Providing utilities has been an issue as the two entities debate annexation.

After a defeated attempt to merge the communities, the township and city have been trying to iron out an orderly annexation agreement, while at the same time trying to accommodate township residents who want water and sewer services, but don’t necessarily want to be annexed.

The city and township are currently working together to bring utilities to a developer in the township. It’s understood that the property will be annexed, even though it’s not contiguous with the city boundary and by-passes an existing residential development that doesn’t want to be annexed.

At their meeting Wednesday, the Council briefly discussed options for continuing their negotiations with the township and if creating a utility district would enhance future growth for the city.

In other action the council:

The Minnesota Department of Transportation had planned to open the 1-1/2 mile section of new four-lane highway today or Friday. Those plans had to be scuttled because inclement weather prevented necessary painting of road stripes to be completed.

Paul Jurek, MnDOT construction engineer, said the remaining painting needs to be done on U.S. Highway 71, where traffic has been detoured while the new four-lane state Highway 23 was constructed. He said the yellow stripes need to be removed and new white lines painted.

In order for that to happen, the weather needs to warm up to about 40 degrees. “It’s got to be warm and dry,” he said. “The forecast has been switching around on us a little bit.”

Jurek said as soon as there’s a “window of opportunity, we’re going to jump on it quick and open it” so Highway 23 can be opened this fall.

Ending the detour can’t come soon enough for Spicer businesses and residents. The Spicer Economic Development Authority, Commercial Club and Duininck Bros. Construction are hosting a “destroy the detour” party from 5:30 to 7:30 tonight at Melvin’s on the Lake.

“We felt the community needed to be told the detour is officially behind us, even though the weather didn’t cooperate,” said Dave Baker, from the commercial club.

“We’re telling people the road will be open and it’s going to be a beautiful road,” said Baker.

While traffic flowed through town this summer during the construction, Baker said it appears some businesses suffered more than anticipated this fall as people by-passed Spicer on the detour.

“We want to make sure folks in the 25-mile radius know there won’t be a detour and a delay any more,” said Baker.

At the party, Jurek will give a short presentation about the project to date and what can be expected for construction this winter -- which includes a detour as the Nest Lake Bridge is replaced -- and next year as the project progresses north past New London.

The total four-lane project is about 11 miles. Segments of it may not be completed until 2005.

Jurek said he intends to “thank everyone for their patience” during the project and thank drivers for keeping the project safe for construction workers. He said the project did receive a Work Zone Safety Award.

The board met Friday morning to discuss road and bridge issues.

The board voted to ask the Minnesota Department of Transportation to detour truck traffic around the Nest Lake project by sending it north on U.S. Highway 71 and east on County Road 40 through New London.

A second, shorter detour was recommended for cars and construction traffic. They would follow Highway 23 through Spicer, travel west on County Road 30 and then north on County Road 131 and back to Highway 23. County Road 131 is also known as the Old Mill Road.

The detour is expected to begin on Feb. 1 and last about 10 months.

Several Old Mill Road residents said they were concerned about the amount of traffic they’d see if all the highway traffic was detoured on their road. The road doesn’t have shoulders in some areas and isn’t strong enough to hold up to heavy trucks, they said.

“If an emergency vehicle comes along, there’s no place to pull off,” said resident Ron Schmitz.

Ann Latham, who said she uses County Road 30 every day, suggested County Road 40 would be a better option.

MnDOT project engineer Paul Jurek said New London residents had objected to using County Road 40 because traffic would run in front of the school. MnDOT officials had considered the possibility of a separate detour for truck traffic.

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Commissioner Richard Falk of Willmar.

Commissioner Dennis Peterson of Spicer, who represents the Highway 23 area, said he would be more comfortable “dividing up the load” with two detours.

“Everybody might be angry if they have to share it, but that seems to be the fairest way,” Peterson said.

