CCP 10272025 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 10/27/2025 Item No.: 7.b. Department ApprovalCity Manager Approval Item Description:Consider Action Based on Parks and Recreation Commission Recommendation Regarding Aldine St. Right of Way 1 2 Background 3 At its July 21, 2025, meeting, the City Council received a petition to vacate the Right-of- 4 Way (ROW) located on Aldine Street between Ryan Street and Roselawn Avenue. Prior to 5 making a decision, the Council referred the issue to the Parks and Recreation Commission 6(PRC) to evaluate the ROW’s potential recreational value and alignment with the City’s 7 Parks and Recreation System Master Plan. 8 Over two meetings, August 7 and September 2, 2025, (Attachments 1 and 2), the PRC 9 heard public comment, toured the site, reviewed a tree inventory and topographic survey, 10 and discussed accessibility, cost, and tree preservation implications. In short, a preliminary 11 analysis arrived at the following conclusions: 12 There are 57 inventoried trees on site, of varying size, species desirability, and 13 quality (Attachment 3). 14 A topographical study was conducted by City staff (Attachment 4). 15 Tree preservation would likely be significantly improved through the installation of a 16 non-bituminous path and route selection that is at least partially based on trees, 17 compared to the originally proposed bituminous path. However, some removals may 18 still be necessary. Some risk of unintentional injury to trees due to grade change and 19 construction would exist, but could likely be mitigated based on construction 20 methodology, and not driving on or plowing the new natural pathway. 21 Any connective path would need to meet Public Right-of-Way Accessibility 22 Guidelines (PROWAG). These standards do not preclude the installation of a non- 23 bituminous path, but would likely require some grade changes. 24 Residents who live in the Mid Oaks neighborhood are currently outside of the "half- 25 mile walk to a park" goal that the City aspires to. The inclusion of the path reduces 26 their walking distance to Evergreen Park from .92 miles to .70 miles (from the 27 midpoint of the Mid-Oaks loop), but does not put them within that half-mile radius. 28 The detailed project cost cannot be known without a more comprehensive study, but 29 a more natural path would likely be significantly less expensive than the previously 30 quoted price for a hardscape pathway. 31 32 A more detailed analysis can be found in the staff report from the September 2, 2025, Page 1 of 3 Qbhf!9!pg!29: