6.6. SR 05-02-2005
Item 6.6.
CITY OF ELK RIVER/SHERBURNE COUNTY
TRANSPORTATION MEETING
ELK RIVER CITY HALL
TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2005
Attendees:
Arne Engstrom, Sherburne Connty Commissioner; Rachael Leonard,
Sherburne Connty Commissioner; Rhonda Lewis, Interim Connty
Engineer; Todd Schoffelman, Assistant Connty Attorney; Stephanie
Klinzing, Elk River Mayor; Jerry Gtunphrey, Elk River Gty
Conncilmember; Pat Klaers, Elk River Gty Administrator; Terry Maurer,
Elk River Gty Engineer
Absent:
Brian Bensen, Sherburne Connty Administrator
1. County_Road 40
. Tumback Agreement Status
. Right of Way Plat Status
Terry Maurer started out the discussion by reviewing the discussion from last several
meetings regarding the tumback of Connty Road 40. Terry relayed that he and Pat Klaers
had met with Brian Bensen, Dave Schwarting, and Kathy Heaney regarding the conditions
of the tumback agreement. Generally, the agreement was that the Connty would prepare the
agreement and have a financial responsibility for a portion of the roadway along with two
years average maintenance reimbursement to the Gty. The Gty would have the
responsibility for preparing the plans, doing all the Federal paperwork, and administering the
construction of the project.
At this point, Rhonda Lewis distributed a draft tumback agreement for Connty Road 40
which had been prepared by her and Todd Schoffelman. It was decided that the draft
agreement would be reviewed by Gty and Connty staff and would be brought forward to the
Connty Board on May 10th and to the Gty Conncil on May 16th.
Terry then indicated that he had discussed with Michael Trunk, Sherburne Connty Surveyor,
the issue of a Connty Road 40 right of way plat. The previous document prepared was a
right of way map. The difference is that a right of way plat will identify specific owners of
each parcel. Mike Trunk indicated they are completing the preparation of the plat to replace
the previously approved right of way plan. Mike indicated in an email today that he will be
looking for Connty Board approval on May 10th and then will forward it to the Gty for
signature. Terry stated if available, he will bring the right of way plat to the May 16th Gty
Conncil meeting for approval.
2. County Road 77/33 Project Status
. Closure of County Road 77 to Allow Mining
. Project Overall Schedule
. Repair of Old County Road 33 East of County Road 77
. Tumback of Old County Road 33 and 77
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Transportation Meeting
April 26, 2005
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Rhonda Lewis explained that the stretch of County Road 77 between the north end of the
Brentwood Addition and County Road 33 was closed today. It will remain closed for a
period of approximately 1 ~ years so that Tiller Corporation can mine the area, build the
new road alignment, and the County can pave the new road alignment after it is built. She
indicated that Tiller would be working on creating a safe environment before any mining
were to begin by berming the areas to preclude any vehicle traffic. Rhonda explained that
there is a Federal grant available that the County will be utilizing to do the paving. She also
indicated that Tiller has already built a portion of the roadway bed alignment through part of
their property that is currently mined out. Finally, she stated that the County has prepared
the plat of the right of way.
Commissioner Engstrom questioned the alignment, indicating that he felt County Road 33
should be the through-street and should not "T" into County Road 77. Rhonda explained
that traffic analysis had been done on the "T" intersection and that it will be an "all way"
stop situation with a free right turn movement from westbound County Road 33.
Commissioner Engstrom still concluded that all of the eastbound traffic on 33 would have
to stop before making a left turn to get to the interchange on 1H 169. He still felt that the
east-west movement should be free-flowing. He commented that the County is woefully
lacking in east-west corridors and this would be a good opportunity, especially with the
interchange on 1H 169.
Rhonda went on to discuss the poor condition of County Road 33, especially between
County Road 77 and 1H 169. She indicated that she will be asking the County Board to add
Old County Road 33 to the County's overlay project. She has taken soil borings and would
propose to mill the existing bituminous surface, add additional gravel, and then re-pave that
stretch of roadway with approximately seven inches of bituminous surfacing to create a
roadway capable of supporting the high amount of heavy truck traffic. She stated the
section would be 28 feet of bituminous with one foot gravel shoulders. She indicated that
the stretch of County Road 33 west of County Road 77 would be removed by the County
and abandoned, once the new alignment is constructed through the Tiller mining area. She
also went on to indicate Old County Road 33 between County Road 77 and 1H 169 would
be turned back to the City of Elk River, once the new alignment is constructed. She
suggested that County Road 77 north of County Road 33 looping back to 1H 169 would
also be a candidate for turnback. General discussion was that the City was willing to accept
both of these stretches, was happy with the planned upgrade of County Road 33, but would
have to review County Road 77's condition north of County Road 33 prior to accepting it as
a turnback.
