1984-05-29 Council minutesPage No. 2030
May 29, 1984
CITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY
STATE OF MINNESOTA
Minutes of the Special Meeting
Held Tuesday, May 29, 1984
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the special joint meeting of the City
Council and Planning Commission was held at 7:30 o'clock P.M., at City Hall,
750 South Plaza Drive, Mendota Heights, MN 55120.
Mayor Lockwood called the meeting to order at 7:32 o'clock P.M. The following
members were present: Mayor Lockwood, Councilmembers Blesener, Hartmann, Mertensotto
and Witt.
JOINT DISCUSSION
WITH PLANNING
COMMISSION
REGARDING TH 149
PLANS AND "DOWN-
TOWN" MENDOTA
HEIGHTS
Mayor Lockwood called on Mr. Dick Elasky and Mr. Bob Benke
to give a presentation of Mn/DOT's status on the upgrading of
TH 149.
Mr. Elasky noted that Mn/DOT had applied for Federal Aid to
Urban Highway funding for the project and would probably know
whether such funding would be received by the fall.
Mr. Benke then gave a historical rundown on the TH 149 project.
He indicated that back in the mid '50's, it was planned that
TH 149 would be a principal arterial for the metropolitan area.
However, with the subsequent development of the interstate system,
that has changed. TH 149 is now paralleled by I-35E, Robert St.,
and the Lafayette Freeway, meaning it is no longer intended to
serve as a principal arterial, but that it serves primarily
local access needs.
According to Mr. Benke, when I-35E and 1-494 are open, the traffic
volumes at the one TH149/TH110 intersection will drop, and
will slowly increase back to their existing levels by approx-
imately the year 2000, but with an expected decrease in truck
traffic. He said that according to the Metropolitan Council's
classification scheme, both TH 110 and TH 149 are now considered
minor arterials, that is they provide access to the regional
transportational system. According to Mn/DOT's criteria,
intersections of two minor arterials do not warrant a grade
separation.
Mr. Benke then presented several alternatives that had been
considered by the Mn/DOT staff for this area. They included a
number of "buttonhook" arrangements and folded diamond inter-
changes. All of these involved some difficulties with the local
terrain, or interference with established businesses. Conseq-
uently, Mr. Benke said that they had come to the conclusion
that the most logical solution would be to leave the highway
on its existing alignment, but expand it to a three or four
land roadway, with two through lanes and a left and some right
turn lanes. The intersection of TH 110 and TH 149 would remain
at grade.
With regard to relocation on the easement dedicated by the
Friendly Hills Corporation, Mr. Benke said that the state
Page No. 2031
May 29, 1984
environmental laws were rather strict. In essence, they say
that where there is a reasonable alternative to rerouting of a
highway, that alternative must be exercised.
Mr. Benke summarized this issue as having several choices:
1. Is a grade separation needed?
2. Can a new alignment be justified?
3. What provisions should be made for future traffic volumes?
Mr. Benke said that if the reserve easement is not used, under
state law, the Commissioner of Transportation must offer it
back to the underlying fee owner. Mn/DOT records revealed
that Brian Birch is the underlying owner on the north side of
TH 110 and Sheehy near the shopping center area. That section
which was dedicated by the Friendly Hills Corporation, located
behind the Friendly Hills First Addition, has gone tax delin-
quent and the County now holds title. Mr. Benke said that
perhaps this would make it easier for the City to acquire the
property.
Also under the laws, if,the underlying fee owner does nbt buy ,
back the property, the Commissioner can negotiate with another
political subdivision for the sale, and if that does not work
out then offers it on the open market to obtain the best yield.
Mr. Benke said that it would be Mn/DOT's recommendation that the
preserved easement be offered for sale, and that TH 149 be imp-
roved to a three lane road, which would then be adequate to
accommodate existing traffic. This configuration would also
involve major improvements to the TH 149/TH110 intersection.
Mr. Benke said that it would be his further recommendation that
that portion of the easement north of TH 110 be reserved for
the possible future need for a folded diamond interchange, and
that if the Mendakota Country Club goes into a redevelopment
project, the southwest corner of the interchange could also be
reserved.
Mr. Benke said the road configuration Mn/DOT staff envisioned
would be a 12 foot driving lane in each direction with 14 foot
left turn bays, and a 10 foot shoulder on each side.
He also said that if the City and Mn/DOT cannot come up with an
agreed upon plan for redevelopment, or if money for redevelop-
ment does not become available, Mn/DOT would simply overlay
the existing pavement within the next three to four years. He
further indicated that they did not envision a folded diamond
interchange being necessary for at least 15 to 25 years, since
the projected traffic after opening of the freeways is 7,000
ADT.
Page No. 2032
May 29, 1984
Mr. Benke said that if the FAU funds were not made available
for this project, state funding would probably not be available
until 1990 or 1991.
Mayor Lockwood then called on City Planner Howard Dahlgren to
present an update of his development of the downtown Mendota
Heights plan.
Planner Dahlgren briefly reiterated the problems with the
commercial development in this area, and said that many of these
problems were due to a lack of decision about the future of
this area. He indicated that it was hard for a developer to
make any decisions or investments, not knowing where roads are
going to go and other improvements to be planned.
