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CC 2010 06 28 CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING JUNE 28, 2010 Mayor Furlong called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to the Flag. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Furlong, Councilman Litsey, Councilwoman Ernst, Councilwoman Tjornhom, and Councilman McDonald STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Laurie Hokkanen, Kate Aanenson, Paul Oehme, Todd Hoffman, Roger Knutson, Greg Sticha, and Terry Jeffery PUBLIC PRESENT: Jessica Miller CenterPoint Energy Mark Fischer 2407 Bridle Creek Trail Scott Walz 9117 Springfield Drive Todd Neils 990 Saddlebrook Curve Liz Hoffman 6891 Utica Lane Mike & Kressin Krause 7050 Utica Lane Steve Hansen 5723 Kipling Avenue, Minnetonka Larry Lovig 2475 Gunflint Court Nate, Ben, Hayden, Grant, Baseball Concession Stand Hans, Brander and Thorson TH PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: INVITATION TO 4 OF JULY CELEBRATION. Mayor Furlong: Thank you and good evening everyone. Welcome to those joining us here in the council chambers, as well as those watching us at home. We’re glad that you joined us this evening. At this time I would like to ask members of the council if there are any changes or modifications to the agenda that was published. Otherwise without objection we’ll proceed with that agenda. To begin with this evening I’d like to extend an invitation to our, to everyone and thrdth this really is an everyone event. To our 4 of July event coming up on July 3 and July 4, this coming weekend. We’ll be, our annual celebration as a city of our country’s independence. This rdth is a 2 day celebration on the 3 and the 4. Festivities sponsored by the City of Chanhassen, the Southwest Chamber of Commerce, the Chanhassen Rotary Club, many other individuals, rd volunteers participate as well. Just a summary of some of the activities. On July 3 the farmers market will be held in City Center Park from 9:00 to 1:00 a.m. Other activities begin at 3:30 with the Business Expo, the Taste of Chanhassen, carnival rides and games, 3 on 3 basketball tournament, camel and pony rides, musical performance by the Wandering Bartletts and the every popular street dance by Casablanca Orchestra begins at 7:00 p.m. that evening. Stick around. That’s a full day of activity and we have tens of thousands of people come out. Over 10,000 people come out during the day for all that. Great family activity. A great chance to see th neighbors and catch up. And then on Sunday July 4, events again start early out at Lake Ann, 7:00 a.m. with fishing contest and other activities. There’ll be live music at City Center Park. Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Games, carnival rides again. Classic car show and then at 2:30 the Chanhassen Parade sponsored by the Chanhassen Rotary Club will begin. Be sure to stop by the new Chanhassen high school to check out the Chanhassen Red Birds baseball game at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, July th 4. After the parade. And then for the spectacular fireworks over Lake Ann beginning at 10:00 p.m. It is going to be 2 days of a lot of fun and I hope to see everybody out there. Just a great time and we have hundreds of people that are involved with putting this on, from the Rotary Club and all their volunteers, the City staff, the County staff, the fire department, the Chamber of Commerce. A number of our businesses contribute. This is really a community event and it’s a lot of fun for everybody. Anybody who’s been there knows how much fun it is and again look forward to seeing everybody out there. We’d like to proceed now with the next items on our agenda. CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Furlong: I’ve asked staff to give a presentation on item 1(e) so I’d like to move that down because there have been some questions about some of the grants and really how this fits into our CIP. I’d like them to talk about that and I’ve had some other people ask questions about these types of improvements so I’ve asked staff to expand upon that a little bit. We’ll pick that up probably after item 4 on our agenda. Are there any other items that members of the council or others present would like separate discussion on or questions on? And this would be items 1(a) through (m). If not, is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda. Councilman McDonald? Councilman McDonald: Yes Mr. Mayor. I’d like to make a motion that we adopt the consent agenda. However I am recusing myself from item (d). Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. So that motion would be to adopt items 1(a) through (m), excluding (e) which we’ll pick up later and Mr. McDonald would recuse himself from item 1(d). Is there a second to that motion? Councilman Litsey: Second. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Councilman McDonald moved, Councilman Litsey seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s recommendations: a. Approval of Minutes: -City Council Work Session Minutes dated June 14, 2010 -City Council Verbatim and Summary Minutes dated June 14, 2010 Receive Commission Minutes: -Planning Commission Verbatim and Summary Minutes dated June 15, 2010 Resolution #2010-61: b. Approve Resolution Accepting Lake Ann Park Concession Stand Donation from CAA and Various Contractors. 2 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Resolution #2010-62: c. Chanhassen Station: Concur with Bid and Recommend that Southwest Transit Award a Contract to Shaw-Lindquist Associates, Inc. Resolution #2010-63: d. Medical Arts Parking Lot Rehabilitation Project 10-05: Approve (Councilman McDonald recused Plans and Specifications; Authorize Ad for Bids. himself from the vote on this item.) f. Approve Amendments to City Code Concerning Chapter 1, Definitions and Chapter 20, Signage, Parking and Road Classification. g. Approve Fireworks Display Permit for July 4, Lake Minnewashta, Americana Fireworks Display Company. Resolution #2010-64: i. Approve Resolution Accepting Grant from CenterPoint Energy in the amount of $1,894 for Confined Space Heat/Ventilation Unit and Gas Ammonia Detectors for the Fire Department. j. Approve Pay Equity Report. k. Approval of Temporary On-Sale Liquor License, Harvest Festival, August 21 & 22, St. Hubert Catholic Community, 8201 Main Street. l. Approval of Amendment #1, Water Tower Antennae Agreement, Nextel West Corporation, West 76th Street Water Tower. Resolution #2010-65: j. Accept Donation to the Senior Center from the Family of Rosemary Smith. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0 except on item (d) where Councilman McDonald recused himself from the vote. 1(d) passed with a vote of 4 to 0. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: Mayor Furlong: One of the items that we just approved was the acceptance of a donation from, for our fire department. A grant from CenterPoint Energy and Jessica Miller is here this evening with CenterPoint Energy to make a presentation. Good evening. Please come forward to the podium. Jessica Miller: Hi, I’m Jessica Miller. I’m a Field Supervisor from CenterPoint Energy. The Community Partnership Grant offers an opportunity for CenterPoint Energy to partner with local fire and police departments supporting our shared commitment to safety. Through the grant program we are able to help cities leverage local funds to purchase needed safety equipment or support safety projects that are important to your community. I’m glad to be here today to present a Community Partnership Grant check to the City of Chanhassen for $1,894 that will be 3 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 used to purchase a confined space heat ventilation unit and two single gas ammonia detectors for the fire department. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. This is, just real quick. CenterPoint Energy has made a number of grants to our city. We appreciate this one as well as the other ones in the past so we really appreciate… Chief Roger Smallback: Yes, they’ve been very generous with us in the past and it’s greatly appreciated by all members of the fire department. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Also tonight we have a number of other people here that we wanted to recognize and thank and this relates to our Lake Ann ballfield concession stand. On our consent agenda just now the Council approved a donation from a number of individuals and businesses for the remodeling of the concession stand. Lake Ann Park ballfield concession stand was originally donated to the City by the American Legion back in 1988. Over the ensuing years the space has become inadequate for a concession stand which was it’s original purpose. The long term plans would call for a replacement structure that would include a covered shelter and modern restrooms and that is still our long term goal and objective. However the Chanhassen Athletic Association and Little League baseball program led by Todd Neils had a desire to invest and make the current stand more usable today. Working with various city departments and a host of community businesses and individual volunteers the association and city representatives put forth a plan to remodel the existing structure. Steve Hansen with Hansen Hometech Incorporated accepted the volunteer position of leading the construction efforts and drawing up the plans. Mark Fisher, owner of Milestone Builders and Remodelers worked tirelessly providing the necessary framing, structural siding and finish carpentry work free of charge. Mike Krause owner of K2 Electric donated the electrical and lighting fixtures and all the labor involved in their installation. Jeremy Shrebel with the Excel Mechanical discounted plumbing work and the Home Depot of Chaska discounted their building parts as well. The Chanhassen Athletic Association acting as the project sponsor purchased materials and helped coordinate volunteer labor. They will continue to invest in the structure completing some of the final work over the next few months. In total these contributions from across the city volunteer efforts resulted in an investment of over $21,000 to the Lake Ann concession stand and on behalf of the City Council and all the residents we want to recognize and thank everyone involved with that. So tonight I’d like to invite up a few people to receive some plaques for their recognition. Todd Neils. Steve Hansen. Mike Krause. And Mark Fisher as well. And I think we have some other people with the Athletic Association if I’m not mistaken as well. That was the purpose. Do you guys want to come up too? Todd Hoffman: Championship game’s tomorrow night. Head on out there to Lake Ann. Mayor Furlong: At this time then I’d also like to, as part of our regular agenda, invite anyone else that would like to address the council as a part of visitor presentations. Okay, then what we’d like to do is move on with the next items on our agenda and receive our monthly updates from our sheriff’s department and fire department. Let’s start with Lieutenant Jim Olson from the Sheriff’s Department. Good evening Lieutenant. 4 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 LAW ENFORCEMENT/FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATES. Lt. Jim Olson: Good evening and thank you Mr. Mayor and City Council. Hate to follow that group. I would like to officially say that I do believe that the drought is over with all the rain that we’ve gotten recently. It’s been a pretty wet month. I want to start out a little bit with the thth fireworks. With the 4 of July. July 4 is right around the corner and we normally start getting calls for fireworks complaints around the city. A good rule of thumb is if it goes boom or if it flies in the air it’s illegal. There are some legal fireworks that you can buy at retail establishments around the city as well as around the state. The legal ones include sparklers, ground spinners, fountains, snakes, glowworms and party poppers. Any firecrackers, including Lady Fingers and Black Cats, those are illegal. Fireworks of any type, legal or illegal cannot be th used at any Chanhassen park, and this includes the 4 of July celebration at Lake Ann. Please be respectful of your neighbors and if you do have more specific questions you can certainly give me a call and tomorrow we’ll be putting on the, examples of legal and illegal fireworks on the rdth city web page. We’re getting that on the web page for tomorrow. And then with the 3 and 4 of July festivities, this is going to be a very busy and enjoyable weekend around the city and I’m th just asking that drivers use a little bit of extra caution. On the 4 there will be road closures th starting at about 12:30 with some of the local roads and then about 1:30 for West 78 to Kerber th Boulevard between West 78 and Santa Vera Drive so use caution and pay attention to the signs and the barricades for that. I also wanted to remind everybody that glass bottles and hard alcohol rd are not allowed in city parks and this includes the Taste of Chanhassen on July 3 here at City Center Park. We’ve also had some garage burglaries around the city of Minnetonka. We have th not had any here in the city of Chanhassen at all but they’ve had around 15 or 16 since June 15. We did have one burglary here in the city the beginning of June where somebody had went into a kitchen window. Had cut a screen and they crawled in through a kitchen window and there was property that was missing from that burglary. We did recover most of that property. Not all of it but most of it and there are charges that are pending from that but this is a good time to remind folks to close their doors and windows. Close, make sure your garage door is shut. Crime continues to be down around the city but residents still need to protect themselves. And I wanted to thank Paul Oehme for some recent projects which I think are going to help traffic safety around the city of Chanhassen. Merging lane extension at Highway 5 that I know that you were a part of that intersection with Powers Boulevard. Northbound Powers Boulevard to go eastbound on Highway 5. I think that’s going to help the City an awful lot. As well as Powers Boulevard, the turn lanes that will be going on and that will be starting shortly with that project. Turn lanes going in at both Kerber Boulevard and Lake Lucy Road. I know that’s been an ongoing problem with that area so that will be a good thing. Get that, both those projects going and done and so thank you Paul for that. And was there any questions at all? For the City Council this month I provided the Sheriff’s officer, excuse me. The Sheriff’s Area Report for the month of May, the citation list as well as the Community Service Officer report for the month. Were there any questions in reference to the reports by any of the City Council? Mayor Furlong: Any questions for the Lieutenant? No? Lt. Jim Olson: Crime continues to be down and that’s a good thing so. Mayor Furlong: That’s good. 5 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 th Lt. Jim Olson: Have a happy 4. