Regular County Board Meeting of the Koochiching County Board of Commissioners

In the March 3, 2009 Board Meeting, public comment was made on the County Highway's 332 Project and included information about possible routes to the Foreign Trade Zone. Below are the comments recorded. For a complete transcript of the meeting, visit the The Daily Journal online.

The Board Chair called for public comment at 11:50 a.m. Russ Tilander, an employee of Boise’s Processing Center, stated support for the County’s Highway 332 Project as the Burner Road needs to be vacated to Boise for safety reasons. He informed the Board 120,000 cords of wood cross the Burner Road in a year and the concern of Boise employees working in this area for the public’s safety is increasing as the number of crossings increase. Board members stated that due to concerns expressed by the International Falls business owners last week and learning of the Border Customs expansion study, the Board today appointed members to attend the Custom Station Expansion Study meetings to propose an idea of designing the Custom Station expansion to accommodate a redesign of the bridge line making Highway 53 the feasible route to take to get in the bridge line to Canada, which should alleviate concerns that tourists will use the County’s Highway 332 Route to get in line.

The Board members stated that there are so many interests that have come into play around this road project and the County Board is doing their best to weigh them all. The Highway Engineer stated that he is moving forward on presenting road design plans to satisfy the MNDot Commissioner’s order to submit plans within 60 days, and knowing the City of International Falls is requested denial of the order through the Court of Appeals. Terry Randolph, VFW Commander, informed the Board of upcoming veteran events such as Vietnam Veteran Welcome Home Day, Veterans Loyalty Days and plans to hold another Stand Down. Aarden Barnes asked whether county roads in French Addition were looked at as possible routes to the Foreign Trade Zone.

The Engineer stated that this was looked at when he was asked to review potential routes and it was concluded that this residential area was not conducive to a high truck traffic road. Ms. Barnes asked if the County considered purchasing private property for sale by the Highway 11 Overpass to construct an emergency service road for Ranier and the lake area. Board members stated that talks continue with the railroad and that this option was looked at, however, the estimated cost is high.