Star Tribune Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:43:36 GMT
Apple Valley: Cedar Avenue plan garners serious opposition
More than 20 Apple Valley business owners say the proposed transit plans for the thoroughfare could prove lethal to commerce. Leading figures in the business community along Cedar Avenue pleaded Wednesday with top city officials in Apple Valley to head off a disaster when it comes to plans for that congested corridor. "This plan will shut down our center," said Shelli Krueth, property manager for a firm that owns a strip mall near the intersection with County Rd. 42. "Five of our seven leases are up next year, and our tenants will not renew if they lose access." "This street was never designed to be a freeway," said Jim Paul, owner of Valley Pontiac Buick GMC. "But they're trying to turn it into one." ... City Council Member Tom Goodwin said he perceives the scenarios prepared by county planners thus far as "staff driven," with an overemphasis on slowdowns that occur two to three hours per day, versus the needs of the remainder of the day. Traffic engineers have "one purpose in life," he said, "and that's to move traffic as quick as possible." Spikes in transportation funding, including the quarter-cent sales tax that will apply in much of the metro, have pushed forward projects that planners didn't think would happen for many years, heightening tensions, he said. "Suddenly," Goodwin said, "you have many millions in play that no one had ever heard of till two or three months ago."
[[keywords: LandUse;PublicWorks;Metro;]]
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