Councilmember Gumphrey questioned how much heavy commercial truck traffic is actually
on County Road 33. Rhonda indicated that she had those counts but did not have them
with her, and will provide them.
3. Trails Along County Roads
. Parks and Recreation Commission Issue
Terry indicated that Bill Maertz is the new Parks and Recreation Director. That position was
established by the City Council last summer. Bill has been working with the Parks and
Recreation Commission and their goal is to construct detached pedestrian facilities along all
County Roads within the City of Elk River connecting to park facilities within the City.
Terry indicated that he will coordinate a meeting between Bill Maertz, Parks and Recreation
Director; Rhonda Lewis, and any of her staff to begin discussions about current projects,
Sherburne County/City of Elk River
Transportation Meeting
April 26, 2005
Page 3
such as CSAH 1 and County Road 33/77 and to also discuss timing on letting the Parks and
Recreation Department know about upcoming future County road projects.
4. County Road 44 Upgrade
. Tumback to City and Reconstruction
. Mill and Overlay by County in 2005
Teny started the discussion by indicating this was the main topic for today's meeting. He
relayed some of the history of County Road 44 with it being included in the County bonding
for road construction a few years ago, but because of overruns and project scope creep,
there was not sufficient bond money to reconstruct County Road 44. In the last couple of
meetings, the discussion about County Road 44 was potential turnback to the City and
reconstruction using County Road 40 turnback as a model.
At this point, the Mayor indicated that she felt the City and the County ought to work on a
global agreement to have the City take back all County roads within Elk River. She indicated
that as Elk River continues to develop, there will be issues such as access to these County
Roads that are key to the development of the City, and she felt the City would be better off
having control of the roads and thus control of their own development. She did indicate
that there are certain roads such as CSAH 1, CSAH 12, and CSAH 13 which would remain
with the County in her mind because they serve an area larger than just Elk River. The other
roadway that Commissioner Engstrom indicated should remain with the County was CSAH
33 east of TI-l169 because of the potential turnback of County Road 22 in Anoka County to
MnDOT and the long-term plan to build a highway connection from I 35 in Wyoming to
TI-l169 in Elk River. There was some discussion about the Mayor's idea for the global
agreement turning back County roads. It was agreed that the Elk River and Sherburne
County staffs would continue to discuss the issue and report back at the next meeting with
pros and cons that they see with this proposal. T eny also indicated that the Elk River City
Council has a workshop on transportation coming up at which this idea could be discussed.
The County could discuss it also, they indicated, at an upcoming workshop.
T eny went on to indicate that Rhonda Lewis had posed an alternative for the County Road
44 issue. That is, she had suggested the County could mill and overlay the project, recycling
the existing bituminous, adding base material, and then re-paving the surface to provide a
new driving surface which would have a 10-15 year life. T eny indicated that this may be a .
viable option for the City to pursue, since the City has a number of transportation issues on
its plate at this time and funds to construct all of them are at a premium. This would allow
the City to not spend Municipal State Aid dollars on County Road 44 in the short term, but
to earmark those funds for another project. The City could still take back County Road 44
with the global agreement that the Mayor had suggested, knowing that the road would not
need any significant work for a number of years. Councilmember Gumphrey stated that he
was not in favor of this type of idea. He felt that the road needed more than an overlay and
that it should be done right at this time, rather than do an overlay and potentially some time
in the future dig it up to reconstruct it to an urban section. It was concluded that Elk River
would discuss this issue at their June transportation workshop and be prepared to provide
the County direction at the next meeting.
5. Other Business
. Aerial Photos
. Next Meeting July 26,2005
Sherburne County/City of ElkRiver
Transportation Meeting
April 26, 2005
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T eny indicated that the City would like to work with the County to acquire a new set of
aerial photos within the City of Elk River. T eny indicated that he thought the County was
scheduled to fly the County in 2006 and would be meeting with Rhonda to try to negotiate
and agreement where the City would acquire aerial photos along with the County work.
T eny indicated in order to stay on the quarterly schedule, the next meeting of the City-
County Transportation Conunittee including the elected officials and administrators would
be July 26, 2005. The meeting time will be 3:30 p.m. and it was agreed that the meeting
would continue to be held at the City of Elk River.
Submitted by,
T eny Maurer
City Engineer