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Officials behind the Old Towne Road and Moberg Park redesign open house called attendance ‘good’ for last week’s public unveiling of projects being considered right now.  City Engineer Steve Heth, Bolton & Menk, felt most of the feedback was positive;  but comment cards that people could fill out and submit with their suggestions,  still needed to be reviewed.

Chisago County is finishing the final leg of reconstructing Old Towne Road or CSAH 24 in 2018;   and Chisago City felt this would be an ideal opportunity to also address city streets south of Highway 8 that connect to Old Towne, namely portions of Stinson (four way stop) and problems with traffic flow and parking around Moberg Park.  

The designs also show improvements to the park itself, including removal of the old time bandshell structure with a new shelter shifted to adjacent to the lot on the south side.

A fountain/water feature is proposed near the highway intersection or northeast quadrant of the park.  

Less desireable trees would be removed and replaced in general.  

The military memorial, Moberg statue and caboose sites remain.  There would be a circular pattern lot improved using the area where the existing lot is.  
Sidewalks would be enhanced throughout.  Heth mentioned that building owners asked for a more pedestrian friendly walkway alongside their buildings. (See graphic.)

Chisago County Engineer Joe Triplett also was on-hand for the August 15 open house at Chisago City Hall. Triplett commented that this downtown is a real challenge because there’s no elbow room.  Structures are almost atop some rights-of-way.  The county is striving to realign or widen for turn lanes, and wants to be addressing localized safety concerns, he stated.

Final design phase is scheduled for September to December with council planning to act on specs for bids in early winter 2018.  No budget has been estimated yet.

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