Public Works, Environment and Transportation Commission

Public Works, Environment and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes

January 23, 2007

1. Introductions/Roll Call
• Commission members present: Jim DeBenedet, Randy Neprash, Joel Fischer and Ernie Willenbring
• Commission members absent: None
• Staff present: Duane Schwartz, Public Works Director; Kris Giga, Civil Engineer
• Others present: Bill Malinen, City Manager
2. Public Comments
• Bill Malinen, the new Roseville City Manager, introduced himself to the Commission and said he looked forward to working with them. Duane Schwartz asked the commission members to speak a little about themselves and their backgrounds.
3. Elect Chairperson and Vice-chairperson
• The floor was opened for nominations for Chairperson. Member Neprash nominated Member Fischer, Member Fischer nominated Member Willenbring, and Member Willenbring nominated Member DeBenedet. Member Willenbring said he would prefer to be vice-chair. Member DeBenedet said he would be willing to serve in either capacity. Member Fischer said he wanted to remove his name from consideration.
• Member DeBenedet was the only remaining nominee for chair, and a vote was taken.

§         Ayes: 4

§         Nays: 0

• Member DeBenedet said he would take over as chairperson at the February meeting.
• The floor was opened for nominations for vice-chairperson. Member Neprash nominated Member Willenbring, and a vote was taken.

§         Ayes: 4

§         Nays: 0

4. Approval of November 28, 2007, Meeting Minutes
• Member Fischer wanted a correction to the top of Page 3. He was referred to as Joel Fischer, but he wanted it changed to Member Fischer.
• Member DeBenedet moved to approve the minutes of November 28, 2006, of the Public Works, Environment and Transportation Commission. Member Willenbring seconded.

§         Ayes: 4

§         Nays: 0

• Motion carried
4. Communication Items
• Duane Schwartz updated the Commission on the progress on seating a new member. The City Council will be working on it the next couple of months.
• Mr. Schwartz also updated the Commission on the Rice Street/Hwy 36 Interchange and the Rice Street Technical Advisory Committee for Design Concerns.
5. James Addition Access Discussion/Recommendation
• In reviewing the minutes from the November meeting, Member Willenbring restated what the Mn/DOT representatives had said, namely that they would definitely be closing the median and didn’t need Roseville’s approval.
• Member Willenbring said he had spoken to someone else at Mn/DOT about possibly having a left-turn open only to emergency vehicles. The Mn/DOT representative said they’ve tried that in the past at other intersections and it just doesn’t work. Others will begin making left turns there, which will lead to more rear end collisions.
• Member Fischer said that he felt Mn/DOT was not going to reconsider their decision to close the median and since they didn’t have a better plan that they should just let the matter drop.
• Member Neprash agreed.
• Member DeBenedet said he doesn’t feel the accident data Mn/DOT provided supports their decision to close the median. He thinks a recommendation should be sent to Council to negotiate with Mn/DOT about moving the Oakcrest opening 30 feet south and adding a median between the two lanes. He said agencies like Mn/DOT have policies, but sometimes they don’t know how to evaluate individual situations.
• Member DeBenedet moved that a recommendation be sent to the City Council as follows: Communicate to Mn/DOT that the median will be kept open only for left turns off Snelling onto Oakcrest and that the city will participate in paying for the cost of reconstructing Oakcrest by moving the eastbound lane of Oakcrest 30’ to 50’ south with a median between the two lanes. Member Neprash seconded.
• Member Willenbring said he would speak against the motion because having driven that route many times he doesn’t feel there are enough openings to give people opportunity to make turns there. He said that Snelling has become a heavily trafficked suburban road and that it is unsafe to have this left turn movement.
• Member DeBenedet said he doesn’t feel comfortable turning his community over to high speed highways.
• Member Fischer said he agreed with Member DeBenedet, but he was sure that staff and the City Council had gone through these exact same arguments with Mn/DOT in the past and came to the conclusion of the current deal with Mn/DOT. He said he may not have gone the same route then but doesn’t want to change directions at this point.
• A vote was taken on the motion.

