Public Improvement & Transportation Committee

MINUTES PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT/TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEETING November 28, 2023 4:00 PM MEMBERS PRESENT: Lozinski and Alcorn MEMBERS ABSENT: Schafer STAFF PRESENT: Director of Public Works/City Engineer Jason Anderson, Assistant City Engineer Eric Hanson, Director of Administrative Services E.J. Moberg Senior Engineering Specialist, Geoff Stelter City Administrator, Sharon Hanson OTHERS PRESENT: Steven Anderson, City Clerk Call to Order Lozinski called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm. 1. Approval of the Minutes MOTION BY Alcorn SECOND BY Lozinski to approve the minutes of the October 24, 2023, Public Improvement/Transportation Committee meeting. ALL VOTED IN FAVOR. MOTION PASSED 2:0. 2. ADA Parking Requests – 1. Marshall Post Office; 2. Holy Redeemer Marshall Post Office: City staff and Council have received requests from the Marshall Post Office for an ADA parking stall to be placed closer to the Post Office. The current street striping has three ADA stalls located within 150-FT of the Post Office. Two are located on W Lyon Street near the Cornerstone Church entrance and one is located directly across the street from the Post Office on N 3rd Street. Prior to the reconstruction of W Lyon Street in 2023, there was an ADA stall right by the Post Office and an ADA stall right by the Cornerstone Church on W Lyon Street. With the reconstruction project the two ADA stalls were combined in the interest of preserving as much parking on this block of W Lyon Street as possible. Parking availability was a consistent message from the Downtown Business Association. Combining the ADA stalls and creating one ramp location and one hatched area on the street helped to reduce the negative impact to parking on this block. In response to the request, City staff has identified a parallel parking stall that is located on the corner of N 3rd Street and W Lyon Street, right next to the Post Office, that could be considered for signing and striping as an additional ADA stall. Alcorn questioned how many stalls would be left if the ADA stalls were added. Anderson didn’t have the exact number of stalls available during the meeting but would follow up if needed. Members discussed their reticence with adding an additional stall on Third Street that once one stall gets added other businesses would be asking for more ADA stalls. Lozinski added that he had already been approached by a couple of businesses to add ADA stalls because a lot of the business clientele are of the older population. Lozinski expressed concern that he doesn’t want to increase the workload for the police department to enforce parking. Lozinski mentioned that member Schafer was in favor of adding the ADA stall on 3rd Street next to the Post Office. MOTION BY Lozinski SECOND BY Alcorn to recommend to Council to add an additional ADA parking stall at the corner of North 3rd Street and West Lyon Street as presented. ALL VOTED IN FAVOR. MOTION PASSED 2:0. PI/T – 11/28/2023 -1- Holy Redeemer: City Staff have received a request from The Catholic Church of the Holy Redeemer for an ADA parking stall to be installed at around the new pedestrian ramp that was installed on W. Lyon Street. Eric Hanson talked about the current striping on Fourth Street and on Lyon Street and that there were no plans to add additional striping on Lyon Street or Fifth Street. Lozinski pointed out that many of the elderly that go to the church don’t necessarily have handicap tags, but it would be helpful for those that do have handicap tags. Anderson commented that he doesn’t believe adding the ADA stall would be detrimental to the area and that Holy Redeemer had already taken steps to add a ramp to accommodate their congregation. Members were concerned that the other churches on Lyon Street would request additional ADA stalls and further limit the parking along the street. Anderson mentioned that his predecessor Glenn Olson had been approached by Cornerstone church and advised them on Sundays to add cones to the street with their own ADA signs for their congregation. This practice is still ongoing at Cornerstone church and could be an option for other churches. Alcorn questioned what will prevent someone from using the ADA stall if we stripe and don’t enforce. Lozinski requested that Hanson reach out to Holy Redeemer for further discussion. MOTION BY Alcorn SECOND BY Lozinski to recommend to Council to add an additional ADA parking stall at the newly constructed ramp on West Lyon Street as presented. ALL VOTED IN FAVOR. MOTION PASSED 2:0. 