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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-19 Minutes1 MINUTES OF CITY OF EDINA, MINNESOTA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION COMMUNITY ROOM JUNE 19, 2014 6:00 P.M. ROLL CALL Answering roll call were members Bass, Boettge, Iyer, Janovy, LaForce, Nelson, Olson, Spanhake, and Whited. ABSENT Members Sierks, Van Dyke. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Motion was made by member LaForce and seconded by member Janovy to approve the meeting agenda. All voted aye. Motion carried. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF MAY 15, 2014 – Approved as corrected. Motion was made by member Janovy and seconded by member Boettge to approve the amended minutes of May 15, 2014. All voted aye. Motion carried. COMMUNITY COMMENT – None. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail Final Alignment Update Mr. Eric Nelson and Mr. Jonathan Vlaming from Three Rivers Park District sought approval for Edina’s segment of the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail final alignment. Mr. Nelson said the alignment is the same as was presented on Apr. 17 with more definitive details worked out along the route as follow:  The trail will be a sidewalk on Smetana until it is reconstructed and a bike lane will be added;  They are in discussion with the County on the Gleason Rd segment where the County has a designated 5-ft shoulder for a bike lane; they are proposing a multi-use trail on the east side of Gleason;  In Bredesen Park, the existing trail will be widened to 10-ft and become a two-way, currently a one-way trail;  The school board approved the alignment that runs on district property after changes were made so the ski trail would not be impacted;  They are in discussion with City staff about ways to make the intersection at Tracy Ave and Valley View Rd safer;  At 70th St by the railroad crossing, they are going to have an underpass under 70th because of flooding concerns and are in discussion with City staff regarding use of a piece of City-owned land;  They are in discussion with MNDOT staff to put the trail in their right-of-way on the eastside of TH-100;  From MNDOT’s right-of-way, the trail meanders behind Burgundy Place (working with owners for an easement) and along the edge of Fred Richards Golf Course to Parklawn (in 2016 Parklawn is scheduled to be reconstructed similar to Gallagher Dr);  77 property owners along the trail were surveyed regarding screening and to date, 32 responded and they’ve selected all the options available from no screening, vegetation, chain link or wood fence; no single option was selected more than another. 2 During discussion, they were asked how property values are affected by a nearby trail and Mr. Vlaming said studies show that property values are not reduced and realtors will often refer to the nearby trail as a selling point. Regarding parking, they said they are going to wait and address this based on needs, same as they did with the Dakota Rail Trail. Approvals to date include Park Board (6/10) and School Board (6/16) and they plan to present to City Council on 7/1. Preliminary design will begin in the fall with final design completed in the winter. Construction on the east half is expected to begin in 2015 and the entire trail completed by 2017. Total project cost is $20M and secured funds to date include a $6.2M grant, plus Three Rivers District’s contribution of $8M. They are confident that they will be approved for federal funds for the rest of the project when application opens this fall. Mr. Vlaming said the board will decide later on if the project is built in stages or if they’ll need to pledge money to build it all at once. Contact for the project is Jason McGrew King, 763-559-6779 or JMcGrew-King@threeriversparkdistrict.org. Motion was made by member LaForce and seconded by member Janovy to approve the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail alignment with the understanding that it could change as the property that is now Fred Richards Golf Course is redeveloped. All voted aye. Motion carried. Discussion with Edina Public Works Director Mr. Brian Olson described the public works department as multi-faceted with divisions that include electric, HVAC, facilities, utilities, asphalt and concrete streets, parks maintenance, etc. He said the streets division crew is responsible for doing mill and overlays, pothole repairs, concrete street repairs and also assist with bike lane striping. He said all employees plow snow and their biggest challenge was this past winter where they saw two distinct winters. He said their goal is to have the streets plowed within 6-8 hours of a snow fall but sidewalks can take up to two days. In addition to street maintenance, they also maintain approximately 40 athletic fields, lift stations, sanitary and storm sewers, water mains, etc. Mr. Olson said public works work closely with the engineering department on things like mill and overlay, bike lane striping, and they recently drafted a new crosswalk standard; he thanked the ETC for their input on the crosswalk standard. Mr. Olson was asked