08-24-11 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 24, 2011 recommendations of his office, the City Engineer, and the Watershed District. Robert Rimstad, Metro Transit, indicated that the park and ride lot will provide express bus service to downtown Minneapolis. There will be approximately 7 buses leaving in the morning and 7 buses returning in the evening. Morning and evening hours will be during typical rush hour, and buses will come and go from the site in approximate 20 minute increments. Rimstad anticipated that initially there will be approximately 190 users of the park and ride primarily from the northeast metro. Access to the park and ride lot will be on County Road B. There will also be bike and pedestrian amenities added. Rimstad noted that there is express service to downtown St. Paul via Rice Street, and he anticipated that some drivers will utilize the park and ride to access this service as well. Blesener expressed concern about the appearance of the restroom structure and asked if it would be shielded from view by the other structures. Rimstad replied that it would not given the bus shelter for riders is primarily glass. Blesener noted the large amount of material to be removed from the site and asked the grade of the lot in relation to County Road B and Rice Street. Rimstad indicated that while the northwest corner of the site will be slightly below Rice Street, the rest of the site will be about even with the street grades. McGraw asked if there would be vehicular access into the site from Rice Street. Rimstad replied that there would not, but there is a pedestrian access planned at Rice and County Road B. Rimstad noted that there is a sidewalk along Rice Street, and since the Planning Commission meeting, the County has strongly urged a sidewalk be installed on County Road B. That sidewalk will extend from Rice Street along County Road B to the pedestrian loading area. Blesener asked about site circulation for the buses. Rimstad reported that Metro Transit had studied a lot of reiterations for this circulation. The result of that study is that buses will come into the site from County Road B and maneuver around the cul -de -sac area shown on the plan and then out of the site back onto County Road B. Blesener noted that the entry point for the park and ride is directly across the street from Cub's new entrance. Rimstad replied that that was correct. Montour asked about site drainage noting the pond near the northwest corner and the wetland on the east end of the site. Wayne Sicora, EVS, reviewed the grading plan in detail, noting that all site drainage eventually 4