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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-03-03E IDIAN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AGENDA AMENDED AGENDA City Council Chambers 33 East Broadway Avenue Meridian, Idaho Tuesday, March 03, 2015 at 6:00 PM 1. Roll -Call Attendance X David Zaremba X Joe Borton X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird X Genesis Milam X Luke Cavener O Mayor Tammy de Weerd 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Community Invocation by Pastor Gene Hill with Parkview Christian Church 4. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted 5. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 2-3) A. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order for Approval: PP 14-020 Accommodations Subdivision by Providence Management, LLC Located South Side of E. Falcon Drive and East of S. Eagle Road Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Fourteen (14) Single Family Residential Lots and Three (3) Common Lots on Approximately 4.71 Acres in the R-4 Zoning District B. FP 15-005 Hill's Century Farm Subdivision No. 2 by Brighton Investments, LLC Located 5340 S. Eagle Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Fifty -Six (56) Building Lots and Nine (9) Common Lots on 19.78 Acres of Land in the R-8 Zoning District C. Professional Services Agreement For Mayor's Anti -Drug Coalition Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant Program Evaluation Services In An Amount Not To Exceed $9,000.00 D. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2015 Single -Night Sponsorship Agreement Between Sierra Trading Post and the City of Meridian for a Not - to -Exceed Amount of $500.00 Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda — Tuesday, March 03, 2015 Page 1 of 3 All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. E. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2015 Single -Night Sponsorship Agreement Between Idaho Central Credit Union and the City of Meridian for a Not -to -Exceed Amount of $650.00 F. Award of RFP and Approval of Agreement to Lawn Co. for the "LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE SERVICES 2015-2017" Project for a Not -To - Exceed Amount of $417,925.00 G. Award of Agreement to Engineered Structures, Inc. for the "OLD CITY HALL TENANT IMPROVEMENT - CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES" Project for a Not -To -Exceed amount of $6,200.00 H. Touchstone Place On -Site Water Easement I. Touchstone Place Off -Site Water Easement 6. Department Reports A. Mayor's Office: Mayor's Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) Update (Pg 4-7) B. Mayor's Office: Ordinance No. 15-1638: Ordinance Amending Meridian City Code Section 2-5-3(C), Regarding Terms of Meridian Arts Commission Seats Approved (Pg 7-10) C. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 15-1052: Resolution Appointing Claudia Weathermon Tester to Seat 3, Ellen DeAngelis to Seat 7 and Gretchen Caserotti to Seat 8 of the Meridian Arts Commission Approved (Pg 7-10) D. Finance Department: Discuss Upcoming Budget and Participatory Budget Pilot Project (Pg 10-12) 7. Community Items/Presentations A. Meridian Transit Planning (Pg 12-22) 8. Items Moved From Consent Agenda None (Pg 22) 9. Action Items A. Public Hearing: VAC 15-003 Reflection Ridge Subdivision No. 1, Lots 27 & 28, Block 6 by Zach Evans Construction Located 1112 & 1124 E. Wrightwood Drive Request: Vacation of the 10 -Foot Wide Interior Side Public Utility, Drainage and Irrigation Easement Located on the Common Lot Line Between Lots 27 & 28, Block 6 Approved (Pg 22-25) Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda — Tuesday, March 03, 2015 Page 2 of 3 All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. B. Public Hearing: AZ 14-014 Sulamita Church by Architecture Northwest Located Southwest Corner of W. Cherry Lane and N. Black Cat Road: Annexation and Zoning of 9.76 Acres of Land with an R-8 Zoning District Continued to March 17, 2015 (Pg 25-26) C. Public Hearing: CUP 14-019 Sulamita Church by Architecture Northwest Located Southwest Corner of W. Cherry Lane and N. Black Cat Road Request: Conditional Use Permit Approval to Develop a Church on Approximately 8.47 Acres in the Proposed R-8 Zoning District Continued to March 17, 2015 (Pg 25-26) D. Public Hearing: AZ 14-015 Granton Square Subdivision by Granton Square Properties, LLC Located East Side of N. Locust Grove Road and South of E. Ustick Road Request: Annexation of Approximately 5.13 Acres from RUT in Ada County to the R-8 (Medium Density Residential) Zoning District Approved (Pg 26-31) E. Public Hearing: PP 14-019 Granton Square Subdivision by Granton Square Properties, LLC Located East Side of N. Locust Grove Road and South of E. Ustick Road Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Twenty - Eight (28) Single Family Residential Lots and Seven (7) Common Lots on Approximately 4.81 Acres in the Proposed R-8 Zoning District Approved (Pg 26-31) 10. Continued Department Reports A. Human Resources Department: Budget Amendment for .5 Full Time Employee (FTE) for Finance for the Not -to -Exceed Amount of $27,359.00 Approved (Pg 31-33) 11. Future Meeting Topics None (Pg 33) 12. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c)(d): (c) To Conduct Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest in Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency; and (d) To Consider Records that are Exempt from Disclosure as Provided in Chapter 3, Title 9, Idaho Code; Into Executive Session at 7:22 p.m. Out of Executive Session at 8:15 p.m. Adjourned at 8:15 p.m. (Pg 33-34) Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda — Tuesday, March 03, 2015 Page 3 of 3 All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 3, 2015, by President Charlie Rountree. Members Present: Charlie Rountree, Keith Bird, David Zaremba, Joe Borton, Genesis Milam and Luke Cavener. Members Absent: Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Bruce Chatterton, Bill Parsons, Kyle Radek, Berle Stokes, Perry Palmer, and Dean Willis. Item 1: Roll -call Attendance: Roll call. X David Zaremba X Joe Borton X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird X Genesis Milam X Lucas Cavener X Mayor Tammy de Weerd Rountree: It is the appointed hour for the March 3rd meeting of the Meridian City Council at 6:00 p.m. Welcome, everybody, for tonight's meeting. Glad to see you here. Hope you enjoy the entertainment this evening. First thing on the agenda is the roll call. Madam Clerk. Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance Rountree: If you will all rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) Item 3: Community Invocation by Pastor Gene Hill with Parkview Christian Church Rountree: Next on the agenda is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by Pastor Gene Hill from Parkview Christian Church. Pastor, welcome. Please. Hill: Let us pray. Creator God, we thank you so much for the opportunity to meet this evening and we pray that your will now be done as we review the issues that face Meridian. We thank you for the Mayor and for the Council and for all of the citizens that are here this evening. So, now we would ask for your will to be done as we go through this time together this evening and we thank you for the great city that we are privileged to live in and for the freedom that we enjoy in this community and in this country and this prayer we leave now in Christ's name, amen. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 2 of 34 Rountree: Thank you, pastor. I don't -- have you been here before? I don't recall if you have visited before. Hill: This is my first time. Rountree: I'd like to give you a City of Meridian pin. Hill: Well, thank you very much. Rountree: Add that to your collection. Hill: Thank you. Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda Rountree: Next item is the adoption of the agenda. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: On the agenda, Item 6-C from the Mayor's Office, resolution number is 15-1052. Item 9-B and 9-C have been asked to be continued to March 17th, which we will do that as it comes up. And with that I move that we approve the agenda as published. Zaremba: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All in favor signify by aye. Opposed by nay. Unanimous. Thank you. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 5: Consent Agenda A. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order for Approval: PP 14-020 Accommodations Subdivision by Providence Management, LLC Located South Side of E. Falcon Drive and East of S. Eagle Road Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Fourteen (14) Single Family Residential Lots and Three (3) Common Lots on Approximately 4.71 Acres in the R-4 Zoning District B. FP 15-005 Hill's Century Farm Subdivision No. 2 by Brighton Investments, LLC Located 5340 S. Eagle Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Fifty -Six (56) Building Lots and Nine Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 3 of 34 (9) Common Lots on 19.78 Acres of Land in the R-8 Zoning District C. Professional Services Agreement For Mayor's Anti -Drug Coalition Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant Program Evaluation Services In An Amount Not To Exceed $9,000.00 D. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2015 Single -Night Sponsorship Agreement Between Sierra Trading Post and the City of Meridian for a Not -to -Exceed Amount of $500.00 E. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2015 Single -Night Sponsorship Agreement Between Idaho Central Credit Union and the City of Meridian for a Not -to -Exceed Amount of $650.00 F. Award of RFP and Approval of Agreement to Lawn Co. for the "LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE SERVICES 2015-2017" Project for a Not -To -Exceed Amount of $417,925.00 G. Award of Agreement to Engineered Structures, Inc. for the "OLD CITY HALL TENANT IMPROVEMENT - CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES" Project for a Not -To -Exceed amount of $6,200.00 H. Touchstone Place On -Site Water Easement I. Touchstone Place Off -Site Water Easement Rountree: Next Item is the Consent Agenda. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve the Consent Agenda as published and for the Mayor -- or for the President to sign and the Clerk to attest. Zaremba: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. Roll call, please. Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 4 of 34 Item 6: Department Reports A. Mayor's Office: Mayor's Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) Update Rountree: Next item, Item 6, Department Reports, and we have a report from the MYAC group, so welcome. We always enjoy finding out what you folks have been up to through the past few weeks and you always just amaze us with all the stuff you do get done. Thank you. Lawrence: Members of the Council, my name is Mackenzie Lawrence. I'm the vice -chair for MYAC and I'm a senior at Renaissance High School. By the way, if you haven't checked out the gallery upstairs I definitely recommend that. The art is amazing. We just got done with our section up there. So, for the month of February one of the first things that MYAC participated in was the State of the City. We were in our year in review video, as well as the Do The Right video and we helped usher, kind of set up some of the different tables and we had an information board where we were taking signatures for a bill on the petition for that and also kind of just doing what's MYAC up to, what are we all about, what are we doing. So, we really enjoyed being a part of that and that was my second year being there and it's really cool to kind of see how the city works and what has been going on and kind of what we have done over the past year. So, the next thing was at our general council meeting we had Joan Endicott come and speak and from the executive council picking her, we kind of thought of serving two purposes. First, we wanted to really refine our speaking skills, because as we get closer to possibly having a -- a hearing in the house or in the senate, we really wanted to work on how we present ourselves and how we speak and kind of first impression how you interact with people on a more professional level and Joan was really, really good about working with us. She brought a volunteer from the audience and everything and she also kind of helped promote our positive message, kind of that MYAC is here to support all the youth and that you can come to us with any issue and just kind of talk about it. We had a really good time with her and I think she did a really good thing for our council as far as our skills go and kind of bringing us all together as a group and, then, the next thing that we have done on the 20th we had our TAC event and we do one event per month that we try to do as a goal where we just plan a really fun event where teens can bring their -- bring a friend and kind of get introduced to MYAC -- as you can see the advisors are there. Ken's like awesome bowling stance. Rountree: Great form. Lawrence: And we kind of interact with each other just not discussing really important things, we are just kind of having bowling or we have gone ice skating, we have gone to the Steelheads games, we do a lot of fun activities that are just a safe environment with adults and having a good time, kind of just getting to know each other on a different level. Following that we did Ignite Youth and a big congrates to a MYACer Jesse Smith. He's won two years in a row now. His presentation was why Idaho should be named Star 41 and I didn't get to go to this, but I heard it was hilarious and I know -- you were there. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 5 of 34 Borton: Yes. Lawrence: Yeah. Was it funny? Borton: It was fantastic. Lawrence: Yeah. He is presenting it again at our general meeting so everyone gets to see it. I wasn't there. But this event has kind of really taken off. Over the last couple of years especially me seeing it especially, we had a full house at the Party Barn. I believe executive council reviewed about 30 submissions. We have had really great support from all the different high schools with the government or the speech and debate teachers being like, hey, you guys should do this, you know, you get five minutes to talk about anything you want and we reviewed all kinds of submissions. Serious, like anti -bullying one or really funny ones like this one or there was one about twins -- they are like all across the board, anything you can think of someone wanted to talk about it and I think personally, coming from a speech and debate background I think it's so important to like get up and talk to people and experience that and talk about something that you're interested in. So, I think watching this event grow has been really cool in the last couple of years. Something that we are looking forward to that we have been really working on over the last month is the Prom Extravaganza. So, that's on March 14th and it is from 2:00 to 4:00, 1 believe, and over the weekend a bunch of the MYACers went and made a photo shoot and they have been working with Paige's Boutique and this I believe benefits CATCH, the charity organization CATCH. So, they are kind of working on selling tickets and they are promoting this like a promotional photo shoot and I know that they are having so much fun. Like who doesn't like to get dressed up and someone is like putting on a nice dress and they go do hair and makeup and we had a really good time with that. So, we are doing all the planning, all the details for that in the next coming month and we also have -- oh, I guess that's all. But as far as executive council goes, we were meeting with directors at each of our meetings, so we have met with Ms. Holman. That was great. And Chief Niemeyer and Chief Lavey and we have kind of kind of got their advice on how we move forward and approach important issues. We talked about the suicide. We talked about bullying. We talked about different leadership styles and how we can kind of like focus our efforts and kind of develop our own leadership role as the executive members of MYAC. So, I think I have heard these presentations for two years and I still think I get so much out of them every time. So, it really cool to see how the different directors manage their teams and what they kind of see as the most important parts of leadership. So, it's really been -- it's been a really focused month. We haven't really been doing a lot of events, but we have been working really hard behind the scenes. Rountree: Thank you. Any questions? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Luke. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 6 of 34 Cavener: A couple quick questions. First, Mackenzie, great to have you back. I loved your presentation. Talk to me a little bit about your efforts with the legislature. How is that -- how is that going? What do you gauge your response has been? Lawrence: It's been really varied I would say. There has been some new articles come out that we have read -- that I have personally read that kind of error on the side of it's not really going to happen and we were almost dead for one point during the month and think we really have been trying to like brainstorm ideas about how to get our message across and we have been thinking about ways to contact different organizations -- like different youth organizations throughout Idaho. I know that buckle Up For Bobby, Sherry and Duke Rogers, they have really been working with us to kind of see what different groups -- youth groups in mostly northern Idaho, I think, that would be willing to work with us to give their -- their opinions of their youth message and I know Chief Lavey had a really good idea for us. We just talked to him yesterday, actually, and he said to really make it a youth message, not just coming from MVAC, so kind of like all throughout Idaho and we have been contacted by Parma, I believe -- Payette. Payette to work with and kind of set up their own youth council. So, I think we are really trying to move forward with our whole message and kind of get a stronger group and a stronger like statistics and we are always looking for new information that we can use. Cavener: Okay. One more question. So, you have really seen MYAC really grow and evolve for the past few years. Lawrence: Uh-huh. Cavener: What do you think it's going to take for you -- for the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council to move to that next step? What are the things that need to happen internally, externally? To somebody who is a leader on the executive council, what are the things that you think that this council needs? Lawrence: I think what executive council -- I know what we have been working on most is organization. I think we -- I mean like it was kind of awesome, we have all these good ideas and we are like bursting energy and all so excited and trying to like focus us in and kind of rally -- Ken said it's like herding cats, which it really is. Like herding 200 teenagers is very difficult and so we have been really focusing on making for sure schedules and kind of getting all the information out and make sure everyone is like on the same page and really coming together, because before when we were smaller it was easier to kind of just -- well, you're doing this, you're doing that, everything is good. And now we are really trying to work on like the logistics of what we are doing. We are trying to get a solid routine down for every meeting. We are voting on things and kind of putting together like a list of all of our people and getting out like e-mails and texts and we are trying all kinds of different things. It's really been an interesting MYAC year as far as like what we have been doing, because it's all been trial and error. We have tried a lot of things and haven't really worked, so we have gone back to the dry board and redone things. So, we are really working on internally how to make sure that all the external things happen. