CCP 12-13-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ARDEN HILLS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 29,2004 4 . Council member Grant stated he understood if the sidewalk goes all of the way to Snelling Avenue, it would score better. He also heard if they chose not to do a sidewalk, it would also score better. He asked which was correct. Mr. Brown stated there was an article in the newspaper that if the sidewalk to Old 10, it would score better. He indicted he had checked into this and found out this was a subjective decision and it would not be necessarily affected by any type of a rule, Councilmember Holden asked if they would also get points for an 8- foot shoulder. Mr. Brown replied she was correct and they would probably weigh on the merits if it were wise to have an alternative route for pedestrians in this corridor. Mayor Aplikowski stated she has been challenged this week to think to the future and she believed it would make sense to put sidewalks on both side of the bridge - north and south. She stated she had spoken with the City Engineer if this was feasible and he has indicated it was. She asked Council if they would be interested in considering this option. Councilmember Rem stated she believed the safest side to put the sidewalk in was on the north side, but she realized the north side was more expensive than the south side, but believed this was a better option for safety reasons. Councilmember Holden stated she was not sure they would get the pedestrian volume to put . sidewalks in on both sides, even 20 years from now. Mayor Aplikowski noted this was a connection to the retail part ofthe City and the two different parts of the City. She stated she had heard from the residents if the path were safer, they would walk or bike to the retail section. She stated she did not know about the pedestrian volume, Ken Birk asked if anyone had every considered a pedestrian bridge instead of modifying the existing bridge. Mr. Brown replied the cost increase for a pedestrian bridge was extensive. Jean Lumberg, stated she had just heard about this sidewalk this past week. She stated from past experience, one State Department did not necessarily know what other State Departments were doing. She asked if they had explored if the State and County together were thinking about making a four-lane bridge. She noted this was an entry into the retail area and she believed a four-lane bridge might be in the future somewhere. Mr. Brown stated he had checked with both the County and MnDOT and a four-lane bridge were not being proposed in the foreseeable future, Howard Kern, 1400 West County Road E, stated he appreciated the Council's comments tonight. He believed this came down to a choice between cost and safety. If cost were the only concern, they should only put the bridge improvement in and not put in a sidewalk. However, if safety was a concern, then they should put a sidewalk on the north side because it would . eliminate the mixing of pedestrian traffic and vehicle traffic, He noted they could eliminate the crosswalks entirely on the south side of the bridge so pedestrians would not cross across the bridge on the south side, He indicated all of the homes on the north side, except for two, had