§         Ayes: 2

§         Nays: 2

• Member DeBenedet suggested tabling the motion until a fifth member is added to the commission. Duane Schwartz advised the commission that their charge from the City Council was to meet with residents and study alternative accesses to this area not to make determinations on the Snelling/Oakcrest median closure.
• Member DeBenedet said in that case the residents they met with were clear on the fact that none of the alternative accesses proposed were acceptable.
• The Commission was unsure of how to word a recommendation to Council. They want to convey what was heard from the neighborhood and that the Commission isn’t convinced there is evidence to warrant closing the Snelling intersection. Mr. Schwartz said staff could write up something and email it to the commission members for their approval. Member Willenbring said it should come back for the next meeting. All agreed.
6. Pesticide Ordinance Discussion (continued)
• The Commission reviewed the language proposed to be added to the city ordinance regarding pesticide application.
• Member Willenbring suggested changing the language in the current ordinance to state fertilizer cannot be used with 50’ of a wetland or water source instead of 10’ as it was written. Mr. Schwartz said the city attorney would have to be consulted on that change.
• Member Willenbring went back to discussing the signage issue for pesticides. Member DeBenedet clarified that they were discussing changes for commercial applicators only. Member Neprash noticed the current wording of the proposed change read commercial and noncommercial. He said he was not comfortable establishing signage regulations for residents at this time. All agreed to remove the word noncommercial. After reading through the rest of proposed language, all agreed it was ok.
• Member Neprash went back to discussing the wording in the current ordinance. He agreed that being able to apply fertilizer 10’ from a wetland or water source seemed too close. Member DeBenedet agreed but thought 50’ was too great a distance. Member Neprash didn’t want to pull a number out of the air but wanted a good reason for stating a specific distance.
• Member Fischer agreed with wanting to change the buffer zone, but he wanted to discuss the entire ordinance and possibly make changes throughout. He thought the signage issue could be decided at this meeting but the rest held over to the next meeting. Mr. Schwartz suggested that they only make one recommendation to the city council, which would include signage regulations or any other changes they wanted.
• Member Neprash pointed out that the ordinance was entitled "Lawn Fertilizer" so anyone looking through the table of contents wouldn’t know there was anything about pesticides in it. Mr. Schwartz suggested they recommend to the Council that the name of the ordinance be changed to "Lawn Fertilizer and Pesticides."
• Member Neprash said he didn’t think the current ordinance coincided with current state statute. Mr. Schwartz said in any event state statute supersedes the city ordinance.
• Member Neprash suggested they make a recommendation on the signage issue right away and then work on the remainder of the ordinance over the next several months. Member DeBenedet said he’d like to address the whole ordinance at once. Member Willenbring suggested that a couple commission members get together and work out the details before the next meeting. Mr. Schwartz said he could set up a time with the city attorney although he had previous communication from the city attorney from 2004, and the current wording is what was recommended at that time. Mr. Schwartz said he didn’t believe there had been any further changes to state statute since 2004, but that could be clarified.
• Member DeBenedet moved that the item be tabled until next month so that staff could check to see if the entire ordinance is aligned with state statute and if there is any latitude to change the buffer zone around water sources for application. Member Neprash seconded.
• Member Fischer said that MPCA requirements are 25’ between water resources.
7. Brenner Millwood Storm Water Study Discussion
• Member Willenbring and Mr. Schwartz gave a background on this topic. Kris Giga, staff engineer, outlined the study that was performed.
• Member DeBenedet said the model results reported don’t correlate with what he’s seen in his neighborhood, and he’s wondering if the correct data was used, specifically the type of soil. He thinks it’s very heavy clay instead of the sandy clay that was used in the model. Mr. Schwartz said the soil type came right from actual soil boring that were done in the area.
• Member DeBenedet suggested having a meeting with residents in the neighborhood to discuss the options.
• Member Neprash said he agreed with routing backyard catch basins to Owasso.
8. Storm Water Problem Areas Report
• Kris Giga presented the information contained in the report and discussed the problem areas in the city.
• Chris Hughes, 1779 Rose Place, was in attendance to share his experience with flooding in the 2005 major storm event.
9. Agenda for Next Meeting – Tuesday, February 27, 2007
• Eureka Recycling will present their annual report
• Continued Pesticide Discussion
• Continued James Addition Discussion
• Parking Regulation
• Comprehensive Plan
10. Adjournment