The Roads Committee of the City Council has been working
towards road maintenance and improvements within the City of Breezy Point. This year some maintenance efforts were
undertaken with a good deal of seal coating being accomplished. This was done jointly with the county
including our work under their bid. Seal
coating involves the rejuvenation of the asphalt with a thin layer of
asphalt/oil mix, covering it with an application of rock, and in this situation
a fog seal that holds the materials in place.
This prolongs the life of the asphalt and is used only when the pavement
will benefit from the application.
Streets that have alligator cracking or are crumbling will not benefit
from this treatment.
The other project that was undertaken was the mill and
overlay of Breezy Point Drive. This was
done from the gates to the parking lot area of the resort. This roadway receives heavy use and had been
overlaid once so pavement thickness was adequate to do a 2 inch mill and
resulting overlay.
For 2015 the city is interested in trying to complete a
couple of asphalt paving projects in addition to continuing to do seal
coating. The city council looked at
three roads to consider for paving however the budget does not allow for all to
be completed. A feasibility study was
ordered in October and reviewed by Council at the November meeting. The study looked at Snowman Circle, Shady
Trail, and Rainer Drive. Rainer Drive
and Shady Trail are both shown in the Comprehensive Plan for sanitary sewer
extensions. Sewer isn’t practical for
these roadways at this time.
The costs for these improvements are proposed to be assessed
to the benefiting property owners.
Accomplishing an assessment involves a process to be used as dictated
under Minnesota Statutes 429. Accomplishing
all the steps takes about five to six months at a minimum. In some situations
it can take up to a year. It is a
formalized process that needs to be undertaken to meet statutory
requirements. The process can be halted
at any time which results in the improvements being abandoned.
The council determined that we would move forward with
Snowman Circle and the west half of Shady Drive for paving projects for
2015. An open house has been scheduled
for November 20th from 6:00 to 7:00 pm to address questions
concerning the project. A Public
Improvement Hearing has been scheduled for December 15th at 7:00 pm.
At that point the city will make a decision as to whether or not to move
the project forward.
