The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About03 28 2016 CSAH 42 TH 13 Report Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 / www.cityofpriorlake.com 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION REPORT MEETING DATE: MARCH 28, 2016 AGENDA #: 1 PREPARED BY: LARRY POPPLER, CITY ENGINEER/INSPECTIONS DIRECTOR PRESENTED BY: LARRY POPPLER AGENDA ITEM: CSAH 42 AND TH 13 IMPROVEMENT PROJECT DISCUSSION: Introduction The City Council last reviewed the CSAH 42 and TH 13 project in December. Since that work session, several concerns were raised regarding access. The staff seeks a sense of the city council on certain issues related to this project. History Scott County in Coordination with MNDOT, Savage and Prior Lake are in the process of completing preliminary design of the CSAH 42 and TH 13 intersection. This improvement project has been contemplated for a number of years now. This intersection has been operating using a “temporary signal” for over a decade. This project is scheduled to possibly begin in 2017, but most work would occur in 2018. Property acquisition is a long process and therefore design work is starting now to identify the limits of right of way for purchase by the County. The improvement project would widen CSAH 42 approaches to TH 13 with additional lanes. Not much work is scheduled for Highway 13 as the necessary lanes are already in place. This project may not be the final ultimate project design for this intersection as a third through lane may be needed in the future. This intersection project is being designed so that future widening for the additional through lanes would occur to the north with minimal impact to existing pavements on the Prior Lake side. Access points along CSAH 42 will be revised with changes to the concrete median. The access to Harbor Place is scheduled to be reduced from a full access to a right in / right out access. As traffic volumes grow, it is difficult to retain this full access due to its close proximity to the signalized access at Rutgers Street as it interferes with the left turn lane. The Commerce Avenue access is also proposed to be modified to a right in / right out. The total cost of this project is preliminarily estimated to be $12,700,000 which includes right of way, design, and construction. The City’s contribution is estimated at $300,000. As a part of the total city cost, the current CIP estimates $100,000 for utility repairs in the area. 2 On December 14th, 2015, the City Council reviewed this project at their regular work session. At that time the Harbor Place/Rutgers connection options were not reviewed. The discussion included questions about the turning movement at Boone Ave and questions of timing of the project. At the January 13th, 2016 open house several questions were raised regarding the change in access at Harbor Place and concerns regarding the u-turn at Boone Avenue. At the February 2nd Scott County Board Workshop, the County Board reviewed the project and discussed the concerns regarding the access at Harbor Place. The County Board also directed County Staff to begin to study alternative access to Harbor Place and Commerce Avenue. An informational meeting was held March 9, 2016 to discuss specifically the possible changes of access at the Harbor Place and Commerce Avenue. This meeting was attended by over 100 persons. At the meeting Scott County provided rationale for reviewing alternatives and possible options. Attached for city council information is a compellation of the comments offered by those present. Current Circumstances Scott County representatives will provide an oral report regarding the safety and mobility concerns on CSAH 42 and provide possible options for alternative access. The CSAH 42 and TH 13 project design needs to continue to move forward to meet the project timelines. In April, the layout of the CSAH 42 and TH 13 project will be brought to the City Council for municipal consent exclusive of the Harbor/Rutgers/Commerce access issues. Separately, Scott County wishes to study the Harbor and Commerce access issues and options further. The study process and plan for public participation will be presented at the work session. Tonight the City Council should be prepared provide input regarding the following topics:  Does the City Council support the overall layout of TH13 and CSAH 42 intersection?  Does the City Council support a separate the study of alternative access options for Harbor Place?  Does the City Council support the study of alternative access for Commerce Avenue?  