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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-18-22-WS"It -7`i�HILLS Approved: February 14, 2022 CITY OF ARDEN HILLS, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION JANUARY 18, 2022 5:00 P.M. - ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, Mayor Grant called to order the City Council Work Session at 5:00 p.m. Note: On January 12, 2022 the Mayor signed a determination allowing Councilmembers to participate in City Council meetings via telephone pursuant to State Statute 131). 021 Present via telephone: Mayor David Grant, Councilmembers Brenda Holden, Fran Holmes, Steve Scott and David Radziej Absent: None Also present: City Administrator Dave Perrault, Public Works Director/City Engineer David Swearingen, and Deputy City Clerk Jolene Trauba 1. AGENDA ITEMS A. Pavement Conditions Index (PCI) Update and Maintenance Plan Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen stated that he would briefly touch on what the IMS survey was about, present the survey results, the proposed pavement rehabilitation plan from this year through 2030, the proposed maintenance plan for 2022 and next steps with that plan. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said that in May of last year, the City hired a contractor to survey the condition of all city streets using an automated method that utilizes lasers attached to a vehicle. This method guarantees a consistent evaluation for all 30 miles of street, compared to using staff to take measurements and visually estimate the condition. It is recommended by staff that we repeat the survey every three years. The data is collected and converted into our pavement management software, Icon. We have a goal of reaching a pavement condition index of 70. Just over 50% of streets are considered in good or better condition. These are streets that we typically maintain using preservation techniques. There's a significant number of streets that are rated as fair condition. These streets indicate the need for pavement rehabilitation. About 25% of the roads are marginal to poor. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 2 Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen reported that Attachment B showed the 2021 PCI directly from the automated survey when it was conducted in May of last year. This was prior to the 2021 PMP in the Hazelnut neighborhood and other street related projects from last year. Attachment C shows the PCI from the beginning of this year (2022). This map was generated after entering data into the pavement management software. Staff enters all pavement projects into the software including the reconstructs, full depth reclamation, seal coats, crack sealing etc. The software then depreciates the values over time using an algorithm. The PCI raised 2.6 points over last year's construction season. This jump is likely due to the large area of streets within the PMP project. The project scheduled for 2022 on Snelling Avenue North and the Arden Oaks neighborhood should show a similar improvement in the PCI since those large sections of street are currently rated so low. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen explained that streets rated with a good PCI 65 or higher are candidates for preservation methods. These methods include crack sealing, seal coats and fog sealing, which are included in the scope of work with the Coon Rapids JPA contract. Large area patching and pothole filling is handled by our public works department. Streets with a rating of 45 to 65 fall into the category for rehabilitation methods which include mill and overlays or full depth reclamation and overlay. We do have a significant amount of payment within that range. Anything below 45 would call for at least a full depth reclamation project or a complete reconstruction because the pavement has met the end of its useful life. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen stated that using this information staff is proposing the next PMP projects through 2030. These projects will be spaced two years apart, and will mainly consist of mill and overlay and full depth reclamation types of rehab projects. In 2022, will be the Snelling Avenue North improvements project that also includes Cummings Lane. Arden Oaks Drive and Arden Oaks Court are included in the Arden Oaks street improvements project. They will be brought to Council soon for approval of plans and specs and go out for bid in February. The 2024 project includes Colleen Avenue, Norma Avenue, and Briar Knoll. Those streets are localized west of Hamline and east of Snelling Avenue. The 2026 PMP is the Karth Lake neighborhood which is in the northeast corner of the city. 2028 PMP is in the southeast quadrant of the city and the 2030 PMP includes areas around Red Fox Road, Grey Fox Road, Cummings Park Drive and Stowe Avenue. Councilmember Holmes asked if Lake Valentine Road construction was still in 2022. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen replied that he added in the short section just in front of the school which will be done by the school this summer. Those improvements are being done and funded by the school. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen mentioned that these estimates for 2024 and beyond are just desktop estimates and are conservative numbers. Councilmember Holmes said she thought the Lake Valentine Road project was deferred until when some of the city work was done. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said they took some pavement cores along that stretch and noticed that the pavement section is actually in pretty good shape. The issues lie ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 3 at the transverse cracking, so when you travel that road, it's like you're hitting speed bumps every 20 feet. What is planned for next year is to do a two inch mill strip to remove pavement over the transverse cracks, then paving and patching. That should smooth out the section of road. The rest of the surface, which is still in good shape, will remain in place. The PCI is 56 but that looks like it also includes the western portion of Lake Valentine Road, which was repaved in 2014 or 2015 as part of the bridge project. So, the eastern half of Lake Valentine Road is what's bringing the PCI score down. What is planned for the summer with the transverse cracks should improve the condition of the road quite a bit. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen showed a slide with the proposed 2022 street maintenance plan which includes preservation activities such as sealcoat, fog seal, crack sealing and large area patching. Most of the work is covered through the JPA with Coon Rapids, the patching will be done by our public works maintenance workers. Public Works will take the map, inspect all of the streets to be sealed coated and then determine the areas that need patches. This approach is different than previous years where public works focused their efforts on full width paving of street segments and will instead perform significant large area patching. Benefits of the large area patching are localizing the repair where needed and extending the useful life of the existing road that does not yet require rehabilitation. Using this approach enables repairs to be applied to dozens of streets instead of just a select few which results in the PCI raising at a higher rate. Councilmember Scott asked about the parking lot seal coat. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said that was a last minute delete on his part. That will be shifted to next year's street maintenance plan. The City Hall parking lot is scheduled to be rehabbed this summer, so they will give it two or three years before seal coating it. Councilmember Holden asked if they could add Lametti and Bussard Court to the Snelling Avenue project? Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen replied that in his opinion it would be too late to add them to the 2022 project. Councilmember Radziej said he was looking at the proposed PMP projects and noticed the greens are probably a little better pavement than the red, from 60 to 79 reading verses 20 to 39. Why will the projects in red will go before the projects in green? Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen responded that the Karth Lake neighborhood is relatively close to the same as what's in red, not including Bussard, but otherwise they're all within the mid 50s. What is proposed for this year's maintenance plan is to do large area patching within the southeast quadrant with a sealcoat applied over the top of those large area patchings. With that method the PCI should be raised and prolong the life of those roads until they do a real rehab project in 2028. If Council wishes to do the southeast quadrant prior to Karth Lake they would do a similar approach with large area patching with a sealcoat. Councilmember Holden asked if any street would go to total reconstruction. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 4 Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen stated with this approach they are able to maintain several roads to keep the PCI up and to keep the road out of the stage where it needs a full depth reconstruction for quite some time. Full reconstruct typically costs twice as much as mill and overlay and full depth reclamation. Mayor Grant said that the goal of 70 was never really adopted by the Council. That was generally agreed upon with the company that did the PCI ratings. This is the first time they've done this automated system to map out exactly where we are in a very objective fashion, using the software in a vehicle, rather than having staff try and rate the roads. We're trying to get a handle on if we are we behind or gaining as we look at where to spend our budget. Councilmember Radziej said he thought it's a fantastic tool, but wondered if we have another overlay of all of our sewers so that we aren't paving the road and then five years later tearing it all up because a sewer line has aged out. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen responded that there are condition maps for our sanitary and our water main. They also track water main breaks with our GIS mapping so they can see trends where those breaks are occurring, whether it's on the main or if it's on the service connection. The data is tracked to put into these pavement projects. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said the tentative schedule and planned quantities for the Coon Rapids GPA are due February 4. Bids will be opened with Coon Rapids on March 11. This will be brought to City Council for concurrence on March 28. As soon as the plan is approved and the asphalt plants open they'll start looking at the large area patches and typical pothole patching across the city. Crack sealing is typically done in July, followed by the sealcoat in August. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen stated that using this approach, and following this plan, staff was able to project the PCI from now to 2026. At the end of 2021the PCI jumped and the 2022 PCI is projected after the Snelling Avenue North and the Arden oaks neighborhood projects are complete. You'll see another large jump and that's again due to the fact that those streets are at such low PCI now. Those will jump to 100 PCI. There isn't a PMP plan for 2023, they will do maintenance that year. 2024 will be the recommended three-year cycle for reevaluating the streets with a survey. Mayor Grant asked if when ICON does their projections if they take into consideration that one road has transverse cracks and the next one has alligator cracks? Or is it just your PCI is going to go down at this rate, regardless of the type of deterioration? Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen replied that it uses the types of cracks and measuring of the cracks to determine the PCI, and that PCI is entered into a curve so it depreciates through time. The next step will be staff taking pavement cores within the proposed PMP project areas. This will help determine the type of pavement rehab; whether it be a mill and overlay or full depth reclamation. These will then be assessed through geotechnical reports. Along with reviewing the pavement sections they will assess the condition of the water and sewer utilities to determine what repair or improvements are needed. Each year they will continue with annual street maintenance and will revisit it each year to determine what exactly the maintenance strategy is. For the proposed 2024 PMP, a feasibility study will need to be completed to follow state ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 statute for assessment process. The cost estimates will be updated as more information is gathered and as the market prices change. Councilmember Holden wondered what happens in 2023? If they've done a significant amount large patching are they able to do a small segment of red areas instead of waiting to go through the whole process later. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen clarified that they will have an annual street maintenance plan. Typically, seal coating on a four to five year cycle, so each street will get seal coated every four to five years. The public works department will take the seal coat project plan or the street maintenance plan and then assess the roads for where those large area patches are needed. He hasn't created that plan yet, but because Bussard and Lametti are on a PMP, they could look at adding those two segments to the 2023 maintenance plan. That allows the 2022 project to be completely closed out and then the large area patches won't conflict with construction projects from this year. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said there was a time when the emulsion being used in seal coating didn't bond appropriately to the asphalt. Everyone was having the issue of delamination where the emulsion was separating the chip seal from the pavement. Since then MnDOT has redesigned the mix for that emulsion and they're not seeing that issue anymore. Mayor Grant said they should put this report down as an annual review. He felt it was nice to have an automated, objective evaluation. Councilmember Holden questioned whether they would want to use the same company. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said the delay was in part due to the company accepting too many projects and not having enough vehicles. And also that the city contracted with them later in the fall. We can't evaluate our streets until spring and once the pavement is drier. Staff will make sure to get the contract done earlier and make a stipulation of when the survey needs to be completed. Councilmember Radziej asked if the equipment gave them any real depth or imaging of what's underneath the asphalt surface. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen responded that this does not take a profile of the road segment, this is just a surface scan of the of the road. Staff will be taking pavement cores to see what shape the pavement section is in. They'll also be taking some soil borings in some locations. Full depth reconstruction would be in areas where they believe utilities would need to be replaced. A brief review of the condition of the existing utilities shows they don't need to be replaced, and there isn't a history of breaks in the areas, so they won't be doing full reconstruction. They might be doing some full depth reclamation, for example on Norma Avenue just north of Dawn Circle. It's quite deteriorated and they may have to do some full depth mill and overlay. If a full depth full reconstruction is needed, it will be due to utility replacement rather than the pavement itself being in bad shape. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 B. MnDOT Highway Speed Signs City Administrator Perrault stated that last year the city worked to get a speed sign installed on southbound Highway 51 in the Snelling Avenue, Glenhill Road intersection area. During previous discussions, Council requested looking at a northbound sign somewhere along Snelling. There is an existing sign in inventory so the city would only be paying for installation costs of about $2,700, and potential permit fees. The city received an email suggesting Council also consider a speed sign on eastbound 96. Any work or installation permit on Highway 96 would have to go through Ramsey County. Mayor Grant noted that there were two fatalities at the intersection on the Old Snelling access to Highway 96. When going eastbound on 96 to make the turn to southbound Old Snelling, the cars sneak up on you deceptively fast, partially because they're coming uphill. Councilmember Holden said she was thinking it should go on northbound Snelling. But because the speed limit isn't being enforced between County Road E and 694, putting the sign there doesn't seem worthwhile. Putting it on 96 might have some extra merit, compared to putting it on Highway 51. Councilmember Radziej stated that he would lean towards going north on Snelling but south of County Road E, north of the Snelling connection, around Hamline or the city boundary. Councilmember Holmes commented that she wanted to advocate for both locations. On Snelling there are people merging off of County Road E and further up there are people merging from Red Fox Road. She thought it should be closer to E. She sees people slowing down by the sign on Old 10. On Highway 96 were they talking about the intersection crossing the bridge to the stoplight? Mayor Grant said he was thinking somewhere just east of the Holiday gas station, maybe about halfway or a third of the way down. But there is only one sign available. Councilmember Holmes said if there was only one, she would go with 96 because that was a problem in the past. Councilmember Scott stated that he didn't think northbound Snelling is a huge priority, there are pretty good sight lines northbound. There are a couple of spots on Highway 96 that he would prefer to have a sign, focused around Keithson. Councilmember Holmes felt the Mayor's idea of having it by the Holiday gas station was a better idea because of the left-hand turn. Mayor Grant added that particular turn is the one students use to drive to the high school and during periods of the day there is a pretty solid amount of left turn traffic. If we put a sign somewhere between the Holiday and that turn, people will slow down and hopefully not pick their speed back up as they go toward Keithson. Councilmember Holmes said maybe our traffic engineer could study this before it comes to the Council for approval. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 7 Mayor Grant said staff should take a look to see exactly where should it should be put to have maximum impact, and then bring it back to Council. C. New Resident Guide Discussion City Administrator Perrault noted that Council had requested this item and asked that they consider some form of information guide for residents that are moving into the city. If so, how often they would want it mailed, would they prefer it be mailed or handed out at City Hall, quarterly or monthly distribution? Staff is assuming that the water utility billing system would be used to identify new accounts and new residents. Would they like it to be one page, a lengthy brochure or somewhere in the middle? An attachment was provided of what the previous communications coordinator was working on a few years ago, he noted that it would need to be updated. Councilmember Holmes said she remembered when they moved in 30 years ago they got a bookmark like card with phone numbers on it. She wondered if we should give people something they could put on their refrigerator like a magnet or bookmark with some basic information, and then have the rest on the internet. She asked if we have any idea how many new residents we have a month or quarterly. City Administrator Perrault said he did not, but would get that information to them by the end of the week. Councilmember Holmes said in one city she knows of, one of the council members or the mayor goes to the new resident's home and leaves the bookmark. Councilmember Scott thought the trash/recycling schedules and information about pet licensing would be important to include. Councilmember Holden felt it should be brief. She would want to know who the garbage haulers are, if you can park in the street, that the city has newsflashes and a Facebook page, when the water bill is due, what you need a permit for, info on recreational fires, and other common things. Mayor Grant liked the idea of directing people to the internet, but at the same time, they should mail people something they could have in their hands. If they want more detail they can be directed to specific portions of our website. But when you're a new resident and you get something in the mail you'll probably read it and maybe keep it. Councilmember Holmes agreed but thought the whole resident guide should be on the city website. Councilmember Radziej said he would want to know where the post office was, and a map of trails. He thought local businesses could place an ad around a map of the city showing where the parks, libraries and other interesting things are located. Councilmember Scott liked the idea of a mailing. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 City Administrator Perrault mentioned there is a new resident page on our website, but new residents probably don't know it's there. The guide could highlight that and it could be made more robust on the website. He asked if they would like to see examples at the next meeting. A one - page document or a magnet mockup could be done by the Communications Coordinator. Mayor Grant said they could list the link to the PDF on the website of all the trails and noted that the map is on the back of the Park and Rec guide as well. Councilmember Holmes said a lot of the information they'd like new residents to know is already on the website but needs to be highlighted. Mayor Grant suggested staff highlight the new resident guide on the website, and then as council members they can take a look at it and proof it from there. Anything they would mail could be taken from the website. City Administrator Perrault said they won't be able to tell if a new resident or current resident has looked at the online guide, but they can get that page count and put it in the admin update. Councilmember Holden left the meeting at 6:10 p.m. Mayor Grant directed staff to elevate the resident guide on the website, council can submit comments and then they'll know what's going to be mailed as it will be on the website. D. City Council Photos City Administrator Perrault said the Communications Coordinator can take everyone's headshot or do a group photo. Discussion ensued. It was decided that a group photo and headshots would be taken at the May 9, meeting, assuming they are holding in person meetings. E. Council Tracker City Administrator Perrault reviewed the Council Tracker with the Council. After discussion, the Mounds View High School Traffic Meeting item was removed. 2. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND STAFF UPDATES Councilmember Scott said that tomorrow morning, he and the City Planner were going to be on a zoom call with the Federal Reserve Bank as they release their dashboard on the status of affordable housing in the metropolitan area. He was at a similar in person seminar three years ago that was very widely attended, that had to do with innovative zoning practices for affordable housing. He thought it was important for the residents to understand that the city, including the council, are looking at in discussing affordable housing. ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION - JANUARY 18, 2022 Councilmember Radziej reported that he attended the Arden Hills/Shoreview Business Council meeting. He also has a meeting set up with staff to get more in-depth information about being on the council. Councilmember Scott noted that Terry Quigley from the Shoreview city council passed away. ADJOURN Mayor Grant adjourned the City Council Work Session at 6:30 p.m. Q __ Jol e Trau.4 lax Deputy City erk "VA mau"I i