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The upcoming months will be busy for the City of Marshall. Some background information on key projects and topics for the City Council and staff:
Completion of Downtown Street Project
The North Third Street and West Lyon Street Improvement project includes full reconstruction and utility replacement of North Third Street from West Main Street (US Highway 59) to West Redwood Street and West Lyon Street from East College Drive (Minnesota Highway 19) to North Fifth Street. As part of the reconstruction project, all water main and sanitary sewer mains and services will be replaced within the right-of-way. The storm sewer will also be fully reconstructed. The street will be reconstructed including replacement of the sidewalks, curb and gutter, gravel base and paved surface.
Early in the process, City staff were requested to consider making changes in how North Third Street functions and interacts with the rest of downtown.
Following an engineering study at the intersection of North Third Street and West Main Street, it was determined that the traffic signal was not warranted or required for proper traffic operations at the intersection. It was further determined that reconfiguring the one block of North Third Street between West Main Street and West Lyon Street from a two-way street to a one-way street would have no significant negative impacts to traffic flow and movement in the downtown district. The major benefit of the one-way configuration is wider sidewalks to create a better pedestrian environment with excellent accessibility.
After significant input and review from the Downtown Business Association, the City Council authorized the project to move forward in its current form. The traffic signal at the intersection of West Main Street and North Third Street will remain in place and will serve as a safe pedestrian crossing of Main Street. The signal light will stay green on Main at all times until a pedestrian activates the push button to request a signal change for a pedestrian crossing. The projected completion will be October of this year.
Sales tax request
for aquatic center
The City of Marshall considers the construction of a new aquatic center a top priority for 2023.
With support from our local legislators -- Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, and Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent -- special legislation has been introduced that would enable Marshall to extend the current sales tax at the current rate of 0.5% to pay for the costs of a new aquatic center. A half-percent sales tax would equal 50 cents for every $100 dollars spent on sales taxable items.
The question of whether to fund the construction of a new aquatic center would be placed on a Nov. 7, ballot question and the voters of Marshall would be able to vote on the approval of the extension of the sales tax to pay for the new aquatic center.
Cannabis legislation
Both the House and the Senate of the Minnesota Legislature have approved a bill to legalize marijuana.
DFL Gov. Tim Walz has said he will sign the marijuana bill if it reaches his desk. Once the two bills are merged, the House and Senate will hold final votes on the compromise version. Differences to be worked out include issues around at-home marijuana possession and the tax rate for products.
If the bill becomes law, recreational marijuana would become legal in Minnesota this summer. The bill would establish a seed-to-sale program and streamline a process for clearing prior criminal records. It would also set each Minnesota city to the task of implementing the bill.
Variations of the proposed legislation provides that a local unit of government may not prohibit the possession, transportation, or use of cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, or hemp-derived consumer products, and may not prohibit the establishment or operation of a cannabis business as the proposed legislation details these requirements.
The proposed legislation does allow the local unit of government to adopt reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of the operation of a cannabis business. Under certain circumstances, the local unit of government may adopt an interim ordinance for the purpose of protecting the planning process, however, a public hearing must be held before adopting an interim ordinance. The interim ordinance may regulate, restrict, or prohibit the operation of a cannabis business within the jurisdiction until Jan. 1, 2025.
Indoor rec study next steps
In 2022, the Marshall City Council authorized a recreation feasibility study. This study would ask two questions-what does the future of recreation look like in terms of indoor recreation facility needs and what if any collaboration should the city pursue with the Marshall Area YMCA and others.
For the past 5 years, the Marshall Area YMCA has been discussing and proposing not only capital investments for its facility to enhance memberships, but proposed collaboration with the City of Marshall to ensure long-term viability of the facility and its operations.
Recreation participation is influenced by changing demographics, available resources, and affordability. In recent years and especially since the pandemic, we have seen the popularity of sports or activities change to non-traditional sports such as pickleball, futsal and soccer.
The City anticipates receiving the final report in May of this year.
-- Sharon Hanson is the city administrator for the City of Marshall