St.

Saturday, April 21, 2001

St. Theodore Catholic Church sits in the middle of Albert Lea’s worst traffic problem, and they won’t stand by while the city makes the problem worse, parish leaders say.

Church representatives will try to convince the Albert Lea city council Monday to switch course on the Bridge Avenue/Fountain Street/Clark Street intersection. Their argument: let’s fix the traffic problems surrounding St. Theodore once and for all.

But the Rev. Robert Schneider says church members aren’t only concerned about the church’s property – they’re looking out for the best interest of the entire city.

&uot;The council did not choose the best solution to fix the intersection,&uot; Schneider said. &uot;It’s just not the best solution for us at the church or Albert Lea.&uot;

The council decided at its last meeting to make a number of improvements to the intersection to address safety and traffic problems. From several alternatives, the council opted for the least expensive plan, involving two concrete islands and a concrete barrier to fix the intersection. The plan would cost about $100,000, according preliminary estimates.

Schneider said the inexpensive plan would make the church’s vision for a new parking lot useless. In fact, Schneider said, the permit has still not been approved.

Randy Kehr, parish council president of the church, thinks the city council ignored the best solution. Kehr said the best option would be to reroute the streets to make a smooth intersection with signal lights to manage the traffic.

Though the plan costs much more, almost $900,000, Kehr believes the plan would solve the traffic problem for the city’s drivers and the church’s members. Currently, the church is plagued by poor parking lot access, higher traffic volume, speeding drivers and visibility problems.

Though a new parking lot would help relieve a parking shortage, concrete islands and barriers restricting traffic in the area would make access to and from the church even more difficult, Kehr said.

&uot;The reroute plan is more expensive in the short term, but it makes much more sense than the one the city council approved. Let’s revisit the issue again and work something out,&uot; Kehr said.

Parish Trustee John Forman said the church is even willing to donate the necessary land to reroute the streets. Forman also thinks the larger price tag on the plan is misleading.

&uot;We’re talking about a state-aid road in Bridge Avenue, so the state would help with the cost,&uot; he said. &uot;The city wouldn’t have to pay the whole bill.&uot;

Discussions between the church and the city have been ongoing for more than two years, said Parish Administrator Mike Ellis. After the church acquired the land bordering its property to the east, parish leaders approached the city about building permits for a new parking lot and other projects.

Because of the difficult traffic and poor intersections in the area, the permit was denied, Ellis said, which led to a collaborative effort with city planners to develop a solution. The reroute plan resulted, Ellis said.

&uot;I was under the impression we had settled on it,&uot; Ellis said. &uot;We had no idea this other plan was still a possibility. We didn’t even know the council was going to discuss this issue. Nobody from the city contacted us or we would have been there.&uot;

Schneider said the church would also support a cheaper alternative as a back-up plan that would designate Fountain and Clark as one-way streets, Fountain running west and Clark running east.

&uot;It’s definitely not our first choice, but if money is that big of a concern for the city, then a pair of one-ways is something we could live with,&uot; Schneider said.

Parish leaders pitched the one-way pair option to City Manager Paul Sparks and Mayor Bob Haukoos last week, but emphasized that the reroute plan is the best choice.

&uot;I think the last meeting was a misunderstanding,&uot; Kehr said. &uot;I think the council thought it was doing us a favor by approving a faster solution. We are not in a hurry to tackle our parking lot project.&uot;