NORTH SHORE SCENIC DRIVE COUNCIL

Transcription

1 NORTH SHORE SCENIC DRIVE COUNCIL September 12 th, 2014, 10:00am 12:00pm Tettegouche State Park Visitor Center The mission of the North Shore Scenic Drive Council is to cooperatively enhance the economic benefit of travel along Lake Superior s North Shore and improve the quality of the route, while preserving its cultural, social, and natural integrity. BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESENT: 1. Cheryl Erickson, Chair 2. Molly Thompson, Sugarloaf SNA 3. Bruce Martinson, Cook County Commissioner MEETING SUMMARY 4. Guy Lunz, MN DNR 5. John Bathke, North Shore resident 6. Anna Klobuchar, Visit Cook County OTHER ATTENDEES: 7. Mary Somnis, IRRRB 8. Andy Hubley, ARDC 9. Justin Otsea, ARDC Meeting Called to Order by Cheryl Erickson, Chair at: 10:03 a.m. Approval of July 18, 2014 meeting summary Motion to approve the July 18 th meeting summary: John; Second: Bruce; All were in favor; the motion carried. Committee Business HR 4926-Bill to Change North Shore Scenic Drive-All American Road to The James L. Oberstar National Scenic Byway Andy Hubley, Executive Director outlined the situation regarding HR 4296, a bill proposing the renaming of the North Shore Scenic Drive (MN 61) to the James L. Oberstar Scenic Byway which MnDOT had recently requested local feedback on, prior to submitting comments for the bill being voted on in a subcommittee at Washington D.C. next week. After explaining the situation, a motion was made to craft communication to submit to MnDOT during today s meeting: John: second:by Guy; the motion carried unanimously. Hubley continued to facilitate an extended conversation with meeting attendees to craft a collaborative, single response as a council. The council agreed to respond by explaining their overall admiration for Mr. Oberstar, and specifically what his lifelong work brought to the northeast Minnesota region, but described the importance the term North Shore Scenic Drive has for the region due to its historical, economical, and cultural importance NSSDC Mtg. Page 1 of 5

2 The council proposed alternative solutions to honoring Mr. Oberstar on the byway, and felt compelled to do so regardless of the conclusion of the proposed legislation. Once completed, the message was agreed upon, and sent to MnDOT to submit as part of their comments regarding the bill. ADA Plan / Corridor Management Plan Update- Planner, Justin Otsea, provided an outline of two trips he took the previous week with MnDOT District-1 Planning Director, Bryan Anderson. Each trip focused on meeting with stakeholders at the waysides designated as high priority at previous meetings to help provide context to the local commitment and vision of potential improvements along the byway. A summary of each meeting has been outlined below: Tofte Park- Met with multiple members of the community including town staff, local volunteers, and elected officials. Project scope would include accessibility improvements within site, local vision for new 3 season shelter, potentially with a new site, closer to parking for enhanced accessibility. Additionally, local Architects have expressed interest in contributing to the City s vision of the park. The site has been considered as a Gitchi-Gami Trail segment, so design could also incorporate potential siting within the Tofte Township, possibly incorporating another accessible wayside, and potentially act as a catalyst for spurring more construction of the trail. French River-Met with St. Louis County Engineer Steve Krasaway and MN DNR representation to discuss potential improvements to the site and any future plans currently in existence. MN DNR outlined their regular operations at the site, which include accessing the river with a pickup truck and bobcat at various times throughout the year. Accessibility improvements could enhance both the experience of the wayside for users of all levels of mobility, but also add to the ease of procedures by DNR annually. Steve was very optimistic in making improvements to the site as well, offering to provide surveying, if necessary, to help inform landscape architect work and assist in other ways possible regarding completing the design project in a timely manner. Burlington Bay- Met with interim City Administrator Patty Nordean and discussed a separate avenue for acquiring design project funds. After previous discussion with City Planning staff Josh Bergstad, staff felt that due to the complexity of the site, in addition to the timing of existing city leadership, that the Lake Superior Coastal Program Grant application may be a better option to provide the level of detail necessary for a site as expansive as Burlington. Patty agreed with the idea of pursuing separate funding, and would introduce it to the council at the next meeting. If open to the opportunity, she would extend invitation for ARDC staff to discuss the opportunity further prior to moving forward with a grant application. After some discussion, Council recommended following up to insure local commitment to seeing project through to completion prior to supporting a grant application NSSDC Mtg. Page 2 of 5