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Thank you Lieutenant. Chief Smallback is here this evening with the fire department. Good evening Chief. Still holding onto the check I see. Chief Roger Smallback: Pardon me? Mayor Furlong: Still holding onto the check. Chief Roger Smallback: Again a public thank you to CenterPoint for their generosity. I have as always a number of call volume statistics. We finished the month of May with 43 calls for service in May which was pretty consistent with historical averages. For June it’s a much different story. Month to date for June we were at 76 calls for service, which is very significantly above average. No rhyme or reason for it. It’s somewhat of a mystery I guess in that we have not had any weather related calls. Generally in the summertime, May and June you get the weather watches and the severe thunderstorms and lightning strikes and you know we’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve not had any of those calls but they tend to inflate the statistics but the exceptionally high number for this month is an aberration. Year to date we’re at 313 calls. Calls for service. It is halfway through the year now. We’re at the end of the second quarter. Going on with the statistics again, at this time last year we were at 266 calls for service so we’re 47 calls above last year’s volume. Another interesting statistic for mid-year. So far in the first half of 2010 the Chanhassen firefighters have completed 1,859 hours of training so training is a big part of what goes on over there. In June there was one residential structure fire thrd in Chanhassen that occurred on June 5 at 1914 Powers and there was a residential home on 63 Street. We, we being the fire department, were just clearing another call when this call for the house fire came in so we had a lot of people were already at the station or in trucks and we were able to get there very quickly. Unfortunately the first arriving units observed heavy smoke and fire coming from the front of the house. It was a very significant fire. No injuries but very th substantial damage to the house so a very unfortunate fire. June 27 we were called mutual aid to Chaska for a house fire involving a lightning strike there. That’s a recap of our calls to date. Any questions? Mayor Furlong: Any questions for the Chief? No? Thank you. Chief Roger Smallback: Thank you. RENEWAL OF PERMIT FOR NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (NPDES). Mayor Furlong: I think we’re going to hear a few more acronyms as we hear the staff report so, we always enjoy those but Mr. Jeffery is here this evening. Good evening. Let’s start with the staff report please. Terry Jeffery: Good evening. Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Before I get too much into it I wanted to make clarification. That part which we are approving starts on page 6 of your packet 6 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 and looks like what is up on the screen so it isn’t the draft, that portion of the report that says draft… It is this document that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is adopting. This is our fourth annual meeting for the annual report for our permit which was issued in 2006. It expires in 2011. There are six minimum control measures that need to addressed in the permit and our specific permit has 57 best management practices within it. I’m not going to go through the minutia of all that. I just want to touch on the highlights of it, to give everybody an idea of what’s going on currently and what we’re going to be doing as we move into the future. Seven staff members representing six departments are responsible for this permit and then it is always intended to improve water quality. That’s the reason behind it. That’s the goal of it. We are th required to submit an annual report on June 30 of this year. Minimal Control Measure 1. This is our education outreach. We’re really, we’re continuing the same programs that we’ve been doing in the past. We’re utilizing different events that we have. Jill Sinclair runs the Arbor Day event. Valuable opportunity to get information out to people. Arboretum last year sponsored the Waterocity. The City of Chanhassen participated…and then there are other programs that we run that may not directly be related to storm water and such as the Water Wise Program but have direct benefits so we can capitalize on. There have been partnerships that we have. Metro water…is a consortium of water resources departments throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It’s a chance to share resources, ideas. It’s kind of hard to keep up with all the rules that are going on so it’s a really good opportunity to be involved in that. Metro Blue is a private organization that, that really holds educational courses for residents. The rain garden courses are what we have done through them in the past. They have other ones. Then we have, we continue to cooperate with, or collaborate with Carver County…Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and others where possible. Then there are five volunteer groups. St. Hubert’s has been…they have a group of kids that come out and work with us, whether it be sensing the storm drains or planted areas and then Boy Scouts of America. The last year the Kerber Pond area was planted by Ryan Rogney. An Eagle Scout…and then the typical media outlets that we use. Our web site. Publications. Have articles and hot line. Minimal Control Measure 2. There’s a tremendous amount that’s involved in this. This is tonight. This is why we’re here tonight. This is the public involvement. We also have the web site where all of this is published. My contact information is on there and people can call me throughout the year and discuss. Minimum Control Measure 3 is our illicit discharge detection and elimination. Here’s one of those acronyms. IDDE. Making sure that what is going through the storm sewer system is storm water is what it boils down to. Really it’s our in-house inspections and education with the staff that we’ve been working on. As well as the ISTS, that’s the individual sewage treatment programs that the building department monitors. And last year there were 184 inspected. ISTS’s. Only 3 were to be found failing and those are in, either have been or in the process of coming into compliance right now. Minimum Control Measure 4is the one I think everybody is most familiar with. This is the construction site runoff program. Last year there was 16 sites in the city of Chanhassen that were greater than 1 acre, which is the threshold for the small site construction permit. Those are