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Home My WebLink About2007-01-23 Minutes 1 MINUTES OF THE Special Meeting of the Edina Transportation Commission Thursday, January 23, 2007 Edina City Hall 4801 West 50th Street Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Les Wanninger, Warren Plante, Marie Thorpe, Jean White, Marc Usem, MEMBERS ABSENT: Steve Brown, Hilah Almog STAFF PRESENT: Wayne Houle, Jack Sullivan, Sharon Allison West 70th Street Corridor Traffic Study Public Hearing Residents north of West 70th Street Chair Wanninger called to the meeting to order. Wanninger said the sole purpose of the public hearing is for the ETC to listen to the residents. He said all comments received thus far are available for review at the libraries, the Senior Center, the Engineering Dept. and the City’s website. He said questions raised at the public hearings will be answered at a later time and posted at the locations previously mentioned for all to see. The study process will take approximately one year, said Wanninger. Wanninger described the study area as Hwy. 100 to France Avenue and Hwy. 62 to the Fred Richards Golf Course. He said after this first round of public hearings a Study Advisory Committee will begin meeting to review residents’ comments and data collected by the traffic consultants. The Study Advisors to the ETC will be made up of W. 70th residents (Earl Benson, Dave Hatzung, and Peter Warner), City staff and Planning Commission members, City of Richfield’s staff and a Transportation Commission member, representatives from area businesses, CPC Church, the School District, Hennepin County, Mn/DOT, and SRF, the traffic consultants. Wanninger said some things are already known such as congestion certain of times of day, heavier traffic volume since 1984, speeding, crashes, cut-thru, etc. and others would be revealed tonight. He said the rumor surrounding a 4-lane highway is false and the only decision that has been made so far is to conduct the traffic study. The meeting was then turned over to the residents to speak as follows: Jonathan Fernands, 6905 West Shore Drive  Supposition that widening is still on the table based on Sun Current’s article and that the issue was raised by the City Council and League of Women Voters this past election;  Encouraged ETC visit two websites: www.contextsensitivesolution.org and www.pps.org.  Credible organizations say widening roads is not the answer. 2  Vagueness about what can be done therefore, only conclusion is that expansion is on the table;  Do not consider expansion as an option. Gail Pappas, 4500 Dunberry Lane  Son was hit on W. 70th in 1999;  Safety crossing the roadway;  Please be careful and do your best and the right thing during planning. Paul Green, 6945 Southdale Road  Solution to speeding traffic is 4-way stop signs every two blocks;  If goal is to get more traffic, who is going to pay for it?  Squad car sitting waiting for speeders;  No benefit that can be done that will be of benefit to residents;  Southdale does not benefit residents. Sandy & David Phillips, (Letter read by Harold Babb)  Traffic movements;  Stop high-rise;  Some immediate solutions are: direct traffic to frontage road, including 66th St.; redesign Hwy. 100 & W. 70th exit. Dan Berntsen, 6728 Point Drive  Difficult for bicyclists to get through; create a system that would tie in with Hopkins and the western suburbs. Kate Overstreet, 4813 Dunberry Lane  Studies to tell us what we already know;  What is the objective given to the consultants? Increase flow into Southdale? Preserve neighborhood? It’s one or the other;  Do no dismantle neighborhood. JD Overstreet, 4813 Dunberry Lane  Petition with 500 signatures with stipulations of no truck traffic, slower speeds, new pedestrian and bike access, maintain current width and location and beautification of W. 70th;  2005 Greater Southdale Land Use and Transportation Study identified Crosstown & France as the root of the problem, are there plans to address this area?  Same report also talks about “if 70th is widen to handle the projected volume” so he is surprised that the ETC is not aware that widening is an option; it also shows a land bridge at W. 70th and France and a diagram lowering France underneath W. 70th;  Showed a design plan for Hwy. 100 & W. 70th and W. 70th: France to York. The area between the two locations is missing and cannot be debated until plans are on paper. David Rodbourne, 4501 Dunberry Lane  Study narrowly focused, ignores high rise;  Study area stops at golf course, ignores 77th & Industrial area;  Easy access for drivers on W. 70th due to there being only one stoplight;  Narrow the roadway, put in bike lanes, and stoplight at West Shore; 3  Dunberry not included in study;  Enforcement. Gene Persha, 6917 Cornelia Drive  Rule nothing out because of costs;  Create an environmental impact statement listing pros/cons, alternatives and costs;  Wants to see SRF do same with schematic and alternatives;  Try experiment to see where traffic goes when people are coming and going;  Do license plates study;  Survey residents to see about giving up parking on W. 70th;  Pollution control monitor for emission;  Cars do not obey crosswalks, education and enforcement needed;  Build a boulevard down the center of the road to look like a parkway to curb traffic;  There is no beautification in Edina to make neighborhoods look friendly. Barbara Kunz, 6516 West Shore  Sending traffic to 66th St. and making it busier is not the answer;  Need some options. Martin LeVenture, 6717 West Shore  What is the vision for the road?  Livable community, walkable, pedestrian;  Health for both individuals and community, not crossing a highway is healthier. John Metil, 4730 66th Street  More traffic will harm neighborhood, urge not to increase traffic;  Answer is not to redirect traffic on 66th St.;  Southdale is well served by France, Xerxes, and Valley View; focus on improving traffic flows on these streets. Mark Mitchell, 7001 Heatherton Trail  Crosstown is failing us;  Enhance use of Valley View, 76th and 77th;  Hennepin County is asking for ideas so now is a good time;  Have learned to live with W. 70th, do not like it, but it is urban/suburban. Mark Evans, 4421 Judson Lane  Is the desire or mandate to increase or decrease traffic on W. 70th? Please post this answer to the website;  Police not pulling people over for speeding; squad is visible but doing nothing. Vicki Barzen, 4713 Upper Terrace  Thinks that grade school would preclude expansion. Nora Davis, 6921 Southdale Road  Horrified at the size of Grammercy, sees traffic problems; Dave Phillips, 6800 Cornelia Drive  Historical plans of Southdale show that 70th, Crosstown, etc came after; 4  Hopefully Mn/DOT’s plan to fix Crosstown will help;  Signage idea is essential to carry more traffic on 66th St.;  Alternatives are hard because of obstacles but must try and come up with something, maybe a ramp off to the north. Harold Babb, 4701 W. 70th Street  Agrees with making W. 70th into a parkway but must be realistic with 15,000 vehicles;  Unsafe conditions;  Should be returned to neighborhood street;  Need to establish a volume;  Identify traffic pattern and identify solutions to reduce traffic to established traffic volume and do so without shifting and creating burden on other streets. Marsha Coon, 4813 Wilford Avenue  Mass transit is a way to reduce the growing traffic;  Did not like the reference of ‘Gateway to Southdale’, however a shuttle to Southdale would be helpful;  Do not widen the street. Gary Thacher, 6901 Southdale Road  Concerned with quality of life issues, not with money or traffic;  Please think about quality of life. Meeting adjourned.