Minutes: Public Works March Meeting; On Lake Leota; On Main Street Restoration;

Public Works Committee Meeting Minutes

Regular Meeting

Monday, March 27, 2006, 6:00 p.m.

City Hall, 31 S. Madison St., Evansville, WI

Call the meeting to order @ 6:00 PM.
Roll Call: Ald. Hammann (Chair) & Ald. Juergens. Staff: Dave Wartenweiler, Public Works Director, Bruce Woods & Dave Sauer, City Engineers. Absent: Ald. Sornson. Quorum attained.
Minutes of February meeting unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Citizen appearances
Roger Berg provided an old Ace hardware building renovation update. Beginning façade replacement this fall. Requested larger sewer & water services.

Lake Leota Restoration
SOLE working with Rock, Dane & Green counties on forming an Allen Creek watershed committee.

Following schedule for Public Hearings regarding refilling Lake Leota:

April 17 Park Board Meeting
April 24 Public Works
This meets the 60-day time frame asked by SOLE during the 2/27 Public Works meeting. If required, the subject will be placed on the May 9th Council agenda. This will allow us plenty of time to fill the lake before June, and the start of the dry season. The public hearing at Park Board will focus on the recreational value of the lake, and it’s impact on Leota Park if the lake is dry all summer. Discussion at Public Works will focus on the logistics of potential dredging of the lake this summer.

Main Street Reconstruction Public Hearing
Discussion on Downtown side street parking, municipal lot parking and off-site parking.
We picked up where we left off last month by discussing off-site parking, municipal lot parking & side street parking available both during and after Main Street Reconstruction.

City Engineer Bruce Woods handed out the current inventory of downtown parking locations:

Location Number of Stalls
Main Street 111
Madison Street 33
Maple Street 22
North Municipal Lot (off Montgomery Ct.) 38
Municipal Lot off Maple Street 55
Municipal Lot behind Grange Mall 14 (32 private lots)

273 Total Available Downtown Parking Stalls
Public Works direction Dave Wartenweiler surveyed city’s municipal lots and found North Municipal Lot (off Montgomery Ct.) at 65% capacity and Municipal Lot off Maple Street at 50% capacity during peak business activity.

Business leaders in attendance unanimously agree that current number of parking stalls is insufficient to support current business activities.

City Engineer Bruce Woods compared Evansville’s downtown parking to Mt. Horeb larger downtown (363 parking stalls).

Main Street parking will be unavailable during construction (111 parking stalls).

10 stall will be occupied for Old Ace Hardware renovation.

Estimate 150 – 170 parking stalls required during peak business activity.

Contractors will require parking for vehicles, equipment & staging materials.

The downtown will have approximately 150 available parking stalls during Main St. construction.

We need to locate 50 – 75 additional parking spots.

Open Public Hearing @ 6:15 p.m.

Greg Ardisson (217 N. 6th St.) asked how many parking permits taken out for city’s municipal lots (12 total parking permits).

Steve Haugen (421 W. Main St.) suggested we increase parking enforcement during Main Street construction.

Began brainstorming session on additional parking locations.

Sandy Decker (143 W. Main St.) suggests using the old union Co-op location for contractor staging area & equipment parking.

Roller rink parking lot has 20 stalls.

Fire district parking lot has 10 stalls.

Dean community center & adjacent church has approximately 30 available parking stalls that could be used for downtown employee parking.

Request the State employee commuter parking to move out of North Municipal Lot (off Montgomery Ct.) during Main Street reconstruction.

Nancy Hamby (1 N. Madison) suggested a park-n-ride off Hwy. 14, north of town.

Betsy Ahner (20 S. 1st St.) suggests we relocate State employee commuter parking to area near Green forest restaurant.

Jeff Farnsworth (125 Garfield) suggest we pave the alley behind the Grange building and “spruce up” the municipal parking lots.

Steve Haugen (421 W. Main St.) requested business managers to ask employees to park off site and walk to work during Main St. reconstruction.

Betsy Ahner (20 S. 1st St.) suggests we place the bike racks up during Main St. reconstruction.

Closed Public Hearing @ 7:18 p.m.


Request city administrator to contact the State employee commuters and ask them to relocate away from North Municipal Lot (off Montgomery Ct.) during Main Street reconstruction unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Request city administrator to investigate parking availability for the following locations: 1) old union Co-op location for contractor staging area & equipment parking; 2) Roller rink parking lot, 3) Fire district parking lot, 4) Dean community center & adjacent church parking lot unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Discussion and possible motion to approve Main St. Street & Sidewalk design.
Last meeting we discussed examining Evansville's Bowl property lines and examine if the front entrance is actually located on city property.