inspected weekly and within 48 hours after a rainfall. They are done collaboratively with the City of Chanhassen and with Carver Soil and Water Conservation District. There were 21 notices of violations and all a notice of violation is, is that there’s something that’s not in compliance with your SWPPP permit. You can take time to remedy that situation. Of those only one have gone through an actual stop work order which I think speaks volumes to Krista Spreiter in the office who’s always trying to get ahead and work with the developer. Work with the contractor rather than relying on coming in afterwards with… 7 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Minimum Control Measure 5 is post construction control. This is the inspections of all the structural best management practices we have. Our whir structures…environmental manholes which Mike Wegler in the Streets Department maintains throughout the year for us. 678 in- house man hours were devoted to the maintenance of our existing storm sewer structure. That doesn’t include projects or contractors that were brought in to do some larger projects as we’ve been finishing in-house. Such as Pleasant View. We did some repair on Pleasant View. A little tricky over the narrow roads and hard to do in-house and Cheyenne Spur. Did some work in there. And then this is also where we look for chances to partner with private residences. With the Pontiac Circle mill and overlay we had a huge response when we asked if anybody would be interested in putting rain gardens within their private property. I think we had 40 plus residents that wanted to do it. It really wasn’t practical for a number of reasons. It was pared down to 11. The City put them in. They are responsible for the long term maintenance…technical guidances to go through it but have heard back from several of the residents this year. They were holding up at this point. Minimum Control Measure 6. The last one is good housekeeping. This is what is the City. What are we doing about our facilities to make sure that we’re… This is your street sweeping and sump manholes… I think the most important thing to look at here is the, we were able to clean out all of our sump manholes last year and all of our environmental manholes. We were able to inspect 21 of our 64, in the staff report, in the NPDES permit it says 39 outfalls. It’s really 64. That will get changed. To back up an MS4 outfall, we obviously have more than 64 outfalls or ponds and stuff. What we’re concerned about is the MS4 outfalls are permitted outfalls which are anything that discharges to water of the state or outside of our jurisdiction so in the City of Eden Prairie, Shakopee, Victoria or Chaska or MnDOT right-of-way. So there’s 69 of those outfalls. 64 rather. There’s 39 identified when we originally started mapping but over time as we’ve gotten a better idea of what’s going on, we’re at 64 right now. 21 of the 64 were inspected last year. We are a little bit behind schedule of where we want to be but I see no reason we won’t be in full compliance by the end of this permit cycle. And then the construction of public works facility actually resulted in 5 of the best management practices on the Minimum Control Measure 6 being completed. They were items like the fuel system that’s out there. Indoor, the indoor car washing facility. As we move forward, I’ve got to emphasize 2011 this permit expires. PCA has yet to issue guidance as to what that means. If we will just continue, we’ll just roll over the existing permit or if there’s going to be other, other requirements. We do know that with some things that have happened to some other communities nearby that how we assess and determine pond maintenance is going to be incorporated into the next permit. I think we’re already ahead of that curve a little bit. Last year we inspected, we sampled 11 ponds. Cleaned out 5 and we’re developing, I’m not sure if that really, they’ll allow us to say here’s our priority ponds that we should target at this point. Otherwise we’re waiting on PCA guidance to on where to go from this point on. Cartegraph is a software package we’re working with WSB and Associates and Cartegraph software manufacturing to develop an asset management package that we can use for sewer and water, storm sewer, streets, parks, all of our infrastructure to know what’s there. What maintenance is done. What maintenance needs to be done. Work orders to try all of that asset management. State contract for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will review in July which will then allow Barr Engineering to continue working on the Bluff Creek TMDL. That should be finished the end of this year. Working with Krista Spreiter and Kim Meuwissen in our office to update the web site. Right now make it a little more navigable. User friendly to find water resources. Right now we’re got some of it in the planning so…just make it easier to use. And then I’m meeting with Carver County next week to discuss collaboration with 8 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 education. We met in February with Chaska, Carver County and Chanhassen because Carver County and Minnehaha Creek have full time employees. People on staff so they’re developing materials. It seems to be more efficient if we were to utilize their expertise and materials to develop them rather than recreate some things so I’m meeting with them next week to discuss that. That’s our future. I have nothing else at this time. Happy to answer any questions you have. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Any questions of Mr. Jeffery at this time? No? Appreciate all your efforts and work that goes into this big project. We need to have a public hearing tonight, is that correct? Mr. Gerhardt, do you have something? Todd Gerhardt: Terry, when we submit this report to Minnesota Pollution Control, did we get any feedback from them on other communities successes or watershed districts? Because we go through a lot of work on this and I’m just wondering is there any feedback? Is anybody tabulating the results of this or any measurements that give us feedback? Terry Jeffery: There’s nothing specific to our annual report that I have received in terms of feedback. The Pollution Control Agency though does meet…database on best management practices that have been employed in other communities so that, people in our position can access them and find out ways…not working but specific to the annual report I have not received any feedback at this time. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Councilman Litsey: Great job. Mayor Furlong: At this time then I will open up the public hearing and invite any interested party to come forward and provide comments to the council on this matter. Seeing nobody, then without objection we’ll close the public hearing and bring it back to council for comment and action. This evening there’s a request for authorization, correct? Mr. Jefferies with the regard to the permit. The small MS4 form, is that correct? Terry Jeffery: That is correct. Mayor Furlong: So is there any, any discussion? If not is, would somebody like to go ahead and make a motion. Councilwoman Tjornhom? Councilman Litsey: I was almost going to say. Mayor Furlong: Oh I’m sorry. Councilman Litsey: No, no. That’s alright. Mayor Furlong: I’ll reserve the second for you Councilman Litsey. Councilman Litsey: Alright, thank you. 9 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Councilwoman Tjornhom: I’ll make a motion that we approve the report, is that right? Do you want me to read the whole thing? Let’s see, I make a motion that we approve the Annual Report of 2009 authorizing the mayor’s signature in submittal to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Is there a second? Councilman Litsey: Second. Thank you. Mayor Furlong: Made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, we’ll proceed with the vote. Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilman Litsey seconded that the Chanhassen City Council authorizes the Mayor to sign the City’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II Annual Report, as attached to this memorandum, and authorizes the distribution of the Annual Report to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Mayor Furlong: I know you had mentioned in your report that there are a number of different members, 7 members of the staff I think you said and 6 different departments that are involved with this so please extend our appreciation to all of them as well. Terry Jeffery: Thank you. CONSENT AGENDA: E. APPROVE RESOLUTION FOR GRANT APPLICATION FOR ROADWAY AND TRAIL IMPROVEMENTS AT TH 101 AND PLEASANT VIEW ROAD. Mayor Furlong: Let’s pick up item 1(e) at this time. This is an item that I asked staff to give a little more information. We’ve had different grant applications come forward and I wanted to clarify a little bit, just the scope of this project as well as the consistency with our Comprehensive Plan so Mr. Oehme, can we go to you for a staff report? Councilman McDonald: Excuse me Mr. Mayor, before you start I am recusing myself from this discussion so I will leave. Mayor Furlong: Thank you Mr. McDonald. Sorry, forgot that. Paul Oehme: Mr. Mayor, City Council members. Staff is requesting by this item that the council approve a resolution supporting a grant application for road and trail improvements at the intersection of 101 and Pleasant View Road, as shown on the drawing here. This grant application is through the Minnesota Agreement Program. Through MnDOT that provides funding for construction projects that are developed and administered by local agencies and provide a benefit to both the local community and the trunk highway system. These funds are intended to pay for a portion of the construction cost of the project. The City would be responsible for any right-of-way, utilities relocations, design, environmental documentation, 10 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 those type of things. But it’s a great, I think it’s a great program. We’ve partnered with other agencies to improve the trunk highway system in the metro area. This year there’s $4 million dollars that’s available for the, through this program which is about a million dollars higher than it has historically been, so again the grant application is at the intersection of 101 and Pleasant View which is shown in the drawing here in the upper northeast corner of the community. Staff has been monitoring the intersection, this intersection for several years and in discussion with our law enforcement agencies and MnDOT, we do look at the trunk highway system as it comes through our community. Not just Highway 101 but also Trunk Highway 5 and Trunk Highway 7 as well and Trunk Highway 212 and this intersection, it seems to have recently had some accidents and some congestion at this intersection. We also have received comments from property owners in this area that they’d like to see something different done at this intersection. Unfortunately we did discuss installing a signal with MnDOT at this intersection but has not come up to that level of warranting for a signal at this intersection so we’re looking at other improvements. MnDOT did assist us in acquiring traffic counts at this intersection and turning movements at the intersection as well so I just wanted to give a thanks to them for helping us out with anything in conjunction with this application as well. The intersection currently as it exists today, north is to your right here. There is a right turn lane going into Eden Prairie and there’s also a right turn lane going onto Pleasant View Road into the City of Chanhassen. There’s one, there’s a through lane also at this intersection. And based upon the observations that we’ve had and the traffic or the accidents that we’ve observed, a lot of the problems at this intersection can relate to left turning movements at this intersection. For example in peak p.m. periods there’s typically a significant amount of traffic back-up on 101 trying to make a left onto Pleasant View into Chanhassen and with the oncoming traffic on southbound 101, sometimes there’s some rear end accidents that have occurred at this intersection and then also some side on collisions when traffic southbound 101 is trying to make a left turn into Pleasant View and some of the traffic northbound is trying to get a way around the traffic that is stopped on the through lanes and there has been in the past been some conflicts at that location. So in reviewing the traffic accidents and the intersection, this is the improvements that we’re coming up with. Kind of hard to see a little bit at this drawing but what the main improvement would be is a left turn lane on 101. A normal 300 foot turn lane to help alleviate some of the potential rear end collisions that we’ve seen at this intersection. And then also both southbound and northbound and widening out the intersection. The pavement here shown in yellow is thee widening of the roadway section. There is also proposed to be a right turn lane on Pleasant View heading southbound on 101 as well. There has been some delays there that we want to try to alleviate as well. In conjunction with the roadway improvements we’re also looking at some drainage improvements as well. Curb and gutter along the west side of 101 along with some storm sewer improvements and shoulder improvements as well shown in the blue. In conjunction with that, those improvements to the trunk highway, staff is also looking at some trail improvements to this corridor. As you, as council may recall, last council meeting staff did give a little presentation on interconnecting trail systems to other communities and at this location that is one of the trail sections that we’d like to look at connecting to Eden Prairie and to Minnetonka. Trail improvements are shown in this drawing. Basically from the intersection of Pleasant View, south side of Pleasant View. We would extend a trail crossing to the north side of Pleasant View and then extend the trail along 101 within the right-of-way along 101 up to Town Line Drive and at Town Line Drive there’s a regional trail system that picks up on 62 and then heads into some other parks out to the communities to the east of here as well so that is definitely a needed trail connection to other 11 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 communities in the region as well. So with that, that’s basically the scope of the grant and of