HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-08-09Meridian City Council August 9, 2016.
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m.,
Tuesday, August 9, 2016, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Keith Bird, Genesis Milam, Ty Palmer, Joe Borton and Luke
Cavener.
Members Absent: Anne Little Roberts.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Caleb Hood, Steve Siddoway, Berle
Stokes, Dave Jones, and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
Anne Little Roberts X_ _Joe Borton
X__ Ty Palmer X_ Keith Bird
X__ Genesis Milam __X__ Lucas Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Welcome, everyone, to our City Council meeting. For the record it is
Tuesday, August 9th. It's a few minutes after 3:00. We will start with roll call
attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Thank you. Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise
and join us in the pledge to our flag.
Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Okay. Item 3 is adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: 4-A, the resolution number is 16-1153. 4-M, the resolution number is 16-
1154. On 9-B the resolution number is 16-1155. And the proposed resolution
number on 11-B is 16-1156. With that I move we approve the agenda as
published.
Borton: Second.
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August 9, 2016
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De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as stated. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. Resolution No.: 16-1153: Resolution to Destroy
Semipermanent Records of the Community
Development Department, Building Division
B. Amended Development Agreement for TM Creek-MDA-
H-2016-0067 with SCS Brighton, LLC located at the
Southeast corner of W. Franklin Road and Ten Mile
Road, in the NW 1/4 of Section 14, Township 3N., Range
1W
C. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Denial for
Pope's Garden (H-2016-0006 REVISED) by Iron Mountain
Real Estate. Located at 2662 E Magic View Drive
D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval for
Gibson Amity Property (H-2016-0036) by CLG, Inc.
Located 357 E. Amity Road
E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval for
Bancroft Square (H-2016-0055) by Schultz Development
Located 2750 S. Eagle Road
F. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval for
Binary Subdivision (H-2016-0078) by Tealeys Land
Surveying, Inc. Located 1351 E. Fairview Avenue
G. Final Order for Normandy Subdivision No. 2 (H-2016-
0084) by Schultz Development Located at 4145 S. Locust
Grove Road
H. Final Order for Normandy Subdivision No. 3 (H-2016-
0085) by Schultz Development Located at 4145 S. Locust
Grove Road
I. Approve Minutes of July 12, 2016 City Council / Joint
MDC Meeting
J. Approve Minutes of July 19, 2016 City Council Meeting
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August 9, 2016
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K. Approve Minutes of June 7, 2016 City Council Budget
Workshop Meeting
L. Approve Minutes of July 26, 2016 City Council Meeting
M. Resolution No.: 16-1154: A Resolution of the Mayor and
the City Council of the City of Meridian Re-appointing
Matthew Adams to Seat 4, John Nesmith to Seat 5,
Spencer Martin to Seat 6 and Seldon S. “Butch” Weedon
to Seat 7 of the Impact Fee Advisory Committee.
N. Master Agreement with Ken McCall For Professional
Services: Park Identities Public Art Roster
O. Master Agreement with Stephanie Inman For
Professional Services: Park Identities Public Art Roster
P. Master Agreement with Trademark Sign Company, Inc.
For Professional Services: Park Identities Public Art
Roster
Q. Training Agreement between Ada County Highway
District and City of Meridian
R. Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement between the
City of Meridian and Summit Equity, LLC within Falconer
Place Subdivision
S. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement to Cascade
Enterprises, Inc. for the WRRF Tertiary Filter Building
Crane Construction project for a Not-ToExceed amount
of $74,310.00.
T. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement to The Ewing
Company for the “WRRF CENTRATE EQUALIZATION”
project for a Not-To-Exceed amount of $1,308,128.00
U. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement to Challenger
Companies Inc. for the WRRF PLC Upgrades 2016
project for a Not-To-Exceed amount of $89,737.00
De Weerd: Item 4 is our Consent Agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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August 9, 2016
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Bird: As stated earlier, 4-A the resolution number is 16-1153 and 4-M the
resolution number is 16-1154 and with that I move we approve the Consent
Agenda as published and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent
Agenda. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird: yes; Borton, yea; Milam; yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, absent.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 5: Items Moved From the Consent Agenda
De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Action Items
A. Public Hearing: PY2016 Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) Action Plan
De Weerd: So, we will move into Item 6 under Action Items. We have our public
hearing for the program year 2016 of our CDBG Action Plan. I will turn this over
to Sean.
Kelly: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of Council. Appreciate the
opportunity to come today. This is a culminating event for the action plan cycle
for 2016. It is a public hearing and whatever discussion Council may have in
moving funds around and talking about the projects may be had. That will
happen tonight. So, I would also like to thank the people that are going to show
up and have probably showed up and signed up to give public testimony. We
rarely get that with CDBG, so it's actually good to get that feedback. I want to
make sure that we acknowledge those individuals.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Kelly: So, for 2016 our priorities remain the same based on our consolidated
plan. Decent housing and public facilities where we can have them and also we
have our public service endeavors that we try to expand and do some different
things each year. This year we have a couple that are going to be carried over
from previous years, as well as one new one to talk about. This is the
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August 9, 2016
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recommended allocations. The breakdown. I would note here again, 356,000
dollars, roughly, is what our 2016 allocation is entitled to be, which is higher than
we have ever had, about seven and a half percent higher than last year as well.
Just briefly here, here is our low to moderate income area again with
percentages, so that we can look at the block groups and so you can see that.
This will become very relevant in the next -- the next slide here. These are -- this
is the geographic distribution of funds, where those projects generally are going
to carried out within the LMI. It does happen that sometimes a project is carried
out outside the LMI depending on the type. The ones that are listed here in the
upper right, those are not -- those are not being carried out outside of the City of
Meridian. The offices just happen to be outside the City of Meridian and we don't
know yet where those projects are going to impact. Their home buying, things
like that, things of that nature, and so that can happen anywhere in the city. First
up is program administration. Once again, just to make the point, this number is
inflated last year, this year and will be again next year, because we have to do
our five year consolidated planning. That starts now and so we use funds from
three different years to budget for that, just because of the way the CDBG dollars
have to be used for public service and for administrative dollars. You have to be
very careful with not going over that 20 percent in any given year. So, that will
include staff time, as well as all of the things that I do, to include the consolidated
plan, environmental reviews, as well as any fair housing opportunity that we
engage with. So, for our public service activities, once again, Meridian Food
Bank, as we do most years -- and the Boys & Girls Club is coming back as a
scholarship program as their early rising and summer programs to assist low
income -- low income families with children to attend those programs. The new
one this year for us -- the new one for the City of Meridian is Jesse Tree of Idaho,
which is emergency assistance to families with children who are at risk of
becoming homeless. We have one public facility, specifically public facility being
done by the city of Public Works. The area of Todd Way and Chateau Drive near
Barbara Morgan STEM Academy, they have determined is -- it's part of our low
income area, that northwestern quadrant there, but it also has some -- it lacks
some coverage and so Austin Peterson has put together a couple of map s where
they would like to do some streetlights there and that's the start of a much larger,
much broader project that he would like to look for all of the LMI and try to carry
that through. We have two housing activities, which is what we had last year.
These same organizations. One of them is the Housing Authority for homebuyer
assistance and the other is Neighbor -- Neighborhood Housing Solutions, which
is a 501(c)(3). The two operate very differently within different universes of
potential low income individuals to assist, but it's noteworthy to say one of them
is a state agency or a county agency, rather, and one of them is a nonprofit that
does the -- a similar type of a program. Also listed as a housing activity for
infrastructure, BCD, LLC, and the Housing Company, this is a partnership with
the city to build and -- to design -- to design sidewalk and any needs of
infrastructure there and is in support of a potential housing development, a multi -
family, that would be right there on 2 1/2 Street. Their entire process is tied to
the state agency, Idaho Housing and Finance Association for them to secure
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through their application process low income housing tax breaks. For alternate
activities, as you remember last year we decided to plug a few of these in so that
we don't run into another community façade upgrade type of a situation. So, we
plugged these into the action plan. We have Council approve them and if
another project falls short or we need to look for one, we don't have to hurry up
and find one and come to Council and get it through the process again, we
already approved it, we have already had the public take a look at it, everyone
has approved these projects coming forward. The first -- the first one is
streetlights. As I have already mentioned, Austin Peterson was looking at the
rest of the LMI, so should we end up with funds in the rest of the year or coming
year to go back to this action plan, we couldn't trigger 40,000 dollars to, again,
reinvest in those -- in that streetlight program. And for the Meridian Development
Corporation they asked for funds to do sidewalk as well. Their ability to do that
sidewalk hinges on ACHD doing a scope of the 2 1/2 Street area where they are
trying to do that at. So, depending on what ACHD comes back with and what
that would cost, MDC will better be able to make a decision. So, I want to make
sure we program that in should we be able to use those funds to find a number
that works out from ACHD. Public comment period was opened on July 5th. Up
until this point there was ten public comments. Those were included in the
packets that Council received in the public record. Any other public comments
that we receive today at the hearing or at 6:00 later on this evening will be
included in the action plan for submission. So, a few notes just so that we make
sure we have these out of the way before the hearing starts. Any changes made
through funding by City Council will take place. I will do whatever Council
decides and add that to the action plan to submit, so however that conversation
works, whether it is as it is now or whether we change that and I want to make
that -- this very clear, too, to both the individuals who are going to provide
testimony to Council -- the city is not asking City Council to approve or deny any
housing development whatsoever. This is for the action plan only and this action
plan project is for a sidewalk development or a sidewalk project. So, Madam
Mayor, these are the requested actions. The first one is the -- to solicit public
comment. The other three we probably won't get to until we close the public
comment hearing.
De Weerd: Okay.
Kelly: And with that, Madam Mayor, I have no questions. If you have any
questions, please, let me know.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any questions from Council at this point?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Cavener: Not right now.
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De Weerd: Okay. Thank you very much. We did have several people sign up to
testify. Again, this will be kept open and entertain additional public comment at
6:00 o'clock. Okay. So, Warren Grover signed up. Thank you for joining us.
Grover: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Grover: Warren Grover. 4654 West Hearst Drive in Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Grover: And I appreciate the chance to talk to you today. I am against the low
income housing in downtown Meridian. There are many people under the low
income level that are already buying homes in Meridian and we don't need to
subsidize those further. Also I have a -- quite a contention, I guess. At the last
meeting Doug Crowther of VCC, which is a federal subsidized housing that's held
to strict standards that tenants must be felony free. Well, as most of you are
probably aware, federal department of Housing and Urban Development is doing
social engineering and refusing grants to -- or money to communities that do not
follow their rules and one of their new rules as of April 11th is that any landlords
that -- they are warning the landlords if they ban any renters with criminal
convictions that's a violation of the Fair Housing Act, because they are
disproportionately affecting minorities. So, I don't see how those two statements
can go together on something like this. Thank you very much.
De Weerd: Thank you. And I will just state for the -- the public hearing on this,
this is not about a housing project, this is about a sidewalk. The sidewalk that is
being asked to fund is for 2 1/2 Street and it would be a part -- if there is a project
on 2 1/2 Street. But this sidewalk is an off-street improvement -- or an off-site
improvement for that kind of project and if you have been on 2 1/2 Street they
don't have sidewalks, so -- so, just wanted to provide clarity on that.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And to that point in the last meeting it was mentioned our supporting this
spending of this money would increase the odds of getting approval for the -- the
six million dollars necessary to advance that project and so I think the
gentleman's comments were quite warranted in that if he doesn't want to see that
project take place in the future that the first step in making sure that that wouldn't
be something that he would want to have there would be stopping this I guess
very instance, that if we -- of we don't support this they are less likely to have it
later or if we support it they are more likely to get the funds to build it later. So,
his comments made sense to me.
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De Weerd: But the design of a sidewalk on 2 1/2 Street, regardless of an
apartment or of whatever development occurs, there are sidewalk needs on 2 1/2
Street and so this is -- this is a part of 2 1/2 Street.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, follow up?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Palmer: And to that point there is need for a sidewalk in lots of places. The
purpose of this sidewalk would be to better facilitate that project later.
De Weerd: Okay. Next we have William Tometelli signed.
Tometelli: No need for me to say anything, because I wanted to talk about the
low income housing.
De Weerd: If that project were to be proposed there would be a public hearing
then as well. So, again, this -- the public testimony on this is for the project that
was submitted in front of us for a sidewalk improvement on 2 1/2 Street. So, as
Mr. Palmer pointed out during the public comment a month ago, it was stated
that this would be part of a grant or an application for federal funding for a bigger
project -- for a project that would have to come in front of the public again to this
Council in terms of a public hearing and I -- I would say that we would welcome
comments that you might have today or to hold those for a project once there is
an application, because at this point there is not an application to the city. Okay.
