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Once again roads were the top issue at the Fall Lake Township meeting. This time to a full house, standing room only, with 58 citizens attending. A majority living on Sunset Road.
Neil Olson had asked to address the board. He asked what the township’s goals are for Sunset Road. All three supervisors said their goals were to maintain and improve all township roads within their budget.
Supervisor Eric Hart said the board does a road inspection of all township roads in the spring.
Supervisor Craig Seliskar said he drives road at least three time a month check on conditions.
Olson said he had spoken to Town of Morse about what their plan for roads. He was told they plan to eventually pave their roads.
Seliskar said that was not in the cards for Fall Lake roads. Hart said the township has about 20 miles of township roads that are spread out across a large area.
Olson said he has had his property since the 1990s and he wouldn’t have bought the property if he had known the road conditions would not be improved. He said the dust on the road is a safety issue. He said we need good Class 5 gravel or pave Sunset Road.
Hart said the board has contacted an engineer to look at Sunset Road to do a testing of the gravel, ditching, etc.
Olson said he has heard from the US Postal Service and FedEx that Fall Lake roads are the worst roads.
Moving on with township business before allowing more citizens to comment, transfer site attendant Dean Barrett welcomed all newbies in attendance. He encouraged them to read the signs at the site for proper placement of their recycling and garbage. Barrett also told everyone to buy bags at transfer site building. Brush can be brought to the transfer site pile, and in case of an overload, brush can be brought to the site on Ernie’s Road.
Gruba reported that the township qualified and will receive a Local Road Improvement Project grant for the Sunset Road new entrance in the amount of $427,000. The township was awarded the grant to address a safety issue turning off the Kawishiwi Trail onto Sunset Road.
The first section of Sunset Road has only a 33’ rightof- way (ROW), and the remaining portion has a 66’ ROW. The Fortier family has donated the land for the new entrance to have a 66’ ROW. This project will take place in 2025.
Hart said the township will have gravel put on Sunset Road.
Gary Roderick said a $1,000 fix to the problem of dust would be to put slow down signs on the road, rather than a new entrance.
Hart said that at the annual meeting, applying calcium chloride on Sunset Road was approved for 2025, but we will put chloride on the road this year after gravel and grading has been done.
Seliskar said he spoke to Lake County about getting the chloride from them. The price would be about $9,000 for three miles of road at fifteen feet wide. The board will look at other sources of gravel, and Gruba said the sod needs to be removed from the edge of the road, along with a crown when graded.
Clerk Cheri DeBeltz reported there is no record with Lake County of a 300-foot road vacation on the Power Dam Road. She will contact an attorney to get the 300 feet vacated and recorded. She will have quotes for the next meeting.
Regarding Locust Road, the township is not required to build a road within a plat. The landowner would have to get a permit and survey the land to make sure the road is where it is to be.
The purchase of the Warren Johnson property was tabled to a later date. Hart said he spoke to Dave Johnson who has property adjoining his brother’s property, but he isn’t interested in selling it.
The board will have to obtain a cost of purchasing the Minnesota Trust Land property that the parking lot is on.
The board received three bids for work to be done on the Cloquet Line, but tabled until all quotes addressed the same treatment application. They will check with an engineer as to what can be put on the 1,200-foot section of the road. In the meantime, gravel and grading will be done on the Cloquet Line.
Additionally, the USDA has been contacted to control the beaver issue on the Cloquet Line and on Sunset Road. The beavers will be trapped, and the beaver houses and dams removed.
At the end of the meeting the floor was open to the citizens present, and each who wanted to talk was given three minutes. There wasn’t much difference in what was being said by the several dozen who spoke.
Most stated comments were that Sunset Road has a safety and health issue with the dust. People are not able to walk on the road because of the dust. Many spoke of near accidents due to people driving too fast causing dust clouds. An individual put up 20 mph signs on the road, which are not legal road signs. Some said there were muddy areas as well as dealing with dust. Many asked about getting a better grade of Class 5.
Phil Hegfors said the Ely area has the worst gravel. All the three sources in the area have the same gravel that is mixed with slit.
To haul a better grade of gravel would be very costly as it would come from Two Harbors.