The county could sign an agreement with MnDOT for road maintenance and repairs during the detour. However, the state could use the detours even if the county didn’t agree, said county Public Works Director Gary Danielson.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the drainage plan for the Mills Fleet Farm site south of Willmar along Highway 71. Runoff from the site will drain into a retention pond capable of holding the rain from a 100-year storm. The pond is designed to release the water in a county ditch gradually, so landowners downstream won’t be affected.

A representative of Mills said the company has all its permits in line and was ready to award contracts to begin work on the complex, which will include a large retail store, an auto dealership and a convenience store.

• Discussed problems residents in the eastern part of the county had with R & G Construction of Marshall. The company has the contract to make improvements on County Road 10.

Work on two overpass bridges that connect Highway 23 with U.S. Highway 71 and Kandiyohi County Road 9 is nearing completion, said Lee Duininck, from Duininck Bros. Construction, the contractor for the project. He said the Highway 71 bridge is “nearly done” except for a few odds and ends and that the Highway 9 bridge is “coming along pretty well.”

Even though construction of the two overpasses should be completed by the end of October, the road won’t be opened until all the guard rails and signs are erected. Duininck predicted that wouldn’t happen until November.

Four lanes of traffic will be open from Willmar to just west of County Road 127, said Paul Jurek, construction manager from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Traffic will then travel on the existing two lanes going through Spicer, even though the two new additional lanes will be paved.

Getting the project completed on schedule depends on how fast winter arrives.

“Every day of good weather helps us,” said Jurek. “We’d like to see everything get done, but at some point we’ll have to close everything down and button up for the winter.”

Duininck said rainy weather this spring put a clinker in the construction schedule. “It’s hard to make up when you had six weeks of rain,” he said. “We’re behind schedule a little bit.”

There are a number of construction spots that need to be tidied up before winter, and Duininck said steady progress is being made on those areas. He said underground work will be completed by Monday or Tuesday on County Road 10, which is being rerouted to a new path in Spicer. That road will be open for traffic this fall, he said.

Jurek said some areas in Spicer are getting final touches. Roads are being paved and grass is being seeded. “Everything’s coming together good in Spicer,” he said.

While it’s easy to see progress as the new lanes of traffic begin to take shape, there’s considerable work that takes place before that happens, said Jurek.

Underground utilities and retaining walls in areas along the Woodcock Addition and Nest Lake need to be completed before road beds are made “That’s an area we want to get shaped up before winter,” said Jurek. “There’s a lot of work to do there yet.”

Removal of the old Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church, which is located where a large storm water retention pond will be built, is expected to take place sometime this month.

Originally, the vacated church was supposed to have been moved off the property by Oct. 1. That deadline was extended because assessment and abatement of hazardous materials wasn’t completed in the building.

Tom Key from Advanced Environmental Restoration said aside from asbestos in the floor tiles and some “odds and ends,” there wasn’t a lot of hazardous materials to be removed from the structure.

Key said his crews should be done by Monday or Tuesday. After the environmental all-clear is given, the building can be moved. Al Peterson of rural Sunburg purchased the church, which was built in three segments over the years. Peterson said he intends to make three separate homes from the church.

Duininck said getting the church moved soon is important. “We urged them to get in there as fast as they could.”

This week, construction crews started moving north, toward New London. Several houses and piles of trees were burned along Highway 23. Some utility poles will be moved and the hilly terrain will be graded down to make the area ready for spring construction, said Jurek.

In February, crews will begin working on the new Nest Lake bridge, necessitating a detour that’s expected to last about nine months.

Last month, Jurek told the New London City Council that truck traffic from Highway 23 would be routed through New London during construction of the bridge. Car traffic would be detoured onto County Road 30 -- known locally as the Old Mill Road -- and County Road 131, located near Jimmy Apple Seed. That plan may be changing.

Jurek said MnDOT is now considering detouring all traffic onto County Roads 30 and 131. This detour would add a mile or so onto the route, as opposed to six to seven miles by going through New London on state Highway 9 and over to Highway 71.