Hood: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Hood: Just to that point a little bit. We have talked with BCD potentially about
their site plan. Like you just stated, we have not seen an application submitted,
but the zoning out there today on 2 1/2 Street would allow multi-family as an
outright principally permitted use, so there would not be another public hearing,
depending on what they propose. If they came in with a site plan that requested,
you know, height exceptions or setback variances or those types of things, there
could, potentially, be public hearings, but as an outright allowed use -- entitled
use on this property, it is zoned today for multi-family. So, not going to say there
wouldn't be a public hearing, but they could design something and do a multi-
family project on that site that wouldn't have a public hearing.
De Weerd: So, it's an allowed use at this point.
Hood: Again, depending on how it's designed and situated, yes. Multi-family is a
principally permitted use in the current zoning district on that property.
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De Weerd: Okay.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: To Caleb's point and I think to the comment that you made earlier, if
any one of our -- member of our community is here to provide testimony on this
we wouldn't -- we would welcome that testimony today, especially in light that
there might not be a potential for that testimony in the future. So, we wouldn't
want anyone here that's here today to not feel like they had the opportunity to
share their -- their voice on this. My opinion.
De Weerd: So, Reverend Howie, if you would like to make comment I would
certainly welcome that.
Howie: Madam Mayor, Council Members, thank you for this opportunity.
De Weerd: If you could, please, state your name and address for the record.
Howie: William Thomas Howie. Retired pastor.
De Weerd: Okay. And your address?
Howie: Oh. Address. 641 West Franklin Road, PMB 26.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Howie: Let me just say I have read some of Ty's comments on the low income
housing. I agree with those comments and I'm well aware that there is a need.
I'm well aware that there is hundreds of Meridian residents who rely on low
income -- low income housing and housing vouchers and according to the Boise
City Ada County Housing Authority there are 155 Meridian residents who use
housing vouchers to help pay the rent. But I'm old enough and wise enough and
aware enough to realize that if we build a low-income housing project here in
Meridian it won't be long and that project will be nearly filled with refugee
resettlement people. I'm not against immigration, because as soon as you say
refugee resettlement you might be against that, people think you're against
immigration. I'm not against immigration -- legal immigration run by the
Congress. This refugee resettlement, however, is run by the UN and member
nations just take however many people the UN tells them to take. So, in this
case I'm asking this City Council not to build this low income housing project.
You've heard the phrase if we build it they will come. Please, don't.
De Weerd: Elaine Gardoski. Turns yours over the Bill. Thank you.
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Gardoski: Good afternoon, Madam Mayor --
De Weerd: Good afternoon.
Gardoski: -- and Council. My name is William Gardoski. I live at 1620 East 2
1/2 Street. We moved there in 1991. We have been property owners since '92.
We are adamantly against the low income housing. I am all for sidewalks. I
have contacted Ada County Highway District about speed bumps even , because
there is a lot of speeding. There is no sidewalks. There is a school. There are
children there. I am not against the sidewalk whatsoever. This street isn't safe,
really, for people walking. The one thing you need to keep in mind when you
think about the low income housing -- number one, 2 1/2 Street is small. The
school at the end, Cole Valley, there is about 75, 80 cars a day, morning and
night, additional on the street when they are in school. There is no stoplight.
You can't get out on Fairview. The street is narrow. If you put in a housing
project you're going to have another 150 to 200 automobiles a day on 2 1/2
Street. But as far as safety and sidewalks, if the sidewalk was there and didn't
go any farther -- it needs it on both sides. I am absolutely for making the streets
safer, because there is a lot of children -- I've seen almost accidents -- I sit out on
the front and I watch accidents all the time happen and -- trying to happen, but as
far as the -- the safety of the sidewalk would be a good idea if it stopped there.
But we are adamantly against the one -- like I say, I don't think the street would
carry it and you're going to figure another -- with the school going in the winter
and housing projects, you got another 300 cars a day on that street . No one will
ever get out on Fairview. So, as a -- from a safety point of view sidewalks would
be a good idea if it stopped there. But I just want to let my voice be heard to you
gentlemen and ladies and I appreciate the opportunity. I'd like to see 2 1/2 stay
the way it is. It's been fairly peaceful and I do know we live next door to Cherry
Lane Apartments. There are a fair amount of people that have time on their
hands and nothing to do except annoy people and speaking from experience and
not prejudging anybody, I know what happens when people sit and collect your
checks and do nothing and I'd hate to see that happen and I also think that any
project that close to main I think would deteriorate that whole area if we are
talking a lot of units. But make the street safe? Yes. For sure. And I appreciate
the time and chance to talk to you. Thank you very much.
De Weerd: Thank you for being here.
Gardoski: You guys have a nice day.
De Weerd: Merlin Schmeckpeper. Good afternoon.
Schmeckpeper: Good afternoon, Madam Mayor. How are you today?
De Weerd: I am good.
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August 9, 2016
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Schmeckpeper: Council Members. My name is Merlin Schmeckpeper. I reside
at 157 East Ada Street, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Schmeckpeper: You're welcome. I guess at this point in time I am about as
confused as it appears you all are. Okay? We started out with a sidewalk
project that's going to bubble into low income -- medium income housing. That
begs the -- to ask about resettlement -- refugee resettlement and it sounds to me
like there might be a little skullduggery going on here amongst you folks. He
brought some clarity to it. The map over here was all about where they are
putting the low income housing. All those little green dots. Nothing said about a
sidewalk. And, Madam Mayor, you brought that forward. Thank you, Ty, for
clarifying it a little bit, but it's still not real clear. What is clear to me right now is
you're going to push this sidewalk program through, so that later on you can get
this government dole or whatever it is for low-income housing without any
approvals necessarily, as this gentleman brought out. Maybe, maybe not. First
of all, public hearings are one thing. But, you know what, you folks were all hired
to protect the city. Please do your job. I oppose low income housing. I have
watched the Washington Court or whatever it's called these days . I have
watched it deteriorate. I see the police cars there constantly. Now, you really
want to do that -- more of that to the City of Meridian? I ask that. I stand
opposed. Thank you for hearing me.
De Weerd: Dustin Emmens. Good afternoon.
Emmens: Hello, Mayor, Council. I live at 21 -- or sorry. 2586 West Misty Drive,
Meridian. I am against low income housing. This is all about the camel getting
its nose in the tent. The sidewalk leads to the housing project. The housing
project leads to other needs for low-income persons. We don't have a bus.
Meridian needs to expand bus service for the low-income houses. Meridian
needs to expand this service and that service and so on and so forth and pretty
soon we are out of money. This is all about money and the camel getting in the
tent. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Those were the folks that were signed up. Is there any
other member that would like to provide testimony at this time? Yeah. We will
get back to you.
Schindler: Madam Mayor, I apologize for my appearance today, but just came in
off of a job site. But I wanted to appear today --
De Weerd: Can you, please, state your name and address for the record.
Schindler: Martin Schindler. 6835 North Topaz, Meridian, Idaho.
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De Weerd: Thank you.
Schindler: Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for their comments, but I also
have -- born in Boise, grew up in a larger city, and I understand a couple of
things. We are missing a few clearly unidentified individuals that aren't here
today and that's the business people that have service needs within the City of
Meridian and so, one, is I am for the sidewalk extension. I think that's a safety
issue and I see that throughout the city and I -- I would appreciate that money
being spent in doing so. I also see that we have a workforce issue and we have
talked about low income housing, but we are not talking about -- we are talking
about very small percentage is my understanding -- anyway. And I think we have
brought the word low income and I don't necessarily feel that way if -- if the value
of the property is driven higher, depending on how city planners would actually
handle the physical characteristics and what would appear there. So, we
consider it today in today's language workforce housing and workforce housing is
done in several different means. One, the average service individual's wages are
around $7.50 an hour and they peak out at about $9.75 an hour and that's some
data that I have taken locally and I -- I know that from having people that work for
me, that our labor-style individuals or maybe they work in the kitchen and serve --
or prepare our meals at night or whatever it may be , but they are not paid a lot of
money and we do need -- we do need those individuals in the core of our city to
help support the services we need to build a city and to keep our downtown core
thriving. And that's all I have. Any questions?
De Weerd: No. Thank you, Marty.
Schindler: You're welcome.
De Weerd: We had a follow-up comment. If you will wait and comment when
you're on front of the microphone.
Grover: I just wanted to add one more thing. I don't have children in school. My
son does. As far as I know every school within any kind of -- 20 minute drive of
this area is packed. There is no -- so, we will have to talk about bussing also on
that. But if you want to do safety issues on 2 1/2 that's perfectly fine with. The
school -- the school thing is another issue, because they are all full and I don't
know where they would go. I think you would be better served to put the project
out somewhere else farther. But that's what I wanted to add.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Grover: Thank you.
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August 9, 2016
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De Weerd: Any other comments? Okay. We will again take public comment at
6:00 o'clock and I thank the folks that came today to provide your feedback at
this point. So, this item will be continued to the end of our agenda .
Item 7: Department Reports
A. Community Development and Economic Development
Department Strategic Update
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7 is under Department Reports. Item A is our
Community Development and Economic Development Department strategic
update. Hello, Bruce.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Members. I've decided I don't want to give
an annual update. The next item on the agenda is of much more concern to me.
I'm going to do everything I can to torpedo the appointment of C. Jay Coles as
city clerk. How dare you. I have the secret dossier if they're interested.
De Weerd: I'm sorry, if you will, please, refrain from --
Chatterton: Seriously, C. Jay is a big -- is a big loss to our department, but we
are keeping him, I hope, with the city and we are very proud of him and very
proud that we will continue to work with him. I would say that the city clerk's
office's knowledge and from the boots on-the-ground planning effort that we have
here in the city just increased a whole heck of a lot with C. Jay going over there,
so -- the first part of this is going to go very quickly, because the first couple of
slides I do -- every year I have done this. It's always a reminder why we are
here and I have to remind myself of that every day and I think it's good for us as
a group to remind ourselves of it at least -- at least once a year. It's actually been
close for a year and a half. We -- our update last year was in May. So, a little bit
more time has passed and a little bit more -- a few events have taken place. We
are going to talk about our staffing changes, as I do every year. Talk about our
development market and how busy we are . Thank goodness. We are going to
talk a little bit about some updates and some special projects we have been
working on and will be working on. Review what happened in economic
development over the past year. And, then, move on to what I see is some of the
threats -- at least a couple for the next year that we need to be responding to .
Finally, your thoughts and direction. And, please, I invite you to interrupt me at
any point, any questions, any dialogue, I have no problem with that whatsoever.
Let's get into it. We exist to give the Mayor and by extension Council that control
over the permitting process. We have to remember that back a few years ago
the building and development services function was in Public Works. Planning
was its own small department. Economic Development was in the Mayor's office.
By putting those things together we extend the reach and effectiveness of
everything we are trying to do with Economic Development. You can actually
view Community Development as being an extension of Economic Development,
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especially when you look at Economic Development as being more than
recruiting folks or retaining businesses, it's also about the quality of life and our
investment. So, we have three divisions and I love to show this -- this graphic,
which, basically, shows the development process, all the way from when a
business is recruited and begins looking for a place to locate down to when they
begin to move in and we want to retain them in our study. Everything in
between. So, Economic Development can be involved very much at the
beginning, very much at the end. You see Planning starting to come in as
developers start to come in and speak with us about where they want to locate .
What's the entitlement. We offer business assistance from all of our divisions at
pre-application meetings. Under planning and infrastructure, both Planning and
Development Services are involved. Ditto the entitlement process. Building
permits. You really see the building functions. Development Services coming
into play there. So, all three divisions, along with our partners in Fire, Police,
Public Works, the Ada County Highway District, all contribute across the board.
A couple staffing changes. We have got some awesome folks that have been
around -- you know, less than a year now. Kim Tabarini is our administrative
assistant. She's been a great addition. She has a long career in business
already and kind of brings that -- really brings a real business approach to -- to
our administrative tasks. She is our only generalist for administration, but she's
been a wonderful addition to our group. She just got off probation. But with
flying colors. You know Josh Beach, associate planner. He's been around for a
while. He may not seem that new to you, because you see him at so many
hearings, but he's been also a really great addition and , like Kim, he's really a
part of the fabric of community development now. Stacey Hersh is our land
development support specialist. She helps our land division folks with track and
arrange for sureties. She works quite a bit with Finance and with the City Clerk's
Office and really what she does is she chews up those applications, those files,
so that our can -- in the land division group, the analysts, can actually do the
work of reviewing them. Finally, C. Jay I'm not going to talk about C. Jay. I
already have.
De Weerd: Well, that's good, because I would have pointed out you stole him
from us, so, you know -- you know it's karma.
Chatterton: There you go. We have been talking a lot about karma lately. So,
we are happy to have these newer members of our group. What did we talk
about were threats about a year and a half ago? You know. So, what did we say
then and what did we do about it. One of the things we said was we are running
lean. Pointed out the Development Services Fund, basically Community
Development's fund, has had the smallest growth in overall budget over the past
five years, just one percent growth and Community Development has had the
lowest increase in FTEs over the five -- past five years of any city department.
