Loading...
10-24-00 CC Minutes Special Meeting Special Meeting of the City Counci) October 24, 2�00 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a special meeting of the City Council of the City of Golden Valley, Hennepin County, Minnesota was held at 7800 Golden Valley Road in said City on October 24, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. The following members were present: Anderson, Bakken, Johnson, LeSuer and Micks. Also present were: William Joynes, City Manager; Jeannine Clancy, Director of Public Works; Allen Barnard, City Attorney; and Judy Nally, Administrative Secretary. Committee Presentation of Recommendations an Laurel and Winnetka Avenues June Sirny, 424 Winnetka Avenue South; and Carolyn Eschweier, 420 Pennsylvania Avenue South, presented the Committee report. Staff Review and Comment Jeannine Clancy presented an overview of the plan and reviewed the staff recommendation and answered questions from the Council. William Joynes, Jeannine Clancy, Allen Barnard and Glen Van Wormer, Short Elliott Hendrickson, answered questions from the Council throughout the meeting. Business Community Alternative Plan Mike Fitterman, Liberty Carton, 870 Louisiana Avenue South, represents other businesses in the area, thanked the Council, Staff, Glen Van Wormer, and Advisory Committee for their hard work; he stated their main concern was for the of the area, expressed concern for the 30 mph curve on Laurel/Pennsylvania as there are intersections in the middle of the curve and driveways at the beginning and end of the curve; and a blind spot; concerned for drivers as well as pedestrians, stated it is a busy street and cars may not be able to stop when trucks are coming in and out of the business areas, stated the business community sent a letter on August 29, 2000 outlining their concerns; feels the solutions don't solve the problems but are just transferring the problem to residential areas of the residential neighborhoods which may cause more problems rather than less; feels that Laurel Avenue straight to Winnetka Avenue is the safest; that Laurel was designed a state aid collector street and is doing what it is supposed to do; feels the logical solution is to make Laurel Avenue work effectivety, whatever it takes to upgrade and improve and slow the traffic in the area. Presentation by Two Petitioners Shar Jesse, 424 Winnetka Avenue South, stated she has a prepared statement and would prefer to make her comments during the public comment portion of the meeting. Special Meeting of the City Council October 24, 2000 Page 2 Presentation by Two Petitioners - Continued Rick MacKrell, 700 Winnetka Avenue South, stated he submitted a petition against the Laurel Avenue curve as it will bring more vehicles past his house; feels that this change will force the traffic problems into other neighborhoods,'feels it is not safe and it is already hard to get out of his driveway; feels the traffic shoulid go from Laurel Avenue to Winnetka Avenue and at that point they can go south and north; stated he is against the temporary sidewalk and the sidewalks should be installed when the City owns the street. Public Comment and Questions The Mayor opened the meeting for public input and persons present to do so were afforded the opportunity to express their views thereon. Larry Shapiro, 60 Garden Park, stated he appreciated the Committee work; he is opposed to the Laurel/Pennsylvania curve, feels it is not safe, feels there is too much traffic flow; concerned about drivers coming around the curve too fast; feels the sight lines are not safe; the curve is too close to the trucks going in and out of Liberty Carton; feels the traffic will be pushed into neighborhoods that were not designed for the increase in traffic. Shar Jesse, 743 Winnetka Avenue South; opposed to any interim construction on Winnetka Avenue South, stated she submitted a petition in opposition to the interim construction and feels the construction should be d�one once, be done right and be done in conjunction with other improvements that are already scheduled for Winnetka Avenue; stated the Advisory Committee evolved from a pe�tition for sidewalks on the east side of Winnetka and wanted to know why the two people appointed to represent Winnetka both live on the west side, feels it is not a fair representation as the people on the Committee will not have the construction in their front yards; opposed to installation of no left turns on Winnetka, feels it doesn't slow or disperse traffic. Deb Wieberdink, 7400 Western Avenue, stated she is a resident, advisory committee member, her family has an interest in a business in the area; and her spouse works for a company in the area; stated the Committee got the pros and cons list after the recommendation was completed but the Committee did discuss the safety issues of the curve and considered all the safety issues in the area when they came up with their recommendation; the recommendation was well thought out and not a your/my neighborhood issue; stated that even if none of' the Committee recommendations are approved the community is still going to get the overflow traffic and the Committee goal was to make the neighborhoods safer. Special Meeting of the City Council ' October 24, 2000 Page 3 Public Comment and Questions - Continued Mark Hilal, 6620 Plymouth Avenue, stated he is concerned about safety in the area; feels the core issue is the amount of traffic and flow of traffic from I-394 that feeds into the rest of the city; feels if the problem is ignored we will have the problem forever; feels that St. Louis Park and Plymouth have a smoother traffic flow anto and out of their cities; asked what methods and alternates are they using; feels there seems to be a constant conflict between traffic and the safety of residents; suggested making some of the streets one way only; suggested widening Louisiana to 394 ramp going �vest ta give access to the frontage road from Louisiana. June Sirny, 424 Winnetka Avenue South, stated s'he lives at the intersection of Winnetka Avenue South and Laurel Avenue and she picks up glass from her yard, hears the screech of brakes and the crunch of cars, watches the busses turning and the cars trying to move out of the way at that intersection; feels this a major dangerous intersection. Jake Jocelyn, 