Board spurns petition for road paving

Despite receiving a petition from 27 area residents, the Thomson Township Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to push back the paving of East Riverside Road and Serenity Way to 2022 because of a planned building project that could negatively impact a new road surface.

It’s not the first petition submitted to township officials. In 2014, residents submitted a petition, but it was rejected then because the township had a comprehensive plan for repaving.

According to the petition, that plan stated that all roads would be paved by 2018, yet East Riverside and Serenity Way remain unpaved.

Residents feel the most recent promise of road paving in 2019 was not honored.

In addition to the petition, there was a letter Lynette Shannon sent to the township including a timeline of the promised paving and comments regarding a recently approved rezoning at East Riverside Street from single-family to multi-family to allow for the construction of seven two-unit buildings.

“Multifamily apartments/townhomes are not something that would be a good fit for our neighborhood,” Shannon wrote. “Our schools are already crowded and our roads are currently poorly maintained. This is not the time to be adding further development.”

Shannon said Hillside Road residents got a much quicker response from the township when they requested their road be paved.

She said the town board “has broken our trust … and demonstrated they do not have the best interest for our families who reside on East Riverside and Serenity Way roads,” asking that the town board honor its commitment to put quality of life first for residents.

Due to the rezoning approved by the board March 18, the request for the repavement of East Riverside Road and Serenity Way was accepted but scheduled for completion in 2022 to not interfere with the construction or have it harm a new road.

The board decided to go forward with the fourplex development and begin prepping the roads for paving in 2022.

Fire department

Construction at the Esko Fire Department is expected to be completed within the next three weeks.

Included in the renovations at the firehall are new showers for first responders to use before going home to their families, to help stop the spread of Covid-19.

The funds for the project are thanks to the CARES Act, which contributed $232,000 to the project budgeted at $259,000. Right now it looks like the project is about $10,000 under budget, so the township will not have to contribute as much money.

During the March 18 meeting, the board also discussed a new ordinance to allow the fire department to bill for mutual aid services for pipeline protest calls. The board tabled the discussion and will work with attorney Dave Pritchett to draft an ordinance for discussion at the next meeting.

Esko fire chief Kyle Gustafson and the board assured the public that the ordinance would not bill residents for every emergency service, such as medical responses and car or structure fires.

Deputy to retire

Carlton County Sheriff’s Office deputy Rob Lucas, Esko’s sole full-time deputy, will be retiring after nearly four years of service to the community.

Lucas assured the board and community members that he would remain involved in the community, after an emotional thanks to the board.

Deputy Randy Roberts will be the temporary fill-in. The board expects to have a new deputy assigned to the township sometime in late April or mid-May.

The board will meet again April 1.