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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-06-15 MinutesDraft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/20/2017 1 Minutes City of Edina, Minnesota Transportation Commission Community Room June 15, 2017, 6:00 p.m. I. Call To Order Chair LaForce called the meeting to order. II. Roll Call Answering roll call were commissioners Brown, Koester, LaForce, Miranda, Olson, Richman and Ruthruff. Arrived late: Commissioners Olk (6:31 p.m.) and Kane (7:25 p.m.). Absent: Commissioners Ahler and Iyer. III. Approval Of Meeting Agenda Motion was made by commissioner Richman and seconded by commissioner Olson approving the meeting agenda. All voted aye. Motion passed. IV. Approval Of Meeting Minutes Motion was made by commissioner Miranda and seconded by commissioner Olson approving the revised May 18, 2017, minutes. All voted aye. Motion carried. V. Community Comments – None VI. Reports/Recommendations A. Passenger Rail Community Engagement Report Ms. Jessica Laabs with Kimley-Horn presented what she and two colleagues had planned for the next three months from June to September. This was the first meeting with the ETC and the last meeting will be with City Council. Scope of work will include two community conversations, survey, online presence on the City’s website, other meetings for smaller conversations and with surrounding cities to get their view on rail, fact sheet, planning study and document review, and final report for ETC to present to City Council. They hope to get contact with/input from 500-1000 people for this study. The following feedback was provided by commissioners: • There is a preconceived notion that the City operates with a hidden agenda and residents have a will to organize so be aware of these. • Share with residents that there is a misunderstanding of what passenger rail can do versus freight rail that is free to increase use of the Dan Patch line and this is out of the City’s control. • Residents directly impacted will be territorial while the rest of the community may not engage. • How do they engage residents not directly impacted and those who may not ride the rail? • Be prepared to answer questions on the Southwest Light Rail project. • If passenger rail does not have a stop in Edina, residents will complain about the City spending money to study passenger rail. • How do they include the voices of people not yet living in the area but who may ride the rail, Grandview Square redevelopment, for example? • City Council should engage state political leaders for support in removing the gag rule. Ms. Laabs said the first community conversation would be July 13 or 25 with the ETC hosting and participating. The meeting format is open house style where people can stop in at their leisure and stay for as long as they’d like. Planner Nolan said because they cannot invite everyone in the city because of cost, they will need input on who to directly invite. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/20/2017 2 Planner Nolan said this item would be on the agenda for the next three months and because of the schedule he would need to communicate with commissioners via email or they could form a committee. The consensus was to communicate via email for feedback. B. Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan Antonio Rosell said the project team included his company Community Design Group with a focus on planning and design, and SEH with a focus on engineering and feasibility. He introduced Britt Bermer from his team. Mr. Rosell said he did the City’s 2007 Bike Plan but today there are more options to pick from like cycle track, separated lanes, etc. He said even walkability have new designs available for intersection improvements, etc. He said they will tie the plan with Living Streets and water resources/green space (infiltration). For implementation, they will make sure their recommendations can be constructed and funded. The engagement plan includes internal stakeholders (project team) and external stakeholders (residents, schools, businesses, etc.), one open house, listening session (engaging a group that is already meeting), pop-up meetings (at an art fair for example), and an interactive map on the City’s website. The schedule is from spring to fall. Mr. Rosell asked for written feedback from the ETC on four questions and for suggestions on pop-up workshops, listening sessions and for other ideas. C. Transportation Impact Analysis Process Review Planner Nolan said the policy has been in place for some time but it is not being used as intended. He said it was passed on to the Planning Commission but some past ETC members have wanted to be more involved with this process but meeting schedules did not make this possible. He said the PC will need to be involved and suggested the ETC could revise it for use with larger projects or find some way to become involved with it again. Member Richman said she is concerned about not having the technical skills to rewrite the policy. She said the bigger opportunity is how to use it, make sure it is being used, or how to coordinate with the PC for involvement. She asked if it could be tabled until a later date. The consensus was to table it until a later date. D. Traffic Safety Report of June 7, 2017 B.2. Planner Nolan to revise this item. Motion was