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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004 06-15 PreCITY OF MERIDIAN PRE -COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA Tuesday, June 15, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. City Council Chambers 1. Roll -call Attendance: X Shaun Wardle X Bill Nary X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird X Mayor Tammy de Weerd 2. Adoption of the Agenda: Approve 3. Recommendations from the Traffic Safety Commission by John Overton: Pass on Recommendation to ACHD (*10 minutes) 4. Discussion of Open Burning Amended Ordinance: Place on June 22, 2004 City Council Agenda (*10 minutes) 5. Process Improvement Update by P&Z: Presented 6. View "Every 15 minutes" Tape: Officer Mark Taylor: Presented *Approximate allowable time set for agenda item may change depending on discussion. Please use the designated minutes as a guideline only. Meridian City Pre -Council Agenda — June 15, 2004 Page 1 of 1 All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearings please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 The Meridian City Pre -Council meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday, June 14, 2004 by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Bill Nary, Keith Bird, Shaun Wardle and Charlie Rountree. Staff Present: Gary Smith, Anna Powell, Bill Nichols, Kenny Bowers and Will Berg. Item 1. Roll -call Attendance: X Bill Nary X Keith Bird X Shaun Wardle X Charlie Rountree X Mayor Tammy de Weerd Item 2. Adoption of the Agenda: Bird: Mr. President. Nary: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we adopt the agenda as published. Wardle: Second. Nary: It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as published. All those in favor, say aye. ALL AYES. MOTION CARRIED. Item 3. Recommendations from the Traffic Safety Commission by John Overton: Nary: I think we had a written copy of that previously and Captain Overton isn't here at the moment. He may be trying to get across town. De Weerd: I have my— Mr. President. Nary: Madame Mayor. De Weerd: The Traffic Safety Committee is proposing that the recommendations of one cross walk at Black Cat and Moon Lake and two crosswalks from the southeast corner at Ten Mile and Ustick that these allow pedestrians who cross both west and east and north to south. It's been approved by the Traffic Safety Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 2 of 11 Commission and the recommendation is for Mayor and Council to approve these recommendations. Bird: Mr. President. Nary: Mr. Bird. Bird: It doesn't — if I remember right, looking through that it didn't address Ustick and Linder, did it? And we have got a real problem coming up on Linder and Ustick there when that new Middle School opens. It's dire, dire need from, I believe, from the Middle School — well, probably from McMillan south to Chateau is really, I think, it's going to be pretty dangerous for kids walking. De Weerd: Mr. President. Nary: Madame Mayor. De Weerd: They have discussed it, but it is an issue between ACHD and the School District. I think that Bruce or whoever the ACHD representative that joins us tonight might be able to update us, but the last I knew is ACHD has committed to paving their portion of the right away to accommodate the kids to walk, but you know I don't think that's the ideal, either. There is not much of a shoulder and I don't know how much of the right of way will be paved. Bird: I don't see much of a shoulder there. I don't know if the rest of you guys — we have all been out there and looked at it. I am just really, really concerned because we have got a lot of subdivisions real close there that is going to be walking. The kids will be walking to school and you know those are sixth, seventh and eighth graders. I don't know, I really have got a concern on it. I mean we didn't add any crosswalk — I just wondered if (inaudible) at Safety Committee could make some suggestions that maybe would have a little weight with ACHD along with us. Nary: My only concern is I think of these two that are proposed, one of them I think is already at a corner, so there is already a stop sign there, but the other one at Moon Lake is in the middle of the block. I guess my only concern and it's a little bit different, I did speak to Mr. Mills very, very briefly today at the Chamber meeting and we were talking about the request for a crosswalk at Stoddard and they had a concern there as well — basically because and maybe when Captain Overton gets here we could talk about this some more, but the concern I have is that sometimes there is a false sense of security in having a crosswalk, so you need in addition to a crosswalk, you need some notice that there is a crosswalk ahead whether it's a sign, a yellow light but it is something like that and so I don't — I guess I don't disagree that a crosswalk would be beneficial at Moon Lake as you are suggesting and also as you are suggesting, Mr. Bird, over there towards the new Middle School it's just that, I guess, I just want to be sure with ACHD Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 3 of 11 that part of that includes some other safety precautions and it's probably obvious to them and it's probably something they would do automatically anyway in making that analysis and all we are doing is making a recommendation to them, but I guess that's