Okay, we are ready when you are. Okay. I would like to officially call the city of Nisa um city council workshop meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. It is officially
5:13 and we will call this meeting to order. I'm going to turn the floor over to W Seth um >> Dveries. >> Dave or Bill, I don't know which one of you is. >> Okay, >> I'll present it. >> Perfect. Okay, Maggie, thank you for bringing
that up. Um, we'll try to go through this uh reasonably quickly. We did hold a publicformational meeting earlier last week. Um, and so this is the same presentation being presented here. So
discussion agenda we'll go through uh the folks that worked on this uh propo um presentation the purpose objectives uh some of the discussion that's taken place with stakeholders ideas and concepts and then some of the discussion
feedback that was received here are the folks that worked on it uh from Woodsth uh myself Bill Lindsay who works with the school district um Nisa Elementary and Tom.
Our purpose was to have an open discussion about uh Lakers Lane improvements and improvements to the school. Uh we reviewed the issues and challenges, talked about the ideas that were um brought forth for improvement
and gathered community feedback. issues at the school um are apparent with poor sidewalk conditions as shown in the photographs. Uh the school district has had to grind down some of these joints to prevent the trip hazards
and so forth. Uh roof drainage off the school drains across the sidewalks and that adds to the problem. Uh there are ADA compliance deficiencies out there. Uh we did do a 2024 ADA
compliance report. Uh you can see the crosswalk here has no ADA ramp at either end. That's the crosswalk across Lakers Lane uh right at the school.
And that's the uh 88 transition plan with Lakers Lane identified at the top of the list. Uh issues brought forth include drop off and pickup safety. Uh that's a photo from a drone aerial image. We did do an
hourong uh drop off period of video as well as a pickup hourlong uh in the afternoon. So, we did get collect some traffic information that way. Madame Mayor,
question. >> Um, Council Member Freley has a question. >> Okay. Um, Dave, I was just wondering, um, maybe this is premature, but has there been discussion on changing the pickup and drop off for the for the
buses at the school? Uh it's a circular loop through the parking lot which backs out on Lakers Lane. Yes, there was discussion about alternatives to that. >> Okay. And what came out of that? Um, we
talked about some of the uh suggested improvements uh which we'll get into in the presentation, but also having further discussion with the property just to the west of the school parking lot as an alternative.
>> Okay. Um, other issues and challenges identified included poor sight lines at the corners. Specifically, this one showing the uh intersection of Church Street with Lakers Lane. Both right and left
looks across those corners are difficult uh for cars trying to enter the intersection. Uh, roof drainage across the sidewalks was mentioned. You can see the circle around the drain pipe that's uh coming
out from the school leads. Uh this also shows the sunken curb and deposition of sediments and so forth along that curb line. Uh the city is working on 2026 and 2027
bonded street improvements. This slide shows uh what's been planned for 2026 being Wooddale uh in yellow and then 2027 includes uh Church Street, City Hall
Street, Nisa Avenue and we also identified Lakers Lane as a 2027 street improvement should this go forward. Um that would uh be our proposal issues and challenges uh just to
identify them are all listed here. We took into consideration uh the safety aspects, traffic and circulation, um parking along Lakers Lane, uh drainage, uh the phasing of possible
joint projects, um including phasing of Laker Lane improvements. So, we're talking about a joint project, just to clarify, between school and city. So improvements on both um properties so to speak but also a
phasing potentially of of years but um I would like to speak to that further later on. Okay. All right. Possible solutions. We looked at two uh mini roundabouts or traffic
circles as being uh good solutions especially after receiving stakeholder input on the traffic movements and the need to um make sure that there's a way for traffic
exiting uh to get back to Main Street being an important aspect uh Tonight we're just showing um kind of the the preferred option based on feedback that we received from stakeholders and at the
um publicformational meeting which is to have a uh traffic circle at Church Street and Laker Lane. There's more efficiencies involved with locating it there. uh as far as the traffic is
concerned uh it gets the uh school buses to clear that intersection uh and get to their loading unloading area so they're not in conflict with uh parent drop off and pickup. So that's
the benefit there. So, of the two options, um, Lakers Lane, Wooddale, School Street, or it's not both. You're saying it's one or the other. >> And you said the feedback was the one at
Wooddale. We did look at one at Wooddale School Street and uh there were um that was the first one we looked at and uh that would help with uh some of the traffic circulation issues too, but um
further look into it. uh identified Church Street intersection as being the better of the two um providing more direct efficiency with traffic movement at that location. >> There's there's a conflict with school
bus uh position at uh Wooddale and School Street. So that's that's a detractor for that location for a roundabout. Okay, I'll let you or council member London, do you have a question? Is there >> enough room to put a roundabout over the right on Church Street over there?
