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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-30-14 Special WS It ,-AI HILLS Approved: August 25, 2014 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS,MINNESOTA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION JUNE 30,2014 5:30 P.M. -ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Grant called to order the special City Council work session at 5:34 p.m. Present: Mayor David Grant; Councilmembers Brenda Holden, Fran Holmes, Dave McClung, and Ed Werner Absent: None Also present: City Administrator Patrick Klaers; Public Works Director Terry Maurer; Community Development Director Jill Hutmacher; City Planner Ryan Streff; and City Clerk Amy Dietl 1. AGENDA ITEMS A. Review Final AUAR and Mitigation Plan City Planner Streff stated that the City Council has the opportunity to review and provide final comments on the draft AUAR and Mitigation Plan before the plan is distributed to other state agencies and the Metropolitan Council in order to comply with Minnesota EQB (Environmental Quality Board) Rules. If there are no objections to the plan after distribution, the City will then pass a resolution adopting the final AUAR and Mitigation Plan at a future City Council meeting. Staff provided the Council with a memo and the draft AUAR and Mitigation Plan for review. Beth Kunkel, Kimley-Horn, reviewed the comments received on the AUAR and noted that the comments have been summarized in Appendix A of the final AUAR document. She then made note of the agencies that had submitted comments. She requested that the Council review the final AUAR and provide comments to staff on how to proceed. It was noted that the next step in the process is to distribute the final AUAR and Mitigation Plan to the Met Council and State agencies. Councilmember Holden understood that the AUAR was based on the Master Plan. She questioned how changes made to the Master Plan would be reflected in the AUAR. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 30, 2014 2 Ms. Kunkel explained that the potential bookends of the Master Plan were considered within the AUAR. Mayor Grant commented that the document had the flexibility to go lower than the low end, but reported that there were no mitigation steps in place for going higher than the maximum. Ms. Kunkel stated that this was the case. Councilmember Holden asked if the high end of the bookend would be sustainable without access to County Road 1. Ms. Kunkel answered that it would be sustainable. Councilmember McClung believed that the AUAR was a rather generic document as it did not include specifics and allowed for the low and high ends to remain in the development. Councilmember Werner questioned if the Council would discuss density. Mayor Grant commented that this would be a topic of discussion relatively soon, but was not necessary for the AUAR. Councilmember Holden inquired if the existing Xcel substation would be impacted. Ms. Kunkel stated that the substation may need to be modified or relocated, but that there would be no environmental effects. Mayor Grant thanked Beth and staff for reviewing this item with the Council and stated that the plan should be distributed in preparation of Council consideration at the end of July. B. Review Aesthetics for I-35W Bridges Public Works Director Maurer explained that several weeks ago, the Council agreed to participate in a study with New Brighton and Ramsey County to look at bridge aesthetics for the four bridges planned to be replaced along the 1-35W corridor in the next two years. The bridges in Arden Hills are located at Highway 96 and County Road F (Lake Valentine Road) in 2015 and County Road E-2 and County Road H in 2016. Kimley-Horn and Associates was hired by New Brighton to undertake the study. Public Works Director Maurer stated that over the past several weeks, two meetings have been held with the consultant team and MnDOT. The focus of the consultant team's work was to come up with an aesthetic design that would take into account the current bridges along the corridor in New Brighton and Arden Hills and tie design elements to both cities. The improvements would need to be relatively easy to maintain over the life of the bridge, and would minimize or eliminate any local funding above the MnDOT contribution to aesthetics treatments. MnDOT policy caps funding for aesthetic treatments at seven percent of the bridge structure cost not to exceed $300,000. MnDOT will maintain a standard pallet of colors, but color choices made outside of that standard pallet become the maintenance responsibility of the local agencies. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 30, 2014 3 Jon Horn, Kimley-Horn, discussed the four bridges along I-35W that would be reconstructed in and around Arden Hills. He noted that the bridge at County Road F and the bridge at Highway 96 will be replaced in 2015. The bridge at County Road E2 and the bridge at County Road H will be reconstructed in 2016. He noted that several of these bridges play an important role in preparing TCAAP for redevelopment. The concept design plan for these bridges was reviewed with the Council, and the consensus among the Council was for the Arden Hills' bridges to have limestone elements and a green color scheme. Mayor Grant requested further information on how the limestone would be used on the bridges. Mr. Horn reported that the limestone would have a stacked stone effect on the bridges. Councilmember Holden questioned how the lights on County Road H would be selected and if they would have to match the lights chosen by the City of New Brighton. Mr. Horn stated that the City could opt to be consistent with lighting on the bridges but this is something New Brighton and Arden Hills should discuss. Public Works Director Maurer indicated that there has been discussion amongst the group whether there would be lighting at all or on just some of these bridges. Councilmember Holden wanted the lighting within TCAAP to be consistent and sustainable. She believed County Road H to be an entrance way into TCAAP. Councilmember McClung supported the proposed bridge design and was in favor of having consistency throughout the I-35W corridor. He did have some concern on the County Road H corridor and wanted the lighting to be consistent with TCAAP. Mayor Grant agreed. Public Works Director Maurer was hoping to maximize the contribution from MnDOT for the bridges through the proposed design. Mayor Grant questioned the color scheme and suggested that the bridges be a darker tan color. He suggested that the City pursue LED lighting options for the bridges and TCAAP. He asked if the bridge railing was a MnDOT standard. Mr. Horn commented that this particular railing was used on the Rice Street bridge but that other standard designs could be considered for the bridge. Mayor Grant suggested that the bridge pillars be darker in color and less white. He believed that this would complement the tan color and green railing. Councilmember Holmes discussed the lights available through Xcel Energy noting that the majority were black in color. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 30, 2014 4 Public Works Director Maurer explained that several bridges have recently been completed with green railings and black light fixtures. Councilmember Holden questioned how graffiti would be managed on the new bridges. Mr. Horn stated that the bridges would have a rough texture and could have an anti-graffiti coating which would assist in the cleanup process. Councilmember Holden inquired about the height of the railing. Mr. Horn anticipated that the railing would be four to five feet in height, meeting MnDOT height standards. Public Works Director Maurer reported that the CIP currently has $200,000 for the Mounds View High School trail. He noted that New Brighton would have a 10-foot pedestrian facility up to the new County Road F bridge and nothing was planned on the Arden Hills side. If the Council wanted to consider the trail, this could be coordinated with the MnDOT bridge project. Councilmember Holden questioned if the Mounds View School District could be responsible for this section of trail. Public Works Director Maurer commented that staff spoke with the school district a year ago. At that time, there were no funds budgeted for this trail segment. City Administrator Klaers noted that the City could consider assessing the trail to the school district. Public Works Director Maurer explained that this could be discussed with the school district and Kimley-Horn could be directed to assess the project. He reported that the City did not receive the grant they applied for to construct this trail segment. Councilmember Holmes suggested that the Arden Hills Foundation be approached for funding assistance on the trail. Councilmember Holden wanted to see the trail segment proceed and encouraged staff to speak with the school district and the Arden Hills Foundation. Public Works Director Maurer briefly discussed the County Road E bridge over Highway 51. Staff proposed having this bridge use similar aesthetic treatments as the I-35 W bridges. The Council agreed with this suggestion. C. Introduction of Infrastructure Study Team Public Works Director Maurer explained that Ramsey County hired the team of Kimley-Horn and Wenck Associates, Inc. for the TCAAP Infrastructure Development and Design Study. The Council will see a lot of this team over the next six months as various infrastructure items will be ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 30, 2014 5 discussed at work sessions. He introduced Jon Horn, the Project Manager for the team, and stated that a few of his key task leaders were also present. They are here to give the Council an idea of what to expect over the next several months as the analysis of infrastructure to serve TCAAP proceeds. Jon Horn, Kimley-Horn, provided the Council with several handouts. He discussed the key people that would be involved in assisting the City to reach its design and development goals over the remainder of the year. Beth Kunkel, Kimley-Horn, introduced herself to the Council noting that she would be handling the stormwater and wetland water resource components of TCAAP. Pamela Massaro, Wenck Associates, Inc., indicated that she was a water resources engineer and would be leading the team on the stormwater preliminary design and