We opted not to add additional staff beyond the -- the land development support
specialist. Stacey's position. But ongoing we need to -- and I will come back to
this -- we need to monitor this and, then, look at -- at staffing needs for next
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budget year and possibly future years as well. And I mentioned earlier, very,
very heavy workload, which continues for the subdivision infrastructure review,
that's our -- that's our land group. In 2015 we had over 29 million dollars in
outstanding sureties. These are performance instruments, money that's been put
up, so that infrastructure is put into place properly and there is a liability for the
city. There is a complexity for the city around having that -- that big an
outstanding collection of sureties. Previously we had that processing handled by
a generalist within Community Development by the Admin Il and yet they were
dealing with specialists, such as folks in Public Works and in Finance, the Clerk's
Office, and developers at that time were complaining about the length of time to
release sureties. It's gotten a lot better because of your -- your help -- not this
coming budget year, but the previous one, we were able to hire Stacy to
concentrate on that workload, queue up those -- the sureties in the applications
and that 29 million dollar number in outstanding sureties has been cut in half.
So, again, this is not a measure of backlog as much as it is the fact that we want
to be able to move these off as quickly as possible and we weren't able to get to
them until you all were -- helped us enhance our staffing. For the CDBG
program, we told you before the budget hearings in May of 2015 that we were
being administered by a part-time staff member, only 19 hours a week. The
regulatory and reporting burden from HUD is -- continues to grow. We said we
may need to enhance the position and you helped us by doing that . Again,
because of budget we were able to add hours, so that Sean now is around 30
hours a week maximum. We also said -- this was topical then, it's topical now,
but housing diversity can be a threat. The lack of it can be a threat. Trying to get
more diverse creates tension and, in particular, multi-family and smaller single-
family lots. We -- we are kept really playing catch up then. We still are, but the
multi-family numbers have dropped off a little bit and it's completely natural and
understandable that there would be tensions around that type of growth . So, our
response has been to emphasize education efforts. Keep the UDC up to date
and we have been doing that with your help and with the UDC committee and
also, then, to promote fair housing, because as the law of the land, the Fair
Housing Act is -- is very important and, of course, we, like many communities,
have committed to a firm belief to further fair housing. Talk a little bit about the
development market in Meridian. We just have -- these are mostly building
permits, large and small, just an example -- just a sample of things that have
come through. You know, some very, very small things all the way from -- you
know, you don't love to see pawn shops, but we love to see things like Primary
Health come in, the indoor shooting range, you know, C stores, Timbergrove
Townhomes. They move on to planning approval, some of these, of course, are
not built yet. We have a very large RV dealer coming in right next to Camping
World on Overland. Bish's RV. Harmony Hill Assisted Living. St. Ignatius
School is a big addition to our community. We have got a lot of great new
businesses that either are locating or already have opened up in downtown,
including Primary Health, Human Bean, Frankie's Java. There will be a coffee
shop in the Hub Building and Caleb's Chop Shop , which is -- if you haven't been
in there it's a really cool barber shop. And, then, larger things, like the Ida Pine
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facility where we are converting industrial land along the railroad tracks into a
high tech wood products manufacturer. The Ameriban office, you're very familiar
with that. That's going out in the Ten Mile area. And WinCo Foods on Overland
as well. Let's look at some numbers. New single-family. The previous year --
and this is -- this is, basically, now year to date and comparing it to last year,
August or August the previous year we had 943 single-family homes. This year
we've had almost 1,300. Big workload there. The value of single-family homes,
the total assessed value has increased from 243 million dollars to 316 million
dollars. Multi-family has fallen off a bit, although we are still very busy with -- with
multi-family. We went from the previous year, 558 units, to this year 120 units
and as you can see there has also been a big fall off in the value with the newly -
permitted multi-family. For commercial. Commercial tracking pretty much stayed
as it was before, as you can see from some of these numbers. New commercial
value is up a bit from 74 million to about 82 million . The square footage,
ironically, is a little bit down, but these numbers are pretty well consistent with --
with the previous year. I'm not Bob McQuade and I'm not going to get very deep
into this, but I thought it was interesting. Brian McClure came up with the total
citywide assessed value of all of the land and improvements in Meridian and,
yes, that's right, that's ten billion -- almost 11 billion dollars in value. Obviously,
that doesn't equate directly to what people pay on taxes, that's a complicated
thing, but, you know, going from 9.7, almost 9.8 billion dollars, to close to 11
billion dollars for this current year really tells you all of the small decisions and
the big ones, too, that we do add up to something -- something big. This is just
another measure of -- of the size of our community. We have, as a result of the
Development Services Fund, been able to return about 15 million dollars today to
the General Fund. Obviously, that goes up and, then, it goes down, you can see
some lean years there where nothing was returned to the General Fund. '08
through '10, but most years we do -- and, again, this is not a profit, this is the
amount of money collected through Development Services Fund for all permitting
activities. Let's do a couple of updates. First off we talked a lot about our permit
fees. We haven't changed them since 2007, almost -- you know, going on a
decade. So, we asked the building division staff , Sam Zahorka and Brent
Bjornson, to take a look at how we were comparing with our neighboring
jurisdictions and I think the results are interesting. So, for commercial permit
fees -- and, again, what we did is we try to get this to apples to apples -- we
assumed a 5,000 square foot tenant improvement of a particular type that you
see here. These numbers do not include impact fees, sewer assessment fees,
any of that. These are strictly building permit fees. You will see that it ranges
from the city of Eagle charging about 6,600 dollars per single-family home, all the
way down to Ada County, 5,300, and we are right pretty much smack dab in the
middle. Right just under 6,000. Slightly above city of Boise, but -- but that's --
that's so close it's almost the same number.
Bird: Isn't that commercial, Bruce, not --
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Chatterton: Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me, Council Member Bird. Yes. I'm sorry, I'm
thinking about my next slide, which is single-family. Yes, this is -- this is per
5,000 square foot of improvement per the notes you see down there at the
bottom. So, you see that we are right in the middle of the -- of the pack when it
comes to commercial fees. For residential we are the cheapest. It ranges from
city of Eagle 3,600 dollars --
De Weerd: We are the best value.
Chatterton: Correct the record. We are the best value. Thank you, Mayor. And
so it's interesting that not only are we doing more in the way of single-family and
other types of development as well, but that we are the -- the least expensive as
well. I bring this up, because we want to take in the coming year of -- we think
it's high time to take a look at our fees and what you're seeing here is simply a
comparison to our local peers. It -- if you really want to get into this, you should
take a look at what it actually costs you to perform the service . That is to deliver
the permit with assumptions like these. It's what I call a cost of service study and
once you determine what it actually costs you for each permit type, then, you
have a fair basis for talking about changing the fees up or down. It's not a
foregone conclusion, for instance, that because we are less expensive than
these other jurisdictions that we would want to change those fees. Simply that
it's recognizing that perhaps we are -- commercial is making a bit more money for
us and covering the cost of the organization that we have perhaps a bit more
than single family is. So, what we would like to do and report back to you in the
coming year is a little bit more about fees, perhaps a fee structure that makes a
little bit more sense and begin to have that -- that dialogue with the development
community and with the City Council as well. So, that's the reason I bring it up.
And I will just close that piece of it by showing a new commercial on the left and ,
again, Meridian is the gray bar on the right -hand side, so you can see we are
pretty much middle of the pack for new commercial . New residential we are
lower than -- than anyone else. Special projects. Boy, this is a big shift here.
Lighter, quicker, cheaper on Idaho Avenue. We are really happy with the results.
I think you have seen that Idaho Avenue has a different feel now. It feels a lot
better to walk around, to hang out on, and with some of the new businesses that
will be coming online here shortly, I think we will be seeing a lot more activity.
You know, I think this is an example of the public sector -- in this case the city
and MDC -- pulling money to set the table. Now, we really need the community
to come in and dine, as it were, and activate the street and so we hope to be
hearing about some events upcoming, perhaps a street party, some sort of a
celebration that would really show that -- that Idaho Avenue is, in the words of my
favorite urban designer, is it's a great piece of street. The great thing is that
these improvements have been made very inexpensively to demonstrate the --
the concept. If for some reason things don't work out and people don't like the
result, it's also low cost to go back to the way it was . That's what light, cheaper,
quicker is all about. We have had a group called the Development Services
Advisory Committee. This is a group of -- you would recognize these folks --
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developers, builders, engineers, architects that many are -- they are some of the
most frequent folks up here at this podium and in our office. We also have some
representatives among that group from the BCA and our UDC review committee.
That's the first meeting we had with them on July 7th. He said everything was on
the table. If you want to belly ache, go ahead and belly ache. We invited the
feedback on everything that we are involved with at least in permitting, all the
way from the planning process to subdivisions and platting and the building
permit process and I will get to some of the feedback we had in just a minute, but
we laid out some of the roles, which I think are interesting. For defect members
we got an agreement that their role in this process is to raise issues , tell us
what's not working, tell us what is working and we asked them not to rush the
solutions. Don't say Community Development you should do this. Instead, tell
us what success looks like, that we would be successful if this preferred outcome
actually took place and, then, we would, then, bring back the service
improvements that we think meet those needs. We would review that with the
DSAC members and perhaps they would help us test those improvements. So,
staff's role -- and as we did at this meeting, we listened. Our role is to take those
preferred outcomes, understand the problems and, then, design and propose
solutions, run those solutions by the committee, and you could implement minor
changes to pilot projects. For example, it could be a policy change, it could be a
code amendment, possibly something with the UDC or some of the other codes.
It could be a process improvement, all the way from something very, very quick
and easy to a pilot project where we might be asking some of the members of the
DSAC to be guinea pigs and help us test some of these improvements, because
what you don't want to do is create two or more problem s for every problem you
solve. So, some of the feedback we had. The great thing about these folks is
that they start off by saying -- they start off by complimenting us and it really
didn't go downhill from there. They said you're the best city we work with. One
of the comments was: I can always count on Meridian to be there to solve the
problem. Your approach is to solve the problem and not just say it's not
consistent with the code. It's against the code. You don't leave it there. You
problem solve. And they don't get that from other jurisdictions. Some of the
concerns that were raised and that we will be talking with them about at the
August 31st meeting, our next meeting, will be some concerns with our new
contract plan reviewers and inspectors, about some disconnects that they are
feeling. You know, they talk about staff taking the Meridian Way and -- and living
the Meridian Way in our professional lives every day or interactions with them.
They want to feel more of that from our -- our contractors. Concerns overall
about the speed of the planning process and some ideas about that and issues
with certain development agreement conditions. So, we are going to be working
through a few of these things. The meeting was very heartening. The great
thing was these folks are very much a part of our industry, very much a part of
our community and they are here to engage with us in a productive way. Special
projects. Moving on. When we met at the joint session with the county
commissioners, they brought this issue up, basically, the fact that our city limits --
I call it Swiss cheese. We have -- as you can see from this map the white are
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individual parcels or collections of parcels that are not within the city, but are
surrounded by the city. In other words, enclaves. We agree with the county that
this is an issue and so the planning staff is going to be looking at these enclaves
and working not just -- not just planners doing this, we will be working with all the
affected departments, with Public Works, with Fire, with Police, with Parks. This
affects a lot of different folks and the solution to each of these enclaves, whether
it comes into the city now or later or perhaps if not at all , really has to do with a
lot of -- a lot of different departments looking at this. There is no question that we
can have a more efficient delivery of services to our community by eliminating
some of these enclaves. Some of them, though, as we discussed with the
county commissioners are problematic. And mentioned the joint session with the
county. We want to move ahead with the development review improvements we
proposed with Ada County. We have not heard back from the county yet
officially, but we want to still move ahead with -- with those improvements. We
are continuing to evaluate both open space standards and residential dimensions
with the UDC review group and you all see the results of that every few months
here with Bill Parsons. We are going to be looking at the Comp Plan
designations near Overland and Eagle, I-84. We have a lot of low density
residential. Should it remain? You know, as you all know we have the -- Jim
Kissler's Norco headquarters will be coming in that area and some other
development. Do these land use designations in an area make sense given the
development that we are having. And we are also going to be identifying some
priority growth areas per the strategic plan for the city and defining some growth
goals and that brings up the Fields District. Mayor likes to talk about the Fields
District as being the place where agriculture, economic development, and land us
all come together. For that reason to see -- you know, as you all know we had
some ideas about what might happen in our -- the northwest part of Meridian
along the county line. We want to see if there are ideas and energy around
others doing something similar. So, on September 14th we are going to be
convening a roundtable discussion called growing together. It will be jointly
hosted by the Nampa and Meridian mayors. Both counties will be invited. We
will have a lot of stakeholders, including the Meridian chamber, the Nampa
chamber, greater Boise chamber. For those of you that were at the -- the
leadership conference in Sun Valley, the focus was on food and agriculture.
