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Lake Elmo resident urges no-parking zones and trail bollards after blind-curve near school bus stop
Summary
Michael Shields told the council parked cars, blind curves and contractor traffic on Royal Boulevard North and Master Street North are creating a safety hazard at a neighborhood school-bus stop and asked the city to add no-parking restrictions, speed signs and bollards to block motorized carts on trails.
Michael Shields, a resident of the Royal Club neighborhood, told the Lake Elmo City Council that parked vehicles and sharp blind curves on Royal Boulevard North and Master Street North are creating a “severe immediate safety risk” at the primary school-bus stop at Master Street North and Royal Boulevard North. Shields said vehicles regularly park on both sides of the street, reducing the road to a single lane and forcing large delivery and contractor vehicles to negotiate blind curves where children and parents can be hidden from oncoming traffic.
Shields noted the city previously addressed a similar hazard in the North Star development by banning parking on the non-sidewalk side of the street and asked the council to institute the same restriction on the sidewalk sides of Royal Boulevard North and Master Street North. He also requested installation of clearly visible speed-limit signage around the curves.
On adjacent city-owned trail parcels (referenced in Shields’s packet as city parcel ending in 0033), Shields said unpermitted motorized golf carts and electric dirt bikes are crossing public pedestrian paths to access private golf-course paths, tearing up trail edges and disturbing wildlife. He cited city code section 7.04 0.03, saying the code explicitly bans motorized vehicles on public pedestrian walkways, and asked the city to install official signage and restricting bollards at specific trail entrances to give the Washington County Sheriff a clear enforcement mechanism.
Shields provided photographs he said were taken the morning of the meeting to illustrate the sight-line obstruction and argued that the conditions are worse on clear days. He asked the council for immediate intervention to protect pedestrians and natural habitat.
The mayor thanked Shields for the presentation. The council did not take a vote on specific street- or trail-restriction measures during the meeting; staff follow-up on signage, parking restrictions and enforcement was discussed in subsequent staff and council reports.
Next steps: council members and staff indicated they would review Shields’s packet and photographs and coordinate potential no-parking restrictions, signage and enforcement options with Washington County and city public works.
