04-24-1995 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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' ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR APRIL 249 1995 is ROLL The Council met on the above date with the following members present: Mayor Edward Callahan, Jr., Council Members J. Diann Goetten, Gabriel Jabbour, JoEllen Hurr, and Charles Kelley. Representing Staff were City Administrator Ron Moorse, City Attorney Tom Barrett, Public Works Director John Gerhardson, City Engineer Glenn Cook, and Recorder Sherry Frost. Mayor Callahan called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. ( * #1) CONSENT AGENDA Item 97, Hillside Place Administrative Appeal, was tabled at the request of the applicant. Hurr moved, Goetten seconded, to approve the Consent Agenda. Ayes 5, Nays 0. ( #2) PUBLIC HEARING - PERMANENT CLOSURE OF OLD BEACH ROAD 7:00 -9:20 P.M. Moorse introduced the subject and background of the proposed permanent closure of Old Beach Road. This road connects County Roads 19 and 15 and is used to bypass the intersection of CoRds 19 and 15. The traffic safety concerns go back to the mid 1980's. At that time, truck traffic was restricted from the roadway. Approximately one year ago, residents expressed renewed concerns regarding safety. Staff has been working with the • residents and the County to identify problems and develop solutions. Moorse identified the traffic safety problems. One cause is traffic volume. Old Beach Road was designed as a local residential roadway. These usually carry about 500 cars per day. Collector roads carry between 1000 -2500 cars per day. According to recent counts, Old Beach Road has been carrying about 3600 cars per day. A second cause of concern is the street design. The road is 24' width with 3' shoulders until the Minnetonka Beach area, where it narrows to 20 -1/2', at the same location as a curve and a hill. The third cause is the speed of traffic, which is generally higher than the 30 mph speed limit. Cars traveling on the road have come from a road with a 40 mph limit. When they turn onto the shortcut, there is a tendency to speed. Once they come to the area with the hill, where speed should be limited to 20 -25 mph, it becomes dangerous, due to bad site distance. Another factor of concern is the unprotected turns from Old Beach Road to County Road 19, and from the County Road 15 to Old Beach Road. There are about 3300 vehicles turning on or off this road. The main problem is with the left turns from Old Beach Road to CoRd 19 or CoRd 15 to Old Beach Road, where both must go across lanes of traffic. 1