614 Winnetka Avenue South, wants to get to his friends house safely. Barbara Crolley, 310 Pennsylvania Avenue South, asked what will the heavy medians do to Laurel Avenue as there is a lot of peat there; asked what is the status of the street by Anderson Cadillac, who is responsible for that road; why is it called an access road to I-394 when it doesn't take you there; suggested putting a stop sign instead of putting in a curve at Laurel Avenue and Pennsylvania. Ted Melander, 145 Winnetka Avenue South, has a lot of speeding cars by the house; would like to see much better law enforcement there as there are a lot of speeders; there are a lot of people that divert and use Winnetka to get onto 169; feels the property values should be changed because of the traffic volumes. Francine Grist, 100 Quebec Avenue South, stated she has a difficult time trying to get across Winnetka Avenue from Western Avenue; asked what needs to be done to get a flashing yellow light; and feels that something needs to be done. Tracey Murphy, 480 Quebec Avenue South, feels that we can solve the problems in the neighborhoods but that doesn't solve the problems of commuters coming out of downtown trying to get to the outer suburbs, stated she moved to the city because she works downtown and it is an easy commute for her, people who live farther out use the city residential streets to get home quicker, wanted to know what we are doing to work with other cities and agencies to first solve the problems of the commuters; what are we doing with our neighboring communities like St. Louis Park and Plymouth to jointly work with them to put together best methods on how to handle these problems; and asked how can we solve the problem where it starts in downtown. Special Meeting of the City Council October 24, 2000 Page 4 Public Comment and Questions - Continued Doug Savitt, 190 Nevada Avenue South, feels having a curve at Laurel and Pennsylvania would be undesirable; especially when it gets snow and icy conditions; feels there may be a greater response time for emergency vehicles; and unsafe for busses, recycling trucks and garbage trucks that access the curve. Lu Rockman, 130 Jersey Avenue South; wanted to know the names of the companies that were compensated for the lack of traffic when 394 v�►ras put through. Larry Jocelyn, 614 Winnetka Avenue South, wanted to know if the committee got a copy of the comprehensive plan including the traffic sections; asked about the project costs; feels the 30 mph speed limit is not enforced and should be even if the police department gets hassled for giving tickets; if there is more law enforcement handing out tickets it may reduce the number of cars who use the street; and asked when Laurel became a state aid collector street. Jim Benshoof, Benshoof & Associates, stated they were retained by Liberty Carton to provide an independent review of traffic in the area; suggested the safety issue is more than just the curve proposed at Laurel and Pennsylvania; this will also impact the added conflict of vehicles and trucks for other businesses in the area as well as Pennsylvania Avenue south and the frontage road. Linda Loomis, 6677 Highway 55, regarding the enforcement of speed limit on streets within the city, we were told there is a lot of city to cover; asked why Golden Valley officers are used for speed traps on I-394 if we have so much trouble with enforcement on local streets. Council Discussion and Decision MOVED by Bakken, seconded by Johnson and motion carried to support the staff recommendation on Laurel Avenue (Laurel Avenue/Pennsylvania Avenue South Connection). Member LeSuer voted no. Mayor Anderson requested the Council Members develop, within the next week, a list of issues, parameters or ideas related to dealing with Laurel Avenue; and refer them to staff and request staff recommend some interim solutions or develop a charge that the Council or a citizen group would look at to continue to work on the issues. MOVED by Johnson, seconded by Bakken and motion carried unanimously to support the staff recommendation for Laurel Avenue (Pennsylvania Avenue South to Jersey Avenue South). Special Meeting of the City Council October 24, 2000 Page 5 Council Discussion and Decision - Continued MOVED by LeSuer, seconded by Bakken and motion carried unanimously to request that staff report back to the Council for consideration in mid-November on the status of the proposed turnback of Winnetka and potential funding opportunities from Hennepin County. MOVED by Johnson, seconded by LeSuer and motion carried unanimously that the Council concur with the staff recommendation that they cannot support the no left turn prohibition for southbound Winnetka to eastbound intersecting streets. MOVED by Johnson, seconded by LeSuer and motion carried unanimously that the Council concur with the staff recommendation regarding the improvements for Ridgeway Road, Pennsylvania and Western. MOVED by Johnson, seconded by Micks and motion carried unanimously to direct staff to prepare criteria for installation of pedestrian flashing lights. MOVED by Johnson, seconded by Bakken and motion carried unanimously to direct staff to research streetlighting policy on collector and minor arterial streets and estimate the cost implications for a change to the policy. MOVED by Bakken, seconded by Mick and motion carried unanimously to forward the Final Report to the Planning Commission so that they can consider those items related to planning in the I-394 corridor. Call for Informal Public Hearing - Installation of No Parking Signs - Wayzata Boulevard between Utah Avenue South and Sumter Avenue South and I-394 to Wayzata Boulevard North - 11/8/00 Jeannine Clancy introduced the agenda item. MOVED by Johnson, seconded by LeSuer and motion carried unanimously to call for an informal public hearing to consider establishing no parking zones on both sides of Wayzata Boulevard, (north frontage road) between Utah Avenue South and Sumter Avenue South, and from I-394 to a point 300 feet north of Wayzata Boulevard on November 8, 2000. Special Meeting of the City Council October 24, 2000 Page 6 Adjournment MOVED by LeSuer, seconded by Bakken and motion carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:48 p.m. � Mary E. derson, Mayor ATTEST: J d� Nally, ministrative S cretary