Mr. Dahlgren said that he thought the 66 foot right-of-way on
existing TH 149 was very narrow, and that it made absolutely no
sense to plan for a future separated grade interchange at TH 149/
110 when the road can accommodate the level of traffic that
would justify such an interchange. He also added that a
separated bridge would put the shopping center down in a hole,
making it even more inaccessible than it currently is, and would
have a drastic negative impact on future development in the area.
As an alternative, Mr. Dahlgren suggested that it would be more
realistic to plan that the at-grade crossing would exist forever.
Because this alternative would leave no safe place for crossing
TH 110, Mr. Dahlgren said that another possibility would be to
construct a safe crossing at the new easterly alignment as a
local road, using local funds, perhaps a tax increment district.
Councilman Mertensotto said that he thought a lot of traffic
projections were unreliable, and that society built all kinds of
new roads, and then they don't serve the purpose because
traffic projections were off.
Planner Dahlgren continued by saying that if the City of Minne-
apolis ever carries through with plans for the up-grading of
Hiawatha Avenue to expressway level, and the Mendota Interchange
project clears out some of the problems at the Mendota Bridge,
TH 110 will become the most desireable route from northern
Dakota County to downtown Minneapolis, meaning that there would
be once again much higher traffic levels.
Mr. Dahlgren said that with the plans currently underway by
Mendakota Country Club for redevelopment, the 110/149 inter-
section could become an area for viable commercial development,
and added that he felt the population, both existing and future
of Mendota Heights, could certainly support a commercial
development in this area.
City Administrator Frazell gave a brief description of Mendakota's
development proposal, including commercial development of land
facing TH 110, with residential development on the Perkegwin
property, and dedicated park south of the new fire station.
Page No. 2033
May 29, 1984:
Planning Commission Chairperson Cameron Kruse indicated that
he had a question whether this was necessarily an appropriate
place for commercial development. Planner Dahlgren responded
that the amount of commercially zoned land in Mendota Heights
is extremely thin, and that he felt the community could support
this level of commercial development.
Friendly Hills resident, Mr. Gus Hipp, said he questioned if Men.
Heights needed a downtown, since the current Mendota Plaza
hadn't made it. Councilman Mertensotto responded that perhaps
the reason it hadn't made it was because the accessibility to
the area was so poor.
Mn/DOT representative Mr. Benke indicated that denser commercial
development in this area was not built into the traffic projectior
for TH 149, and could change the alternatives for development.
Planning Commission Chairperson Kruse said that he saw the need
for a more in-depth and creative traffic study to get a better
handle on just what will happen in this area in the future.
Planner Dahlgren said that he thought the purpose of tonight's
meeting was not to reach any conclusions, but to come up with
some ideas for how to proceed with the development of appropriate
plans. City Administrator Frazell indicated that one of his
thoughts was that the City should convene a task force, made
up of representatives of groups interested in development of
this area, to try to see if the different needs could be
compatibally accommodated.
Friendly Hills resident, Mr. Fred Lambrecht, said that their
neighborhood's desire was to preserve the corridor behind their
houses in a natural state, and that the neighborhood would be
willing to work with other people on other goals, such as the
development of a viable downtown. He went on to say that he
seriously questioned whether people who had bought homes in
that area knew that highway right-of-way was there. He
indicated that the highway department had planned TH 149 as a
major artery when that right-of-way was acquired, and that he
had been told as early as 1965 that that was not likely to
happen, due to the construction of the interstate system.
Planning Commission Chairperson Kruse said that he thought there
was a need to move forward from here and look in the future,
and not keep orienting ourselves to the past.
Mr. Hipp said that the residents would like to see the corridor
easement tied into the Dodge Nature Center.
Councilwoman Blesener moved to set up a task force composed of
representatives of the following groups:
City Council, Planning Commission, Friendly Hills,
2 Mendota Heights citizens at-large from other neighborhoods,
Mendota Plaza merchants, Mendakota Country Club.
Ayes: 5
Nays: 0
DISCUSSION OF FIRE
CHIEF'S RESIGNATION
Ayes: 5
Nays: 0
RESCHEDULING OF
FIRST MEETING OF
JULY
ADJOURN
Ayes: 5
Nays: 0
ATTEST:
Page No. 2034
May. 29, 1984
Councilwoman Witt seconded the motion.
City Administrator Frazell informed the Council that he had
met with Fire Chief LeRoy Noack at 6:30 P.M., that evening,
and that Chief Noack had indicated rather emphatically that he
did not intend to submit his letter of resignation as promised.
The Council had a brief discussion about alternative solutions.
Councilwoman Witt moved to direct City Administrator Frazell
to send a letter to Chief Noack indicating that if the letter
of resignation was not received by the Council meeting of June
5th, with an effective termination date of September 30th,
Council would schedule a public hearing for his involuntary
dismissal as Fire Chief, to be held on June 19th, 1984.
Councilman Hartmann seconded the motion.
Councilwoman Blesener said that she would prefer not to have
the first meeting in July scheduled on the evening of July 3rd,
since this is the night before the holiday. Several Council
and staff members indicated that they would not be present that
week. There was a concensus that staff should schedule an
agenda item for the June 5th meeting, to change the date of the
first July meeting from July 3rd to July 10th.
There being no further business to come before the Council,
Councilwoman Blesener moved that the meeting be adjourned.
Councilwoman Witt seconded the motion.
TIME OF ADJOURNMENT: 10:44 o'clock P.M.
Robert G. Lockwood
Kevin D. Frazell
City Administrator