Rolling Oaks residents voice frustrations over Trillium Cove project in Prior Lake

Prior Lake American

As construction to prepare for the Trillium Cove development continues, so do concerns from residents.

The Prior Lake City Council approved the 207-unit, residential subdivision comprised of multi-level and single-story homes and spread over 92 acres earlier this year.

The site is located south of County Road 42, west of Ferndale Avenue and north of Lower Prior Lake and encompasses land with wooded areas to the north, open field areas to the south and a significant wetland.

The development is sandwiched between two residential neighborhoods — Rolling Oaks and Ash Circle. Residents from both neighborhoods said they’re frustrated with the lack of communication from the city of Prior Lake regarding the construction process and some have said they want out of their neighborhood entirely.

ROLLING OAKS

Sanitary sewer and water line placement started Oct. 3 on Rolling Oaks Circle. The city council approved the assessment roll for the project during its Oct. 2 meeting, leaving most Rolling Oaks residents with a nearly $27,000 bill, not including connection or other fees.

The amount can be paid over a 10-year period.

“It’s just unfortunate that you end up having to write out a check for $27,000,” resident Gordon Erickson said. “Then you’ve got the $6,500 connection fee and you’ve got to pay to have it brought to your house — you’re looking at $45,000 by the time it’s all said and done. That’s not chump change. That gets people’s attention in a hurry.”

Council approved an assessment adjustment for Erickson as his house has already been connected to city sewer and water.

Developer Pulte Group Inc. is paying about $123,200 for utilities.

Some of the current septic systems for the 10 Rolling Oaks properties are aging and ultimately would need to be replaced. The amount of money the residents would save by connecting to city sewer and water will outweigh the costs, Prior Lake City Manager Frank Boyles said.

“Just getting sewer and water pipes is really saving these folks from significant potential expense,” Boyles said. “If a well or septic system gave out, they’d be spending $20,000 just to replace one of those things. This is trying to anticipate problems and try to move the problems out of the way before they happen.”

Though the cost is still high, residents are paying for only 30 percent of the project, Boyles said.

“The idea was to facilitate this project when the opportunity is present,” Boyles said. “I am fearful of what could happen if we just sat and looked at it. These things don’t get cheaper and they are essential decisions that need to be made. Sewer and water are mandated. These are conversions that are our job.”

The installation of the infrastructure means that Rolling Oaks, a road that was recently gravel, is undergoing a pretty hefty transformation.

A 'BALANCING ACT'

Construction crews work on the road from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., during which the road is not able to be accessed. If residents want to park in their driveways, they must leave home before construction starts and return after it ends for the day.

Some park on County Road 42 and walk to their homes.

For some, like resident Carol Jarzyna, the situation is a combination of the two. Jarzyna wakes up early to move her car from her driveway to the highway and walks back to her home, often before the sun has risen.

“The road is so dark and there’s no lights and the only lights you actually see are the cars coming out to pull their car onto (County Road 42),” Jarzyna said. “It’s dangerous. It can be tricky.”

The city did provide two golf carts for the households to share but with a variety of schedules even per household, most end up walking.

One of the neighbors tried to cut a path for everyone to walk on but it’s still hard to see the bumps in the road when it’s dark, Jarzyna said.

“You just hope you don’t trip over anything like the sticks or the debris,” Jarzyna said.

Doing construction in residential areas is always hard because of the traffic and disruption to normal life, but it must be done, Boyles said.

“It’s always a difficult time when you’re digging where people drive their cars,” Boyles said. “On one hand, we are trying to get in and out as quickly as we can but it’s a balancing act.”

Another concern is the ability for emergency vehicles such as ambulances to reach the neighborhood if anything were to happen, resident Edith Buchholz said.

“When they’re digging a deep hole and we have to walk out, it’s dangerous,” Buchholz said. “With the big hole, there was no way an ambulance could have gotten in our neighborhood.”

Jarzyna said the lack of accessibility for emergency vehicles is an issue.

“I feel vulnerable in the sense that if anything were to happen to any of us, there’s no way you’re going to get an emergency vehicle in there,” Jarzyna said. “It would take an hour or two hours for them to fill the holes they’ve already dug. By then it could be too late — a house could burn down, somebody could have had a heart attack. It feels like you’re trapped, you’re caged in.”

Boyles said that he understands the concern regarding emergency vehicles but also that each vehicle is equipped with options to ensure that they are able to handle whatever sort of terrain.

“We’ll get in,” Boyles said. “I guarantee you we’ll get in. This is not the first public improvement project we’ve done. We’ll get there to help folks. That’s our job, under whatever circumstances.”

The council approved the Rolling Oaks improvement project in late July.

