10-26-99 WScrrY courTC~ wow s~oN - ocros~ ~, i999
A work session of the Hopkins City Covacil was held at 6:30 p.m. on October 26, 1999,
at the City Hall. Council members present were Mayor Redepenni~g and Council members
Hesch, Jensen, Johnson'md Maxwell. City p~~ p wire ~ M~6~ Mtpt~; public
Works DYIL.~ Stadler; Police Captain Liddy; Mr. Beckering, Mr. Klocek and Mr. M~grtat of
the Fire Dept.; and Finance Di~~r Yager. Also present were Tim C~rit~iin of BIKO Associates
and the following 73 8t 5 Task Force members: Ed Anderson, Jerry Lavin, Jeanne Searles and
R~os~s Bartz.
~''...~~, Road ?3 ~ 5 Toek I~~n,~ Diaeueed~o®, Steve Sra~, preseaotes
Steve Stadler reviewed the results of discussions with Hennepin County and City of
Minnet~~ staff regarding the Task Forty approved design. The c~ -m r monuu~ment, weight
restrictions and i~aectioa table will not be approved by the County. The County did agree to
m:..i...r... standard lane width, lsmdscapiog, sloped wcbir~g, bye paths and unique street name
sigoage. The Cou~y has agreed to a 10-year o to m ii~rther road eapaasion projects
other than one possible right turn lane for weatbouad DIES. Actual work is sch~~~te~ to start in
?001. In gnawer to Fran Hesch's question, he said the County had no pkans for going east on the
intersection to work on ~5. Ed Anderson noted the County has not wor>ood on DES for 15 years.
Since m~ng with the County, the idea of "tratiic calming" has been raised and souwwe of
those ideas were prese~od to the Council. Mr. Griffin of BIKO eapt~tn~ed some drawings of these
ideas. In answering questions, ~ added: a bus stop on the northeast corner of MAn~trba is a
possibility as these is no sidewakk; the master plea for the Eaoelsioz Corridor may provide helpful
i~*~~~, etc. if the gS/73 project moult be t*npk~ented in stages.
Fd Anderson reported on the neighborhood meeting. The big concerns are slo~aring traffic
sad safety. Everyone wan pleased the interact. anon would nat be upgraded and west that put into
any a,~~.,~,icnt with the County. So®c were eoneernad traffic lid would actually cause more
speert~. The bye path wouM be ol~ay ~ it does not go to property lines or tsloe trees; if it
replaces the 11 foot shoulder dicta wouldn't be any problems. He was pleased the drawings were
made so quickly so they were av~it~h1~ far this meeting.
Jerry Lavin stro>Agly asserted that the neighborhood was willing to give up p"''~ for the
intiers~c*t~ sad he feels the Council I' let the road get upgraded in the [ut~~, especially
as there is a future possi'b'ility of offroe bj~itait~a going up near Budget Tire. The ~ that the
speed limit is highest for the arcs in the re~i~~At area is a problem; ~ is afraid the light may
cause people to speed even more to "make the light." He *hin'~ the County has been very
dogm°*ir in its ~ts~1~sa1 of some of the requests. He feels "b~uu~ line concepts" are speed
cad~ol moist be part of the intersection project sad no upgrading in future.
Judge Anderson red she felt ~ intersection and the ideas for slowing traffic on
#ES have to be taken as one Wait.
Steve Miellae emphasized that the drawings for traffic calmi~ have not yet been shown to
the County. He summ~~cd the discussion as follows: The neighbors feel the cut~hrough traffic
is an issue at M~tt~c~bs. In essence both the Task Force sad the Cotmcil agree to the following,
though details need ~ be vvozloed out: with co~uaty noels do include the "10 year no
upgrade" language, with ~ of the rigbot turn lane; we would Jibe do.~r~otive ataadarda and
need do ~ worl-ug with the Cona~ty for this; boa stop mooat be discussed with Met Transit;
signage should be ~mique; the interaectio~n sbautid be n~orioeable (rumble stripe); safety
movement on DOES is crucial and must be combined with the in~raa. '~on work; bilce/pedestrian
Path is okay; "calming traffic" design is very imPortaaot.
Jeanne Searles noted traffic calmi~ eves at the two points noted oII the map at the "east
boundary" would help.
General Coaseasas
All the Council members expressed approval of the major ideas preeentied and felt the Task
Force had done a very good job.. There was general eonseosus that slowing ~5 traffic and the
intersection work are one prajecct. The ideas should be put in a peclrsge for Mr. Cnube and the
Caonty, with the response then do go to the Task Fuzee.
2000 Djea~ona, Lo~rl Ya~r, pres~r
This was as iafiozmeatioa pt+es~ioa Mr. Mielbe and Ma. Yager noted that X240,000 plus
had already been cast from pr~apoeala to meet the levy passed by the Council. These ass were
wotl~,.l out with departrne~ heeds sad a list of those reoos was pz+eaeutod.
~I,000 had been taloea out of pablic safiety espeodiau~ and
put into the storm/sewer mai~eoe~aoe a~penJit~cs. Mr. Stadler noted this is ~ ar...•~nn in city
b~~~ as mach of the stroet work is do ]Deep leaven end garbage out of the sewer system, not to
maintain streets. He plans to ]Deep track of "Main Street" expenses next year so people can see
what it costs to keep "1~vin Cities' Main Street" lo~~na nice. Mr. Miptla' noted that adding
parking late without adding income would change the budget picture. Gene Maxwell asked shoat
the ~cel~ior Blvd. upgrade maintenance; Mr. Stadler said that will be Hopkins' job.
~ .This departo~eot has three major areas: Emergency medical services,
fire ~,.e~v~.d~, sad fire suppr~eaaion. Mr. Becbering noted medical cal]a inc~+ease every year. The
Civil Service au~ens are old. Imbedded S~stema checks them every other day with a silent alarm.
The oldest one, at 8th Ave. d~ 15th st., moult have its decoder replaced; all of them should be
raplaeod2000-2002. His ooneern is that the sir+Gn ao~m~d may be blocked as more ta11 buildings are
e~e~d. The critical item in the budget is a new repeatier foz the Fire Departose~oot; there are
"dead" spots and public aafe~y is st issue.
Gea~eral Cau~aoa: start the process ~ obtain the repeater immediately eo it can be
~.u~ased as soon ae possible in 2000.
• A major issue is reclassifying throe clerks as this has major
implications throughout city staff.
~~iq ~ The increase is mostly due do the hiring of a eo~mputer ~;h..i~sm,
or~r•
~em~..~i~--wide Stared VisiOSl
Mr. Mip~lce ug~~ the Council on the Vision work. About 250 invitations will go nut
~AM*~ persons do work on the focus groups. He ~~ the Council to look over the proposed
questions and give him perti~>>a* people they ward included. SCIP may have Mr. Allen do
fOCUS $r0upa ~ them In 0~118r Cfi•n•rn•••'~, and a q'n for them has been included.
General Co®sauua: The additional question was okay as long as the budget was adhered to.
Morio~n tp adjourn was made by Fran Hesch and seconded by Diane Johnson. It passed
uaeaimaualy. Mse~ng adjaorned at 9:57 p.m.
Kaaey K~ea~r, reooTding so~r,laa~r
covrTGa. mss:
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