CC VER 2020 01 27CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
JANUUARY 27, 2020
Mayor Ryan called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to
the Flag.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Ryan, Councilman McDonald, Councilman
Campion, and Councilwoman Coleman
COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Councilwoman Tjornhom
STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Jake Foster, Kate Aanenson, Charlie Howley, George
Bender, Chief Don Johnson, Lt. Lance Pearce, and Roger Knutson
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Tom Danielson Bolten & Menk
Mayor Ryan: Again good evening everybody and welcome to our council meeting. To those
that are watching at home or livestreaming from the Chanhassen website, thank you for joining
us. For the record we have one council member absent tonight. Councilwoman Bethany
Tjornhom with an excused absence. Our first action is our agenda approval. Council members
are there any modifications to the agenda as printed? If not we will proceed with the published
agenda.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: INVITATION TO FEBRUARY FESTIVAL.
Mayor Ryan: First up we have a public announcement and that’s an invitation to our February
Festival. The City of Chanhassen is proud to announce the first community event of 2020. The
27th Annual February Festival. This is the first in a year long series of special events that are
sponsored by the City of Chanhassen, local service organizations and the local business
community. February Festival, I’m going to shorten that to Feb Fest because that’s how we all
know it as, Feb Fest will be held on Saturday, February 1st and I invite area residents, their
families and friends to join us on Lake Ann. Events begin at 12:00 noon and include ice skating,
sledding, horse drawn wagon rides, dog sled rides, the list continues snow shoeing, fat tire bike
demos, kick sled demos, bonfires, a kids scavenger hunt and always of course the popular ice
fishing contest. Hot food and concessions will be sold on the ice by the Rotary Club of
Chanhassen. Boy Scout Troop 330 will be selling live bait and S’mores kits and the ice fishing
contest will run from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and includes over $6,000 in prizes. Each Feb Fest
attendee will receive one free door price ticket at the event for a chance to win over $3,000 in
door prizes. Ice fishing tickets are $10 per person and are available online at the City’s Feb Fest
page and at city hall. So for more information watch the Chanhassen Villager or visit the City’s
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
2
website and I look forward to seeing you there. How thick is the ice? Where is Mr. Hoffman?
Is he here? It’s over 12 inches. He always has the stats for us so but we hope you can be there.
It’s a great, great event.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman Campion moved, Councilwoman Coleman seconded
to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s
recommendations:
1. Approve City Council Minutes dated January 13, 2020
2. Receive Senior Commission Minutes dated December 20, 2019
3. Receive Economic Development Commission Minutes dated December 10, 2019
4. Receive Park and Recreation Commission Minutes dated December 10, 2019
5. Receive Planning Commission Minutes dated December 3, 2019
6. Receive Senior Commission Minutes dated November 15, 2019
7. Receive Environmental Commission Minutes dated November 13, 2019
8. Approve Final Plat, Development Contract, and Plans and Specifications for The Park 2nd
Addition
9. Resolution #2020-03: Approve Ratifying Changes to Chanhassen Fire Relief
Association Bylaws
10. Approve Extension of Agreement to Allow an Auto Repair Garage on Property Zoned
Planned Unit Development (PUD), 7900 Kerber Boulevard, Douglas Hansen
11. Resolution #2020-04: Appoint Election Judges for State Presidential Primary Election
and Approve Rates of Pay
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS. CHIEF’S AWARD OF MERIT FOR LIFE SAVING
EFFORTS AT A RESIDENTIAL FIRE LOCATED AT THE BROOKSIDE MOTEL ON
DECEMBER 22, 2019.
Mayor Ryan: Next up Chief.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
3
Chief Don Johnson: Good evening Mayor and council. Tonight we’re here to honor one of our
citizens and if I can ask Vicky Lommel to come up and stand with me. She’s probably not going
to like that much but, so on December 22nd about 5:00 in the morning we were started for a
structure fire on the south end of town. First arriving units we had a fully involved residence and
through the investigation we met Vicky where Vicky actually heard some noises from outside
which we now know was the smoke alarms from the residents affected with the fire. Vicky
could have stopped right there. Called 911 and just got the fire service and stayed where she was
at but she actually took the time to go across to the neighbor’s house and start knocking on doors
so at that point was able to get both residents out of the home. And if I go back to why we’re
offering her, or awarding her today with a Fire Chief’s Award of Merit, what you did that
morning potentially saved lives so whether those folks could have got out on their own, I don’t
know but I know in 2014 somebody wasn’t able to get out on their own so I commend you and
your actions for being involved and taking the extra steps to go over and make sure that your
neighbors were saved so we’ve got a small award for you for a lifesaving award and a Chief’s
Award of Merit as well as one our challenge coins that you can, it’s a little hard to carry around
most the time to remember your actions.
Vicky Lommel: Thank you.
Chief Don Johnson: So than you for taking those steps.
Vicky Lommel: Thank you very much.
Mayor Ryan: Ms. Lommel I’m going to embarrass you for 30 more seconds but you may stay
seated if you want. I just on behalf of council I’d like to say a few words. When we first heard
about what you did it was certainly moving and you truly epitomize really what the City of
Chanhassen is all about. Neighbors looking after each other and so we just want to say thanks
and with great appreciation to you for your selfless act in saving your neighbors life so thank you
again on behalf of City Council and the residents of Chanhassen for your selfless act of kindness
and care and truly just being you so thank you very much and congratulations on this most
deserved award. Thank you.
FIRE DEPARTMENT/LAW ENFORCEMENT UPDATE.
