Minutes - Council - 06/26/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Look stated his understanding is that the hard barrier or channelization is one of multiple options to achieve a whistle free zone. A secondary option would be directional whistles at the intersection that would not require the hard barrier. In this case there is substantial language in that the City has entered into a Joint Powers Agreement with the County and that the work will include widening Sunfish Lake Boulevard with two lanes. This is precisely what was discussed at work session tonight. It is important for the people at home to realize Sunfish Lake Boule~ard is not what they will be making a decision on this evening; this is strictly addressing the railroad crossing, and does not address Sunfish Lake Boulevard. Sunfish Lake Boulevard is more of an issue that has to be ironed out, and there are several council members that indicated they may not be in favor of the hard barrier. Where that leaves the County with their improvements needs to be worked out. Public Works Director Olson indicated the hard barrier is one method to get the quiet zone. He explained the agreement with the railroad is pretty patented, and the railroad does not have a lot of give for changing language in the agreement. Secondly, because the roadway is so wide it is difficult to get gate arms across both lanes of traffic without a hard median, but if an objective of the Council is to have a quiet zone standard with a hard median, even though there are some issues with channelization and not putting a hard median across the access, that would be accomplishable. He is pretty sure they could talk with the business owners on the west side about moving the access a little to the south to meet that 100 foot requirement and still provide access. He would not want to say that both of these could not be achieved with this design if that was the intent of the Council and it was able to be achieved with the County. Mayor Pro Tem Elvig clarified this is being approved as a whistle free zone and there are still options available to the City. Councilmember Look stated his understanding is that the hard channelization can be put in and the City can do everything they need to apply, but that it just means they have met the criteria and not that the City will get the whistle free zone. If things are done that may be disadvantageous to the businesses in the area prior to acquiring properties through the RALF program there may be major issues. Public Works Director Olson explained it used to be that the Federal Railway Authority policy required applications to be submitted. However, there is now a calculation to determine whether there can be a quiet zone, and it is more automatic than it used to be. Staff has been told by TKDA, who is the lead engineer on this project, that if they meet the standards this will become a quiet zone. This does not mean that the engineer cannot choose to blow the whistle, but he is not required to do so. Councilmember Dehen inquired about the situation with the crossing at Northfork. Public Works Director Olson explained a median would not be required in this location. The object of the barrier is that the crossing arms for the railroad can only span so far, and in the case of Ramsey and Sunfish Lake Boulevards,. and eventually Armstrong Boulevard, the width of the roadway is too wide to span both the northbound and southbound lanes, so they need to have a median barrier to span both of the lanes to prohibit people from passing from one direction to the City Council / June 26, 2007 Page 32 of 38