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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-07-14 MinutesCITY OF COTTAGE GROVE PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION July 14, 2008 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a meeting of the Public Works Commission of Cottage Grove was duly held at Cottage Grove Public Works, 8635 West Point Douglas Road, Cottage Grove, Minnesota on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Robert Dornsbach called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Members Present: Ken Boyden, Robert Dornsbach, Gary Kjellberg, Christopher Lethgo, William Royce Staff Present: Les Burshten, Public Works Director Harry Taylor, Public Works Supervisor Jennifer Levitt, City Engineer Also Present: Fred Luden, City Council Member Matt Moore, SWWD Citizen Advisory Committee 3. APPROVE MINUTES Upon a motion by Gary Kjellberg, seconded by Ken Boyden, the June 9, 2008 minutes were unanimously approved. 4. ADDITIONAL AGENDA ITEMS None. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. SWWD Citizen Advisory Committee and Update Jennifer Levitt introduced Matt Moore, Administrator of the South Washington Watershed District who will speak to the group regarding the Citizen Advisory Committee being formed at this time. Mr. Moore will provide information on activities being worked on now and will update cost share policy practices in place today. Public Works Commission July 14, 2008 – Page 2 Matt Moore stated the Watershed District is in the process of reviving the Citizen Advisory Committee which was originally formed two years ago. The group consists primarily of planning commission members of the eight surrounding cities and townships and is a diverse group with a lot of great input for the plan update. He added the law requires that a citizen advisory committee be maintained. At this time it is planned to hold quarterly meetings that will focus on budget and new work plan issues. The committee will also create a link with the various city projects taking place and will help ascertain that information will be available for all involved. It is hoped to hold the first meeting in September to look at the preliminary budget and work plan for 2009. Meetings will be held the third or fourth week of the month at approximately 7:00 pm and take place at the Woodbury Public Works building. Levitt stated she included the application form in the packet for those that are interested in participating. Commission Member William Royce inquired about the size of the district. Moore responded the area covers approximately 70 square miles with the majority of the watershed being Woodbury and Cottage Grove. Boyden asked if the water is continuously flowing to which Moore responded that it does not, noting this is a unique watershed with seven lakes. The majority of the watershed runs through pipes and actually the northern watershed flows to Bailey Lake stopping there. Boyden added that thought must be put into future development, water runoff and elevations to keep the water in a moving fashion. Moore stated they have been working with the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury in developing a plan to try and deal with watershed overflows. It was determined that the watershed was developed to a point where there was a need for additional downstream capacity so additional area was purchased. Boyden asked if the board has a liaison with the planning departments of the involved cities where they are made aware of development stages. Moore responded that this is exactly what this work and committee are designed to do. Everything will be down on paper so as the committee interacts with city staff, development areas can be carefully reviewed. Levitt added that she and Howard Blin are city liaisons for the watershed district. Boyden asked what information is kept and who is responsible to keep an eye on things so developers don’t end up dictating their needs. Moore responded that models between the city and watershed are lined up and at this time the developments are taken into consideration. Moore stated the group has a clear idea what the city’s plans are and how the watershed fits into those plans. The system put in the ground will end up providing drainage for the local system. The City will be providing detention and retention on the developments so it becomes more of a regional system and pathway for the City to use as a combined system, not a parallel system. Public Works Commission July 14, 2008 – Page 3 Council Member Fred Luden commented there’s not an abundance of extra capacity considering the growth the City has experienced along with future growth. He added if someone in the group would consider joining the proposed committee, it would be greatly appreciated. Moore concluded that this spring the Watershed District started a cost share program for water quality which has gotten a good response from residents. Currently there are three categories: Residential Neighborhoods Commercial/ Municipal The funding set aside this year was $15,000 for residential, $15,000 for neighborhoods and $20,000 for municipal with an emphasis to promote water quality planning. Promotional projects include rain gardens, rain barrels and those sorts of things for individual residents or with a whole neighborhood to make water quality improvements. Five rain gardens were recently completed in St. Paul Park. It is hoped these rain gardens ‘catch on’ to be used as part of their storm water treatment. Approximately $9,000 has been granted for residential rain gardens so far this year. There have been no neighborhood-wide programs yet. The group recently worked with the City of Cottage Grove on plantings for Hamlet and Pine Tree Valley Parks and also the City of Woodbury on some porous paving they did in one of their parks. It was noted the funding comes through the tax levy across the whole watershed so it’s tax dollars that are given back, especially with the municipal projects. Levitt inquired if Moore could ever see the cost of the program going towards land acquisition or working with landowners or something of that nature. Moore responded that he thinks the cost share program potentially may evolve into something more than what it is because of the way projects are done. The city capital projects come up much more readily and so things like acquisition may be able to be cost shared to get things done more quickly than if we were to make it a watershed project. He envisions the cost share program expanding to those types of projects. Levitt asked if Moore could see any limit on the cost share and does he see the municipal side of it growing such as if land acquisition is more than $20,000. Moore answered that yes, those types of projects could build into the program – it’s simply a matter of having it in the plan. The Commission members expressed their appreciation to Mr. Moore for attending the meeting tonight. B. CITY SIGN REQUEST Levitt indicated there was a request from a resident for a stop sign change. Much time was spent in 2004 with the traffic control analysis for Cottage Grove neighborhoods. The resident lives on Greene Avenue and is requesting the stop sign location be th changed so 85 Street traffic stops and Greene Avenue traffic does not. Public Works Commission July 14, 2008 – Page 4 A traffic count was completed and the findings indicated that traffic is flowing per our original report with motorists using the collector streets more often. There was actually th a decline of cars using Greene Avenue between Grange and 85 Street. Due to these findings, staff is recommending no sign change occur at the location. The issue is being brought to the Commission due to the resident feeling adamant about the sign change. Levitt explained a main concern with a three way intersection was the fact there were two collectors coming together near the municipal pool and lots of young children pedestrians. To follow the policy in place, if there are two collectors coming together, we stop all legs of traffic in that condition. Levitt added she thinks we would want to th keep the stop sign at 85 and Grange to stay consistent with the policy and considering the location of the pool. Kjellberg commented if the stop sign location is changed, it may be a step backwards from the original plan and defeats the purpose of the changes made in the first place. The collector should keep flowing and the other streets that feed into the collector should be the ones to stop. He recommends denial of the request. , MOTION MADE BY GARY KJELLBERG SECONDED BY CHRIS LETHGO FOR DENIAL OF THE TH 85. REQUEST TO CHANGE THE STOP SIGN CONTROL FROM STREET TO GREENE AVENUE . MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED Kjellberg asked if Hyde Avenue was considered a collector street. Levitt responded that it was not. Kjellberg indicated that East Pt. Douglas Road has a stop sign at Hyde and he was wondering if Hyde Avenue feeds into E. Pt. Douglas rather than E. Pt. Douglas flowing into Hyde. There is a three-way stop at that location. Kjellberg stated traffic is also stopped at Hillside and E. Pt. Douglas. Levitt stated this area would be evaluated next year. C. Draft Pavement Management Report Commission members were given a copy of the council goals, one of which is to provide planning and construction of local roadway infrastructure on a regular basis. Back in 1994 an extensive report was completed and most recently, a report was completed on dollars spent on pavement management to date. Levitt stressed the importance of scheduled roadway maintenance. The City was divided into nine districts as they were in the previous version. The report also demonstrated what happens if we “do nothing” in the next twenty years and what happens to the PCI of our street network. Levitt added that she wants feedback from the commission members on how funds should be appropriated and what is an acceptable PCI. Kjellberg inquired whether it was cost effective to do a mill and overlay versus a total reconstruction. Levitt indicated one of the issues is that sometimes the road is not “caught” in the proper state and has deteriorated beyond mill and overlay causing it to be overlooked. She feels that many streets are not caught at the correct stage of Public Works Commission July 14, 2008 – Page 5 deterioration for mill and overlay which means this isn’t a cost effective solution. Kjellberg questioned how long it would take to ‘go through’ all the streets to get them up to speed. Back in 1994 it was thought this would be an ongoing scenario. Perhaps in the future it won’t be as costly as the roads will be repaired on a timely basis. It is important to not let maintenance lapse. Commission Member Ken Boyden inquired that as the city has been developed, who checks to make sure the roads are constructed properly with the right amount of class 5, and are they the correct thickness? Levitt explained there is an inspector on site approximately 75% of the time. The City also pays for the rock by the ton versus in place. It was noted the roads constructed back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s were not built to withstand the large city bus traffic which has played a role in the street deterioration and wear. Levitt also noted that in this years pavement management area some soil correction is being done due to the large amount of clay and cobble. She added this is her first pavement management from start to finish adding that the City is dealing with 1,000 residents. When the project is evaluated from management cost effectiveness and from our staffing level, perhaps it’s better to complete smaller projects continuously every year versus doing a rapid spike with a massive project. It is hoped the needed projects be systematically completed every year. At this point no recommendation has been made and it is to be determined how priorities are to be established for each of these projects within our budget. And how do things work when years of maintenance are skipped? Public Works Director Les Burshten responded that it doesn’t work. It must be realized street maintenance is an ongoing, never-to-end process. Part of the problem in Cottage Grove, and for many communities, is that this process doesn’t get started for 40 years so now it’s catch up time. The construction methods currently used are better than in years past. The roads being reconstructed are theoretically a better road than before. Council Member Luden agreed that infrastructure investment is one of the few things that a city can spend money on and get a return, but it must be cost efficient, cost effective, high quality and consider needs of the future. It was also noted that trails, from a maintenance standpoint, can use up a lot of dollars and we need to ensure the program accounting for those maintenance dollars. Burshten stated we can never forget, once something is installed, that it needs to be maintained. Levitt concluded the discussion by indicating a motion at this time was not necessary. She added if any commission members have ideas in the next month regarding the draft pavement management, they should give her a call or E-mail. 6. OLD BUSINESS None. Public Works Commission July 14, 2008 – Page 6 7. PUBLIC WORKS UPDATE Les Burshten reported: Seal coating started today Most replacement boulevard trees have been planted The City has been pumping close to its capacity of gallons of water per day Odd/Even watering is still in effect. Some written warnings have been given to residents who are watering on the wrong day. An article will appear in local papers to educate residents on this policy. (If homeowners live in the pavement management area, the policy will be waived so they can water newly planted seed, trees or sod) The budget process is now in motion with Public Works staff meeting with the th City Council on July 30 for the 2009 and 2010 budgets. 8. ENGINEER’S REPORT Ice Arena Construction Process Levitt reported the new rink is coming along quite well. Concrete has been poured in the locker rooms with mechanical and electrical work going through them quite quickly now. The stadium seating is in and the perimeter floor to the rink is now being poured. The new refrigeration system on the new sheet of ice will be started up the end of this week or next. Some structural issues are now being dealt with so we’re progressing a bit slower than what was anticipated with the remodel. The other sheet of ice is operational, is being th rented out and a large tournament will be held at the facility on July 28. In essence, as the remodel and the new construction all come together, there will be no problem with the projected opening date. Pavement Management This week’s paper will contain an article updating residents on the pavement th management project. The majority of streets have the first lift of pavement. 79 Street residents are getting their driveways re-poured where the trunk water main went through. Indian Boulevard has been reclaimed up to Jamaica along with some of the cul-de-sacs. That material is being hauled to the trail system and once that trail is paved, the last lift of asphalt will be applied. South Point Ridge The last lift of asphalt has been paved at South Pointe White Pine Housing along with the final sidewalk and apron work. Hidden Valley Pond Trail Work started last Thursday, the weather held them off Friday but they were out working again today. We should see paving by the end of the week and hopefully the dock will be installed soon. US Bank Retaining Wall Xcel Energy is completing their relocation of the utility light pole. Some signs will need to be relocated which should be done over the next week. The contractor still doesn’t Public Works Commission July 14, 2008 – Page 7 have a Notice to Proceed. There were some minor issues with the certificate of insurance that have to be resolved so hopefully work will commence by the end of this week. 9. CITY COUNCIL UPDATE Council Member Fred Luden reported: Culvers should be completed in the fall of 2008 nd At the July 2 meeting Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance for any outdoor event permit process – basically to simplify the process and to change the fee structure so people are paying for what they are getting, perhaps charging them a bit more. The draft comprehensive plan will be discussed at the upcoming meeting thth On August 4 Werner Electric held their ribbon cutting. On August 8 they will host an open house th August 5 is National Night Out with individual neighborhood gatherings held instead of one larger celebration at Kingston Park. Luden explained that much construction work is being done in the City which is good news for permit revenue and good for staff. The bad news is that it won’t add much to the tax base due to the institutional nature of the permits. If one is looking at the business and assets that are invested in the community, it’s continuing to go up. 10. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPATE Gary Kjellberg reported there was a workshop held at the most recent council meeting regarding the comprehensive plan. One discussion item included the Langdon area, a ‘Stage 3’ in development. The Planning Commission wished to upgrade the area to a ‘Stage 1’ allowing the Majestic Ballroom area to be developed into Gold’s Gym. The City Council voted to keep the area ‘Stage 3’ Kjellberg also stated another point of discussion was the tank farm where some wished the classification to be changed from industrial. He added the Council had concerns about urban reserve in the east area of the City not wanting the agricultural designation to disappear. Council Member Luden indicated that once the draft comprehensive plan is approved, more discussion will take place before the final version is adopted. 11. COMMISSION COMMENTS AND REQUESTS The Public Works Commission will not meet in August. 12. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn was made by Gary Kjellberg, seconded by Ken Boyden. Motion was unanimously carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, íÜÉËÔÚÔÜêÉÎËÛÄ