Request Foth & Van Dyke to survey Evansville's Bowl front entrance and compare it to the property line unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Bruce Woods discussed the two street design options. There is a trade-off between sidewalk width & parking stalls.

Option 1 - Increase street width & parking, but reduced sidewalk width.

Option 2 – Same as Option #1 west of Maple & old Option #2 to the east, increasing street & sidewalk widths, but eliminating angle parking.

Both options cost about the same.

Bruce Woods also showed new 3D drawings of the sidewalks and color drawings of the options.

Open Public Hearing @ 6:27 p.m.

Greg Ardisson (217 N. 6th St.) like the more parking friendly option #1. Believes parking is a priority. Strongly opposed turning Maple St. into a one way, citing truck traffic, access to veterinary clinic, and delivery trucks to the Nite Owl. Greg is willing to give up parking to keep Maple St. a two-way Street. Greg also suggests it’s time to replace the trees on Main St.

Roger Roth (1 W. Main St.) asked that we keep the driveway apron open in front of this business. Answer: All existing driveway aprons are included in both options.

Alderperson Hammann read a letter from Dr. Douglas Batty, Chiropractor (17 W. Main St.) requesting enforcing a 2-hour parking limit on the municipal parking lots, maintaining the handicap parking spaces in front of his business, and a mid block pedestrian crosswalk on west Main Street.

Bruce Woods made a note of his business location to include handicap parking in his design.

A discussion on the location of a mid block pedestrian crosswalk on west Main Street. Most of the public in attendance thought it was a good idea.

Jim McGoey (224 W. Church) believes mid block pedestrian crosswalks are unsafe and should not be included in the design.

Steve Haugen (421 W. Main St.) suggested right hand turning lanes off Madison onto Main St.

The discussion switched to Main St. design east of Maple Street. Option #1 contains 8 more parking spaces then more pedestrian friendly Option #2. Discussed place bump outs in areas where the sidewalk narrows. Six feet is a good safe sidewalk width.

Closed Public Hearing @ 7:50 p.m.

Request Foth & Van Dyke to survey the property line on both sides of Main Street east of Maple Street to the Allen Creek Bridge unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
We have discussed Main St. Street & Sidewalk design for several months, answering questions that have come up in recent meetings and including input as required. It’s time for the engineers to start designing Main Street. Keep in mind that this will be a preliminary design. Later in the fall when everything has come together, a final Main Street design will emerge for pubic comment.

Main Street & Sidewalk design #1 unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Discussion and possible motion to approve the following one-way streets: Maple Street going south, Railroad Street going north & Mill Street going west.
Bruce Woods illustrated the bumpout on the southwest corner of Maple & Main is required for ADA access for these businesses on the intersection.

Discussed the benefits of the proposed one-way street and there affect on downtown businesses. The city engineer proposed one way Maple Street going south streets to maximize parking on Maple Street. There is no safety reason for Maple Street being assigned as a one way street. Lose 4 – 6 parking spaces by keeping Maple Street two ways.

City engineer, Dave Sauer illustrated the lack of turning vision triangle from Railroad Street onto Main Street. Combined with the narrow width of the street the proposal to change Railroad Street going north & Mill Street going west into a one-way street is for traffic safety.

Open Public Hearing @ 7:55 p.m.

Jim McGoey (224 W. Church) opposes changing Maple Street into a one-way.

Joyce Brown (18 S. Maple) expressed concern about potentially turning Maple St. into a one-way street at the previous meeting.

Steve Haugen (421 W. Main St.) discussed the blind spot turning left from Railroad onto Mill St.

Closed Public Hearing @ 8:00 p.m.

Recommend to public safety changing Railroad Street to a one way going north & Mill Street to a one-way going west after Main Street reconstruction unanimously approved on a Juergens-Hammann motion.
Discussion and possible motion to approve and changing Montgomery Ct. one-way street designation during Main St. construction in 2007.
A couple of months ago Bob Dickert (131 N. 6th St.) asked if Montgomery Ct. one-way status change during construction for access to municipal parking lot? We explore that idea in more detail.

Open Public Hearing @ 8:04 p.m.

Montgomery Ct. would be a two-way street during Main St. construction in 2007 & Madison Street repaving in 2008, then revert back to one way.

Several public comments about remembering Montgomery Ct. two-way street status just a few years ago.