the project. Staff has estimated the construction for the project to be $445,000 at this time. We’re estimating that the City share of that cost would be in the range of about $90,000 plus any additional right-of-way that would be needed for the project. And then if the grant would be approved, we would potentially start construction as early as August of next year. So with that, if there’s any questions I can try to answer, I’d be more than happy to. Mayor Furlong: Any questions from members of the council. Councilwoman Ernst. Councilwoman Ernst: Paul, could you explain, so I heard you say $90,000 plus for the right-of- way. What are we looking at in terms of the additional cost? Paul Oehme: Well the $90,000 would be, we’re estimating just for the engineering cost for the design and the construction administration of the project. The plus is the right-of-way. We don’t know, we haven’t gone through an appraisal process yet on the needed right-of-way out here so I don’t know exactly what the cost for that right-of-way needs would be at this time so that’s what we need it for right-of-way. Councilwoman Ernst: So why does Eden Prairie feel that it wouldn’t be beneficial to their residents? I mean I know that they’re waiting for the turn back project but I’m curious to. Paul Oehme: Yeah, staff has just had some preliminary discussions with Eden Prairie and based upon what we received back from them, they don’t feel at this point in time that the benefit for the improvements that we’re talking about would benefit a significant amount of their residents at this intersection so a lot of the residents access Eden Prairie via Dell Road at this location. There’s more people on 101 accessing city of Chanhassen than there would be from Eden Prairie so, so based upon the access, the amount of traffic volume at this intersection, that’s basically what we’ve heard that they would not want, are not willing to support the improvements at this time. They’re looking long term down the road. They’d really like to see this whole corridor looked at. Another study completed upgrading the whole corridor from 62 all the way down to Trunk Highway 5 and doing it all at once instead of trying to piecemeal things together so. You know from staff’s perspective it’s tough to you know, make that, you know that leap at this time. One, MnDOT really doesn’t have any funding available for that. For that ultimate improvements at this time and it’s just you know, staff feels that we need to do something now and try to make improvements as potential funding becomes available. Councilwoman Ernst: So if we apply, I mean if we submit the application for this grant and it goes through, I assume that when we get the grant that it has to go specifically for the intentions that we submitted it for, correct? Paul Oehme: Correct. Councilwoman Ernst: So if the cost goes significantly over the $90,000. Say it ends, hypothetically, you know $450,000. Do we still have to move forward with that? 12 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Paul Oehme: No. There’s always, you can always back out on this. On these type of applications. So we’re not locked into spending or making those improvements. You know we’re only taking it to a very preliminary design level at this time. There might be some things that we’re not aware of out in here in the corridor after we get it surveyed or what not so we need to find out those. That information and obviously make sure that our budgets are correct this fall if we move forward with the project or not. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. This was one, this was in our strategic plan, was it not? Or not? I’m trying to recall if it was one of the items on there. Todd Gerhardt: I think it showed up in our CIP as one of our wish list items but since it’s a MnDOT roadway system, we’ve been hesitant to put any money aside for it other than trying to take advantage of these safety improvement grants that are out there. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay. So then it’s probably the bigger one that I’m looking at is this safety issue for, I mean we incorporated it all into one, right? The trail and the roadway. Paul Oehme: Exactly. Councilwoman Ernst: Okay, thank you. Mayor Furlong: And I think, I guess the question there, the safety and mobility. This is very similar to what we’re trying to do for example at Minnewashta Parkway and Highway 5. Improving the intersection with turn lanes from a safety standpoint, correct? Paul Oehme: Absolutely. Mayor Furlong: There again that is a MnDOT, that’s a State road so we can’t just put money towards it. Explain a little bit about this, this grant process here. This is funds that are specifically set aside for improvements to the state trunk highway system? Paul Oehme: Yep. Mayor Furlong: That are to work with local governmental units. Paul Oehme: Exactly. Yeah, it’s a partnership. That’s what MnDOT likes to call it. It’s basically MnDOT’s willing to spend a significant amount of money for improvements not just that benefit their local trunk highway system but also access mobility issues to the local system as well so it’s kind of a win/win both for MnDOT and the local so I like the program. I wish there was actually more money in the program because it is a very competitive program that a lot of cities have applied for grants for this, for these dollars. Mayor Furlong: So if we are successful, and if the council moves forward and approves the application, we are successful in receiving, or being awarded the grant money, it’s, it recognizes the importance of this project relative to other projects across the state system? 13 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Paul Oehme: Yes. Mayor Furlong: State highway system. Paul Oehme: Absolutely and specifically in the metro area. Mayor Furlong: In the metro area so within the metro district. Paul Oehme: Exactly. Mayor Furlong: Those receiving grant dollars are those most important. Paul Oehme: Yeah, and it does cost some dollars to put these grant applications together so you know staff has talked to MnDOT specifically about this intersection. They’ve helped us out with some traffic data, collections and any other information, accident records as well so based upon their feedback, they are you know encouraging us to submit it because they are, they review these applications and see what comes through so they think it’s a decent project. Mayor Furlong: Okay, very good. Any other questions? Councilman Litsey: Just quickly. Mayor Furlong: Please, Councilman Litsey. Councilman Litsey: Would it enhance our, I don’t know if that’s the right word to use but in terms of submitting the grant application, if we had Eden Prairie partnering with us. Would that make it more attractive do you think to the process? Paul Oehme: It would but it’s not necessary at this time. Councilman Litsey: The only thing I comment too, I’m in favor of moving ahead with it. I’m not real taken aback by Eden Prairie’s reluctance or unwillingness to help out with this because I think it does have a direct benefit and I think that the likelihood of getting that whole corridor done in the foreseeable future is pretty remote so I would wish they would partner with us. I don’t know if you can re-approach them during this interim period to see if they might reconsider. Paul Oehme: We will definitely. Especially if we move forward with the grant application. We submit the grant and by chance we are awarded the grant dollars, we get only half the work with MnDOT, or with Eden Prairie to make these improvements because some of the drainage through the intersection actually ends up in Eden Prairie’s system so we need to definitely work with them on that. Councilman Litsey: So I guess I would just encourage to try and see if we can persuade them to come in as partners. 