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081296 CC WS Min . CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION AUGUST 12, 1996 COUNCIL CHAMBERS 5755 COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE FOLLOWING REGULAR MEETING MINUTES 1. CONVENE WORK SESSION MEETING Mayor Bean called the meeting to order at 10:03 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Mayor Bean; Councilmembers Stover, McCarty, Benson and Shaw; Administrator Hurm; Intern Jason Hendrickson; and Snowmobile Task Force Co-Chair Virginia Kolstad. B. Review Agenda There were no changes to the agenda as noticed. 2. DISCUSSION REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF SNOWMOBILE TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS . City Administrator Hurm provided a Memorandum from City Intern Jason Hendrickson with respect to tp.e Snowmobile Task Force Recommendations. Hurm made the recommendation if the City is interested in establishing this program, the City Administrator should be held responsible for it. He stated one of the recommendations of the Task Force was there be a body to ensure the program and people involved are held accountable. Hurm noted he would suggest establishing a committee of people committed to having the program and making it work. Hurm suggested this committee meet monthly and include the City Intern to ensure proper implementation. He further stated the City Council would need to make the determination as to whether the program is working successfully or not. Mayor Bean inquired if the advisory committee would be long term. Hurm stated from an accountability standpoint it would need to be long term. However, it could be an administrative' committee in charge of keeping up with changing priorities. Councilmember Stover pointed out this would be assuming changes would be made which require constant surveillance and if the position were to be taken snowmobiles were not to be allowed on the trail, a great number of the recommendations would not need to be utilized. Hurm stated his assumption was the Task Force recommendations would be accepted. Administrator Hurm noted with respect to safety, a major recommendation of the Task Force was if snowmobiles are allowed on the trail, that it is important cross country skiers and walkers feel they can get off of the trail. Councilmember McCarty stated she would not be in favor of a side trail. Hurm stated the recommendation does not ban anyone from the trail, however, a side trail would be an alternative if a walker were not comfortable on the trial. Councilmember McCarty felt walkers would be giving up concessions and giving all of the power to snowmobilers. . . . . CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES AUGUST 12, 1996 - PAGE 2 Councilmember Stover commented she was not in favor of spending a lot of money on building a side trail, however, if a side trail were to be built, she suggested it be built for the snowmobiles. City Intern Hendrickson noted there would not be sufficient space to provide for snowmobiles. Councilmember Stover noted the trail is identified as a nonmotorized trail during the summer and this somehow changes in the winter time. Councilmember McCarty concurred with this statement. Councilmember McCarty pointed out the Council would need to decide whether or not to accept the recommendations of the Task Force and that nothing should be assumed in this process. Mayor Bean asked if snowmobiling should be allowed in Shorewood. Councilmember McCarty agreed there was not an overwhelming majority of citizens asking that snowmobiles be banned from Shorewood. Councilmember Stover stated she was not suggesting snowmobiles be banned from Shorewood. Mayor Bean inquired where snowmobiles should be allowed to operate with respect to the trail, streets and parks. Councilmember Stover pointed out the Park Commission has said no to snowmobiling in the parks. Councilmember Benson concurred with this. Mayor Bean asked if snowmobiles should be allowed on the streets and Councilmembers Stover and McCarty felt they should be. Mayor Bean further inquired if snowmobiles should be allowed on every street and Councilmember McCarty stated her agreement. Mayor Bean suggested if snowmobiles were allowed on the streets, certain trail streets could be designated. Councilmember Benson stated his agreement with allowing snowmobiles on the street. Councilmember Stover stated streets are intended for motorized vehicles. Mayor Bean asked, with respect to snowmobiles utilizing city streets, if they should be allowed to travel on the paved surface or on the right-of-way or only on paved surfaces. Councilmember McCarty pointed out the right-of-way changes. Councilmember Stover stated the Task Force recommended snowmobiles travel on the street side of the snow plow strip. Mayor Bean noted the Council would attempt to draft an ordinance allowing snowmobiles on City streets within the plowed street surface. Mayor Bean asked for comments on allowing snowmobiles on the regional