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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-06-16 Minutes 1 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF EDINA, MINNESOTA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION COMMUNITY ROOM JUNE 16, 2011 6:00 P.M. I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by chair Janovy. II. ROLL CALL Answering roll call were Members Bass, Bonneville, Braden, Franzen, Janovy, Schold Davis, Thompson and Nelson. III. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Chair Janovy proposed to change the meeting agenda to go to Item VI.C immediately upon Mr. Steve Clark’s arrival; Living Streets will include discussion on SHIP funding update, Commissioner Bass’ funding update and Commissioner Braden’s report on her conversation with a staff from the Humphrey Institute. Commissioner Bonneville asked to add updates on W. 44th St. and Chair Janovy recommended that he sign up for City Extra to receive weekly updates on any project in addition to monthly updates from Mr. Sullivan. Commissioner Franzen moved to approve the amended meeting agenda and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Schold Davis. All voted aye. Motion carried. IV. ADOPTION OF CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of Minutes -- Regular meeting of May 19, 2011 B. Traffic Safety Report of June 1, 2011 Regarding Section B, page 2, chair Janovy asked if the City has a written policy on “Child at Play” or similar signs. Assistant city engineer Sullivan said the City does not have a written policy and they are being removed during street reconstruction, or not being replaced when they become worn. She also inquired about “guy with flag” and similar signs and if they can be placed in the parking lane. Mr. Sullivan said staff would prefer that they are not placed in the parking lane and being used short term when children are playing does not present a problem. Commissioner Schold Davis said she has observed the signs in areas where there are no children present and they are placed far out into the street. Commissioner Nelson asked about section D, item 5, where Mr. Tate suggested observation at the curve of Blake Rd around Mirror Lake to see if a slower speed sign should be posted. He said he observed a driver going around the curve at a high speed that went across the street and hit the curb. Mr. Sullivan said he will be looking to see if a lower speed sign should be posted. Commissioner Nelson motioned to approve the consent agenda and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Thompson. All voted aye. Motion carried. V. COMMUNITY COMMENT None. 2 VI. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS A. Transportation Commission Ordinance Update The ordinance was approved by Council said chair Janovy. B. Living Streets Policy Update Mr. Sullivan said the SHIP funding ($15,000) was approved by the City Council and the next step is to identify a consulting firm that can assist with writing the RFP. Commissioner Bass said Blue Cross is offering a one-day policy development workshop at no cost (a $7,000 value) to the ETC, including elected officials, members from other commissions and the general public. Commissioner Franzen motioned to accept the donation and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Braden. All voted aye. Motion carried. Discussion included:  Commissioner Braden’s inquired of the Humphrey Institute if they were working on Living Streets and the person she spoke with expressed a willingness to meet with the ETC.  Workshop consultants could help in determining how to spend the funds (must be used by August 31).  Have consultant attend workshop to see public’s reaction.  Use some of the funds for ordinance/policy updates.  RFP to be written by staff and distribute to ETC; staff will also select the consulting firm. C. Bike Boulevards for Transit for Livable Communities (TLC) Mr. Sullivan said the $250,000 grant application that was approved by TLC in 2009 for bike lanes in Edina was discussed at the last Council meeting. He said the bike lanes would start at France Avenue and W. 54th Street (with a connection into Minneapolis), west to Wooddale Avenue to Valley View Road, under crosstown to W. 69th Street and to W. 70th Street. Mr. Sullivan said Council would like a model project but there are some hurdles to work through and asked the ETC to work with TLC regarding the design and for the ETC to engage the public and report back to Council for implementation in 2012. Chair Janovy said the BETF will also weigh-in. She made reference to an anti-bike letter in the Edina Sun-Current and said it shows confusion about where bike belongs. She explained that the concept is largely sharrows and bike may use full lane. She said if she understood correctly, the plan coming forward did not meet intended goals of funding. Mr. Steve Clark, of TLC, said that in a construction approval memorandum to MnDOT, the engineering consulting firm explained that part of the application was not realistic because they probably would not be able to remove parking, and therefore, the plan was have sharrows and use lane signs in those areas. He said the original application submitted in 2008 had some merits but did not quite go far enough. He said TLC worked with city engineer Houle and BETF to bring it to best practices for bicyclists, and the 2009 revision included a willingness to explore bike lanes on both Valley View Road and Wooddale Avenue which would require removal of parking on Wooddale. He said a parking study could be done to determine parking needs on Wooddale, but in his observation, there appear to be driveways and garages that allows for adequate off-street parking. He said if the roadway has at least 2000 cars, it is best to have dedicated bike lanes to remove conflicts and the law allows this. He said on Wooddale, parking would need to be removed, while Valley View would be a road diet going from 3 to 2 lanes. He said in his observation, the center lane did not appear to be used often but this may require an engineer study. He said the 3 to 2 lane conversion was not in writing but there seemed to be a willingness to explore this. He said city of Richfield is narrowing lanes to 10 ft. to accommodate 5-6 ft. bike lane, and while Mn/Dot does not like this, it is happening more often nationally. 