City engineer, Dave Sauer had no traffic safety issues with as long as Montgomery Ct. two-way street status is only temporary.

Closed Public Hearing @ 8:08 p.m.

Recommend to public safety changing Montgomery Ct. to a temporary two-way street during Main St. construction in 2007 & Madison Street repaving in 2008 unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Next month we plan to explore the following topic pertaining to Downtown Streetscaping:

Concrete pavement for Madison-Main St. intersection
Removal of light fixtures to match east Main St.
Review of off-site parking & municipal lot parking options
Main St. & Sidewalk design

Update of Paving Bricks in Main Street Reconstruction in 2007
John Decker in providing project background explained this project would use paving bricks on Main St. between 1st Street & the bridge over Allen creek. They have done some investigating and found that Federal grants are available design, planning & streetscaping downtown business districts. City of Delavan recently completed their downtown district using a $800,000 Federal grant. The federal grant is an 80/20 matching, where 20% would come from the city.

Open Public Hearing @ 8:15 p.m.

Jim McGoey (224 W. Church) asked about street light specifications. He requested we replace 15 light fixtures on Main St. to match the light fixtures placed along Union St. for an estimated cost of $60,000.

Jeff Farnsworth (125 Garfield) asked what would happen to the existing donated lights on Main St.

Discussion of number of paving brick options:

Width of street
Use of bricks on sidewalks. Paver bricks in sidewalk is not historical accurate.
Use of bricks on crosswalks
Which streets are paved with brick is a function of the grant amount awarded. Focus is on using paving bricks between Railroad street & 1st street.
Bruce Woods requested John Decker, Jeff Farnsworth, & Chris Eager set up a meeting with DOT to review grant application before the 4/14 deadline.

Discussed enhancements and several grant application details. Progress report on the DOT grant application. The focus of the grant application is as a landscaping enhancement.

Discussed using concrete intersections to save on amount of bricks.

Confident we’ll meet the 4/14 grant application deadline.

Closed Public Hearing @ 8:53 p.m.

2006 Public Works Smart Growth Plan Action Plan
Transportation #5.2 – Discussion on adopting a Class B Highway Ordinance
Designating a street a "Class B highways" imposes lower weight limitations on vehicles that use the street. This works well in a townships, where there are few roads to designate. Evansville has a heavy traffic routes by ordinance, so heavy traffic is prohibited on all streets not marked as heavy traffic routes.

Smart Growth Action Item: Transportation #5.2 Class B Highway ordinance not required.

Communications from City Engineer
Discussed cost estimates and introduced TID #6 business park infrastructure.
Engineering Madison St. water main project. Drawings available for approval next month.
Engineering storm water project on Badger Drive. Drawings available for approval next month.
Communications of Public Works Director
Pacer report
Public Works director presented Evansville’s Pacer report findings. Pacer is a tool used to measure road quality indicator for making decisions regarding road maintenance and improvements costs.

Only 4.6% of the roads are in poor condition.

Quality of Evansville’s roads has significantly improved since we began aggressively focusing on road maintenance.

Examined the Pacer Report road maintenance cost projections. If we continue to spend at our current budget level of $25,000/yr, we can not maintain our current road quality rating. Increasing our spending to $40,000/yr maintains Evansville’s Street.

Current Public Works projects include:

Snow plowing
Repairing the former Farnsworth Ceramic Shop
Pot Hole Replacing
Sign Replacing
Bathrooms in parks
Solar panel display for upcoming energy Fair.
New Business
Discussion of the costs and benefits of extending the city's connecting highway limit on USH 14 to a point east of the intersection of J. Lindemann Dr. and USH 14.
The road maintenance cost of extending the city's connecting highway limit on USH 14 is an issue.

Discussed maintaining the stop lights on the Hwy. 14 & county road M intersection. Require creating a budget item of $2,500 for street light maintenance costs.

The benefit of extending the city's connecting highway limit on USH 14 is controlling our destiny.

Recommend annexing USH 14 along with land to the south and extending the city's connecting highway limit on USH 14 to the new city limits.

Upon the proper motion and approval vote, the Public Works Committee will convene in closed session pursuant to Sec. 19.85(1)(e), Wis. Stats. deliberation or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reason requires a closed session, and will not reconvene in open session. During the closed session, the Public Works Committee will discuss possible acquisition of real property along S. Madison St. 2008
Closed session unanimously approved on a Hammann-Juergens motion.
Meeting adjourned @ 10:06 p.m. on a Hammann-Juergens motion
Next Meeting: Monday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m.

Bill Hammann Chair, Public Works Committee