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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JULY 28, 2025 2 intersecting streets and 19 driveway access aren't considered by the standard. There are no cross walks, flush medians or protected turn lanes on the roadway south of the roundabout and that's not considered in the standard. There aren't any good reasons to increase the limit. Doing so will result in less safety and a higher amount of drivers driving faster on a road that was designed for lower speeds. 2. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES None. 3. AGENDA ITEMS A. Public Works Design Manual — Tree Species Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen explained that this is a procedural item. The Public Works Design Manual didn't outline what we accept as "street trees". He worked with Bolton & Menk to determine a selection of street trees. The list from Bolton & Menk was more extensive than what we currently have in the right-of-way code. He said the Public Works Design Manual is meant to be a live document that can change. He is asking for Council direction to move forward with the approach to include that list in the manual. He is also bringing the current City Code 360.32 forward to contain language referencing the live document that Staff will manage. He stood for questions. Councilmember Weber said roadway type associated with species corelates with salt tolerance. The less tolerant trees should be restricted to City streets with less salt use. Mayor Grant said he noticed that Elm is on the list. He asked why that is a good choice, considering Dutch Elm disease. Anna Springer of Bolton & Menk said Dutch Elm spread through the country in the 1970s. Minnesota had one of the more progressive responses to the disease. Experts at the University of Minnesota and in the private tree care industry stepped up to study the disease. The U of M continues to be a leader in the study of Elm trees especially in developing disease resistant varieties. There are trees with natural resistance to Dutch Elm disease and we can bring in Asiatic Elm hybrids that are resistant. They've done a lot of research on the maintenance level required for those species. Asiatic Elms often have poor structure and require a lot of pruning to keep them healthy. They are susceptible to failure during wind events. The U of M has guidance on which trees are wind resistant and need less maintenance. Those are the Elms that are included on this list. Mayor Grant asked if she consulted with the U of M and followed their recommendations. Anna Springer said it wasn't in consultation with them, but she is a certified arborist, and she keeps up on the trainings. Councilmember Holden noted they used to plant the same type of tree together. Now it's a variety. She wondered if that helps maintenance people.