Council Hears Annexation Request for Rolling Hills; Neighbors and Staff Raise Safety, Tree and Drainage Concerns

The River Falls Common Council opened a public hearing June 24 on an ordinance to annex about 86 single‑family lots at Paul Avenue near North Winter Street and assign a medium‑density residential future land use and R‑2 zoning.

The matter matters because annexation brings the property into city jurisdiction and the developer has indicated a potential 86‑lot subdivision; council members and residents asked how pedestrian safety, speed limits, tree retention and stormwater would be addressed as development proceeds.

During the public hearing, resident Benjamin Fox urged the council to treat Powell Avenue as a corridor when planning pedestrian crossings, saying, "please look at that as a corridor and look at using the North Side." Lexi Larson, who said she lives at 675 Powell, asked whether a buffer or easement would be preserved near an existing tree line: "I just wanted to know if there was gonna be any plan to, like, keep some of that or if it's gonna be right up next to where I'm at?"

City staff and development representatives responded that several follow‑up review steps occur if annexation proceeds. "Typically, a process when land is not in the city is initiated through an annexation," development staff Harley said, describing preliminary and final platting and public meetings at each step. Harley also said technical decisions would be made by the city engineer: "that would be reviewed by our city engineer, to spec. There are a number of considerations including speed limit, lane size, visibility, etcetera that go into those considerations."

Councilmember questions and staff comments clarified the city's approach to trees and speed limits. City Administrator Scott Simpson said the city does not have a tree‑preservation ordinance: "we don't have a tree preservation ordinance. So there isn't a requirement as part of this development that the developer needs to retain the trees that are on their property." He explained that developers sometimes retain high‑quality trees but that stormwater and site design can require removal. On speeds, Simpson said lowering a posted speed limit is not an automatic engineering remedy: "it doesn't work. The geometry of the road, the width of the road, the time type of travel...have an impact on what speed people are likely to travel and just arbitrarily reducing a speed limit and hoping that people go slower doesn't work."

Staff also said corridor‑level planning is underway. Scott Simpson and Harley said Powell Avenue would be considered as a whole for safety and crossing improvements and that adjustments are most likely when reconstruction or design changes occur for the roadway. Harley noted minimum setbacks will apply to the subdivision and that "there would certainly be no 0 lot setback on this project."

No final council vote or plat approval was taken at the June 24 meeting. Staff described the next steps a successful annexation would trigger: platting (preliminary and final, if phased), engineering and code review, and additional public hearings where the public may comment again. Residents and council members asked staff to ensure pedestrian and drainage analyses are included in forthcoming reviews.

If the annexation ordinance moves forward, subsequent planning steps will specify required street geometry, pedestrian crossings and stormwater management; those technical plans will be reviewed by the city engineer and considered at future public hearings.