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This map shows a housing development along Eighth Avenue Northwest that has been proposed by the Pipestone Development Company. Pipestone County denied a permit earlier this year to have driveways for the proposed houses entering onto Eighth Avenue and the city of Pipestone recently voted to support the project.
Source: City of Pipestone
Pipestone City Council members during their Nov. 17 meeting voted to support a project proposed by the Pipestone Development Company (PDC) to develop six lots for residential homes on land it owns on the east side of Eighth Avenue Northwest. The houses would have driveways entering onto Eighth Avenue Northwest, which Pipestone County opposed in June.
At that time, Pipestone County Commissioners supported Pipestone County Highway Engineer Nick Bergman’s decision to deny a permit requested by the PDC to build the six driveways for the properties that would enter onto Eighth Avenue Northwest, which is also County State Aid Highway 15. Bergman said then that he denied the permit because adding driveways onto a busy county road increases the probability of a crash, the driveways could have a negative impact on the Safe Routes to School project the city of Pipestone is working on and there is a hill to the south that would impact the visibility of the driveways. The PDC didn’t agree with Bergman’s decision, so he checked with Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) engineers and they concurred with his assessment.
PDC President Jeremy Whipple said during a Nov. 12 Utility Committee meeting that the PDC was still interested in the project. Mayor Dan Delaney said he thought it made sense to revisit the proposed project and that he would like he, Councilor Scott Swanson and City Engineer Travis Winter to meet with county representatives to see if the County Commissioners might take a second look at it.
“I think it’s beneficial to the city of Pipestone and I believe that it’s a minimal risk,” Delaney said. “There’s always going to be a risk whenever you’re changing any type of roadway, but the risk is minimal if you look at it from the standpoint of what we already have here in our community. There are 80 driveways to residential areas on Eighth Avenue right now and if you look at Highway 30, for example, which is traveled a whole lot more than Eighth Avenue Northwest, there’s residential driveways on that area.”
He said that in his 35 years of law enforcement in Pipestone, he didn’t recall any accidents involving people backing out of their driveways. He said it could happen, but the risk is minimal and are outweighed by the benefits of the proposed project.
Councilor Danielle Thompson asked if there was an alternative plan in case the county denied the driveways again. Delaney said other options had been considered and it was determined that the proposed plan was the most economical for the PDC.
“If the government wants to pay for a service road, that’s great, but we’re not going to,” Whipple said. “We won’t do it because we can’t get our money back.”
He said the houses proposed on the property would be around 1,000 to 1,500 square feet and be in the $300,000 range. The six proposed houses along Eighth Avenue Northwest would be the first phase of a larger project. Maps presented in June and at the Nov. 17 Pipestone City Council meeting show 18 homes in the area, with three rows of six beginning along Eighth Avenue and extending to the east.
City Engineer Travis Winter said MnDOT would not allow driveways like those proposed if the road was part of the state’s trunk highway system, but because it’s a county state aid highway, it might be worth having a conversation with the county to see if there were mitigation measures that could be implemented to address the concerns.