>> We'll have a detail coming up and you'll be able to see. Um, this is a uh a roundabout that's a mini roundabout is much >> much smaller than what you're accustomed probably to seeing on 18 and out by
Ncomomas and 77. >> Council member Freley. >> Uh, so this will be the one similar. Well, I see Washington Avenue here. So, that's just trying to think I'm just trying to think of that. Is it won't be like the one that was on six
that was put in Brainer? Would it be be the one more? Um, we have some illustrations that would help depict that. So, I think that will help. Here's one showing uh what a mini
roundabout looks like. Um it's about 30 feet in diameter. Uh the elevation of that center island is very low. It's a lot so that uh larger trucks or school buses can go over it if they have to um
with their wheel path. Uh school buses generally can make this without going over that with any issues. So, uh, this is a good application. This one's actually, I believe, in Detroit Lakes.
>> Council member, >> is there ability to be able to do some custom streetscaping in the center of that, even though it's flat? Like, can you do some sort of custom paver design? Uh, >> custom pavers. Yes. Something that can
be driven over u, maybe a turtle perhaps or something along that line. >> That's a great idea. Yeah. Where would the Well, you know what? I'll let you finish because maybe it's in your presentation. >> Okay. Um, so here's the first one that we
looked at at Wooddale and School Street. Uh, you can see how it would potentially lay in there, but you can also see conflict there with the school bus stacking. We'll go to the next slide and this is
the one that's on the board here uh that people can look at in more detail, but uh you you can see that it fits uh in the intersection. Uh there would have to be some loss of parking spaces in the immediate vicinity. That's been reviewed
with stakeholders. um they see the benefits of this type of application here and also the opportunity for additional parking being uh provided on church uh when that
project goes forward. So net loss wise there's uh not really a loss after you account for that. Um, this would sit a little bit further to the south than the crosshairs of the intersection. Um, but
that would help uh geometrically fit better within the intersection. Okay. With these improvements would be crosswalk uh definition and and additional means
of crosswalk safety. So, uh, I think everyone's probably seen the rapid flashing beacon style of crosswalk. So, these can be actuated by the pedestrian when they're getting to the crosswalk and gives it, you know, advanced notice
to uh drivers that are approaching that crosswalk. Um, here are the existing conditions uh and concerns, traffic turning and movements. uh at the intersection in
question here. Um really uh being Church and Lakers has um uh some congestion particularly during the pickup in the afternoon. Uh queuing on the streets,
including queuing at Main Street with cars trying to get back out on Main Street. uh speed concerns, which a RA roundabout would help with slowing that down in the school zone. Pedestrian conflicts
without defined crosswalks. We're seeing in our drone footage uh school children and others uh walking across the street at virtually all points to get to um parents' cars for pickup. Um and then
business access challenges. Um so uh with the added um traffic congestion and turning movements and and so forth um there's some access challenges and we
feel we can better the situation with these improvements. This slide shows the traffic counts from the aerial drone footage. Um, and it gives both the AM and PM counts. So, you
can see how many track cars actually made the turn uh during the morning and the evening. Um what this kind of the standout information from this uh for us was uh there was more traffic in the
morning but it was spread out over a longer period of time uh in the afternoon during pickup. We had a lot of parents that were there um starting at a quarter after two and going all the way through the three o'clock hour uh to
pick up their uh students so that uh they were queuing up a lot longer and that was stretching out uh onto Lakers Lane. So project goals uh we want to improve safety for the students um reduce the
congestion the backups um maintain and improve business accesses uh and uh create a clear intersection uh with good sight lines and predictable traffic flow. Um also supporting the
overall street function. So not just for school use. this would benefit year round. We know this area uh does receive a lot of parking and pedestrian uh traffic especially during events within
the city. So what does success look like? Uh we would like to address short-term needs. Um going in depth with that would be the sidewalk condition in front of the school uh and curb and gutter. Um
address long-term needs which includes Church Street and the rest of uh Lakers Lane in front of the school that needs to be done in conjunction with Church Street improvements 2027.