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 7 of 34 Cavener: Good. Well, we appreciate your effort. Lawrence: Thank you. Rountree: Any questions? Comments? Milam: Mr. President? Rountree: Genesis. Milam: Thank you for your energy and your enthusiasm that you bring every time. But did anybody -- did anybody record the Ignite Youth, so I could see it? I had another obligation that night and so I wasn't able to show up, but I would love to see it. Lawrence: Yes, I believe they did. And if you want to see it live, Jesse is doing his thing at our next meeting, which is this coming Monday. So, if you want to come see him. 6:00 o'clock. Milam: Here? Lawrence: Yes. Milam: Thank you very much. Lawrence: You're welcome. Rountree: Well, thank you and thank you for all you do and thank all of your participants as well and, Ken, for the job well done. B. Mayor's Office: Ordinance No. 15-1638: Ordinance Amending Meridian City Code Section 2-5-3(C), Regarding Terms of Meridian Arts Commission Seats Approved C. Mayor's Office: Resolution No. 15-1052: Resolution Appointing Claudia Weathermon Tester to Seat 3, Ellen DeAngelis to Seat 7 and Gretchen Caserotti to Seat 8 of the Meridian Arts Commission Rountree: The next item, 6-B, Ordinance 15-1638. Bill, are you going to talk about that? Robert is going to talk about it. Okay. Simison: Thank you. Thank you, Council President, Council. The next three items are in conjunction with one another. First there has been a request for a little while now to expand the Arts Commission to its full nine member capacity and based upon some of the changes that have occurred in the Arts Commission and the qualified applicants that you're going to see in your next item, the recommendation was now is the right time to Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 8 of 34 expand to nine, but in expanding it to nine, instead of having five people's terms end at the same time, there was a need to stagger when the terms would be there, so that is Item B is just changing the terms and, then, Item C is to appoint the three individuals which applied and were all highly valuable to the commission. So, that would be Claudia Weathermon Tester, Ellen DeAngelis, and, then, Gretchen Caserotti to the Arts Commission to make it a full nine member -- and I believe two of the three were planning on being present and might be here in the audience, if after you take action if you want to have any comments from them at that point in time we could see if they would be interested. But if not that is Item C that is here for your consideration. With that I would stand for any questions. Rountree: Questions? Bird: I have none. Milam: Mr. President? Rountree: Genesis. Milam: Seeing none, I move that we approve Ordinance 15 -- the changes? Is it the changes? Rountree: An amendment. Milam: Sorry. It's different. It's not a new ordinance. Amendment to the Ordinance 15- 1638, amending City Code Section 2-5-3C regarding terms of the Meridian Arts Commission seats. Zaremba: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 6-B, Ordinance 15-1638. Roll call. Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Milam: Mr. President. Regarding Item C, I move that we approve Resolution No. 15-1052 appointing Claudia Weathermon Tester to Seat 3, Ellen DeAngelis to Seat 7 and Gretchen Caserotti to Seat 8 of the Meridian Arts Commission. Cavener: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 6-C, Resolution 15-1052. Roll call, please. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 9 of 34 Holman: President Rountree? Rountree: Yes. Holman: Even though it's an amended ordinance do I need to read that in by title only? Bird: No. It's a resolution. It's not an ordinance. Holman: The ordinance before it. Nary: Yes. Rountree: Will you bring it back? Nary: Yeah. I thought you did. I guess I missed that. I'm sorry. Milam: I jumped ahead. Nary: Oh. Yeah. We do need to read it -- we need to read it by title. Rountree: Please read it. Holman: City of Meridian Ordinance No. 15-1638, an ordinance amending Meridian City Code Section 2-5-3C, regarding terms of Meridian Arts Commission seats and providing an effective date. Rountree: Okay. So, you have all heard the ordinance read by title only. Is there anybody out there that wants to take an opportunity to hear the whole thing? Seeing none. Milam: Mr. President? Rountree: We will reapprove it. Milam: We what? Rountree: We will reapprove this item. Milam: I move that we reapprove the amendment to Ordinance No. 15-1638, City Code Section 2-5-3, regarding terms of the Meridian Arts Commission seats. Bird: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 6-B, the ordinance amendment. Roll call. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 10 of 34 Roll Call: Bird, yea, Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. call MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Rountree: Back to Item 6-C and we have an amendment -- motion to approve this resolution and a second and a roll call vote. Roll Call: Bird, yea, Rountree, yea, Zaremba, yea, Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Rountree: Are any of the new commissioners here this evening? Like to take a moment to -- Claudia. Simison: Thank you. I will turn this over to them. Tester: I would just like to thank the Council for this opportunity to serve the city and though I have been very community involved mostly in nonprofit work and my children's school and church, this is actually my very first ever civic assignment, so I'm just very appreciative of your approval and I hope that I can do well by the City of Meridian. I'm proud to be a resident here. Thank you. Rountree: Thank you. And thank you for being on the commission. D. Finance Department: Discuss Upcoming Budget and Participatory Budget Pilot Project Rountree: The next item is 6-D. Finance Department. Borton: Mr. President? Rountree: Joe, are you going to do this one, then? Borton: I think I will. Rountree: Todd's back there, but -- Borton: Todd's in the back. Rountree: He's going to stay back there. Okay, Todd. Borton: We will be relatively short. Rountree: Okay. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 11 of 34 Borton: From the last Council meeting we discussed the participatory budget process and following that I had a chance to follow up with a couple of Council Members and, then, had a meeting on March 2nd with both Todd and Stacy with Finance, as well as Ken -- who I think left -- concerning answering some of the questions that Council had and one of the larger ones is does this concept of participatory budgeting -- is it really feasible in a compressed time frame to try and implemented something by May and June, which was the initial intent, and it was the consensus of the group that we thought it made sense to introduce the concept to MYAC over -- over the 60 days and use this spring to refine some of the key performance indicators and measurable that the Council would feel comfortable with, engage MYAC to understand the process and what their role would be and, then, with the Council's blessing that we want to go forward this spring, their fall activity and fall period would give them more time to do more due diligence and also allow Finance some time to properly assist them in doing that. So, I think that's what we would be doing. We think it makes sense from leaving the meeting that Finance and Ken and myself would talk to MYAC, try and prepare for the Council some -- a little more sideboards and parameters on how that type of program might work, so it would be maybe late April, early May we would report back and see if this Council wants to bless the process for running its course in the fall. Rountree: Any questions for Councilman Borton? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Keith, did you get the information that we got last week? Bird: No, I did not. Rountree: Okay. Could you get that to Keith? All right. What's your druthers? You want to move forward with this and see how it works out? Cavener: Mr. President? Rountree: Luke. Cavener: This was first presented last week. I wasn't fully optimistic about it and over the past week I have spent some time going over the materials that Councilman Borton provided and I think it's a unique idea, unique approach. I think the right move is to move slower, rather than faster and with the appropriate sideboards. I'm fully in favor of them moving forward and us giving our full blessing in April or May. Excited that they are interested and on board and want to explore this pilot program. Rountree: Thank you. Anybody else? David? Milam: Mr. President? Yeah. I'm in favor of it. I was from the beginning, so -- Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 12 of 34 Rountree: We have unanimous consent that we will move forward with this. Okay. Move forward, Joe. Finance. Borton: Okay. Rountree: Thank you for bringing that to us. It's interesting. Let's hope it pens out. Item 7: Community Items/Presentations A. Meridian Transit Planning Rountree: The next item is 7-A. Meridian Transit Planning. Kelly, are you going to start that off? Thank you. Fairless: Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Council. I regretted I wasn't able to be to your February meeting when this was discussed, so I appreciated the opportunity that our staff had to present to you the proposal that the team had come up with for some service scenarios and I understood you had some questions and the team got back together and, hopefully, we will be able to satisfy those questions and kind of give you a few options going forward. Just, again, to kind of set the context of Valley Regional Transit's mission is developing and managing transportation resources. We focus a lot on the coordination effective, efficient -- I mean all those words are about trying to find the right return on investment for the transportation services that -- that we are doing in the region. We are accountable to local governments and we want to make sure that -- that we are supporting the delivery of services that -- that really do add value to your communities. The team wanted to put this map up and just show you again -- these are the existing routes in our region right now and Meridian, as you can see, there is a big gapping hole. We'd like nothing better than to start being able to put services in your city and be able to start serving your community and are excited for the opportunity to be able to be exploring that at this time. I think that the one -- the one area that, you know, we always try to emphasize is we want the right system for your community. We want a system that has enough types of options and really is going to meet the needs. Just a reminder about how our local funding -- you know, we -- I think last year I did a presentation and we talked very specifically about the federal funds that are available, but also how our local funding comes about. We -- all of the services that happen within each of the boundaries of our communities are all funded directly by those communities. Just to give you an economy of scale, the city of Boise puts in about six million dollars a year. I believe Nampa a few hundred thousand, about -- up to about 300,000 now. So, it's -- that's how we fund the operations and so much of what we do is connected together regionally, so, for example, you all contribute to the routes that serve the intercounty lines and in a regional system where we are connecting communities, those -- those partnerships are extremely important and that all of our funding is really, from the local level, is all voluntary. There isn't anybody that -- you know, we don't have a dedicated funding source, so all of this has to be a voluntary contribution and that's why we focus so much on understanding what you all want to see, what's important to you about your transit system. I understood there were some questions about -- some questions about Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 13 of 34 performance measures around transit, that one of the things we have provided here is sort of a look at -- at the capacity of vehicles -- a typical 40 foot transit bus, you could have up to 38 people -- 19 standing, so 38 seated, 19 standing, and there is also two positions for wheelchairs. When someone in a wheelchair