Trudie Dubord, New London city clerk, said the council isn’t keen on having extra truck traffic detoured onto the town’s Main Street. She said the new detour plan would be welcome news. Jurek said no firm decision has been made.

The dry summer has been bad for crops but good for road construction.

The last two rainless months have helped crews on the state Highway 23 project through Spicer gain ground after falling behind schedule during the wet spring.

Although workers have been steadily inching their way down the 11-mile construction zone, the project isn’t quite where it should be, said Paul Jurek, construction engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

“We’re getting close to being back on schedule, but we’re still a little behind in some areas,” he said. “If the weather holds, I think we’ll be just fine.”

Heavy and continuous rains were a problem early this spring and put the construction anywhere from two to four weeks behind schedule, said Jurek.

July and August provided “good road building weather,” he said. “A lot’s been accomplished in the last two months, but we’ve needed it to get back on track ... there’s so much to do.”

Priority areas on Highway 23 that should be completed on time include the overpasses and high exchanges with U.S. Highway 71 and Kandiyohi County Road 9. Jurek said those segments are scheduled to be completed by Oct. 31. “That portion is on target,” he said.

Installation of underground utilities and construction of the water retention pond at the old Food-N-Fuel site has gone slower than expected, in part because of the wet spring, said Jurek.

Last week, crews began pouring a 16-foot-high concrete retaining wall by the pond. All but 2 feet of the wall will be underground, said Jurek. The wall will be painted to have a simulated rock look. It’ll be topped with an anti-graffiti coating.

The wall will be poured in six different segments, with each segment taking several days to complete. Once the wall is completed, then the pond will be dug. Jurek said part of the wall and pond won’t be completed until next year.

Although the dry weather has been welcome, Jurek said even the road crews wouldn’t mind seeing a little rain. Every additional day without rain means the construction schedule can advance, but it also “means it gets dustier out here,” he said. “We could use a little rain to settle the dust.”

An update on other portions of the project:

• Crews removing hazardous materials from buildings along the Highway 23 corridor are nearing completion, with about 10 buildings remaining, including the Catholic church, which should be completed in September. The church will be moved off the site by mid-October and construction of a water retention pond will begin.
• About half of the box culvert for the recreation trail has been installed.
• Additional wetlands have been constructed to replace wetlands that have been filled in.
• Edge drains that will tile water run-off will be installed during the next week in Spicer.
• More curb and gutter will be installed by the end of September.

Paul Jurek, construction engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said the road may be paved and open to traffic this weekend, weather permitting. The two streets have been closed since July 10 for storm and sewer utilities installation.

Miller Street and Lake Avenue remain closed to traffic for storm sewer installation. Watch for changeable message signs showing alternate routes.

The council approved plans to install new water and sanitary sewer lines under state Highway 23 to the Woodcock Addition, at a cost of $250,890.

That quarter-of-a-million dollar project will be done by Duininck Bros. Construction of Prinsburg as a change-order to the Highway 23 four-lane project. Work could begin in the next few days.

The council also agreed to call for bids to bring the utility lines to the 20 or so homes in the Woodcock Addition and rebuild the streets there. That part of the project is estimated at $400,000, for a total cost of $661,000.

“This is a high-risk, difficult project,” said City Engineer Randy Sabart. The council decided earlier it made sense to have Duininck Bros. install the lines under Highway 23 at the same time it was building the four-lane road.

The council could reject bids for the second part of the project if the cost is too high, but that would make it difficult for the city to assess homeowners for the initial utility work, said Mayor Bill Taylor.

Councilman Troy Block said he believes homeowners in the area want the project and are prepared for the assessments. Bids will be let Aug. 5.

Two business owners located in Progress Circle, however, told the council they didn’t want to pay high assessments for a project proposed in that area.

During a public hearing, Sabart said plans to build a 32-foot road with curb and gutter and to install an adequate drainage area for the nine commercial parcels would cost about $220,000. The proposed assessments range from $37,000 to $68,000 per parcel.

