Agenda - Council - 12/13/2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session 7. 4. Meeting Date: 12/13/2011 By: Brian Olson, Engineering/Public Works Information Title: Consider Entering into the Transit Taxing District and Final Approval of Master Cooperation, Funding and Delegation Agreement for the Ramsey Rail Station Background: On 04/26/2011 the City Council was presented the proposed terms of an agreement to enter into the transit taxing district and heard a presentation by Arlene McCarthy from the Metropolitan Council regarding the condition by which the City of Ramsey may receive approval of a rail station. At that meeting the Metropolitan Council indicated that they expect to see approximately $295,000 annually from Ramsey residents when the City of Ramsey opts into the transit taxing district. On 06/07/2011, the City Council was provided an update on the Rail Station PMT meetings and was provided another opportunity to provide feedback on the transit taxing district agreement. On 09/27/2011, the City Council approved the Master Cooperation, Funding and Delegation Agreement contingent upon successful negotiation of the transit taxing district and lease agreements subject to the review and approval of the City Administrator and City Attorney. On 11/7/11 the City Council discussed the terms of entering into the transit taxing district and offered the following comments: • The parking for Northstar passengers shall be made available by the City at the parking ramp adjacent to the station and shall not be limited. (The number of stalls that are available for transit will be limited to 350 stalls.) This condition is acceptable to the Metropolitan Council. • The City Council made it clear in two meetings that they wanted to expand transit service to the area by expanding the service that currently goes to the Anoka Technical college to the Ramsey rail station. After Mr. Byers had conversations with Pat Born and Brian Lamb from the Metropolitan Council, it was determined that this condition could not be accepted as part of the Transit Taxing District Agreement, however options for additional future transit bus service are being explored. • The City Council also wanted the rate for the ride from Ramsey to be the same as the rate from Anoka. This is also a condition that the Metropolitan Council will not accept as the Northstar train is a distance based fare and therefore would not be fair to the other communities. Whereas, it is true that the fare is the same between Anoka and Coon Rapids ($4.00), the distance separating these stations is only 2 miles. The distance between Anoka, Elk River (fare at $5 .50)and Ramsey stations is approximately 5 miles. They feel that the fare will be somewhere close to $4.50 per ride but do not want to lock themselves into any fare structure in the future. Keep in mind that while Ramsey is entering into the Transit Taxing District, Elk River is outside of the Metropolitan area and will not be part of the District. • The last comment that was received by the City Council revolves around the requirement to stop the bus service that is currently operating when the rail service is operational. Since the stoppage of the bus has led to a comment from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) about the possibility of repayment of Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds, members of the City Council were concerned that the City of Ramsey would be stuck in the middle of two larger agencies telling us completely opposite things. The Metropolitan Council has been extremely helpful in this concern. Staff expects that this issue will be resolved prior to the meeting with evidence of concurrence to be provided at the meeting. The Master Cooperation, Funding and Delegation Agreement which will be between Metropolitan Council, Anoka