11.2 6-7-17 Gateway Scandia Draft City Submission Form 2018 State Capital Investment Form (002)Draft June 7, 2017
2018 State Capital Investment Project Request Form
Submitting Agency: City of Scandia
Project Title: Gateway Trail Design --urban connection predesign and design for trail link in City of Scandia
Submitting Staff: Neil Soltis, City Administrator
Lead Staff: same
1. Project Rationale: Briefly describe the project including total cost. Note that the state usually requires local
government match equal to 50% of the cost. Why is this project needed?
The State has recently completed acquisition of the final linkage for connecting the Gateway State Trail from
Marine through William O'Brien State Park to Scandia. In Scandia, the State has proposed to utilize MnDOT
acquired easements for most of the connection to the Village Center. In the future, critical linkages toward
Forest Lake trails and toward Lindstrom and the Immigrant Trail are proposed. There has been no predesign or
design of this portion of the connection, and this urban design link has greater issues than rural portions of the
project. Scandia is the critical link between the Gateway and two trails to the Northwest (Immigrant Trail and
Hardwood Creek Trail, that will link the Gateway and Munger Trails to connect to Duluth. These funds would
allow the predesign and design of these easements to occur on an expedited schedule to assure this connection
is feasible.
Scandia with a population of less than 4000 is not in a position to pre -fund this work, justifying a state bond
grant to do the project design, which will ultimately benefit the State. This portion of the design is principally a
City concern and is better implemented at the City level.
The easement segment is illustrated in the attached maps.
2. Project Narrative: Describe the project in detail, including: scope, total cost, key funding sources, etc. For new
projects, identify the new square footage planned. For remodeling, renovation or expansion projects, identify the
total square footage of current facilities, the square footage to be renovated, and/or the new square footage to
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This proposal will result in the completion of predesign and design as well as impact assessment and mitigation
of the proposed trail segment. Elements of this work would include:
• Survey,
• Soil testing,
• Predesign,
• Public comment,
• Engineering and Design
This will result in the ability to extend the State's most popular bike trail an additional 1.8 miles from William
O'Brien State Park to Scandia, to complete the link from Marine to Scandia. Because of the small population of
Scandia, without this grant, physical evaluation, engineering and other predesign elements and design will not
occur for potentially a decade. This will accelerate the project implementation schedule by many years and,
more importantly, assure this is a feasible alignment for this State Trail. The City Engineer has estimated the
cost of the work to be $
Draft June 7, 2017
3. Other Considerations: Is there anything else that decision makers should know about this project?
Scandia will cooperate with DNR, Washington County and Chisago County and the Cities of Marine on St. Croix,
Lindstrom and Forest Lake in the predesign and design to assure coordination and connection. Multiple local
planning and community groups will also be engaged, including Friends of Scandia Parks and Trails, Gateway
Trail Association, Scandia Heritage and Gammelgarden Museum.
Scandia is currently one of the most popular on -road biking communities in the state due to 30.6 miles of
arterial with full shoulders.
Washington County in its 2010 Comprehensive Plan identified three routes as critical on -road connections for
cycling: Highway 97, Manning Avenue (County 15) and Olinda Trail (County 3). Scandia's Comprehensive Plan
also calls for an extensive network of trails. These on -road connections link via Scandia to multiple county and
state parks and other trails, including William O'Brien State Park, Big Marine Park Reserve and the Hardwood
Creek State Trail. See attachments.
4. Impact on Operating Budget: Identify any new or additional state operating dollars that will be requested for
this project.
None. This already has been identified as a designated State Trail. Development will be accelerated and the
design work will help identify potential issues well in advance of construction, potentially saving significant funds
if there are unforeseen issues.
5. Who will own the facility?
It is assumed that the project will be owned by the DNR easements across private property. The state
constitution requires the project to be publicly owned.
6. Who will operate the facility?
This is a State Trail and would be operated by the DNR.
7. Description of Private Entity Occupancy/Use:
Not applicable.
8. Public Purpose:
Assuring a proper design is critical to advancement of the Trail in the selected ROW alignment. Scandia is too
small to do this predesign and design on its own and seeks to assure that there will be no problems with
easement use through private property and city land by completion of predesign and design early in the process.
This work will also identify gaps or changes to maximize benefit and avoid unforeseen problems, such as soil or
drainage correction.
9. Description of Previous Appropriations:
None
10. Statutory Program Citation
Gateway Trail authority to DNR, MS Sec. , and ROW ownership and trail and road development by
City, MS Sec.