6.1. SR 02-11-2002Item # 6.1.
City
MEMORANDUM
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Mayor and City Co~i~ ~nci~l
~,
Michele McPhersob;V, Director of Planning
February I I, 2002
Snowmobile Trail Changes
Attachments
E-mail from Greg Strommen, River City Snow Riders
· E-mail from City Resident (asked to remain anonymous)
· Revised Snowmobile Trail Map
Back~round
At the January 22, 2002 City Council meeting, the Council directed staff to work with
residents and the snowmobile club on resolving the issue of snowmobiles on 193ra Avenue
and Mississippi Road.
Analysis
The Snowmobile Task Force met on Monday, January 28th tO review the comments and
issues that had been raised at the January 22nd Cky Council meeting. Those present included
Dave Anderson, representing the Elk River Park and Recreation Commission; Dawn Hork
and Todd Bouma, Elk River residents; Laurie Collins, Greg Strommen and Steve Rief,
representing the River City Snow Riders. Staff present included Michele McPherson,
Director of Planning.
The Task Force met for 1-¥~ hours to discuss options and solutions to the issues raised by
the residents and Council. Ensuring the safety of both the public and the snowmobilers, as
well as preserving the right to snowmobile within the City limits was agreed to as a goal of
the Task Force. The easiest item to resolve was the Mississippi Road loop, as the intent of
that loop was to allow residents a means to get to the Highway 10 corridor, not welcome
snowmobilers from outside the City into the neighborhoods.
The 193ra Avenue link was more difficult to resolve, as it provides a connection from the
Highway 10 corridor to 169. This was not the original preferred route. The preferred route
is along the railroad tracks from Proctor to Lions Park over to Jackson Avenue and along
Memo to Mayor and Council/Snowmobile Trail Map
February 11, 2002
Page 2
Jackson Avenue to 197th Avenue. This link is not possible without permission from either
the Railroad or Mr. Babinski (owner of the abandoned home on the east side of Proctor),
neither has given permission to allow snowmobiles on their property.
By the end of the meeting, the Task Force agreed to submit the following to the City
Council for consideration:
Remove the Waco Street/Mississippi Road/Joplin Street loop.
Remove the 193rd Avenue link, thereby removing the Highland Street segment.
Establish a moratorium prohibiting snowmobiling south of County Road 33
except on the noted trail segments on the amended map, on property you own,
and on property for which you have written permission in your possession to
ride. While the Statute allows riding in the ditches of State and County roads, the
same Statute allows cities to enact and enforce stricter rules. County Road 33
was chosen as it is a clearly definable and locatable item in the landscape.
Require riders to trailer their sleds to the noted trailheads in order to access the
trails.
Adopt the amended map.
On February 7, 2002, staff received the attached e-mail from the River City Snow Riders
regarding the above recommendation. They oppose items #2 and #3 above. They would
like to limit the use of 193rd Avenue to specific times, and feel that there has not been
enough snow nor enough time to enforce the recently adopted ordinance. They are in
agreement with #1 above, but would like to leave the Joplin Street segment, with signage to
the north only; this would allow access from the neighborhood to Highway 10.
Recommendation
The current ordinance language was to have clearly delineated where snowmobiles could
travel within the City limits (on trails and within the curb line of City streets). While there
has not been much snow this year, the behavior of a few leads staff to believe that an even
stricter ordinance is required. In order to protect the safety of residents and snowmobilers,
staff recommends the following:
Immediate closure of the trail segments on Mississippi Road and 193ra Avenue.
As a result of this, snowmobile traffic cannot travel further east on Highway 10
than Lake Orono. They will also be limited to the Highway 169 corridor. Staff
has amended the map with the recommended trail corridors and trail heads on
them.
Implementation of a moratorium on snowmobiling south of County Road 33
except on property you own or property for which you have written permission.
The moratorium will allow staff time to rewrite the ordinance to severely limit
the use of snowmobiles within the urbanized part of the City.
The above actions will move most snowmobiling activity to Big Lake Township, County
Road 33 and north, and to Burns Township.
S:\PLANNING\MICHMC\PARKNREC\Snowmobiling\2-1 lccMemo.doc
Mcpherson, Michele
From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Strommen, Greg (MN14) [Greg. Strommen@honeywell.com]
Thursday, February 07, 2002 3:33 PM
Michele McPherson
Strommen, Greg
Please forward Snowmobile club comments
Michele-
First off, sorry about the spelling error.
to
notice only one L in Michele. Anyway.
It took me until right now
The club representatives met last night. Here is our position.
1. 193rd- We would like to try posting the trail as closed from the
hours
of 7-gam, and 2-5pm. This would eliminate any snowmobile traffic when
those
few kids might be on the trail. This would provide a time period for
Law
enforcement to sit there and patrol also.
2. Cnty 30. With the exception of Joplin, eliminate the trail. Our
plan
is to only sign going to the North. This would allow the residential
area
there a path to get out. On the southbound path we would put up Local
access only signs as was brought up in a past meeting with the
committee.
3. No snowmobiling moratorium. Are not in support of that at this
time.
We have not had a full year to test any items that we put into place
already. (with the exception of 30 and 193rd).
Please forward any comment and the memo for the council meeting to my
home
email as well. We will be present to go into more details if required.
I
am not sure what is going to happen at the meeting. My question is if a
decision was to be made that night? Or do we get to work this out?
Thanks
Greg Strommen
Mcpherson, Michele
aent:
To:
Subject:
Friday, February 08, 2002 10:43 AM
'mmcpherson@ci.elk-river. mn. us'
snowmobiles-bike path
> Michelle,
> I spoke with the City of ER and with John Kuester regarding my concern
of
> snowmobiles operating on designated pedestrian bike paths. John
suggested
> I send you an e-mail. I had noticed the uncleared paths and the
> snowmobile tracks, however I did not realize this was an intention of
the
> city until I read it in the paper. I thought that is was a budget cut
to
> not be clearing these paths. I have serious safety concerns for those
who
> use the bike paths as pedestrians. I live in Country Crossings 1 and
have
> had many frustrating experiences over the past 6 years with
snowmobilers
> using the bike path. I have had them in my yard, up on the berm by my
> pine trees. That is why I planted a hedge. In an attempt one year to
> stop a woman using her snowmobile on the bike path at the edge of my
yard
> to inform her it was for pedestrians, I was almost run down. Had I
not
- jumped out of the way, I would have been. I have neighbors who ride
_heir
> snowmobiles in their yards, one neighbor drove over and broke a lilac,
he
> laughed when I said something saying he was going to fast and lost
> control, my kids play in my yard! I tell my children to "stay on the
> bike path, don't go in the street", now I tell them, "no, you can't go
for
> a walk on the bike path, walk around the block on the street". What
was
> the initial intention of these paths? Why do some snowmobile owners
feel
> they have the right to disrespect others in the community? I realize
that
> there are snowmobilers who follow the rules and regulations set forth
by
> the city. They trailer their vehicles and untrailer them at
designated
> areas. With recent deaths involving snowmobiles in undesignated
areas, I
> was shocked to learn the city of Elk River has allowed the use of our
bike
> paths for snowmobiles. Please give consideration to those of us in
the
> community who do not want our children's safety impacted by those who
use
> snowmobiles in our city. Please do not publish/provide this to others
this
> with my personal information, as I do not want a snowmobile driven
%hrough
> my yard by an outraged snowmobiler.
>
>
>
>
SNOWMOBILE
TRAIL
MAP
% .~ ,o~ ~
~co~ R Green Company
PENDING TRAIL
APPROVED TRAIL
APPROVED TRAILHEAD "~
{ I I I I