Lenny Chapin from West Central Insulation said the project was “over-kill” and the cost too high.

The “lion’s share” of the cost, said Sabart, is to dig a sediment pond and create appropriate drainage routes for storm water. That portion is estimated at $163,000.

Sabart said representatives of the Department of Natural Resources and Kandiyohi County Environmental Services have said storm water cannot be channeled to an existing wetland in the area. Instead, a man-made sediment pond would have to be built as part of the plan.

Taylor said the city’s actions are “dictated” by state regulations.

As a businessman, Chapin said he’s dictated “by the pocketbook.”

The idea of spending so much money to dig a pond was “ridiculous,” said Chapin, who asked the council to look for different options. Craig Shuck, from Beaver Masonry, said the drainage benefit “ain’t worth that kind of money.”

Since commercial development in Progress Circle has expanded, storm water has caused erosion of ditches and the current minimum-maintenance road, said Taylor.

According to council members, most of the drainage problems were created when two businesses, the Twin Spin Theater and G. Michael’s’ restaurant, expanded without installing an adequate storm water system. The council has been trying to work out a solution with the property owners for more than a year without success.

“It’s been a little bit of a battle with the property owners,” said Councilman Jerry Reierson, adding that some of the property owners “don’t give a darn” about fixing the problem, which is forcing the city to take action and pass on the costs to all the property owners. “We’re trying to solve a mess up there.”

Councilwoman Marlys Larsen said the businesses that benefit the most from the project should be assessed more. Sabart said, however, assessment policies need to be consistent and fair.

Council members agreed to reconsider the project at their next meeting.

In other action the council:

• Discussed an emergency meeting held June 25, that was attended by three council members to discuss liability and actions of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Duinincks following heavy rains that caused dirty water to go into Green Lake. The meeting was held at the request of Councilwoman Larsen.

Reierson said when he was called and asked if a meeting was necessary, he said no, and wasn’t informed the meeting was going to be held. The press was also not notified of the meeting. Taylor was out of town.

Amounts vary, but it’s estimated that Spicer received more than 3 inches of rain Monday, including about 2 inches in a half-hour. The deluge, after a weekend of rain, caused flooding in the highway construction area, resulting in dirty water flowing into Green Lake.

With more showers in the forecast, officials from Duininck Bros. Construction and the Minnesota Department of Transportation held a meeting Tuesday to assess areas where preventative procedures succeeded and failed and to develop a plan for implementing corrective measures.

Crews repaired washed out areas and installed more silt fences and other measures to restrict and clean any additional storm water, said Rodney Hughes, erosion control supervisor for Duinincks. “We’re beefing up security,” he said.

Bob Miesen, a member of the Lake Region Preservation Society, said he watched plumes of “filthy” water enter Green Lake on Monday. He said the scene was “what we fought so hard to avoid.”

“It confirms our worst nightmares,” said Pat Laib, another member of the preservation society who’d served on a water quality advisory committee that helped create a plan for preserving area lakes during and after the construction project.

Laib said he and other committee members repeatedly asked about the effects a heavy rain would have on the project, without getting a good response. “We’ll get the road, but we’ll lose our lake.”

Miesen said he called the Army Corps of Engineers and the lieutenant governor’s office Tuesday morning to request that the construction project be stopped until an environmental impact statement was completed.

“It’s common sense that the project be stopped and re-evaluated,” said Miesen, adding that an EIS should’ve been done before the four-lane corridor was selected.

Paul Jurek, MnDOT construction manager, said the corps told him on Tuesday the project would not be shut down, but they wanted to know what remedial efforts were being taken.

Jurek said the heavy rain was “not what we were hoping for” and that MnDOT and Duinincks were “addressing as much as we can” to prepare for more rain that could stress erosion-control measures even further.

Hughes said there were problems with erosion, but that in about 85 percent of the construction area, erosion-control measures worked very well Monday. An area where it failed was by Mel’s Sport Shop, where waist-high water pooled in a street that was under construction.