Mayor Ryan: Chief if you’d like to continue.
Chief Don Johnson: Okay. Good evening. This is my update for potentially November and
December. Staffing remains at 42 of 45 firefighters. We did have a 7 year firefighter resign
effective December 31st. We are proud to say that 2 of our probationary firefighters are now
done with their training and actually hitting duty crews and working on the trucks so
congratulations to them. It was a year long experience between being in EMT training and all of
their fire training. The fire department responded to 84 calls in November and 86 calls in
December with a total for 2019 of being 1,002 representing an 8.8 percent increase up from 2018
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
4
so I appreciate our staff and their ability to continue to manage these increases. We have seen 8
to 9, 10 percent increases over the year. Over the years. Last 5 at least. Our call breakdowns we
had 15 chief only calls, 95 day only calls, 267 duty crew calls for the year and 625 general
alarms. Out of those 2 months there was 106 rescue EMS calls with 11 motor vehicle accidents.
8 fire responses including 3 building fire. Brookside fire, the Pima Lane fire which happened to
be on the same day and then a mutual aid request from Eden Prairie. One cooking fire, 3 car
fires and 1 outside equipment fire all in November and December. Training continued through
the end of the year with EMS training, officer training and pre-plans of the new Life Time
Corporate 2 building. Our Engine 1 training, hazardous materials training and then our annual
fire department training on January 13th. Again appreciative of our staff. Staffing both
Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve for do it with duty crews which both
gives us outstanding response to the community but then lets some of the rest of the department
take those evenings off and not have to worry about calls so again our crews are stepping up
more than they have. We staffed New Year’s Eve with Paisley Park. January 6th our Engine 1
went in service so again thanks to council and city leadership for ensuring that our equipment is
where it needs to be to respond to the community. Assisted Watertown, I assisted Watertown
Fire with incident command training and the Minnesota Fire Chiefs Association with the Howard
Lake Fire Department line of duty death funeral for Chief Drusch. So and then we should be
expecting our ISO report. Alan and I have been working with ISO which we have to do every 5
years to present our capabilities as a fire department, as a city. For those that aren’t aware our
ISO score actually affects both commercial and residential insurance so the better we do as a fire
department in our rankings the lower insurance rates we give to our community so one of the
things that we had in 2015 that you’ve helped correct was apparatus equipment was a lot of our
stuff was aged out past those recommendations. Our expansion of the duty crews also helped
with that and will help our overall response time so I would expect our score to stay where it’s at
or go lower than where it’s at, and hopefully again that helps our community out as well so.
Some of the bigger projects that the fire marshal’s office has been working on is Tequila
Butcher. Obviously that was, most of these projects come at us pretty heavy the last week when
they’re trying to get open so thanks to Fire Marshal Nutter and the flexibility in his schedule.
Working with Gedney Pickle right now on some options down there and we’re also continuing to
work with the crew remodeling spaces in the city so that’s pretty much what’s going on for the
fire department. I can stand for questions.
Mayor Ryan: Thank you Chief. Council any questions? Well thank you and thank you all for
being here tonight. I know you’re here in support of the award tonight so thank you for coming
in on your night off to be a part of the honor and award that we gave Ms. Lommel so thank you
for being here tonight and thank you for what you do every single day so we appreciate it.
Thank you Chief.
Chief Don Johnson: Thanks.
Mayor Ryan: Lieutenant.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
5
Lt. Lance Pearce: Madam Mayor, council. I’m going to cover December’s activity. In
December we had 767 patrol related calls. 32 of Group A crimes. Mostly categorized as theft
and fraud and 13 Group B crimes. We had 192 traffic stops. We responded to 61 property
damage and personal injury crashes which most were weather related. Arrest and citations, we
had 27 arrests and issued 100 citations in the month of December. Of note we had 5 DUI arrests
and 4 arrests for counterfeiting and forgery. Training update. There was no department training
in December but currently all of our deputies are attending emergency vehicle operations course
and that’s required by the post board every 5 years so we’re going to try something new this
time. We typically do that in the summer months but since our winters are so long we’re going
to try in January. And then we’re also doing our required medical training for all of our licensed
staff as well. Community relations update. The sheriff’s office graduated 10 people from the
fall Citizen’s Academy which graduated on December 5th and our spring academy dates are out
right now and they’ll take place February 27th through April 30th. Thursday nights from 6:00 to
9:00 p.m. mostly at the sheriff’s office in Chaska and we’re taking applications until February
17th. We should get that on the City’s social media this week. Staffing update. We are a full
staff in Chanhassen and one of my partners is here tonight. I’d like to introduce Sergeant Nate
Mueller. If he wants to stand up that’d be great. I promised him I wouldn’t make him do a
speech so I won’t make him do a speech. He’s a newly promoted Sergeant. He’s been with the
County for almost 16 years now and he is our department canine so we’ll have a canine unit
assigned to the city of Chanhassen for this year. So that’s Nate.
Mayor Ryan: Nate welcome.
Lt. Lance Pearce: And no speech, no speech Nate.
Mayor Ryan: The name of the canine.
Sgt. Nate Mueller: It’s Ringo.
Mayor Ryan: Ringo, okay.
Lt. Lance Pearce: He’s pretty small so. I stand for questions.
Mayor Ryan: Council any questions? No. And Lieutenant I know you’re working on your
annual report. Will that come back to council in February.
Lt. Lance Pearce: I’m waiting to get a date from City Manager but yes it’s 99 percent done so.
Mayor Ryan: Perfect. Alright. Thank you.
Lt. Lance Pearce: Okay thank you much.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
6
Mayor Ryan: Thank you. And since I’m off to a rocky start in 2020 with skipping over things,
we’ll fall back to the visitor presentation. I know that was on for Chief to give the award but if
there’s, I’ll follow due diligence if there is anybody here that would like to address council on a
matter that is not specifically on the agenda, please step to the podium. Provide your name and
address for the record and then please address the council. You have 5 minutes to present your
item. If your action, or request includes an action from staff or council please complete a citizen
action request form so that we are clear on what you are asking and can appropriately follow up.
Is there anybody here for a visitor presentation? Okay.
AWARD CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT FOR CSAH 101 IMPROVEMENTS.
Mayor Ryan: Next on our agenda is new business. The first one up is the award construction
contract for Highway 101 improvements.
Charlie Howley: Thank you Madam Mayor, councilors. We’re here to talk about 101. I have
here with me Jon Horn from our consultant Kimley-Horn. He’s going to run through a brief
power point to introduce this topic but is generally to move to the next step and hopefully award
some bids and get some shovels in the ground here so with that Jon I’ll advance the slides for
you. If you want.
Jon Horn: Okay. Good evening Mayor and council. As Charlie said my name’s Jon Horn with
Kimley-Horn and Associates. I’m the project manager for the Highway 101 improvements
project. The action before you this evening is the culmination of many years of effort to get to
the point where we’re ready to build this section of highway 101. So the proposed motion is to
approve a resolution awarding the CSAH 101 improvement construction contract to S.M.
Hentges including bid alternate number 1. That does require a simple majority vote of the
members present this evening. But before we do that I wanted to provide a little bit of project
background. Just a reminder on the scope of the project. Talk a little bit about construction
phasing, staging. We’ve been doing a fair amount of public engagement and there’s still more
plans so I want to touch on that. Touch on right-of-way and easement acquisition. I’ll give you
a summary of the bid results and talk a little bit about project funding. So just an overview of the
project. The graphic shows the construction. It’s a little over a mile of roadway from Pioneer
Trail to Flying Cloud Drive so basically Pioneer Trail’s on the right side of the exhibit. It’s a 4
lane divided roadway extending the length of the corridor from Pioneer to Flying Cloud. In
addition we’re urbanizing the corridor so the blue dots you see on the graphic are stormwater
facilities that will be built to treat and retain stormwater in the project area. A big part of the
project in addition to providing for motor vehicles is to provide for a safer bicycle and pedestrian
access so the project does include the construction of trails along both sides of 101 from Pioneer
Trail to about the mid point of Creekwood and then a trail on one side because of the difficult
grades in the corridor that would run all the way down to Flying Cloud Drive. In addition there’s
two pedestrian bridges and a pedestrian underpass to provide grade separated crossings of 101 to
really provide better access as well as safety for bikes and pedestrians in the corridor. The City’s
primary investment in this is utilities so we’re extending watermain that currently stops at
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
7
Pioneer Trail. Extending that down to Flying Cloud Drive to provide for future development
along the corridor. In addition we’re extending sanitary sewer main to provide for the future
installation of sanitary sewer. Ultimately sanitary sewer service would require the construction
of a lift station down near Flying Cloud Drive. That is not included as a part of this project but
we’re basically providing for the future installation of that facility. One of the innovative things
we looked at as a part of the project, because of the steep grades coming down the bluff certainly
the grades are safer than they are today but there still was some concerns about how do we
maintain that and how do we continue to make sure that’s safe so we looked at an automatic anti-
icing system that would basically be installed and what that would consist of is a weather station
that would monitor weather. There would be sensors that would be placed in the pavement to
detect temperatures of the pavement. There would basically be an automated chemical injection
system that would send it to some spray heads that would ultimately allow the deicing chemicals
to be placed on the pavement. So rather than having trucks and manual application of those
materials we looked at a potentially use of a scenario that would provide for an automated
system to be able to do that. Because of the cost of the project and overall cost of this
technology this piece was bid as a part of a bid alternate to the project and I’ll touch on that here
in a little bit. Construction phasing staging. Big project. Because of the size of the project and
the need to maintain access to existing businesses and residents in the area we’re actually
looking at a two season construction schedule. Phase 1 would be the southerly part of the project
from Flying Cloud Drive to the mid point at Creekwood Drive so that would be built in 2020.
