10.1. SR 02-20-2007
Item # 10.1.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Terry Maurer, City Engineer
DATE: February 20, 2007
SUBJECT: TH 169 Study Status
The City Council formally entered into an agreement with MnDOT to fund the 1H 169
Study at the November 6,2006 Council meeting. Since that formal adoption, the consultant
(SRF Consulting Group) that MnDOT has hired has been gathering background
information, including current traffic counts and other appropriate information from City
staff. These include items such as our Comprehensive Plan, Comprehensive Transportation
Plan, Gravel Mining EIS, Landfill EIS, NRI Study, major utility crossing information, and
other miscellaneous documents. The consultant has just recently completed the information
gathering portion of the study and entered into alternative analyses. Scott Clark, Community
Development Director, and I met with SRF Consulting Group and MnDOT in late January
to discuss how the study will move forward.
It was determined that the study would move forward on two separate tracks: 1) there will
be monthly meetings with a working group composed of MnDOT and the SRF Consulting
Group, together with representatives of Sherburne County, Livonia Township, Community
Development Director Scott Clark, Planning Manager Jeremy Barnhart, and myself. Also,
there will begin to be focused area group meetings to discuss issues and receive feedback in
the preliminary stages, and then respond to alternative analyses and ultimately, provide final
feedback on chosen alternatives. These meetings will be initially coordinated through the
Chamber of Commerce, with a focus on groups of businesses along the corridor. There will
also be a meeting for the residential properties along the corridor. Also, special interest such
as the School District and Guardian Angels will be contacted. At some point in the future,
an open house will be scheduled and advertised for the entire community. By that time,
alternatives will be advanced from a "stick drawing" concept to more detailed concept. The
consultant also plans to post a web site and prepare 2 - 4 newsletters during the process.
One question for the City Council is at what step in this process would the Council like
formal involvement. We will certainly keep you apprised of all of the early focus group
meetings. If the Council would desire at the completion of these early meetings, we could
schedule a worksession to provide feedback on comments and information gathered from
the focus group meetings, prior to advancing the alternative analysis to a more detailed level.
s: \EngineerImprovProj\2007 Improvement Projects \02 20 07 cc memo.doc