part of what I hope maybe we can get from Captain Overton is some additional way to express that. In addition to a crosswalk, we want some other safety measures to make sure traffic is aware that people are there. Mr. Mills told me that they were already making that evaluation and that they have had to request regarding a crosswalk at Stoddard and then Overland, so ACHD was already looking at that. That's what (inaudible) measure could they do at that junction between now and 2007 when they were supposed to buy the road anyway. So, anyway, I don't have — I guess for me I don't have an objection to these two recommendations, I think you are right Mr. Bird we probably need to at least again ask Captain Overton to see if the safety committee could also make some evaluations or have some recommendations for us regarding the new Middle School as well. Rountree: Mr. President. Nary: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: There is considerable effort going on right now in the area of safe routes to school. It will probably be a statewide initiative that's being looked at by a couple senators and the state legislature that something at ACHD is looking at and has had a program for a while, something the Department of Education and Health & Welfare also looking at, so possibly the guidance to the Safety Committee and his commission is to keep abreast of what's going on there and provide input to that particular exercise. I think what will happen is each community will do an evaluation of the kinds of things we are talking about right now with the exception of Stoddard and Overland, obviously, but the new Jr. High and all the schools and even the Black Cat, Moon Lake crossing is a potential crossing to get to the schools, so there will be some money in that program, so if our safety commission is on top of it and had some things in line they might be able to get some projects funded. Nary: That's great. That's great information. I guess, Council, what was being sought by this proposal today was, I guess a recommendation from us to forward that recommendation on to ACHD from us and the Mayor to consider putting those crosswalks at those two locations and again maybe with some additional information and additional recommendation regarding some safety measures along with that. I don't know if we need a motion or simply a unanimous consent that we are all in agreement with that. Rountree: I agree. Bird: I agree, whole-heartedly and I think you are right, President Nary, that if we need a blinking yellow light or something in those mid -stream crosswalks. Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 4 of 11 Wardle: Mr. President. Nary: Mr. Wardle. Wardle: I also agree with that and I also agree with the continued efforts of the committee to look at enhancing the safety of our pedestrians. Nary: So, I think we will forward that back to Captain Overton. I am sure the Mayor will take care of that. Item 4. Discussion of Open Burning Amended Ordinance: Place on June 22, 2004 City Council Agenda Nary: I think we had some suggestions last week, I think, Mr. Nichols has made those amendments as suggested, I think, in this. I don't know exactly what they were, so I don't remember specifically, but I see Mr. Nichols knows. Nichols: Mr. President, members of the Council, I think one of the issues was understanding how this all works and there were two ordinances or parts of the code that are being changed in this ordinance. The open burning ordinance and the air quality ordinance. So, if you look at it, it's disjunctive because it's in two separate chapters. So when you look at those two chapters together, the whole chapter then these things make sense, for example on the air quality chapter the City Clerk has the ability to certify that somebody only heats their home with a wood stove and so they are allowed to burn when other people can't use their chimney because they have alternative methods. So, there is — the week's delay was to give you an opportunity to see how those two things fit together. Nary: Thank you very much, Mr. Nichols. Council is there questions about the ordinance now and some of the issues that were brought up previously. Bird: Mr. President, I have none and I feel that we need to bring it forward and get it passed as the revised ordinance so that it is effective and I don't know if staff has any questions on it or if there is any questions from the Fire Department or anything on any of that if it's all agreeable to them. Bowers: Council President, Madame Mayor and City Council, Bill Nichols and myself discussed it at length and we do not have a problem with it. Bird: Okay. Bowers: The question last week was, I think, by Mr. Rountree was Mr. Bird did this have an affect with the equipment on the inside appliances and it does. It talks about, I think, 5-3-9 and 10 it talks about the appliances in the house. Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 5 of 11 Bird: I would think that we should bring it forward next week and get it passed if everybody is in agreement with that rewritten part of it. Rountree: Is that a motion? Bird: That would be a motion. Rountree: Second. Nary: It's been moved and seconded to move the open burning amended ordinance to our Council agenda June 22"d, Mr. Bird? Bird: Yes. Nary: -- 2004. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. So, it looks like we will put in on next week, Chief. ALL AYES. MOTION CARRIED. Item 5. Process Improvement Update by P&Z: Nary: It's nice to have Ms. Powell back? Powell: You may think so now, by the end of the night I might not have any voice. I just barely have one now. Nary: I guess we will see how your sign language is. Powell: There were two things that I wanted to give you an update on. One a real quick one on the, I think, Dave McKinnon mentioned a lot -split provision that and I will let you know what that was. The existing code does have provisions for the Public Works and Planning to kind of approve lot splits on already platted lots that already have services. It says that — what it says is that some of the subdivision requirements may be waved. If it's not a platted parcel if it's (inaudible) ground land basically then it says that it may also be appropriate to wave some of the subdivision standards on those properties, but only with Council approval. So, we — you will probably see in short order — I am sorry, backing up a little again. We have not been using that code to allow any. It's very discretionary and at this point we haven't allowed anybody to wave any of the subdivision requirements based on that bit of code. It was decided that it may be an appropriate time to go ahead and do that. We are working with the process improvement group with the new zoning ordinance to set more standards than the current ordinance has and to make those provisions available to developers for a one-time lot split. I think you are going to see one pretty quickly come up to the Council as a miscellaneous application for a one-time split of commercial and industrial property. At this point, in just my discussions with Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 6 of 11 Brad Watson and then with the Mayor a little bit, we have decided that staff will only consider these four commercial and industrial properties, no residential properties at this point. No illegally split properties in the first place, so if they have already done an illegal split, which should have gone through the subdivision that we were intending to allow those to come through as a one-time provision either. We had a request come up recently for a condo plat with an already approved project, already approved building, they just want to condominium-ize for the spaces and that would be a good instance where we will just do it administratively basically because there is no need for additional subdivision requirements. The land use has already been approved. It's just a condominium plat, so there is no change in services or uses. Those are the instances so far that we have discussed about using this. We haven't been publicizing it very much, actually because we are hoping to get a few more standards in place before we are having to do this on a great number of parcels. We are working with COMPASS to set up a GIS layer so that we can track where we have done these. So, we are in the process of doing that as well. That was the first item. It looks like Bill wants to say something. No, okay. The second item was regarding conditional use permits as requirements for development agreements or planned developments and I believe last week you approved an amendment to a development agreement to not require conditional use approval for every use that went on a subdivision. Tonight you will be deciding on that subdivision, but the question has come up whether that may be appropriate on other properties as well. We do have a lot of subdivisions out there that have requirements for additional CU's with each development. Now some of them are related to just the development agreement; it was part of the annexation and zoning requirement as it relates to the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan does require, in some instances for mixed-use that they come through as conditional use permits. The other ones have been put on there as a requirement of the planned development because the code says that the planned development, if they are only doing conceptual approval needs to come back for detailed approval. So, that's where the other ones have come through. I think we have 13 or 14 different subdivisions that require different conditional use permits for different reasons. Some of the recent ones we have been trying to get away from just the blanket condition and I think you have seen that on like Silverstone Corporate Center as well as Silverstone Business Campus, EI Dorado and (inaudible--), we have only required conditional uses on some of the properties where there seems to be a sensitivity issue either to surrounding residential or other adjoining uses. That is the update. We are trying to be more proactive on the ones that are coming forward and I think you will see that tonight. You'll see another one where we haven't just (inaudible) required conditional use permit for each one. As staff, we have — we see it — the ones that are dictated by the comp plan as being a little more lenient than the ones that are dictated by code and we are not quite sure what to do with those. So, those are the issues related to that. As a general note, the process improvement group has been going through the zoning ordinance with great enthusiasm and detail and think we are really coming up with a neat document. It's a little bit slow Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 7 of 11 going. They