The roadway would then be opened back up to traffic during the winter months of 2020 and
2021 and then in 2021 the roadway get closed again and the northerly piece from Creekwood up
to Pioneer Trail would be constructed. We would be closing the roadway to through traffic. As
a result of that there would need to be a detour route established so the way that’s going to work
is traffic would be detoured along county roadways. Flying Cloud Drive. Audubon Road and
then back up to Pioneer Trail so while the roadway is shut down we’ll still be maintaining local
access but through traffic would be detoured along this route. In terms of the schedule, some
things have already happened. If you recall council did award a contract for building demolition
back in November so there’s been 6 buildings that have been removed from the project corridor
to prepare for the roadway construction so that work is done. We anticipate the construction will
start in early March so the first thing the contractor is being asked to do is take care of all the tree
removal along the corridor so that would happen. A majority of that work would happen in
March. We don’t anticipate 101 being closed to through traffic until the June timeframe. One of
the reasons for that is we need to make sure that Flying Cloud Drive is re-opened and right now
Carver County is anticipating that would occur in the June timeframe so we have some
conditions as a part of our specifications that our contractor cannot close 101 until Flying Cloud
Drive is open. But they would then hit the project hard in 2020 to do that southerly piece. We
have an interim completion date in November of 2020 for the southerly piece as I said. The
roadway would then be opened back up to traffic. Closed down again in the spring of 2021 with
an ultimate completion date of October 2021 for all construction. I mentioned the public
engagements. So we’re had property owner meetings. You’ve had a couple open houses. We
do want to provide another opportunity for people in the project corridor to know more about the
project before we proceed to construction so we’re having a construction open house that’s
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
8
scheduled for February 19th at the Recreation Center from 6:00 to 7:30. Invitations for that
meeting will be going out early next week to property owners in the corridor just to make sure
everybody knows what’s happening and we provided a mechanism for them to learn a little bit
more about the project. And then right-of-way easement acquisition has been a big part of this
project. Back in November the council did authorize eminent domain for a number of parcels so
we’ve been continuing to make progress on acquiring parcels. We are in position that by the end
of February we will have all the right-of-way secured that will be necessary for the construction
of the project so right-of-way team’s been very busy trying to make sure all that work is done
prior to construction start. So what happens when we receive bids? We received bids back on
December 13th. We actually opened bids on Friday, December 13th. I don’t know why but it
worked out okay. We did receive 6 bids. Engineer’s estimate was a little bit over $18.5 million
dollars. Our low bidder was S.M. Hentges and Sons with a base bid amount of a little over $16.2
so about 13 percent under engineer’s estimate so we did receive good competitive bids. I
mentioned the bid alternate. So for the anti-icing system we looked at two scenarios. One
basically to install all the conduits in place to allow that anti-icing system to be installed in the
future. The bid alternate price for that was $162,000. We also looked at the cost to install the
complete anti-icing system and that came in at $1.4 million dollars. The way the funding for
those is set up is that’s entirely the responsibility of Carver County. Carver County staff did
some analysis in terms of funding that was available and cost benefit of installing that system
and staff’s recommendation to the county board was that they proceed with bid alternate 1. To
install the conduit system at this time. Not install the full system. Basically give the project an
opportunity to go through a winter season. See how it performs. If necessary then pursue some
potential grant funding to allow that system to be installed so right now the County’s
recommendation was to proceed with bid alternate 1 and not to install the complete anti-icing
system. So project costs and funding. Basically on that construction cost as well as all the
indirect costs and right-of-way acquisition is a little over $29 million dollars. A majority of the
funding for the project is coming from State and County funds. The City’s responsibilities are
allocated only to the utilities to be installed along the corridor which is a little over $2 million
dollars. Interestingly enough the original estimate that was put together back in 2015 for the
City’s component of this project was $2 million dollars so ultimately as a part of the delivery of
the project the actual costs established based upon actual bid prices are very close to those costs
that were estimated back in 2015. I mentioned the Carver County Board so we did go to Carver
County Board back on January 21st to get their input prior to tonight’s meeting. They did concur
with the bid award and also recommended to proceed forward as recommended by their staff to
include bid alternate 1 as a part of the project and to wait on the installation of the overall anti-
icing system until a future date. So again the motion tonight before you is to approve a
resolution awarding the construction contract to S.M. Hentges including bid alternate number 1.
I guess with that we’ll stand for questions.
Mayor Ryan: Great. Thank you. Council any questions? I just have a couple Mr. Horn. When
you talk about just from a logistics standpoint when you open and close. So you said you’ll open
it in the winter time just to, for free flowing traffic back up again totally to anyone that wants to
use it?
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
9
Jon Horn: Correct. The concern was that having it shut down over the winter months with
traffic control devices and things out there and maintenance was going to be difficult. Also the
concern about not maintaining through traffic during the winter months so basically the way the
schedule and phasing is set up is that we get to November. South half will be done. We’ll tie
into the existing north piece and then re-open the roadway back to through traffic so it won’t be a
full like year and a half of roadway closure. It will be two chunks of roadway closure with full
access inbetween.
Mayor Ryan: And not that it happens in construction often but if the weather is bad and you get
behind and it doesn’t, it doesn’t get completed to the necessary, you just, you keep working until
complete? I mean is there a possibility that it could stay closed the whole time? I mean that is a
possibility correct?
Jon Horn: Yeah. A lot of concerns about that and one of the things we looked at is it possible to
build this project in one construction season. We thought it was really a difficult squeeze to do
that but we feel the way we set it up is providing a little bit of flexibility in terms of the amount
of time we have available to get the various pieces done so that was kind of the reason to do it in
two chunks. We felt it was important to try to maintain that roadway being open over the winter
months and by breaking it into two years it allowed us some comfort that we would be able to
accomplish that.
Mayor Ryan: Okay but if you got behind and you had to keep working through is that still an
option that you’re considering that you would just keep powering through and?
Jon Horn: And it is possible. We have not had a chance to sit down with the contractor yet so
after the contract is awarded tonight we’ll certainly have conversations with the contractor. They
might have some other ideas in terms of how they want to proceed with the project. They may
have some desire to get more work done in 2020 but one of the challenges is that we’ve got, you
know we’ve got the golf course out there. We’ve got a number of residents. This is their only
way in and out so it’s critical that we figure out a way to maintain access and we’re trying to be
pretty conservative in terms of making sure we do that because they have no other choice. If
101’s not open there’s no other way to get in and out.
Mayor Ryan: Perfect. And then in terms of the open house I know you said you send mailers to
the directly impacted residents but it is open to the public so anyone that wants to attend and get
some more information can obviously attend that open house.
