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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-04-21 Minutes MINUTES OF THE Edina Transportation Commission Thursday, April 21, 2011 Edina City Hall 4801 West 50th Street Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Katherine Bass, Thomas Bonneville, Ann Braden, Nathan Franzen, Jennifer Janovy, Paul Nelson, Elin Schold Davis, Michael Thompson, Robert McKlveen MEMBERS ABSENT: Sarah Engbretson, Bodhe Scheerer STAFF PRESENT: Jack Sullivan, Sharon Allison I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by chair Janovy. She explained to viewers that the ETC had been meeting off-camera in work sessions discussing ordinance, purpose and duties. Chair Janovy welcomed new member Bob McKlveen to the commission. II. Election of Chair and Vice Chair Chair Janovy explained that the chair is eligible to serve two 1-year terms, while vice-chair does not have a term limit. She explained further that the vice-chair fills in in the absence of the chair and may also lead special meetings. Commissioner Bonneville nominated Chair Janovy to continue on as the chair and this was seconded by Commissioner Thompson. Chair Janovy accepted the nomination. There being no further nomination, Commissioner Franzen motioned to close the nomination and this was seconded by Commissioner Nelson. All voted aye. Motion carried. Chair Janovy nominated Commissioner Franzen to be vice-chair and this was seconded by Commissioner Thompson. Commissioner Franzen accepted the nomination. Commissioner Bonneville nominated Commissioner Nelson and he respectfully declined. There being no further nomination, Commissioner Braden motioned to close the nomination and this was seconded by Commissioner Nelson. All voted aye. Motion carried. After closure of the nominations, the Commission took a voice vote and voted to appoint Chair Janovy as Chair and Commissioner Franzen as vice-chair. All voted aye. III. Community Comment Mr. Carlin Struckman, 4480 Parklawn Ave. So., #307, Edina, spoke to the ETC regarding traffic enforcement on W. 77th Street between Parklawn Avenue and TH-100. At least once weekly, he said, he has observed drivers being pulled over for no apparent reason and gave an example of a co-worker who was pulled over for excessive tinting on her car that came standard with the car. Mr. Struckman said enforcement should be concentrated in areas where needed like France Avenue. He asked that the ETC “consider issuing a directive to the Edina 2 Police Department that they move their rigorous enforcement of traffic laws to roads with much higher rates of collisions, such as France Ave.” IV. Approval of Minutes a. Regular Meeting of March 17, 2011 The following change was made: page 3, New Business, 3rd line, delete ‘to’ and replace with ‘of’ to read “…invite a representative of…” Commissioner Thompson motioned to approve the minutes and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Franzen. All voted aye. Motion carried. V. Traffic Safety Report a. Traffic Safety Report for March 2, 2011 Regarding the high school issue, Commissioner Bonneville asked if they had come to a conclusion regarding a resolution. Chair Janovy said this could be an issue for the student members to look into. Commissioner McKlveen said parking fees will be increasing next year so this may decrease the number of students driving to school. Other ideas were to encourage students to use other modes of transportation; see if there is a transportation coordinator at the high school who could encourage getting kids to school in a variety of ways; promoting bicycles for health benefits; creating safe, adequate parking to encourage biking and walking; and the city is getting a $5,000 grant for bike racks. Commissioner Bass said she works with an organization called Catalis, a youth organization, and was planning on talking to students regarding the organization and would be willing to include this. Regarding item 12 of the report, Commissioner Bonneville asked if traffic counts are usually given to developers. Mr. Sullivan said there is a database of traffic counts that is available upon request; however, not all streets are counted. Commissioner Bonneville asked if a session with staff to understand traffic on city streets would be helpful. Mr. Sullivan said reports for various streets could be given to the ETC. Regarding pedestrian traffic on W. 42nd Street and feasibility studies requested by CM Bennett, Mr. Sullivan said they are forthcoming. VI. Presentation – Living Streets, Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (Cliff Aichinger) Mr. Aichinger said the study was sponsored by Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District and developed by BARR Engineering. The watershed district proposed to work with North St. Paul because they saw significant benefits for water quality improvement and all of their streets and utilities are pass useful life but they do not have a pavement replacement plan. Knowing that the city would need to pull permits