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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014/12/08 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Ift St. Louis Park OFFICIAL MINUTES MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA DECEMBER 8, 2014 The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jeff Jacobs, Tim Brausen, Steve Hallfin, Gregg Lindberg, Anne Mavity, Susan Sanger, and Jake Spano. Councilmembers absent: None. Staff present: City Manager (Mr. Harmening), Director of Engineering (Ms Heiser), Senior Engineering Project Manager (Mr. Sullivan), Planning/Zoning Supervisor (Ms. McMomgal), Communications & Marketing Coordinator (Mr. Zwilling), and Recording Secretary (Ms Hughes). 1. Future Study Session Agenda Planning—December 15, 2014 and January 12, 2015 Mr. Harmening presented the proposed special study session agenda for December 15, 2014, and the proposed study session agenda for January 12, 2015 Councilmember Mavity requested a study session discussion regarding ways in which the City can support small businesses and making sure the City is proactively doing whatever it can to promote local businesses. Mr. Harmening advised this item is scheduled for the January 26, 2015, study session. Councilmember Sanger requested a future study session discussion about whether to send a recommendation to the Charter Commission asking them to study ranked choice voting and to study the question of whether the City should raise its filing fees for filing for office. It was the consensus of the City Council to place this item on a future study session agenda based on a low to medium pnonty. Councilmember Sanger requested a future study session discussion about whether the City should ban the use of plastic bags by retailers or, alternatively, should require retailers to charge 5-100 for giving out plastic bags as a way to encourage people to bnng their own reusable bags She advised that Byerly's keeps track of customers who bring their own bags because for every bag a customer bungs, Byerly's donates 50 to Second Harvest. She also requested a future study session discussion about changing pick-up dates for trash to every other week and changing pick- up dates for recycling to every week to encourage more recycling and less trash. Councilmember Brausen requested that Council consider allowing future Councilmembers to keep their iPads as part of Council's compensation instead of repurposing the iPads. 2. Southwest LRT Update Mr. Harmening presented the staff report and acknowledged Met Council Representative Jim Bnmeyer's attendance. He advised the SPO has estimated the cost of grade separation at Beltline Boulevard to be over $23 million and the engineering cost to study this LRCI is estimated at $1.5 million. He explained that staff has continued reservations about spending $23 million for this LRCI and whether that money could be better spent on other improvements with Study Session Minutes -2- December 8, 2014 a greater impact, e.g., the Xenwood underpass, CSAH 25 improvements, and improvements at the CSAH 25 and Beltline intersection. Mr. Sullivan explained that staff reviewed the p.m. peak hour traffic which represents the highest amount of traffic in this corridor and layered in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan project growth, increased freight rail activity and longer trains, and light rail frequency, and then layered in some intensification to 2040, resulting in data that shows the same problems would be replicated in 2030. He stated that 75-85% of delays in the p.m. peak hour are associated with the intersection at Beltline and CSAH 25 with east-west traffic receiving the majority of the signal's green time and 20-25% of delays can be attnbuted to the tracks dunng the p.m. peak hour. He reviewed several possible improvements to this area, noting that the SPO has already indicated that some of the improvements are part of their base scope, including dual northbound to westbound improvements and changes to the traffic signal to facilitate the northbound to westbound movement. He explained that staff also discussed with the SPO the possibility of improvements to westbound CSAH 25 to southbound Beltline and the desire to lengthen the left turn lane or add a dual left turn, adding this is not currently in the base scope, however, staff is hopeful that the SPO will elevate this as an area they have to mitigate based on 2040 projections. He stated staff also looked at possible improvements to southbound Ottawa at CSAH 25, including changes in signal phasing and improvements in the northwest corner to better align cars at the intersection, adding that this area accounts for the vast majority of the delays He indicated that the eight-minute delays from freight traffic, while difficult, only happen about once per week and occur infrequently dunng the p m. peak hour. He advised that testing results show if a freight train comes through the intersection followed by a light rail train, this 8-10 minute delay happens less than 2% of the entire rush hour time. He advised that one solution is grade separation of freight and presented a photo of a location in Denver that could replicate the Beltline rail crossing with grade separation. He indicated there are several challenges at this location, including uncertainty about contaminated soils, uncertainty about nght-of-way acquisitions, and the high ground water table in this area, adding that staff considered several options for the corridor and ways to mitigate future traffic and it is believed that spending approximately $7 million could have a big impact on how pedestnans, traffic, and bikes interact in this corndor versus spending approximately $23 on grade separation. Councilmember Mavity stated the Beltline park and ride is the largest park and nde along the entire line and she would like to see the estimates regarding how many cars will use the station. She stated this area is going to be a job hub creating jobs and economic development and the 2030 plan estimates 12,000 new jobs along with customers coming to the area. She stated those kinds of predictable increases are missing from this analysis and she would like to see the growth projections for 2030 and 2040 and how those numbers are reflected in staff's analysis Mr. Sullivan indicated that the job growth and joint development estimates are built into the 2030 plan He stated the growth number for Belthne is estimated at about 1% per