Workshop Item: 1 - Robert Therres, Public Services Manager
Title
FUNDING SOURCE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF PARKING SHOULDERS ON BALTIMORE STREET SOUTH OF 93RD LANE
Background
At the January 16th Council meeting, the City Council revised the parking restrictions on Baltimore Street adjacent to the strip mall where Ole Piper Inn is located. Parking restrictions were revised from 24 hours per day down to 2 AM to 6 PM Monday thru Friday. Council also directed staff to bring this item back to a Workshop for additional discussion on the funding source for construction of parking shoulders on Baltimore Street south of 93rd Lane.
In 2013, Baltimore Street was reconstructed to a 24-foot wide road with 2-foot wide shoulders and does not have provisions for on-street parking to occur without blocking significant portions of the drive lanes. Public Works had issues with plowing Baltimore Street during a recent storm event with the number of cars parked on both sides of the street with the existing snow banks. At the January 2nd Council Workshop and the January 16th Council meeting, staff recommended that if parking is allowed, that paved shoulders should be constructed to accommodate the parking.
If eight foot wide paved shoulders are installed at the locations where parking is being allowed as shown on the enclosed location map, a funding source must be identified to pay for paved shoulder construction and regrading of the ditches. The estimated cost for the shoulder construction would be approximately $15,000. A more accurate cost estimate would be generated with preparation of construction plans.
Two funding options that Council has discussed are use of Pavement Management funds or assessment to the adjacent property owner. If PMP funds are used, Council had discussed removing a portion of a street from the 2014 Pavement Management Program. The current map of the 2014 PMP program is attached. If an assessment project is proposed, a project would have to be initiated by Council to follow the MN Statutes Chapter 429 process. In either case, the project could be combined with another project scheduled for 2014 to receive better bids then if it were bid as a stand-alone project.
Council should also be aware that if parking is allowed in this particular location, other businesses in this area may request the same treatment.
Recommendation
Staff recommendation would be to assess the full cost of shoulder construction to the adjacent property owner. The rationale behind this recommendation is that other property owners in this industrial park area will be asking for a similar request and this action will set precedence on how to handle these future requests.