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Chamber proposes targeted business survey after businesses push back on MnDOT 371 concept
Summary
The Baxter Chamber and Bladec proposed a non‑anonymous, one-response-per-business survey to quantify how the preferred MnDOT 371 ‘button‑hook’ design could affect customer access, safety and revenue; presenters said the city’s help distributing the survey would increase response rates ahead of an Aug. 5 results briefing.
The Baxter Chamber of Commerce told the City Council it will launch a targeted business survey to measure commercial concerns about MnDOT’s preferred design for the 371 intersection, which chamber representatives said prompted widespread alarm among local merchants.
Matt Killian of the Chamber and Tyler Lenham, executive director of Bladec, said the Chamber and economic-development partners have held multiple information sessions since late 2022 and that the chamber’s support was an important element in securing roughly $58 million in competitive MnDOT funding for the project. Killian told the council that when businesses saw the preferred “button‑hook” concept—featuring multiple roundabouts, grade changes and track crossings—“virtually every business I talked to … is very, very concerned” about customer access and employee parking.
Killian said the public online survey circulated earlier this year drew about 130 responses but only five were self‑identified business owners; the Chamber argued that number is insufficient to reflect corridor businesses. To fill that gap, the Chamber proposed a non‑anonymous survey limited to one senior leader or owner response per business. The presenters said they will aim for at least 50 qualified responses and recommended a two‑week collection window to close before the July 4 holiday, with a results presentation to the council on Aug. 5 and an early preview for project engineers at a July 22 open house.
Council members pressed staff and the presenters on methodology and outreach. Staff confirmed the earlier public instrument was open to residents and visitors and therefore did not isolate business perspectives. Killian asked whether Baxter could help circulate the new survey beyond the Chamber’s 196 members; he said that broader distribution would produce more usable data.
The Chamber and Bladec asked the council to comment on a draft instrument before distribution so the council could “have more ownership in the results,” Killian said. City staff and project engineers said they would coordinate distribution and provide a short window for council edits before the survey goes live.
Next step: the Chamber expects to launch the business survey within days and return to the council with summarized results at the Aug. 5 meeting.
