Cliff Buchan
News Editor

No matter how you cut it, a downtown Forest Lake roundabout at Broadway and Lake Street will eliminate street parking.

But just how much will be lost is yet to be determined, the Broadway Business Task Force learned Monday morning.

A joint city-county planning group reported to the task force this week on the four parking options for the downtown roundabout and a fifth option for a new signal light at Lake and Broadway.

The two-lane circular intersection will claim current parking spaces along Lake St. (US-61) to the north and south, plus spaces along E. Broadway Ave. leading to Lakeside Park.

The parking assessment was completed, engineers Tim Chalupnik and Mike Rogers said, in response to concerns raised at the task force meeting on Oct. 26.

The four options for the roundabout would see the current total of 89 parking spaces to a total of 73 to 66 spaces.

If a new signal system would be built, the engineers said the number of parking spaces would go from 89 to 39. That would be necessary, the officials said, to accommodate four lanes of traffic north and south on US-61 and two left turn lanes for east bound W. Broadway traffic wishing to go north on US-61.

Rogers, the project manager for the county, said the intersection is a magnet for crashes now and will get worse as traffic flow increases.

ìWe know there is a problem at that intersection,î Rogers said. ìItís not as bad as 12th Street, but itís going to get worse. We know we have to fix it.î

Concerns raised

Mondayís report was an opportunity for the project planners to collect input from the business owners and representatives. The Forest Lake City Council is scheduled to take action on Monday, Dec. 11 to approve a plan of choice for county board action.

That would set the stage for the county to begin formal design of how the redesigned intersection will look and its full impact on parking. Chalupnik said the concerns raised Monday would be heavily factored for the report to the city council next Monday.

And there were concerns from some in the downtown and others who have businesses to the west along Broadway.

The most vocal downtown critic was John Lewis, who owns the Country Home Bakery & Deli property in Town Square. He objected to any elimination of street parking on US-61 and the uncertainty of how product deliveries will be made to the bakery. Trucks now park on US-61 for deliveries.

Lewis said eliminating the quick in-and-out customers who park on the street would have a negative impact on the bakery business.

Gary Kerkow, who owns the Ameriprise Building that would be purchased and removed to provide intersection land for the roundabout, questioned the process and the logic of the planning process when acquisition dollars are yet to be determined.

Kerkowís building and the now empty gas station to the south would both be removed.

Looking at the options discussed, Kerkow called them ìfatal alternativesî and said planners were not doing their homework. He also questioned if the planners were truly listening.

ìIs it input or are we being patronized?î he asked.

BP owner Mark Fuhr was also critical of planners for not looking for other options that would not hit businesses so hard. ìYou guys still donít listen sometimes,î Fuhr said.

Not all of the 20 business representatives at Mondayís meeting were critical.

Kurt Kiel of Burger King said the task force has been meeting for well over two years and business issues have been taken into consideration.

ìWeíve been working on this a couple of years now,î Kiel said. ìI would ask you to be patient,î he said to those who are now questioning the process and the effort.

Overpass study

Planners are presented an update on the 11th Avenue Overpass study that was ordered earlier this year as the preliminary step in securing federal funding. City Administrator Chip Robinson said CR-83 overpass of I-35 would involved three to four lanes that would provide a needed second freeway crossing and ease some Broadway traffic pressure.

But the overpass wonít be built for eight to 10 years, he said. A new design includes a curved bridge needed to avoid conflicts with the I-35 Rest Area. The bridge would cost in the area of $18 million with total project costs in the area of $24 million, he said.

As part of a phased project, SW 15th Street would be improved first to make it a major north-south connection road, replacing SW 12th Street which carries the bulk of the traffic today, but is too narrow for a future use.

Planners are also exploring a possible expansion of Eureka Avenue (the freeway frontage road) to the north parallel with I-35 as a second local phase.

Planners said the south end connection with TH-97 in Columbus could also be the subject for an intersection redesign to improve flow to I-35.

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Forest Lake Times
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Forest Lake, MN 55025
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