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2020-08-05 TC Minutes Richfield Transportation Commission Attachment #1 August 5, 2020 - Meeting Minutes 7:00 p.m. | WebEx Virtual Commission Meeting Commission members: Wes Dunser (Chair), Ken Severson (Vice Chair), Paul Chillman, Husniyah Bradley, Kyle Schmidt, Dan Edgerton, Jeffrey Walz, Louis Dzierzak Commission members not in attendance: Mollie O’Howard Liaisons: Sean Hayford Oleary Liaisons not in attendance: Kevin Wendt, Councilmember Trautmann City Staff Liaison: Jack Broz Other City Staff: Scott Kulzer, Olivia Wycklendt I. Call meeting to Order Chair Dunser called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. II. Approval of Agenda Motion by Commissioner Severson to approve the agenda, s/Walz. Motion carried. III. Review & Approve Minutes for July 8th, 2020 Meeting Motion by Commissioner Severson to approve the July 8th, 2020 meeting minutes, s/Chillman. Motion carried. IV. I-494 Vision: MnDOT’s response to City comments/questions  Staff Liaison Broz gave a brief background on the “494 Vision” and reminded commissioners that the Vision is a corridor wide plan and is separate from any specific 494 project at this time. Future projects will work towards realizing that larger vision. The commissioners then discussed MnDOT’s responses to questions and concerns that were raised by both Bloomington and Richfield regarding the vision for the I-494/35W interchange. Commissioner Severson reiterated his view that 35W to WB494 should be able to access Penn Avenue, and this was a major sticking point for him. MnDOT stated that access to Penn from the turbine was possible and considered but was dropped due to ROW impacts, reintroduction of another weave, and easier travel on via local routes 76th/82nd. Discussion related to the interchange was unified in the idea that the project seemed rushed, poorly thought out, and ill-designed to serve as the solution to the interchange problems for the next half century.  Chair Dunser and Liaison Hayford Oleary wanted to know if MnDOT was seeking an endorsement of Project A or if they were just sending an FYI. Broz stated it was more the latter, that this was a “vision” of a cost effective project A that was a step towards implementing the full turbine design. This N to W flyover turbine would have the most benefit as opposed to the other 3 at this time.  Following more discussion of the interchange and other potential impacts to Richfield at the Portland interchange, Commissioner Severson made a motion to formally express to City Council the Transportation Commission’s dissatisfaction with MnDOT’s response to the Richfield and Bloomington questions about the 494 Vision, and in particular the Penn Avenue changes generally and the ROW and traffic impacts specifically at Portland Ave/494. The motion was seconded by Louis Dzierzak and a roll call vote was called. The motion carried unanimously with the exception of Commissioner Edgerton who abstained from voting due to his work on the Penn Ave Corridor Study. V. Penn Avenue Study- Dan Edgerton, Zan Associates  Dan Edgerton, acting in his capacity as City/County Consultant for the Penn Avenue Corridor Study, provided background and an update on the project.  Edgerton recapped the goals and findings of Open House #1 & #2 and detailed what the future Open House #3 would entail. In an effort to pin down what the study would bring forward as recommendations, the commissioners viewed a series of cross sections of Penn avenue that utilized various design tools. As an activity, the group was asked to rank how well these certain design tools would address the specific goals that came out of OH#2. The goals were walking, biking, driving (both to Penn and through), community revitalization and improving greenspace/landscaping/boulevards.  Edgerton reiterated that the product of this Penn Corridor Study exercise would be a Penn “Vision” that would be unfortunately be implemented in piecemeal phases since at this point the county simply planned to resurface Penn.  Edgerton noted that the commissions feedback was helpful and to expect to see information about Open House #3 sometime in the Fall. VI. Project Updates  Broz gave a brief update on the Lyndale project, which has effectively been completed.  Kulzer noted the 77th Underpass project was still on track for 2021 construction and staff and our legislators were still working on getting bonding dollars to finalize the funding package during future special sessions. Kulzer noted that he had heard from the City’s lobbyist that a bonding bill before the election was looking less likely since the Legislature is in full-on campaign mode. VII. Work Plan Review/Next Steps  The next Penn Open House is planned for Fall 2020. VIII. Upcoming events/meeting(s) The next Transportation Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020. IX. Adjournment Motion made by Commissioner Dunser to adjourn meeting, s/Walz. Motion carried. Adjourned at 9:28 pm.