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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP March 19, 2003 ~ D.../.2) ~ '-1-/'03 CITY of ANDOVER SPECIAL ANDOVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING - MARCH 19, 2003 MINUTES The Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Acting Mayor Ken Orttel, March 19,2003,7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, MinnesotL Councilmembers present: Don Jacobson, Mike Knight, Julie Trude Councilmember absent: Mayor Mike Gamache Also present: City Engineer, Dave Berkowitz Assistant City Engineer, Todd Haas Community Development Director, Will Neumeister City Administrator, John Erar Others REVIEW ZVV DRAFT OF THE CITY TRANSPORTATION PLAN/OI-18 City Engineer Berkowitz explained they are to discuss and comment on the draft copy of the Transportation Plan. Mr. Shelly Johnson, BRA explained the plan is only a pIan and plans change rapidly. This is the best plan the City has done in a long time. A lot of people have been involved in the process and spent a lot of time, review and discussion. The City staffhas done a great job. Assistant City Engineer Todd Haas helped out immensely in this process and City Admini<trator Erar has been very involved in this process and he wanted to thank them for all the help. Mr. Kevin Hoglund, BRA, explained the plan in detail with the Council. He showed graphics of existing County road systems. The changes to the system will be to develop a collector system and a few other items. Mr. Hoglund stated they made some suggestions in the plan which they would like implemented and would like suggestions ITom the Council. They would like to put together a system that would provide more flow within the City. Acting Mayor Orttel asked what the difference is between "A" and "B" classifications. Mr. Hoglund stated the "A" classification gives them certain funding options where "B" classification does not allow that. Mr. Hoglund stated one of the major routes through Andover is Bunker Lake Boulevard and Hanson Boulevard. Another piece of the plan they are looking at is Parks and Trails. He showed a map of the trail systems, existing and proposed. Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - March 19, 2003 Page 2 Mr. Hoglund stated part of the pIan is looking at different parts of the City where they have the highest number of crashes, hot spots. He showed a map of the last three years of crash occurrences. Bunker Lake Boulevard and Round Lake Boulevard have the greatest number of crashes within the last three years. They are working with Anoka County and they will be addressing this in their plans and future projects. Mr. Hoglund stated they looked at certain number of crashes and one was deer hits. What they got out of this piece of information is that deer hits are random and certain areas are more concentrated but there is not anything that can particularly be done. Councilmember Knight stated these, he assumed, are reported hits. Mr. Hoglund stated he figured these are about half of the hits made. Councilmember Trude asked ifit was helpful to put up signs warning of deer crossing. Mr. Hoglund stated that motorists normally do not change their driving pattern with posted signs. Mr. Hoglund showed the Council the intersection hot spots. He suggested they take a look at different areas of the City to see what was a concern. He had a list of sixteen to eighteen different locations. They talked with the Sheriff to determine which areas were the hot spots. Anoka County determined they would be installing signals and other improvements on County Roads that were hot spots so those were not included in the City's hot spots. Acting Mayor Orttel stated he noticed a lot of the hot spots were three way intersections. He stated in picking the locations, it was a variety of information taken to determine which spots were hot spots. Mr. Hoglund stated the next item to look at was the State Aid Road system. They took a look at developing a collector street system. Once they develop that system they look at the State Aid System. Some of the recommendations they are making are State Aid Routes which are small segments, keeping in mind that there are a number of roadways that can be State Aid Systerns. Two key roads are Verdin Street and from 157tb A venue heading to the east. These are two new collector streets that will help in transportation. They will receive more State Aid funding in future years. Acting Mayor Orttel thought unless they needed the mileage, they would leave all existing streets in the system. He asked why they would remove streets. Mr. Hoglund stated the reason they remove them is because they will not connect to another street. Discussion ensued in regard to bringing a road from Blaine up to Andover parallel to Highway 65 to alleviate traffic on Highway 65. Acting Mayor Orttel stated if they were really looking at planning, they should look into extending a roadway. CounciImember Knight stated the cost to build onto 157th A venue through the Rural Reserve could be costly. City Engineer Berkowitz stated they can assess this road and collect State Aid. Woodland Estates 4th Addition is part of the connection they plan to use to connect the roads. They are not currently using State Aid but it could be included in the future. -.- -- - . Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - March 19, 2003 Page 3 More discussion in regard to extending roads to connect to other roads continued. Mr. Hoglund showed maps of proposed State Aid roads to the Council. Council discussed which roads they would like extended and added to the plan. Acting Mayor Orttel stated there is a political aspect to this and the plan should be well thought out. Mr. Hoglund stated as they looked at the existing functions and what was proposed, they looked at the major routes. Hanson Boulevard is currently designated as an "A" minor arterial and part of Round Lake Boulevard is an "A" minor arterial. They are proposing that all of Round Lake Boulevard up to St. Francis be marked as an "A" minor arterial road along with Bunker Lake Boulevard up to Anoka. Today Bunker Lake Boulevard is currently a "B" minor arterial road. Mr. Hoglund stated the City of Andover realizes these roads should be "A" minor arterial roads and should be upgraded. Acting Mayor Orttel stated the concept for everyone living in the area is it would drastically change the area and would have to be done in an area where there is no neighborhood. They have looked at upgrading Andover Boulevard to a "B" minor arterial. They will need to provide a system that brings vehicles to the "A" and "B" minor arterial roads in a safe way. They needed to make sure they were not creating a lot of cul-de-sacs and pushing the major traffic onto the "A" and "B" minor arterial streets. Acting Mayor Orttel stated on some of the collector streets proposed, the roads wind around and he wondered if this followed the high lines. Assistant City Engineer Haas stated they do. Mr. Johnson stated the land use scenarios and volumes are based on the general and annual increase in traffic caused by traffic outside of the City. The volume projections done involve Rural Reserve areas one and two. Scenario one includes rural reserve area one developed to the land use density. Scenario two talks about what would happen if they included rural reserve two in the land use density and scenario three talks about both rural reserve areas being included. He stated the scenario probably used would be scenario three. They are talking about Round Lake Boulevard, Highway 7, 16151 and Crosstown, Bunker Lake Boulevard and Hanson Boulevard becoming four lane roadways. Mr. Johnson discussed the three lane use scenarios with the Council. Councilmember Knight asked if Anoka County is in agreement with the 4-lane roadways. Mr. Johnson stated they were. Acting Mayor Orttel stated he was surprised there was such little impact whether they picked scenario one, two or three. Acting Mayor Orttel stated he was under the impression that they could limit the access to the different roadways. Mr. Johnson stated they could. - Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - March 19, 2003 Page 4 Mr. Berkowitz stated on Hanson Boulevard, it is set through the Capital County plan to expand this to four lanes from Bunker Lake Boulevard to 242 and are working on funding for that. Mr. Hoglund reviewed the intersection hot spots with the Council. He showed the results of analysis addressing the traffic volumes and where they are today. City Engineer Berkowitz stated part of the recommendation for the plan is to update it every three to five years. Mr. Hoglund summarized the study corridors and discussed these with the Council. There was discussion in regard to medians along the different roadways and closing accesses onto these roadways. Councilmember Trude thought the frontage road would solve some problems on Hanson Boulevard but she thought the clinic would still suffer. Councilmember Jacobson asked when the County proposed doing some of these changes. Mr. Hoglund stated they planned on reconstructing Hanson starting in 2006. Council discussed the Crosstown intersection changes. Stewart Krahn, BRA, discussed the transit planning and trails with the Council. He stated one of the recent changes in legislation is the transit taxing district has recently been eliminated due to transit funding. There is a potential for transit service into Andover and they are looking at a couple of growth areas. Councilmember Trude stated they have not bargained with the Met Council in regard to the number of dwelling units per acre. Community Development Director Neumeister stated he gave them this number for reference. Acting Mayor Orttel stated the City uses 2.5 units per acre for reference. Councilmember Trude did not want this taken as a reference because the City would not allow this. Mr. Johnson stated the Met Council uses the average trip rate calculation for the Metropolitan area. Discussion ensued regarding the number of units per acre and what the Council would want referenced in the study for the Met Council. Community Development Director Neumeister asked if they could word the plan stating they are using the Metropolitan Council statistical average to calculate the number and then they would delete the density numbers in the document. Discussion continued regarding the formulas used in calculating the traffic plan. Mr. Krahn stated what is relevant to the actual transit plan is people per acre not units per acre. The point is whether or not the City will cross the threshold for fixed route transit service. --~~-- - Regular Andover City Council Meeting Minutes - March 19, 2003 Page 5 Councilmember Jacobson asked if they would need to apply for transit service. Mr. Krahn stated they would need to request further study. Mr. Krahn explained the survey done in 1998, indicated 56% wanted transit service but only 25% would be willing to pay a tax for this service. The study that was done put Andover and Ramsey together and was based on 1990 census datL He would recommend once all the information is put together, they take a closer look at this. Councilmember Knight asked how this ranks with other cities. Mr. Krahn stated this is lower than other cities and part of the problem is commuting to downtown. The recommended service for Andover would be to develop park and rides and possibly putting a park and ride at the community center, Andover station north and a few other locations. He stated they would need to take a closer look at these locations. Councilmember Knight asked if there was any way to project carpooling numbers. Mr. Krahn stated the Metropolitan Commuter Services does provide a study for this. Councilmember Knight asked if the numbers are significant for carpooling. Mr. Krahn stated at this point, the Met Council is not likely to provide any service in Andover. Council consensus was to hold onto the study until Met Council asks for it OTHER BUSINESS Councilmember Trude stated she would like to have City Attorney Hawkins provide his written interpretation regarding the contract with the Met Council about one thousand acres for Rural Reserve. The Council discussed the interpretation of one thousand acres for rural reserve. Motion by Knight, Seconded by Trude, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary -- -