The Northland Pines school board recently confirmed on a 5-1 vote they will cooperate with the city of Eagle River in meeting the non-funded obligation in a large grant to completely reconstruct Pleasure Island Road including bicycle and walking routes.
District Administrator Scott Foster indicated the Multimodal Local Supplement grant to reconstruct just under one mile could be either 90% or 80% of the $1,103,000 cost with the unfunded portion split between Eagle River and Northland Pines.
The district approval limits their share “not to exceed $120,000” and is “specific to this one grant.” “This is the best opportunity we've seen in the last ten years,” Foster said. “This is a long term solution for safety for our students and visitors to our Eagle River campus.”
The single vote against the proposal came from board president David Weber who indicated his vote was “really symbolic” expressing his thoughts district funds should be used for student education. “I'm happy we're moving in a positive direction on the road after years of trying,” Weber said, “but I feel it should be spent on education. In a perfect world I would have liked the city to pick up the total non-funded cost. We have a beautiful campus with multiple functioning parts that work well together and the road was the only piece lacking; if we get this grant it will make our campus whole.”
The grant application is due early December and the decision on the grant should be known in February.
