Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-05-19 Minutes MINUTES OF THE Edina Transportation Commission Thursday, May 19, 2011 Edina City Hall 4801 West 50th Street Council Chambers 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 McKlveen. III. Approval of Meeting Agenda Motion made by Commissioner Franzen and seconded by Commissioner Schold Davis to approve the agenda. All voted aye. Motion carried. IV. Adoption of Consent Agenda Item IV.B., Traffic Safety Report of May 4, 2011 was pulled from the consent agenda. A. Approval of Minutes -- Regular Meeting of April 21, 2011 The following changes were made to the minutes: Item II, 1st sentence: delete “…serves a term of 2 years,” and insert “…is eligible to serve two 1-year terms…” 2nd sentence – delete “…also leads…” and insert “…may also lead…” New 4th para, insert “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.” Page 4, very top, first para, 2nd sentence from top “should look like.” 2nd para, 2nd sentence insert “…able to persuade the neighborhood to defeat…” Page 5, Item XII, Commission Comments: Delete “…is hosting a…” and insert “…offered to pay for an attendee to the…” Also delete “…and is paying for one member of the ETC to attend. Commissioner Franzen volunteered to attend.” Commissioner Schold Davis motioned to approve the corrected minutes and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Thompson. All voted aye. Motion carried. B. Traffic Safety Report of May 2, 2011 Section C, item 1, request for an all-way (4-way) stop at the intersection of Tifton Drive and Everett Place. Assistant City Engineer Sullivan said Commissioner Nelson said via email that he anticipates the findings will not warrant a stop sign because this is not a cut-thru area and the grade changes enough to slow drivers. 2 V. Community Comment Chair Janovy said with the new agenda format, they will be taking comments from members of the public on specific agenda items. VI. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS A. Living Streets Resolution Update Mr. Sullivan said the Council is in favor of the ETC starting the process of developing a Living Streets policy. Moving forward, Mr. Sullivan said funding for the process willl need to be considered. North St. Paul spent $200,000 on their Living Streets process, which involved a fair amount of public input. The Grandview Small Area Study is expected to cost approximately $100,000. He said the State Health Improvement Program (SHIP), administered by Bloomington Public Health Department, has a $15,000 grant set aside for Edina that could be allocated as seed money to start the process; however, it expires in approximately one month. Mr. Sullivan said they need to create a scope to get the money but considering the limited timeframe it does not need to be elaborate. Commissioner Bass said the funding was set aside for policy development in Edina, awaiting the right opportunity. Mr. Sullivan said some of the state’s requirements on what the money can be used for are developing a policy framework, paying consultants, and staff time. Discussion ensued as follow:  Staff or a traffic engineer graduate student working on this.  Establish a sub-committee or committee of the whole to work on this (would not count towards attendance)  Hiring a consultant as a facilitator.  Staff would explore what other communities have done and write an RFP for a consultant.  Nine Mile Creek Watershed District was intrigued with the idea of what No. St. Paul did.  The ETC would need to set goals.  No. St. Paul has their Comp Plan incorporated with the Living Streets Policy.  Living Streets document would fit with the city’s Comp Plan, be more readily available and useable and serve as public education and include a street that would serve as standard or model.  Should not become an appendix to the Comp Plan; make it an active plan.  W. 70th Street may be an example of what a Living Streets should be when construction is completed. Mr. Sullivan said the immediate next step is to secure the funding from Bloomington, followed by establishing a framework. Commissioner Bonneville challenged everyone to bring a list of goals, scope items, and standards for discussion at the June meeting. B. Transportation Commission Ordinance Update Mr. Sullivan said the proposed ordinance update was presented to the Council, along with a memo from Director Houle outlining his concerns and seeking clarification on some of the language in the purpose and duties regarding timeline implication. Additionally, CM Sprague rewrote the purpose and duties and there is a follow-up memo from Director Houle regarding items 3 and 7 of the original proposed ordinance. Review of CM Sprague’s revisions:  Items 2 and 3 3 Chair Janovy said CM Sprague took items 2 and 3 from the April 21 draft and inserted “plans and recommendations” and combined 2 and 3. After discussion, the consensus was that CM Sprague’s revision was acceptable, and to address Director Houle’s concern, the Engineering process would not be delayed or interrupted. The intent is to have an opportunity to review and offer recommendation before a road reconstruction/improvement goes to Council for final approval. A concern raised was having the ability to offer recommendations but not being able to truly effect changes because of the timeline. Mr. Sullivan said he anticipates presenting preliminary plans to the ETC sometime in November-December, which is approximately two months into the planning phase. Mr. Sullivan said further that staff’s concern was interpretation of the ordinance and while the current ETC can reassure of their intent, intent could be interpreted differently in a few years. It was determined that procedural documents could be written to alleviate the concerns. Regarding Director Houle’s concern on “Past projects have not included traffic counts..,” Mr. Sullivan said requests for traffic counts have increased on many projects and the feeling is that the ETC will ask about stop signs, etc. and traffic counts become necessary to determine warrants. Mr. Sullivan said in some instances, through engineering knowledge and judgment, they can surmise that warrants will not be met and therefore no need to count; however, engineering knowledge and judgment could be overlooked. Chair Janovy said it is the Council that is requesting the data, as in the case of 58th and Chowen Avenue.  Item 4 No change.  Item 5 Revision is acceptable.  Item 6 No change.  Item 7 Chair Janovy said CM Sprague is saying that the TSC report should go to the ETC before going to the Council and CM Brindle expressed concern that the process for the Council approving regulatory signs would be delayed. After discussion, consensus was reached to reword as ‘Review and comment on citizens’ transportation concerns, traffic complaint reports, and data.’ Regarding staff’s suggested process, as stated in the memo from Director Houle, chair Janovy said it is different from what the ETC has discussed and would probably be more time consuming for staff. Commissioner Bonneville motioned to accept CM Sprague’s revision with modifications to item 7 to say ‘Review and comment on citizens’ transportation concerns, traffic complaint reports, and data’ and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Schold Davis. All voted aye. Motion carried. C. Safe Routes to School Application Mr. Sullivan said the National Safe Routes to School conference is scheduled for 8/16-18 at the Minneapolis Convention Center, and the Bloomington/Edina/Richfield State Initiative 4 Program (SHIP) is sponsoring members from the BETF and ETC to attend. Commissioner Bass said she will be there as one of the lead organizers for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Additionally, Mr. Sullivan said the state has appropriated $4.2 million for Safe Routes to School funding and applications are due mid-June. He said they are working to identify preferred sites in the community with the help of one BETF member, chair Janovy, two school district staff and engineering staff, and in their first meeting, Southview, Cornelia, and Creek Valley/Valley View campuses were identified as preferred sites for infrastructure improvements (high schools are not eligible). Improvements can be sidewalks, road realignment, pedestrian activated crossing signals, roundabouts etc. Meeting participants were asked to drive the preferred sites to see what improvements they feel is needed and as part of the application process, the site that receives the highest score would be improved. Mr. Sullivan encouraged the ETC to visit the sites also and provide feedback. He said award could be approximately $200,000. Commissioner Bass said as part of the criteria she would be looking for potential for impact to change behaviors, level of support, encouragement and education. D. France Avenue Study Mr. Sullivan said CM Sprague asked that the ETC look at France Avenue from TH-494 to crosstown. Handouts given to the ETC for this discussion included: 1. Local Traffic Task Force Findings and Recommendations, May 2003 2. Greater Southdale Area Final Land Use and Transportation Study Report, Dec 2005 3. France Avenue Corridor Study, Apr 2009 4. Federal Transportation Enhancement Funding - 72nd Street Pedestrian Bridge, Jul 2007. Discussion ensued about the 72nd Street Bridge. Mr. Sullivan said the first reference of the bridge is in the Greater Southdale Study and it was looked at more in-depth with the Promenade. He said federal funding for the bridge has a sunset date of March 31, 2012, and that the City is moving forward with Request for Qualification (RFQ) for a consultant by mid- June. He said required matching funds would come from the TIF district. During discussion the following were shared: the bridge is not in the right location; TIF money can be better spent; there is advantage to the bridge and retrofitting with the roadway; the studies on France Avenue are not connected; do not know enough to make informed decision; inadequate data; trail to the south does not connect; and overbuilding and not serving society. Chair Janovy said since Council has formally asked them to look at France Avenue they will need more information including answers to: Can the scope of the project (bridge over France Avenue that received federal funding) be changed? Can this money be redirected? Did the context sensitive design process take place in 2008 or 2009? E. Bike Edina Task Force Study None. F. Grandview Small Area Study Update Commissioner Nelson reported the following via email: Meeting held May 12, 7-9 p.m. at Edina Senior Center. The four workgroups updated the group as to their work to date, then a 5 visioning exercise was held for small groups to consider a) what do we want in the District?, b) is it consistent with the Guiding Principles?, c) what do we need to make it happen? The four workgroups focus around the areas of: 1) Community Needs and Public Realm; 2) Market Analysis and Finance; 3) Land Use and Community Design; 4) Transportation. The Community Needs group held an open house for the community to provide input on May 10th at the Edina Library. The Market Analysis group is looking to do some housing studies and considering the potential development of a new TIF district. NOTE: the Southdale Area TIF District has approximately $12 million with another $12 million to come in the next 4 years - this money is required to stay in the TIF district and will be used to make improvements to the area. The Land Use / Community Design discussed a few projects that have made a significant impact in the regions completed. The Chicago Millennium Park project covered a large area of parking and train tracks with green/park space for the community. A publication of early Minneapolis planning was shared with plans to center Minneapolis around the river - those plans were never followed and the City is still working to make the river a focus of the City even today. One of the committee members attended a St. Louis Park meeting regarding the freight rail issue that City is dealing with and reported that 42 homes are being proposed to be demolished with one of the concept plans. The Transportation group has identified several issues w.r.t. transportation and will guide discussion around the area of (1) access to and through the area; (2) future light rail potential and/or access to the proposed SW Transistway line via the existing rail with bus or rail service; (3) biking and walking improvements; (4) reconfiguration of Hwy 100 ramps; (5) automobile traffic; (6) circulator vehicle potential. The visioning exercise provided several interesting concepts and ideas for the area. Commissioner Bonneville was also in attendance and may provide additional comments on this meeting. The future workgroup sessions are set for the 3rd Thursday of the next 4 months (6/16; 7/21; 8/18; 9/15) a concern was raised as to the conflict that Mr. Bonneville and I will have with the ETC meetings held on the same evening. VII. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS None. VIII. CHAIR AND COMMISSION MEMBER COMMENTS Commissioner Bass said they had their first bike/walk to school at Creek Valley on May 5 and 74% participated. IX. STAFF COMMENTS Reminder to contact Mr. Sullivan if interested in attending the Safe Routes to School conference. X. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Braden motioned to adjourn the meeting and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Bonneville. All voted aye. Motion carried.