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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979 09-26 Truck traffic proves finall downfall of office-warehouse PUD THE REVIEW ► ruck traffic p roves ,.final down fall of ..„, ,®f ficewwar shouse PUD By MELANIE WAAGE AT A PAST council meeting, so many Large the subject of most residents appeared at the public hearing, "�1 of the trucks were to an office-serviceet two hours of discussion settled nothing,so commercial project planned for the tes council asked. the developerstand northwest corner of Roselawn Avenue residents to get together to discuss and I-35E. Semi-trucks, delivery trucks, foundproblemh.At that nts meeting,the four major speeding on Roselawn Avenue, addingto nthe residents had major the noise pollution and possibly creatingconcerns. traffic hazards made most of the "Sewer service, drainage, noise and traffic the area very nsofus ande access were the major concerns of the leary of the project. The possibilityc of citizensuncil. and engineers," Fourre told the trucks coming to and from the pr ject The was its final downfall. public works department had advised the developers that sanitary AFTER A considerable amount of sewer service to their project would result citizen resistance, meetings with the Maplewood planning commission and two in an oipe verloaded uohdition on the mere separate public hearings, the Maplewood prunning south. The aevelopers city council turned down a special use planned on-site sewage disposal. permit for the planned unit development The Department of Transportation had for denial was the Pair(,based the ponding area at the nor- (PUD). Their basis s wideoenough for the thwest corner of I-35E and Roselawn. At sizeroad accessexpected ofo the the time of the'purchase, they agreed the Thetrucks consisted into thebuildings,prof owner could construct a public or private which wouproposalld consisted intooffive40 individual roadway over the westerly portion of the offices or service commercial units, ponding area. The department also Servicees vcal refers to small constructed a berm along the roadway assembl t and advised the council drainage was Y YPe operations.These would be sufficient. available for rent. John Daubney, lawyer for the owners, RESIDENTS WERE concerned with an told the council at the Sept. 13 meeting, increasecksin the noise level from semi- told the owners,Dan Fourre,James Voigt antrucks and delivery trucks. The Robert Reding, have attempted towork developers claimed few trucks would be with the residents and city officials as 'nand out of the poject, but hang andst much as possible in planning their conducted by Twin City Testing much He said when in residents asked the Engineering Laboratory as to the present access road to be moved from the east to noise level. The the survey of the noise west,west, they did so. And when the recorded during survey was found due thedepartment advised wthen the to the traffic on surrounding highways. engineeringwer systemdwas dvithe Fourre said the development would not developers decidedwto overloaded,providd on-sitehincrease the noise level,but$10,000 would be placed in escrow for placing sound sewer disposal system. barriers between the homes and the i project, if the noise level increased after the project was in operation. The Ramsey County Engineers Department reported to the developers that Roselawn Avenue was originally built of a grade and materials for heavier traffic and would withstand heavier traffic. Also, Voigt and Fourre, architects themselves, drew up a blueprint to demonstrate how a semi-truck could turn off Roselawn into the 33-foot wide access, using only 25 feet of the space. He said traffic would not be heavy into the project,so it wouldn't matter if the semi- trucks took up excess space when turning. But even with all the meetings, and plans and changes, the final plan was not quite enough for some of the council members. Councilman Burt Murdock told the developers he thought they had a good project and appreciated all the changes that had been made, but he could not approve the project based on the limited access space for semi-trucks entering and leaving the facility. DAUBNEY argued that not many semi- trucks would be driving into the project since it would be limited commercial. "But that is not a good argument," Murdock said."You have to proceed with the procedure as if the (semi-truck) accessibility would be necessary. This (access plan) is not adequate." Councilman Earl Nelson moved ap- proval of the project. His move died for lack of a second. Murdock's motion to deny the PUD passed 4-1, with Earl Nelson casting the dissenting vote.