trail. Councilmembers McCarty and Stover were opposed to this. Councilmember Benson stated if snowmobiles were banned from the trail, it would be difficult to enforce this. There would also be a matter of expense. Councilmember Benson also noted the trail would need to be plowed if it were maintained for walkers and this would result in another level of expense and the way the trail is presently maintained, it is not at an expense to the City. Mayor Bean felt the City could choose not to maintain the trail. Councilmember Stover stated her opinion that it would be inappropriate to mix the two uses unless it were possible to separate the two trails 100 percent with a wall. She further noted the side trail comes and goes and is not continuous. Councilmember Stover felt it was impractical and too expensive to build a side trail. Councilmember Stover stated her concern is purely safety. Kolstad noted the issue of the side trail was to use it for a year and if it were successful, it would be worthwhile to spend the money to make the trail go all the way through. Mayor Bean asked if it would be possible to run a complete second trail. Kolstad noted it would be difficult due to the proximity of trees and wetlands in some locations. Councilmember Benson felt even if snowmobiles are banned, enforcement would be an issue. The second issue is the expense with grooming the trail for nonmotorized use. He did not feel that banning snowmobiles from the trail would be an improvement . . . CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES AUGUST 12, 1996 - PAGE 3 Councilmember Shaw stated he did not feel banning snowmobiles would be the answer, however, he would be in favor of splitting the trails. Mayor Bean noted he was inclined to agree that snowmobiles should be allowed in the City and he would like to see as much separation as possible on the trail. He stated he did not feel it would be appropriate to ban them on the trail at this time. Councilmember McCarty inquired why snowmobiles were considered compatible with trail use when it has been determined they are not compatible with park use. She noted this to be strictly a public safety issue. She stated this is a passive use trail and motorized vehicles should not be allowed. Councilmember Stover asked who is responsible for enforcement on the trail. Mayor Bean stated Hennepin Park Rangers were responsible to some degree. Kolstad stated the DNR is out on the trail somewhat, generally looking for registration violations. She noted Shorewood will need to look at enforcement on the trail. Councilmember Stover stated she would not be in favor of spending a lot of money on enforcement. She noted if the Shorewood officer had the time and the necessary equipment to use, that would be a possibility. Councilmember Stover stated the ordinance change recommendations in the Task Force report are good, yet enforcement will continue to be difficult. Councilmember Stover further inquired if the Hennepin County Sheriff or Hennepin Parks could participate in enforcement. Hurm stated that would be the intent. Mayor Bean commented the police department would need to have clear directives from the City with respect to enforcement. Mayor Bean felt the enforcement authority would need to have a snowmobile. Additional signage would be necessary as well. Councilmember McCarty expressed her opinion that there be an inordinate number of signs on the trail to keep the snowmobilers informed of the various rules associated with use of the trail. Councilmember McCarty felt if there were consistent enforcement over the first two years that the usage of the people violating the law would decrease over time. If that were the case, perhaps the City could lease a snowmobile as opposed to purchasing one. Councilmember Benson felt a snowmobile would be needed to monitor enforcement. Mayor Bean felt more than one snowmobile may be necessary in light of medical emergencies which may arise. As an added value, the snowmobile would also be available to South Lake Emergency Response and would provide a benefit to the entire community. Councilmember Stover suggested if a decision is made to allow snowmobilers on the trail with strict restrictions and good enforcement, she would like to consider a time period of one year only and if those measures do not stop the problem, then snowmobiles would be banned from the trail in future years. Mayor Bean suggested this be communicated to all of the associations. Councilmember Benson noted a special study session may be necessary given the various upcoming meetings. . . . CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES AUGUST 12, 1996 - PAGE 4 3. ADJOURNMENT Shaw moved, Benson seconded to adjourn the Work Session at 11:34 p.m. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULL Y SUBMITTED, Cheryl Wall at, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial ATTEST: j~.//;j ...\.),~) ) .--~."t. c ,1"-"- '\ 1 )~..(,/,V, , "~.~"--'\ 1-'; t/ y --.' ROBERT B. BEAN, MAYOR t/1lQ4 t ^--rvvv'" C. HURM, ITY ADMINISTRATOR