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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 12/21/1999 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP/FORUM TUESDAY,DECEMBER 21, 1999 5:00- 6:55 PM, CITY CENTER HERITAGE ROOM II CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Jean Harris, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher,Ronald Case,Ross Thorfumson,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, Asst. City Engineer Rod Rue, Community Development and Financial Services Director Don Uram, Management Services Director Natalie Swaggert, Manager of Building Inspections Kenneth Schmieg, City Attorney Roger Pauly and Council Recorder Peggy Rasmussen I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER—MAYOR JEAN HARRIS Mayor Harris called the meeting to order at 5:15 p.m. Councilmember Thorfumson was absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved by consensus. III. DISCUSSION ON TH 101 —Jim Grube& Gene Dietz Dietz introduced Jim Grube, Transportation Director for Hennepin County. A report summarizing the public meetings held in Chanhassen and Eden Prairie was distributed to Councilmembers. The report includes the six concepts for improvements to TH 101 that are being considered. A memorandum dated November 30, 1999, answers the questions most commonly asked. A mailing to residents will include the November 30 memorandum. Also distributed were memos from the Chanhassen City Engineer to the City Manager. The December 7 memo is minutes from a work session involving the Chanhassen City Council, the City Engineer, the Carver County Public Works Director, and the Hennepin County Transportation Director. The December 16 memo provides an update regarding funding of the TH 101 project. Jim Grube said the goal at this meeting is to gain City Council support to continue the process necessary for the selection of the preferred Highway 101 improvement alternative. If the Council supports consideration of Alternatives 1-4, it should proceed with neighborhood meetings/open houses; if the Council supports consideration of fewer CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES December 21, 1999 Page 2 or different alternatives, it should proceed with a joint meeting with the Chanhassen City Council. Grube has met a number of times with Chanhassen and Carver County engineers. The Carver County engineer wishes to have an improvement on Highway 101. The Chanhassen City Council has approved construction of a trail along the west side of Highway 101, and Chanhassen has included the trail in its Comprehensive Plan, which is expected to be adopted soon. The Council is asking if both projects can be supported and how to engage adjacent property owners in the discussion. If agreement cannot be reached on the road improvement project, the Council wonders what that means in terms of constructing a trail along the right-of-way. The east side of Highway 101 is a County State Aid Highway, and Hennepin County has been maintaining the east side since it was turned back several years ago. The west side remains a State Highway because an agreement to transfer to Carver County was not reached. Carver County seeks Chanhassen's approval of the preliminary concept of Highway 101 before it accepts the turnback of the west side of the highway. Chanhassen City Council wants guarantees as to when the road improvement project will be done and that the money will be available from the State and counties. The project is expected to cost between $9 million and $10 million for right-of-way and road improvements. The money set aside to pay for tumback projects is under the control of the State Legislature when its two-year budget is approved. The money set aside in 1999 did not specify the Highway 101 project as a recipient. In 2001 the Legislature could specify the project in its 2002-2004 budget. Both Chanhassen and Eden Prairie need to know what the local share of the cost will be, but won't know until the State says how much it will pay. Chanhassen wonders if it should go ahead with the trail concept without knowing about the road project. As the Chanhassen City Council was discussing these issues, councilmembers said they would like to present the four alternatives to the Highway 101 neighborhoods for consideration. The four alternatives are: (1) An overlay project on the road as it exists now,with a trail on the west side; (2) A two-lane reconstructed road, with left- and right-turn lanes and improved sight lines for people coming out of their driveways (entering sight distance), medians at signalized intersections; (3) A three-lane road with a continuous center left-turn lane,medians as above; (4) A four-lane undivided road;medians as above. It was pointed out that the differences in cost and impacts are almost identical for 2, 3, and 4. Acquisition of two parcels of land and realigning of intersections would be needed in all alternatives. The cost for alternative 2 is higher than 3 and 4, with less improvement in the safety of the road. The benefits increase with options 3 and 4 while the cost goes down. Enger said the public wants to know up front why the road needs to be improved,because of increased traffic volumes, safety of the road, etc. He asked if that was discussed at the Chanhassen City Council meeting. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES December 21, 1999 Page 3 Grube replied this matter is the essence of the dilemma. When Dietz and his staff make a presentation to the public, they do an excellent job of providing information to the public in terms of responsibility at the local level. There is disagreement among people living along the corridor and what responsibility the county's director of transportation has for the road. People who live along county roads hope to keep the roads as neighborhood streets and to discourage other people from using them. These people are reluctant to look at their neighborhood road on a regional basis. There are many driveways coming out to Highway 101. The accident rate is high along this corridor. The traffic level is presently at 13,000 vehicles per day, and by the year 2020 it is projected to be 21,000 vehicles per day, so the accident rate will go up if improvements are not made. Dietz pointed out the Chanhassen City Council has not had to face many issues that deal with county and state roads. Grube said Chanhassen would like to see the traffic directed to Dell Road and keep Highway 101 as a neighborhood road. Regarding neighborhood meetings, Grube advised only inviting the people who live along the highway, in order to build a level of understanding with them. Grebe said the Chanhassen City Council wishes to meet with the Eden Prairie City Council after neighborhood meetings have been conducted. They wish to proceed to discuss options 1 through 4 at their neighborhood meetings. The recommendation of the Highway 101 Task Force on which Grube serves is to get approval of the options of two lane, two lane with continuous turn lane and four lane undivided. Hennepin County favors the option of a four-lane undivided road as the most cost-effective alternative. Grebe asked Council if it wishes to continue the process and which alternatives are worthy of consideration. Mayor Harris replied the Council has had several