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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION--FEBRUARY 22, 2011 2 Avenue, and on Pine Tree Drive. The Council appointed a steering committee comprised of residents and business owners in April 2008 to help create the Guiding Plan. That committee drafted the Guiding Plan for the B2 District which was unanimously approved by the Council on October 27, 2008. Since that approval, the City has implemented certain aspects of the Guiding Plan: — • Comprehensive Plan was amended to reference and be compatible with the Guiding Plan. The 2030 Comprehensive Plan has since been approved by the Metropolitan Council and has been fully implemented by the City. • The Planning Commission and Council adopted the design standards for the B2 District in November 2008. The design standards were then extended to the B3 District in December 2008 which includes those properties along Lexington Avenue. These design standards have been applied to the 2009 Arden Plaza redevelopment proposal, the 2010 Arden Hall proposal, and the 2011 McDonald's proposal. Although the Arden Village and Presbyterian Homes projects are not in the 132 or B3 districts, those proposals were reviewed through the Planned Unit Development process and were evaluated against the 132 design standards since the _ adopted 132 design standards represent the City's overall design expectations. Future Implementation Issues • The existing bridge over Trunk Highway 51 is inadequate for non-motorized users and is considered substandard. MnDOT has plans to replace the bridge in 2015. The City has the option of advance constructing the bridge sooner, in which case MnDOT would reimburse the City in 2015. Due to the construction schedule of the Highway 10 and 96 intersection, however, the soonest that the bridge could be reconstructed would be 2014. • The Guiding Plan proposed to rename the section of Ramsey County Road E between Old Snelling and Lexington Avenue to Lake Johanna Boulevard. It was felt that the Lake Johanna Boulevard name would be more distinctive to Arden Hills and provide better way-finding for businesses and residents. The City considered using Lake Johanna Boulevard as a supplementary name to County Road E, but staff research has determined that the supplementary name cannot be used on maps or for official mailing addresses. In order to be - effective, the name would need to be officially changed to Lake Johanna Boulevard. Community Development Director Hutmacher explained that the following items are the focus of tonight's discussion: Streetscape Planning and Design According to the Guiding Plan, the preliminary list of improvements planned for County Road E includes: • A traffic signal system at the future intersection located between Pine Tree Drive and Lexington Avenue; • Replace signals, arms, and poles for the existing signal systems, if necessary, at the eastern ramp terminals of Highway 51, Pine Tree Drive, and Lexington Avenue; • Boulevard trees spaced at an average of 40 feet; • A planted median that may include trees, shrubs, tall grasses and annual flowers; • Decorative lighting with contemporary styling at the automobile scale (on the existing bases, located 200 feet apart); • Optional decorative lighting at the pedestrian scale located approximately 50 to 70 feet apart;