04/22/1996 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 22, 1996 Mr. Mitchell explained that there are 13 ways to warrant a signal light. Unfortunately, one of them is not because the City Council wants the light. The easiest way in this case, to get a signal light is to compare traffic on Trunk Highway 49 (Lake Drive) with the traffic that would be coming off of the side street (Elm Street) that would access Highway 49. Any of the options that propose two intersections, one on Elm Street and the second on a new intersection, splits the traffic on the site so that the City would be adding marginal traffic counts. These options would almost certainly never warrant a signal light. In addition, the state will not entertain any request for a light until the proceedings have begun on the design and they may not even entertain the request until the school is opened. Mr. Mitchell said that "we hope to navigate around the state" however this is the process that has to be followed. Also, Lake Drive (Highway 49) will become an Anoka County roadway about November, 1996. The City will have to follow Anoka County's guidelines after that date and right now most counties follow the recommendations of MnDOT when it comes to signal lights. Council Member Lyden asked Mr. Mitchell, if the City Council selects Option F, how strong of a case does the City have or how many warrants does the City have? What chance is there of getting the signal light? Mr. Mitchell said that once the middle school is opened, he was 99% sure that there would be a signal. He said he was confident that the light would be there immediately but for sure by the year 2000. Steven Wurscher, 7132 Gray Heron Drive - Mr. Wurscher said he is concerned about Option F and understands the situation about the signal light. He felt that Option F incorporates the worst of everything and throws it onto the neighborhood in Wenzel Farms. Option A and Option B also qualify for signal lights and gets the mess on the corner of Lake Drive and Elm Street. It spreads the traffic further north and although there is a concern with the pedestrian crosswalk, it can be worked out with crosswalks or flashing lights. Mr. Wurscher said that Option F puts 80 children next to the buses every morning and every afternoon as they cross Elm Street in a crosswalk. He said that he did not understand why that is safer. The neighborhood is in favor of a signal light and completely in favor of safety for the children. However, he lives in a neighborhood where most of the children will be walking and the neighborhood wants these children to be safe. Putting the children next to buses every morning and every afternoon is not safe. Mr. Wurscher explained that he has seen the figures for traffic projections in the next few years. He said Elm Street will not handle the increase in traffic and the City will have to find a million dollars to upgrade the street. Mr. Wurscher said he was sorry if the School Board did not ask for enough funds from the bond issue. They should have asked for a couple million dollars more to cover the things that are not covered. Money is a problem and the City of Lino Lakes is not rich. The City will not be able to come up with a couple more million dollars for upgrading Elm Street this year, next year or the year after. He asked the City Council to consider the local residents. He said he thinks Option F would be the worst and it would impact the most. Mr. Wurscher said at the first neighborhood meeting elimination of the southern access to the middle school was discussed and now the southern access to the middle school is back on Elm Street. Mr. Wurscher said he did not agree with this decision. PAGE 15