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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-03-17 Minutes MINUTES OF THE Edina Transportation Commission Thursday, March 17, 2011 Edina City Hall 4801 West 50th Street Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Katherine Bass, Thomas Bonneville, Ann Braden, Sarah Engbretson, Nathan Franzen, Jennifer Janovy, Paul Nelson, Bodhe Scheerer, Elin Schold Davis, Michael Thompson MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Jack Sullivan, Sharon Allison I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by chair Janovy. II. Approval of Minutes a. Regular Meeting of February 17, 2011 The minutes were changed to include ‘All voted aye. Motion carried’ at the end of Items III.a and III.b where motions were made. Commissioner Bonneville motioned to approve the corrected minutes and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Franzen. All voted aye. Motion carried. III. Traffic Safety Report a. Traffic Safety Report for March 2, 2011 Traffic issues around the high school was discussed including difficulty exiting the parking lot with no real solution; parking lot orientation was changed but no real improvement visible with exiting; school buses get priority exiting parking lot and then students make a mad dash; someone directs traffic in the mornings and afternoons. Suggested solutions were time- controlled stop sign and more students biking and riding school buses. IV. Community Comment None. V. Old Business a. Edina Transportation Commission Ordinance The following is a summary of discussion regarding revising the Edina Transportation Commission Ordinance and Purpose and Duties. Transportation Commission  Definition of words such as multi-modal, etc. would be helpful.  Exploration of discoveries in technical advances by other cities such as half signals used in Florida.  Expanding too quickly could cause them to lose focus. 2  This is an early draft to be modified as they see fit.  Land Use Plan is all about transportation which makes it clear that the City has a plan for transportation and this point to the vision in the Comp Plan.  Edina has one of the best Comp Plan and is hoping that the plan is not to reinvent things and new policies but work towards carrying out vision that is already in place.  Goal is to redefine the ETC as the body to help bring vision to life.  Struggles with projects being approved that are not in the Comp Plan; should become watchdog and voice for Transportation Plan and point out when it misses the mark.  Watchdog has negative connotation; City has many roles; likes what is in draft policy, seems consistent to what was discussed at work session. Purpose and Duties Item No. 1  Grouping together 1 & 6, 5, 8 & 10 and 7 & 11 was suggested.  Discussion on what is local.  Ability to comment on function of county road.  Operation was defined as ‘state of functioning.’  Ability to comment on bus routes, light rail. Item No. 2  All-inclusive includes everything.  Keep definition broad rather than narrow. Item No. 3  Whose plan - City’s plan, Planning Commission’s or both?  More long term plans, filling in gaps and prioritizing what is in the Comp Plan.  Use ‘strategies’ instead of ‘plan.’  Transportation Plan in place that is well done; suggested developing strategies to implement the City’s multimodal transportation plan.  A plan for bike in place but none for pedestrians – include a statement to include pedestrians.  Bike plan does not include implementation plans.  Suggestion to reword Item No. 1 as ‘..the operation and planning of the’.. and eliminate Item No. 3. Item No. 4  Making sure the vision is being implemented. Item No. 5  Planning Commission is taking over other plan reviews; the ETC will continue to review these items.  Make this broader and not use specific definitions or terms.  Mr. Sullivan will work on rewording. Item No. 6  Have done this in the past (Metro Transit route 6, Bren Rd, 169, etc.) 3 Item No. 7  Remove ‘on as needed basis.” Item No. 8  This can have a variety of meanings.  Change “traffic” to “transportation” to make it all inclusive.  Receive aggregate data and mapping to see how to prioritize.  Related to Item No. 7; identify opportunity for encouragement e.g. nothing can be done to change the high school area so incent students to bike to schools. Item No. 9  Add “opportunities” to end of sentence.  Staff can handle this.  Big task for ETC.  This was meant to be more in the future for things such as Living Streets.  Funding sources are state/federal/private grants.  Change “related to” to “supporting.” Item No. 10  Leave as is. Membership No change to membership b. Videotaping of ETC meetings Commissions that are televised are Planning, Parks and the ETC. Some noted disadvantages to televising were set-up of room, operation of microphones, appears more formal, conversation not flowing freely and costs. Some noted advantages were everything discussed is in public’s interest but some topics they may not find interesting. This information will be forwarded to Council along with the motion from the previous meeting. VI. New Business a. Living Streets Resolution Chair Janovy suggested reading No. St. Paul’s Living Street document that is online. She said excerpts from the Transportation Plan shows that it includes Living Streets. After discussion, it was decided that arrangements will be made to invite a representative of No. St. Paul to attend an ETC meeting to explain how they developed their plan. VII. Bike Edina Task Force Update (Commissioner Janovy) Bike Rodeo is scheduled for April 30, 10 a.m. Volunteers are needed. VIII. Chair Comments a. Chair and Vice Chair at April Meeting Chair Janovy said new chair and vice chair will be elected at the next meeting. Commissioner Braden volunteered to review the Energy and Environment’s bylaws which was provided as a model for other commissions to use. 4 Commissioner Nelson volunteered to serve on the CAT group for the old public works building site. Commissioner White has resigned and new member Bob McKlveen was appointed. Boards and commissions reception is scheduled for March 21 at Hughes Pavilion. Consensus was reached to inform the Planning Commission via email of what worked well and what didn’t regarding traffic reviews. Highways 101 and 42 are shut down due to flooding. Locally, sand bags are being filled in preparation. IX. Staff Comments a. Sensible Land Use Coalition Meeting Commissioner Franzen volunteered to attend Sensible Land Use luncheon; Commissioner Braden will also attend through work. X. Commissioner Comments Commissioner Bass inquired about the study that was done to build a pedestrian overpass at France Avenue. This will be on the next meeting’s agenda. XI. Adjournment Meeting adjourned.