um the uh safer student movement uh smoother traffic flow uh and so forth commerce street environment giving pedestrians a good safe crossing place.
>> I got a question you know with all your research on this and you know there's lot so much congestion there you know in the morning and afternoon and that um did you ever learn about how many accidents fender benders and things like that you have over there? Yeah, that was actually a question asked at the public
info meeting. Um, we're not aware of any uh fatalities or injuries, but there's a number of close calls even even on going out. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. I think that's probably
a daily occurrence out there. >> So, this would all help. >> Yes. Um, with this slide too, I'd just like to talk briefly about short-term needs. um with with the uh joining of um a
phasing approach of doing the sidewalk, storm sewer, and curbon gutter in front of the school along with the school's improvements. Um you know, our original intent was let's fix the sidewalks in front of the school. It's really an
apparent need. It's very apparent. It's also um a real challenge to try to mesh that with a roundabout which ultimately will be decided by the city council uh whether or not that's the direction that
you want us to go. But um with that in mind, uh and any elevation change needed for a roundabout at Church Street um will likely raise that intersection
elevation up and that would extend out the impact area probably 50 to 75 ft in any d either direction and every leg. And so, you know, with that comes the
challenge of whatever we do in 2026 could be impacted within that zone. And so, um, we had prepared to come tonight to the city council meeting with a design proposal for doing that phase one
sidewalk improvement. Um but looking at it long-term and for the best interest of the best project possible, we think it would be good to just do it in 2027. Um, of course, we checked with the
school to see if that would be reasonable to them and the maintenance director um sees the benefit of having one comprehensive project, not two construction years and the issues that
that can bring. And so I think we have concurrence on that. Um, we've also uh um talked with uh some of the other stakeholders uh Councilman uh Jesse Zan
a little briefly about it. Uh Tom is not here tonight. I wish he was. He could speak to the benefits of that, but that's why uh you'll hear the remarks that I'll make at the council meeting
later tonight. Council member Freley has a question. >> Dave, a student um improve student safety. I know there's uh some younger families that live down Church Street and all the way to PPP and some beyond. Um and I know they weren't here the
other night or last Tuesday night. I hope I wish they would, but so I'll express they want to know if there will be pedestrian safe walkways. They called them sidewalks before. They always changed the names. all the way down Church Street.
Will they be all the way down Church Street or will they be partial? Will they be on one side or both sides? That's just what they want to know. So, >> right. So, all the concepts that we've been working on include walkways or sidewalks on Church Street going from uh
Lakers Lane northward at least to um uh the Park Drive on the west side of Church Street. That's that's the goal or objective for a walkway and that would tie into walkways on City Hall Street. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Does that help answer? Yeah. >> Okay. I'll keep going. Um, so school site improvements, um, improve the walkways, improve sight drainage. There's a lot of roof leads
coming down that that go across the lawn causing erosion. Uh like to fix that. We'd like to widen the um bus loading area. They've got a retaining wall along the north side of the school that we'd
like to remove and reface the that side of the school giving a a wider school bus um student gathering in front of the bus loading area. uh we feel that that would be an improvement there.
