5.1. HRSR 06-05-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEETING OF THE ELK RIVER KING AVENUE PARKING LOT TASK FORCE HELD AT FIRST NATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTER THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2005 Members Present: Keith Holme, property owner, Kemper Drug; Fred McCoy, McCoy's Pub; John Houlton, First National Bank of Elk River; Ty Sunderman, Dare's Funeral Service; Steve Johnson, property owner, Antiques Downtown. Members Absent: Dr. Tony Jarmoluk, Elk Dental Center; John Anderson, resident. Staff Present: Assistant Director of Economic Development, Heidi Steinmetz. Others Present: Lisa Raduenz of LJR, Inc., Transportation and Consultants and Planners Review of April 5, 2005 Meeting Minutes Approval of Minutes by Task Forcel Ms. Raduenz presented a copy of the April 5 meeting minutes to each meeting attendee and requested comments from Task Force members or approval of minutes. Mr. Holme questioned whether or not the issue of overnight residential parking in the King Avenue lot had been addressed by the Police Chief at the last meeting. Ms. Raduenz said that the Police Chief had indicated that there were some permits on file for residents of the apartments on top of existing businesses and that this was noted in the minutes. Members of the Task Force voted to approve the minutes without changes. 2. Comments sent to Ms. Steinmetz by Elk River Residents Ms. Steinmetz summarized comments she had received from Dr. Rafferty of Elk River Chiropractic. Dr. Rafferty provided Ms. Steinmetz with three main comments. The first question was whether temporary parking could be provided downtown in the open space between the Sunshine Depot and Cinema building. Ms. Steinmetz said the HRA had discussed this issue in the past but that no decision was make to allow for parking on this site. Ms. Steinmetz added that the Park & Recreation Department has indicated that parking along the street in front of the open space would be removed due to public safety issues when the park is built on the site. Dr. Rafferty's second question was whether or not the City had ever discussed a shuttle bus for the downtown area. Members of the group asked what kind of shuttle Dr. Rafferty was proposing - a shuttle to bring people across Highway 10 or simply a shuttle from one part of Main Street to another area of the street? In discussing the idea of a shuttle, task force members felt that a shuttle would be impractical and no one would use it. Ms. Raduenz, a transit/transportation consultant, said a shuttle would be expensive to contract for and/or operate, and would require `many passengers' in order to be cost-effective. The final question from Dr. Rafferty was whether parking could be designated for one-hour in front of his office due to his clients' problems related to back pain or other pain. Ms. Steinmetz said she believed his concern was in the area of providing nearby parking for his clients so they would not have to walk from further parking areas while in pain. Discussion then ensued between group members about other businesses in the area that were also suggesting one hour parking in front of their locations, specifically the Cinema Building businesses. Ms. Raduenz said that the City needed to `be careful' when determining where