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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 11/16/1999 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP/FORUM TUESDAY,NOVEMBER 16, 1999 5:00-6:55 PM, CITY CENTER HERITAGE ROOM H CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Jean Harris, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher, Ronald Case, Ross Thorfinnson, Jr., and Nancy Tyra-Lukens CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Chris Enger, Parks & Recreation Services Director Bob Lambert, Public Safety Director Jim Clark, Public Works Services Director Eugene Dietz, City Engineer Al Gray, Community Development and Financial Services Director Don Uram, Management Services Director Natalie Swaggert, City Attorney Ric Rosow and Council Recorder Peggy Rasmussen I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER—MAYOR JEAN HARRIS Mayor Harris called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. H. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Tyra-Lukens moved, seconded by Case,to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. HI. DISCUSSION ON SPEED HUMPS Dietz led the discussion. He referenced a memorandum previously distributed to Council, which states Staff recommends against establishing a policy for adopting speed humps for the following reasons: (1) The City does not have an accident history that would warrant having speed humps. (2) The speed humps inconvenience all drivers on the road, whereas a minority of drivers causes speed infractions. (3) Possible liability issues should be considered, in addition to drainage and snowplowing issues. Studies on speed humps have been done across the nation as well as in the metro area. Burnsville has spent the most time studying the issues involved and developing a policy. Eden Prairie would want to have that kind of strategy in place before building them. Eden Prairie took Burnsville's policy and applied it to two locations where speed humps have been requested. Neither met the criteria for speed humps in Bum Ville's policy. Traffic counts were not high enough on Sunshine Drive(less than 600 ADT)to warrant CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES November 16, 1999 Page 2 speed humps, 50 percent of the motorists did not exceed 30 mph, and it is probable that 50 percent of the traffic is not cut-through traffic. On Golf View Drive, traffic counts in 1994 exceeded the Burnsville policy's maximum of 1500 ADT, and the route is utilized as a bus route,which is a limiting factor in the Burnsville policy. Right now, Minnetonka, Plymouth and Woodbury have test sites. Staff believes taking a "wait and see" approach to the issue is the best approach at this time. Case asked if personnel in these communities are doing a statistical analysis so that our Staff could follow it. Gray responded that they measured traffic volumes and speed of vehicles before and after the humps were put in. He believes there generally is a reduction in traffic after they are put in. However, some behavioral problems have been noted, such as honking horns to express annoyance or driving with one set of wheels in the gutter. Dietz said other cities have received some complaints about the speed humps but they're probably not from the people who requested them. Case said if Eden Prairie waits for two or three years, he hoped the City would be able to get data from the cities testing the use of speed humps. Butcher said speed humps seem like an extreme measure and asked what else can be done to slow traffic. Clark said they have had good success putting a speed trailer in place and moving it around. Most speed violators live in the area and take note of the speed trailers. A new idea is neighborhood watch groups. People in a neighborhood where there are complaints about speeding are given hand-held radar guns; they write down the license numbers of violators and give that information to the police. It is not a ticketing program. The Police Chief sends warning letters to the offenders. Senior citizens may be interested in being part of neighborhood watch groups. Dietz said another way of checking speed on a street is to use traffic counters. For the most part they have found that 80 percent of people were going 28 mph or less in a 30- mph zone. Tyra-Lukens inquired if the City has a traffic-calming policy and was told there is not a policy; however, private roads in the city were constructed with cut de sacs and narrowing of streets to lower the comfort zone of drivers and cause them to drive slower. Clark thought educating the public is a good idea. Use of the speed trailer can help with enforcement of speed limits. When complaints come in about speeding,the Public Safety Department can usually find out if there is a problem. Sometimes it's the volume of traffic rather than the speed that is the problem. Case recommended training senior citizens in the use of hand-held radar guns, which should cause drivers to slow down when they realize that a neighbor is checking the speed. Clark said parents appreciate knowing if their teenager is speeding. He said he would be willing to pursue this idea. Dietz said letters will be sent to residents of Sunshine Drive and Golf View Drive telling them the City will look at some other ways to reduce speeds, but for the time being Staff is going to watch what other communities are doing about speed humps. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES November 16, 1999 Page 3 IV. DISCUSSION ON COUNCIL FORUM Enger distributed a description of the purpose of the Council Forum, which includes the types of items that are appropriate for discussion. Over the past year about five different groups with different subjects have spoken at Council Forums. Mayor Harris asked Councilmembers if they wish to continue with the forum for another year as it is presently being done and if they are comfortable that the process is working. Case responded that he is not totally comfortable with the process. Although he prefers the informality of having the forum downstairs rather than in Council Chambers, he wondered if they could look at other ways of doing it. He would also like to reconsider what subjects are appropriate for discussion and find pro-active ways to keep the forum more open. He recommended having the Community Program Board study this and bring back proposals. Butcher said she likes the informality and the fact that Service Area Directors are present who could respond to the subject being addressed. Enger said sometimes the person who has requested time to speak at a forum is bringing up a contentious issue and Staff has to find time to prepare information on the Tuesday afternoon that Staff is also finishing preparations for the workshop and items on the Council agenda. He agreed with being more open, but that aspect of it can be at the expense of all the other processes coming before the Council. Tyra-Lukens said one thing she didn't like about the Open Podium system was, after listening to a person speak, all they could say was that they would check into the matter. She agreed it can use a lot of Staff resources to prepare information on short notice for the forum, and asked if Enger preferred the old system. Enger said it is better to be prepared and have a responsive person available to answer issues that come up in the forum. Many people feel they have not been listened to and that's why they want to come to the forum. Staff can often be the ones to listen and respond to their concerns, and they may decide they don't need to come to the forum. They are never discouraged from coming, however. Three times as many people call as decide to come. Mayor Harris said she would like to know what percentage of the calls are resolved by Staff and what issues were raised. Enger said it is quite common for Staff to get a call from a Councilmember who has received a call from a resident. Council people are the ones to call about Council business. Case said Councilmembers should record how many of these calls they receive and bring that information to the Council meeting. Mayor Harris said she would like to have the new Community Program Board take on this subject and discuss ways City government can be more open. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEWTES November 16, 1999 Page 4 V. OTHER BUSINESS VI. COUNCIL FORUM A. NICOLE VAGLE REPRESENTING THE EDEN PRAHUE HIGH SCHOOL SERVICE LEADERSHIP ADVISORY BOARD Three representatives of the Eden Prairie High School Service Leadership Advisory Board (SLAB) presented information on SLAB and on its plans to promote"Eden Prairie: Plugged In"on March 7, 2000. SLAB's mission is to communicate and coordinate service opportunities for all students in the Eden Prairie School District, and to promote unity among organizations, thereby enabling service learning to become an integral component of the Eden Prairie Schools experience. "Eden Prairie: Plugged In" is a celebration of the success of this community support on March 7, 2000. "Plugged In" offers a way for students to become connected to the community through service. SLAB hopes to get the whole school involved in service projects or workshops on that date. Volunteers from 11th and 12th grade will work at service projects for about 2 hours. They plan to have 70 to 80 workshops for 9th and loth grade students. One reason for doing this is that youth don't often see the connection between service to the community and the community giving value to what youth has to offer. The organizers are looking for ideas for volunteer sites and for workshops. They also need $4,000 to $5,000 to help finance the project. In addition to the high school,they hope to include middle schools as well. Case said he believed Oak Point Intermediate School would be interested. He suggested the Mayor sign a proclamation making March 6 to 10, 2000 Service Learning Week. Mayor Harris said she would do that, and also thought the City should offer service learning opportunities to the students. She said this is one way to get young people involved in the community and applauded the student representatives for promoting it. VH. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Harris adjourned the meeting at 6:55 p.m.