Jon Horn: Yep. So we’ll do a direct mailer and we’ll get it out on the City’s website and
provide information for the general public for those people that are indirectly in the corridor so
they’ll still be able to attend.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
10
Mayor Ryan: Perfect. And the last question I have, I really appreciate your presentation is, I’m
a little bit confused what on the alternative number 1 is. So is it just setting up the system so if,
if things come in again below that they’ll do it or just, I know you said they’ll see how the winter
goes. What is a conduit? Just setting up the systems or just putting money in place as a holder.
Jon Horn: Yeah so there’s basically pipes that we need to put in under the roadway. It’s kind of
like putting an irrigation system in.
Mayor Ryan: Oh okay.
Jon Horn: So we’re basically putting all the sleeves in that would be necessary to install the
irrigation system in as a future date because basically the way the system is set up is that we’d
have a building that would house the chemical tanks that would then be piping that would run all
the way up the roadway corridor, up the bluff and that is intended to run down the center median
of the roadway so we would basically be putting the conduit systems in place so if they did
install the system in the future the conduits would be there and it would be a lot easier to install
the system in the future versus trying to do it from scratch if we don’t put the conduits in the
roadway.
Mayor Ryan: Okay thank you.
Jon Horn: You bet.
Councilman Campion: If I can follow up on that too. If it’s down the center would you have to
tear up the road then to? No.
Jon Horn: Yeah so basically a concrete barrier that runs up the middle of the roadway and all of
the conduits and access for that system would be installed down that center median so basically
we’re putting in all the facilities. They would just need to put all the guts in. We’re kind of
putting the plumbing in and they need to put the guts in in the future.
Councilman Campion: Okay.
Mayor Ryan: Great. It’s hard to believe is, we’re this close. After a lot of years of conversation
and hard work so. Council I would stand for a motion.
Councilman Campion: I’ll make a motion.
Mayor Ryan: Mr. Campion.
Councilman Campion: I make a motion that the City Council approves a resolution awarding the
CSAH 101 Improvement construction contract to S.M. Hentges and Sons, Inc. including
Alternate #1.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
11
Mayor Ryan: We have a valid motion. Is there a second?
Councilwoman Coleman: I’ll second.
Resolution #2020-05: Councilman Campion moved, Councilwoman Coleman seconded
that the City Council approves a resolution awarding the CSAH 101 Improvement
construction contract to S.M. Hentges and Sons, Inc. including Alternate #1. All voted in
favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
Mayor Ryan: That motion carries 4-0.
AWARD OF BIDS FOR POWERS BOULEVARD/LAKE LUCY ROAD PEDESTRIAN
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT.
Charlie Howley: Madam Mayor, councilors, again I’m going to have George introduce this
project to you and our design engineer from Bolton and Menk. He has a lot more experience
with the history of this than I do so I’ll step back and let George take over.
Mayor Ryan: Great thank you.
George Bender: Good evening. Moving forward we’ll tackle the pedestrian crossing at Powers
Boulevard and Lake Lucy. We’ll discuss the project bidding and joint powers agreement
tonight. I’d also like to introduce, this is Tom Danielson with Bolton and Menk. He’s the design
engineer for the project. This is a quick exhibit just to show where we’re at in the limits so it
essentially ties in at Lake Lucy Road and it’s along Powers Boulevard. It gives us length to
make the transitions that we need and the expansion of the roadway to facilitate the intersection
improvements. This is a more detailed exhibit of the improvements that will be made. It
includes turn lanes for the intersection. Center median on the north side of the intersection right
here in the red. This is the actual crossing that will be, and I have better pictures of that later in
the presentation to give an example of what that will look like. There’s additional shouldering
and trail improvements on the east side of the project. I want to give a little bit of background on
the project as this part is, needs a little explanation. City Council approved an original JPA for
this project back in March 26, 2018. That was primarily to study the project. At that time two
intersections were being studied. Also at Powers Boulevard and Park Road was being
considered. Tonight we’re requesting a revised JPA to be approved and the major changes to
that JPA is it puts the City of Chanhassen as the lead agency where the original one had the
County as the lead agency. In order to help move this project forward the County did not have
staff availability at that time to move this forward so the City offered to take that on to drive the
schedule. Another important part is the original JPA had some items where the City was
contributing more than 50/50. It was 75/25 to certain items and now it’s a true 50/50 cost share
between the County and the City. And then the JPA also clarified that this project will include
the one crossing at Lake Lucy Road and Powers Boulevard and not include the one at Park Road.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
12
So this was recently opened. Bids were recently opened on January 7th and 5 bids were received
as you can view here with Valley Paving being the low bidder. They won the job over GMH
Asphalt by a whopping $637 so bids were tight which you know gives us confidence that good
bids were received. For a cost summary, for a more holistic view we have the amount of the
construction bid in there. We have the contract that was awarded to Bolton and Menk. The
amount there which includes also the amendment that was previously approved for a total of a
little over $834,000 and if we split that cost it will be about $417,000. A little bit over for the
County and the City. The City is planning on using their State Aid funds to fully fund this
project. I put a quick summary in here. This is the, you’ve seen this before. It’s our MSA fund
projection and I highlighted the change that previously had said $350,000. This now reflects
what our fund projection would look at with increasing this to approximately $420,000. And
when I was here for the Lyman item this is very similar to that discussion on the 13th. So this is
probably the best slide of the presentation. It gives everybody a visualization of what this
actually looks like now and what it can look like after if the project is approved. It details the
safety improvements of the additional turn lanes and the, what’s called the RRFB system that
will be on the north side of the intersection that flashes when pedestrian activates the system with
a push button on the pole. If this project moves forward it would be constructed in 3 stages. The
first stage would be the expansion on the western side of the system and that’s expected to take
about 4 weeks. The second stage would be working on the east side of the Powers Boulevard
and that is expected to be the longest duration of the stage at about 6 weeks. And then the center
median would go in in the third stage and that’s expected to take I believe about 3 weeks.