There is also now a food and ag committee and a lot of those participants are
going to be, hopefully, at this meeting. They certainly will be invited. We want to
see if we can continue those ideas, but focus on that area where Nampa and
Meridian eventually are coming together and ultimately we may be looking at a
specific area plan -- like what we did in Ten Mile and what we have in the
downtown for Meridian's far northeast area of, impact because there is a lot of
interest in land being purchased there by developers. What is the future of this
area.
De Weerd: Northwest.
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Chatterton: I'm sorry. Northwest. Excuse me. Got you on a question, Council
Members. Sorry. So, Caleb gives you all things transportation every -- every few
months, so I don't want to go a lot into this, but -- and I won't, but there is just --
we are really, really lucky to have somebody with Caleb's experience and
expertise to -- to engage with the community and with the transportation
agencies. It's -- it's a lot of work, but it also pays big dividends for us and it
allows us to -- in an intelligent way place pressure on folks that allocate money
and do the TIP to -- for things like the Meridian interchange to be improved. So,
a lot of success stories come out of this effort. CDBG program. Again, I'm not
going to dwell on this slide, because Sean just went through it with you.
Economic Development. This is actually a slide from a year and a half ago and
we talked about fostering collaborations to create a downtown startup center,
develop opportunities at Ten Mile, and a downtown multi-use center. Well, I don't
need to tell you that we have been able to achieve two of those things just in the
last year and a half or so. New Ventures Lab is now operating and, yes, we are
developing opportunities at Ten Mile through the creation of the urban renewal
district and the corporate headquarters planned for there. Not so successful on
the downtown multi-use center, but the energy is still there from the steering
committee, which is made up of chamber members and other folks and we are
beginning to look at opportunities. There are developers that are interested in
our downtown and possibly in some of these uses and we will see what happens
with that. So, it's good -- it's good that we had two of those three. Two high
priority objectives for Brenda's program. First, identify, develop and use tools for
successful attraction and retention of jobs. Second close behind that, promote
job growth by, then, finding, attracting businesses in technology, health sciences,
animal science and food production. We have been living these -- these
priorities as you will see. ICOM, you know, a great case in point. We are -- after
ICOM is developed I think it will only really be the beginning of reinforcing some
of the -- the healthcare sectors and other sectors that we just mentioned. Very
excited about that. As we mentioned before, the total capital investment is over
32 million dollars. Ninety jobs average wage of 88,000 dollars. Ten Mile. Don't
need to talk about the urban renewal district. That's been handed off to Meridian
Development Corporation at this point, but, my goodness, for starters, two
corporate headquarters and additional development around that . You know, we
hear hints of a hotel as well and so I think this is really just the beginning. I think
we have a catalyst through urban renewal as part of that for development of this
new portion of Meridian. Something you haven't seen -- or haven't seen much of
is -- and this comes down to business attraction. This is a database online
website that we subscribe to called Offsites. This allows us to highlight sites that
we want to have developed. Really, those key sites in our downtown and
elsewhere and to shop them and it's not just passively putting them out there
online, the company we work with has a huge database of developers and site
selectors that specialize in industrial, downtown redevelopment, urban housing,
retail -- you name it. And so we actually push through e-mail these opportunities
out to developers who might actually be interested in them. So, it's not so much
a shotgun approach as it is a very, very finely tuned approach. We have really
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got -- just gotten up and running with this and beginning to build on it and we are
expecting again to see it reap benefits in the coming years. Job creation. We
had a thousand new jobs in 2015, 70 new businesses, 223 new jobs in
professional, scientific, and technical sectors and, obviously, low unemployment
and an increase overall in individual wages. Let's talk about two threats and,
then, I'm going to conclude and ask for your -- ask for your thoughts. Just make
sure I'm on the right slide here. We mentioned those the -- this heavy
development pressure in our extreme northwest of our area of impact. We do
have some services out there. For instance, sewer, but some are lagging and
rightly so. Police and Fire. So, there is sort of the disconnect here. We did have
a development application west of McDermott, which was denied by Council,
partly because of concerns about those services and, then, against that we have
got Highway 16 eventually being developed and US 20-26 with the pressure to
improve that corridor. What do we do? Well, the first thing is the growing
together round table to see if others share our concerns. We need to coordinate
with all the service providers that are affected and some good old-fashioned land
use planning, perhaps a specific area plan for the area that we have been calling
the Fields District, perhaps other areas. Really, the round table will help us start
down some of these paths if that's the direction that we are going to go. Finally,
as far as the threat, I have to keep going back to retaining folks and keeping staff
where it should be. Really, the emphasis is on planning at this point. We are
experiencing heavy volumes. Either private sector -- and this always happens
when the real estate market takes off, they are recruiting. More is being asked of
our staff, not just planners, but the others as well. We are going to stay, as
Caleb says, lean and mean, but we may also be looking at additional staff or
other resources for the next budget year and you've been quiet. That's
everything I had to say. I'd love to hear thoughts or questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bruce. Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. Bruce, towards the beginning of your presentation you
said we don't like to see pawnshops. Why is that?
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Member Palmer, I suppose they are just not
my favorite sort of land use. I'm not wild about vape stores either. It's more of an
editorial comment than anything else.
Palmer: Okay.
De Weerd: Other questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
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Cavener: Just a couple of comments and I was fortunate -- Bruce talked through
a lot of his presentation with me earlier today and I think it's important to -- if we
are going to -- for me to take away something away from your presentation is in
light of all the growth and success that your department has seen over the past
year, to your point you have continued to operate lean and mean and return
dollars back to the city -- we recognize not all of our departments have that luxury
of returning dollars to the General Fund, but I appreciate you and your staff's
hard work to really kind of embody the Meridian Way. So, I appreciate your hard
work and all your staff's hard work as well.
Chatterton: Thank you.
De Weerd: I would just add on something that came out in your -- your
stakeholder group in terms of solution. Your departments are very solution-
oriented and that -- that is appreciated. I have heard that said out in the
community that rather than walking in and having no as the first word out in
response to questions about how can we see how we can make this work and to
Council we had a meeting with each of our departments that have some kind of
relationship with the West Ada County School District and I was very proud of --
of those partnerships and how solution-oriented -- not only community
development is, but all of our departments in terms of how can we develop better
working relationships with those critical partners that have everything to do with
our quality of life and providing services to our citizens and I do believe that your
your staff really embodies the Meridian Way and trying to provide those timely
timely responses, but also spending enough time with it to be -- to be thorough
and find other options that can have a desired impact on the person that's
standing in front of you. Too often that doesn't happen and I'm proud that that is
the -- the way that your staff operates. So, big kudos to all of you. We
appreciate that. You probably don't hear it often enough. It's easier to complain
than to reiterate when you see good things happen, but I think you are a lean
department and you still take that necessary time to seek to understand before
you give your answer. That's unique.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, further to your point, these folks already had this
mentality when I arrived and it was -- it actually amazed me. There was another
jurisdiction, not anywhere close by, that I worked at -- I actually heard a senior
staff member, very talented person, urban designer, tell a developer that's a
great idea, but it's against the code and that was supposed to be the end of the
conversation and I had a conversation with him and the rest of the staff after that,
that if you believe it's a good idea and it's good for the community, you are duty-
bound to find a solution and -- and if the code is the issue, a code amendment, a
change, working within the -- any flexibility you might have within the code. You
can't just leave it there. And the great -- and so that took some real corporate
culture retooling. Didn't have to do that here and that's why I'm so grateful for
this team and it really comes down to the leadership from Mayor and Council.
The Meridian Way actually means something here and that's pretty cool.
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De Weerd: Any other questions or comments from Council?
Bird: Nice job.
De Weerd: Thank you and thank you, again, to all of you.
B. Mayor's Office: Appointment of C.Jay Coles as the City
Clerk
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-B, much to Bruce's chagrin is my appointment -- our
recommendation to Council to appoint C. Jay Coles as our new city clerk.
Certainly most all of you know C. Jay and we just talked about the Meridian Way.
Certainly C. Jay has that approach in everything he does. Certainly I was very
disappointed when he left our office and I'm really glad to see that karma really
does pull through and what goes around comes around . But I think C. Jay brings
a lot of skills to this and certainly that public servant heart that he has will serve
us well in the clerk's department as our city clerk. So, Council, I would ask for
your approval through -- of an appointment for C. Jay Coles to serve as our
next city clerk.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, this is a motion -- I feel like I just did this. I move we
approve the appointment of C. Jay Coles as the city clerk.
Cavener: Second.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and several seconds. Thank you for that. Any
discussion?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, I -- as the liaison to the clerk's office I couldn't be more
excited. I was -- when I first heard that this was going to be taking place I
remember back in the days forever ago when I would be hanging out with C . Jay
at his apartment near campus and we would be deciding whether to go to Taco
Bell or Del Taco and here we are now, he's being appointed to city clerk and I'm
as liaison on the Council. I'd like to tell you that was a long time ago, but it was
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maybe only a few years. But I guess I was real excited to be able to work with
him as a clerk and excited to be able to be the one to make that motion.
De Weerd: I will back up. I didn't know he -- I'm going to have to rethink this
appointment recommendation. Okay.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Despite his lack of judgment as a youth, I think your comments -- C.
Jay does embody that term public servant and I think that both our community
and staff, as well as this Council will benefit from having him up here and guiding
us through meetings. I couldn't be more excited to have an individual who
embodies the Meridian Way, despite not living in Meridian, but maybe that will
change one day, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to vote for him .
De Weerd: Well, thank you for your comments. Madam Clerk, will you, please,
call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird: yes; Borton, yea; Milam; yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, absent.
De Weerd: All ayes. Congratulations, C. Jay.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Would you like to say anything, C. Jay?
Bird: Heck, yes. He's always good for a word.
Coles: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I stand before you honored and
grateful for this opportunity. Council Member Palmer, I would have appreciated it
if you would have kept our secrets of Taco Bell or Del Taco. It's okay. Years ago
it seems like -- actually, it really feels like yesterday when I started in the Mayor's
office. I never could have imagined that I would be standing here appointed as
the city clerk of the city. But this really is a dream come true for me. I have loved
working in this city for the city and really look forward to continuing that
opportunity in the clerk's office. I know that I have the largest shoes to fill, not
just with Jaycee Holman, but with Jacy Jones. They set the standard very, very
high for this position and I will work every day to the best of my ability to live up to
that -- to that standard as you, Mayor, and Bruce stated, applying for this position
wasn't easy for me, because the department -- Community Development is
outstanding and every day I work with true professionals who embody the
Meridian Way. It made it a little easier to apply for this position , knowing the
department that is put together in the clerk's office. They have that same
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mentality, that same Meridian Way approach to everything that public servant s
are, so it made it a little bit easier to apply knowing that if I was selected that I
would be joining an outstanding department and I really hope just to not rock the
boat too much over there, because they really know what they are doing and
they do a really good job serving the citizens of Meridian. But I know you have
got a few other items on the agenda , so I won't take much more time, but, again,
I appreciate this opportunity. Am humbled and honored to be appointed. So,
thank you.
Item 8: Community Items/Presentations
A. Public Works: Public Works Week Recap and Donation
to the Meridian Food Bank
De Weerd: Thank you, C. Jay. And thank you, Council, and Jaycee. Okay.
Item 8-A is under our Public Works Department and I will turn this --
Bolthouse: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, we appreciate taking a
few minutes of your time. We appreciate your support for the Public Works
Week celebration that we had this year. It was our 8th annual celebration. Our
fearless leader Tom Barry was unable to be here today. He also sends his
appreciation for your support. I know many of you had the opportunity to
participate in several or -- or some of the events over the week and we just want
to take a few minutes here and reflect on the week, talk about some of the
successes and end our presentation with a nice check to the Meridian Food
Bank. So, the Public Works Week -- it just has a tremendous amount of value for
our department and we hope for the rest of the community. Its intention, which
was established some 50 years ago by the American Public Works Association
as a means of celebrating the activities of public works groups and their
contribution to the community. We certainly highlighted a few here that we
thought was important to our team. It gives us the opportunity to educate the
public and make them aware of the roles in our community, recognize the hard
working professionals within the Public Works Department. As you probably
witnessed, there is a lot of collaboration that we have with many partners in the
community and many stakeholders that participate. A lot of team building. We
look forward to this activity every year. It takes a lot of time and preparation and
through that we do grow closer as a team as we work towards accomplishing a
nice week and a nice event and certainly giving back to the community is -- is an
important part of what's become a tradition . So, eight years ago was our first
effort and that was only the Expo and as you can see as we look at the calendar
of events this year, we have expanded to five days worth of events, starting with
the proclamation at Council meeting on Tuesday this year, followed by
Wednesday the Go With The Flow tour. We had another tremendous turnout.
