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2021-12-01 TC Minutes Richfield Transportation Commission Attachment #1 December 1st, 2021 - Meeting Minutes 7:00 p.m. | Virtual WebEx Meeting Commission members: Wes Dunser (Chair), David Gepner, Ken Severson, Jeffrey Walz, Louis Dzierzak, Mollie O’Howard, Husniyah Bradley, Dan Edgerton, Kyle Schmidt Liaisons: Councilmember Sean Hayford Oleary Liaisons not in attendance: Kevin Wendt, Jan Matheus City Staff Liaison/Staff: Scott Kulzer, Ben Manibog, Joe Powers, Olivia Wycklendt I. Call meeting to order Chair Dunser called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm. II. Approval of Agenda Motion by Commissioner Bradley approve the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Walz. Motion carried. III. Review & Approve Minutes for September 1, 2021 Meeting Motion by Commissioner O’Howard to approve the September 1st, 2021 meeting minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Gepner. Motion carried. IV. Welcome Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog The commission welcomed Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog to his first Transportation Commission meeting. Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog shared his professional and educational experience with the commission, and each of the commission members introduced themselves. V. Safe Routes to School Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog provided on update on the City’s Safe Routes to School program. The City recently applied for a SRTS grant which would help fund a project to improve sidewalk and crosswalks surrounding the Richfield Dual Language School and the Richfield STEM school. Should the project be fully approved by MnDOT, construction would begin in Summer of 2023. Commissioner Schmidt asked if any parking lot improvements would be included, and Manibog pointed out that the parking improvements would be up to the School District to implement as it is not City property. VI. Bicycle Friendly Community Re-Application Transportation Engineer Manibog informed the Commission that the City is reapplying to the Bike Friendly Communities program, which is used to determine and rank how bike- safe the City is. The application process is currently undergoing some changes, so the City will be working towards a more complete application and will formally apply in Fall of 2022. Manibog noted that Richfield has been Bronze rated for the last two cycles (2014 & 2017). VII. Shared Mobility Primer Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog briefly presented the different types of shared micro- mobility vehicles and what the City is doing to make Richfield more adept at handling different types of mobility through the City. Manibog shared his experience with scooters in Saint Louis Park and provided some insights on lessons learned in that initiative and how they could apply to Richfield. VIII. Project Updates • 77th St Underpass. Civil Engineer Olivia Wycklendt briefly updated the Commission on the project, and notified them that much of the work happening for the foreseeable future revolves around the excavation and grading of both Richfield Parkway and Washington Park. Construction crews are also hard at work building the footings and abutments for the bridge which will connect southbound TH 77 to westbound I-494. • I-494. Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog stated that the City and other external agencies have been working on community outreach regarding place making and public art over the last few months. He also mentioned that construction impact mitigation has been a primary focus in the pre-construction process. • Metro Transit Bus Rapid Transit. Transportation Engineer Ben Manibog noted that the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit line was going to host a grand opening at the Lake Street Station on Saturday December 4th. He also noted that Metro Transit is done with D Line BRT construction for the winter and that they expect full operations to be up and running in early spring of 2022. • Other Commissions/Bike Advocates. Councilmember Hayford Oleary updated the commission that the City has a new bicycle parking ordinance which requires more bicycle parking for future redevelopments. He also reminded commissioners of the new snow emergency parking policy, which gives more densely populated neighborhoods more flexibility with moving and parking their cars in designated snow emergency parking areas. IX. Work Plan Review/Next Steps • 65th St Final Design. Civil Engineer Olivia Wycklendt shared that the 65th Street Reconstruction Project design is approaching 95% design plans, and that the project completion date is now estimated to be the end of 2023. X. Upcoming events/meeting(s) The next regularly scheduled Transportation Commission meeting is scheduled for February 2ndh, 2022, due to a lack of meeting topics for a January meeting. XI. Adjournment Motion made by Commissioner Dunser to adjourn meeting. Adjourned at 8:09 pm.