Does the City Council have feedback on the study content and process that could be of assistance in addressing municipal consent? Attendee Comments from March 9, 2016 Joint Meeting at Prior Lake City Hall: County Highway 42 Harbor Place Intersection Name Address Comments:Date E-mail or Cell 1 Zach Braid 14086 Rutgers St NE We are writing to inform you of a situation as it pertains to the County Highway 42 Reconstruction and a Proposed Harbor Change of Access. It has been brought to our attention there is potential for Scott County to use Right of Way/Eminent Domain in order to take our neighbors houses and to put in an unnecessary, expensive, and previously unplanned road that would connect The Harbor Community to Rutgers St NE. We vehemently oppose this proposal. It is not responsible, and makes no sense to spend taxpayers money on purchasing these expensive homes, to displace our neighbors and to disrupt our community for a road that is not even necessary. This proposal will add a substantial cost to the overall project. This proposal also produces many safety concerns and unreasonable implications for our neighborhood and community. We respectfully request these proposals be withdrawn and the originally agreed upon Harbor Community access plan to stay on County Rd 42 to be followed. 2/28/16 received on 3/16/16 2 Erin Belanger Braid 14086 Rutgers St NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/28/2016 pfoxwell123@gma il.com 3 Patti Fox well 6549 Harbor Place Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 4 Taylor Shay 14170 Grayling Cir NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/28/2016 po2edify@mac.co m 5 Blaine R Kriesel Jr 6550 Harbor View Circle Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 kriesel@msn.com 6 Shirley M. Kiedeowski6562 Harbor View Circle Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 763 639 5512 Cell- No email 7 Marlo Peterson 6548 Harbor View Circle Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 marloapeterson@ gmail.com 8 Mary R. Adelmann 6529 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 allard@allardltdcp a.com 9 Dan Sheedy 6585 Harbor Beach NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 shandeedy@gmail .com 10 Kathy Schlick 6574 Harbor Beach NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 11 Thomas L. Schlick 6574 Harbor Beach NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 received 12 Kimberly Smith 6589 Harbor Beach NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 kimberlychesney@ yahoo.com 13 Brad Smith 6589 Harbor Beach NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 14 Jeff Lund 6570 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE no date jefflund@tierneyb rothers.com 15 Kimberly L. Forrester 6513 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 2/29/2016 kimberfor@gmail. com 16 Bonnie Lund 6570 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 bonnie.lund@sabr e.com 17 Rita Knight 6526 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 knightrita123@gm ail.com 18 Jerry Knight 6526 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 knightrita123@gm ail.com 19 Mary Broderick 6566 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 broderick.mm@g mail.com 20 Greg Pederson 6502 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 21 Robert Foxwell 6549 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 22 Bryan Forester 6513 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 bfreshforrester@g mail.com 23 Ronald Evans 6535 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 revans@raglobal.n et 24 Kathleen Evas 6535 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 kathy.evans@mch si.com 25 Davide Friedman 6565 Harbor Place NE Exact same comments as form letter for 14086 Rutgers St NE 3/21/2016 davide.ftech#medi acombb.net Attendee Comments from March 9, 2016 Joint Meeting at Prior Lake City Hall: County Highway 42 Harbor Place Intersection 26 Judy Workman 14468 Watersedge Trl NE Rutgers too narrow to allow extra traffic from The Harbor. There will never be more traffic in or out of The Harbor than there is now-it's fully built up. Should be a right turn lane from eastbound 42 onto Rutgers. Close Commerce access onto 42---route that traffic back to South Park/Highway 13. It's only the bank & liquor store and the Drivers License Bureau that needs that access. Move the traffic light from Rutgers to Harbor Place. 3/9/16 mtg workjudy@yahoo. com 27 Teresa Coen 14038 Rutgers St NE Wants to see a light added at Boone & Greenway to slow traffic flow & then do NOTHING AT THE HARBOR access onto Co. Rd 42.3/9/16 mtg teresa.graf.bowers @gmail.com 28 Anonymous none Move Rutgers stoplight to Harbor 3/9/16 mtg 29 Anonymous none No Homes 3/9/16 mtg 30 Tina & Robert Albright14024 Rutgers St NE We adamantly oppose the proposals presented to the neighborhood. Rutgers Road was recently redone---changed & many of us were taxed for this---it narrowed the road--we have no sidewalks & no lights--we have approx. 20+ children in this neighborhood which walk to their bus stops & the city park without sidewalks---adding additional traffic & access to additional traffic & only access to bridge another neighborhood into Rutgers isn't safe for this lakeside neighborhood. Kensington Ave has only right in/right out just 1 mile West of Harbors. Walmart-Shakopee- has turn lane that allows many turns off for right turns--can't the right turn lane start prior to the Harbors entrance & continue to Rutgers? 