We filled our bus. We had a three and a half hour tour this year throughout the
facilities and that was well received and we have already had 24 -- about a half a
bus signed up ready to go for next year. So, we may have to start looking at how
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we are going to expand our capabilities on that. That flowed on into Thursday
where we had our Expo and, once again, that was attended by nearly a thousand
folks in the community where we had a great opportunity to show them the kinds
of things we are doing in Public Works and a lot of our other partners in the
community have a chance to show what they are doing as well. That followed by
a little bit of fun on Friday, our golf scramble event. We had almost 80 players
participating and it does raise some funds in '04 to assist in the cost and also to
our food bank donation that we will have here shortly and we finished the week
out with the Poop Scoop Run and that this year had almost 150 participants and
that's the racing of the tennis ball from the water department to the wastewater
department and it was a great morning and a nice event and we did have
souvenir tennis balls, but we didn't bring them with us I guess today, so we will --
De Weerd: That's all right.
Bolthouse: -- let you catch up to those. But anyway. You know, these events
can't happen without an awful lot of hard work and we had a great team headed
up by Susie Deardorff and many members of the department that helped us pull
this off and I will turn it over to her to introduce some of those members and give
you some more detail.
Deardorff: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you for allowing us the
chance to recap the efforts and successes of Meridian 8th Annual Public Works
Week. Planning begins each year in January with a group of Public Works
employees that begin the massive task of planning all the events . We have 15
committee members and, then, there is countless contributions by all Public
Works staff in order to make the event successful. Here is a list of all the
employees who assist and chair of the events committee . This year's theme was
Public Works Always There. As you know, Public Works doesn't keep -- does
keep things running 24-7, 365, but we don't do this alone. Public Works Week is
a series of events that require participation from our community partners, such as
consultants and business partners in order to educate and inform the residents in
our community. They include agencies such as ACHD, ITD, Republic Services,
Nampa-Meridian Irrigation District, Home Depot and even more. And this year
we had Idaho Power and Intermountain Gas join us . These partners help make
our Public Works Week activities both possible and successful. So, let's talk
about our Community Partners. We had 65 organizations that contributed in one
way or another. Thirty-five of those organizations contributed prices or in-kind
donations. We had 12 financial sponsors who donated a hundred dollars or
more. And, then, between sponsor involvement and additional organizations, we
had support from 18 community partners participating in the golf scramble. In
total proceeds from contributions and event participation equals 9,642 dollars.
Now, this always costs things to run event this big. We plan annual city events.
In the Public Works advertising, promotional, and public education budget, this
year the budget was 4,000 dollars. That represents one ten-thousandth of Public
Works' total budget. That's a very minor cost compared to the huge impact and
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benefit that we gain for the effort. This is our single largest Public Works
outreach in our educational event series. Now, we like to collect feedback on the
events to be sure that we are hitting the mark. So, at the tour we received 40
responses from our surveys. A hundred percent of them said it was excellent. At
the Expo received 82 cards. Ninety-one said it was excellent, seven of those
comments said it was good, and, then, in our first Poop Scoot survey we used
SurveyMonkey. We had 31 respondents. Fifty-three percent said it was
excellent. Forty-seven percent said it was good. Now, we did have one
responded. His only comment was: I lost. We didn't count that one. We
assume they had fun, because they still responded. And we collect feedback in
order to glean information in order to make the future outreaches have a better
impact and be more meaningful to those who are participating and as you can
see a hundred percent of the feedback that we have received rated the events as
good or excellent. So, let me share some of those responses with you. After the
three and a half hour tour of Public Works facilities, with stops at significant
landmarks or points in the water life cycle process, one participant said: I found it
all very interesting. A great description on how the whole water life cycle in our
city works. And I don't know if this was Mr. Palmer, but he did join us on the tour
and we appreciate that. At the Expo there is lots of things to see, do, and touch.
This is an event filled with activities for both kids and adults to learn about Public
Works and what we do. It also gives the community a chance to interact with the
Public Works staff and city staff. This is a family event that many look forward to
year after year. We received that feedback in many of the comments that we
receive. One participant said it was fantastic. Fire hydrant. Excavator. Well
aquifer info. Truck tours. Pipe cleaning. All of it. And onto the Poop Scoot. The
Poop Scoot is a family friendly fun/run/walk, for those of us who don't run, and
that is a race against a tennis ball dropped in the sewer line at the water division,
goes to the wastewater division. We have made it easy for everyone to
participate. Kids, adults, and even the four-legged friends. One participant said I
love that the entrance fee is for the foodbank. It makes it a good option for kids
and families to participate. One key thing to note is that Kyle won the trophy
again for staff participation. So, he's very happy.
De Weerd: That's rigged. I think it's rigged.
Deardorff: Well, he did lose it last year. So, before going onto the next slide, I
would like to thank Casey and Rachael for producing this year's Public Works
Week video. So, in case you missed it, here it is.
Video played.)
Pepin: Thank you very much for Susie putting that together. She really bulldogs
this. She has for the last couple of years and one thing that I get to do is talk
about the benefits, but the real benefit is watching Susie work with the 15
individuals that you identified that volunteered their time in and out of their work
schedules to participate. We may be one department, but we are geographically
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separated and anytime you put an engineer, a wastewater operator, and a water
operator in the same room there is always different ideas and Susie is able to get
those ideas into effort and, then, build upon as the apex angle. So, a lot of effort
goes to Susie, her team, and, then, all of the other 85 members behind the
scenes that are picking up the slack when the rest of us are pulling off Expos and
doing tours. So, tons of effort there and it's invaluable education as you see in
the slide. If you look at the demographics that were -- that they had on the tour,
you're talking about all kinds of generations , little up to elderly folks that are
interested in what Public Works is doing and we are able to offer that and not just
the tour, but out here at the Expo as well. The team building I just mentioned
what Susie does internally, but also we bring on and we solicit help from
Development Services, Bruce Freckleton and his team, team with Home Depot
and help with the bird cages and do some permit evaluations and sign off on
what the kids build. Also MUBS, Karie and their team came out. The Solid
Waste Advisory Council this year had the hand in hand. That was a good
addition to the Expo this year. The relationship building -- Republic Services was
up here shortly, but what a great sponsor they are and the ability to work with
them, with the Go With The Flow Tour and Rachel and her team do a great job.
So, thank you very much and that -- that's just one example. There is many
others that truly help to pull off what Susie and Dale just provided you . So, what
is the outcome of some donations? This year we had -- we had support and we
were able to nearly match what we provided last year and this year we chose to
support the Meridian Food Bank with nearly 70 percent of a donation. We also --
in alignment with last year will donate some money to the Care To Share
program, which you should be familiar with that Parks operates to send kids to
camp and, then, a little bit of a pivot this year is we made a decision to support
the community recycling fund. Many of you are aware that that fund has had a
zero balance for a while because the commodities in the recycling. Well, we
thought, well, let's move a little bit of money, that way it's possible to give that
commission the opportunity to do something for the community. So, Susie, if you
will show -- so, a total of nearly 3,300 dollars will be distributed. We would like to
present a check to Mr. Clark here in a moment. Susie, will you show them the
breakdown. There should be a drum roll here. So -- thank you. So, nearly 470
dollars to the Care To Share, 470 to the recycling fund and the remaining
balance will go to a much needed Meridian Food Bank and also they got the food
from the Poop Scoot as well. So, we appreciate everyone's efforts and those
that donated. So, Mr. Clark, if you'd like to come forward and, Mayor Tammy,
would you come down so we can present a check to the Meridian Food Bank and
grab a photo, please.
Photos taken.)
Milam: Take that straight to the bank.
De Weerd: I would like to thank our Public Works team. When you started this I
know, similar to other programs, when they get started there is some doubt of
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their worth, but this has been one of those things that I believe are talked about
in the community. In fact, we had several of our senior advisory board members
there and at the following meeting they talked about the tour and how valuable it
was to not only better understand infrastructure that is left unseen and we always
know that if we don't get phone calls that's a good thing , because usually when
we do it's not so good. But building that understanding, building the relationship
with our community and the understanding of what does go into making sure that
environmentally we are good stewards and have the commitment to quality that I
believe that your staff exhibits during that is -- is priceless. Counter to that in my
Mayor's Book Club I get kids that talk about that's their favor event of the year,
just coming and seeing the big equipment, seeing what happens is -- is really
one of those things that I think goes to not only community education, but we
have concerns about the grade effect of our workforce and how to encourage
and inspire kids to look at this as a career that they can go into . Public Works
also had the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council out to the plant to again inspire
them, because this -- the technology we have there is -- is pretty phenomenal
and looking at this as a career is -- is really important. So, all of this outreach not
only gives confidence to our citizens that we serve of what we do with these
resources and how we care for our environment, but it is, hopefully, inspiring a
future workforce. So, I think that this is -- continues to grow every year and it is
an annual event that's looked forward to. So, you guys do an awesome job
appreciate it. It goes a long way.
B. Solid Waste Advisory Commission: Republic
Services Annual Rates
Adjustment Report for Solid Waste Collection Services
De Weerd: Under 8-B is our Solid Waste Advisory Commission and I think I turn
this over to Steve. Are you going to introduce it?
Cory: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, my name is Steve Cory, I am the
chairman of your Solid Waste Advisory Commission, and I come to you to report
that Solid Waste Advisory Commission has reviewed the annual rate adjustment
report from Republic Services and we are forwarding it to you for your
consideration with a do pass recommendation and with that I will defer to Rodney
Remling of Republic Services to detail the report.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve.
Remling: Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Rodney Remling,
controller for Republic Services, 11101 West Executive, Boise, Idaho. Our rates
have been thoroughly reviewed by the Finance Department and also by the legal
department and, as Steve said, they are brought to you for consideration. Our
contract allows for an increase in rates by 90 percent rates of the nondisposal
component of the rates. This year the change in CPI was 1.61 percent. Ninety
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percent of that breaking down to 1.45 percent, but the effective increase over the
whole rate is 1.04 percent or about 65 percent of the change in CPI. What that
does to residential rates is it raises residential rates by 18 cents per household
for all three service levels. Ninety-five gallon carts are now 17.85 or would be if
you approve. Sixty-five gallon carts at 15.85 and the smaller size in at 13.85.
Considering the rates, last year you might remember that the rate component last
year was a little bit more complicated with some changes in loss of fuel taxes
and, then, also the household hazardous waste program , rolling those rates in. I
wanted to bring you up to date on those, because they were -- they had some
impact on this rate. So, last year in the fuel piece there were two components of
that. There was a permanent piece that was three cents per household and,
then, there was a temporary piece of one cent per household that was intended
to remain on there through the end of fiscal year 2016 . That was temporary,
because there was a lag in the time -- change of law and also the change in the
rate. So, that's the reason for the temporary component. Just so you know, we
backed off that temporary component before applying the rate increase and so
that did not impact the future rates from that temporary component. Subsequent
to the increase -- or to the change in law on the state level. On federal
government put in a federal tax credit on the use of CNG. It's interesting that the
result of that was pretty -- pretty much negated the state's increase. So, what we
did -- by the way, that goes through December 2016 and so what we did is for
2015 -- the calendar year 2015 we returned those funds to the city, it was about
2,000 dollars. For calendar years 2016 that's 800 dollars a month, which is about
the amount of increase that was rolled in and so at the bottom line there is no
impact to our income on that. So, essentially, we are charging, because it's part
of the rate, but we are giving it back to the city and that -- again, that's through
December 2016. The other component of the rate increase was the household
hazardous waste, which was 24 cents per household. Year to date -- fiscal year
to date that is running at about 21 cents per household, but the summertime
increases the use of that program, therefore, the cost of it -- we expect to be right
at 24 cents by the time we end the year. So, it seems to be right on target in
taking care of the citizens. Was there any questions on that before I go to the
new rates?
Cavener: Madam Mayor? Me down here.
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I do have a quick question, Mr. Remling, regarding the -- the CPI. In
the report provided you indicate that we utilized the -- the CPI of the west,
because the CPI of the Pacific Northwest is no longer in existence . I don't think it
provides some context on this. The CPI of the west mirrors traditionally the CPI
of the northwest and is the CPI of the west traditionally at a higher amount or a
lower amount comparatively?
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Remling: Councilman Cavener and Mayor, I don't have any knowledge on that.
That rate -- or that CPI has been gone for many years. The CPI of the west that
we are using is typical of what we use in this area and it is regionally correct for
us. So, we don't believe that that CPI accurately represents our increase in cost
that we experience on a year to year basis, but it is -- or at the time was similar.
Cavener: Okay.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions?
