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. . . ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - SEPTEMBER 11,2006 12 safety issues for pedestrians. On October 12, 2004, City Council passed Resolution 04-056 requesting MnDOT consideration of a cost sharing cooperative agreement for pedestrian improvements to the County Road E Bridge over Trunk Highway 51, URS submitted a request to MnDOT to be considered for the 2006 cooperative agreement funding cycle. At the November 15,2004 Work Session, Council was presented with additional information regarding the project. The Council passed a resolution at the November 29, 2004 meeting approving the sidewalk for the north side of County Road E from Old Highway 10 to Connelly Avenue, The project was reviewed by MnDOT with thirty five other projects and ranked fourteenth in priority for funding, A total often projects were funded with the next four listed as alternatives, As discussed at the July 17, 2006 Work Session, Council is contemplating the County Road E pedestrian improvements as a 2008 project. MnDOT is again accepting candidate projects for the 2008 Municipal Agreement Program. Project proposals for the cooperative agreement need to be submitted by October 11, 2006 to be considered for the 2008 program, It is anticipated that the actual project selection will occur in early January of2007 with the funds becoming available July 1,2007, Staff requested direction from Council to apply for the agreement by the City Council meeting on September 25, 2006. Ms. Giga reviewed the funding available, Councilmember Holden asked why the sidewalk had to be a specific width, She asked if it could be smaller. Mr. Brown responded they could have gone down to six feet also, but the City had chosen the 7,5 feet. Councilmember Grant asked if this was eligible for State Aid, Mr. Brown responded that was correct. Councilmember Grant stated he was in favor of the north option, even if it was more expensive, He noted this was the safer option, Councilmember Larson stated he was in favor of the south side option. He noted putting the walkway on the south side allowed them to connect to the City parks and the only trail that runs along County Road E. He noted this would also affect fewer properties and there was no adverse driveway impacts, Councilmember Holden stated they needed to plan for the future and she did not understand why they would want to put pressure on having people crossing at the crosswalk when they could cross safely on the other side, She noted they would not have more developments in the south side of the City and she was going to vote for the north side. Mayor Aplikowski stated if they did this and Ramsey County got the money for the bridge, would the bridge include sidewalks. Mr. Brown responded if a new bridge was put in it would include sidewalks probably on both sides,