meetings on this roadway and she has not sensed any change in its direction. The first choice has been for a four-lane divided road with trails on both sides. Dietz recommended that option 1 be dropped from consideration, but probably option 2 should be kept in for some more analysis and for comparison to options 3 and 4. If the three-lane option is selected, it could be restriped to a four-lane system in the future. If Council wants to pursue just alternatives 2, 3 and 4, it should be discussed with Chanhassen. The Highway 101 Task Force eliminated alternative 6, a four-lane divided road that weaves back and forth between the Eden Prairie and Chanhassen sides of the road. Alternative 5 is a four-lane divided road centered on the right of way. The four- lane divided is safer, so should always be considered. Councilmembers indicated they are comfortable continuing with options that are presently being considered. Mayor Harris asked Staff to track the process through neighborhood meetings. Chanhassen City Council has requested a meeting with Eden Prairie City Council after the neighborhood meetings. She thanked Jim Grube for his presentation. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES December 21, 1999 Page 4 IV. DISCUSSION ON THE AMENDMENTS TO THE FEE RESOLUTION Enger explained the reason for this item being on the agenda is because the City needed to consider some fee changes that hadn't been changed for years and he wanted to go over the changes prior to the Council meeting. The Staff decided to increase these fees gradually. Butcher asked if peddlers would include sales by youth. Clark said they are exempt in most cases. Peddlers are not connected with any church groups. Regarding the charge for city maps, new residents receive a free map. There is a charge for additional maps. V. DISCUSSION ON THE CODE AMENDMENT REGARDING LICENSING Schmieg said Staff believes registering of contractors instead of licensing will significantly simplify the process involved now in licensing of contractors. General contractors doing residential projects are required to have a State license that, with its controls and bonding, provide a greater level of protection for homeowners than was achieved through the City's licensing efforts. Staff will no longer collect insurance information for the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which now licenses these contractors. The City will still be able to give owners of property information they would need to bring a contractor to court. If a contractor failed to register with the City it would be a misdemeanor. VI. OTHER BUSINESS VII. COUNCIL FORUM A. HOCKEY ASSOCIATION REQUEST FOR A THIRD RINK — John Schmelzle John Schmelzle and Brad Hewitt, representing the Eden Prairie Hockey Association, requested direction from the Council on how to proceed with investigating the options available to obtain a third indoor skating rink. They explained the difficulty in scheduling practices at the two indoor rinks, with some 5th and 6th grade children starting practice at 6 a.m. and some starting as late as 9:45 p.m. Lambert said he has talked to the Park & Recreation Director of Lakeville about the skating arena operated by their Hockey Association. Lambert suggested Schmelzle and Hewitt talk to the Lakeville School District, the city staff and the operators of the rink to see how they have accomplished this. It takes a lot of volunteer time to operate it, however. Hewitt said the Lakeville Hockey Association is paying for the arena with revenue from pull-tabs. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES December 21, 1999 Page 5 Enger asked if they had seen examples in Minnesota of a hockey facility paying for itself. Schmelzle said based on the limited season it is difficult to break even, especially if land acquisition cost is involved. If a facility is built it is difficult to pay for maintenance. He understood the two indoor rinks in Eden Prairie operate at a deficit. Eden Prairie has the third largest hockey association in the state. White Bear Lake is the largest with four indoor rinks, then Edina with three rinks. The Eden Prairie Hockey Association is buying 500-600 hours of ice time at other arenas. Butcher said in the coming years there are likely to be fewer youth enrolled in the school district than projected and that would have an impact on the number of youth involved in hockey. Perhaps in a few years two rinks would be sufficient. Schmelzle said he obtained enrollment projections from the Eden Prairie School District. The total enrollment for the 1998-1999 school year was 10,175, and 10,400 is projected for the 1999-2000 school year. Through 2004 the numbers continue to grow, then grow a little less each year, according to the projections of the school district. They looked at projections from the State of Minnesota in high school hockey players through 2002, which showed a doubling of growth in girls' programs and some growth in boys' programs, but then leveling off. The other thing they looked at was the Hockey Association's' projections. They showed the same projections of growth. Enger explained that the City does not have resources to support City services across the board the same as it has done in the past. It is looking at sustaining its current level of service. Hewitt said they are not asking for money but how the association and the City can work together to get another rink. Case said he believed that, between the City and the School District, a half-acre could be found. Schmelzle said to get a rink built will take a partnership between the Hockey Association, the City and perhaps the School District, as well as some private enterprise. Most of the newly constructed rinks have advertising on the boards around the rink. If land is available at the Community Center site, the most inexpensive way to add a third sheet of ice would be to share the space, the parking, etc. Tyra-Lukens said she would like to see a committee appointed to investigate the feasibility and need, as well as options for funding, which would include representatives from the Hockey Association, Figure Skating Club, City Council, Parks Commission and a citizen at large. In addition, there should be a representative from the School District. Tyra-Lukens also suggested representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and the business community. Enger suggested looking for a design professional to serve on the committee. Mayor Harris said she would also like to see citizen participation. The annual City Survey will be conducted in February. There should be some information from that in terms of what the City's needs are. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES December 21, 1999 Page 6 Enger said this committee could be a model for other community needs that come to the City's attention. Lambert inquired how members for this committee would be selected. Mayor Harris said she would ask Staff to consider this and come back to the Council with its recommendations as to how best to establish such a group and interact with it. She asked the Hockey Association representatives to come to a future meeting of the Council with their recommendations also. VIII. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hams adjourned the meeting at 6:55 p.m.