3. No Parking on W Saratoga Street (near S 6th Street Intersection) West Saratoga Street and South 6th Street are frequently used for a detour route for downtown events. This creates numerous times a year where significant truck traffic is expected to negotiate this intersection. Traffic movements are hampered by the significant amount of on-street parking around this intersection. With Turkey Valley Farms nearby, there is a lot of on-street parking that blocks adequate sight at this intersection. In addition to the area being constrained during detours, we have also received complaints from drivers in this area about the parked vehicles blocking sightlines. Staff are proposing to sign “No Parking” around this intersection as identified in the included exhibit. Alcorn asked if the changes would also help with semi-trucks during detours or just in general. Lozinski added that hauling regular sized trailers can be difficult at times at this intersection even when a detour isn’t in place because of the close proximity that citizens park to the corners. MOTION BY Alcorn SECOND BY Lozinski to recommend to Council the installation of “No Parking” signs as presented at a future Council meeting. ALL VOTED IN FAVOR. MOTION PASSED 2:0. 4. Project ST-034: Intersection Control Evaluation (ICE) for Intersection of Susan Drive and US 59 Frontage Road - LRIP Grant Application Authorization The intersection of Susan Drive just east of US 59/Main Street is an important and busy intersection in our community. The intersection is quite wide and there are numerous travel lanes designated on each leg of the intersection. The intersection is further troubled by the “free” movements into the intersection coming off Main Street. At the September 26th meeting, the City Council authorized city staff to work with Bolton & Menk to offer the City design options for geometric improvement at this intersection to help ensure good traffic flow, while also considering safety for all users of the intersection. As part of the study, Bolton & Menk conducted a traffic analysis that included the usage of video cameras and traffic movement counts in this area. Included in the packet is an exhibit for a proposed intersection design that City and Bolton & Menk staff believe will improve safety for all users at this intersection. Notable alterations: - Adjustment of geometry to make Susan Drive, a city municipal state aid route, the primary street in this area, with no stop control prior to arrival at the traffic signal. PI/T – 11/28/2023 -2-  - Closure of access to “old Shopko building” property at this intersection. This reduces the size of the intersection and eliminates added conflicts at the intersection. Two other accesses to this business area are located a short distance away. - Realignment of Walmart entrance road to near 90 degree intersection with the new Susan Drive alignment. - Reduce from three lanes on Walmart access road to two lanes by having one lane in each direction. - Narrowing of paved area at the intersection of Susan Drive/Walmart access road to help simplify driver decision-making. - Narrowing of paved area at the intersection of Susan Drive/US 59 to make pedestrian crossing shorter. Reduced from five lanes to three lanes. - Note that the WB-62 truck tracking apron is likely to be removed from final draft. City staff have attempted to reach the new owner of the former Shopko building to discuss this proposed project but have not made contact yet. City staff are also attempting to reach Walmart leadership to discuss the proposed changes but have not made contact yet. MnDOT will also need to approve changes at the intersection with US 59/Susan Drive, but City and Bolton & Menk staff do not anticipate concerns from MnDOT. Though the Intersection Control Evaluation (ICE) is not yet finalized, City staff is seeking City Council authorization to submit for Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) grant funds to implement the changes as proposed in the exhibit. The LRIP grant is the same funding source that was used for the Channel Parkway project in 2023. City staff views this intersection as a good candidate for LRIP funds in this solicitation and would like to get an application submitted prior to the December 10, 2023 deadline. The preliminary cost estimate for this project is $1,349,900 dollars. This cost includes engineering and project administration fees. The maximum LRIP award for this solicitation is $1.5M. Any costs not covered by the grant, including engineering fees, would be State Aid eligible due to Susan Drive being a Municipal State Aid Street System (MSAS) route. Anderson explained that he had recently had discussions with the owners of the former Shopko building, Woodcrest Capita,l and the owners were not willing to have the entrance closed. Woodcrest believed that closing the entrance at this time would be detrimental to their leasing of the additional space in the building. Woodcrest was agreeable to talk about alternatives at a later time but didn’t want the project to move forward at this time and were willing to give up land in order to obtain a mini round about and not lose direct access to their site. Hanson had drawn up additional plans that shrink the intersection and makes the intersection similar to how it is today but smaller. Another plan also included a bypass street as an option but would be trickier to implement. MOTION BY Lozinski SECOND BY Alcorn to recommend to Council to remove the item from the council agenda that was scheduled for the evening of November 28, 2023. Other Business No other business was brought up for discussion. Adjourn MOTION BY Lozinski SECOND BY Alcorn to adjourn the meeting. ALL VOTED IN FAVOR. MOTION PASSED 3:0. The meeting adjourned at 4:31 pm. Respectfully submitted, Steven Anderson, City Clerk PI/T – 11/28/2023 -3-