how public works respond to residents questions and concerns and he said questions or concerns can come to the department via the website’s ‘Report A Problem’ or the new ‘Edina To Go’ mobile application. He said these are tied directly to their work order system. There is also an FAQ online. He said everything they do is about quality public service and he welcomes feedback and input. Mr. Olson was asked how they decide when to repair or not to repair a pothole. He said this is a delicate balance because in the winter months the asphalt mixes does not stay very long which means multiple applications. Chair Bass said with the Living Streets Policy they are trying to meet the needs of all residents, including non-drivers, and the Active Routes to School plan was just approved by City Council. She asked if sidewalk plowing is prioritized and Mr. Olson said they are not because they only plow County and State Aid streets. He said the France Ave sidewalk, for example, has to be plowed multiple times because the City plows and the County puts the snow back when they plow the street. He said because of this, they prefer boulevard style sidewalks where they have some separation. He said they have four 5-ft wide sidewalk plows ($110,000 per plow). Member Nelson asked if they will be responsible for plowing the new Nine Mile Creek Trail and Mr. Olson said this has not been discussed. He said the City of Hopkins is in a trial phase and Three Rivers provide funding but he is not sure what will happen in Edina. 3 Member Janovy asked how the ETC could advocate for facility and maintenance funding. Mr. Olson said he could put together a recommendation of costs. He said Living Streets is great but it present challenges, for example, last winter they did not have anywhere to put the snow and streets became narrow. He said too that median landscaping is expensive to maintain. He said including maintenance with infrastructure changes would be great. Member Iyer asked why not restrict parking during the winter and Mr. Olson said it would be expensive to install the necessary no parking signs. Member Janovy asked about the 1 a.m. parking restriction and if it could be move to 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and Mr. Olson said 1 a.m. is ideal because it gives staff more time to plow and be done by 6 a.m. Chair Bass thanked Mr. Olson for taking time to meet with them. ITNTwinCities: Edina Taxicab Ordinance Modifications Ms. Arlene Forrest, board member and Edina resident, 4400 W. 50th St., and Ms. Debra Burton, executive director, and White Bear Lake resident, requested support from the ETC to recommend to the City Council modifications to Chapter 12, Article VII of Edina City Code for the purpose of creating a new category of licensed vehicle called a “Charitable Non-Profit Transportation Vehicle.” Ms. Forrest explained that ITNTwinCities, a Minnesota nonprofit affiliated with ITNAmerica, was established in Edina to provide dignified transportation for older adults and those with impaired vision; however, based on current taxicab ordinance in Edina, it is illegal for them to operate. They are seeking support to modify Chapter 12, Article VII similar to language adopted in other cities. They plan to begin offering rides by late summer 2014. After discussion, motion was made by member Janovy and seconded by member Whited to write an advisory communication to the City Council recommending that Chapter 12, Article VII of the Edina City Code be modified. The advisory will provide guidance and recommendation to staff but will not define how the Code should be modified. All voted aye. Motion carried. Member Janovy will write the advisory communication and will be assisted by chair Bass and members Boettge and Whited. It was recommended that the City’s legal counsel review the ETC’s recommendation. Educational Public Safety Campaign Goals Chair Bass said Educational Public Safety Campaign is in the ETC’s 2014 Work Plan and asked for feedback regarding who the participants should be in the working group. She said it is a joint planning campaign with the school district. Planner Nolan suggested the police and communications departments and said they are already teaming up to work on a similar effort. He said SHIP money is available and probably some PACS Fund money. Other suggestions were the Chamber of Commerce, Bloomington Public Health, 50th & France Business Association, Commuter Services; and additional City departments suggested were Park & Recreations, Engineering, and Senior Center. Traffic Safety Committee Report of June 4, 2014 D-2: Planner Nolan was asked if a comprehensive neighborhood study could be done because of recurrent complaints in the area so that they can identify the problem(s) and find solution(s). Member Spanhake said this would probably be an ideal capstone project for an engineering student. She will check on this and report back. B-1: The issue was referred to the TSC by Cindy Larson, residential redevelopment coordinator. B-2: The attachment was not included in the report. Planner Nolan will rewrite the recommendation for better clarity. 