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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 17,2011 Page 6 Gerry McDonald,2857 Dellwood Avenue Mr. McDonald expressed his opposition to opening up County Road C-2; and asked that the City Council vote against opening it up. Mr. McDonald opined that a vote any other way would serve as a departure from community opinion by and large and against the goals and strategies outlined in the Imagine Roseville 2025 community visioning process. Mr. McDonald referenced a previous comment from Councilmember Willmus related to the cost of opening County Road C-2 at $131,000, with Mr. McDonald opining that staff had already told the City Council that the total cost would be much more. Mr. McDonald further opined that open- ing up County Road C-2 would not solve the issues for Josephine Road residents related to safety; however, it would create more negatives, including reducing pe- destrian and pet safety, reduce home values, and quadruple traffic on County Road C-2. Mr. McDonald questioned the proposed stop sign at Merrill and C-2, opining that a stop sign wouldn't guarantee that people would stop, and would on- ly serve to increase accidents at Hamline and C-2. Mr. McDonald opined that opening C-2 would only add insult to injury, especially if the City chose to assess residents on C-2 when Josephine Road residents were not assessed. Suzanne Sancilio, 1221 W County Road C-2 Ms. Sancilio noted that in May of 2011, the City Council spent $15,000 in unbud- geted funds for an independent traffic study, the results of which had shown that Josephine Road was not at or even near capacity, now in 2011; nor projected to be by 2030, with or without opening County Road C-2. Residents supporting opening up C-2, "in the spirit of sharing C-2," demanded that the City Council open C-2 in August of 2011. In that same spirit, Ms. Sanci- lio advised that the residents opposed to opening C-2 had hired a Minneapolis- based conflict resolution center to invite all residents on both sides to a facilitated mediation session, which residents supporting "sharing C-2" had refused to at- tend. Ms. Sancilio opined that this didn't reflect that alleged spirit of"sharing," and therefore provided no solution to the situation. Ms. Sancilio asked Council- members to address whether an environmental review program had been investi- gated should C-2 be opened, a required by the Environmental Quality Board and State Statute 116.d to determine if an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was required; and opined that it was a disservice to Roseville citizens if the City in- tended to bypass environmental, social and economic factors in their decision- making. Ms. Sancilio noted legislation signed into law by former Governor Paw- lenty requiring "Complete Streets," MN State Statute 351; as well as the Strategic Vision of MnDOT for solutions for MN roadways to receive a consensus on their purpose and need when considering improvements, as well providing alternative transportation solutions within context-sensitive solutions. In conclusion, Ms. Sancilio questioned how a decision to open C-2 was consistent with the "smart growth" strategies of the City and any positive for neighborhood designs and planning for the entire community.