The rain water flooded the city’s manholes and sanitary sewage lift station, said Dan Haats, Spicer’s public works director. Without fast action, Haats said raw sewage would have flowed onto the street and into Green Lake and flooded homes.

Crews pumped the muddy, gray rain water from the street into Green Lake for about four hours, said Haats. “That was the only course of action they could’ve taken, was to pump it into the lake.” Sewage did back up in about a half-dozen basements, said Haats, but it would’ve been worse if the pooled rainwater hadn’t been pumped out of the street.

Hughes said pumping dirty water into Green Lake was a “last resort” measure. “Nobody wants any dirty water going into any lake,” he said.

Crews did “everything we could do” to prevent erosion, Hughes said, but getting so much rain in such a short period of time was too much for any system to handle. Hughes said even without the highway construction, there would’ve been some erosion and dirty water would’ve flowed into Green Lake.

One rotating storm was spotted in the clouds by National Weather Service radar in the New London-Spicer area.

“The National Weather Service reported a tornado in the clouds,” said John Edwards, a local storm spotter. “I didn’t have any indication of any rotation.”

The other warnings were reported in Renville County near Hector, but no reports of structural damage from these storms were made to the Renville County Sheriff’s Department by 8 p.m.

The Renville County warnings were issued after storm spotters noticed wall clouds north of Hector, according to the department. Rainfall there was reported as showers.

There was, however, significant rainfall in Spicer, with one report of 3.7 inches.

The Spicer rainfall prompted a handful of telephone calls to the Tribune after the storm.

People were upset after the storm that runoff from highway construction was pouring into Green Lake in Spicer, said Marlys Larsen, a member of the Spicer City Council. City residents were earlier assured that runoff from the transformation of Minnesota Highway 23 into a four-lane highway wasn’t going to reach the lake, she said.

“It’s flowing directly into the lake,” Larsen said. “A lot of people did not want this four-lane. It (the lake) is one of our prizes.”

An owner of the company that is building the four-lane road, however, said there is nothing that would prevent such runoff after such heavy rainfall.

“There is no choice when you get 3.7 inches of rain in an hour,” said Lee Duininck of Duininck Bros. “The people who are calling are right. If anyone has any ideas (on how to prevent the runoff), I would like to know.”

As required by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Duininck said retention ponds are constructed as the project progresses.

Other area rainfall amounts during the storm included 1.30 inches in Willmar in about 45 minutes and 2.5 inches in New London in about one hour.

Several intersections were left flooded in Willmar after the storm, and reports of hail were also reported in different areas of Kandiyohi County.

To let people know Spicer is open for crucial summertime business, the Spicer Commercial Club is launching a marketing campaign next week based on the Wizard of Oz. Ads and billboards will encourage folks to follow the ever-changing, yellow-brick construction road to Spicer.

The Spicer Commercial Club, with financial donations from the New London Chamber of Commerce and the cities of Spicer and New London, will be running the marketing campaign for the two-year duration of the construction project, said Dave Baker, president of the commercial club.

Baker said businesses from both Spicer and New London decided they needed to have a proactive role in telling people that Highway 23 is open and that “this area is very much open for business. There will never be a detour around Spicer.”

Unfortunately, he said, some people assume there are big detours and that Spicer is hard to get to. “Some people exaggerate what they’ve seen and say ‘you can’t go to Spicer, it looks like Baghdad.’”

Baker, who owns a restaurant and hotel in Spicer, said the road through town is actually in good shape, signs direct travelers to streets to access businesses and the hassle is minimal. “You should go see it for yourself, it’s not so bad,” he said.

Backhoes, gravel trucks and construction crews aren’t the main thing that’s slowing down traffic in Spicer, said Spicer Economic Development Director Jean Spaulding. “It’s gawkers, like me,” she said with a laugh.

With trees being removed, hills being cut away and new roadbeds created for the future four-lane, the landscape can change from the beginning of the day to the end. Even for people like Spaulding, who can watch the construction from her office window, the daily changes are incredible.

