Abby Nadeau
Staff Writer

For the first time this year the Forest Lake City Council visited the potential roundabouts coming to the Forest Lake streetscape.

Mayor Stev Stegner started the topic at Monday’s regular meeting by showing a silent clip of a blind person trying to walk through a crosswalk at a roundabout.

The room was silent as residents watched the person, with only a white cane, try to cross through a roundabout that had a high amount of traffic.

With two lanes going in and out of the roundabout some drivers saw the person and stopped, however, the driver in the other lane could not see the man and would continue through the crosswalk.

Other drivers would stop, get out of their vehicles, and walk the person across the crosswalk, stopping all traffic.

In one situation a large city bus had to block both lanes to allow the person through.

The video repeated the situation at the same spot with different drivers every time. Most drivers in the right hand lane stopped for the blind person, but the driver in the left hand lane almost always drove through the crosswalk.

The audience watched in silence and Stegner stated that the video, from the Washington State Highway Department, did not include sound.

He said that if you could hear the sound you would hear people honking at the blind person and the drivers that were stopping to help them.

Stegner then invited Clyde McCaskey, who is legally blind, to speak.

“My field of vision is seven degrees and I have no peripheral vision,” McCaskey said. “The disease tends to take some of your hearing away, which makes this type of situation a nightmare for me.”

McCaskey recounted some of his own struggles trying to cross US-61 and West Broadway. He said that motorists simply do not stop for a person in a crosswalk.

When council member Susan Young asked him if it was then a design problem or if it was a signal problem McCaskey said it was a “motorists obeying the law problem.”

Stegner added to McCaskey’s statement and said he is currently planning to present a video of crosswalks in Forest Lake, to which McCaskey replied, “you’re not going to like it.”

Stegner then brought up the community survey that was done last spring by the Forest Lake Community Association in which Stegner said 88 percent of residents did not wish to see roundabouts in Forest Lake.

“Do the voices of people not matter?” he asked.

Council member Judy Bull stated that the council has a “responsibility to the citizens for public safety.” Stegner replied, “that is why I have Clyde here.”

Young broke into the conversation and said that the “county has proposed roundabouts to move traffic safely and effectively so we stop killing people there.”

She went on to describe how West Broadway has the “rating as the most dangerous” road in Washington County.

“You try and weigh a not perfect situation with another not perfect situation and one that is cost effective, improve safety and one that will allow access to businesses,” Young said. “I cannot think of anything more frustrating.”

Young replied, “if you’re going to run a crosswalk in a roundabout, you’re going to run it at a wider intersection.”

Council member Greg Ochs spoke up and said “there are enforcement issues we are going to have to deal with.”

“We cannot say a crosswalk is a failure if it is not enforced,” Ochs said.

Washington County Commissioner Dennis Hegberg stood up and said that the design of the roundabouts is not finalized yet.

He went on to say that the pedestrian is more at risk by crossing four lanes at once than going two lanes, stopping in the median and then going the rest of the two lanes.

City Administrator Chip Robinson concluded the conversation that the County is tentatively scheduled to speak at the next council meeting on Monday, Feb. 26.

Performance bonds

During the council meeting Stegner brought up the idea of using performance bonds for the roundabouts.

In a later interview, Stegner said the performance bonds would be there to guarantee that the project will be done to the engineers specifications.

He added that if the project does not work the engineers are responsible for making adjustments or possibly returning the project to its original layout.

“I don’t think our community should be burdened with experimental traffic solutions that may not work,” Stegner said.

He used the example of a roundabout in Medford that, he said, put in a roundabout that did not work and the city tried to make adjustments but had run out of money.

No extension

Prior to the city council meeting, the council met in a closed session to discuss possibly extending the deadline the Affordable Housing Task Force has to make their recommendations.

During the regular city council meeting Robinson said that there would be no extension.

Later, Robinson said that the council didn’t “feel the need because the task force got done with their work.”

“They have made their recommendation,” Robinson said.

Some members of the task force had requested more time because they felt they needed more time with the documents given to them. However, the group was still able to make a recommendation to the planning commission last Thursday, Feb. 8.

Because the city decided against an extension, the task force’s recommendations will be heard during a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 14.

The recommendations will then be brought to the city council on Monday, Feb. 26. The recommendations will be circulated to all the cities and townships that border Forest Lake like Hugo, Wyoming, Scandia, May Township and Columbus.

Once those groups have seen the documents and made any comments, the recommendations will be sent to the Metropolitan Council for their approval.

Sports complex

The council shortly discussed the ice arena and fieldhouse complex agreement, but ultimately made no decision.

Robinson asked for all the council members to give him their comments about the agreement the city is planning to make with the project.

The topic is expected to return to the council at the next meeting on Monday, Feb. 26.

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