3/9/16 mtg albrights3@gmail. com 31 Anonymous none All you did was try to justify your proposals without facts & data. You come off as if the decision was made & you were just going through the motions. You never really listened slimey! & slick!3/9/16 mtg 32 Anonymous none Insufficient data = impressive. "Safety" = nice spin. Watered down presentation to relate your approach = boring. A man who isn't paid with our tax dollars sounded to have the best idea = classy. Not enough room = unprepared. 3/9/16 mtg 33 Mary Belanger none I don't live in this neighborhood, but my daughter & husband do---along with grandchildren: If this is truly a safety issue, running additional traffic down Rutgers is NOT an option. People in the Harbor moved in knowing they did not have a light to 42. Most turn right & U turn to go West. People in Europe don't change the roads---they move if they don't like the area. Bad use of taxpayer dollars to add more traffic to a neighborhood street. This will devalue all houses on Rutgers if you take two out for a street. 3/9/16 mtg maiju1975@gmail. com 34 Mary Frauendt Extremely poor planning of city growth. No respect for residential neighborhoods; your taxpayers . The projected growth is not proven and if forced by rezoning you wall only succeed at turning Prior Lake into Northeast Minneapolis. No action is necessary. Leave as is. 3/9/16 mtg Maryf1000@gmail .com 35 Michael S. Von Arx 14346 Rutgers Street NE Tonight we talked about vehicular safety and that's good. But, as we limit access to neighborhoods, other types of safety may be compromised. Like response time to Police, ambulance and fire calls. These things should be considered. 3/9/16 mtg 952 445 7748 36 Julie Brown 6790 Denese St NE I vote for right in right out with no impact to taking houses 37 John Campbell Seagull Circle I would appreciate a rough $ cost for all options. Can we stop calling the affected properties "houses". They are "homes" and there's a significant psychological difference. Please stop de- personalizing the issue. 3/9/16 mtg john.campbell@g mx.us 38 Anonymous none No decision should be made until the Commerce Road project is finalized. They could be in direct conflict of each other & have a very detrimental impact to the neighborhoods.3/9/16 mtg 39 Vicky DeRouchey 14273 Natalie Road NE Please choose option 1--right in right out of The Harbors. Thank you 3/9/16 mtg vicky@ergowear.c om 40 Bev Hale-Halleckson 14413 Watersedge Has a reduction of speed been considered for 42? (as was accomplished on Highway 13 25 years ago)3/9/16 mtg bhalleckson@gmai l.com 41 Ron Evans 6535 Harbor Place NE If you take the 2 houses with the Rutger's house & Harbor home, my house will be along the new road into The Harbor. My house value will decrease as traffic will increase. If this proposal takes place my property line or easement may be affected & how will that affect my property, value & tax base? What about a light at Harbor, remove the light at Rutgers and connect The Harbors to Rutgers with the turn lane? 3/9/16 mtg ron.evans@mchsi. com 42 Sue Jacob 14054 Rutgers St 1) Do not put in Rutgers-Commerce connection. It is unsafe. My kids have to walk up Rutgers St.---in the street because we do not have sidewalks or street lamps--to get to the bus stop on 42. We have had to jump the snowbank to avoid getting hit by cars making a turn onto Rutgers. This happens 6X per day for kids on our street and opening traffic to commercial traffic would be extremely dangerous!!! 2) Rutgers connection to Harbor is only a couple houses down from proposed Commerce connection. That would be even more dangerous for our kids. 3) Put sidewalks & street lamps on our street. 4) Take bus stops off 42. 5) If you have to connect a road to Harbor--1st choice is flag lot so you don't take homes that will also separate traffic--some go to 13, some to Rutgers. 6) Put in light at Boone to solve the problem .7) Add trees &berms to block sound off 42. 3/9/16 mtg suejacob@mchsi.c om 43 Paul Scheunemann 14375 Watersedge Trl How about the option of 1st street on right going to Greenway. Less elevation change than street by tennis courts.3/9/16 mtg pt995@yahoo.co m 44 Lee Smith 14358 Lois Ave NE The "Greenway" solution is hands down the least disruptive. Boone Ave will be signalized at some point. The u-turn solution for The Harbor is also a good solution. Both/either one is far less disruptive to the Boudins neighborhood. 3/9/16 mtg valley43boy@yaho o.com Attendee Comments from March 9, 2016 Joint Meeting at Prior Lake City Hall: County Highway 42 Harbor Place Intersection 45 Davide Friedman 6565 Harbor Place I want to thank you and the 42 Project Team for all the hard work and time it took to put together the detailed presentation last night. In addition, while I know it’s part of the job, I also appreciated the way you all handled a potentially very difficult situation with all the unhappy homeowners. That being said, I heard a suggestion from one of the residents that struck a chord with me and got me thinking about it and realized it is potentially a very reasonable alternative to any of the other ideas currently on the table. I urge you to read the following description all the way thru before making a decision. The idea was to consider moving the light from Rutgers to Harbor Place. After coming home and spending some time thinking here are some of the potential details and justifications. 