“If they haven’t been here, they’d be totally amazed at how things have changed so quickly,” said Spaulding. “But there’s a misconception out there that you can’t get through Spicer, and that’s not true at all.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the contractor, Duininck Bros., have agreed to always keep a road open through Spicer during the two-year construction project. Sometimes traffic will be diverted to a side-street, but Spicer will be always be accessible.

Baker praised MnDOT and Duinincks for working closely with businesses on the construction project to minimize the negative impact to businesses.

As a business owner, Baker said, “there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing the road closed in front of your business,” but he said MnDOT and Duinincks have “done an exceptionally good job of keeping the roads open as long as they can.”

The 11-mile project is required to have an erosion control supervisor on-site during the two-year construction process. It’s the first time the Minnesota Department of Transportation has made such a requirement, according to MnDOT officials. Because of a new emphasis on erosion prevention in the state, it’s likely the beginning of a trend.

The Highway 23 project is environmentally critical be-cause of its proximity to Green, Nest and Eagle lakes and numerous wetlands, said Paul Rasmussen, MnDOT hydrologist. “The project was also extremely complex, which warranted additional measures to take care of that.”

As a result, MnDOT required the primary contractor, Duininck Bros. of Prinsburg, to have a certified erosion control supervisor on staff and on the construction site to coordinate all the erosion-control activities, said Rasmussen.

Rodney Hughes is one of a half-dozen Duininck’s employees who underwent special training at the University of Minnesota, specifically for the Highway 23 job. As erosion control supervisor, Hughes has some serious responsibilities.

Just two months into the project, about $2 million has been spent on erosion control measures, said Hughes. If something goes wrong, “the state has the power to fine me on-site.”

Hughes keeps in constant communication with the subcontractors and makes sure the erosion-control measures are being installed correctly and are working like they’re supposed to. Besides regular inspections, within 12 hours of a rainfall, Hughes views the sites, determines if corrective action is needed and fills out another page on an official Minnesota Pollution Control Agency storm water log.

A tour down the construction corridor with Hughes reveals progress is being made on the 44 permanent storm water retention ponds scheduled to be built in conjunction with the road construction. So far, 12 ponds are completed and five more are under construction.

To prevent erosion during construction, a variety of temporary erosion-control measures are in place. Silt fences, bale checks, bio-logs, flotation fences, gel floc and rock berms help hold soil in place and keep sediment out of the state’s public waters.

Piles of construction dirt that aren’t going to be moved or used for 10 days are seeded to grass to prevent erosion. Hughes said construction areas that are completed are seeded to grass within four to six hours after the machinery rolls down the road.

A unique system that includes a channel of rocks and liners that cleans water generated during construction before it’s released into Green Lake was praised by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during a recent inspection. The corps did, however, find MnDOT wasn’t in total compliance with its permit.

Hughes bristled when asked about a local group, the Lake Region Preservation Society, which has filed a lawsuit against MnDOT about construction of the ponds. He said the group has “lost their focus” for protecting Green Lake and is “raising havoc” with MnDOT out of anger about the four-lane project.

“Some of the people complaining about it don’t know the facts,” he said. “MnDOT is more concerned about the environment on this project than I’ve ever seen them,” said Hughes. “Nobody’s ever taken these kinds of precautions.”

Hughes said the goal is to contain storm water in the MnDOT right of way and clean it before it’s released to state waters. “Water going into the lake looks like this,” he said, holding up a glass of drinking water.

Local Minnesota Department of Transportation officials, however, disagree and say the project is in compliance with the corps permit and that issues will be resolved with better communication and clarification of verbiage.

Meanwhile, a hearing scheduled for Tuesday in a civil lawsuit filed against MnDOT on the permit issue, is on hold.

In a letter sent Thursday from the corps, MnDOT was informed that the agency was “not in compliance with some of the terms and/or conditions” of the corps’ permit. The primary issue was timely construction of permanent storm water retention ponds along the corridor.