have agreed to extend their hours a bit. So, we are trying to get through it and we are still trying — I am still pushing for that January 15t adoption, but it's getting close and we need to get through there and get some drafts done. That's the end. Nary: Council, any questions? Bird: I have none. Rountree: Sounds great. Bird: Sounds good. Nary: Sounds really great. Thank you. Item 6. View "Every 15 minutes" Tape: Officer Mark Taylor: De Weerd: Well, I see that Officer Taylor is here and perhaps he can introduce it before we show it and it is very intense. You know, Will's son, Brandon, took a look at it to make sure it was only 15 minutes and he came out of there just — he said I didn't know what I was going to be watching, so you do need to prepare yourself. Officer Taylor has spent a great deal of time in the logistics and organizing this and we sure appreciate, Mark, everything you did. It was a phenomenal project. Taylor: We were approached last October. I was the SRO at Meridian High School and a gentleman by the name of Jim Daily who is a captain at the privatized prison out south of town, Corrections Corporation of America. They had brought and had been approached by a national organization called "Every 15 Minutes". This was the first time that this had ever been introduced in the State of Idaho. The program focuses on kids between the ages of 13 and 19 and at the time that this program started, one child in that age group every 15 minutes was killed by an alcohol related accident. Fortunately, that number has been reduced now to one every 30 minutes, but it's still affecting our kids. So, what we did with this program was we set up a (inaudible) so that where kids were drinking and it was very, very realistic in the response by law enforcement, fire and paramedics. The plan was that we conduct this staged accident two days before prom at Meridian High School and to get the kids attention to hopefully prevent them from drinking and consuming alcohol prior to the prom. What you will see tonight is the actual accident scene. What you won't see is the following day. We filmed this on a Thursday and on Friday was a mock funeral for the kids that had passed away in this accident. None of the kids had any idea that any of this was going to happen. So, it really got their attention over a two- day span. It was focused on the junior and senior class. The freshmen and sophomores didn't participate. So, without any further ado — Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 8 of 11 De Weerd: I actually already have one in there. Taylor: Oh, do you, really? De Weerd: Yeah. Taylor: Oh, great. De Weerd: We wanted to make sure we were all set. Rountree: Yeah, way to go. You are all set, I can tell. Taylor: There were approximately 60 people involved in the making of this film and (inaudible-------) around the County, but we were fortunate enough to be the first Police Department, Fire Department to be involved in this. (Inaudible discussions-----------) Council and staff watching video. Taylor: Well, thank you for allowing us to do this. The Mayor is a great support she was there for both days. This catches your attention, especially when you see the emotions of the parents there and it's a very real thing. (Inaudible --------- -----) and supporting us in this because it helped us fulfill our mission statement of educating the public and preventing, hopefully, someone who is drinking and driving and we had a tremendous amount of support from (inaudible) and after a lot of kids coming up and saying that really helped them to not drink during the prom. There was a lot of them that did say they were going to prior to this happening, so (inaudible --------------------- ). De Weerd: Mr. President. Nary: Madame Mayor. De Weerd: You know I have never been so proud of a group of people as I was that day. I think that our safety personnel in both Police and Fire Departments really showed what they were made of and appreciated those and I would like to tell you who — I'm sure you recognize most of them — Mark Taylor, Earl Scharff, Jeff Blazer, (inaudible), Myron Severson and Craig Falley from the Police Department. From the Fire Department, Deputy Chief Bill Johnson, Deputy Chief Joe Silva, Captain Rod Shawl, Captain Blake Campbell, driver Tim Kelly, Jason Rey, Mike Myers, Joe Bongerno and Marty McSherry. Again, there is a lot of coordinating and we just appreciate all the time that you spent because that was a very powerful message. The day that they had the crash reenactment, they had the juniors and seniors there and sitting among them — most kids misbehave and that stadium has never been so silent, although the noise that you did hear Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 9 of 11 was sobbing. It really affected a number of kids there and certainly a number of parents. Those parents were going through the true emotions and they were very shocked by it because they were very shocked by it because they thought oh, we have prepared ourselves for these exercises and we know our role, but once put in that role, it was traumatic. It was really traumatic. So, they sent a very strong statement. What is the feedback you heard from the kids even after that weekend. Taylor: You know, I had a lot of kids — Nary: Scoot up here, Mark. Taylor: I had a tremendous amount of kids approach me thinking that it was a great education