Agenda - Council - 01/27/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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and TH #47 intersection; and the closure of 142 Avenue between TH #47 and Argon Street. A traffic signal was rejected until traffic warrants are met. Mr. Jankowski reported that the consensus of the January 2005 meeting was to allow the construction projects scheduled for the area to be completed and allow a reasonable period thereafter for the new traffic patterns to become established prior to making any additional neighborhood traffic modifications. Mr. Jankowski stated that at the September 2008 Public Works Committee meeting, the accident history for that intersection was presented and it was a significant number. Staff looked at some suggestions made in 2005, including closure of 142 Avenue. Residents affected by the closure were notified of the Public Works meeting to discuss this. The recommendation of the Public Works Committee was to do a temporary closure of 142 Avenue between Highway #47 and Argon Street for up to one to two years and look at how the accident history had improved or not improved. The City Council ratified that recommendation. Staff is recommending inviting the residents to attend the Public Works Committee meeting on February 17, 2009, to discuss their concerns. Mayor Ramsey noted that this is not a public hearing but he would allow some resident comments. Gary Greb, 14183 Argon Street NW, stated he has lived here for 20 years. He stated that to discuss road closure on 142 Avenue and Argon, they we were advised in November 2008 that the City planned to close the intersection. There was only a week's notice and because he (Greb) is very active in his community, he had prior commitments. He stated he was at the 2005 meeting and the traffic was extremely heavy on Argon Street. It was an issue and there was talk about closing 142 and Argon to deter that traffic. That is the last he heard of that. No one in the neighborhood in favor of the closure had approached him. He was told the issues were safety. He stated that he did some investigating with the Police Department and they said there has not been one accident or one speeding ticket on 142 The main traffic coming through is one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon because it is convenient to cut through. The City of Champlin had similar problems on Highway #169 of people cutting behind businesses. They put up signs disallowing turns during certain hours of the day and they said that made a big difference. The City of Minneapolis has never closed a road for that reason. Another issue is because of the closure on Bunker Lake Boulevard and forcing people to do u -turns, the only way to get out from there and go north is to double back. He talked about the different ways to avoid traffic and how they cut through the neighborhood. He reiterated that people pushing for the closure never contacted them. He talked about a neighbor who wants to put a City park in that area and that from what he gathers, some neighbors do not want another park. He reported that he had a signed petition by people who could not be here this evening. He understood no one on the south side of 142 is interested in closing the street. Mr. Greb stated that three years ago, the issue of safety and speeding was talked about but there is no justification in this three years that show documentation that it is a problem. There is no proof that accidents caused on #47 were people going down Argon; closing Argon will not stop accidents. Most of the neighbors have no problems. It does not make sense to close a road for one hour of heavy traffic a day. He thanked the Council for their consideration. He stated that he brought a petition to City Council /January 13, 2009 Page 12 of 32