HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012/12/17 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Ifl St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES
MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL STUDY SESSION
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA
DECEMBER 17, 2012
The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m.
Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Steve Hallfin, Anne Mavity, Julia Ross (arrived at
6:55 p.m.), Susan Sanger, Sue Santa, and Jake Spano.
Councilmembers absent: None.
Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), City Attorney (Mr. Scott), Director of
Community Development (Mr. Locke), Planning/Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMonigal),
Communications Coordinator (Mr. Zwilling), Organizational Development Coordinator (Ms.
Gothberg), and Recording Secretary(Ms. Hughes).
Guest: Mr. Dave McKenzie (SEH Consulting).
1. Southwest Transitway Proposed Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
Ms. McMonigal presented the staff report.
Mr. Locke advised that an update was recently posted to the Southwest Transitway website
which included four pages of questions which were submitted by the Surface Transportation
Board, with responses prepared by Hennepin County. The City plans to prepare comments to
those questions/responses. He noted that the DEIS comments contain all of the substantive
material from the last study session, and staff will be finalizing the comments prior to submission
on December 31, 2012.
Councilmember Hallfin stated he had some grammatical corrections and agreed to email them to
staff. He suggested that the last sentence of the third paragraph on page 6 be revised to state
"...the City states the mitigation that theuld must be required to address negative impacts from
freight trains in St. Louis Park."
Councilmember Mavity suggested that paragraph (d) on page 18 be revised to state more clearly
that mitigation to minimize the relatively constant bells and whistles should include
incorporating design elements that minimize sound traveling into those neighborhoods to make
sure this is addressed during the design phase. She also suggested that paragraph 2(b) on page
18 more clearly indicate that bringing the light rail station closer to Methodist Hospital would be
positive and would ensure that over 500 low income households would have closer access to the
light rail station. She suggested that paragraph G(1) beginning on page 17 include a comment
about the need for the City to build new streets around Beltline, the additional wear and tear on
the City's streets, and other costs associated with the increased use of these areas. She added if
the City has to build new roads around Beltline, the roads will be built at the City's cost but
should be included as part of the overall project cost.
Councilmember Spano requested clarification regarding the elevated structure connecting the
Bass Lake Spur to the MN&S tracks referenced on page 9 and the statement that the structure
will be roughly one mile long.
Mr. McKenzie explained that this figure came from a drawing in the EAW prepared by Kimley
Horn.
Special Study Session Minutes -2- December 17, 2012
Councilmember Sanger stated she did not know whose assumption was being quoted in the first
paragraph on page 20 indicating that the "LPA was chosen using the assumption that freight rail
that would have to be relocated to achieve the LRT route" and indicated that was not an
assumption made by the policy committee that selected the route and the SWLRT Policy
Committee was prohibited from discussing this during the EAW process. She asked that this
statement be omitted and replaced with a statement that during the LPA route selection process,
participants were specifically denied the opportunity to discuss relevant freight rail issues
purportedly on the directive of the FTA.
Mr. Locke noted that page 19 states it was clear dunng the freight selection process that freight
rail rerouting was not a part of the analysis and was not discussed and therefore was not a
consideration during the LPA process.
Mayor Jacobs agreed the City did not get an opportunity to weigh in on freight rail during the
LPA process and felt that removing the sentence referenced by Councilmember Sanger would
not diminish the City's comments in any way.
Councilmember Sanger requested that a statement be added to page 3 that points out the DEIS
proposes colocation of freight rail and light rail for several miles (3+) west of Louisiana Avenue
to just west of 169, and the County used the 25' distance separation in locations both east and
west of 169. She indicated the final paragraph on page 8 contains a statement that "if trains are
rerouted to the MN&S, it would be absolutely unacceptable to St. Louis Park to also be saddled
with the burden of freight trains re-routed to the MN&S without the benefit of completely
eliminating freight trains from the Wooddale and Beltline Station areas" and stated while she
agreed with the need to get rid of the tracks, this sentence suggests that getting rid of the tracks is
all they need to do. She suggested revising this statement to indicate that if the trains are
rerouted to the MN&S, freight trains must be eliminated from the Beltline and Wooddale
stations
Councilmember Spano noted that Council had a significant discussion regarding this statement at
its last study session and decided to leave the sentence as is.
After further discussion, it was the consensus of the majonty of the City Council to not change
this statement in the DEIS comments.
Councilmember Sanger suggested that the data referenced on page 29 include a statement that
the data on the reroute fails to include information on land uses adjacent to the BNSF tracks and
adjacent to the new siding. She stated the data applies to the MN&S route from the new northern
interconnect but does not have data about housing impacts and land use impacts from freight rail.
Councilmember Santa reminded staff of the importance of consistency throughout the document
and using apples to apples comparisons. She referenced the statements toward the bottom of
page 27 regarding railroad operations and stated there are outstanding questions not addressed in
the DEIS which, if addressed, could result in the City having more issues and she felt this
statement needed to further stand out.
Councilmember Ross reiterated her concerns regarding impacts to residents in her ward.
Mayor Jacobs stated that after Met Council reviews all the comments, Met Council will make a
determination regarding mitigation which is required versus mitigation which is an enhancement
Special Study Session Minutes -3- December 17, 2012
and it is critical that the City's mitigation not be viewed as enhancements. He indicated the City
will require a lot of mitigation whichever alternative is chosen and requested that the DEIS
comments firmly reiterate that point.
2. City Council Workshop
Mr. Harmening presented the staff report and proposed discussion topics for the City Council
workshop. He stated the workshop was tentatively planned for the first weekend in February but
Councilmember Spano has requested changing the date due to a conflict.
Mayor Jacobs requested that Ms. Gothberg email Council with proposed dates for the workshop.
Councilmember Sanger stated her agreement with the suggested agenda and requested that
Council spend time discussing the new environmental task force.
Councilmember Mavity suggested that Council have a discussion regarding land use and
development, the SWLRT visioning process and scope of the SWLRT project.
Councilmember Santa indicated she would like Council to be less task focused and focus more
on policies and priorities at a higher level from a big picture perspective.
Mr. Harmening stated that Council adopted four strategic directions that came out of Vision and
Council needs to make sure those strategic directions are still accurate; in addition, it would be
helpful if Council reviewed the City's priorities to provide direction to staff. He agreed to
prepare a more detailed agenda for Council review at its next study session.
The meeting adjourned at 7:18 p.m.
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Nancy Stroth,"City Clerk Jeff Jaco i s,Payor