from them, the watershed district offered to help design streets that would reduce impervious surface and provides for handling of storm water as a natural function of the streets and the City agreed. He said the conclusion was that in order to control dissolve phosphorus in ponds they need to control storm water volumes. Mr. Aichinger said themes from the City’s Comp Plan includes active healthy living through increased biking and walking, greater connection between the neighborhoods, downtown and commercial areas, and improving the aesthetics of the neighborhoods which fits with Living Streets. To develop the plan, he said they had a taskforce of staff and residents, approximately 15-20 participants that met monthly for one year and went on field trips to see narrow streets and rain 3 gardens and developed goals. He said much attention is given to traffic movements and placement of underground utilities but not much attention is given to pedestrian movement, storm water capture, re-infiltration, biking and aesthetic characters, and the idea is to create a balance of all of these. He said they developed the following goals: 1. To improve storm water quality run-off from impervious surfaces; 2. Reduce impervious surfaces (can reduce street width because not much parking needed); 3. Calm traffic (using various techniques to slow traffic); 4. Improve bike and pedestrians connectivity (create bike lanes, add sidewalks where necessary); 5. Protect and enhance urban forest (create and retain existing trees; meander sidewalks around, if necessary); 6. Street construction cost should be equal to or less than traditional street construction (this is feasible because using less asphalt and less maintenance); 7. Minimize long term maintenance cost. Mr. Aichinger said all streets were examined and they are proposing to start with 15th Avenue using a Clean Water Fund grant of $500,000, matching funds from the watershed district and utility funds from the City. He said the proposal is to narrow the street by 6 feet, provide one parking lane, two traffic lanes, rain garden and public art. On collector streets he said they are proposing to eliminate one parking lane, add two bike lanes and bump-outs. Regarding snowplowing and maintenance of rain gardens, Mr. Aichinger said public works staff did not foresee a problem with plowing except that it will be a little slower, and they are cautious about maintenance of rain gardens. Currently, the City has approximately 500 rain gardens and they have cooperative agreement with residents for maintenance. Mr. Aichinger said they learned during neighborhood outreach campaign that approximately 80% of residents are in support of sidewalk but there are maintenance concerns such as shoveling snow. He said they will continue discussion for another year to engage residents. In reference to funding from the Clean Water Fund, Mr. Aichinger said it is unique to be funding streets reconstruction. He said this was the first watershed district to approve this type of grant which was done based on improving water quality and the approach is catching on across the country. He said Simon Property Group that owns Southdale Mall is in discussion with the watershed districts in Edina as they were involved because of Maplewood Mall. VII. Old Business a. Living Streets Plan/Resolution Chair Janovy said if they think the resolution is a good concept the next step would be to present it to Council and if they approve, ask for their direction in creating a process that may include other boards and commissions, staff and residents. Discussion Commissioner Bonneville said South Harriett Park neighborhood, for example, is a tight knit neighborhood that does not want sidewalk so this might be tough sell. Chair Janovy said it is does not mean every neighborhood would have sidewalks. She said they had previously talked about developing a pedestrian plan by reviewing the Comp Plan to identify missing links of sidewalks. She said CM Bennett did research recently on sidewalks with the idea of mapping 4 where there are sidewalks and missing links identified in the Comp Plan. Mr. Sullivan said most of this is already done. Commissioner Thompson suggested moving forward with a recommendation and creating a taskforce to work on what the City should look like over the next 40-50 years. He said this may take 1-2 years of planning. Commissioner McKlveen concurred and said he joined the ETC because there is a lot of work to be done and a comprehensive approach would serve the city, residents and staff. He said in his neighborhood that was recently reconstructed, staff had a good plan that would narrow some streets, add traffic calming and a sidewalk adjacent to a school and six residents were able to persuade the neighborhood to defeat the plan. He said if there was a city-wide statement supporting an overall goal and educating residents, staff would have had support going forward. Commissioner Bass said she liked the comprehensive approach and believes that while there are concerns, there