Northbound and southbound traffic will be maintained throughout construction. During some of
the stages there will be closures of Lake Lucy Road to allow for the tie in’s. And then there will
be closures of the turn lanes as well during the project in various stages so there will be a local
detour set up for local traffic along Carver Beach Road. This is the motion that’s in your council
report to award the project and approve the revised JPA and at this time we’ll stand for
questions.
Mayor Ryan: Great, thank you Mr. Bender. Council any questions?
Councilman Campion: I have a minor question. So it sounds like the low bids were you know
pretty close within $600 and some dollars.
George Bender: Yep.
Councilman Campion: And then it lists the design fees and all that which were you know fairly
significant. I assume those were the same between the bidders or?
George Bender: The design fees have already been approved by council so when we went and
awarded the consultant contract for Bolton and Menk to prepare the plans.
Councilman Campion: Okay, alright so those were truly separate from the bids?
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
13
George Bender: Yes. Yep.
Councilman Campion: Alright.
Todd Gerhardt: Mayor, council, in designing this interchange we, our typical process is we have
a pool of engineers that we work with. In this case Bolton & Menk was selected based on their
knowledge and experience and also how they planned the project and also cost estimate in how
they allocated those dollars as a part of the process of designing, meeting with neighbors and
staff meetings so based on that staff recommended going with Bolton & Menk at the, at the
estimate that they provided. And typically they were probably the low estimate of the two
consultants that we got estimates from.
George Bender: Yep.
Todd Gerhardt: And so we solicit quotes from at least two of those pooled candidates for each
project.
Councilman Campion: Okay thank you.
George Bender: Yep.
Mayor Ryan: And there’s no, I know at one point there was some discussion around no tree
removal or, is there any actual change to the street that we’re going to be going into the
properties right along Powers?
George Bender: Do you want to handle that one?
Tom Danielson: Sure. So there was originally a plan to take out 2 trees one of which is really
close to the property in the northwest corner. That tree, the tree in question has been left and the
only one being removed is currently dead so.
Mayor Ryan: Okay.
Tom Danielson: So the property owner’s willing to say go. He’s kind of satisfied with it.
Mayor Ryan: Right.
Tom Danielson: And the only reason that it really needs to go is to make room in that corner for
the new sidewalk with the addition of the center medina the road does widen in that area.
Mayor Ryan: Okay. And then if you could go back to that, George if you don’t mind, the
picture of what the intersection is going to look like. You just passed it. No the pretty one. Are
those lights going to be, is that part of the fixture?
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
14
Tom Danielson: The ones up above?
Mayor Ryan: Yes.
Tom Danielson: Yes.
Mayor Ryan: Those are, okay. And then you know I know you’re familiar with kind of the sight
lines. It’s a little challenging at that intersection. Are those, you know that left, the left turns
whether you’re going north or south and you’re kind of head on, that’s what, you’re not really
changing any of the striping on the streets so people will be familiar with the traffic change to
some degree?
Tom Danielson: Correct. We’re not changing how traffic actually flows but the addition of the
center median does allow the northbound left turn movements to move farther to the west which
does give them a little bit better sight line than traffic coming from the north so.
Mayor Ryan: Okay. Okay.
Tom Danielson: Some of that is alleviated but generally the traffic pattern doesn’t change.
Mayor Ryan: They’re the same, okay. Council any further questions? No, with that. Did you
have one Mr. Campion?
Councilman Campion: No.
Mayor Ryan: Alright with that I would stand for a motion.
Councilwoman Coleman: I’ll make the motion.
Mayor Ryan: Great, Ms. Coleman.
Councilwoman Coleman: The City Council approves a Joint Powers Agreement with Carver
County to construct the Lake Lucy Road/Powers Boulevard Pedestrian Improvement Project and
adopts a resolution awarding the low bid received in the amount of $743,763.10 to Valley
Paving.
Mayor Ryan: We have a valid motion. Is there a second?
Councilman Campion: Second.
Resolution #2020-06: Coleman moved, Campion seconded that the City Council approves
a Joint Powers Agreement with Carver County to construct the Lake Lucy Road/Powers
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
15
Boulevard Pedestrian Improvement Project and adopts a resolution awarding the low bid
received in the amount of $743,763.10 to Valley Paving. All voted in favor and the motion
carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0.
Mayor Ryan: That motion carries 4-0. Thank you. Appreciate it.
AWARD OF BIDS FOR POTHOLE PATCHING IN 2020.
Mayor Ryan: Alright and the last item on our agenda for new business is the award of bids for
pothole patching in 2020.
Todd Gerhardt: Do you have any questions of the contractor for the last item?
Charlie Howley: Alright Madam Mayor, council members, this one I am presenting on so it’ll be
my first one for you so take it easy on me.
Mayor Ryan: We’ve got a lot of questions. You’re in the hot seat now.
