Posted: 12/22/04
By MaryHelen Swanson
On Dec. 16, Wyoming resident Boyd Bontjes presented the Chisago County commissioners with a petition he claimed had hundreds of signatures of people who want County Road 84 re-opened again.
About a quarter of a mile of the county road, which runs east out of Wyoming, has been closed to public traffic to accommodate the wishes of Polaris Industries.
The snowmobile and ATV manufacturing company recently completed construction of its newest facility on property that was previously owned by the city of Wyoming.
Of utmost importance in locating to the Wyoming area was the closure of this segment of the county road.
If it was not closed, Polaris officials said during the negotiation period when considering moving to this area, they would not come. They claimed they need to protect their research operations from public view.
Initially, it was thought that the road could be re-aligned around the Polaris property. But that would have been too expensive.
The county then agreed to turn the portion of road over to the city of Wyoming, which in turn, approved the closure.
Bontjes, and those who signed the petition, believe it should be re-opened. The petition reads, ěThis petition is signed by the citizens disrupted by the closing of County Road 84. They are in favor of re-opening County Road 84 permanently.î
Bontjes told the commissioners that the people paid for the road, it should be open for their use. He said the closed road was disrupting the lives of hundreds of citizens.
Bontjes presented the petition during the open forum part of the county board meeting. He had two minutes in which to make his point.
Following the public comment period, commissioners Lora Walker and Ben Montzka commented on the petition.
Walker said she would have signed it if she had the opportunity.
Montzka said he too would have signed the petition. He said he didnít think it was necessary to close the road. He noted that emergency vehicles will now have to stop and punch in a code in order to pass through.
And he said there are 30 extra garbage trucks going through a residential part of the city.
There was no further comment from the board.
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