1. Close Rutgers on the north side of 42 from 42 to the frontage road. The southbound traffic and traffic exiting the shopping area would simply go to the new access at Harbor Place to exit in either direction. 2. 2. Build an access at Harbor Place between Arby’s and NTB similar to the one on the west side of Boden’s at 13. 3. Make Rutgers on the south side of 42 Right in and Right out. The light at Harbor Place will help them to get on to 42 more safely and they can do a U‐turn at 13 to go west. They can do a U‐turn and Harbor Place to go from Eastbound to enter Rutgers. 4. Go forward and include the frontage road from the bank to Rutgers to provide alternative egress at Bowden’s onto 13 as this will relieve traffic load to Rutgers. 5. Doing this will slightly increase distance between lights at 13 and currently at Rutgers, providing more room for left turn lane length increases for both access to hwy. 13 & at Harbor Place. 6. Make Right Turn access on eastbound 42 as planned for Harbor Place but carry it past all the way to hwy. 13 and mark with lane paint and signage. 7. Keep planned changes less the planned U‐turn area increase at Boone and Greenway the same. This really seems to make sense to me in terms of checking many of the boxes you want on 42. In addition, it also takes care of the following: 1. The need to take additional land 2. The effects of increased traffic on to Rutgers and other streets in the neighborhood especially the concerns of residents about safety and the recent modification of Rutgers by reducing the road width by 4 feet.\ 3. Moving the location would have minimal cost impact given that the current plan is to replace the existing light with new high tech traffic light system anyway. This would be similar to eastbound 42 between starting at Burnsville Pkwy thru Southcross to Judicial. I urge you to take a detailed look at this. In my mind this is an out of the box way of looking at a very complex problem and doing so from a different perspective. In doing so, I was surprised at what I saw and the issues this potentially resolves. I realize there are probably some obstacles which I haven’t considered but that is what you get the big bucks for(hopefully not the horn of the buck.) I believe going this way will minimize impact to most of the residents in Prior Lake and not create a big hardship for the residents and vendors on the Savage side as well. It makes the whole project more efficient and safe as well. 3/10/2016 davide.ftech#medi acombb.net 46 Thomas L. Schlick 6574 Harbor Beach NE Very informative mtg last night (3/9/16). Emotions ran high--which is to be expected when people feel they may be losing their homes. I thought the County & City staff handled the mtg & discussion very professionally. My thoughts & reaction to what was proposed for The Harbor place/Rutgers area: 1) The Greenway option is a non-starter. The "road" to it is actually a driveway with lots of townhome garages. The hill is very steep---& it would be an eyesore for the Harbor residents. 2) Honestly--I didn't like any of the proposed options that involved connecting to Rutgers St. Those options included the Harbor Place connection to Rutgers, the flagpole route and one other. I don't like any of them because Rutgers is too narrow of a road, has no sidewalks and is near a park. Getting heavy trucks through these would be impossible when cars are parked on this narrow street. 3) The only viable option to me is the turn in/turn out option where Harbor Place meets County Rd 42 today. The traffic will not grow coming out of the Harbor--so the 42 access would be very manageable. 3/9/2016 tlschlick@aol.com 47 Blaine Kriesel Jr.6550 Harbor View Circle My wife, kids, and I attended the open house information session last night and I really appreciated the context, timelines, and visuals of the project. I am hoping this comment will get forwarded to the entire project team working on this proposal as well as Scott County Commissioners and City of Prior Lake officials as this is a follow up to my comment that I made during the meeting. While I can’t confirm if the entire community shares my opinion, I feel confident after last night that most are aligned. Eminent Domain Proposal: Overall, any proposal that will require the government to forcibly seize a home must pass a similar test as our criminal system which is beyond a reasonable doubt, not from a legal perspective, but a moral responsibility. While it may be easy to talk abstractly in project and/or city hall meetings, these proposals, if approved, will be a life sentence to those homeowners impacted. I do not use this language to be bombastic, but rather for everyone to consider the impact. These homes in particular cannot be measured by the square footage or how big their yard is. These homes have deeded access to the second most popular lake in the metro area. These homes have access to a community with 200+ feet of sandy beach, a pool, tennis court, and a lifestyle that can’t be replaced by a simple valuation of their physical home. I also bring this up, because I feel strongly that our elected officials and those whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, should not abuse eminent domain. It should be a last resort period. Proposal Transparency: While I appreciated the context last night, the biggest gap is the data needed to support the proposals. Using the Marshall Rd redesign as an example was good to hear, but it also highlighted that there needs to be a fact‐based decision framework. When discussing Marshall Rd, it was mentioned that not all access was eliminated so there had to be a prioritization model or decision framework. I have zero confidence that City of Prior Lake can make an informed decision with the materials shared last night. Looking ahead, I would specifically like to request a decision model to be created by the project team and included in any future presentation to the community and city leaders as it will dramatically increase the transparency of any decision. To illustrate an example, I created a simple model that power ranks (1‐9 Likert scale) each of the 4 key inputs that were discussed last night. Tied to my first comment, this model should assign significantly more weight to any option that doesn’t require eminent domain. Finally, behind this model should be the underlying supporting data that attempts to quantify the score. Other Comments: I really hope that the project team listens to the feedback provided last night. If you strip away the emotion, it comes down to some basic factors that as homeowners we face every single day. In no particular order: 1. I understand the point that the turn lane into the Harbor is not sufficient from a runway, so a right in right out option makes a lot of sense from a transportation standard standpoint. Not ideal for our community to have to do U‐turns, especially at Boone, which is why we are hoping that a traffic light will be installed. Not a deal breaker, but to us this makes a lot of sense. 2. Routing Harbor traffic to Rutgers, Greenway, or Grayling makes little sense. In addition to requiring the use of eminent domain, these roads are narrow and we do not feel this will increase safety. In fact, we feel it will result in more minor accidents overall and will put our kids at risk. We base this on the challenges that exist today. Adding more volume of traffic on those narrow roads will cause accidents. 3. One homeowner made a great suggestion that I think should be investigated and that is the feasibility of moving the Rutgers traffic signal to the Harbor intersection. The traffic light at Rutgers can back up traffic back to Walgreens today. If your traffic model are correct and it can increase by 50% over the next 20 years then the distance between that traffic light and 13 is not sufficient. It would seem like a light at the Harbor location could tie into the frontage road in between Arby’s and NTB with little effort. The loss of parking for Arby’s could be offset by using the current access road between Arby’s and the strip mall. Not sure if moving it 100 yards or so helps offset the backups, but it seems like this should be researched with the same intensity as Rutgers/Grayling options. As I do not live on Rutgers I don’t know how those homeowners would feel about that either. Thank you for reading and hopefully considering this feedback and I look forward to the meeting later this month at Prior Lake City 3/10/2016 Blaine.KrieselJr@b estbuy.com Attendee Comments from March 9, 2016 Joint Meeting at Prior Lake City Hall: County Highway 42 Harbor Place Intersection 48 Mary & Bob Miller 14395 Watersedge Hard to comprehend how right in & right out would not be by far the best solution--1)Taking 2 homes, upsetting families & having traffic coming into neighborhood where streets are narrow, no sidewalks so lots of hikers & walkers, headlights going straight into peoples homes--loss of property taxes, cost of maintaining a new road which would have maintenance equipment for the yards & pool & tennis courts (Harbor Streets are private currently, not public). 2) Right by a park & lots of curved streets & drop off locations for school bus.--Many would avoid going up to top of Rutgers & would go to Watersedge to Boudins to avoid lights on 42. 3) Less people affected if fence or trees need to be taken from the Harbor vs. eminent domain destroying family homes 4) Light at Boone would not be a bad...... 3/9/2016 marymiller@edina realty.com G/Comments 030916 city hall mtg