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6.4. SR 08-16-2004l iver 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 TO: FROM: DATE: MEMORANDUM Mayor and City Council Rebecca Haug, Environmental Technician August 16, 2004 Item 6.4. SUBJECT: Environmental Assessment Worksheet for River Park Included in your packet is a copy of the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) for the residential development of River Park. The purpose of the EAW is to describe the project and gather information to identify any potential environmental effects. For the plat of River Park, the City Council for the City of Elk River is the Responsible Governmental Unit (RGU) charged with determining from the information gathered through the EAW process, whether or not this project has significant potential to cause irreversible environmental effects. If the Council feels there is a significant potential to cause irreversible environmental effects, they shall order an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be prepared for the project. To make their decision the Council will consider the following information: the EAW itself, comments received on the EAW, and the responses to the comments received. The Council shall order an Environmental Impact Statement be prepared, if they determine that the impacts that may reasonably be expected by the project have the potential for significant environmental effects. The Council shall consider the impacts of the project under the following criteria: · type, extent, and reversibility of the environmental effects; · cumulative potential effects of related or anticipated future projects; · the extent to which the environmental effects are subject to mitigation by ongoing public regulatory authority; and the extent to which environmental effects can be anticipated and controlled as a result of other environmental studies. RESPONSE TO COMMENTS The only comment received on the EAW was from Anoka County Highway Department. This comment letter, dated July 19, 2004 is attached. Comment - Anoka County Highway Department question the number of vehicle trips generated by the project listed in question 21 of the EAW. Phone: 763.635.1000 Fax: 763.635.1090 www. ci.elk-river, mn.us Response - Mike Spack, a Traffic Engineer for TDI, addresses this issue in the attached memorandum dated August 2, 2004. Mr. Spack contends the lesser number of vehicles trips listed in the EAW versus Anoka County's calculations is due to townhomes generating fewer trips. Comment - Anoka County Highway raises the concern regarding congestion on roads in Anoka County due to additional traffic generated by the River Park project. Response - Staff concurs that the additional traffic generated by the project needs to be taken into consideration in transportation planning for the entire area, Anoka County and Sherburne County. Comment - Anoka County Highway Department commented on a proposed inter regional trail running along Anoka County CSAH 22, connecting to Sherburne County CSAH 13, and eventually linking Anoka County East Twin Lake Park with the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. Response - This issue will be addressed by the Elk River Park and Recreation Commission to see if this is still a feasible route. RECOMMENDATION Staff feels that the EAW accurately describes the project and the potential environmental effects. Mitigation measures to reduce the environmental effects have been identified by the EAW and will be incorporated into the plans for the project. The EAW, comments on the EAW and staff's responses have been provided to the Planning commission so they have the benefit of all relative information when considering this plat. However, declaring the EAW adequate and determining the need for an ElS is the City Council's decision. Staff is recommending a negative declaration on the need for an EIS for the plat of River Park. COUNTY OF ANOKA Public Services Division JUN ~ 0 ~J~?} HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 1440 BUNKER LAKE BLVD. N.W., ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 (763) 862-4200 FAX (763) 862-4201 July 19, 2004 Stephen Rohlf, Building and Environmental Administrator CITY OF ELK RIVER 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 RE: RIVER PARK ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET (EAW) Dear Stephen, While it isn't often that the.County wouid feel Compelled to comment on an EAw from another city in another county, we are taking the opportunity to provide the following comments on the River Park project. We feel that, with the project's close proximity to Anoka County, it will impact Our county roads and the regional transportation system significantly. We hope you take the following comments into consideration, The City of Elk River should be aware of the proposed jurisdiction change of Anoka County Roads listed in the 2015 Transportation Plan. County Road 65 and County State Aid Highway 22 are proposed to be turned back to the State of Minnesota. With the tumback, CSAH 22 will become a state highway. This is reflected in our Transportation Plan and should also be considered as part of any furore plans as the corridor continues west into Sherburne County and Elk River. · In regard to the response of question number 21, the projected daily trips are low according to the 2000 Travel Behavior Inventory (TBI) conducted by the Metropolitan Council. Households located outside the Metropolitan Area and within the adjacent counties produce approximately 10 trips per day. Using their projections the development would produce approximately 7,200 trips per day. This is approximately 1,620 more trips anticipated than the projected numbers stated in the. traffic study. · While the EAW form states that it is not necessary for developments outside of the Metro Area to consider impacts on the Metro Area infrastructure, it is our opinion that this is not logical in this instance due to the very close proximity of the project to the border of Anoka County and the Metro Area. Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer Specifically with respect to the response ot' question number 21, relating to a.m. and p.m. peak hour traffic, we have serious concern about impact on the regional transportation system. If the households are not attached to jobs within the City of Elk River, it is anticipated that the majority of the households will be traveling to work within the Metro Area. This would produce an additional 1,440 work trips during the a.m. and p.m. peak hours. This is approximately 1,104 a.m and 1,082 p.m. more trips than the projected numbers stated in the traffic study. To give you an idea of the impact of this amount of traffic, this would mean an additional 5.45 miles of cars, bumper to bumper in both the a.m. and p.m. peak hours. We believe this would, indeed, have a significant impact on the regional transportation system, i.e. TH 10 and TH 169, and for those frustrated with the current levels of congestion on these two corridors, it will likely have a significant impact on the adjacent County Highway System in Anoka County. This is a phenomenon we are already experiencing without the proposed development. Speaking specifically to Anoka County's Highway System impacts, we would disagree with the response to question 22. The EAW states the proposed development is not expected to cause or increase congestion in the area. We feel based on the 2000 TBI, congestion will increase in the area. It is anticipated that the project will increase daily trips on our CR 64, CR 65, CSAH 22, CSAH 83, and CSAH 116. The project developer should be aware of future trail connections between Anoka County and Sherburne County. The trail segment proposed in the Anoka County 20/20 Parks Vision Plan is to provide a trail along the CSAH 22 corridor. The trail segment would mn along CSAH 22 and connect up with CSAH 13 in Sherburne County. The trail would link East Twin Lake County Park with the Sherburne National Wildlife refuge. As both of our communities plan for future growth we hope that we can work past our borders to maintain an efficient and safe transportation system. Thank you for giving us the Opportunity to provide comments on the River Park EAW. Sincerely, Lance Bernard Transportation Planner Cc: Kate Garwood, AICP, Multimodal Transportation Manager Nick Eoloff, Parks Planner Data Collection Traffic Engineering Transportation Planning 1313 5t" Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55414 phone 612.379.3844 fax 612.379.3845 www.trafficdatainc.com mspack@trafficdatainc.com Memo To: Terry Jeffery, Schoell & Madson From: Mike Spack, P.E. Date: 8/2/2004 Re: Response to Anoka County comments Orin Thompson's River Park EAW Traffic Study Elk River, MN Background TDI prepared a traffic study to answer Question 21 of the F__AW for On-in Thompson's River Park F_AW. Lance Bernard, Anoka County Transportation Planner, commented on the EAW in a July 19, 2004 letter to Stephen Rohlf at the City of Elk River. Following is our general response to those comments. Comments A trip generation analysis was performed for the site based on the methods and rates published in the ITE (/nstitute of Transportation Engineers) Trip Generation Manual, 7~h Edition. The ITE Manual is based on data collected nationally for all land use types. The data is broken down by time of day and by several variables (1000 square feet, employees, dwelling unit, acre, number of drive-through lanes, etc.) depending on the type of land use. The data in the ITE Manual states that the average number of cars generated by a single family home is 9.58 trips per day, virtually the same as the approximately 10 trips per day recorded in the TBI study referenced by Mr. Bernard. The data in the ITE Manual also states that the average number of cars generated by a townhome is 5.86 trips per day. The TBI study does not differentiate between single family homes and townhomes. Differentiating between single family homes and townhomes is important when analyzing local roadway systems. The two land uses have different demographics and travel patterns. Mr. Bernard's traffic estimates do not account for the reduced daily traffic generated by a townhome. Mr. Bernard's letter makes the assumption that the approximately 720 dwelling units will each generate two work trips out during the morning peak hour and two work trips in DBE Certified in Minnesota Terry Jeffery, Schoell & Madson River Park EAW Response Page 2 during the morning peak hour. The ITE Manual data disagrees with this assumption. The commuting rush hours generally stretch from 6 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 6 pm. Assuming each unit generates 2 work tdps in and out each day also does not account for carpooling, single income households, retirees, telecommuters, mass transit users, etc. Conclusions The traffic study for the River Park EAW was prepared using standard traffic engineering methods. We used a data source for the trip generation that would allow us to appropriately analyze the local roadway network during the peak hours. We drew logical study boundaries based on the travel shed from the development. This development will have some impact on roadways in Anoka County, but I do not believe that impact will be significant. If directed by you, we will meet with the Responsible Governing Unit (the City of Elk River) and Anoka County (if City staff feels it is appropriate), to develop a revision to the traffic study that addresses the County's concern. This revision could result in completely redoing the traffic study with an expanded scope, which would likely cost more than the original study.