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The City Engineer gave a presentation on the improvement of 50"' Street between CSAH17to TH5 Mayor Dunn opened up the Public Hearing at 7:35 p.m. in the Council chambers. The Council received a letter from Rebecca Tenpas, which included 9 signatures of 50t" Street residents, with an idea of splitting 50"' Street into two roads, one paved road, accessed from Highway 5, that would end with the entrance to Tana Ridge, and the existing gravel road, accessed from Lake Elmo Avenue that would end in a cul-de-sac on the eastern side of the Krueger and Vanderhoff properties. Planner Dillerud showed the thoroughfare plan for the City, which 50"' Street is designated as a collector street in the comp plan. If this designation were changed, the City would have to follow the process to amend the comp plan, which would be sent to Met Council for review and concurrence. Robert Day, 3105 45`h Avenue S., Minneapolis, asked how does MnDot do a speed study. The high school kids are speeding. Are speed bumps going to cure the problem? Elizabeth Day, Robert Day's daughter, asked about the traffic calming devices. The speed now is 55mph. would have to do a speed study to look into reducing the speed limit. Administrator Kueffner responded that a speed study was requested, but no report has been received. Dan Olinger, Maintenance Supervisor, indicated if the road is split, MSA funds would not be available Reid Gilbertson, 11421 50`" St. N., stated the residents' concerns are on safety. You can control the speed by leaving it a dirt, bumpy road. He would like to leave the road 60/40. The people that want this paved road the most are the people the least affected. We stood against Washington County extending the corridor of Manning Avenue to Highway 36. This is not much different from that. The City does have one option that is to do nothing Rebecca Tenpas, 11330 50" Street, asked what is the process for decision? The City's reply is they will have to make a determination to change the classification of the road if this is in the best interest of the City and go through the Planning Commission process. The Council has a 6-month time limit on this feasibility proposal. James Tenpas, 11330 50"' Street, asked if the existing environment was taken into consideration. Some houses are setback 50' from road, and some houses are 100 years old. Mayor Dunn closed the Public Hearing at 8:10 p.m Council member DeLapp stated we are talking about the eastern 60%, two-thirds of it is for sale or under conservation easements. Why wouldn't a 22' wide road, in an 80' wide long corridor have some curves? If we make the roads wide and straight, we are just inviting speed. If they can see forever, they can fly. DeLapp asked staff to divide the road into two cul-de-sacs, acknowledging that MSA funds would be lost. Council members Armstrong and Siedow were against this suggestion. Council member Armstrong asked how was the amount of $23,000 attained that was prepaid by adjacent developments. Tom Prew responded it was determined by how many 2.5-acre lots could be split off of 50"' Street. Armstrong couldn't support the cul-de-sac because it would be too disruptive to full size emergency vehicles going to CSAH17/. City Engineer Tom Prow reported we would lose our state aid financing and the money (60%) would have to come from somewhere else. Because this is a major road, you are going to have to build a cul-de-sac to large enough to get a school bus around. Maintenance funds go into the General Fund speed bumps could put in to see how it would work. Administrator Kueffner pointed out there are properties along 50"' Street, if combined into 20 plus acres, could come in for an OP development. LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES JANUARY 18, 2000 3