Charlie Howley: I am, I am. No power point. This is pretty rudimentary. It’s my understanding
that particularly last year, maybe in previous years that when our city crews normally go out and
fill potholes they’re limited to our own crews and how much time it takes and how bad the roads
are and how many we have to do and last year it took us you know almost into November I think
to get it done so my predecessors or somebody in the streets department thought well can we
kind of farm out and sub out some of this to get it done quicker and generally I think that’s,
that’s what this item is all about. So the Charlie, our Street Superintendent reached out to a
number of blacktop companies. Asphalt contractors and got quotes and how it worked was we
kind of set a budget number of okay here’s how much we’re comfortable spending and that was
$60,000. Can you get it done because we showed them a map of all the roads that we would
assign to them that then our staff would do the rest of the city and that map was generated based
on severity. Level of traffic. Keeping them kind of located in the same general area so they’re
not hopping all over town so we got some quotes in from various contractors and Charlie did the
math. Worked backwards and the Northwest Asphalt as shown in the staff report was the low
bidder and they’re a reputable company. Certainly have used them in the past and are happy
with their work so what we’re asking for is hiring them for a not to exceed amount of $60,000 to
just hit them and hit them hard and get them done. We have a department goal to have all the
potholes done by August 15th. That’s our goal and that’s what we’re planning on doing. Which
is much better than November, right? So the money would come out of our pavement
management annual budget which I believe is $393,000 roughly and so essentially that means
our budget for that is now $363,000 to do the other stuff that we do so we’re not asking for more
money. We’re just asking to do a more aggressive pothole patching. I think this is a direct
response to what we heard from the residents. So I think that kind of about covers it. There’s
motion in your packets and if you have any other questions I’d be happy to answer them.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
16
Mayor Ryan: Go ahead Councilman McDonald.
Councilman McDonald: The idea came from City Council.
Charlie Howley: Alright.
Councilman McDonald: We were the ones that pushed for it. I’m still not totally happy with
this. I think you’re taking too long. If you’re going to hire a subcontractor I would like to see
those numbers pushed in a lot quicker than either June or August. We were told August last
year and it moved to November. I understand this is not an easy problem to jump on and you
know that was why we said what’s it going to take to get it done and I guess I was looking for
was something that we could get back on top of these a lot quicker than what we were doing and
I would like to see it done quicker than June. I mean pothole seasons starts what? End of
March. Something like that when, or maybe the middle of April, whenever the last snow storm
decides to hit or something and that was the reason for getting subcontractors who could
basically just do this and nothing else. Is it possible do you think to move some of these dates in
and to get things done a little bit quicker?
Charlie Howley: I can certainly ask. I can’t make a commitment to that now.
Councilman McDonald: That’s fine.
Charlie Howley: I think the way that they bid this out is, you know one crew working full days
and how many days would it take to do everything that’s on that map. Could we ask them to do
two crews and shorten that up? I don’t know. We’d have to revisit that. That would mean they
would have to submit new bids and things along these lines so I can certainly ask but I can’t
make that promise tonight that we could be done by June to get everything done on that map.
Councilman McDonald: Okay. I’m speaking mainly for me. I guess and you start talking about
having to rebid it and everything. I would have to defer to my other councilmembers on that but
that was just something that again last year when we were looking at this it was pretty bad and I
don’t know, this year may not be that bad. You know the winter’s been pretty mild so yeah
maybe it’s possible just natural effects you’ll get done quicker than that because there’ll be fewer
potholes but yeah I really wanted to see a more aggressive approach to this so that’s my position.
I’ll yield back to the council.
Charlie Howley: Madam Mayor if I can add one more thing.
Mayor Ryan: Go ahead, sure.
Charlie Howley: I think a good rule of thumb of when we would start pothole patching would be
when road restrictions are off. When the frost is out of the ground. You’ve got to get that
moisture out of the ground. That’s the enemy. That’s what’s causing the potholes so we don’t
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
17
want to get too early otherwise it’s just, it’s a temporary thing and when we do a pothole patch
we want to kind of make it somewhat permanent. Something that’s not going to fall apart in a
week or two so I would say late April is when you might start this program and yeah, it’s good to
know that the expectation is June and not August but that’s before my time and I guess I didn’t
have that history so I apologize but all I can so is ask and push.
Councilman McDonald: Okay well thank you. I appreciate it.
Mayor Ryan: Councilman, yea go ahead.
Todd Gerhardt: If I could add to this. Last year construction season we did a total
reconstruction on the north side of Minnewashta and this year we’re planning on doing an
extensive mill and overlay and those are the areas that are in desperate need of where you’re
going to see most of the potholes. So we’re going to cover a lot of area where you saw a lot of
the potholes last year with the mill and overlays and then once we get two years of those mill and
overlays under our belt I don’t think we’re going to need this program because remember our
graph where we were kind of behind where some of these potholes existed. We get the 2 to 3
years of those mill and overlays we’re going to get caught up so you won’t have to see this
extensive pothole patching. Due to some of the road conditions in the Near Mountain and those
areas that are planned for mill and overlays this coming year that we’re going to come back and
bring back to council for award of bid here in February-March. We’re going to cover a bigger
area so we won’t have this problem in the future.
Mayor Ryan: Mr. Campion did you have a question?
Councilman Campion: It was just a clarifying question. So it looks like we have effectively 10
days of pothole repair in the contract right? Because $5,380 per day. You know so there’s a
little bit over 10 days of work there and that would be between the end of April an the end of
June so they’d, you know it’s not like they just hit it hard for 2 weeks and are done right.
Todd Gerhardt: No our crews will be handling still the majority of the pothole patching.
They’re doing the high traffic areas. What I would say would be slower areas to do pothole
patching in so some along West 78th Street. Where you see high traffic so we gave them the
higher risk areas that usually take longer because of traffic and we’re still going to do more of
the residential low traffic areas and the $363,000 that Charlie talked about also the fund that we
use for our filling of potholes and also the sealcoating and we like to try to do $150,000 to
$200,000 worth of sealcoating out of that account so, so still trying to stay within budget but this
is, that 10 days does give us a leg up because you know it is a high traffic area so we think it’s a
big benefit.
