Monday, the council heard from Brainerd Lakes Chamber and business representatives, as well as the Pequot Lakes School superintendent, who all support a through-town route.

The city also received results from a Region Five Development Commission study of visitors to the city, and residents and businesses in the city.

"The council will take all the information and remarks and e-mails into consideration and we'll be back on the 18th to make a decision," said Mayor Cathy Malecha.

Ruth Ann Hanson, Brainerd Lakes Chamber area director, told the council that information learned while the city studied a bypass route in the past year led the chamber's board of directors and the Pequot Lakes/Breezy Point Advisory Committee to support a through-town route.

This decision was based on various reasons, including that area cities - Nisswa, Jenkins and Pine Rvier - won't be bypassed, and that the delay in construction of a bypass route would be harmful to the community.

Highway 371 expansion work isn't scheduled to begin in Nisswa until 2015-16, and a construction start date depends on Minnesota Department of Transportation funding.

The business climate will stagnate if the bypass isn't built for years, or ever, Hanson said.

She said the Region Five study showed visibility was a main reason visitors stopped in Pequot Lakes.

"Visibility is huge," Hanson said. "They need to see those businesses to stop at them."

She also said people who used to favor a bypass now are changing their minds since learning an overpass wouldn't be built right away.

Rick Linnell, Pequot Lakes School superintendent, said he had concerns about safety of students with a bypass.

"At-grade intersections are a serious concern for the safety of our students that drive to school, as well as those that ride the bus," Linnell said.

"The more at-grade intersections,with increased traffic, traveling at speed limits in excess of 50 miles per hour are a recipe for disaster for our students and staff," he said.

"I would like to remind you that the safety of our most precious commodity (our children) is at stake here," Linnell said, asking the council to make a decision based on the commmunity's health and well-being, and not just economics.

Deb Hallbeck, a Pequot Lakes resident who owns Sibley Station, said she'd support a bypass if it could be built tomorrow. She voted for a bypass in a postcard survey last year.

But as information has come to light, Hallbeck said a bypass will hurt this town for a long time.

"Once it's there it will be OK, but we don't know when it will be there," she said. "If you say we'll go around town, I don't know what will happen in the next 20 years until that happens.

"We need to plan for the future, but we also need to live in the present," she said.

Cindy Couture of Salon Couture and a Pequot Lakes resident said her business doesn't rely on visibility and isn't on Highway 371. However, a lot of her business comes from people who are on the highway.

"We have to realize there's a trickle down effect also," she said. "We all rely on each other."

She said people who sit in her chair ask about the empty stores in the city. Stagnation is real, she said.

Brandon Andersen, owner of Lonesome Cottage, said property taxes are already affected. The production facility on Highway 371 he is trying to sell is assessed at $715,000 and he hasn't had anyone interested in his sale price of $615,000, he said.