is using the bus, then, it's taking up the space -- the sitting spaces, but that's what the typical capacity is. The smaller vehicles, what we call cutaways, you can see those are 21 seated, ten standing, and those also have two wheelchairs. The cost per service hour ranges around 75 to 100 dollars an hour, depending on who the provider is and the cost for each of those providers. So, if we looked at the average ridership per hour and if you take the -- take the number of seats available -- and even if we assume some -- because I think the question was if the vehicle was packed, if it was filled to the brim, what would -- what would the cost per person for that hour of service be and so what -- what we did is -- you're probably not typically going to have an intercounty route packed with 19 people standing necessarily, so even if we say 48 people on that particular trip and if we assume 100 dollars an hour, which is the highest, it's about two dollars per is what we are talking about. The cost per hour on our service -- our system right now is right at about 5.73 per trip and I want to make a distinction. We don't count actual people in public transportation you count boardings and our word for that is trips. So, I just wanted to clarify that -- that the number of trips -- for example, last year our system had 1.4 million trips. That doesn't mean 1.4 million people. One person may have taken on any given day two or three trips, but it's not typical in transit to talk about the number of people that are boarding, more it's -- it's more the trips. But for an exercise of understanding the relationship between the capacity and the cost based on that capacity, hopefully that answered that question. Maybe not. And I can pause if you have -- if you want more clarity around that. Milam: Mr. President? Rountree: Genesis. Milam: Kelly, thank you. So, my question really was if -- you are asking us for 700,000 dollars, roughly, estimating. So, the question was for that 700,000 dollars how many people are we going to service? And I don't -- this would be if the bus -- if they were riding all day long -- and we are talking about a commuter -- we are talking about something that goes in the morning and, then, comes back in the evening, I believe. So, if every bus going every direction was maxed out how many people would we be able to serve for that money? Fairless: So, Mr. President, Council Member Milam, the challenge we have is can't really project that with such a small scale of service. When we do ridership projections we really have to look at the whole system. So, some of what we attempted to do to try to get at that was really looking at what is our current passengers per hour and kind of the other -- other chart here is when we were at kind of our peak level, our highest level of ridership, which was back in 2008 -- it's been coming down a little bit each year since then. We just take the Nampa -Meridian express, which is a typical commuter route in our area, that was 23.6 passengers per hour. So, we look at those passengers per hour as a matrix and so what I was trying to say is if you look at the cost per hour and the passengers per hour, it Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 14 of 34 gets at what that -- that cost per passenger basically is. So, my intent wasn't to try to say every bus that's full -- if we can break it down into that per hour basis, I think that we get at the cost per hour. Now, to be able to project ridership, that's something that would take more of modeling activity that you don't typically get very good results if you're looking at such a small scale of service. Milam: Mr. President? So, when you -- and this cost per hour, is that -- is that including only operating costs or is that including the capital investment, start-up cost, and everything else that -- Fairless: That would be the cost -- the cost per hour only is for the operation. Cavener: Mr. President? Rountree: Luke. Cavener: Kelly, before we move forward, maybe you can explain to me why as an industry you focus on boardings, rather than people? And, then, maybe along those same lines I would assume globally there is best practice of if we have X amount of boardings per year you're able to say that really resulted in an overage X amount of people and we are not looking to hold you, you know, to the fire on that, but some type of ballpark figure for me is going to be really important. Fairless: Mr. President, Council Member Cavener, the issue is -- is about how we give you a good number and not just a pull out of the air guess and when we are looking at -- and we did a study of our whole transit system back in 2005, what sort of set the foundation, and in that contract we had the ridership for the service restructure project, so we could say if we do this service and we apply this kind of effort to marketing, we will see this kind of increase in ridership and we could put a number to that. We couldn't do that in Canyon county, because the system was too small to model that way. So, now we are talking about taking even a sub set of that and it's just not -- it wouldn't be good data for us to give to you and I'm not trying to dodge that, I'm just saying in the industry it's -- it's the economy of scale of what we are talking about. We wouldn't be able to do that with any kind of surety. So, I guess the concern I have -- and I'm going to just be really honest that -- Cavener: I appreciate that. Fairless: -- if we are talking about that as -- as the performance matrix, I think we probably need to be spending more time really helping you understand what that return on investment is and maybe that's something that, you know, we -- I think a lot of the jurisdictions are grappling with that same thing and it's just not how the industry measures performance on a per person basis, it's a per trip basis. So, it would be apples to oranges for us to do that. We could make up some way to do that, but it's not going to probably give you the information that you need to make that decision. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 15 of 34 Cavener: Mr. President? Rountree: Luke. Cavener: Nationally there is not a number that -- an average public transit rider take blank trips a year? Fairless: There are -- we used to track transfers in our system, that was like about 20 -- well, 15 years ago. We tracked transfers in our system and we could take a rate of transfer for a system and say there was this percentage of people that transferred and we could kind of narrow it down to numbers of people, but we don't do transfers any longer, so, we just count how many times somebody gets on and off the bus as our matrix. We don't have a way of saying that equates to his many people. We could look nationally, but we also aren't the same kind of system nationally, because we are -- we have fewer hours per density of population -- there is a lot of factors that would go into that and, again, it would just be trying to pull a number out to tell you something, because I know -- I would love to be able to give you a number that you're looking for, but it's just not the way that transit it measured and so it would just be a best guess and I don't think it would lead you to a good decision about the system. And not because I think it would be a bad number, honestly don't know what the number would be. It's just not the way that we track ridership. Cavener: Mr. President, one more. In 2005 when you projected kind of where your ridership would go, did you hit that number? Were you over? Were you under? If so, by how much? Fairless: Yeah. That's a great question, Mr. President, Council Member. We actually -- it took -- we restructured the services in 2005 -- the end of 2005. It took us several years to get the bus stop system in place and that was one of the things that we were told would -- would be a factor for -- because of the marketing benefits of that. The month after we put the bus stops in in Canyon county we started seeing the ridership climb and it was by the end of that year we had reached the -- it was about 2009 we reached the ridership that was projected for the route restructure, which was about a ten percent increase in ridership, and in Boise that climb started a little bit later, because their bus stop system went in about three months later. Again, we saw the same sort of climb and, then, reached their ridership projections in about the same time, 2009. And, really, it came down to measuring it against how it was designed and making sure that that's all the factors that they put into a model to determine ridership is -- is the design, the activity centers -- I mean it's a fairly complex model. Cavener: One more and I apologize. Who created that model and who was the one that kind of gave you your guidance as to this is what we need to go to? Fairless: Mr. President, Council Member, that was done by a consultant, Nelson/Nygaard. They -- we hired them to do that route restructure and that was one of their -- their tools that they developed and they use those all over when they do route structures and that Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 16 of 34 particular cost about -- I think it was about three or four thousand dollars for the -- to do the whole system. That was what that particular exercise cost. Milam: Mr. President? Kelly, I apologize for either being naive or asking the same question in 15 different ways, but -- and I'm not attacking, I'm just -- I need to take -- need to find out the answer and, then, really turn it into layman's terms, because when I'm asked about it I need to be able to explain to my neighbor what we are doing and why and how much, so -- and I'm trying to remember back to the slides regarding that -- and maybe that's what you have here as well, so maybe I'm jumping ahead, but it was roughly -- it's a commuter trip, 700,000 dollars. Fairless: Uh-huh. Milam: Okay. So, is that one bus? Is that one time a day? What do we get -- I still am going back to what is it that for 729,000 -- so, okay, four vehicles. So, four vehicles, so 6:00 to 9:00 and, then, from 5:00 to 7:00. So, if we had four vehicles here -- four vehicles packed, are these the -- are these the large vehicles or the 40 foot or -- Fairless: Those would be the 40 foot vehicles. Milam: So, 57 times four is how many people we can service. To me that we would be maximum. Fairless: Uh-huh. Milam: Plus a couple wheelchairs if we -- okay. Fairless: And, again, that's just not in our industry of considered a best practice for how you determine what your ridership is going to be, so I just hate to -- Milam: But that could be the maximum ridership. Fairless: That could be the maximum. Milam: And what I want to do is take this on a best case scenario -- I just want a guarantee to us this is how many people are riding it. But at best case scenario what could we be servicing -- that's how this to me -- well, who we could be servicing for the limit, so that's -- yeah. That answered my question. Thank you. Fairless: And, then, other -- Zaremba: Mr. President? Fairless: -- matrix we were showing was what our actual per hour ridership is. So, for every one of those vehicles in our -- what's actually happening on the street is about -- so, I think we kind of landed on a fairly -- oops. I went the wrong way. Oh, well. Anyway. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 17 of 34 Rountree: Take the bus the next time. Fairless: Yes, take the bus next time. So -- and I just can't remember what that ridership was, if it's, you know, 14 passengers per hour, 20 passengers per hour. So, we have the capacity of 58, but the actual on the street is more like anywhere from 14 to 25. So, that's what I was trying to tell you is that that's the range we are talking about. But with a commuter it probably would be more -- it's typically a higher per hour rate, because -- for ridership, because you're running fewer hours of service and it's the -- limited stop tends to attract more passengers. Milam: So, once they are there they are probably going to want to come back. Fairless: Yeah. Milam: Thank you. Rountree: David. Zaremba: Mr. President, thank you. I just wanted to make sure the impression wasn't left that the four vehicles would make only one trip in a day. They go back and forth and have several boardings each direction throughout their period of service. So, you can't just take that number and divide it by four and say that's what a trip costs, you -- each vehicle is going to make the round trip several times during that period. Cavener: Mr. President? Maybe a question for Kelly about that is how many trips can a -- can a bus make from the hours of 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. and how many trips can a bus make from 5:00 to 7:00 o'clock p.m. on average? Fairless: So, depending on the length of the route -- again, it all comes down to design and -- so, if the route -- if it was -- and that's why we are talking hypothetically about a service versus the actual design service, so we are assuming that every hour would be one trip that you would have -- every hour would be one trip and that's why we are talking about things in a per hour basis. Passengers per hour. Cost per hour. Because that's what the trip would be, would be for an hour. So, when you think about four vehicles, one may be coming in town, one's going out of town, so they are kind of crossing over each other and so for that trip it's -- if that makes sense at all. And these are -- you know, need to pause for a second, because I -- one of the things we have recognized that we need to do -- and it's on our strategic plan for this coming year -- is what we are calling Public Transportation 101. What is the return on investment to local communities. Because you aren't the only one that has these kinds of questions and these are really, really important questions. We are not here to sell you on putting a transit system in your city unless it's something that you think adds the value to your community that you want to have. So, we want to be able to answer the questions -- we also want you to understand what we can and can't do as far as how we -- how the data comes out and what we use the data for, so that we are looking at your system compared to Nampa's system, Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 18 of 34 compared to Boise's system, that there is some normal -- normalizing of the information, so that when you're talking to your constituent about how much it costs, it's the same number if we applied the same matrix, we would come up with the same answer for a citizen of Nampa or a citizen of Boise. That's really what we are trying to get at. And so one of the things we are going to put together -- and it was actually requested by the Nampa city council is we want to make a good investment in our transit system. Help us understand how to do that. And the other thing that's happening right now is we are seeing the ridership on our -- our intercounty and our Canyon county services dropping pretty significantly in the last couple of years. We have had a flat entry to the budget. Since 2008 there hasn't been additional money -- every year we have to do the same service with less. There is -- traffic's gotten -- you know, it's gotten heavier. The routes are tighter, the -- there is a lot of issues that we need to look at. So, we are taking a special look over this next several months. It will start this summer to really look at the Canyon county, west Ada County service structure and part of that would be this Public Transportation 101. So, I think we will get to where you want to be in terms of your understanding of that return on investment and how to answer those questions and I think we are going to do it with a better understanding of what we have today, so that as we build on what we have today it's -- it's a good foundation. Does that answer -- Cavener: At least it lets me know where we are at. Fairless: Yeah. Rountree: Any other questions? Comments? So, you have more? Fairless: I just wanted to get to what our options are. Rountree: All right. Fairless: So, this says the options that we wanted to present as far as where we are at today -- you know, part of the issue is we are investing a lot of time -- staff time in developing the services and we certainly are more than happy to do that. It's just there is a point where we need to know if this is the right time to be investing that level. We have had great participation with Councilman Zaremba, Caleb, David Ballard and Stephen Lewis from the transportation commission and, then, our staff time as well. So, they wanted to present -- we wanted to present to you that, you know, for this upcoming fiscal year the options really are wait and kind of see how the review of the current services go and the Public Transportation 101 opportunity. Another option is setting aside some funds for capital for -- it could take up to two years to be able to purchase capital. So, that's another option. Or do you want us to go forward and really develop out that commuter scenario where we can get more detail and more refinement of the options, so that we can offer you those -- that level of detail. So, that is where we are at today. Milam: Mr. President? Rountree: Thank you, Kelly. Genesis. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 19 of 34 Milam: Sorry, Kelly, I was waiting, because I wasn't sure what else you're presenting, but I had another question that I kind of asked last time, but I still ask -- you know, I still don't understand the answer to that and was why do we not qualify for federal funds, because that would, obviously, answer this question for us, it would be a no brainer at that point. Fairless: Mr. President, Council Member, it's not that you don't qualify for federal funds, it's that in this urbanized area, which is Boise, Meridian, Eagle, and Garden City, there are three million federal dollars available and because every year those three million dollars get spent on primarily preventative maintenance and capital, we have not used them for operating by policy since about 2007. So, it doesn't mean that Meridian wouldn't have access to those, it means we would have to go back through a vetting process, a process regionally to figure out what's the fair allocation of those dollars. So, I think what we have been trying to do is sort of show you the worst case scenario, so you're planning against the worst case scenario. If we are going to change how those dollars get allocated, it would require the city of Boise, then, to look at how their -- because they would end up having to make up the difference, because a lot of those funds are being used -- about a millions dollars of those funds are being used on their preventative maintenance. So -- and capital investments and that sort of thing. So, if we are going to change how those get allocated around the region, it would just require a conversation at a regional level, at the Valley Regional Transit board level about what's the fair allocation of those among all of the jurisdictions. Does that -- Milam: Yes. Fairless: Okay. I'm glad I could answer one clearly. Milam: I like that idea. Zaremba: Mr. President? Rountree: Comments? David. Zaremba: Two, if I may. In addition to developing the Public Transportation 101 that Kelly mentioned, I understand that VRT also is beginning this summer going to embark on a study of what a revised whole system ought to be. So, there is more information going to be developed and more information coming. I would also add that yesterday after the Valley Regional Transit executive board meeting, Ada County Highway District Commission Chairman Jim Hansen came to me and said you have got to tell your Council that if they decide on something like the -- what's suggested here, to develop the commuter scenario and try and get it into our fiscal year '16 budget, you have got to tell them that ACHD has a new leadership and we are interested in participating in public transportation and that if Meridian wants to invest in public transportation we need to request some funds from ACHD to help us do it. So, I am passing that message along, that we would conceptually have support from the commission at least if we chose to enter into this project at this time or even later. I mean they are planning to try and make Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 20 of 34 that part of their program. But I just thought I'd throw that in, because the last time we talked I said that it wasn't very likely, but the current chairman is very anxious to have this happen and to help. Milam: Wonderful. Rountree: Further comments? Questions? Direction? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Any opinion? I know where David's coming from. Cavener: Mr. President? Rountree: Luke. Cavener: Just my opinion. I really want to be like the guy for public transit in Meridian. Next to Councilman Zaremba, of course. I'm struggling just a lot and it comes down to a point that you make. There is a lot of hypotheticals out there. There is a lot of arbitrary. The only part that's not arbitrary is the price tag and that's hard to say, yes, I can get on board with this, because the only thing that I know for sure is how much it's going to cost our taxpayers and is that more important than police, fire, parks, et cetera. And it's a struggle for me. So, in my opinion is that this isn't something I feel real comfortable moving forward in this fiscal year, but I want to be involved in this Public Transit 101 and 201 and 401 -- if there is post -graduate courses I want to be there, too. We -- and I would encourage you to provide that education to our residents as well. The second piece of that is -- and it sounds like that you are already doing it is really conducting a study as to what the needs of the valley are and how Meridian will play that part. But we are not relying on hypotheticals and arbitrary, we are running on -- and this organization that you used to conduct your study in 2005, it seems like they did a great job for you guys, I would hope that's the one that you're going back to. That's the type of data that I really need to be able to say this is the right place for the dollars to go to. Rountree: Other comments? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Luke, I appreciate you volunteering. If you remember, I put out there the opportunity to become a member of VRT board and that opportunity is soon going to be availing itself, so I look forward to seeing your hand raised again. And I -- to Kelly, the idea of the Public Transit 101 1 think is a great idea. It's something certainly this Council needs -- maybe not this end so much, because I know Joe has been on VRT board and David is the chairman and I have been chairman, so the new folks that really have not been involved I think need that opportunity to see the difficulties that are involved is not only soothsaying what -- what the performance measures are going to be, but how difficult it is to operate an organization with not enough money. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 21 of 34 Fairless: Yeah. And, Mr. President, I think it's such a good point that we are not here to sell you on having a transit system just to have a transit system. I think there are urban areas that are just like Meridian that invest in transit -- we can learn a lot from them. mean you have some challenging land use patterns to serve with transit. I will be really honest with you, suburban land use patterns are very challenging to -- to serve transit in the way that -- that you want to get that return on investment. Sometimes you're return on investment is just access. It's not high ridership, it's coverage. It's that -- it goes to where people want to go and it's -- there are fewer people that are there, but they have no other option. Sometimes it is about Fairview Avenue and, you know, Eagle Road and corridors where you just really need to get cars off the road and you have got to invest in -- in high quality, limited stop, get that bus moving and so those are the kinds of things that I want you to think about this as a system of options and not just one or two options that, you know, we will keep our fingers crossed and hope it works. That's where I think we can do a lot in terms of education. Rountree: So, I think to sum up for direction for you, Kelly, as it -- I think where we are is more education. We are in the throws of just starting to budget for our next fiscal year. We have an idea of a concept. We have an idea of conceptual dollars. As the information comes in, as the learning curve slows down, maybe we will be able to do something in terms of anticipating something for our next fiscal year in our next budget. Fairless: Yeah. And the timing for that is perfect. Rountree: But for now I think your staff's time is probably better served dealing with some other scenarios that need to be looked at, quite honestly. Fairless: Yeah. Mr. President, we won't waste a moment of time, because like we are going to be looking at that -- that route structure and that will become a foundation we can build these other things on. So, I appreciate all of your support in letting us come and present and bring some ideas to you. You know, I have been doing this now 15 years and we are at a place that we haven't been at before, so this is a -- I see this as positive forward motion and really have appreciated your time. Rountree: At some point in time in the not too distant future I'd like to hear from you as well on the commuter routes that we have. They are quite successful and I think they tell a good story and also give us an idea of what's going on with the Saturday service -- Fairless: Yes. Rountree: -- as we factor that into our next budget as well. Fairless: Yes. All right. Thank you. Rountree: Thank you. Borton: Mr. President? Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 22 of 34 Rountree: Joe. Borton: Really quick, Kelly. We have had lively debates over public transportation, but a couple things I really appreciate. I think the questions that have been asked by Council here are really helpful for, you know, folks that have been involved a long time or note, I think they uncover and make us relook at particular issues. So, I really appreciate the question and, in particular, I really appreciate the way you present this topic and the data. I think you do a very objective and fair process. Fairless: Thank you. Borton: You're not necessarily selling one thing or the other, but really making sure we have got data that helps us make good decisions whatever they are. So -- Fairless: I think I used the term we are snake oil salesmen, so -- we are here to help you for sure. Thank you. Borton: You're far from it. Fairless: Thank you. Zaremba: Mr. President? Rountree: David. Zaremba: I would just like to add to that. You know, Kelly has been a champion and expert at this. VRT has existed for about 15 years, 16 almost going on now, and her leadership there has been tremendous in accomplishing a whole lot with very little funding and not much security there, but her whole staff and everybody that's participated in the monthly and sometimes twice monthly meetings that we have been having to bring this discussion forward, including a couple of our Meridian Transportation Commission members and several staff members from VRT, one from COMPASS -- there have been a lot of people involved and I have learned a bunch of stuff during this process, but I just -- I wanted to appreciate that efforts that's been put into getting us this far to even be ready to talk about it. So, I don't think any of that time was wasted, I think it will all be useful as we go forward, but I just wanted to thank everybody that has participated so far. Rountree: Thank you for your comments. Item 8: Items Moved From Consent Agenda Item 9: Action Items A. Public Hearing: VAC 15-003 Reflection Ridge Subdivision No. 1, Lots 27 & 28, Block 6 by Zach Evans Construction Located 1112 Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 23 of 34 & 1124 E. Wrightwood Drive Request: Vacation of the 10 -Foot Wide Interior Side Public Utility, Drainage and Irrigation Easement Located on the Common Lot Line Between Lots 27 & 28, Block 6 Rountree: Next item is Item 9-A, since we moved nothing from the Consent Agenda. will open the public hearing on Item 9-A for the vacancy for easements for Reflection Ridge Subdivision. Bill, are you going to talk about that? Parsons: Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Council. The first item on the agenda tonight is the -- a vacation application for Reflection Ridge Subdivision, Lots 27 and 28, Block 6. Currently there is the existing home constructed on Lot 27 that encroaches in -- within the five foot wide public utility and drainage easement and also the sideyard setback. In order to remedy the situation the applicant will have to, one, get your approval of vacating that easement -- those easements this evening and, then, follow up with the planning division on a property boundary adjustment to move the property boundary in alignment with that setback requirement. Also because easements are being vacated, the applicant will have to create new easements along the newly formed property line that's created with that record of survey. All of the utility providers have provided their consent to relinquish the easements. I'm here for easement documentation or at least the exhibit the applicant provided is part of the application submittal. You can see how much of that is actually encroaching within the easement area, which is depicted here and, again, the property line would move south of that and, then, ultimately, everything would come to alignment with not only the easement -- being outside of the easement, but also some complying with the UDC setbacks in the R-8 district. Staff did receive comments from the applicant. They are in agreement with all the requirements in the staff report. This concludes my presentation and I'd stand for any questions the Council may have. Rountree: Any questions for Bill? Bird: I have none at this time. Rountree: Bill, this makes it clear that we don't get into the situation here as we just tried to clear up last week or the week before with easements and adjustments and ownerships and all of those sorts of things? Parsons: Mr. President, Members of the Council, as I explained to you at the -- a few weeks ago at that hearing, a record of survey can't really create an easement. In order for the applicant to establish an easement they would have to basically draft up separate legal descriptions, separate easement documents and record it against the properties and, then, subsequently add that instrument number on the recorded record of survey and that's the process that he would have to go through moving forward. So, what we could anticipate, if that's the desire -- and that's how it's written in the staff report to do that, is when they come in with their property boundary adjustment and they record that at the county we hope to see that instrument number on the record of survey identifying the new easements created. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 24 of 34 Rountree: And that, you believe, is understood by the applicant? Parsons: To my understanding that is correct. Rountree: All right. Is the applicant here? If you would state your name and address for us, please. Wonders: Sure. Scott Wonders with JUB. 250 South Beachwood Avenue in Boise. We are representing the applicant. We are in concurrence with all of the staff recommendations on the staff report and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have. Rountree: Are there any question? Bird: I have none for him. Rountree: Well, you're lucky. Thank you. Wonders: Thank you very much. Rountree: This is a public hearing. I don't have anybody signed up wishing to testify. Is there anybody that would wish to testify? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we close the public hearing on VAC 15-003. Milam: Second. Zaremba: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing on Item 9-A. All those in favor signify by aye. Opposed by nay. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve VAC 15-003, includes all staff and applicant comments. Zaremba: Second. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 25 of 34 Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 9-A. All those -- roll call. Excuse me. Roll Call: Bird, yea, Rountree, yea, Zaremba, yea, Borton, abstain; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSTAIN. B. Public Hearing: AZ 14-014 Sulamita Church by Architecture Northwest Located Southwest Corner of W. Cherry Lane and N. Black Cat Road: Annexation and Zoning of 9.76 Acres of Land with an R-8 Zoning District C. Public Hearing: CUP 14-019 Sulamita Church by Architecture Northwest Located Southwest Corner of W. Cherry Lane and N. Black Cat Road Request: Conditional Use Permit Approval to Develop a Church on Approximately 8.47 Acres in the Proposed R-8 Zoning District Rountree: Next Item 9-B and C, and they have been requested to be continued until March 17th. Bill, have you got an explanation for that? Parsons: Mr. President, Members of the Council, primarily what's happened is the applicant failed to post the site within the ten -- ten days time frame, so they are just asking for the continuance in order to comply with the ordinance. Rountree: Okay. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: Hearing that I move we continue -- are you going to open up the two public hearings first then? Rountree: I will open up Items 9-B and C. Bird: Okay. Now, I would move that we continue the public hearings for AZ 14-014 and CUP 14-019 to March 17th, 2015. Zaremba: Second. Milam: Second. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 26 of 34 Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to continue Items 9-B and 9-C. All those in favor of the motion signify by aye. Opposed by nay. Okay. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Rountree: Hopefully there is nobody out there wishing to testify for those, to it or for it. D. Public Hearing: AZ 14-015 Granton Square Subdivision by Granton Square Properties, LLC Located East Side of N. Locust Grove Road and South of E. Ustick Road Request: Annexation of Approximately 5.13 Acres from RUT in Ada County to the R-8 (Medium Density Residential) Zoning District E. Public Hearing: PP 14-019 Granton Square Subdivision by Granton Square Properties, LLC Located East Side of N. Locust Grove Road and South of E. Ustick Road Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Twenty -Eight (28) Single Family Residential Lots and Seven (7) Common Lots on Approximately 4.81 Acres in the Proposed R-8 Zoning District Rountree: Next item is Item 9-D. Public hearing AZ 14-015. 1 will open up that public hearing. Bill. Parsons: Thank you, Mr. President, Members of the Council. The next item on the agenda is the Granton Square annexation and preliminary plat. This is an enclave remnant parcel within Ada County, currently zoned RUT. As you can see here on the zoning map the property is surrounded by primarily three subdivisions zoned R-8 and if you look at this graphic you will also notice that there aren't any stub streets to this property with the adjacent subdivisions as well. The only other Ada County piece in this area is to the north and, again, it is separated -- it's hard to see on this map, but it is separated by a common lot that was created with the adjacent subdivision to the east and it is their drainage lot for their roadway system that was I believe platted sometime in the late '90s. The property is currently developed with a single family residence and an outbuilding that will remain as part of the development. The applicant will be required to hook up the existing home to city services with the development of the subdivision. In the staff report it was also noted that the home may not stay. The applicant wanted some flexibility to keep the home as part of the preliminary plat, but at the time that he decides to submit the final plat the home may be removed and the applicant would move forward with basically two buildable lots, instead one -- one lot in which the home will sit on. So, the preliminary plat itself will consist of 28 residential homes, single family homes. As mentioned to you, there is -- there are no sub streets provided to this property, so it really is an enclave surrounded by city development. So, the primary entrance would come off of Locust Grove. ACHD has analyzed this connection point and they have approved the location of this connection to Locust Grove in this area. As I noted to you to the north boundary here you do see that detention pond that was created with that subdivision. In working with the applicant and ACHD we all agree that leaving that an unfinished street Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 27 of 34 section along that portion would actually better facilitate street connectivity to that property to the north if and when ACHD and that adjacent HOA coordinate on relocating that pond site or redesigning it with a future subdivision. We left it open ended there. Again, open space for this development -- the lot sizes for this development, excuse me, range in size between approximately 4,200 square feet and 7,000 square feet and -- excuse me here. And the gross density for the proposed subdivision is roughly 5.82 dwelling units to the acre, which is consistent with not only the medium density residential land use designation on the property, but also aligns with the maximum of eight dwelling units to the acre in the R-8 zone requested by the applicant. Open space for this development will consist of approximately 5.5 percent. Primary open space is along Locust Grove Road. Because this site is under five acres -- the five acre minimum, there is really no requirement for the ten percent open space, but in our analysis in the staff report and with Commission support, we felt that the development should consist of some open space -- some usable open space and a single amenity. Because the applicant is annexing into the city we are recommending a development agreement with that this evening and I will get to those provisions later on in my presentation. But I have highlighted on this exhibit where the proposed amenity would be located and at this point it is a plaza with a sitting bench for residents to sit there and maybe enjoy a book on a nice warm summer's day. The applicant did provide some home elevations for the subdivision. You can see here there are a mix of elevations are proposed for the subdivision. Because this project does abut an arterial roadway, staff has a provision in the development agreement that requires us to review every elevation for those lots that abut Locust Grove. So, we will make sure that these architectural features and these design features are mimicked on the rear elevations of those homes to add to an attractive streetscape. As I mentioned to you we are recommending a development agreement. First provision tonight is -- we want to make sure the applicant complies with the plat shown to you this evening and also the landscape plan. Again, as I mentioned to you, there is the requirement for staff to review the elevations proposed for those lots adjacent to Locust Grove. Because this is infill in nature and open space is minimal, what the applicant is proposing is primarily the maximum amount of density they can get on this site, we are restricting them to 28 single family homes. Keep in mind it may be 27 if they keep the existing home, but if it is scraped we want to at least let -- go on the record that they have that option and that flexibility to do that. And, then, also staff is recommending that you modify the DA -- one of the DA provisions -- DA provision D this evening. As I'm showing to you as it is presented to you tonight in this graphic is how I want you to act on and modify it in your motion tonight. But my original recommendation in the staff report, the way the condition was crafted implied that all the open space would be on the north boundary of one of the local streets and that wasn't the intent of the condition. This condition really spells out that the applicant needs to provide a minimum amount of open space for their project and one amenity and I feel this is a littler clearer language than what I had presented in the commission rets. And, then, staff did receive written testimony from the applicant on the commission recs and she did identify an error in one of the conditions of approval in the staff report, so I am requesting that Council strike Condition 1.2C, as it's no longer applicable to this development and it's actually represented in DA provision A. So, we don't really need it, it's already covered in a development agreement. So, the Planning and Zoning Commission did recommend approval at the February 5th hearing. Randy Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 28 of 34 Clarno testified in favor and, of course, the applicant's representative submitted comments in agreement with all conditions in the staff report. Key changes to my recommendation in the staff report by the Commission -- there is a host of them listed in your hearing outline tonight, but to summarize -- I won't go through all those changes, but what had happened was initially before we got to Planning and Zoning Commission staff had recommended some modifications to the plat. The applicant obliged staff, submitted a revised plat prior to that commission hearing and so I prepared a memo before the Planning -- and presented that to the Planning and Zoning Commission that identified the changes that needed to occur in the staff report to represent what the applicant presented -- or represented the revised preliminary plat. So, that's why you see a lot of the changes that came down from the commissioners, is because we wanted to make sure that conditions aligned with the revised preliminary plat. So, other than those two items that I have asked you to identify this evening, staff has no other outstanding issues for you this evening. This concludes my presentation and I'd stand for any questions you have. Rountree: Questions for Bill? Bird: I have none. Zaremba: Mr. President? Rountree: David. Zaremba: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Bill. Two little questions. If you would go back to the DA provisions again, which was just there. Item D. Is it the intent that the plaza would be in addition to the 5.5 percent open space or is that included in the 5.5? Parsons: Council Member -- President and Council Member Zaremba, the intent is to have 5.5 percent open space and that amenity would be in one of those common lots constructed and so it's not in addition to, the plaza itself is a landscaped area within one of the common lots. So, it's incorporated into the 5.5 percent open space. Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. And one other if I may, Mr. President. You -- you mentioned since there will be several lots where the backs of the buildings would be facing Locust Grove, that we are asking for some treatment. I may be wrong, but I -- we do that regularly with commercial properties. I don't remember doing that necessarily with residential and what's going through my mind is typically they will have a fence at the back of their property and the kind of things that we suggest they do as a street facing amenity are usually below the fence line. I'm thinking rock work on pillars and, you know, maybe some modulation of services. But should we clarify that what they do needs to be visible above the fence? It seems to me that the -- I agree with asking -- yes, this will be facing a major arterial, but the backs of these homes will be facing a major arterial and there should be some appearance treatment from the arterial, but I -- I would want to add that it has to be visible above the fence. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 29 of 34 Parsons: Council Member -- or Council President, Councilman Zaremba, I think the intent here this -- this condition has been going to probably for the last year, year and a half now when we typically present this -- this to you. I think the intent behind that condition is, you're right, is to look at the elevations holistically for one thing, but we want to make sure that -- for example, if you look at these elevations staff doesn't necessarily require stone on the back of the buildings, but what we want to see are windows -- appropriately sized windows with decorative trim. We want to see eaves. If they are going to have two mixes of materials on the front fagade, why not -- and there is a gabled roof on the back of that home and you can see it above the fence line, why not treat that with a different mix of materials to give it a different look from the street and I think that's really the intent behind the condition. You're right, behind those fence lines we are probably a little bit more relaxed on that view. We really are looking at that -- that area that sticks up above the fence. And, truthfully, if they are going to have covered porches we want to make sure that that also looks as an attractive part of the building design as well. So, that's really the intent behind that condition is to make sure we just don't get two windows and a flat fagade along the back of the road. I mean that's really the intent here. If you want to craft it a little bit more saying above the fence line, we can certainly do that. I think it's easier just to leave it to staff's discretion and make sure that this mix of materials, if it's attractive, they have a covered porch and it's tied in, as the same mix of materials, I think staff has been pretty easy and a pretty quick review at staff level and get them right to building permit. So, it hasn't really hampered anything, but it's mostly elevations I have looked at. I have been looking for that -- that mix of material and sometimes variation in the roof line just with a covered porch or something just to break up the back fagade. Zaremba: If that's that the practice, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure somebody was thinking about it and you're way ahead of me. So, thank you. Rountree: Other questions? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Is the applicant here? Clarno: Members of the Council, my name is Randy Clarno. I'm the managing partner for Granton Square Properties. P.O. Box 8265, Boise. 83707. 1 will just mention that a lot has gone into this little in -fill project. I have had a lot of experience doing projects of this size and in these tight spaces, both here and in the Portland, Seattle area, and there was a lot of input given by staff and the neighborhood and we tried to pay attention to all of that to craft a project here that we think is responsible that meets the demand of the market and the esthetics of the city and the quality of the city. There were a number of issues that were brought to our attention from the neighbors. We are going to build them some new fences, so that we have a nice -- they have nice fences and we have a nice fence on the south side in particular. We are going to do a lot of nice landscaping along Locust Grove. The access issue is something, as Bill mentioned, that we worked through with ACHD and the city. The city gave us a lot of input there and I think we have paid attention to that and done something nice. To address some of the questions that you had. Having Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 30 of 34 been through a few of these in the City of Meridian the last couple of years, there is a lot of subjectivity to that review, but I can assure you that I don't like straight face walls with just windows on them. So, there will be covered porches. There will be some articulation with hip and gable roofs. For example, the garage may have a hip and the rest of the windows may have a gable on the side. So, we will articulate it and do something nice there and I think you will be pleased. So, with that I will answer any questions you may have. Rountree: Any questions? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Thank you. Clarno: Uh-huh. Rountree: This is a public hearing. We are open for public comment. Anybody in the audience wishing to testify? I have no one signed up at the moment. Seeing none or any discussion? Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: Seeing nor hearing none, I move we close the public hearings on AZ 14-015 and PP 14-019. Milam: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearings on Items 9-D and E. All those in favor signify by aye. Opposed nay. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve AZ 14-015 and include all staff and applicant comment. Milam: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 9-D, AZ 14-015. Is there any discussion? Zaremba: Mr. President, are we approving striking 1.2.2C? Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 31 of 34 Bird: Yes. That was part of his comment. Rountree: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 9-D. Further discussion? Roll call vote, please. Roll Call: Bird, yea, Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve PP 14-019 and include all staff and applicant comments. Milam: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to approve Item 9-E. Roll call, please. Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea, Zaremba, yea, Borton, yea; Milam, yea, Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 10: Continued Department Reports A. Human Resources Department: Budget Amendment for .5 Full Time Employee (FTE) for Finance for the Not -to -Exceed Amount of $27,359.00 Rountree: Thank you all. Next item is a continued report from an item we have discussed. Patti? Perkins: Good evening. Rountree: Good evening. Perkins: Mr. President and Members of Council. Thank you. I come before you to present a budget amendment for a half an FTE on -- as discussed last week in our Executive Session. This half an FTE is added to support the Arts Commission and given the addition of the commission -- new commissioners and the changes that we have had, think that that is a great -- great thing to do. This budget amendment is for actually on behalf of the Finance Department. I'm doing this for my friend Stacy. So, that this is a not to exceed amount of 27,359 dollars for this budget year. This creates to full-time position as the Finance Department already has a 19 and a half hour per week who will be continuing in that role, plus taking on this Arts Commission support and so there is Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 32 of 34 benefits cost also loaded into this figure. And with that I will take any questions you may have. Rountree: Any questions? Bird: I have none. I think it's great. Rountree: I'll take an opportunity just to make a comment that this rather painless process was straight forward, but was done the right way and this is how we need to add employees to our city, as opposed to just finding out about them, because somebody moved some money around. So, I'm very pleased that it came before us with a budget amendment and we have had previous discussions and all are generally in agreement with this is the right thing to do for the loss of some very, very, very valuable volunteers that have done a great job for the City of Meridian. Hopefully this will benefit not only Finance, but to HR to relieve some of the work that you do to support the commission. Perkins: Yes. We are grateful. Thank you. Bird: Mr. President? Holman: President Rountree? Rountree: Yes. Holman: I just wanted to add also that Stacy has reached out to me and let me know that she's willing to let this person also take on the HPC commission at some point. We decided we would let her transition into the arts thing first, see how much that takes up. If she has any additional time she could also take on HPC, but we will wait and see. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: We will wait and see. Holman: Yes. Bird: I second your idea of the way this is being done right to add employees and we get to find out up front and I think it's very, very good that we have decided to do this. appreciate the people that brought it forward and with that I would move that we approve the budget from a half time to a full-time employee not to exceed 27,359 dollars. Milam: Second. Rountree: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 10-A for the budget amendment. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 33 of 34 MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Perkins: Thank you. Item 11: Future Meeting Topics Rountree: Thank you. Any future meeting topics come to mind? Don't see any. Item 12: Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c)(d): (c) To Conduct Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest in Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency; and (d) To Consider Records that are Exempt from Disclosure as Provided in Chapter 3, Title 9, Idaho Code Rountree: The next item is Executive Session. Bird: Mr. President? Rountree: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)(c), (1)(d). Borton: Second. Rountree: It's been moved and seconded to go into Executive Session per the described paragraphs. Roll call vote, please. Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea, Zaremba, yea, Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener, yea. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (7:22 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.) Bird: I move we adjourn from Executive Session. Milam: Second. Rountree: All those in favor say aye. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:15 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) Meridian City Council March 3, 2015 Page 34 of 34 MAYOR Y DE WEERD DATE APPROVED ATTEST: , CITY CLERK cityof ' iouxo r SEAL FST ,P� ��/Sr TRE ACV