Mayor Ryan: And I mean I’ll add my two cents as well. I think it’s a great start that we’re
addressing this challenge that we faced last year. It really came from a conversation initially
when we were talking about the franchise fee and we were hearing as council we were getting a
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
18
lot of emails and phone calls about it’s unacceptable to have potholes sitting there you know
week after week and not getting filled and so it was Councilman McDonald who had asked about
is there, could we bring somebody else in to do, to do something sooner and so we tabled it for
last year and that’s how it came back to this point this year and while I think it’s great that we
want to move forward to address it and you know split the time, I have two concerns. One I
share the concern about waiting until August because we will be hearing about it in June and if
then it becomes July and then they’re still not filled in August we will be getting the phone calls
and emails all summer long about their potholes not being filled. A second part of that is just to
clarify you know when you look at that map, and I know you just touched on it Mr. Gerhardt but
when you look at the map my concern is that people are going to think those are the only pothole
streets that are going to be filled versus that’s what the crew’s going to take and then you know,
then our current employees or staff, street crew will be filling the rest but if there is a way to
continue to move forward with this contract. I don’t know how long was the bid process?
Should we table this to see you know how quickly can we get a second bid if that’s something
that we want to do for two crews to speed up the time.
Roger Knutson: Mayor just to be clear. These aren’t bids. These are technically quotes.
Mayor Ryan: Okay.
Roger Knutson: And nothing has to be published.
Mayor Ryan: That’s right.
Roger Knutson: You can just go out and ask the question.
Mayor Ryan: Oh okay.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah we could expand on this based on that quote if you want to go more than
10 days and go up to 20 days you can do that this evening and if you think that would speed up
the process and double it.
Mayor Ryan: But where does that take away from what you have planned or projected for other
needs in the city? What does that take away from? I guess that’s what, I mean to make this
decision it’s hard to say double it but then what is it taken away from.
Todd Gerhardt: We’re probably going to have to do a little less sealcoating as a part of that.
This year and try to make it up next year.
Mayor Ryan: And what impact will that have?
Todd Gerhardt: Well hopefully we won’t have as many potholes to fill next year if we get the
number of streets and miles of mill and overlay that we’re doing this year because those are the
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
19
ones that are in the worst condition so you know we still have some streets after, you know I’d
feel more comfortable if we had a couple years under our belt with the mill and overlays that
we’re proposing as a part of our street program in the next 5 years. Then I think we can go back
to our regular schedule and have things done by the 4th and so, but you know this has kind of
been a mild winter too. You know sometimes we lose the potholes that we filled last year when
we’re plowing. It’s tough to keep a pothole filled when moisture gets underneath those fill spots
and moisture gets under there and they pop out. You know the freeze/thaw cycle plays a big
factor in that also so, but I think we can make up that difference.
Mayor Ryan: Council any thoughts on keeping it as is and see how this winter goes? Evaluate it
and then make a determine for next year or does somebody want, are there other suggestions to
do something this year?
Councilman McDonald: Well if I could since maybe I’m the one that’s instigating all of this. Is
it possible to come back to us by middle of May and give us a status? You know at that point the
potholes should be there and you should have some handle on where are we at as far as a
schedule and then I guess we can decide if we need to accelerate it but I really think we ought to
shoot for a better date than even June.
Todd Gerhardt: Yeah the issues I have is that having that locked in this price right now is,
because Northwest, Allied, they’re going to have other projects that are going to fill in outside of
these 10 days and so you know they’ll come back and say well we’ll try to fit you in or we’re
going to have to have an increase due to our schedule and so they may not stand behind this
number. I can’t guarantee you that.
Councilman McDonald: Well by the same token if we don’t need to spend the money how do
we get the money back? I mean once we commit to something, like I say what if the pothole
season just isn’t that bad. I’m just really looking for a plan that okay let’s say it’s as bad as it
was last year. That’s worst case. Hopefully it didn’t get any worst than that. How would you
address that? And then what if it’s maybe a quarter, best case scenario as to the number of
potholes. Then in that case what you’ve got right now could be overkill. I’m just looking for a
plan. How do you address this? Come back and tell us. I wouldn’t want to commit money right
now to say yeah go ahead and tell you need twice and we don’t because as you say we could
spend the money on something more beneficial to the city and I would hate to lose that unless we
need to lose that.
Todd Gerhardt: Well based on that Mayor and council our recommendation is what’s in the staff
report.
Councilman McDonald: Okay. Let’s go with that then.
Mayor Ryan: Alright. Alright any other comments or questions? No? I would stand for a
motion.
Chanhassen City Council – January 27, 2020
20
Councilman McDonald: I’ll make the motion since I caused all the problems with it. I would
propose that the City Council approves a not to exceed contract of $60,000 to Northwest Asphalt
Inc. for a 2020 pothole patching.
Mayor Ryan: We have a valid motion. Is there a second?
Councilman Campion: Second.
Resolution #2020-07: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilman Campion seconded that
the City Council approves a not to exceed contract of $60,000 to Northwest Asphalt Inc. for
2020 pothole patching. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote
of 4 to 0.
COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS. None.
ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. None.
CORRESPONDENCE DISCUSSION. None.
Councilman Campion moved, Councilwoman Coleman seconded to adjourn the meeting.
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. The City
Council meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Gerhardt
City Manager
Prepared by Nann Opheim