“Your failure to comply with the permit conditions after agreeing to them concerns us,” wrote Robert J. Whiting, chief of the corps’ regulatory branch.

The stern warning came one week after a compliance check was conducted by two corps officials who were alerted to possible permit noncompliance issues by a local citizens’ group called the Lake Region Preservation Society.

The corps is giving MnDOT 10 days to submit a plan showing how the project will be brought into compliance, or face consequences, including administrative or civil penalties and the possibility of suspending or revoking the permit. MnDOT could also request modification of the permit.

Representatives from the MnDOT District 8 office in Willmar said they don’t believe anything is out of order.

Paul Jurek, MnDOT project manager, said MnDOT has a “good working relationship” with the corps and that the issues can be resolved by clarifying terms and improving communication with the corps.

Dave Solsrud, assistant district engineer, said the corps had a good review of the project last week and complimented MnDOT on temporary erosion control measures, a statement that was reinforced by corps spokeswoman Shannon Baurer. “They’ve done a good job there,” she said.

As to MnDOT’s claims they are in compliance, Baurer said, “Our regulators will consider what they have to say.” The corps will return for another compliance check in a month.

According to the corps letter, MnDOT is not complying with a special condition to the permit pertaining to the construction of water retention ponds. Original language required all 44 ponds to be constructed before roadwork began.

In the same week Lake Region Preservation Society filed its lawsuit stating MnDOT was not following that permit requirement, the corps wrote a clarification to the permit stating ponds were to be completed in areas where road reconstruction had begun.

The corps is now saying MnDOT is not meeting that revised requirement in the permit and that MnDOT has 10 days to respond.

Jurek said MnDOT is following that permit requirement to build ponds in drainage areas where roadwork is taking place, just like the special condition says.

Jim Christensen, MnDOT project supervisor said work is either completed or under way on ponds being built this year in and south of Spicer, except for one pond by the Spicer fire hall. He said ponds won’t be built until 2004 in areas where road construction won’t take place until then, which is an issue that will need to be clarified with the corps.

The district intends to use revenues from the land sale to offset the cost of moving water and sewer lines out of the state Highway 23 right of way.

The Corps makes periodic compliance checks on construction projects that were issued Corps permits, but this visit was made at the request of a local citizen’s group that’s concerned MnDOT may be violating the permit.

The Lake Region Preservation Society notified the Corps earlier this month that MnDOT wasn’t building the water retention ponds required by the permit. At the same time, the group was involved with filing a lawsuit against MnDOT for being out of compliance with the Corps permit and for violating noise standards. A hearing on those two issues is set for June 10.

Christina Carballal, environmental protection specialist and Jennifer McCarthy, compliance coordinator with the Corps, spent a couple hours with representatives from the LRPS and the Green Lake Property Owners Thursday morning, discussing concerns about the project and touring the construction zone. They did much the same with Paul Jurek, MnDOT project manager, later in the day.

The data will be taken back to Corps headquarters and evaluated to determine if MnDOT is following the permit, said McCarthy. No decision is expected this week, but it doesn’t appear likely that MnDOT violated a key permit condition that caught the attention of the LRPS.

Pat Laib, LRPS member, said not only had MnDOT not installed all the ponds along the 11-mile corridor, but pond construction hadn’t begun in areas where the new roadbed was already being constructed. Laib said a day or two after the lawsuit was filed, crews began building the ponds.

Carballal said the Corps didn’t intend that all the ponds had to be installed first, before any road work began. McCarthy said the “reasonable” approach is to construct the ponds as road crews advance down the corridor. A letter of clarification from the Corps to MnDOT said ponds should be constructed “before the start of earth work in its respective drainage areas.”

The complaint cites a possible violation of the Army Corps of Engineers permit that was issued to MnDOT, and says that a breach of traffic noise standards needs to be abated.