is evidence that after sidewalks have been implemented neighbors do come around and enjoy them. Commissioner Davis agreed and said there are multiple stakeholders that would need to be involved. Commissioner Franzen said this is an opportunity to explore what can be done in the future. Commissioner Braden said it was beneficial to have the presenter tonight and the same could be done to educate residents. Commissioner Nelson said he is in favor and that there is a lot to be done in determining what needs to be done where and what is most beneficial. Commissioner McKlveen motioned to forward the resolution to Council for consideration and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Franzen. All voted aye. Motion carried. b. ETC Ordinance Revision Chair Janovy said a couple definitions were added since last seen, including changing ‘traffic’ in #8 to ‘transportation.’ She said the city manager commented on the draft also and his email was handed out tonight. Regarding item #5, Mr. Sullivan said after discussion with staff, they’ve agreed that the original language was appropriate. Regarding item #8, chair Janovy said there are still some concerns with traffic vs transportation. Mr. Sullivan said staff feels the definitions are different and transportation works better. Staff will review definitions and compare to Comp Plan and city codes for consistency. Commissioner Bass motioned to approve the revision of the ordinance and forward to Council and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Nelson. All voted aye. Motion carried. VIII. New Business a. ETC Bylaws-Draft 5 Chair Janovy said they are required to have bylaws. Commissioner Bonneville asked about the term ‘secretary’ and how was it different from Sharon. Chair Janovy said the city manager can make staff available as is the case and if not, the bylaws provide for them to appoint one. Commissioner Bonneville suggested changing it to say ‘appoint a secretary if one is not provided’ and move to section 11 where it talks about officers. Chair Janovy said communications between members is government data and that they may have to copy city hall on everything. She said she is waiting for clarification from the city manager. Mr. Sullivan said he will check to see if a place could be created to keep information that could be shared with everyone, otherwise continue to send information to staff for distribution. Chair Janovy said she will revise the bylaws and distribute to everyone for review. IX. Bike Edina Task Force Update (Commissioner Janovy) Chair Janovy reported the following:  Bike rodeo is planned for Saturday, 10 a.m. at Highland school and they are looking for volunteers.  The City received a grant for 40-60 single placement bike racks and plans are being developed.  The annual bike parade is being organized by CM Brindle.  Discussing the role of BETF and how it works with the ETC.  Openings on the BEFT for three members, especially women. Meetings are 2nd Thursday of the month at 8 p.m. for 1 hour. X. Chair Comments Chair Janovy said council is meeting with boards and commissions chairs to consider taping of meetings. Commissioners are still in agreement with quarterly taping of the ETC. XI. Staff Comments Mr. Sullivan reported that construction season has begun; load restriction is still on; construction on W. 70th begun Monday; other streets/neighborhoods that will be starting soon are W. 44th Avenue, Minnehaha Woods, Killarney Shores, McCauley Heights, Oscar Roberts, Interlachen Blvd, France Avenue and Valley View sidewalks. The traffic safety coordinator will be putting down traffic counts soon to fill in gaps in data and as requested. Residents in construction areas are generally notified by letter monthly and weekly by email using City Extra. XII. Commission Comments Commissioner Bass said Bloomington Public Health Department offered to pay for an attendee to the Safe Routes to School Conference August 16-18. Commissioner Bonneville said there may be several committees formed for the small area plan for Grandview with one being transportation. He suggested the ETC could become involved to share experience. Commissioner Nelson said he is involved. Commissioner Davis said she would like to gather information on transportation alternative volunteer driver program to share with the ETC to see if the City would be interested. Chair Janovy asked if she would like to give a formal presentation and she said yes. 6 Commissioner Franzen said he would like to reinforce that many people are excited about Living Streets policy based on the Sensible Land Use Coalition meeting he and Commissioner Braden recently attended. Commissioner Thompson complimented staff on their public outreach for construction updates for the W. 70th Street project. He said he lives nearby and would encourage everyone to go the website for information on the detour route. Commissioner McKlveen thanked everyone for inclusion and said he is looking forward to serving. XIII. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.