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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—DECEMBER 19, 2011 2 Council requested staff to bring back the following information for review of parking restrictions at Floral Park: Accident History on Floral Drive and Royal Lane around Floral Park - Staff contacted Deputy Tony Waldo, Traffic Officer for the Ramsey County Sheriff, to inquire about the vehicle/pedestrian accident history around Floral Park on Floral Drive and Royal Lane. It was found that in the past ten years, there have been two accidents. However, these both occurred outside of the park frontage area. Ramsey County Sheriff review and traffic opinion - Deputy Tony Waldo also included in his email an opinion on the parking restrictions along Floral Drive and Royal Lane. Deputy Waldo's opinion is that the parking restrictions should remain as is with no changes. He stated that keeping the no parking on the north side of Floral Drive provides a clear sight line along the roadway and of the unfenced basketball court. He indicated that if cars were to park on the north side of the road, it would pose a safety issue with having kids running into the street between parked cars. Neighborhood Input - Staff mailed a letter to 55 residents in the Floral Park neighborhood asking them to contact staff with their input regarding the parking restrictions and proposed changes. Staff received a total of eight responses; five in favor of the proposed changes; one partially in favor; and two against. Staff also received one phone call in favor of the change and one call against the change. Additional comments received included the following: • There is no safe walking area along park and, therefore, pedestrians will be forced to walk in the road into traffic. • Pedestrians will walk between parked cars. • People will have difficulty exiting their vehicles on the passenger side due to the hill. • Parking only becomes an issue two days a week, two months a year and is manageable as is. Costs associated with changing the parking restrictions - Staff reviewed the recommendation and feel some additional changes will be needed to allow parking on the north side of the road. Parking on the north side causes passengers to exit their vehicles directly into a perennial garden and into a steep hill. Smaller vehicles will not be able to open their doors to exit on the passenger side. The estimated cost for the recommended changes total $20,410 with the largest expenses being for a retaining wall and a concrete sidewalk. Floral Park Parking - City in-house programs and leagues and the local association leagues utilize this park May through July, typically Monday through Thursday evenings. There is one available ball field. If two teams are playing on any given night, cars will need to park along the road due to the lack of a parking lot. If each team has twelve participants and each arrives in one car, it would mean 24 cars parking on that given night. Parking on those nights tends to stretch into the residential areas of Floral Drive and Royal Lane. The City park system has numerous fields without parking lots. This poses a challenge for scheduling and, in this case, is difficult to avoid. There are not enough ball fields in Arden Hills with parking lots to satisfy program/league needs. Therefore, this