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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-07-22 MinutesCORRECTED MINUTES 1 MINUTES OF THE Regular Meeting of the Edina Transportation Commission Thursday, July 22, 2004 Edina City Hall 4801 West 50th Street Community Room MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson Fred Richards, Marie Thorpe, Jean White, Warren Plante, Joni Bennett , Les Wanninger, Dean Dovolis, Bill Skallerud MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Wayne Houle, Steve Lillehaug, Sharon Allison I. Approval of Minutes from June 24, 2004. Bennett had significant amendments to the minutes. After the Commissioners reviewed the amendments, Bennett moved that her corrections be made to the minutes. The motion failed for lack of support. A motion was made by Dovolis and seconded by White to accept the minutes as submitted. Abstained – Skallerud. Opposed – Bennett. II. Presentation and Review of Transportation Commission Policy (Revisions) Lillehaug informed Commissioners that information on the Transportation Commission is now on the website. He stated that all approved minutes and current agenda, along with pertinent approved policies and applications will be listed. a. Policy Revisions Lillehaug went through the draft policy, highlighting areas where changes were made as a result of Commissioners and staff recommendations. Lillehaug said a title page was added to include contributors to the formulation of the policy. Other changes recommended by Commissioners and staff is also reflected in the revisions. Lillehaug noted that White recommended including calming measures on arterials in the roadway design which he explained would be in opposition to what the policy is trying to accomplish (getting the arterials to move traffic through and off residential streets). White said her recommendation to include arterial roadways is a reflection of 50th & France (an arterial) where stripping were added to allow traffic to flow more easily. CORRECTED MINUTES 2 b. Appendix B – Traffic Management Devices/Measures Lillehaug said some revisions were made to this section. He said Police, Fire and Public Works would be reviewing the draft policy concurrently and giving their feedback. Regarding speed enforcement, Lillehaug said it is often a misconception that stop signs help to reduce speed and accidents. Stop signs are typically used to indicate drivers’ right-of-way at an intersection. c. Appendix C – Application Request A Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan Application was added for residents to use to submit requests. This will be added to the website upon approval. d. Appendix D – Petition-to-Study The current Petition Application being used by the City will be used. III. Handout – Examples of Traffic Calming in Minnesota Lillehaug reviewed a 1999-01 report compiled by a consultant for the MN Local Road Research Board and Mn/DOT. The report, Effective Traffic Calming Applications and Implementation, is a listing of various traffic calming devices that were implemented in various Minnesota cities and residents’ reactions to the effectiveness of each implementation. Bennett noted that the examples in the report included traffic calming devices on minor and major arterial streets. 12 of 34 examples listed were collector and arterial roadways. Lillehaug said based on the report it is possible, however, they must approach this with caution because traffic could move from arterial to residential roadways. Houle said it is his understanding that the State does not typically allow traffic calming devices on State Aid roads because they are collector roads and they will not fund maintenance of these devices. 50th and France was pointed out as an example of a county road with traffic calming implementation. Dovolis suggested creating a policy for arterial roadways so that devices can be implemented where possible. IV. Review/Discussion/Recommendations of Transportation Commission Policy (continued from previous meeting) White asked if the Commission is going to initiate or wait for residents to bring issues forward. Richards said the Commission could begin working on studies as soon as they adopt the policy, but the Council is expecting them to respond to the Task Force findings regardless of neighborhood requests. The procedure for residents to bring issues forward will start by residents submitting a Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan Application. The Petition-to-study process will be conducted after the application has been submitted. After the policy is adopted, Houle said staff will create a fact sheet listing the step-by-step procedure for residents to follow. CORRECTED MINUTES 3 Plante suggested adding language under the Vision of the policy to reflect the business sector. Bennett submitted her re-wording of the Vision statement. Wanninger suggested submitting all re-wording changes to staff and all staff to incorporate all the changes into the policy. Bennett said her name was listed