Minutes - Council - 09/11/1996 - Neighborhood Mtg

Home

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING RELATING TO CLOSURE OF 171ST AVENUE CITY OF RAMSEY ANOKA COUNTY STATE OF MINNESOTA The City of Ramsey conducted a meeting to discuss the closing of 171st Avenue NW, on Wednesday, September 11, 1996, in the lower level of the Municipal Center, 15153 Nowthen Boulevard NW, Ramsey, Minnesota. Members of Council Present: Mayor Glen Hardin Councilmember Carolyn Beahen Councilmember Sheila Beyer Councilmember Gerald Zimmerman Members of Staff Present: City Administrator Ryan Schroeder City Engineer Steve Jankowski Public Works Supervisor Merle Mevissen The meeting commenced at 6:30 p.m. City Administrator Schroeder introduced himself as well as the members of Council. He stated that City Council set up this meeting hoping to get a consensus as to what ought to be occurring with regard to traffic in the area of 171st Avenue and Bison Street. He explained that recently the City paved the north half of Bison and a concern was stated that this action would result in additional traffic going through the Golden Eagle Estates Addition on 171st Avenue. City Council committed to studying the traffic generated. We tried to do that; however, the counters kept getting taken or destroyed. The City then had an intern manually do a traffic count and that information was brought to the Road and Bridge Committee. The Road and Bridge, following discussion, decided to recommend that 171st Avenue be closed temporarily. They did that and Council agreed and directed that a barrier be placed on the street for a three-month period to allow another traffic study to be done. The direction included that emergency vehicles must be able to get through. The barricades only stay up about a day and City staff has had to go out there and set them back up. For this meeting, City staff invited residents on Bison south of 63, residents of Dellwood and residents in a part of Trott Brook Ridge. Mayor Hardin: We would like to keep this meeting to an hour if possible and we would like to focus on solutions to this problem and options. Resident: Inquired of the traffic count report. City Engineer Jankowski: Prior to paving Bison, (1994) there was a 24-hour cotmt of 85 vehicles in a day. After the paving of Bison, the City attempted to do the same but the counters were taken plus there were reports of a car driving back and forth on the counters. The counts were not accurate. The one manual count we received was in a two hour time-block which was from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. and that was eight cars on 171st Avenue and six on Bison. Resident: Could we make the assumption that 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. is a prime time for traffic? Mr. Jankowski: Yes - it would be close - however, there could be a heavier peak for traffic from 6:00 a.m. also. Resident: So if you have nine cars go down your street, you could get your street closed. Bison/171 st Neighborhood Meeting/September 11, 1996 Page 1 of 8