Remling: Okay. Madam Mayor, there are six new rates we are requesting with
this. These rates are rates that we have in other places in the valley. Four of
those rates relate to commercial services. The first one we are asking for is a
container or a cart delivery fee of ten dollars. There is already a steel container
fee of 22.82. This cart fee is -- represents the cost associated with delivering a
cart as a lesser amount. It allows us to charge for that. The second rate is a lid
box fee and it's a one time charge of 43 dollars and this would be installed on
steel containers anywhere from two to eight yards. It's a voluntary charge. It
would only come into play if a -- say a commercial customer -- one, it had some
illegal dumping going and wanted to secure their container, they could call us, we
could install a lock. We would have to bring it in, weld some brackets onto it to
allow for the lock and, then, that would be -- that would be the charge for that.
The third charge is a monthly service, which covers the additional time it takes to
service a locked container. And so that's a monthly charge. That's 12.39 per
month and, again, that's just because taking the time to unlock that, service it,
and relock it, makes up for the lost productivity. The fourth commercial charge is
also a voluntary charge and it is for our largest containers, which are 20 to 40
yard roll off containers and, again, when a customer has illegal dumping going
on, they may want to secure that. What we can do is we can have a -- a screen
top built at that -- built for that, it's about 3,000 dollars to do that. The charge for
that is about 35 dollars a month. You know, a customer might have that for a
long time or it might be something that we -- it moves around and so a monthly
charge just offsets the cost of installing that device. There is no monthly fee
associated with that -- with that service as far as unlocking that. The last two
rates that we are asking for are residential and they are both one-time charges.
In fact, they are already being charged a higher amount of -- of about 20 -- let's
see, 20 -- $20.90 under the new structure. And these are things like nonfreon
appliances. So, that can be a dishwasher. It could be a washing machine or
dryer. Those are nonfreon appliances and we are asking for 15 dollars and to
take -- to take those and pick them up. There is a charge already for freon and
that charge is at $52.90 and the reason for the difference in price is because
there are environmental costs -- third-party costs that we pay to evacuate that
freon and so that's the difference in the cost. The last item is a bulky item pick up
and these are also one-time charge. It only occurs when a customer calls and
says I have a bed, I have a couch, I have a table and chairs or something like
that, will you come and pick it up. We route that and come pick that up and that's
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15 dollars. We are asking for 15 on that, too. To add some clarity about that --
so, if somebody called and said, hey, I have got a table and chairs, that would be
15 dollars. It's a unit. It wouldn't be looked at as a chair -- a table is 15 and,
then, each chair 15, it is a unit. Somebody has say an entertainment center with
multiple pieces to that, you know, it's one unit. It's something that goes together.
A bed 15 dollars. So, in the past -- so, like for calendar year 2015 there were
700 requests within the City of Meridian for those. Our revenue on that about
14,000 dollars. However, half of those are -- excuse me -- 42 percent of that is --
there is no additional charge for it, so are citizens making good use of the
sprinkler that is provided under contract, get rid of those items at no charge to
them. It's also more efficient for us to pick them up that way and we welcome
that. It's just off -- there is the additional cost of routing that we are asking for
compensation on. Any questions?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Remling: Thank you.
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: We just need direction from the Council to move forward to notice for a
public hearing. Our target was to probably have a public hearing on September
6th, to have adequate noticing prior to that.
De Weerd: Sounds reasonable.
Nary: Okay. Thank you.
C. Ada County 2025 - Ada County Comprehensive Plan Update
De Weerd: Thank you. Item 8-C is from Ada County 2025, the Ada county
comprehensive plan update. Good afternoon.
Basham: Good afternoon. Madam Mayor, Council Members. It is a pdf. There
is a full screen mode. Just go down. One more. Yeah. Thanks. Madam Mayor
and Council Members, I'm Megan Basham with Ada County Development
Services. I'm the community and regional planner there and I want to thank you
for giving me the opportunity to come and talk to you about our comprehensive
plan update that we are calling Ada County 2025. I also want to extend thanks to
Brian McClure. He's been very engaged in our process and very helpful and has
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provided good comments for us. So, we really appreciate it. Oh. Okay.
Thanks. We don't have this at Ada county, so -- as you know -- you know what a
comprehensive plan is. It's the long-range policy guide for the growth and
development of a jurisdiction. Ours is for the unincorporated areas outside of
impact areas and our plan was last updated in 2007 and so we decide d that it
was -- it was time for an update, since things have changed since then and one
of the -- the interesting things that's different about this plan is we also tied it to
our county-wide strategic business plan planning process and that was really to
help harness for -- especially for the strategic business plan to harness that
public comment that you get through the comprehensive plan planning process
and help us really find that unified vision for the county in how we deliver our
services. As you know, the -- the impetus for -- for comprehensive plan is, you
know, how to deal with the growth and based on COMPASS projections we are
projected to have about 674,000 people in Ada County -- be over a million in the
Treasure Valley. The population for unincorporated Ada County is about 60,000
right now and it's held steady from about 1990 on, although with annexations we
don't know where our population in unincorporated Ada County is going to be ,
but it's interesting that it's stayed level over the last 26 years or so. As you know,
Meridian's population in 2015 was about 91 ,000 and you are the fastest growing
city in the county. And this is just a general guide of what it's going to look like
based on the city's comprehensive plan and this is also from COMPASS data
and each of those black dots represents five people. So, you can see how it's
really starting to fill out in the west and the south and north in Eagle and Star.
So, that's where the population is moving and not too much in unincorporated
Ada County, but we will get into that in a little bit. So, we did -- we spent the last
ear reaching out to the public. In October we had six focus groups with different
sectors of the community. We have done online and social media. We've done
lots of community presentations and work sessions. Some of the -- the feedback
that we got back in the early part of the fall last year really highlighted two issues
and one was agricultural preservation and open space and recreation. So, in
February we held two policy summits that looked at our current policies, what
was missing, what was finished and what could be done better as we move
forward and we have lots of participation in those as well. Brian was -- attended
both of those, I believe. We also had open houses and, you know, we have been
coordinating with our planning and zoning commission and our board. One thing
that I -- you know, I said the two issues that came up, agriculture and open
space, but by far the biggest issue is transportation. As you know with -- with
ACHD and ITD being the road authorities, we chose to focus on agriculture and
open space. Not to say that transportation isn't important, because it is and we
want to play an active role in that, but that's why those two were brought up, so --
so, our plan -- it's been typical -- and Ada County's current plan is like this, but
state code requires 17 elements to be addressed in a comprehensive plan and
each element gets their own chapter. We tried to make it less clunky, more
reader friendly, so we organized it into six focus areas and each one of those
focus areas represents, you know, applicable elements. They are addressed per
state code. So, we have county resources and amenities, coordinated growth,
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which is our land use, economic capacity, community connections, which is the
transportation, sustainable practices and resiliency and organizational
effectiveness and that's really to help tie it back to our strategic business plan.
So, that's more of a -- an internal policy for us and reminding us to do that. The
first one, county resources and amenities. So, this focuses on open space,
natural areas, recreation, historical preservation and by far the -- the thing we
heard most was our residents want the jurisdictions to work together and
collaborate. So, we really tried to build that into our plan. One of the -- or a
couple of things specific to Meridian, really working closer with the cities on park
implementation within the areas of impact and we heard -- we heard that from
Steve Siddoway and, then, really looking at how we can expand upon our trail
system and bike system in southern and western Ada county, not just the
Foothills and along the Greenbelt. Coordinated growth. As I said, this is our land
use plan and we're not really taking a big leap from where our current policy is ,
where we are directing most of the urban development densities into the cities
and areas of impact. The plan that still allow for -- for planned communities in --
in this Comprehensive Plan, but we don't provide sewer or -- or other services
that would really support urban level development and so we are continuing on
with that. We want to really work with the cities on helping to improve upon the
area of impact process. That's a challenge of not just in Ada county, but
statewide and the other one is really supporting urban agriculture and
maintaining agricultural lands within the area of impact. So, I'm really excited to
see the growing together forum. So, hopefully, we can get there -- or I can get
there and start to work with your staff on that and also working with the city to
address that on enclaves. That was something that Brian has brought up several
times in our discussions and so we want to be proactive in dealing with those as
well. This is our future land use map. It's a little different from 2007, but, again, it
just highlights where the -- mostly where that agri -- the different types of
agricultural land are. Irritated land versus non-irrigated lands. It does show
some -- an area along Pleasant Valley and for emerging industrial and sand and
gravel, we have a lot of sand and gravel operations on that road and, then,
potentially an emerging industrial center off of -- it's kind of hard to see at this
scale, but down at the railroad where the Darling plant is and the new Simplot
plant is to start clustering those together. This is a little different than what cities
have as -- you know, we don't have the areas designated for residential densities
or commercial, it's more of a contextual, so if there is an industrial use being
proposed in unincorporated Ada county, we have -- you know, it should be along
arterial roads or where it's easy to get too, not close to residential. So, this is
more of a contextual approach versus the -- the colors on a map simply because
the county doesn't provide those services to -- to do a map like that. Economic
capacity. This is, again, where coordination and cooperation between the
jurisdictions comes into play and they said most of -- most of our policies are
really promoting commercial and industrial uses within the city where those
services are available. Some -- some uses, like -- like the Simplot rendering
plant that might not be appropriate for city limits, you know, accounting for
something like that, but for the most part retail and things like that should go into
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the cities. Community connections. This is transportation. Coordinating a
regional transportation. Participating in COMPASS. Expanding our
transportation options. One of the things we also heard from the cities is the --
the use of private streets and cul-de-sacs and some of those older subdivisions
has really prevented the city developing. It cuts off that sewer extensions. So,
working to discourage the use of private streets and cul-de-sacs in the area of
impact to help with the facilitation of utility -- or the extension of utilities and
promoting that connectivity for pedestrians and bikes. Stainable practices and
resilience. So, this is -- this chapter deals -- was somewhat internal how we want
to build our buildings if we put facilities in, you know, energy policies, things like
that. But also deals with our hazard mitigation as far as floodplain and the WOPI
and the Meridian -- Meridian participates in the Ada City County Emergency
Management, so this ties back to that hazard mitigation plan that -- that that
department works on. And as I said, this last one is really to tie back to that
strategic business plan to keep them together and help us focus on how we can
be an efficient delivery -- or an efficient -- deliver our services in an efficient
manner -- manner and really aligning the county policies under that strategic
business plan. So, out of all of that we had -- we have identified five priority
initiatives that -- these aren't in any specific order, but establishing the tools
needed to advance agriculture conservation and also open space and recreation
in Ada county. Supporting our business plan. One of the big tasks that we will
undertake with -- after the adoption of our comp plan is fixing up our zoning code
and making it consistent and, then, actively collaborating with the cities on the
area of impact. So, our public hearing process has started. We are -- the
document has been sent out for the official transmittal . We are scheduled for
Planning and Zoning Commission on September 15th. If there aren't any
material changes or tablings at that hearing, we will move forward to a board
hearing in November. So, hopefully, by the end of the year this will be done and
we can move forward with the implementation. It's been about a year and a half
process. So, it's been fun, but we are ready to move onto the next step, so --
and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
De Weerd: Excellent. Thank you, Megan. Council, any questions?
Bird: Very nice presentation.
De Weerd: Is it possible that we can get a copy of this PowerPoint?
Cavener: Part of the public record.
De Weerd: Yeah. I'd love to -- to kind of chew on it. But I appreciated that you
broke it down and showed what was relevant or pertinent to Meridian and our
particular concern.
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Basham: Yeah. It is a lot of information to digest and there is a website
adacounty2025.com where it is broken out by chapter. I found it a lot easier to
read than -- than our previous one, so -- but it still takes time.
De Weerd: Yeah. Well, I'm sure you can do it in your sleep at this point --
Basham: Yeah.
De Weerd: -- since you have been working on it for a year and a half.
Basham: Right.
De Weerd: Well, thank you for coming and sharing that with us and , Brian,
thank you for being our representative and keeping a pulse on -- on it. It seems
like you've identified a number of the things that we have met with the county on
and -- and wrapped it into your -- your plan and we appreciate that.
Basham: Well, thank you for your comments and allowing me to come. Thank
you.
Item 9: Continued Action Items
A. Public Hearing: Proposed Fall 2016 Fee Schedule of the
Meridian Parks and Recreation Department
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Under Item 9, continued Action Items, we have a
public hearing on the proposed fall 2016 fee schedule and I will turn this over the
Jake.
Garro: Thank you, Madam Mayor and Members of the Council. Summer 2016 is
coming to a quick close. Our summer camps were filled up and we are currently
in our final week of Camp Mer-Ida-Moo, so staff is working hard to get the
schools back into shape for school that's beginning here at the end of the month.