3 Regarding 54th Street, Mr. Clark said there is no need to remove parking, instead he suggested having reverse stop signs to make it easier for bicyclists and add diverters to discourage cars from using it. He said the application does not have much detail for making this street bike friendly. Mr. Clark explained further that most of the money would be spent at Valley View and TH-62 to redesign the area and that a consultant and city engineer Houle have already created a design but this is not necessarily the final solution. Additionally, he said the project is challenging because Edina is not a grid system and the current locations seem to be the most direct routes. Discussion ensued as follows:  70th St. has roundabouts going in that is not compatible to bikes, even after planning for so long. Mr. Clark said bikes lanes are not recommended for roundabouts, sharrows are better. He said bikes are to use roundabouts just like cars with sharrows and for those not comfortable being in roundabout with cars, install sidewalk and crosswalk. Sharrows are not planned for roundabouts for lack of space according to city engineer Houle and it is too late for ramps. Consider discussion to retrofit the roundabouts at a later time.  54th, Wooddale, Valley View, 69th are all state aid roads that requires adherence and Edina has never requested a variance for a 10 ft. lane; not know sure if other communities have done this.  What is the consequence for eliminating parking on Wooddale? Mostly used by contractor vehicles now it seem.  Mr. Clark met yesterday with his committee and told them that a resolution supporting the project was coming and he will report to the board that there isn’t a motion now to move forward or withdraw funds.  Is the 54th bridge wide enough? Mr. Sullivan said it needs to be replaced but no funding at this time for replacement.  Do not have a way to approach the parking issue; on W. 70th and other projects, parking always wins over bike lanes. How do you determine the value of parking since parking always wins out over everything else?  Council wants this moving forward, engaging with public, resolve parking, etc. ETC would help with engaging residents on issues such as parking.  Residents will feel threatened about losing parking and the City does not have a parking policy; already knows how it will end.  Should be working with a firm that has experience with bike boulevard, etc. Mr. Sullivan said there is no money to pay a firm and they will not hire a firm until the major concerns are identified and worked out.  40th Street River Lake Bike Blvd is the closest bike boulevard to Edina to see an example of one.  About 90% of the routes are feasible and maybe Mr. Clark can talk with his colleagues to get suggestion for safer solutions.  Need to have conversation at a higher level first before engaging the community; let community know this is not for speeding cyclists but for children and regular cyclists.  People’s exposure now is negative and Edina is not ready for cycling. 4  Bridge over TH-62 could score high for funding.  Mr. Clark said his time is being redirected to other planning studies for projects that are shovel-ready. He said he needs to know if the City is serious and if the community is ready for this type of project. He said the board has other projects with community support but no money; therefore, they are looking at projects without community support to pull money from. He said he does not like removing parking when there aren’t off-street parking options and Wooddale has large residential houses with off-street parking options. He said if parking cannot be removed from Wooddale and having 3 years to consider this his recommendation would be to spend the money elsewhere. He said the public process is important to get the community’s feedback.  Council direction was not very clear as to what they want ETC to do, getting clarification through the City Manager.  Engineer said certain things weren’t feasible as indicated in 2009 application; certain sections puts funding in jeopardy and TLC will not accept watered down modification; sharrows do not increase ridership, but bike lanes do; can have some sharrows but they should not be the majority.  Next Tuesday staff is meeting with Council and can outline the concern to see how they want to proceed. Commissioner Thompson motioned that they move forward with pursuing the $250,000 and that they do the best they can in meeting original application and avoid watering it down. Discussion  Need Council’s commitment immediately or could lose the money. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Nelson. Discussion  Include in memo to Council that they are aware that parking will be an issue along the route and issue at crosstown intersection and at roundabouts that have not been solved at this time. All voted aye. Motion carried. D. Safe Routes to School Application Update Mr. Sullivan said an application was submitted yesterday and they should know by August if approval was granted for the South View campus for approximately $500,000. E. France Avenue Study Mr. Sullivan explained the following:  Past assistant city manager worked on the plans for the 72nd St. Bridge and he is working to fill in the gaps that exist today; current plan is to do an RFP at this time; Council needs to be brought up-to-date.  2007 concept plan included two bridges – one at 69th St. to connect with proposed trail but the trail is crossing at the Galleria instead at grade level.  Original estimated cost was $2.3M but it could now be $3.5M and the original design was for access to the neighborhoods, not to connect with the trail.  At-grade crossing was suggested with bikers walking their bike across.  TIF money may not be available. Motion by Commissioner Nelson to not support the bridge at the current location and to support significant enhancement improvements to facilitate at-grade crossing and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Bass. All voted aye. Motion carried. 5 Discussion  France Avenue Study was commissioned by the City and Hennepin County’s Housing, Community Works and Transit Department. It is not known whether it has the support of Hennepin County Transportation or Public Works Departments. F. Bike Edina Task Force Update None G. Grandview Small Area Study Update There is a transportation subcommittee that Commissioners Bonneville and Nelson serves on; however, the rest of their meeting dates conflicts with the meeting dates of the ETC. H. ETC Bylaws After brief discussion, Commissioner Thompson motion to accept what is in the packet and revisiting by year’s end and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Bonneville. All voted aye. Motion carried. VII. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS None. VIII. CHAIR AND COMMISSION MEMBER COMMENTS Commissioner Bonneville requested monthly updates on W. 44th Street and W. 70th Street. IX. STAFF COMMENTS Mr. Sullivan said on W. 70th Street curbs for the roundabouts at the east end will be poured this week and the 24” gas main will be complete by the end of the month; regarding W. 44th, the contractor’s meeting just took place and the gas company should be starting within 10 days. Sanitary sewer lift at 42nd has a foul smell, said chair Janovy. X. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Franzen moved to adjourn the meeting and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Braden. All voted aye. Motion passed.