09-19-11 Draft Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 g Municipal Consent process, the City has 90 days from the public hearing to take action to approve, deny, or disapprove with conditions. The last City Council meeting within this 90 day window will be the September 26th regular meeting. If the Council takes no action, Municipal Consent is considered granted. Public Works Director Maurer further stated that the Council discussed the Municipal Consent action at the August 15th Work Session but gave no direction at that time. Ramsey County representatives attending that Work Session indicated they would take a closer look at traffic counts relative to movement loss in both the I-694 project and the proposed US 10/Highway 96 project. Ramsey County representatives are present to discuss that analysis and a report on their findings. Public Works Director Maurer explained that if the Council is considering a resolution disapproving the final layout with conditions required for approval, there seems to be three main issues: 1. The northbound US 10 access to eastbound Highway 96. 2. The neighborhood requested a noise wall for the southwest quadrant of the intersection. Mr. Dave Cmiel has suggested that the noise analysis could be looked at in a different manner which will make it entirely fundable by the project. Ramsey County has reviewed Mr. Cmiel's analysis and has determined that the noise wall is still not entirely fundable. 3. Timing of the projects is important as Mn/DOT has suggested the US 10/Highway 96 project could be constructed in 2012 along with the I-694 improvements. If this were to occur, the Hamline/Snelling crossing of I-694 would be closed at the same time that Highway 96 is closed due to the lowering of the roadway 22 feet. This would force all trips from north to south Arden Hills, including Public Works and Sheriff traffic, to use Lexington Avenue which will also have bridge widening work happening in 2012. Councilmember Holden asked if Municipal Consent can be postponed. Public Works Director Maurer stated that he thinks Municipal Consent should happen now and if the Council has concerns, address those concerns by attaching conditions. Mayor Grant stated that he would like to discuss the sound wall on the west side of US 10. He has read through the report and his interpretation is that a sound wall would be justified. Jim Tolaas, Ramsey County Public Works, stated that the process does require Municipal Consent within a specific period of time. He added that the County shares the City's concerns regarding the staging of these projects. He further explained that the state has everybody's interest at heart and their thought was to complete both bridges within one season to minimize the amount of down time on Highway 96 and shorten the amount of time the east/west connection was disrupted. He added that if they began the Lexington Avenue project later, it would then impact two construction seasons, but going into two construction seasons considering the 1-694 project might be better anyway. He suggested the Council add a condition that the state work diligently toward coming up with a plan that would look comprehensively at the work on I-694 and Highway 96 and make sure that all the movements and the timing are appropriate.