Update on Property Acquisition Related to the Riverdale Drive Roadway Extension to Traprock Street - PORTIONS OF THIS CASE MAY BE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC

The TH 10 and Armstrong Boulevard interchange project continues to advance through the environmental review process.  During one of the open houses, early on in the public process, the City received a couple of comments from property owners along the south side of Highway 10 (east of Armstrong Boulevard) requesting a secondary access.  Their concern was that the future interchange would obstruct visibility of eastbound travelers, thereby making it extremely difficult to access their sites.  In response to those comments, and consistent with MnDOT policies and previous corridor studies, access management to those properties via a frontage road system became part of the project design (see attached conceptual design).  The first phase of the proposed frontage road system along the south side of TH 10 includes an extension of Riverdale Drive, from approximately Alpaca Street to Traprock Street.

In an effort to keep the costs of the interchange project to a minimum, the City is considering to advance construct portions of the project; including the Sunwood Drive realignment and the Riverdale Drive extension.  Advance constructing these improvements would be done to improve traffic flow through the area in the short term, and be used as a City contribution to the overall interchange project in the future.  The City recently received a Municipal Cooperative Agreement grant from MnDOT in the amount of $702,000 for funding in 2013, which is approximately 45% of the estimated $1.6M project.  The alignment and design for this frontage road is slightly different from what is shown on the interchange concept and includes improvements that would benefit the overall highway system; specifically median revisions at Traprock Street for safer ingress/egress, construction of acceleration/turn lanes on Highway 10 at Traprock Street, and closure of Alpaca Street at Highway 10 (see attached conceptual layout).

Construction of this frontage road improvement includes right-of-way (ROW) acquisition from two separate parcels along the south side of TH 10; the former Diamonds site, and a parcel owned by Cross of Hope Church.  Staff met with Council in closed session on January 24, 2012 to discuss the acquisition of the necessary ROW, and based upon direction received formal offers were presented to the property owners for consideration.  Staff has been able to reach a tentative agreement with PSD, LLC. on the former Diamonds site, and is currently awaiting a response from Cross of Hope.

The estimated project cost of $1.6M includes a 20% contingency and other associated costs for right-of-way acquisition, engineering, and administration.  While constructing the roadway extension is fairly straight forward, direct impacts to these two properties is unavoidable and ROW acquisition is necessary.  Discussions to date have centered on the property owner desire to dedicate ROW in exchange for the extension of utilities to each of the parcels.  Currently sanitary sewer and watermain are located just south of TH10 on Armstrong Boulevard, and the potential extension from this location to the properties is estimated at $1.1M.  Staff wanted to update the Council on the status of these acquisitions, and seek approval on the negotiated agreement with PSD and/or Cross of Hope.

Staff recommends approval of the PSD, LLC ROW acquisition agreement.  It is anticipated that we will also have a response to our offer from Cross of Hope prior to the meeting, and additional information can be presented with respect to that acquisition.

Attached to this case are a couple of funding scenarios that were previously provided for the overall project.  Based upon the results of the ROW acquisition discussions, the final funding package will need to be firmed up based upon City Council direction.  Funding options to consider for the outstanding obligations include MSA, City street maintenance funding and/or assessments for improvements to the existing segment of Riverdale Drive, and EDA.

Based upon discussion.