year and staff took a more aggressive approach and intensified the use to 2% per year, which is believed to exceed 2040 volume, adding that these numbers will not be confirmed until Met Council runs its model. Councilmember Mavity stated the ideas on mitigation are helpful to improve circulation but it felt very limited. She asked what the threshold number would be for building the underpass Ms. Heiser explained that it is not necessanly the case that this intersection does or does not meet warrants for an underpass. She stated that 80% of the traffic backups in this area are caused by Study Session Minutes -3- December 8, 2014 the traffic intersection itself. She agreed to provide Council with further information regarding staff's analysis and the tables containing future projections. Councilmember Mavity stated the City will have one opportunity to address what could be a 100-year problem and she wanted to make sure the City is properly responding to the data. She stated this is a livability issue of how people get north and south for the next 100 years and she did not feel she had sufficient information that indicates what the traffic, growth and circulation issues are going to be in 30 years. She indicated she was supportive of further studying the intersection improvements at CSAH 25 and Beltline and agreed that grade separation of Belthne creates design and access challenges, but felt it could be an even greater problem if increased freight and other traffic are not addressed. Councilmember Sanger agreed with Councilmember Mavity and would like to see further data. She stated traffic sometimes has to wait through three light cycles at 10:00 in the morning due to the amount of traffic in this area and the southbound traffic gets backed up on Beltline as well as CSAH 25 and she was concerned that additional traffic coming from Highway 100 would create even more problems on CSAH 25 in addition to the problems on Beltline. She was concerned about how people would access this area if there were an underpass, but was equally concerned about how people would access this area if no underpass were built and stated she would like to further study the Beltline Boulevard underpass Councilmember Brausen felt it would make more sense to construct an underpass at CSAH 25 than Beltline and felt that was where the City should spend the money, but he was not inclined to spend that type of money on this. He felt if the City developed a sufficient circulation plan around the area using Lynn Avenue to get access to the park and nde and with the County and Three Rivers paying for the trail over Beltline, this would assist in alleviating some of the traffic issues. He reiterated he was not in favor of spending money here and felt the money could be used more effectively in other places. Councilmember Spano stated he previously felt the City needed to do this project but was having more pause based on staffs analysis, particularly related to proposed improvements at CSAH 25 and Beltline He agreed these items should be included in the City's LRCIs and agreed that Council needed more data before making its decision on the Beltline underpass and suggested that Council have a special study session discussion before next week's Council meeting to review further data and discuss future projections. Councilmember Lindberg stated his position has not changed and that he is not comfortable with this project and would not vote to fund a Beltline Boulevard underpass. Councilmember Hallfin stated this is a 100+ year project and felt strongly the City needs to build the Beltline Boulevard underpass. He agreed with the need to fix CSAH 25 and felt it was possible the City might have to do both projects. Mayor Jacobs agreed with Councilmembers Brausen and Lindberg and stated he did not think this project was worth $23 million. He felt the City could spend this amount of money more judiciously somewhere else and get better traffic flow in other areas like Highway 7. Councilmember Spano stated he would be interested in entertaining the idea of building a grade separation at CSAH 25. Study Session Minutes -4- December 8, 2014 Mr. Harmemng advised Council that the SPO has indicated it wants to add an additional percentage for administrative and overhead costs for working on the LRCIs and stated that City staff will be meeting on Thursday with representatives from the other cities to discuss this. Council discussed the LRCI engineenng costs and use of contingency funds with Mr. Brimeyer. It was the consensus of the City Council to hold a special study session on Monday, December 15`h, to review further data from staff and to discuss funding options for the potential engineenng study related to the Beltline Boulevard underpass. Executive Change Control Board It was the consensus of the City Council to appoint Councilmember Mavity to serve as the primary non-voting member of the Executive Change Control Board and to appoint Councilmember Sanger to serve as the alternate non-voting member of the Executive Change Control Board. Communications/Meeting Check-In (Verbal) Mr. Harmening stated that the Excelsior & Grand and West End projects have been nominated for the Sensible Land Use Coalition's "Great Places Award" and the winner will be announced on Wednesday. He announced that the City is one of five cities that will receive a Local Government Innovation Award for its "Job Rotation Program" by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, League of Minnesota Cities, and Grassroots Government of Minnesota Association in partnership with the Bush Foundation. He advised that True Value Hardware is planning to shoot a commercial on Wednesday at 3844 Kipling, and staff will inform the neighborhood about this activity. He advised that City staff and Councilmembers Hallfin, Mavity, and Spano met last week with two Edina Councilmembers and Edina City staff to discuss the 40`h and France Avenue property. Council continued its discussion regarding the sale of the property at 40`h and France Avenue. Councilmember Spano announced that he recently accepted the Chief of Staff position in the Secretary of State's office. Mayor Jacobs adjourned the meeting at 8:53 p.m. Written reports provided and documented for recording purposes only. 3. Proposed Business Terms of 2"d Amendment 0 est End Redevelopment Contract 4. Comcast Franchise Transfer 5. Planned Unit Development (PUD) Update I / LI�c�� I I 4 Nancy Strot 1 ity Clerk Jeff J/co� , M-yor