4 C-1: Chair Bass said it is important that they are being careful to balance the level of service for pedestrians and motor vehicles. Motion was made by member Janovy and seconded by member Whited to forward the June 4, 2014, report with the attachment and edits for B-2 to the City Council. All voted aye. Motion carried. Updates Student Members - None Bike Edina Working Group – Minutes of May 8, 2014 Member Janovy said planner Nolan attended their last meeting. She said they discussed infrastructure and ordinance changes, and one outstanding issue with the sidewalk ordinance change is that a violation would be a misdemeanor. She recommended that they review the code to see where they can make changes. She said she could distribute what she’s put together so far. Living Streets Working Group Planner Nolan said they reviewed the updated cross sections or network of Living Streets and discussed topics and goals for the July 1 City Council work session. He said they also talked about identifying people that they can feature to champion Living Streets similar to Hometown Heroes, for example, engineering are aware of a couple residents who were against a sidewalk and now they enjoy using it. Planner Nolan was asked if anyone is working on the green streets piece of the Living Streets Policy and he said environmental engineer Ross Bintner is working on it. Communications Committee Member LaForce said they discussed:  The new boards and commissions blog to determine if they would participate and he said they agreed that they would use it for more in-depth issues;  Getting the message out about biking on sidewalks;  How they can better coordinate with other departments, for example, the police’s recent bike campaign;  Pedestrian Facilities Map is really a Sidewalk Map and therefore should be called Sidewalk Map;  Forwarding website recommendations to planner Nolan that was suggested last year. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS – None. CHAIR AND COMMISSION MEMBER COMMENTS Member Whited said the letter to Ms. Arbelig was completed and ready to be mailed. Member Olson noted that City Council approved the Olinger Boulevard bike striping based on the original design plan. Planner Nolan said they were given staff’s original plan plus the ETC’s recommendation. He asked if sidewalks were prioritized for 2015 and planner Nolan said majority of the sidewalks will be in conjunction with neighborhood reconstruction projects. Chair Bass said she presented the Active Routes to School plan to the school board recently and they were very receptive, and also to the City Council and they approved the plan. She said the City Council advertised recently for youth boards and commissions’ members and they received 60 applicants for 16 spots and because they do not want to turn anyone away they are planning on including them in working groups. STAFF COMMENTS 2014 Project Update:  Bredesen Park D Neighborhood Reconstruction – delayed 3-4 weeks due to discovery of rusted watermain 5 bolts;  Countryside F Neighborhood Reconstruction – ready to be paved;  Strachauer Park B Neighborhood Reconstruction – partially paved;  Birchcrest B Neighborhood Reconstruction – delayed because the same contractor is working on Bredesen Park D;  Morningside B Neighborhood Reconstruction – June to early July start, except the sidewalks outside of the main project area will begin earlier;  Todd Park F Neighborhood Reconstruction – mid-July start date;  Olinger Boulevard – City Council approved staff’s recommended design; State Aid variance was approved;  France Avenue Pedestrian Intersection Enhancement – stage 1 is completed;  Hazelton Road – closed until Jun. 30;  Xerxes Avenue – on schedule; letter will be mailed this week to residents regarding the bumpouts. Other:  Boards and Commissions Blog – a guideline is being written and it may be that staff liaisons will write the blogs. Planner Nolan will forward information to member LaForce.  Bloomington Public Health is looking for a volunteer to train to do bike counts in Edina. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned. ATTENDANCE TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE - 2014 NAME TERM J F * M A M J J A S O N D SM 2/27 S M 3/1 0 W S 3/18 # of Mtgs Attendance % Meetings/Work Sessions 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 7 Bass, Katherine 2/1/2014 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 86% Boettge, Emily 2/1/2014 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 100% Iyer, Surya 2/1/2015 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 100% Janovy, Jennifer 2/1/2014 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 100% LaForce, Tom 2/1/2015 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 100% Nelson, Paul 2/1/2016 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 100% Olson, Larry 2/1/2016 1 1 1 1 1 5 100% Sierks, Caroline student 1 1 1 3 43% Spanhake, Dawn 2/1/2016 1 1 1 1 4 80% Van Dyke, Jackson student 1 1 2 29% Whited, Courtney 2/1/2015 1 1 1 1 1 5 71% *Cancelled due to weather 2/27 Feb's rescheduled meeting; 3/10 Urban Design meeting #4; 3/18 City Council Work Session; Respectfully submitted, Sharon Allison, Secretary