Minutes - Public Works Committee - 06/19/2007

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Case #6: Consider Renaming 167th Avenue to Here and There Avenue City Engineer Jankowski stated according to the schedule in the current Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) 16ih Avenue is scheduled to become a collector street which will traverse nearly three miles across the City from TH 47 to Armstrong Boulevard within the next couple of years. The final alignment of this roadway will traverse segments of City streets which currently include portions of JasparStreet, 166th Avenue, Alpaca Street, and 163rd Lane as well as 16ih Avenue. Similar to Alpine Drive and Sunwood Drive which also had previousiy consisted of a variety of different named streets, it will eliminate confusion to have this collector roadway have a uniform street name throughout its length. Also similar to these other collector streets this name will need to deviate from the official Anoka County street name grid. The purpose of this case is to identify the process for selecting the new name for this collector street. Mr. Jankowski stated community input for the new name should be a part of the renaming process. When 153rd Avenue and 155th Avenue were renamed to Alpine Drive in 2001 an article was published in the Ramsey resident asking for suggested names. It would also be possible to direct staff to propose a short list of names. Say for example; Here and There Avenue; or Once In A While Boulevard. Or perhaps, the suggested names should be left to the public. He noted the CIP projects completion of 16ih Avenue by the year 2009; however, it could be pushed back a little bit. Public Works Director Olson stated creating the connection from Brookfield to County Road 5 is a high priority, but he is not certain how quickly the acquisitions will be done. He has had conversations with two or three individuals that are not excited about a road going through there and property owners are debating whether to move. . Chairperson Elvig noted there is the issue of renaming the street and the timing of that, and also what the name should be. Councilmember Olson commented it is a given that the street will need to be renamed. She would prefer the name Here There Avenue rather than Here and There Avenue. Chairperson Elvig stated the street is local, and the proposed name adds color, is memorable and fun, and they have unique names in the City. He likes the idea of ambiguity comer. Councilmember Dehen suggested waiting on the renaming until the road completed. Councilmember Olson indicated they would need to be ready for the renaming with the first bit of bituminous that goes down that is not on 167th Avenue. The Committee discussed the procedure to determine the street name. Consensus of the Committee was to suggest the name of Here There Avenue and put it out for community support or input, and that the renaming of the street should be ready based on the schedule for building the road. COMMITTEE / STAFF INPUT Public Works Committee / June 19, 2007 Page 11 of 12