Um safer parent pickup and drop off loop that goes toward uh having further discussion with property to the west. Um maybe lengthening that loop there or lengthening a loop on the school
property further to the south. Okay. um street improvements. Uh those are all of the um goals that were discussed
um including turn lanes uh the loading and offloading area. We talked about access management with driveways, traffic queuing, also accesses that exist for businesses in the area and
maintaining those. So with the planned improvements, we want to ensure that uh those accesses are perpetuated or they might have to be adjusted but not um lessening the access to existing
businesses operational uh strategies. Um we talked about phasing of this of the improvements. Uh, I think that doing this particular type of improvement um with a traffic circle at church would
best be done all at once. Um, that wasn't really an issue with the Wooddale School Street location, but it would be at church, so that's that's why we went that way.
Um, yep. manage pickup procedures and so forth. Uh business access focus. Um the project needs to be committed to maintaining the accesses as we discussed. Um we need to understand how
the businesses operate with their peak hours. Um the traffic movements entering and leaving the properties and minimizing disruption during those key times. We talked about um tradeoffs being some
of the parking spaces being impacted and removed. Um certain turns or movements might be modified and then short-term adjustment for long-term improvement. So yes, there will be some uh pain during construction, but the long-term
improvement we feel uh is the winning ticket. Okay, quick. We did a survey. We've got survey results. I think it might be uh fun to go through that. I don't know
if you'd like to go through that right now or save the time. Uh we can provide handouts. It's up to you if you'd like to have us go through it or just provide handouts of that short survey. >> I'm fine with the handout to you.
Council member Hall. >> I already sent the survey. >> Council member Freley London. >> Um I just think it's a great allaround project. You know, you know what you're doing here and wonderful. It's probably long overdue. >> Yeah. Okay.
All right. So next steps compile feedback. Um we are continuing to get feedback and that's all uh great that helps us out immensely. Um we will
refine the concepts uh share the plans um talk with the school board and the city council and then we'd like a commitment from the council and school so that we know exactly what we have to design and put out to bid.
Perfect. Um, do we have any questions for Mr. Reese from council? Council members on >> one item that I think would be worthwhile for consideration while we are getting closer to some downtown Niswah roads and streets is to consider
what could beautifification of the streetscaping look like. Um, the presentation covered curb, gutter, sidewalks. Obviously, it's going to be new surface for these roads, Lakers Lane Church, etc. But, um, City Street will
be a part of 27. Um, I think that's it. >> City Hall Street. >> Yeah, I I think that's >> the initial church, Lakers Lane, City Hall Street. Would it behoove us to try to include
some sort of city lighting, street lighting the spread throughout those uh affected roads uh for consideration? >> We can provide lots of examples for you to take a look at and consider. Um we've
done streetscaping projects in a number of different communities so we can provide that. >> Would it be also possible for uh if if that's to be done perhaps by WSN prior to coming to the council uh next would
it be possible to coordinate perhaps with the Niswah chamber and get some feedback from them on some potential ideas that they would perhaps see? Um, I know that we have I'm going to butcher the name of the group of ladies that do
the flower maintenance and >> gardener club. >> Garden Club. >> Thank you. Brain fart. Um, so yeah. So simple. We I mean you see in various cities obviously uh that it's not just the the
street light um a single or double but you have perhaps a flag pole mount you have a speaker that's connected to a central system that's at uh like a chamber and ours is centrally located uh just by uh chance and additionally could
water with P lines for like hanging baskets be accompanied and if so what would those what would those initial infrastructure costs and then potential for maintenance and upkeep for the duration yearbyear and then how could we collaborate with the
garden club to be able to tend to such things. So that is a idea that I think would be worthwhile exploring while we're in this phase especially getting those three main streets put together for the 27 bond if uh anybody on this
council is in disagreement. Um, perhaps that's an objective we could ask to inquire about. >> Sounds good. >> Great. Silence is okay. Good. >> Do you have more? >> Not. Thank you.
>> Anyone else? Council member London. >> I just think it's a great idea and it's way long overdue. >> Council member Hall. >> No. >> Okay. Anyone in the audience have anything? Um, anything else on your end?
>> No, just a big thank you to all the people that have provided input. It's very much appreciated. >> Thank you very much. >> Yep. >> Um, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. >> Uh, motion to adjurnn by council member
Zan, second by council member Freley. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned. No.