04-23-2012 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, April 9, 2012 7:00 o'clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 7 (4. COUNTY ROAD 112 TURNBACK PROJECT, Continued) The turnback of Highway 112 will be a two-year process, during which time the Department of Transportation will work with the consultant and representatives of the City of Orono and the City of Long Lake. They will be looking at what should happen with Old Highway 12 from County Road 6 to the highway bypass. Grube stated he would like to invite the City to identify a number of people consisting of residents and business owners who would be interested in participating with the Department of Transportation on a project advisory committee. Grube requested the City Council then appoint six or seven people to the committee. In addition, the Department of Transportation would request that someone from staff, possibly the city engineer, also sit on a technical advisory committee. As project manager, Grube indicated he would be overseeing the consultant and working with the two committees. A web site will be available to the residents to access information regarding the turnback process as well as flyers and other information being disseminated to the residents. The turnback fund is primarily financed by the state, with some funds also coming from Hennepin County. The primary source of those funds comes from a portion of the vehicle license tab fees, a portion of the gasoline tax, and sales tax on vehicles. Following that two-year process, the MN Department of Transportation will be looking for approval from the Orono City Council to approve final plans and specifications for the project. Grube stated regular updates will also be provided to the City Council on the progress being made by the two committees. Bremer asked what the deadline is for selecting the committee members. Gruber indicated he would like to have the names sometime by the end of May or beginning of June. The City Council took no formal action on this item. LMCD REPORT - ANDREW MCDERMOTT, REPRESENTATIVE McDermott reported that the LMCD has been monitoring the water level of Lake Minnetonka. At 928’, the LMCD can declare a water emergency, which would allow residents to extend their docks out further into the lake. Currently Lake Minnetonka is below 928’. The low water elevation will be discussed at the next meeting of the LMCD on Wednesday, April 11th. McDermott noted that this will be the last year of the five year study for the herbicide program. Fundraising for treatment of the different bays has been started. McDermott noted the dam was open the majority of the season so Gray’s Bay was not able to be fully treated last year. Rahn commented he recently read in the newspaper that there is an elaborate system for approving a water emergency and that he was surprised by that system. Rahn stated he had the understanding the LMCD had the ability to automatically declare a water emergency once the water level reached 928'. McDermott indicated issues with multiple docks are the reason for the LMCD not declaring a water emergency at this time and that individual docks are not a concern. The LMCD has been discussing and monitoring the situation for a few weeks now. The main concern is that the dock extensions would be for the entire season regardless of the amount of precipitation received. Item #02 - CC Agenda - 04/23/2012 Approval of Council Minutes 04/09/2012 [Page 2 of 7]