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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-09-20 Minutes 1 MINUTES OF CITY OF EDINA, MINNESOTA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION COMMUNITY ROOM SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 6:00 P.M. ROLLCALL Answering roll call was Members Bass, Braden, Franzen, Iyer, Janovy, LaForce, Nelson, Schweiger, Sierks and Thompson. New student member Caroline Sierks was welcomed to the ETC. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA The agenda was amended by member Bass to reschedule the do.town update for next month’s meeting. Motion was made by member Janovy and seconded by member Iyer approving the amended agenda. All voted aye. Motion carried. APPROVAL OF MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF AUGUST 16, 2012 The minutes was amended as follows: page 2, 4th paragraph, delete “Sgt. Olson said she supports the Police Department’s position that it is a good ordinance regardless of whether it is legal to do so;” page 4, 3rd paragraph, delete “City Council” and replace with “State Legislature;” 4th paragraph, add “North” before “St. Paul.” Motion was made by member Franzen and seconded by member LaForce to approve the amended August 16 minutes. All voted aye. Motion carried. COMMUNITY COMMENT - None. REPORT/RECOMMENDATIONS do.town Update Rescheduled for next meeting. Sidewalk Ordinance Discussion Chair Nelson said the discussion was a continuation from last meeting. Member Janovy made the following motion and it was seconded by member Laforce: 1. Forward the BETF memo and recommendation as background information. 2. Recommend that the City Council update Ordinance 1400.07, Subd. 3 by inserting the word “motor” before “vehicle” so that it reads: “No motor vehicle shall be parked or driven on or along a sidewalk.” 3. Recommend that the City Council update Ordinance 1230.03G by inserting the word “motor” before vehicle so that it reads: “…no person shall in any park or publicly owned property: Drive or park a motor vehicle on any area not designated for parking or travel.” 4. Recommend that the City Council eliminate Ordinance 1425 – Bicycle Registration. Member Janovy said for City Council’s discussion, they would have the BETF memo and the ETC minutes for background and adding “motor” before “vehicle” is the simplest change because activities like skateboarding or inline skating would probably qualify as vehicles. She said it is more than bikes that are impacted by the code and this would change it to the 2 intended purpose of restricting motor vehicles. She was asked about motorized scooters and wheelchairs and she said they are considered pedestrians if being used as a substitute for walking. Member Iyer asked if they are going against the police’s recommendation and member Janovy said yes. He said he agreed with eliminating the bike registration but wondered why they were going against the police. He said he would give discretion of enforcement in the same way that discretion is given to the engineering staff. Member Janovy said the police are not enforcing the ordinance and residents are confused about the ordinance based on emails that the City Council has received. She said also that the change would bring Edina in line with surrounding communities. Chair Nelson also agreed with eliminating the bike registration and leaving everything else as is since there are no real issues. Member Janovy said parking bikes on sidewalk is currently not allowed and chair Nelson said this could be treated as an exception. Member Bass said they should support actual behavior and not dissidence. Members Thompson and Franzen also agreed with the motion. After discussion, the following vote was taken: Ayes: Bass, Braden, Franzen, Janovy, LaForce, Schweiger, Sierks, Thompson Nays: Iyer, Nelson Motion carried. Traffic Safety Committee (TSC) Report of September 5, 2012 Chair Nelson thanked staff for including photos in the report because they are very helpful in understanding the story. Section B.1. Member Janovy asked if the request was for no parking between Bruce & Casco Avenues. Director Houle said the request was specific to the resident’s address. Member Janovy said the 85th percentile speed data is useful but asked if they could also get the number of vehicles travelling over 25 mph and Director Houle said yes. Member LaForce asked how to interpret the 85th percentile data. Director Houle explained that the industry standard is to look at the speed that 85% of drivers are travelling and member Thompson added that they look at all the recorded speeds and the 85th percentile speed is the speed at which 85% of drivers are traveling at or under. He said the speed limit is set based on driver behavior and people drive based on their comfort level. Director Houle will explain how the 85th percentile speed process works at the next meeting. Section B.2. Member Thompson suggested a way finding sign to the back parking lot. Section D - Director Houle explained that section D is there to show other issues that staff assists residents with. Section D. 1. Member LaForce asked if the City proactively monitors overgrown vegetation and Director Houle said staff is encouraged to report clear view issues. He said the police enforce clear view and they are generally successful in getting residents to comply when complaints are received. Member Janovy noted that there is new landscaping at Concord & Oak with arborvitaes that are small now but will present a clear view issue when fully grown because of how close they are planted to the street. Director Houle said he will forward this to the police. Member Franzen said he received a letter from the City recently about trimming his trees. Section D. 12. It was noted that it would be informative to know what advisory was given to the resident. Section D. 13. It was noted that it was good to see the new crosswalk being noticed. Director Houle said the media has been calling him about the new style because of crosswalk incidences. Member Bass said she has noticed more kids using the sidewalk and crosswalk. Motion made by member Janovy and seconded by member Thompson to approve the September 5 TSC report. All voted aye. Motion carried. 3 2013 Neighborhood Reconstruction Projects – Receive Feasibility Studies Director Houle said staff will do a formal presentation at the Oct. 25 meeting but in the meantime, he asked commissioners to submit comments or questions to him in a timely manner so that staff can prepare responses for the Oct. 25 meeting. Chair Nelson noted that the Braemar Hills questionnaire did not include streetlights and Director Houle said they already have decorative streetlights. Updates Student Member Member Schweiger said he noticed today that someone had spray-painted the word ‘fascism’ on a stop sign at Interlachen & Blake. Director Houle said he would forward this to public works and he also noted that there is a place on the website called ‘Report A Problem’ that anyone can use to report public works related problems. Bike Edina Task Force – Minutes of August 9, 2012 Member Janovy said they discussed the issue of status and voted to stay as is, even though what they are is not known. Member Janovy said she received permission from the City of Minneapolis to adapt their Bicycle Markings for Edina. She said each page is a standalone for easier