HomeMy WebLinkAbout1972 10-19 Maplewood Planner Calls Transit Guide "Chaotic" DISPATCH Maplewood PCalls
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By JIM BROEDE "The hearing notice is area's east side as an ex- shows Hwy. 212, again as now . Maplewood
Staff Writer o short that communi- ample. a freeway, extending finds that the Metro
Proposed. metro trans- ties cannot reasonably The Metro Council's through the village to St. Council proposal is con-
p o r t a t i o n guide plan survey, study, analyze transpoortation guide of Paul. trary to the plans of both
amendments are "chao- and prepare response of February, 1971, desig- But the Metro Council, Oakdale and Maplewood
tic and unclear," accord- any meaning," he stated. nates Hwy. 212 as a free- although given 60 days and no input or coordina-
ing to Maplewood plan- "The actual result is one way-expressway west of notice to attend-a public tive planning action has
ner Bailey Seida. of being overwhelmed Hwy.I-694. hearing on Maplewood's been advanced (by the
In a written memo to with the magnitude of But in a proposed plan, failed to appear or Metro Council) to the
Maplewood Manager Mi- the subject and ignoring amendment, the high- provide testimony mdi- communities."
chael Miller, Seida urges the whole issue." • way. becomes reclassi- eating the proposal was Seida said local offi-
the village to oppose the Seida, who has been an fied as less than a princi- out of line with metro cials are faced with ex-
proposals at a public outspoken critic of gov- pal arterial. guide plans, adopted or plaining to the public the
hearing Nov.9. ernment bureaucracy in "Various governments under consideration, Sei- embarrassing, apparent-
He also suggests that his seven years in Ma- relied on the (1971) da said. ly wasted cost of build-
the changes are being plewood, predicted that adopted metro transpor- "The only reasonable ing segments of Hwy. 212
speeded through by the some community offi- tation guide, installing conclusion was that such west of I-694 in Oakdale,
Metro Council in order to ,.dais will "throw up their improvements such as. (Hwy. 212) extension not plus the advance acquisi-
discourage intelligent lo- hands in . utter dis- extending Hwy. 212 west 'only should be planned, tion of right-of-way in
cal community response. gust with the entire (ap- of I-694 to the Washing- but that it is not out of Maplewood.
proval)process." t o n -R a m s e y County context with the Metro Seida goes on to advise
Metro Council action boundary," Seida noted. Council's . . . proposed
should be • delayed, he• "The State Highway De- plans," he added. "But Turn to Page 3,Col.4
said, atleast until ample partment secured right-
public explanation of the of-way for one-half mile
proposals, particularly west of its Century Ave-
as they affect local com- nue intersection into . . .
munities. Maplewood."
The effect, he ex- Meanwhile, neighbor-
plained, can be over- ing Oakdale's Planning
whelming in .some in- Commission adopted a
stances and completely comprehensive plan for
contrary to local plan- the extension of Hwy. 212
ping. as a freeway through the
He cited the apparent- community.
ly controversial future of And M a p I e w o o d 's
Hwy. 212 on the metro pending master plan also
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Planner • TransitCalls ,i,
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Continued from Page 1
s arterial network has an street, while traffic in-
adverse effect on the creases and the problem
the Metro Council to in- central city of St. Paul becomes more acute."
volve local communities •and that St. Paul will be- He went on to list an
from the start in plan- come, arterial-planning- example: the turnback
ning for roads, but espe- wise, one of those east- of Century Avenue from
cially before announcing ern .suburbs located to the state to the count
specific proposals or the east of Minneapolis the metro east side, Yon
scheduling public hear- . . . reached by the free-
ings. way system radiating "There was a lot of
• out of Minneapolis. Ques- foot-dazzling, but still no
"At best the only thing tions must be raised . . , improved arterial street
that can result (from the about the ability and de- system,"he said.
present procedure) is to sirability of having in-
create more devisive- creased traffic conges- Seida's concerns also
ness between local and tion in the Minneapolis touched on the Metro
metropolitan coordina- core area." Council's rapid mass
tion and planning," he transit proposal.
asserted, "which causes • The proposed metro "The
critical comments Plan states . that highp- performance ca-
rather than positive ones ways ering y nof actuit as ly a -
and streets should Bring transit as the alter-
besimply because pub- uniformly classified, ' native for the Maple-
lic input comes too late." then jurisdictional res- wood area (by 1977) is
The scheduled hearing, ponsibilities set, not realistic or practi-
technically, meets stateOncal "he said.
requirements, Seida con- g paper, that sounds
ceded. great, Seida observed. "Local codes encour-
'But the experience fac- 'age land use which
"But by proceeding torindicates thet s-• andmotes the encouages automobile its
without adequate infor- way and stroccurs games-
over any other mode of
mation, this (hearing) is manshiprnnt agencies.cAs • transportation," he said,
nothing more than going government As "and discourages mass
throughprocess for pros- a result, nothing happens or facil-
' ens' sake rather than for g to the improving of the transit corridorsities.
solution's sake,"he said.
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Seida said the focal
point of the metro princi-
pal arterial plan seems
to be Minneapolis and
particularly the Minne-
apolis central business
1 district.
"It is (my) fear- that
arterial improvement .
1 programs will trade off
the eastern metro area
for north, south and wes-
terly metro arterial de-
velopment programs,"
he said. "Moreover, it
concerns (me) that the
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