surveying. Tom Lincoln, Kimley-Horn, commented that he would be leading the land development, surveying, geotechnical and preliminary design of the sanitary sewer system for the project. Brian Smalkoski, Kimley-Horn, reported that he would be facilitating the transition from Master Plan to all levels of design. Mr. Horn indicated that this group of professionals would be working to find out how sanitary sewer, water mains, storm sewer and roadways work within the TCAAP site. It is important to him to involve the Council through the entire design process. He reviewed a potential calendar with meeting topics in further detail. Councilmember Holden questioned what happens during a topic review. Mr. Horn stated that initially, his team would explain the existing conditions, the analysis that would be done and then results would be provided to the Council after the analysis was complete. Councilmember Holden commented that the Council had great concern with the storm water component. Public Works Director Maurer reported that this topic would first need to be addressed by the team. Councilmember Holden asked how financing would be balanced with Council requests. Mr. Horn stated that there are alternative concepts to address sewer, water, drainage, or roadways. He commented that the cost of these items would be part of his teams' analysis process. Mayor Grant thanked Mr. Horn for bringing his team tonight. He explained that the Council is looking forward to working with the team over the next six months. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 30, 2014 6 2. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES Mayor Grant discussed with the Council three Master Plan land use map issues: the thumb road, the potential for ball fields within AHATS, and housing density. He distributed a memo he requested from the City Administrator on these three issues. He noted that Commissioner Ortega has suggested that additional clarification and documentation of the City's position on these issues be made. Councilmember Holden did not believe that the County had to be involved in the ball field discussions with the National Guard. Councilmember Holmes did not understand how the proposed document/language correlated to the Master Plan land use map. She did not support the third recommendation within the document. Councilmember McClung expressed concern that the memo presented to the Council this evening was essentially requested by County Commissioner Ortega. He recommended that the document not refer to density since this item has not been discussed by the Council. Mayor Grant asked if the Council objected to the comments about the extension of the thumb road. Councilmember McClung did not object but did not feel it had to be documented as part of the land use map. Councilmember Holmes stated that she could not support the language requested from the County. Public Works Director Maurer commented that the thumb road extension would be addressed by Kimley-Horn. Mayor Grant questioned if the language should read that if a road were built in the thumb, the Council would be willing to support it and take it on as a City responsibility. Councilmember Holden did not support this recommendation. Councilmember McClung agreed stating that the Council was simply approving a land use map this evening and he did not see a need to add these statements. Councilmember Holmes did not understand why this language was being discussed. She stated that after the Council's last work session, the majority of the Council supported the land use map and no further discussion was needed. She did not believe that density and ball fields should be addressed in an addendum. Mayor Grant commented that the County would appreciate the Council conveying more than just a picture of the map. ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—JUNE 30, 2014 7 Councilmember Holden recommended that this line of conversation stop. Councilmember McClung reiterated that the Council was being asked to approve a land use map this evening and nothing more. Mayor Grant suggested that nothing be attached to the map, but that the Council should discuss the items of concern by the County. The Council was in agreement. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the special City Council work session at 6:57 p.m. Amy Dietl David Grant City Clerk Mayor ---AEN HILLS Request for Special City Council Work Session A special meeting may be called by the Mayor or by any two Councilmembers. Topics for meeting: A. Review Final AUAR and Mitigation Plan B. Review Aesthetics for 1-35W Bridges C. Introduction of Infrastructure Study Team Requested Date: 06/30/14 Requested time: 5:30 PM Open meeting X Closed meeting Signature of person(s) making request: hm4v'S� 06/25/14 Mayor or Councilmember Date Councilmember Date -This section to be completed by City staff- Date received: � / a S / 14 Date meeting to be held: 06/30/14 Time of meeting: 5:30 PM Location: City Hall All necessary posting and notices have been completed. (�' / R Signature of Ciq Clerk Date City of Arden Hills * 1245 West Highway 96 Arden Hills MN 55112-5743 I Phone 651-792-7800 * Fax 65t-634-5137 www.cityofardenhills.org