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2020-12-02 TC Minutes Richfield Transportation Commission Attachment #1 December 2, 2020 - Meeting Minutes 7:00 p.m. | WebEx Virtual Commission Meeting Commission members: Wes Dunser (Chair), Ken Severson (Vice Chair), Husniyah Bradley, Kyle Schmidt, Dan Edgerton, Jeffrey Walz, Louis Dzierzak, Mollie O’Howard, Paul Chillman Commission members not in attendance: Liaisons: Kevin Wendt, Sean Hayford Oleary, Councilmember Simon Trautmann Liaisons not in attendance: City Staff Liaison: Joe Powers City Staff Liaison not in attendance: Jack Broz Other City Staff: Scott Kulzer, Olivia Wycklendt, Kristin Asher I. Call meeting to order Commissioner Dunser called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. II. Approval of Agenda Motion by Commissioner Walz to approve the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Severson. Motion carried. III. Review & Approve Minutes for October 7th, 2020 Meeting Motion by Commissioner Dzierzak to approve the October 7th, 2020 meeting minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Walz. Motion carried. IV. I-494 Airport to Highway 169 ▪ Staff Liaison Powers informed the Commission that MnDOT will be presenting the progress they have made since the June PAC meeting at the December PAC meeting on December 8. MnDOT has held biweekly TAC meetings since August 5th, and meetings with stakeholder cities and Hennepin County in the off weeks. ▪ Staff Liaison Powers discussed the equality vs equity scope of the project. He emphasized the diverse and often competing needs of the different communities along the highway. One of the most important things in finalizing the design of I- 494 is to figure out who will benefit from the design and who will bear the brunt of its impacts, both during construction and after project completion. ▪ Staff Liaison Powers addressed MnDOT’s dissection of the design, which was done by separating the corridor into elements to assess the equity of each section, as well as the safety and cost of each section. MnDOT has also created a user benefits and impacts map to highlight these details. ▪ Commissioner Bradley said that equity is not often in the minds of officials and larger organizations. Councilmember Trautman mentioned that Richfield had sent MnDOT back to the drawing board after hearing that MnDOT had equity as more of an afterthought in the design. ▪ Commissioner Edgerton and Chair Dunser brought up concerns about how this current plan would increase traffic on Portland Avenue, and how this would impact the safety and mobility of residents in that area, both as drivers and pedestrians. Powers responded by stating that city staff is in agreement and has echoed these concerns to MnDOT. At this time the outcome is unclear, however, city staff and PAC members continue to strongly advocate for the residents in this area. ▪ Commissioner Walz inquired about the placement of a noise wall placed on the north side of 494—while the wall would reduce noise; he expressed how it could block sunlight for properties located along the wall. Staff Liaison Powers mentioned that that the impacts of parts of the designs need to be refined as a whole—while the noise wall benefits some user groups, they negatively impact others. Commissioner Edgerton pointed out that noise walls require an affirmative vote of adjacent property owners so those residents would have an opportunity to weigh in. MnDOT has been notified by the TAC that they need to define the trade-offs of the project better. ▪ Staff Liaison Powers addressed MnDOT’s Implementation plan evaluation criteria, which is: o Constructability o Community Support o Equity o Asset Management o Cost/Budget o Operations/Safety o Funding ▪ Commissioner Dunser asked who has the final say on whether or not the “vision” for the project was implemented completely. Staff Liaison Powers said that would be the policy advisory committee. ▪ Commissioner Dunser questioned if the criteria for certain elements of the project are taking into consideration effectiveness and relative applicability. He elaborated, asking whether this plan is giving the areas that need repair the appropriate amount of attention it requires. ▪ Staff Liaison Powers moved on to specifically address the Portland Ave interchange. All the interchange types were revisited and a tight diamond interchange (TDI) was determined to be preferred. There is still concern about ROW impacts and capacity requirements, and so there are other options. Pedestrian and bicycle needs are looking to be addressed along Portland. Powers assured the commission that the current design of Portland Ave is not final and the benefits and impacts for different modes of transportation are all being taken into consideration. ▪ Staff Liaison Powers mentioned that the design is using SPACE (suitability of pedestrian and cyclist environment score) which uses spatial data to create a heat map of how pedestrian and bicyclist friendly an area is. Richfield’s SPACE data indicates that we have a high need for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure surrounding the area around 494. This is particularly applicable to Nicollet Ave, 12th Ave, Portland Avenue, and the 82nd St. corridor in Bloomington. A pedestrian bridge has been proposed at Chicago Ave, and ADA improvements west of I-35W. ▪ The next steps for this project are developing options for the implementation plan, choosing the recommended phase 1 plan, and eventually proceeding with funding and delivery of first project following the agreement of the plan with PAC. V. Project Updates • 77th St Underpass. City Staff Wycklendt announced that since the last meeting, the State has passed a bonding bill which included $6,000,000 needed for the 77th St Underpass project. This bill closed the funding gap for the project, and construction is scheduled to occur during 2021 and for most of 2022. • 65th St Reconstruction. City Staff Wycklendt said that staff is continuing to work through the project design of 65th St with the consultant. Construction for this project is scheduled for 2022. • Metro Transit Orange Line. Work on the Orange Line BRT is going well. The contractors are currently building stations at 35W and 65th St. The Knox Avenue transitway/tunnel has been substantially completed on the Richfield side of 494. • Metro Transit D Line. City Staff Wycklendt mentioned that this project was also fully funded with the passage of the bonding bill, and Metro Transit intends to start construction in Spring of 2021. Metro Transit will be giving a presentation to city council during city council’s work session the week of December 7th. This video will be available on the City’s website after the meeting if the commissioners would like to view it. VI. Upcoming events/meeting(s) The next Transportation Commission meeting is scheduled for January 6th, 2021. VII. Adjournment Motion made by Commissioner Dunser to adjourn meeting. Adjourned at 8:47 pm.