3 Palisade Head-Met with Park Supervisor Jason Peterson who outlined the Park s vision for improvements at Palisade which include: minimal, if any, expansion of existing footprint, an accessible plaza containing interpretation opportunities for the park, rock climbers, and other information related to the area, in addition to keeping the site fairly self-maintained as it is currently. Hovland Dock- Met with Carrie McHugh of the Cook County Historical Society who invited people within the community, of which 7 other individuals attended the meeting to express their appreciation for the site and desire to enhance it, at least to preserve it and the history of Hovland for future generations. David Hammer is the owner of the property adjacent to the dock which includes a fish house. After initial discussions, he brought the group over to showcase his early 19 th century fishing boats and paraphernalia (pictures available) contained in and around the site, which he would be open to donating in order to preserve the heritage of Hovland and create a destination between Grand Marais and Mount Josephine which would be one of few currently. As demonstrated in the above summaries, many exciting projects were discovered throughout the process of meeting with respective stakeholders, which created the designation of design funds even more difficult. ARDC has identified this opportunity as a high priority, and is currently pursuing cost estimates to help determine what funds are necessary to complete the design projects, and considering searching for other funding mechanisms to in attempt to fund multiple projects in order to be on course for the upcoming byways solicitation. NSSD-Related Grant and Project Updates Beaver Bay Trailhead The groundbreaking ceremony took place on Tuesday August 5 th and was attended by representatives from a wide variety of state, federal, and local agencies in addition to Beaver Bay representation and Bonnie Hundrieser representing ARDC and the North Shore Scenic Drive Council. Overall, the ceremony was considered a success, and brought a variety of public notice to the Beaver Bay project. A variety of articles regarding the ceremony were presented to the council. Caribou Falls State Wayside Design Project- Justin updated the council that CJ Fernandez had wrapped up the final draft of the design report, and was in the process of sending the final product to ARDC. Additionally, Mark Kovacovich, District Supervisor had relayed that he had an upcoming meeting with DNR staff from central office which would provide insight to the feasibility of submitting a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant application in the upcoming solicitation to leverage funds for construction of the new site NSSDC Mtg. Page 3 of 5

4 Upcoming TAP Solicitation-Justin discussed some preliminary details regarding the upcoming TAP solicitation which is set to be officially announced at the beginning of next month. Highlighted dates include letters of intent being due Friday October 1 st, notification to proceed with full application on Friday November 14 th, with the full application deadline being Friday, January 9 th, Additionally, ARDC staff conducted an online workshop which outlined the TAP solicitation to help inform local stakeholders of eligible projects and other parameters regarding the grant solicitation. The slides are currently available at the Northeast Minnesota Area Transportation Partnership website at The workshop was also recorded, and is in the process of being uploaded to the site in the near future. Other Project Updates Father Baragas Cross- Cheryl provided an update on the project which included C.J. Fernandez having recently completed design projects and submitting them to the township. Schroeder Township now is in the process of leveraging engineering funding in order to help see the project through to construction. While the project has been well received by many residents and local stakeholders, the project may have to be phased in order to make the improvements financially feasible. Ray Berglund Wayside- Justin attended the Ray Berglund wayside grand opening which included speakers representing DNR and the Ray Berglund foundation. Justin passed out pictures showing the facilities including the wayside itself, and also trails and picnic tables accessed by stairs which overlook Lake Superior and the Onion River. MN LSCP STAR Grant Guideline Revisions-Justin outlined some of the minor revisions to the application process/grant program which are being introduced this year, including: flexible project start dates, minimum and maximum requests of $2,500 and $7,500 respectively, and reducing to only two cycles of submissions with deadlines of October 17 th, 2014 and (if funds are still available) April 17, Additionally, Molly mentioned that she is in the process of compiling a STAR grant for Sugarloaf, and may request a letter of support in the future. Merchandise Sale-Mary was able to find a buyer in Tofte Township who purchased the remainder of the available North Shore Scenic Drive merchandise. North Shore Visitor Business- New memorandum of understanding outlining discussions had at the previous July meeting has been sent to Nina for her review. A copy was available for review for those members who hadn t reviewed it NSSDC Mtg. Page 4 of 5

5 Hearts of the Continent, NatGeo Project-Over 400 nominations have been received thus far, however resorts and other local businesses still seem to be lacking. The first draft of the selected nominations will be presented on September 15 th. Additionally, National Geographic is utilizing a new website format in February, so instead of uploading to the existing format previously, utilizing the new format as a finished project in February is now the course the project is set on. Motorcycle Tourism- Lee and Mary provided an update on some recent happenings regarding motorcycle tourism in the region. Of note, a BMW gathering was held at the State Fair which was very well attended, and some attendees were heading up to the North Shore to ride after the event finished. It was noted that sending volunteers to work these motorcycle shows can open up the opportunity of booking large party trips to the region. Additionally, the Arrowhead Association is continuing to focus efforts on targeting this niche market in 2015, printing 5,000 copies of their Ride the Arrowhead motorcycle oriented map which were matched by an additional 5,000 copies from IRRRB which have already been distributed to vendors in the region. Other Business- Bruce mentioned he s noticed some Superior Hiking Trail signs are beginning to look faded, and thought it may be an opportunity for the Council to assist the Superior Hiking Trail Association in finding funds to make improvements. There being no other business, the meeting was than adjourned at 12:15 P.M. NEXT MEETING: The next meeting was set for Friday, October 17 th at 10:00 A.M., at the Beaver Bay Community Center Respectfully submitted by: Justin Otsea, ARDC NSSDC Mtg. Page 5 of 5