distribution. She suggested adding a color coded map of the city to show where the different types of lanes are located. She said further that CM Sprague would be contacting the communications department to see if they would like to take over. Director Houle said he was not aware of this but he too had received permission to use the information and was planning on doing the same thing. He thanked member Janovy for the work that she had done and asked her forward to him the electronic copy so that staff could create the color coded map and complete the draft advisory lane portion. Living Streets Working Group Member Thompson asked Director Houle if there were staff available to help move them forward and Director Houle said he was the only staff available. He said he requested a transportation engineer for 2013 from the franchise fee if it is approved and he has also spoken with the city manager and assistant city manager about budgeting $150,000 to complete the policy. Member Janovy asked about sharing the plan with department heads and Director Houle said he would do this at one of their weekly staff meetings and department heads could share with their staff liaison. Transportation Options Working Group – Minutes of August 14, 2012 Receive minutes of August 14, 2012. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS - Correspondence from City Council Packet Regarding Transportation Issues Director Houle said information that is transportation related that goes to the City Council will also be forwarded to the ETC, in addition to information received by the engineering department. CHAIR AND COMMISSION MEMBER COMMENTS Chair Nelson said there was a work plan meeting with the City Council that he was not able to attend. The 2013 Work Plan for all commissions was handed to the ETC. Chair Nelson suggested prioritizing theirs since there are so many items. Director Houle said some of them like Safe Routes to School are already underway. He said the City Council asked about the 2013 bike striping plans and he has spoken with BETF chair Kelly about this. Member Janovy said everything fits under Living Streets/Safe Routes. She said it looks intimidating as it is currently laid out and does not believe that they can handle everything. She said it would require more staff. Director Houle agreed with member Janovy about needing more staff. He also said if they begin collecting fees from residents, the residents will want to see projects and he will need staff to create plans. Member Thompson said if they get City Council/City Manager support, the $150,000 could be used to hire a consultant like City of No. St. Paul did who could do public outreach, education for biking, etc. Director Houle asked if there should be an advisory communication from the ETC because City Council will be discussing this again in the fall. Member Thompson said staff can emphasize to City Council that this was already one of the City Council’s priority. Member Bass encouraged use of the do.town staff for outreach. 4 She said funding for the group will be available until March 2013. It was agreed that Director Houle would reformat the ETC’s plan to look like the Planning Commission’s and pass it around for review. Later on, they will decide if they should send an advisory communication to the City Council. A joint meeting with the ETC and Planning Commission is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27, 6-7 p.m. It is not a mandatory attendance meeting. Next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 25 because of school holiday (MEA). Rose Ryan from Hennepin County will be at the next meeting to discuss their pedestrian plan. Member Franzen said he met the owner of the house across from Pizzeria Lola who mentioned striping in the alley and parking lot because of the parking issues. He said he could not recall what was done. Director Houle said staff has been observing on and off and that City of Minneapolis has met with the two restaurants because they too are having the same issues. He said they are generally cautious about posting no parking signs because this pushes vehicles further into the neighborhood. He will follow up with City of Minneapolis to get a recap of their meeting and will also check to see how the area was resigned. Member Bass reminded staff to include do.town on the next agenda. Member Laforce said he and members Janovy and Bass talked about forming a subcommittee to focus on communication to inform the community about what the ETC is doing. He said they would identify key objectives, messages and channels and it would be things that they can do on their own or with the communications department staff. A brief discussion ensued and everyone agreed to form the subcommittee. Motion was made by member Laforce and seconded by member Thompson to form a committee for the purposes and descriptions outlined in the document that member Laforce handed out. All vote aye. Motion carried. Member Laforce said the intersection at the YMCA is terrible around 5 p.m. Director Houle recommended going right to the oval-about instead of going left. Member Janovy asked if it should go to the TSC. Director Houle they’ve always interpreted these as private issues because the drivers are coming from a private site. He said the same thing happens at Byerly’s during the holiday season. He said the YMCA could encourage members to use an alternate route during peak hours. Member Iyer said the City of Minneapolis has 311 and asked why not Edina 311? Director Houle said public works has ‘Report A Problem’ on the website and that staff is working on a GIS system that would allow you to use your smart phone to report issues but it will not be ready for 3-5 years. Member Janovy asked how do they know that Tony that directs traffic at Valley View & Antrim knows how to direct bike traffic. Director Houle will check. She asked if the bike sign on Tracy south of Benton was properly located and Director Houle said it looks like it was but he would clarify with WSB. She also asked about the no parking resolution on Antrim Rd and Director Houle said City Council did not take action because the attorney said a resolution was not needed. Director Houle will check to see if Tracy was added to the bike resolution. Additionally, she said Pizzeria Lola is opening at Sunnyside & France and parking issues were identified in this area that has not been resolved. She said they need to be proactive about the parking issues. 5 STAFF COMMENTS France Ave Intersection - Director Houle said the project memo has been submitted to Mn/DOT and the team is working on final design and drafting of the easements. He said member Janovy had some questions that will be answered when they get closer to completing the final design. Bike Blvd – the traffic circles at Beard and Drew Aves are completed and some residents do not like them; striping next week on 54th and then Wooddale; the path from Valley View to pedestrian bridge was made wider. Bike Lane – Antrim was striped; Director Houle asked BETF to identify the next corridors. Tracy Ave – curb and gutter work being done and the project should be done within the next two to three weeks; they are using hydroseed instead sod because it works better than sod (same used on W. 44th and it worked very well). ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned. ATTACHMENT Attendance Spreadsheet