14 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Paul Oehme: Absolutely. Todd Gerhardt: I’ll set up a meeting with Scott Neal and Gene Dietz, the Public Works Director over there and sit down and we haven’t had a discussion on 101 in a while and maybe talk big picture and see where the future lies there and see what their real interest is in this area. Councilwoman Tjornhom: I have a question. Mayor Furlong: Yes, Councilwoman Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: And honestly I drive this intersection every day. My children do also so I understand the safety concerns. My, I think maybe that question has been already answered with Councilman Litsey’s question but you said that Eden Prairie has more of an interest of redesigning the whole corridor in that area and not just piecemealing it together. And this is a project that’s over half a million dollars and so I just wanted some reassurance that we’re not going to be spending half a million dollars and 5 years later they’re going to be redoing it. Todd Gerhardt: And I think that’s what Gene Dietz’ comments were too is that the improvements that are going to occur here would probably, most of them would be spoiled if the 101 was totally rebuilt and he preferred to see the entire alignment designed and built. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Who is that? I don’t know who that is. Todd Gerhardt: Gene Dietz is the Public Works Director from Eden Prairie. Councilman Litsey: Okay, sorry. Thank you. Todd Gerhardt: But you know Paul already hit on it. The likelihood of funding being available to do 101, you’re talking probably $25 million. Councilwoman Tjornhom: No, and I totally agree but it still is something in the back of my mind. I’m sure everybody’s mind thinking boy, you know that would be a shame. Councilman Litsey: To dig it up in 5 years. Paul Oehme: I mean we have looked at that and in very preliminary terms that is going to have to be a retaining wall if the project is built on the west side of the road to make sure that that’s as far back in the right-of-way as we can get it and some of the storm sewer structures too, we’re looking to make sure those are in the right location and everything so, so we’re looking at kind of the big picture too. Make sure that we look out and make sure that whatever we put out here, you know if we do make improvements in the future, that a lot of that infrastructure can be re- used again. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Yeah and I’m sure anyone that lives in that area will tell you a thousand times over that it needs to be done. You know turn lanes and the paths and everything, it’s just right now really inconvenient and dangerous for everybody so I hope we get it. 15 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Mayor Furlong: Yeah, and I think Councilwoman Tjornhom you raise a very excellent point. We never want to spend any money now to have it be wasted or torn up again and I know that’s why staff for example is working with MnDOT, they have in the staff report they talked about the overlay that’s scheduled for this section of road. We need to continue to work with them to please hold back, stay back so we don’t do that. There are other examples where that happens and, and residents, citizens normally with justification get frustrated when they see that because there isn’t a lot of dollars to begin with to do everything that’s needed so, but I think, and I liken this back to I agree with you. Anybody who drives that intersection knows that improvements need to be made from a safety standpoint. Mobility standpoint and it’s very similar to the work that we’ve got scheduled over at Minnewashta Parkway and Highway 5. Again an intersection that everybody knows needs to be improved long term. Four lane. Median divided and as much as possible again in this, in that project the goal is to make whatever improvements we make to the extent possible, those that would survive ultimately to what we think the plan might be. And whether it’s retaining walls or other things I think we need to look for those opportunities so we can minimize that. Again, this corridor has been, there’s been anticipated improvements to this corridor for many, many years and to continue to wait for those to happen, I don’t know if that’s prudent because people are driving it every day and we know that the need is now so. The other thing is with this project we’re coordinating our trail connection from Pleasant View up to 62, which was one of the items that we talked about in our work session last week of connecting trails from a safety standpoint. Anybody who’s driven down 101 has looked at the 101 trail on the west side of the road knows what that has done for safety for pedestrians and bicyclists and such and again, that was done at a time when we thought the corridor might be upgraded and improved, and yet it’s been used. Councilwoman Tjornhom: And that’s what I was going to say. I’m amazed about, is the usage. You know it’s really used so we need a trail and this would also be a needed addition to connecting it someday. Mayor Furlong: Okay, thank you. Any other questions or comments on this? I would certainly move recommendation or approval of staff’s recommendation. Was there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Mayor Furlong: Second. Any further discussion? If not we’ll proceed with the vote. Resolution #2010-66: Mayor Furlong moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded that the City Council approves a Resolution of Support for a Grant Application for Roadway and Trail Improvements at TH 101 and Pleasant View Road. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. (Councilman McDonald recused himself from the vote). COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS: Mayor Furlong: One thing I would say publicly. I know the council’s familiar with it because tonight on our consent agenda the council affirmed the approval of Southwest Transit’s awarding 16 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 of the construction bid for Chanhassen Station, which is the parking ramp and transit station that’s going to be located in our downtown near the Dinner Theater and so construction of that is starting, will be moving forward. Southwest also received, approved this at the commission meeting about a week ago and, the same resolution and about 10 days ago now and they received MnDOT’s approval as well so I think our’s was the last approval for that so. That’s been a project that’s been many years in the works, as we all know and it’s nice to see that that will be moving forward and we’ll probably see some dirt moving here in the coming weeks with completion sometime next year. And I think there’s planning to be a ground breaking in the next couple weeks. Todd Gerhardt: Yeah. th Mayor Furlong: I think they’re looking at Monday the 12 at this point. th Todd Gerhardt: Oh the 12 now? Mayor Furlong: There’s been some movement but we’ll coordinate that with the City as well. Todd Gerhardt: As soon as we hear we’ll get it out to council and plan accordingly. Mayor Furlong: Any other comments, presentations from the council? ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS: Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, City Council. The Mayor and I had discussions this afternoon to talk about some of the improvements that are going to occur on Powers Boulevard. Similar to Pleasant View and 101. Paul, do you have the map for Powers? Paul Oehme: Here’s a, these drawings, this is from a plan set that the, for the County overlay project on Powers Boulevard. The improvements I think have been awarded by the Council, or the County Board. This project’s moving forward. It’s a safety improvement project and also preservation project on Powers Boulevard. Basically starting north of Santa Vera, all the way out to the county line. A lot of the improvements that will be taking place are turn lanes and, left turn lanes. This will be guardrails. New striping. Some drainage improvements as well so specifically in the section of Kerber Boulevard, that’s going to get a left turn lanes, both on the east side and the west side onto the development. Lake Lucy Road also is another turn lane. The intersection that’s going to get turn lanes. That one has been known to have some accidents and then also on Pleasant View is going to get a turn lane too. A left turn lane on southbound. Southbound Powers Boulevard so a lot of turn lane improvements. A little widening, shouldering improvements so it’s a needed project as the sheriff had indicated so looking th forward to moving forward with that project. It’d just be construction sometime after the 4 there’s a pre-construction meeting this week, or on… Todd Gerhardt: Some of the key intersections are the ones at Powers and Lake Lucy. Currently there’s smaller right turn lanes and then there’s a solid line. When you have a solid line you’re not to go around the car that’s trying to make the left hand turn so there’ll be a left turn lane 17 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 added at Powers and Lake Lucy and then a through lane so you won’t see those cars skirting around and the car heading south will be able to see oncoming traffic. So the left turns are important there. Another one where we have a lot of accidents are at Kerber and Tecumseh and so again turn lanes, left turn lanes there and defining more of those right turn lanes. Councilman Litsey: Are they looking at the left turn lane at Carver Beach or? Paul Oehme: I think there is a left turn there. Councilman Litsey: That would only be one. They can go both ways. Todd Gerhardt: There’s right turn lanes on Carver Beach. Councilman Litsey: It’d be south. Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, south. Mayor Furlong: Southbound would be the primary flow of traffic. Paul Oehme: There’s no, yeah. On southbound there is no left turn lane there right now but. Mayor Furlong: I’m guessing the traffic counts though relative to Kerber, relative to Lake Lucy Road and to Pleasant View. Paul Oehme: I think you’re right. Councilman Litsey: No, that’s great. Every time I make a left turn there, you kind of look in your rear view mirror waiting for someone to screech so, their tires so that’ll be great. Mayor Furlong: And this is a County project and I know Paul you and Mr. Gerhardt and others have been working closely with the County over the years trying to move this project forward so it’s. Paul Oehme: It’s about 3 years so a lot of the work, yeah and actually there’s a significant dollar amount that the County received through a grant application as well so yeah that’s, it’s nice to see the fruits of your labor in that. Mayor Furlong: I would say at least 3 years. It’s been a long time needed but it’s nice to see it moving forward and so I think those people, those residents see construction on Powers will be inconvenienced during the construction period as always but it will again improve safety and improve mobility and that’s the goal. Todd Gerhardt: And the acceleration lane at Powers and Highway 5 as you head east on Highway 5 is open now and work’s been completed. Guardrail put in place and talking with Dr. Lano, he’s a little disappointed that he doesn’t get to see the crashes anymore outside his office because that was bringing business in right and left for him. 18 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Mayor Furlong: Maybe we could paste some pictures on the outside of his windows so. Todd Gerhardt: I was being facetious. He doesn’t want any more clients but that was a very difficult intersection there and we’re trying to make those same improvements at 101 and Highway 5 and Dakota and Highway 5 also and we continue to make application as we have in the past. Paul Oehme: Market Boulevard and 101 South is also on the list too. Getting back to Powers real quick too. The County’s not anticipating the Powers Boulevard to be any detour or shut down so we’re anticipating that construction may happen under traffic so that will hopefully help. Councilman Litsey: What’s the completion estimate? Paul Oehme: I don’t have the exact date but they told me in August so I don’t know if it’s early August. th Todd Gerhardt: Yeah, construction will start after the 4 and completion towards the end of August. Before school is the goal. Mayor Furlong: Alright. Very good. Thank you for that update. Anything else Mr. Gerhardt? Todd Gerhardt: I got an email today, we’re looking for volunteers for the Red Bird game here th on the 4. With some people being out of town we need additional volunteers. The Red Birds th are playing this Sunday on the 4 and so if anybody’s looking to help out in concession stand or tickets and a variety of other, have them contact me here at City Hall. 952-227-1119 and see if we can’t help out. They’re expecting big crowds. That’s it. Mayor Furlong: Okay. Good, any questions for Mr. Gerhardt or his staff? One comment that I will make and it’s to Mr. Hoffman, our Director of Park and Recreation. That is tonight when I thanked the many volunteers for their work at the Lake Ann concession stand, I don’t think I specifically thanked you for your time and effort because I know that was a large part of it and helping coordinate the, sometimes people come forward with desires and wants but helping to coordinate those and turn that into actual completion of work is commendable so thank you for your time and effort on that and all the other things you do of course but I appreciate it and wanted to make sure you recognized our appreciation. Todd Hoffman: You’re welcome. Mayor Furlong: Anything else? CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION: None. 19 Chanhassen City Council - June 28, 2010 Councilwoman Tjornhom moved, Councilwoman Ernst seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim 20