Scott County raises stakes on metro roads

Scott County is accusing the Metropolitan Council of ignoring federal guidelines in the creation of a new long-range plan for roads and transit.

Upping the ante in an increasingly open and aggressive pushback, the county has had its lawyer draft a letter accusing the metro-wide planning agency of violating the law by bypassing mandatory consultations with local officials.

Met Council Chairman Peter Bell, an appointee of Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, denied the accusation.

He said that at no time did any member of the key advisory group of local officials and others "express concerns about inadequate review of the draft plan or request additional time," Bell wrote back this past week.

The underlying issue is Scott County's concern that its need for additional river crossings and highways in the decades to come is being forgotten as the council shifts to a strategy that emphasizes transit, toll lanes and low-cost fixes for bottlenecks, mostly in the inner urban area.

As a sign of the mood in which it is all taking place, Scott County Attorney Pat Ciliberto also asked for -- and was promised -- an apology for "rude and derogatory responses from council staff when he protested the lack of review." He didn't elaborate, but Bell said the comment had to do with "whether the commissioner was familiar with the draft document from previous meetings."

Scott County worries that the Met Council is increasingly seeking to direct, rather than coordinate, decisions about the region's future. In the case of the transportation plan, Ciliberto wrote, there's a memorandum of understanding that dictates that local elected officials must be "include[d] ... in the decision making process."

Similarly, Ulrich last winter described a session at the University of Minnesota with public officials, announcing a clear shift in direction in highway planning, as nothing like the two-way street it was depicted but rather a handing down of tablets from on high.

The Met Council says sessions like last winter's have been part of an elaborate process of outreach that cannot possibly leave anyone in any doubt as to what the Pawlenty administration as a whole -- including the Department of Transportation -- finds realistic in light of budget constraints and the need to aggressively attack the state's crumbling bridges and roads.

No indication of neglect

The Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), on which Ulrich sits, and its committees "could have met as often as they wished during the development of the draft ... and could even have discussed it during the public comment process," Bell wrote. There is no indication, he added in a subsequent letter, that the rest of the group feels neglected.

The county has been moving on the political front as well. Scott is one of the state's most loyal Republican-voting counties, and both letters mention that Bell received a visit from two of its legislators -- both ranking Republicans on key committees, and one of them a committee on transportation finance -- making Scott County's case. The two were Rep. Mike Beard of Shakopee and Sen. Claire Robling of Jordan.

"The council has a habit of deferring to decisions by TAB [and its committees] which are stacked in favor of developing suburbs," he said, "but this is a self-inflicted wound and does not flow from the federal regulations."

Erkel added: "The fight is presented in terms of process and whether it has been abused when the real issue is that the county doesn't like the substance in terms of which projects will be funded. In effect, the county is asking for a do-over because it isn't getting what it wants."

On the other hand, as the county acknowledges, the Met Council did jump to attention when it got a legally framed letter from the county attorney rather than the usual political gripes. It hastily produced a long letter in its own defense.

And last-minute changes in wording to the plan did offer some olive branches to the county.

A set of revisions shows that it is adding language, for example, addressing the county's desire to add major new highways in the future. The failure even to mention such plans had been seen as menacing, as they could hamper efforts to begin setting aside land for those arteries.