible because of new <br />State wetland protection laws. The proposal would also result in a design which does <br />not meet Federal transportation standards. The City would also have to bear a majority <br />of the cost for the interchange relocation. <br /> <br />The new alignment would require the City to purchase all of the Cummins Diesel and <br />Metro Paper/Weyerhauser site, and portions of the Extra Leasing, Indianhead, Hyman <br />Freightway, and Twin Lakes Corporate Center land. <br /> <br />The strategy here is to use City TIF, State Aid road funds and road improvement <br />assessments to acquire and improve the Industrial Business Park roads and property <br />access rather than donating funds to MnDOT to correct their road ramps. <br /> <br />The Study will request MnDOT to improve the existing ramp by correcting the "decision <br />point - County Road C east or west" and expanding the capacity of the ramp at MnDOT <br />expense. <br /> <br />BRW also studied and made recommendations concerning construction of utilities <br />including sanitary sewer and water, as well as regional storm water holding facilities. <br />The report proposes that a major new regional storm water facility be constructed on <br />the north side of the DNR protected wetland on MnDOT property, including a small <br />portion of the south part of the Centre Pointe project site. <br /> <br />Finally, BRW reviewed the actual design of the road right-of-way and has <br />recommended that the right-of-way be limited to 90 feet in width and that other parallel <br /> <br />3 <br />