Sartell City Council To Vote On Beltline Roadway Agreement

SARTELL (WJON News) -- A regional beltline roadway has been part of the long-range transportation vision for the St. Cloud area for many years. At Monday night's Sartell City Council meeting, the council will vote on approval of a beltline agreement. The proposed agreement does not create any financial obligation for Sartell. It will set up a framework for sharing costs for future beltline-related projects.

St. Cloud APO

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What does approval of the agreement mean?

Under the agreement, Sartell would commit to its share of the local match for any planning activities, like the first phase of the environmental review, through the existing Area Planning Organization (APO) per-capita cost formula. For Sartell, that amount is about 13.55%. In 2024, the APO developed a formal cost-sharing plan to guide beltline-related projects to outline how costs would be shared for planning phases. Any design, right-of-way, or construction remains the responsibility of the implementing county or city.

Have any other cities approved the agreement?

Sartell's Director of Finance and Operations, Rob Voshell says the main reason for the agreement is to make sure all jurisdictions are on the same page so the region can compete for state and federal funding when the time comes. Other than Sartell and St. Cloud, all other APO member jurisdictions have approved the cost-sharing agreement, so the approval would bring the city in line with the other entities. The cities and counties included in the APO beltline plan are: Sartell, St. Cloud, St. Joseph, Sauk Rapids, Waite Park, LeSauk Township, Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns Counties.

READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT:

See the Aftermath of the 1886 St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids and Rice Tornado

Here are some historical pictures taken of the destruction from an F4 tornado/cyclone on the cities of St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids and Rice, Minnesota on April 14, 1886.

Gallery Credit: Brown and Riley, "Cyclone Views: Pictures Sauk Rapids Cyclone" (1886). University and Other Publications. 1.