for them. There are many kids that said that it was going to really help them when the time came because some of them admitted that they were going to continue to drink, but it really made them think about whether they were going to drive or not and the ramifications from that. I mean, we ran the whole gamut here of people dying in an accident and the person being arrested and the emotions of the parents, etcetera. A tremendous amount of support. As you can see the program was very well supported throughout all the agencies here in the Valley between St. Alphonsus Hospital and Life Flight and paramedics and our city as well. There were a tremendous amount of volunteers. We had monthly meetings — or biweekly meetings right up from October until we did this in April. I had to walk away when the filming started. The way that they started this accident seeing as they had it covered with the tarp, nobody knew when they came to the grandstands what was going to happen and then a lot of crash, bang and then boom they ripped the tarp off and instantly it got everybody's attention. I really think that it will have an impact on these people for a long time and will really help them to think before they get behind the wheel and drive. So, from what we do we see it quite often and nobody wants to go to those types of accidents and have to deal with some of the things that we see. Hopefully, this will lesson that and we had the opportunity to be the first one in the State of Idaho to do it. KVCI was the one who did all the filming and they had a news blip showing what had happened there. Statistically I don't know, you know, where we are going to go from here and how it's going to help, but certainly I know that it will help. Fortunately, we were the first ones in the area, Boise Police and Boise School District had been approached on it and they denied doing this program. So, we were fortunate in being able to do that. De Weerd: You know, the following day they had a student that had been in an accident — what — a year or two before that. She had been at these parties. She had decided not to drive because she knew she would be drinking, but she got in the car of a young man who was drinking and she kind of shared her story on that, so, you know I think it was a good strong message that even though you make wise decisions for your car, make sure you know who you are getting in the car with and if they have been drinking before they get behind the wheel. It was, Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 10 of 11 like I said, both days was just very high with emotion and certainly I know they made great impressions with the parents; not just the parents of the kids who participated the parents who came and witnessed and I sat among the firefighters and the police officers as we watched the film that second day and I don't think — they were passing around toilet paper rolls because there was just not a dry eye up there. Nary: Well, so many times, Madame Mayor, we get criticized, the police get criticized for a lot of different things and this is such a great testament about how the police, the fire, the public safety, the government can make such a positive impact in people's lives and it's really nice to see that. I mean, it's just a — it makes us all very proud to be associated with the people in the City because I think that, you know, if it only made an impression that day, what a great impression. I think it's going to carry longer than that. Any of those kids are not going to forget those images that they saw and that's going to impact them, not just for one day but for many days and people they know and people they associate with and that's a great thing. De Weerd: Thank you, Mark. Nary: Well, Council we have reached the end of our agenda and we still have 15 more minutes, I guess we could watch the tape again or we could — De Weerd: No thanks. Nary: -- or we could take a motion to adjourn. De Weerd: Does the Chief have any --? Nary: Chief, did you want to add anything or --? De Weerd: — or Chief Bowers? Nary: Chief Bowers? Bowers: On the 15 minutes? Nary: Or on anything else, I guess, if you want. Bowers: That was a very neat presentation that we did. We went on a call today and some kids were off to the side and they come running over to the fire truck and said oh remember us? We were the ones that were dressed in black that they took out of the class for "Every 15 Minutes". Our guy said no we didn't remember seeing you. They said that really changed their lives, they will always think what kind of vehicle they are going to get into and who is driving them. You Meridian City Pre -Council Meeting June 15, 2004 Page 11 of 11 are right, there was not a dry eye. There was a lot of toilet paper going around that day. Thank you. Nary: Thank you, Chief. Bowers: I would like to thank the school district for thinking out of the box and the Mayor and Council for you guys that (inaudible) lead us to do that. Nary: Council, if there is no other business, I guess we could take a motion to adjourn. Rountree: So moved. Wardle: Second. Nary: It's been moved and seconded to adjourn the Pre -Council meeting of June 15th. All those in favor, say aye. ALL AYES. MOTION CARRIED. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:45 P.M. (TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) APPROVED: WILLIAM G. BERG, —,Io,04 DATE APPROVED