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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,July 11, 2011 <br /> Page 7 <br /> f. Approve Resolution of Support for Surface Transportation Program (STP)— <br /> Urban Guarantee Application for Twin Lakes Infrastructure <br /> At the request of Mayor Roe, City Manager briefly reviewed this request, as de- <br /> tailed in the Request for Council Action (RCA) dated July 11, 2011. City Man- <br /> ager Malinen advised that the local match was approximately 30% or $300,000; <br /> and noted that the City Council had given previous approval to pursue a grant <br /> similar to this, but that it had been unsuccessful at that time; and this was another <br /> opportunity to pursue those grant funds at this time. <br /> Councilmember McGehee opined that, in her review of the map included in the <br /> RCA, she couldn't understand why the City would pursue such a large inter- <br /> change in the City that would clearly bring even more traffic in and out. Coun- <br /> cilmember McGehee further opined that that the original intent was for a nice <br /> looking parkway; but by increasing the number of lanes to cross, it created safety <br /> concerns for pedestrian traffic that the City was trying to encourage. Council- <br /> member McGehee further questioned why the City wanted to expand that ramp. <br /> City Manager Malinen noted that Public Works Director Duane Schwartz could <br /> respond to technical questions; however, he advised that this was part of the Twin <br /> Lakes Improvement Project as designed and part of the AUAR analysis and plan- <br /> ning for the project to include these improvements. To the extent the City could <br /> leverage grant dollars, City Manager Malinen opined that it was advantageous to <br /> the City and its taxpayers to do so. <br /> Councilmember McGehee opined that, in her six (6) month term on the City <br /> Council, people kept talking about enhancing walkability in the community; and <br /> she couldn't see how this provided any enhancement. <br /> Public Works Director Duane Schwartz advised that this intersection was de- <br /> signed to handle anticipated AUAR traffic mitigation scenarios, thus the number <br /> of lanes that would create an intersection at an acceptable level of service. Mr. <br /> Schwartz noted that this area was already deficient with existing traffic, regardless <br /> of the level of build out in the Twin Lakes area. Mr. Schwartz further clarified <br /> that these dollars were for funding years 2015/16; and even if the City was suc- <br /> cessful in being awarded grant funds, there would be a significant amount of time <br /> before the funding became available, and any resulting development activity. <br /> Councilmember McGehee opined that it seemed quite unnecessary to proceed at <br /> this time; however, she was amenable to doing so if the delay was as outlined by <br /> Mr. Schwartz. Councilmember McGehee still questioned where the traffic was <br /> going to go; and given the deficiency of this intersection, opined that it would on- <br /> ly go to other intersections in the city that were also deficient. <br />