---

July 28, the Chisago City Council learned that, after years of planning, the long-awaited Highway 8 Construction Project from Forest Lake to the west side of Chisago City appears to be moving rapidly from design to bidding stage.  

Reporting on a utility design meeting he’d attended with all involved parties, Chisago City Administrator John Pechman told the Council, “We’re making some real progress. It’s starting to feel like it might be real.” He described the highway design as 90 percent complete and in final review.

He said the tentative schedule calls for highway construction work to begin in 2027 with “a lot of earthwork related to mucking out areas for bypass lanes” and then a focus on connection with local streets in the Wyoming section of the project. He also mentioned that a roundabout will be constructed behind the Holiday station at the Forest Lake-Wyoming border. 

In 2028, the focus will be on Highway 8 construction from Wyoming all the way to the Chisago-Karmel Avenue roundabout with finishing work done in 2029.

“The highway will remain open during construction,” Pechman told the council, “That’s why they’re doing the bypass lanes upfront.”

He also said that it now appears that Chisago City’s work on city sewer extensions will have to wait until highway construction is complete. It was envisioned as taking place during highway construction.

“It’s more than likely that when we do sewer, we will do it after they are done,” Pechman told the council. Timing is of concern to two homeowners associations experiencing problems with their private sewer systems that have recently approached Chisago City regarding the possibility of obtaining city sewer once it is extended and available.    

The highway construction plan is nearly 3,000 pages, but Pechman said there were a couple of things he noticed that he wanted to bring to the council’s attention. 

One was that the plan currently calls for 15 streetlights on the roundabout in Chisago City, which he said seemed excessive, and three of them were only 40 feet away from adjacent homes. The other was the fact he had believed there were to be no sound barrier walls along the highway; however an eight-foot tall wood sound barrier wall is proposed at Johnson Lane. Council Member Nikki Battles told the council the residents there had voted on it, knew what it looked like, and wanted the sound wall.

With bidding for the highway project this winter rather than next year as the city had anticipated, Mayor Jeremy Dresel and the council voted to hold a workshop meeting following their 5:30 p.m. special meeting on Aug. 10 to review the highway project design especially as it relates to city streets and sewer issues.

And in other business, the council:

- set a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Aug. 10 regarding issuance of a liquor license for the Loon Legacy Consortium LLC, new owners of the Uncommon Loon. The workshop session on the Highway 8 project will follow.

- as part of its ongoing negotiations with the City of Lindstrom, approved expenditure of $12,500 for Kraus-Anderson to create an updated design of the Lakes Area Police Department facility Chisago.

The Lindstrom City Council presented an alternative plan for remodeling its existing city hall and community center to house the Lakes Area Police Department. Chisago City continues to favor a new structure over the remodeled version. Plans for a building with the capacity to serve the communities for 15 years without the need for expansion in just a few years, will be drawn.

Chisago City will ask Kraus-Anderson to provide a detailed, room-by-room architectural plan. Police Chief Bill Schlumbohm also said it will be a chance to test the validity of their original projections regarding community growth, building capacity, and cost. 

Mayor Jeremy Dresel expressed some hesitancy about doing yet another study, but ultimately agreed it was necessary to move forward. It was mentioned that Lindstrom also had expressed confidence in Kraus Anderson, and that this study will hold some credence with both councils. It is hoped Kraus Anderson’s architect will have the plan completed in six to eight weeks.

- responding to recent changes in state deer hunting regulations, requested that city staff draft a new ordinance regulating use of firearms in Chisago City. 

In 2025, the Minnesota State Legislature eliminated shotgun-only zones for deer hunters in the southern half of Minnesota.This change opened land in Chisago County south of Highway 95 to use of rifles by deer hunters in the hunting season that starts Nov. 7, 2026.

Hunters may now use either a shotgun or a legal centerfire rifle of at least .22 caliber during deer hunting season unless the county in which they are hunting has passed its own shotgun-only restriction. (Neither Chisago County nor any adjacent counties have passed only shotgun requirements, and Wisconsin eliminated its shotgun-only requirements in 2013.) 

Under Chisago City’s current ordinances, no one can discharge a firearm within the city limits without prior written authorization from the city. Recently a city resident with a large tract of land asked for permission to use firearms including rifles for target practice and hunting on their private property. (Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulations prevent hunters from shooting within 500 feet of an occupied building or across a road everywhere in the state.)

Because a number of large tracts of privately owned land lie within the Chisago City limits, the city council has decided to update its firearm ordinance potentially to allow use of firearms in the city under certain limited circumstances. 

The first reading of the new ordinance will take place at the regular August 25 council meeting.

- officially accepted more than $7,000 in sponsorships for this year’s Ki Chi Saga Days celebration received, including from local businesses: $1,000 sponsorships from Kendall Howard, McClafferty Contracting, and Peterson Companies: $500 from Edward Jones, Northern Lakes Tavern, Chisago Hardware, Kwik Trip, Brinks Market, MGM Wine & Spirits, and Rosenbauer LLC, and $100 to $300 from Don Julios, The Stone Inn, Nicolet National Bank, and Designers Salon. Ki Chi Saga Days is Aug. 20-23.

---