“I’d like to say to the Rolling Oaks people that I realize it’s been a very long process for you and a very difficult process and at times, a very painful process — and for that, I say ‘I’m sorry,’” Council member Annette Thompson said at the meeting. “I understand that it’s still going to be a burden for a lot of people, but I feel we cut the best deal we possibly could.”

The first phase of the Rolling Oaks improvement project will cost about $4.4 million, with $788,00 in city fees.

“It’s a difficult situation,” Erickson said. “I think the council has done the best job they could do.”

Jarzyna said her and her husband were planning on leaving the neighborhood in a couple of years to retire, but the project has pushed the process along.

“We just want to leave, we just want to go,” Jarzyna said. “We apparently don’t count. I feel like the city is literally pushing everybody out.”

The issues might be small on a disaster scale but it’s still a struggle, Jarzyna said.

“It’s nothing like Irma or Harvey or the fires out west, I get it,” Jarzyna said. “It’s just that promises were made to us and I have to say, I can’t believe a thing they tell me any longer ... It’s just nuts. I hate to complain, but this is my life, too.”

The Trillium Cove project overall will take several years split into three phases, but the Rolling Oaks improvement project, including the pipe installation, should be done by the end of the year, Boyles said.

“It’s an inconvenience but we are trying our darnedest to minimize that time frame,” Boyles said.

ASH CIRCLE

On the other side of Trillium Cove is Ash Circle, a nearly dead-end subdivision with residents who have also been raising concerns with the city since the development was announced.

The main issues for Ash Circle residents include lack of communication regarding the project and a proposed entrance at the end of Ferndale Avenue, resident Eve St. Mane said.

The entrance would connect Ash Circle to the Trillium Cove development, opening up the circle road and bringing more traffic, St. Mane said.

“I don’t understand why you would open up a basically dead-end street and put more traffic into this when none of us want it, it doesn’t benefit you in any way and it really doesn’t benefit that new development in any way,” St. Mane said.

The connection will be done last so that residents of Trillium Cove get used to using one entrance in an attempt to minimize traffic on Ferndale, near Ash Circle, Boyles said.

“We try to address the needs of folks and in some cases, we’re not going to be 100 percent successful,” Boyles said. “The street system in that area is going to be far more robust once the projects are all done. Does that mean more traffic for somebody? We are developing a community, after all.”

There are numerous concerns the Ash Circle residents have brought to the city over email or at meetings — the tree cutting, the possible moving of a park, the hauling of dirt and sand, the second entrance, boat parking, the timeline of the construction, holding ponds and the list goes on.

Overall, residents said they haven’t been listened to or communicated with throughout the process with any of the issues.

“My personal opinion is that it’s pretty much a rubber stamp process,” resident Lynn Spieker said. “The whole thing was a farce from the very beginning. It’s political theater.”

If the residents had received more information, the process would have gone more smoothly, St. Mane said.

“It didn’t need to become something that was just ridiculously contentious, but it is, because anything that was suggested was never listened to,” St. Mane said. “Any concerns that we expressed, they would go ignored.”

The quality of life for Ash Circle and Rolling Oaks neighborhoods has fallen by the wayside for the Trillium Cove development and the future residents, St. Mane said.

The residents said they were told that a section of the city’s website, cityofpriorlake.com, would be devoted to Trillium Cove as well as information being posted on the city’s Facebook page.

Boyles said the communication is not perfect, but that the city uses social media and a development map on the city website to inform residents about what is happening in their areas, as well as newsletters and mail notices.

The city posted on its Facebook page, “Prior Lake City Government,” that development started on June 6. No other updates have been posted regarding the construction project.

A development map, found on the city’s website, states that the project is in the first phase of construction.

This Trillium Cove plat is the final iteration of several proposed projects for the land that have been rejected by the council or the city in the past. Pulte developed this plat to adhere to city standards and keep past public comment in mind, Community Development Director Casey McCabe said.

“It was a tough site, without question, being surrounded by property owners on both sides,” McCabe said.

Due to the resignation of former Assistant Public Works Director and City Engineer Larry Poppler, who was the main coordinator for the project, McCabe said he can’t say specifically what was changed to the plat based on recent resident comment.

The city could still stop the construction of the second entrance and replant trees that were removed which would effectively block Ash Circle from the Trillium Cove neighborhood, St. Mane said.

“We can’t undo some of what they’ve already done,” St. Mane said. “This sounds really ridiculous, but I like my solitude, that’s why I moved back here. My dream is that they’d block it off so we didn’t have a whole other subdivision coming in here. I don’t want traffic coming from 200 cars.”

The first phase will consist of 82 new houses, the second phase will include the construction of 95 homes and the last phase, and 30 in the last phase for a total of 207 to be completed in three to five years, McCabe said.