North St. Paul authorizes staff to send letter backing Washington County's Hwy 120/36 funding application

The North St. Paul City Council authorized staff to submit a letter of support for a Washington County application seeking regional solicitation funds toward a possible future interchange at Highways 120 and 36.

Morgan (city staff) explained the request is to provide a standard letter indicating the city's awareness of and support for Washington County'led funding efforts. "This is simply to approve or authorize staff to complete and transmit a letter of support basically for a funding application," Morgan said, noting the regional solicitation is competitive and the lead agency for the application is Washington County.

Morgan said Washington County is requesting roughly $20 million through the regional solicitation; the $20 million would not cover the entire project cost but would be a significant portion. He added there was no request for city funding at this stage, though the letter clarifies the city would continue to own and maintain any city right-of-way affected by future improvements.

Council members asked whether other affected entities -- including Oakdale and Ramsey County -- were providing letters and whether agencies such as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or the Metropolitan Council would need to be involved. Morgan said Washington County had requested letters from neighboring jurisdictions and that Metropolitan Council processes the regional solicitation; he also said the DNR had been involved in corridor studies but was not explicitly in the letter request list he saw.

The council voted to authorize staff to submit the letter. Morgan said the solicitation'funded work would be programmed in a future year (staff mentioned a placeholder of FY 2031) and that the county-led proposal would be subject to competitive scoring and later design phases.