The Lake Region Preservation Society, along with a Spicer couple, Ron and Betty Schneider, filed the complaints May 6.

They hope to draw attention to the construction problems -- and correcting them -- said Pat Laib, LRPS member.

As it stands now, the case is scheduled for a June 10 hearing in Willmar.

One of the complaints states that MnDOT is violating its permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. That permit required MnDOT and the contractor, Duininck Bros. Construction, to build 44 water retention ponds along the 11-mile corridor before roadwork on the highway began.

A May 8th letter to MnDOT from Robert Whiting, chief of the Corps regulatory branch, says the Corps “would expect” the storm water management basins, infiltration basins or grit chambers proposed for each drainage area “be constructed before the start of earth work in its respective drainage areas.”

Whiting wrote that the letter was due to “recent public concerns brought to our attention” regarding the Highway 23 project and MnDOT’s permit for the project.

Laib said as soon as that letter was received, work was accelerated on the holding ponds. “Things are really boiling now,” he said. “We just want to make these guys do what they’re supposed to do.”

Construction crews did not install all the holding ponds along the corridor before beginning road work, but progress is being steadily made on constructing the ponds, according to MnDOT.

In an interview in December with several MnDOT officials, it was stated that constructing the ponds would take place sequentially, as the road construction moved down the corridor.

A representative from the Corps is expected to tour the construction site on Thursday. “If they tell us everything here is fine and dandy, then we’ll go away,” said Laib, at least on the water retention issue. “But if you ruin the lake by not doing this thing properly, you get your road but you lose your lake.”

The second complaint the LRPS and Schneiders have filed pertains to studies that show traffic noise on Highway 23 will exceed Minnesota Pollution Control Agnecy standards.

MnDOT conducted an initial study as part of its construction plan that showed noise levels already exceed standards and that the levels will be exceeded even further in the future in some areas. Then, last year, Schneider asked the Spicer city council to request MnDOT do another noise study. The council agreed, and MnDOT conducted a second study at a cost of about $75,000.

The results of that study, which were presented to the Spicer city council earlier this year, indicated noise levels in four areas along Highway 23 in Spicer would exceed MPCA limits. It also showed that, under the federal financial benefit criteria, three of the areas didn’t qualify for construction of noise walls, said Lowell Flaten, MnDOT project engineer.

The one area that would qualify is in a commercial area where tall noise walls wouldn’t be desirable.

Flaten said MnDOT is asking for an exemption from meeting the MPCA noise standards. A final ruling on that is expected to be made this fall by the heads of MnDOT and the MPCA.

Regarding the legal complaint, Flaten said it’s “somewhat of an unusual suit.” He said there are no noise walls in this MnDOT district. If it’s decided noise abatement needs to be done, Flaten said walls can be constructed after the highway is completed.

Laib said the LRPS “doesn’t want to stop a road” from being built and its goal isn’t to go to court. If the judge would rule in their favor, he said the citizens would have to put up a bond worth 10 percent of the $39 million project. “I’m a little short of $3.9 million,” said Laib.

At the Spicer city council meeting Wednesday, Randy Sabart said there were several discrepancies in the bill that could have the city paying more than their share for several segments of water and sewer pipes.

Sabart estimated the questionable charges at about $20,000. He said he believes the Minnesota Department of Transportation may be responsible for those costs.

While the state Highway 23 four-lane project is underway, the contractor is also replacing water and sewer lines for the city. Some parts of the project are being shared by MnDOT and Spicer and some are the responsibility of the separate entities. MnDOT is in charge of splitting out the costs for the city, which is where Sabart identified some possible miscalculations.

The council agreed to make the payment in order to meet the deadline and avoid a penalty, but will include a cover letter calling attention to the areas of question. Mayor Bill Taylor said a final settlement at the end of the project will rectify any cost adjustments.

Of the $640,000 bill, City Administrator Kim Wothe said about $610,000 is for the city utility work and $50,000 is the city’s cost associated with the Highway 23 project.

In other action the council: