Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Services Minutes 3-15-21 Minutes City of Cottage Grove Public Services Commission/Council Meeting March 15, 2021 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a Cottage Grove Public Services Commission Meeting was held on March 15, 2021. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance ROLL CALL Members Present: Steve Ingram Campbell, Robert Podoll, Jeff Kath, Ron Serpico, William Members Absent: Dornsbach, Robert Griffith, Kent Staff Present: Burfeind, Ryan – PE, Public Works Director/City Engineer Redenius, Rick – Fire Chief & Deputy of Public Safety Rinzel, Greg – Deputy Director of Public Safety & Police Captain Orloff, Gary – Street Supervisor Alt, Rick – Utility Supervisor Others Present: Mills, La Rae – Council member Approval of Agenda Approval of Agenda – Motion by Campbell. Seconded by Kath. Approval of Minutes 1-25-21 - Motion by Kath. Seconded by Serpico. Open Forum None Presentations None New Business Commissioner Terms – Ryan Burfeind, PE, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Burfeind stated in 2020, the City Council resolved to extend all Commissioner terms one year due to the lost service time from the COVID -19 pandemic. Reminder each Commissioner can serve up to 3 term. Ingram asked the Commissioners if they would like to extend their service. Kath asked if this was only being offered to Commissioners serving their last terms or to all Commissioners. Burfeind will get clarification and respond at the May Public Service Commission meeting. Officer Appointment - Ryan Burfeind, PE, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Burfeind stated Ingram has been appointed as the 2021 Public Service Commission Chair. Burfeind opened for nominations for the vice-chair position. Commissioner Dornsbach was nominated and unanimously elected as vice-chair for 2021. Jamaica Avenue & 100th Street All-Way Stop – Joe Fox, Project Engineer Fox stated City staff received a request to install a stop sign for eastbound traffic on 100th Street at the Jamaica Avenue intersection from the AirGas Company. AirGas has been experiencing difficulties with trucks safely entering traffic from its location. Currently, at this intersection only traffic headed south on Jamaica Avenue and heading west on 100th Street have no stop signs. Staff looked at the criteria that would allow for a traffic control device and found you need a minimum average of 210 cars per hour in one direction and 140 cars in the other direction or 5 crashes in 12 months that could be prevented by a stop sign. The City set up a traffic counter to analyze the data and to count the number of cars traveling through this intersection in a 24-hour period in 2019. The analysis of that data found that the traffic was less than sufficient to warrant an all-way stop. Ingram asked why the City must conduct traffic counts to prove this? Fox responded it is a way of being consistent. Burfeind added once you change a corner to an all-way stop you must meet the warrants in the MN State MUTCD manual. Ingram asked if there is any history related to the two stop signs currently there. Burfeind responded that potentially there was such little traffic coming from the east it did not warrant an all-way stop in the past so there is not much history. Kath stated the study is skewed because it doesn’t reflect the increase in traffic at 3pm when 3M workers leave for the day. Kath added he thought all the trucks were supposed to use the road in front of 3M (100th) and not Jamaica. Burfeind responded he knows the trucks use Jamaica to avoid the railroad crossing even though the City encourages them to use 100th. Ingram stated AirGas could limit risk by implementing a rule that truck drivers must use HWY 19 because it would reduce the number of left turns truck drivers would need to make. Fox responded it is more of a hassle factor. Ingram asked if we have a projected traffic count for future years. Burfeind stated it will be approximately 100 trips per day. Burfeind stated once an intersection meets the criteria the City likes to have an all-way stop in place. Kath asked if Jamaica could have a sign that allows both lanes to turn from that stop sign. This would alleviate traffic from cutting over to the right lane and creating a safety hazard. Burfeind addressed this request and stated he would investigate the proposal. Fox stated a new study of hour-by-hour traffic volume will be conducted by the City to determine whether current traffic at the intersection meets this criterion. In the event it does meet the criteria staff also recommends that an "All-Way" supplemental plaque be added to the stop sign posts and a stop bar be painted on the street. The stop bar would extend across both eastbound lanes on 100th Street. The stop bar proposed is consistent with the existing stopped conditions for southbound Jamaica Avenue and westbound 100th Street. A recommendation to approve the installation of a stop sign and stop bar for the eastbound 100th street traffic at Jamaica Avenue on the results of the City’s traffic study was made by Kath and seconded by Serpico. Recommendation passed. Settler’s Bluff Development Concept Review - Ryan Burfeind, PE, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Burfeind stated that Capstone Homes, Inc. filed an application for a Concept Plan Review for a 156-unit detached residential townhome development yet to be named. This proposed development is located on 39.7 acres of land on the southwest corner of Hadley Avenue South and 100th Street South. Burfeind added the Planning Commission held the public hearing at their January 25, 2021, regular meeting. At that meeting there was a request that the Public Service Commission look at the application. Both verbal and written input from adjacent property owners was received regarding this project. Burfeind showed the Commissioners slides of the proposed property. Burfeind stated the proposed development will provide 4.89 units per acre; thus, the development's density is just shy of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan minimum density requirement making it a medium density development. Capstone Homes is proposing a detached townhome product. The product is like that of the single-family villa; how­ever, all yard maintenance and common area landscaping will be maintained by an HOA. Based on preliminary discussions with staff, the concept plan includes dedication of right-of-way for the future County re-alignment of 100th Street. The concept plan also includes on-site stormwater ponding, a proposed trail and side­walks adjacent to all internal streets, an overlook area along the bluff line, open space at the northeast corner of the development, and landscape buffers along Hadley Avenue and 103rd Street. Kath asked about parking in such a condensed development. Burfeind responded the garage is set back allowing for 2 cars in the driveway and 2 cars in the garage. Kath asked if people could park on both sides of the street safely. Burfeind responded it is the City standard of 28 feet, so it does allow for parking on both sides of the street. Ingram expressed his concern regarding the fire and police departments being able to access the area in emergencies if there are people parked on both sides of the street. Burfeind stated it is a bigger issue during construction. Redenius added there have not been any issues to date on 28’ roadways in Cottage Grove. Burfeind continued by stating the 10-foot separation between units requires that all the venting must go through the roof to meet fire codes. Burfeind added this development will have City water and the sewer and will require a temporary lift station. When the future sewer service is installed the temporary station will be abandoned. The developer has agreed to pay for all cost associated with the temporary station. Ingram questioned the safety of increased traffic on Hadley. Burfeind responded there is interest for more development in the future and at that time 100th will be realigned to encourage traffic to use this direction. Ingram asked if Jamaica will be able to handle the traffic. Kath added there is no sidewalk in this area, and it is heavily traveled by bikers and walkers. Burfeind stated the volume of cars range from 1000 cars to 5000 cars per day. A 2-lane road can handle 15,000 cars per day. The City estimates an additional 1200 cars will be added for this development. Safety is a different thing Burfeind added. The City is slowly adding trails to provide safe places for people to bike and walk. Future trail extensions will come with County improvements. Kath expressed his concern regarding Anderson Windows moving trailers from the overflow storage to the parking lot just a short distance from one another. Kath added the company uses 100th to move these trailers and at only 25 mph for this short distance creates a hazard and disrupts traffic. Burfeind responded the City would investigate this issue. Burfeind redirected the Commission back to the design aspect of the townhomes presenting some of the concerns previously brought to the City’s attention: Losing small town feel Additional trash, noise, and light pollution; safety of 103rd Street heading west from the development (vehicle and pedestrian) Additional traffic on Mississippi Dunes Boulevard and the need for a safe trail crossing Impacts to existing schools and growth triggering need for additional schools Kath asked if there will be any plans to change the road under the railroad bridge. Burfeind stated it will be separate from this item, but the Commission will see plans in the future. Burfeind continued by presenting the access points into the development to the Commissioners. Rinzel asked if the other communities Burfeind stated previously had developments with 5’ setbacks. Burfeind stated they do, and these are meeting the minimum density guidelines. Serpico asked if the 10 feet between buildings is for a fire code or to provide a vehicle access in an emergency. Redenius stated the buildings would meet the fire code and the setback helps deter fires from jumping to other structures. Rinzel noted the streets looked tight and could be difficult for plow trucks and emergency vehicles to navigate around. Ingram agreed with Rinzel adding he likes the design but is concerned with the double row houses not allowing the fire department access to the middle homes in an emergency. Burfeind stated the City can require trails to be designed to allow access to those areas in emergencies. Redenius stated they have a ladder truck that will reach the homes. A recommendation by Ingram was made to approve the Concept Plan Review for a 156-unit detached townhome development and seconded by Campbell, which will be developed on 39.7 acres of land located at the southwest corner of Hadley Avenue South and 100th Street South. Old Business None Response to Previously Raised Commission Requests None Commission Comments and Requests Ingram stated he does not like when the tags are left hanging on the new fire hydrants. Could the Public Works Department pull them off? Ingram asked if Public Works could pull the Gopher State One marking flags on City owned property when work is finished or could the City require contractors to pull the flags when the projects in the rights-of-way are complete. Kath explained the change in speed limit on 90th caught him by surprise. He didn’t find it in the packet. Burfeind stated MNDOT started the process in 2017. The speed study was complete last summer. This becomes a requirement for the City to post that limit. Council Comments Mills updated the Commission regarding new projects and stated they are preparing for the upcoming workshop regarding the new Community Center. Cap Industries has been approved to build leased office spaces on West Point Douglas Road. Staff Comments Fire Department New Personnel – POC Of the 6 in FTO, two have moved to Phase 3 which allows them to bid for shifts. Full-time staff position open A conditional offer was made to Chelsey Flores. She has gone through the psych, medical, and physical agility and has been recommended for hire. She will start with us on March 29th. Calls for service – Jan thru Feb 2021 EMS – 272 (Jan) 283 (Feb) Fire/Rescue – (Jan) 75 Our first quarter exercise was held on March 6th at the HERO Center from 0800-1400 hrs. The focus was on auto extrication operations since that training was cancelled last November because of COVID-19. We have several old structures coming up that we will be able to train in. We will complete paperwork to do live burns but if the abatement process is too costly, we will do cold training in the building with fake smoke. We can let you know when this will be and invite you to stop in and see how we train. We have sent several staff through and ACLS/Pals instructor course so we can start training staff in house and reduce some costs of class and OT. We have started a recognition program to recognize staff who are called to a cardiac arrest and successfully resuscitate the patient and that person walks out of the hospital neurologically intact. A staff member came up with the idea to give the staff a “Rising Phoenix” sticker. We are starting to pull information together for the budget meetings for 2022 and 2023. Public Works Administration Spring Cleanup will be returning. May 1, 2021. No hazardous waste will be accepted Starting budgets Lennar is starting the 6th and final addition 10 new developments – 650 new lots platted Streets Street Sweeping Hiring for summer help Pothole patching Preparing for spring cleanup Expanding storm pond at the golf course Preparing for a Covid friendly Arbor Day Traffic Counts Ordinances Preparing for sod repair Treated our own salt to reduce cost and amount used. Sugar based product is better for the environment. Salt is brown and residents thought it was sand. But it wasn’t. Utilities Reviewing plans for new development Sewer collection school 5 guys taking their sewer test Spring Flushing Repairing Filter Plant Working with staff to design streetlight banners Updating City Ordinance Police Training new officers Preparing for trial results Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 8:18 pm. Motion by Kath. Seconded by Campbell.