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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 10, 2005 Page 2 1 traffic as efficiently as possible. In such reconstruction projects, the fact that these are residential 2 roads can be sidelined. He stated that Mr. Grube's department is very good at working on these 3 roads. He noted that Lyndale Avenue was a County Road and has become a good blend of a 4 larger road while keeping the neighborhood. 5 6 Jim Grube, Hennepin County Director and Engineer, gave a background on his career. He said 7 he was an Assistant City Engineer in Fairmont, and then became the City Engineer in Brooklyn 8 Center. He then worked as the City Engineer in St. Louis Park before working for Hennepin 9 County. In assessing Silver Lake Road, he said that from curb to curb it is about as wide as it is 10 going to be. He noted there is a narrow walk on the side of the street. He said he thinks the 11 citizens know the road well, and know the room for sidewalk is precious. He said most people 12 would probably be looking for parking on the side of the street for the visitors. Also, he said 13 citizens would likely say the traffic moves fast for a residential street. He explained his dilemma 14 is how to balance moving people and goods, while letting people out of driveways and side 15 streets in an acceptable manner. He indicated that the reconstruction is worth taking a look at 16 and talking to his staff and department to get a vision for what the road should be. There is only 17 one lane in each direction and he stated he thought this is acceptable. He explained that the 18 parking on the street would be desirable for two reasons. One reason is for people visiting, and 19 the other is a concept that if there is parking on the street, the traffic will be slower. However, 20 there are occasional speeders for various reasons. 21 22 Mr. Grube indicated Hennepin County has a program of incentives to cities called the Roadside 23 Enhancement Partnership Program. He said that type of financing was used on Golden Valley 24 Road. The poles that were in the middle of the sidewalk were changed so that there was room to 25 walk around them. Hennepin County offers to pay between one -third and one -half the cost of 26 undergrounding the poles. He urged the Council to consider this program. Hennepin County 27 offers to help pay for the cost in order to be seen as partners in such projects. He noted that 28 Commissioner Stenglein was able to commission getting street lights on Golden Valley Road 29 and moving the poles. He indicated his office has completed similar projects in Minnetonka, 30 Richfield, and Minneapolis, and have experience all over the county. 31 32 Mr. Grube suggested the Council discuss the issues of creating a design to move the poles out of 33 the way, whether the sidewalk will be on one side of the street, and how to handle parking on the 34 street. He said he would spend time with the Council and discuss ideas of what the resolution 35 could be. He said the Council should take it in a proper time perspective as well. A project like 36 this would take a couple years in terms of conversations with neighbors and design before 37 getting to construction. The Council should be thinking of somewhere in the year of 2007/2008 38 for construction at the earliest. Financing is always a hurdle. He said they are putting the pieces 39 together for their capital financing program. He said the first thing the Council has to do is 40 invest in getting the design moving and getting the construction going. 41 42 Commissioner Stenglein asked what kind of visioning has been done. Mayor Faust said 43 meetings will be held and a task force will be formed. There is a lot of energy in the community 44 and there has been significant conversation that the road does not provide what the community 45 wants it to. Sidewalks are terribly important. He said that burying the utilities underground will 46 be an enhancement. He noted that no discussions have been held as of yet. He suggested