In an attempt to deal with an increasing interest in street beautification projects by cities, the Sherburne County Public Works Dept. has established a set of guidelines governing  streetscape designs on county roads.

 

Last week, Sherburne County Public Works Director Andrew Witter reviewed the guidelines in a workshop with the county commissioners.

 

Witter said one of the areas cities often look at beautifying includes medians.

 

“From an engineering perspective, there are certain concerns as far as roadway designs that we view as potential safety issues,” he told the board. “On the flip side, we also see there’s a desire to create a community where people want to live.”

 

Witter said there are some issues with plantings on road medians. - both from a safety standpoint and a practical standpoint.

 

“If we start putting landscaping and streetscaping in a median, it tends to be a very harsh environment. It’s very hot in the summer and in the winter it gets pummeled with snow, salt and sand,” he said. “Salt is not very good for a growing environment. Many times the soil becomes compressed, so there’s a need to irrigate and make sure what is in there is going to survive.”

 

Under the county’s guidelines, no plantings will be allowed on a median unless the municipality agrees to pay for the design, installation and maintenance of an underground watering system which covers all non hard-surfaced areas.

 

The guidelines also require a report indicating that adequate sight distances have been maintained when planting trees, shrubs or any plantings, planters of structures in a streetscape. That ensures drivers can see traffic signal, stop signs and other traffic at intersections.

 

The guidelines prohibit the use of loose landscape rock in the county right-of-way because of problems caused during mowing, loose rocks on the roadway and vandalism.

 

Witter said a request by the City of Elk River for a streetscape project on Co. Rd. 13 prompted the department to prepare te guidelines. He said the city had no issues with the guidelines.

 

Witter said there is no direct cost to the county, even though the projects will be done in county right-of-way.

 

“Since they are interested and proposing to do work within county right-of-way and on our properties, we felt it was important to have some criteria,” he said. “There are certain safety design measures, and we want to make sure those are upheld.”