LAKE ELMO - While parents and school officials know there is little they can do to reduce traffic in near Lake Elmo Elementary, they hope a few new flashing signs will remind the roughly 20,000 drivers who pass by each day to slow down and look for pedestrians when they do.

3M Co. agreed to donate a $6,100 sign that will show drivers approaching the school from the west how fast they are moving relative to the 40 mph speed limit, and on Monday night the Lake Elmo City Council approved spending up to $6,000 to install it. The dynamic speed sign will be the city's third; similar ones exist on Inwood and Lake Elmo avenues.

"I know some people wonder if those signs really work," Councilwoman Liz Johnson said. "Well I live on Lake Elmo Avenue and I can tell you they really work: people are hitting their brakes when they see the sign there."

The installation of the dynamic speed sign and a new flashing school zone light on Lake Elmo Avenue were the first of several recommendations made by a group of concerned parents and public officials that began meeting in October to discuss ways to make the intersection of Highway 5 and Lake Elmo Avenue safer for those going to and from Lake Elmo Elementary.

Representatives from the group addressed the city council Monday night, laying out a number of other short-term strategies, including:

• stepping up speed limit enforcement efforts;



• having county deputies assist with traffic control for special events, such as class field trips into town;



• painting "school ahead" messages on Lake Elmo Avenue, also known as County Highway 17;



• periodically placing electronic message signs by the side of the road to remind drivers to slow down.

In the future, the group plans to look at changing the Highway 5 pedestrian crossing, cutting down dead trees to make the school more visible and reconfiguring the school's traffic flow so the line of cars waiting for pick-ups and drop-offs don't back up on to the state highway.

Following the presentation, city council members took turns praising the suggestions and the work of the committee, which includes representatives from Washington County, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Lake Elmo Elementary, the city of Lake Elmo and the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

In a city where mundane discussions often turn contentious, the group was an example of how government is supposed to work, they said.

"This is wonderful, to have this holistic approach and to have all these people at the table, so I commend the group," Johnson said. "This is what is needed to resolve many of the issues in our community."

Mayor Dean Johnston agreed.

"This is how government is supposed to work. It's just an excellent example of how cooperation gets results," he said.

In the coming months, the working group will use a $20,000 MnDOT grant to develop a Safe Routes to School plan and Lake Elmo school officials will try to get a recommended parking lot reconfiguration included in District 834's five-year capital improvement plan. The group will meet again in April to review its progress and decide how to proceed.

Development scenarios

The Lake Elmo City Council gave an advisory panel working on the city's Alternative Urban Area-wide Review (AUAR) seven development scenarios to consider for inclusion in the comprehensive environmental analysis.

Though the body was invited to add or delete scenarios, council members said they would be uncomfortable making any such decisions before they get feedback from the advisory panel and the general public at a handful of February meetings. The most significant of those will be a public open house at Oak-Land Junior High School the evening of Feb. 28.

The AUAR can be thought of as a single environmental impact study for the entire village area, and the resulting document will guide city officials as they prepare for future downtown development.

Currently, the seven scenarios under consideration include a downtown with 600, 905, and 1,600 housing units, along with variations that would add a regional medical center to each of them. (Lakeview Health is currently exploring the possibility of building a new facility at the corner of Highway 5 and Manning Avenue.)

Bonestroo & Associates planner Ciara Schlichting told the council every additional development scenario would add $11,720 to the $219,250 her firm had previously said the AUAR would cost. Lake Elmo City Administrator Susan Hoyt said Lakeview representatives have agreed to pay for scenarios that include their facility.

"Nothing's happened, and nothing will happen until we have public input," Johnston said before calling a vote on the matter. "Fortunately, we've got time for that."

In other business, the council...

• allowed city engineers to meet with representatives from the Fields of St. Croix homeowners association to discuss the possibility of linking the development's on-site wastewater system with the city's sanitary sewer after it reaches the northern edge of the downtown area.



• updated both ordinary high water mark and flood plain levels to match those provided by the state Department of Natural Resources and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The change generally lowered both, slightly increasing the size of many lakefront parcels and reducing the number of homes that mortgage lenders would require to carry flood insurance.