incorrectly on the title page. It should be listed as Joni Kelly Bennett. Wanninger said he agrees with including arterial in the scope of the policy to the extent that they can make the arterials safer but not to discourage traffic as stated in the Roadway Design, item #4. The recommendation is to separate arterial from item #4. Bennett said the Edina Transportation Plan of 1999 states that “traffic calming can be appropriate on lower volume local and collector streets…It should not be employed solely as a means to discourage thru traffic in a neighborhood.” She asked what is the intent in terms of consistency. Houle stated that the intention is to update the Transportation Plan with the ETC Plan. White asked if implementation of traffic calming devices would result in cut-thru traffic reduction in neighborhoods or at least an acceptable level (is this why arterial should be separated?). Dovolis said they do not want to reduce/discourage traffic on arterial roads, which is where the conflict is in item #4. White stated her concern is that speed does not increase on arterial roads. Houle said in some cases an arterial should be at a faster speed to avoid cut-thru traffic. Instead of using “…supplements…” on page 2, under the heading City of Edina Transportation Commission Policy, Bennett suggested using ‘incorporates or adopts’ because the draft policy is restating what is already in the Edina Transportation Plan. Bennett suggested rewording item #7 on page 2 to read as “Encourage beautification of local corridors where appropriate, with amenities such as boulevard trees, decorative street lighting and monuments.” Wanninger suggested expanding item #9 on page 3, to include a public relations campaign that focus on individual responsibility to each other rather than individual rights. Thorpe suggested creating an action plan that will outline how the Commission will address the education issue and how/where people will get the information. Houle said an Action Plan is listed on page 6 that outlines different ways in which the public will be informed. Bennett’s suggestion of possible conflict between item #11 on page 3 and page 2 will be deferred to the City Attorney. Bennett asked what was the definition of non-local traffic in item #11, page 3. Houle said if not already listed under definitions, staff will have to create one. Thorpe suggested there might be two categories of definitions: one for local traffic and one for the regional system. Lillehaug said the policy is not for all streets as a whole. Thorpe said this confirms the need for more than one definition. CORRECTED MINUTES 4 Regarding item #12, page 3, Bennett asked if it’s feasible to add “….by the Planning Commission and residents,….” since questions or concerns may not always originate with the Planning Commission. Wanninger asked if the Planning Commission usually consider traffic issues in their planning. Skallerud said it is done on a case-by-case basis. Plante asked if traffic impact was a big issue during planning of the 70th Street & Metro project. Skallerud said the residents were more concerned about safety issues and less about traffic. Bennett asked if there’s a way to create a procedure for public comment on issues that may have been overlooked. Houle suggested having a workshop with Council to get their feedback on some of these issues before the policy is adopted. The review and discussion of the draft policy ended at page 3. V. Other Governmental Activities White reported there will be a public comment period for the 35W/Crosstown expansion through August 19th ; Street Car Memories by the Edina Historical Society on August 7th, 10-1 p.m.; and a special segment by KSTP called Street Speeders where they targeted motorists on Cedar Lake Rd and Shady Oak Rd driving over the speed limit. Residents in attendance commented as follow: Kristy Anderson, regarding Bennett’s changes to the minutes, Ms. Anderson stated that inaccuracies in the minutes are not a negative reflection on the person taking the minutes. She said failure of the Commissioners to be willing to adopt changes to create accurate minutes reflect poorly on the Commissioners. Jennifer Janovy stated she is concerned that the Commissioner is plagiarizing by using documents and photos without giving credit to the original author. Rob Webb, 4516 Drexel, thanked the Commissioners for taking their time to work on the transportation issues. Richards stated that White had suggested inviting a member of the 494 Commission to update the Commissioners on their activities and he recommended doing this after they’ve had a chance to review the draft policy in its entirety. Richards asked if the draft policy should be circulated to the city departments now or later. Houle suggested circulating it before the Commissioners get to the traffic calming devices so that they can give some input on them. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Next meeting is scheduled for August 26, 2004, 6:00- 8:00 p.m. in the Community Room, City Hall.