made by commissioner Olson and seconded by commissioner Ruthruff to forward the revised June 7, 2017, TSC report to Council. All voted aye. Motion passed. VII. Correspondence And Petitions – None VIII. Chair and Member Comments Student member Koester stressed the importance of having a good representative sample of surveys for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan because the population is diverse. Commissioner Ruthruff was concerned that not enough people will attend the Passenger Rail meetings and suggested combining it with meetings for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. Planner Nolan said the meetings would have to be longer but if pressed for time, they could consider combining them. Commissioner Richman said she submitted three requests to the Edina To Go App and she received an immediate response but still one month later the work has not been done. Planner Nolan will look into this and follow up with her. Additionally, she said she attended an event by the Arts Commission and discovered that there wasn’t any bike parking at Pinstripes or the Promenade. She and the Arts Commission chair talked about a joint meeting to discuss a joint effort to order artsy bike parking racks. Planner Nolan informed her that he has a cost share bike parking program. He said Town Hall Station just ordered some bike racks and Edina Country Club and Morningside Church have expressed an interest. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/20/2017 3 Commissioner Brown said he will avoid driving on Wooddale Avenue, one of his neighborhood streets because of how busy it has become. Commissioner Kane said students from Valley View and Normandale cannot bike to school; he said the schools did not promote biking for the recent bike to school day because there are no safe routes. He asked how to make this possible in the future and planner Nolan said he would send him the City’s Active Route to School Plan, plus the current Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan that they will work on will address some of these concerns. Chair LaForce on behalf of commissioner Ahler, said she suggested waiting until school is back in session to have the community conversations; and she invited everyone to walk or bike with the EEC in the friends section in the 4th of July parade. Chair LaForce said there is a dirt path along Xerxes Avenue, near the library, which is an opportunity for a sidewalk that could probably be done when the library site is redeveloped. On a trip recently, he observed two neighborhoods across from each and how different they were - the well to do had nicely laid out sidewalks, while the not so well to do had a patchwork work of sidewalks, and where the hotels were located had no sidewalks. He said sometimes when they see what good looks like they need to see what bad looks too to see the contrast. He asked if the ETC should participate in Open Streets on Sept. 24 and the consensus was yes. Commissioner Miranda volunteered to head this. IX. Staff Comments • Projects: o 2017 projects already underway are progressing. o Chowen Park D was moved to 2018 because the bids were higher than expected; o W. 66th Street & York Avenue, three of the corners are being redeveloped and the City will be doing some intersection improvements, plus developers contributed to the cost of removing the free right turns; o At the W. 62nd Street meeting, residents were shown the preferred option for the intersection closure and some residents are in favor and some not; staff will not include the curb cut to Valley View Road because they believe it is unsafe; a test pilot closure is scheduled for the last week of June to mid-July; the bike lane on Valley View Road will be disrupted a bit during the closure. o 2018 projects – project area maps were handed out with the suggestion that commissioners’ drive the neighborhoods and think about sidewalk, Living Streets, etc. • 44th & France Small Area Plan – first meeting is scheduled for Jun. 29 meeting. • Restoration Hardware has agreed to install a missing gap of sidewalk on W. 69th Street with their site redevelopment at W. 69th Street and France Avenue in 2018. • A sketch plan was submitted for the old bus garage site and the developer will put sidewalks around the entire site. • Market Street project – street name signs were changed and pedestrian improvements will include RRFB flashers and medians. X. Calendar of Events A. Schedule of Meeting and Events as of June, 2017 For information purposes - no discussion. XI. Adjournment at 8:32 p.m. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/20/2017 4 J F M A M J J A S O N D SM # of Mtgs Attendance % Meetings/Work Sessions 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 NAME (Date) Ahler, Mindy 1 1 1 3 83% Bass, Katherine 1 1 2 100% Boettge, Emily 1 1 2 100% Brown, Andy 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 100% Iyer, Surya 1 1 1 1 4 67% LaForce, Tom 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 100% Janovy, Jennifer 1 1 2 100% Kane, Bocar 1 1 1 1 4 100% Miranda, Lou 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 100% Olson, Larry 1 1 1 1 1 5 83% Richman, Lori 1 1 1 1 4 100% Ruthruff, Erik 1 1 1 1 4 100% Koester, David (student) 1 1 1 1 4 67% Olk, Megan (student) 1 1 1 3 50% TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE