12-02-2025 City Council Meeting Packet

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PROPOSAL DETAILS/ANALYSIS: Staff received a request from a property owner to install crosswalks along 5th Street North, between Inwood Avenue (CSAH 13) and Keats Avenue (CSAH 19). These intersections were reviewed by City staff to determine where crosswalks should be marked along this corridor. From this review, two intersections were identified that met the policy for crosswalk markings. The intersection of 5th Street and Ivwood Circle meets the policy recommendations for a marked crosswalk since the intersection is immediately adjacent to Ivywood Park, and the intersection of 5th Street and Julia Avenue meets the policy recommendations for a marked crosswalk since the intersection is immediately adjacent to Savona Park. As part of this review process, staff identified an additional intersection at Village Parkway and Lower 31st Street that is also immediately adjacent to a park (Northport HOA Park). All of the intersections evaluated fall under the category of side-street stop control. As such the policy reads as follows: “At locations across a stop-controlled leg of a side street stop-controlled intersection, it is the City Policy that crosswalks will remain unmarked, unless the crossing directly serves a key destination as defined in the “Criteria Definitions” section. A key destination is defined in the policy as follows: “For this Policy a key destination includes a school or public park immediately adjacent to the crossing location, an established school route, or the crossing location is along a designated walking/bicycle route to/from the Old Village in a plan that has been formally adopted by the City of Lake Elmo. Under the policy these locations qualify for being marked based on the criteria cited above, no pedestrian counts are needed to qualify the intersections for analysis. A copy of the Crosswalk Policy is attached to this item with the applicable sections governing these intersections highlighted. City staff reached out to SRF Consulting, Inc. to obtain a proposal to provide crosswalk recommendations for the three designated intersections. The scope of services is limited to the proposed layouts with estimated implementation costs, as detailed design engineering and construction phase assistance may or may not be required once the identified scope of improvements has been completed. If the crosswalk markings are limited to pavement markings and signage, it is likely the work can be installed by Public Works. However, as 5th Street is a high-volume, higher-speed collector roadway, the work may require additional improvements including raised median, high visibility electronic signage, and/or pedestrian ramp improvements. Should the design layout require more significant improvements, the project may need to be competitively bid for contractor installation. In either case, the proposed crosswalk layout together with estimates for installation costs will be brought back to the City Council for consideration and direction. FISCAL IMPACT: $22,832 for the engineering services to provide crosswalk recommendations and detailed design layout for the three designated intersections. No estimate is available for the crosswalk installation until the scope of improvements is known. Amending this motion will have no bearing on the Fiscal Impact. RECOMMENDATION: Staff is recommending that the City Council amend, as a part of the consent agenda, the previous motion passed authorizing engineering services for the 2026 Crosswalk Improvements. The recommended motion for the action is as follows: “Move to authorize preliminary engineering services for the 2026 Crosswalk Improvements in the estimated amount of $22,832, for the intersections of 5th Street and Ivwood Circle, 5th Street and Julia Avenue, and Village Parkway and Lower 31st Street as previously approved November 18, 2025 to begin immediately.” ATTACHMENTS: 1.SRF Consulting Task Order No. 10, 2026 Crosswalk Improvements. 2.Engineer’s Proposal and Fee Estimate dated November 6, 2025. 3.2026 Crosswalk Improvement Location Map(s). 4.City of Lake Elmo Crosswalk Policy.