Our outdoor adventure camp concluded last week. That filled up -- we had six
weeks of full capacity, taking those students around to various parks throughout
the community and doing fun, adventurous stuff. So, with that being said, with
2016 summer coming to a close, we are now in the process of finalizing our fall
2016 activity guide that will go to print tomorrow and be released Friday with the
fall class registrations beginning Monday, August 15th, and the majority of fall
classes beginning September 6th. So, some of the new additions that we have
this fall -- we have added a kids yoga course for kids ages -- I believe it's six to
ten and the buzzword in Parks and Recreation is Pickleball. So, we will be
offering Pickleball lessons and classes at Homecourt Y for those 50 and above.
So, sorry, Luke.
De Weerd: Fifty and above?
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Milam: Keith, you're the only one that qualifies.
De Weerd: I don't get it. Why? Discrimination.
Garro: Well, that was -- that was the instructors are of -- of that demographic and
they want to grow the sport and it's -- they are excited about it and the Pickleball
is definitely growing and --
Bird: It's growing big, isn't it?
Garro: It's growing big, yeah. So, with that being said, just seeking approval for
the 2016 fall fees and if you have any questions I will be certainly happy to
answer those.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: A couple questions. And, Jake, I probably ask you this every time.
Anything new on this year's rate --
Garro: Yeah. We have -- like I mentioned the kids yoga, we do have the
Pickleball and I have a lady that is -- she's offering a crystal and rock workshop --
a couple workshops on Saturday mornings -- mornings at the Community Center.
We do have -- we have one trip planned for this fall. We will be taking -- taking
them to Starlight Mountain Theater, watching the -- the play Sugar. So, we do
have a new Zumba instructor. We had a Zumba instructor retire and leave us
and move to Colorado to go spend some time with the grandkids, so excited
about bringing somebody new on with Zumba and -- that's kind of about it as far
as new stuff.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, additional question. Jake, with all the -- the classes
and programs that we offer, talk to me about utilization. You talked about Mer-
Ida-Moo, which it sounds like we are full of capacity and there is not --
Garro: Yeah.
Cavener: -- much space there. Is that how the rest of our programs are?
Garro: Yeah. I mean it's -- we have had a busy summer. Our -- our camp Mer-
Ida-Moo, for those of you who don't know, they take place -- we have two sites,
at Willow Creek Elementary and Sienna Elementary School. Last summer we
were at Prospect. We got moved out of there at the last minute going into this
summer. They were doing some -- some painting within the building, so at the
11th hour, as our guide was going to print that morning, we were moved over to
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August 9, 2016
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Willow Creek. So, with that being said, Camp Mer-Ida-Moo, we average, oh, I
would say probably anywhere between 40 and 50 kids each week. We do cap
those camps at 50, just because of space. We have a -- two little -- well, one
little small room in each facility that kind of makes it difficult for programming, but
the school is really good to let us use the gyms and the cafeteria for additional
space as needed. Our outdoor adventure camp, that's a six week program, and
we -- we take kids out, we do whitewater rafting, we rock climb at Bodies in
Motion. We paddle board at Quinn's Pond and do other various activities on the
other days. But that's a six week -- that's a six week camp and that was filled up
each week, so we capped that at 12, just because of space. So, I would like to
expand that camp. But with that being said we also need a mode of
transportation to do so. But as far as the other community education classes, the
ones that take place at the community center and various other locations
throughout the summer, our numbers are up. So, it's -- it's a good problem to
have. Space is limited. But I think with the addition to the Homecourt Y where
we can get into Bay 5 and -- and do some accommodations to that facility moving
forward, so we can expand some of those community classes and it will be a
great thing, so --
Cavener: Great.
De Weerd: Any further questions? Thank you, Jake.
Garro: Thank you.
B. Resolution No. Proposed # 16-1155: A Resolution Adopting the
Fall 2016 Fee Schedule of the Meridian Parks and Recreation
Department; Authorizing the Meridian Parks and Recreation
Department to Collect Such Fees; and Providing an Effective
Date
De Weerd: Item 9-B is a resolution supporting this. It's Resolution 16-1155.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Seeings how Ann isn't here, I will move that we approve Resolution No. 16 -
1155.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9 -B. If there is no
discussion, Madam Clerk, or Mr. Clerk --
Holman: I will finish up tonight.
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Roll-Call: Bird: yes; Borton, yea; Milam; yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, absent.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 1 0: Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 74-206 (1)(f) – To
Consider and Advise Its Legal Representatives in Pending
Litigation; 74-206A(1)(a)(1) - All negotiations between a
governing body and a labor organization shall be in open
session and shall be available for the public to attend.
Provided, however, a governing body or its designated
representatives may hold an executive session for the specific
purpose of: (a) Considering a labor contract offer or to
formulate a counteroffer
De Weerd: Item 10 is Executive Session.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 74 -206(1)(f)
and also 74-206(a)(1)(a)(1).
Borton: Second. I have a motion and a second to adjourn into Executive
Session. Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird: yes; Borton, yea; Milam; yea; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little
Roberts, absent.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:11 p.m. to 6:05 p.m.)
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we come out of an Executive Session and continue the
Executive Session until the end of the next item.
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August 9, 2016
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Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to come out of Executive Session and
well, what he said. All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 11: Additional Action Items
A. Public Hearing: PY2016 Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) Action Plan
De Weerd: Item 11-A is the continued public hearing for the program year 2016
Community Development Block Grant to take additional public testimony and
would ask if there is any member of the public who would like to provide
testimony on the Community Development Block Grant Action Plan. Yes, sir.
Good evening.
Morrison: Good evening.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Morrison: Michael B. Morrison. 3405 North Curt Drive, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Morrison: After coming and signing up to -- to visit tonight I find out that what I
was actually here for isn't on the agenda, but it's the sidewalk and stuff like that.
In talking with the developers and stuff we are good to go.
De Weerd: Okay.
Morrison: Do you have any questions for me?
De Weerd: I don't know what you just said, but you're good to go.
Morrison: Okay.
De Weerd: You're good in supporting the --
Morrison: I was here because I thought the meeting was about the low income
housing project, not the sidewalks down 2 1/2 street. I got a post card in the mail
and it said for tonight about the low income housing. So, beings I'm here for the
wrong reason, I don't have any objections to the sidewalk.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor -- and, sir, thanks for coming. There was some
confusion I guess as to the point of the topic and what -- I guess to kind of
explain to somebody else who is in your similar situation, that while the -- the
hearing isn't necessarily about the public housing itself, what was talked a lot
about during the previous meeting on the topic was that their odds of getting the
federal grant to build and sustain the project would be -- improve their -- their
odds of getting -- being approved if we approved -- or subsidized the sidewalk to
get that part done, because, then, that would be something that the developer
would, then, have to build to, then, put more money into subsidizing the rents
with the additional help from the federal government and so while -- while it's not
about the -- the project itself, it is --
Morrison: Related to it.
Palmer: -- yeah. And that if we approve these funds for that, the odds of that
happening will increase.
Morrison: Right. And I do have a problem with that part of it, but not the
sidewalks cement.
De Weerd: Because the sidewalks are -- are not related to the project itself. It's
designing sidewalks on 2 1/2 Street.
Morrison: Yes.
De Weerd: Yes.
Morrison: Okay. So, I say I was here for the wrong reason. I have talked with
the developers and they are much better than the other one I have talked with, so
I thank you for your time.
De Weerd: Thank you for coming this evening. Okay. Anyone else like to
provide testimony on this item? Yes, sir. Thank you for joining us. If you will,
please, state your name and address for the record.
Hobbs: Chance Hobbs. 1244 Herrick in McCall, formerly 5323 Moon Lake in
Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Hobbs: So, I'm here, decided to take a few minutes to address some of those
concerns that have been brought up as we are -- Councilman Palmer talked
about -- it does increase our probabilities of potential funding. At this point it's
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still in the process. It's one that -- where the last three -- the last four we had it
funded in Garden City, in Donnelly and in Star and all three of those projects are
moving forward. As they finished up in Donnelly and Star, both starting
construction. There is a couple things that -- we are going to get into this and I
don't know if I look here -- as we go down the road and you're going to hear a lot
of opinions that are going to come through and four or five items you're going to
hear that are just worded differently each time, that it's going to increase crime,
it's going to increase traffic, it's going to increase kids, and it's going to decrease
property values. I have worked on this the last five or six years, I have been to a
lot of these meetings, I have been to a lot of -- a lot of interaction with the public
on this type of development and each time I have continued to ask for facts.
Council deals with facts. We deal with facts and numbers, since we invest seven
million dollars in these developments, we want to know facts and numbers and
figures that support our position, support our investment. And so a couple of
things that -- that I mentioned, the opinions that came through on these four or
five items are not supported by fact and by reports and by studies and
observations done over the last 30 years in high density -- or higher density
development and when we talk about high density, the definition is usually
related to a 12-story residential structure. In the west we compare more towards
single-family development to factor density on half acre or one acre parcels, if we
go down to quarter acre or .7 acre parcels, that's a higher density. So, for us out
here at Garden Style Apartments, it's two and three-story structures, it's not six
and eight story structures out in Meridian. Maybe in Boise we see them, but not
quite yet in Meridian. A couple other things that -- the reports out there in the
Urban Land Institute does a great job with a myth versus fact when it comes to
higher density apartment dwellers have on average one car less than single
family residents. They make half the trips that single-family residents do, less
cars, less traffic, you have less kids. A hundred units of single family generates
typically 60 to 64 children and apartments -- a hundred unit of apartments
generated anywhere from 21, if you're a garden style apartments, like the
foothills, 21 kids per hundred units or 19 if you're in a higher density three or four
story structure. So, we got less kids. We got less kids going to school. Fiscal
burden. That's a favorite one. We talk about how it's a drain on our fiscal
services. I wouldn't question the costs that are related to dragging water and
sewer out to Ten Mile and out to McDermott as I saw on the action plan versus
in-fill development where you're not having to drag water and sewer and streets
and sidewalks and have them signed over to the city to maintain and 20 years
from now with a capital budget there aren't available, but -- so --
De Weerd: Council, would you like him to continue?
Bird: Yes.
Hobbs: Thank you. So, your fiscal burden is very reduced on your costs. I
heard earlier where the gentleman was concerned about busing and Meridian's
bus system. You have got a great new building that was built just down the
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street and they've done some reports and observations that show that you need
a minimum of about seven units per acre to sustain busing and you need over
ten units per acre to sustain light rail. If we build three or four units per acre
across the subdivisions that are being built it's not sustainable. As you in-fill
development and you add units per acre, then, your bus routes become feasible
and it's become feasible based on higher real estate taxes , higher impact fees
and higher economic spending coming from a very small, more densely
populated area. Two and a half acres you're going to have 70, 72 units with
households that are spending money in your downtown -- near your downtown,
who are on foot walking to The Slice and walking to Rite Aid and across to
Subway on Chicago. They are not driving. Moon Lake is out in Jaden Village,
which is Black Cat and Ustick. There for three years. We would come into town,
some would say, for whatever, a couple times a week, but avoided it at all costs
in the mornings and the evenings, especially from about 3:00 to 6:00, because
traffic was so terrible coming in on those two lane roads . And so as we talk
about in-fill development and the benefits that it brings to a city beyond the fiscal
benefits is it reduces your traffic. It reduces your overall expenses in your public
works and in your streets and a lot of that is Ada county, I understand, but overall
it reduces costs on your infrastructure. And the last things I want to talk about
this crime. It's often brought up that affordable housing, multi-family housing,
higher density housing, increases crime. The fact of the matter is it's not true. A
lot of that comes from historical experiences. The federal government land,
affordable housing from like the '40s until about the '80s, until President Reagan
enacted what is now Section 42 of the tax code and turned it from the federal
government running affordable housing to private people running affordable
housing. Rent numbers down in Garden City on our 64 unit deal -- it's very
similar to the ones we would be proposing here and over six months -- the first
six months of this year we had seven calls that were nonwelfare check related.
We know that the police do welfare checks on individuals. But seven actual
service calls for some type of crime over 64 unit. There is a development we are
working on in Star and we are getting a lot of pushback from a specific
neighborhood. It has 304 houses and in that same time had 30 -- or 45 service
calls and, actually, more service calls per unit and, then, our low income housing
tax credit development in Garden City and so what they found is consistent with
what quite a few other studies saw is that the reason why crime is associated --
or higher crimes associated with multi-family or higher density is because you
have two entrances physically and so people see police going in one entrance
and coming out one entrance very closed in and so if you spread out and do it on
a per call per unit basis, it's no higher -- in fact, less than single family residents.
And so that's just a quick summation of things you're going to hear over the next
three or four to five months as we work through these things and I'm not just
spinning these things off. A quick place to start is on realtor.org, they have got
passion about studies and information if you -- just the field guide for affordable
housing. Property values is one that realtor.org I imagine would have some sort
of knowledge and information on and their data and everything they see in their
summary statement they said affordable housing and multi-family housing, in
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August 9, 2016
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fact, stabilizes, if not increases single family resident property values and it does
that because you're creating people -- people moving in who are -- well, when I
was going to college with my wife we would have been able to afford a unit like
this and as we finished school and got jobs and we were ready to move, we still
had ties to the community and, guess what, I want to stay in my area, I want to
stay in my community, so I go to the closest subdivisions and they are around me
to stay where I know and create a demand. And so I appreciate the Council and
the Mayor for working through this and listening to us. You're going to hear a lot
over the next six to eight months, like I said. I know you're busy, but find some
time to jump on it and do a little research and get to the facts. There is going to
be a lot of heated emotional opinions that come through and this is an emotional
thing. Thank you. Any questions?
De Weerd: Any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: A question popped up through your presentation. I appreciate making
the comparison contrast for calls to service in your project in -- in Garden City
versus Star. Do you have data on other calls for service in another apartments in
in Garden City, recognizing I think Star and Garden City are two very different
communities, so --
Hobbs: That is one of the contrasts that I wanted to make. I have got fewer calls
in low income housing development in Garden City, which has a stigma to itself
and they are working through it and they are doing a great job versus Star, which
is a pictured as a retirement community, if you will. So, they are two very
different. But the picture I was trying to paint is that I have got fewer calls in this
development versus calls in a higher end development. Single family. In trying
to show -- and I don't -- to answer your question, no, I don't have any further -- I
will continue to ask the Ada County Sheriff for service calls, specifically in this
area. Foothills is one that's just about Franklin, I'm interested in seeing what
Foothills service calls are. That's a development in your city that has been here
since 2003 or 2004 and, then, there is also a senior project off of Pine that was
built several years ago, I would be interested to see what those rate compared to
Lochsa or --
Milam: Madam Mayor? I don't have a question, more of a comment. So, I see
these under the Police Department -- I had this conversation with the Police
Department and there is absolutely no more calls for service to low-income
apartments than any other housing type in Meridian and sometimes less.
Certainly not -- certainly not higher.
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August 9, 2016
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Hobbs: And that's what a lot of -- a lot of the studies have shown. But, again,
there is the stigma.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions? Thank you for being with us.
Hobbs: Look forward to working with you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anyone else like to provide comment? Yes, ma'am. If you
will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Emmen: Kathy Emmen. 2586 Misty Drive, 16 year resident of Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you, Kathy.
Emmen: I just wonder if there are -- if people are going to be perfect angels and
they are going to be walking around, how much longer is our commute going to
have to be to make our streets safe enough ? We are going to have all these
extra people and I -- I don't understand where the money is coming from for the
project.
Palmer: China.
Emmen: I wondered. So, yeah, it kind of concerns me a little bit. I do taxes, so I
do a lot of help for people that have low income . They typically like to spend
money right around tax return time, but the kids are all going to want, you know,
free lunches and -- I just don't understand how we are going to be able to afford
all this. I don't have current data, but I want to say within the last ten years our
median income has been around 55 to 57 thousand dollars a year. So, I'm not
sure where the need is coming from , if it's coming from other cities nearby or is
this coming from something else farther away. Where are the people coming
from for this project.
De Weerd: The project that we are discussing tonight is a sidewalk project that is
on 2 1/2 that has been linked to a potential project that would be of a working
family apartment complex. There is two other projects in Meridian, as the
gentleman just stated, one is for the working family and the other one is a senior
a senior living one. Those two are different from other low-income subsidized
projects, so that's -- that's one distinguishing factor. But the project that we are
talking about today is -- is really design of a sidewalk on 2 1/2 Street.
Emmen: Okay.
De Weerd: So, any -- there is not a project as of yet.
Emmen: Okay.
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De Weerd: Yeah. This is -- as Mr. Palmer pointed out earlier when this was
presented to Council it was presented as part of a -- a financial submittal for a
project that would like to be the -- the working family subsidized housing type of a
project, but this project that is being contemplated right now is just for the design
of a sidewalk on 2 1/2.
Emmen: Okay. All right. Thank you.
De Weerd: And maybe Sean can provide you more information after this, so you
get a little bit more clarity.
Emmen: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Any further testimony? Council, any -- any
further questions for staff?
Cavener: Madam Mayor, I have a couple questions for staff.
De Weerd: Okay.
Cavener: Sean, question for you. Earlier when you were going through the
PowerPoint you identified -- looks to be two different sidewalk projects, one that
we have received some considerable amount of testimony on tonight and the
other one related to the Meridian Development Corporation's application. Would
either or both or neither of those qualify for -- for Davis-Bacon wages if we move
forward with either one of those proposals?
Kelly: Madam Mayor, Councilman, I think that they might, but we are not paying
for labor, so whoever is building that would pay for that and they would track that.
We are paying for design on either one of those projects. So, it doesn't enter into
we wouldn't be tracking labor on that directly.
Cavener: Okay.
Kelly: Just out of clarity I imagine DBU would be tied -- or the state would be tied
to some of those same requirements.
Hobbs: Depending on the source of funds. So, CDGB funds -- other funds
administered by HUD you would be. In this case that was --
De Weerd: Okay. We need this on public record.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
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August 9, 2016
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Bird: I don't believe we -- because you're getting -- you're just getting the design
and stuff, so the Bacon-Davis wages does not come until they actually get doing
the physical work, as I remember. You got to -- for the design -- for your
professional, the design engineers and stuff, Bacon Davis doesn't apply.
Hobbs: And this -- the potential development would not trigger Davis-Bacon
either, as we would not be requesting --
Bird: We are not discussing that.
Hobbs: I understand.
Bird: And I think that's where we have had a lot of problems the last couple three
weeks is we thought -- everybody thought we were discussing an application and
Bacon-Davis wouldn't be at all with this 50,000 or we wouldn't be requesting it.
De Weerd: Did you have any further questions, Mr. Cavener?
Cavener: I think Sean did an adequate job of addressing that.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: If the -- if the application of the state is denied for the project is -- does
the funding for the sidewalk construction -- that reverts back to one of the
alternative programs?
Kelly: Madam Mayor, Councilman, that will go to anything that Council would like
to put -- it could be one of those trigger projects. We could come up with another
project and have a special session and do that. But, yes, that's exactly right. If it
doesn't move forward that CDBG fund belongs to the city and we are going to
use that for the city.
De Weerd: But there is the need for a sidewalk on 2 1/2 Street. I mean it doesn't
have to be tied to any project. It needs a sidewalk and I -- we have heard that
often, because of the high school out there, that residents would like to see a
sidewalk on there. You even heard that tonight, so --
Cavener: Madam Mayor, that brings up an additional question then.
De Weerd: Okay.
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Cavener: If -- if the discussion is related to sidewalk design, I guess my question
for the Council is what does that have to do with , then, the applicant and their
need for the 50,000 dollars in funds. If the discussion is specifically related to
sidewalk, well, then, should this Council discuss the merits of having a sidewalk
designed on 2 1/2 Street and use CDBG funds specifically related for that?
Milam: Madam Mayor? I agree, but somebody has to build the sidewalk, so we
need to pay to design the sidewalk all day long, which is what we are doing, but
who is going to build the sidewalk?
Cavener: And I think if this is just for design, it shouldn't matter who the entity is.
And why would we go through a third party entity to get a sidewalk design when
we can hire a contractor to get the design created on our own. I'm struggling to
find what the applicant's role is outside of needing to have the city say here is
50,000 dollars to help them with their state application. If there is truly a
discussion about sidewalks, well, then, let's have the discussion about sidewalks,
but we would need to involve a third-party entity in that case.
Hobbs: Madam Mayor, Councilmen, I'm not sure if that is a comment for me to
answer or if that's a --
Cavener: The more comment the --
Hobbs: Okay. May I -- Madam Mayor and Council. So, you're correct, outside
of the third party saying, city, we need 50,000 from CDBG, we just need CDBG
funds. So, part of the program that we work under in Section 42 is administered
by Idaho Housing finance. They put together a plan and they ask developers to
compete under a point structure and the latest plan that they have for 2016 has a
specific section in there for federally subsidized funds and it -- RD-515, RD-538,
CDBG, and a couple others that are nonexistent any further. The CDBG is really
your only option and so as they talk about why bring the third party in, we did with
the city where we requested 350,000 dollars in tax increment financing funds to
rebuild 42nd Street. Garden City could have rebuilt 42nd Street, but because we
were involved and we leveraged it into the development and it got us points to
get the project funded, we, then, put an 11 million dollar development down. We
we rebuilt 42nd Street, 900 feet of water, sewer, street, sidewalk, tree wells.
And so your 50,000 dollar investment, essentially, is leveraged into a 12 to 13
million dollar development that brings the sidewalk, street improvements, sewer
you know, all those items. In Garden City, phase two, is an 11 million dollar for
sale townhome development, something similar we are looking over here is a for
sale market rate townhome thing. So, your 50,000 dollar investment you could
very easily go out and hire it on your own. Does that suffice?
Cavener: It does.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor, question for you. If someone wanted to come build the
kind of apartments that we have applications for all the time, not federally
subsidized, would a CDBG grant be an option for us to put -- help facilitate a
sidewalk for a project like that or does it have to be an affordable housing kind of
situation to quality for it?
Kelly: Madam Mayor, Councilman Palmer, no, you don't need to have CDBG --
well, I mean your question is does any -- can any development apply for CDBG.
We wouldn’t have to go through that process. The city can build sidewalks
anywhere they would like and so if we would like to partner with another agency
or development agency or developer to do that, we could certainly leverage
CDBG dollars as a city to do that. This case is only because they are looking for
low income housing tax credits from the state, but they would need that -- that
partnership with -- with the City of Meridian and I'm not even sure that that would
be the only way that the City of Meridian could partner with them, as you just
heard another way that they did it in Garden City, but that's what we have to offer
and that's a way that we can leverage those dollars. So, to answer your
question, they wouldn't -- they could apply for them, but if they didn't have a -- a
501(c)(3) to manage that project they couldn’t, because that's part of the rule,
which they do, but the city wouldn't have to do that, because you guys can
approve another project like that and we can manage it from the city.
Palmer: With CDBG funds.
Kelly: Correct.
Milam: Madam -- oh, sorry. Were you not --
Palmer: I was just going comment on that if I may, Madam Mayor, that -- then it
appears to me that the vast majority of the people that have presented comment
want a sidewalk, but they don't want the project that's coming with it. They don't
appear to have any problems with apartments, but they don't want this situation
of apartments.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Ms. Milam.
Milam: So, I think the question that we need to maybe answer amongst
ourselves tonight is if we approve this and the project doesn't go through for
whatever reason, they get the funding, we are committing this money to the
sidewalk period and it doesn't go back to some other project or the option is it
does. So, if we are committing to the sidewalk tonight, then, we probably should
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be committing to the sidewalk and finding either another partner, whether that's
ACHD or another developer or somebody else, that we are committing that --
those funds to the sidewalk like what we have been telling everybody all night.
De Weerd: This will get it designed and we can get it built --
Milam: No. I understand.
De Weerd: And so I think the first step is getting it designed, then, if you don't
have a partner that actually constructs it, then, work with maybe the next level of
CDBG dollars and next year for the construction of it.
Milam: Madam Mayor, that's exactly what I'm saying. But what Sean has said
was if this project doesn't go through those funds would come back, instead of
designing a sidewalk and maybe go to one of those alternative projects. So,
what I'm saying is we just commit it to this -- a sidewalk designed project and call
it good.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: And you can do that. Correct, Sean?
Kelly: Madam Mayor, I think that -- if I understand the question correctly, it's
what would happen if they don't move forward and the answer is the city would
get to decide whether we trigger another project, whether we commit it to a
sidewalk on 2 1/2 Street, whether we talk to MDC and up their ask for the
triggerable amounts that are there, but, ultimately, it would be any project the city
felt that they wanted to do we could do with those funds. They would come right
back into the coffers for CDBG and so if that answers the question of what can
be done, that's what can be done. I think that your statement was basically
saying to fund the project as stated and, then, if it doesn't go forward we would
look at that later.
De Weerd: It's tied to this project of design for project -- or sidewalk on 2 1/2,
regardless --
Milam: Regardless of this project.
De Weerd: Yes.
Sean: Understand.
Cavener: And, Madam Mayor, I think to that point, again, if the discussion is
specifically related to a sidewalk to me that changes a lot of my perspective on
this application, in that why we would want to enter into an agreement with a first
time applicant that is not a subject matter expert in sidewalk design, when we
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can contract with ACHD or somebody who is a subject matter in sidewalk design
to have the design created for sidewalks, whereas if -- if the applicant chose not
to go through, we are rely on them to receive the design work, to, then, make the
evaluation if we choose to. To me it seems like if, again, we are related just to
sidewalks, there is a lot of extra unnecessary steps with this particular application
than there would be going through normal business practices again if the thought
behind this is specifically related to sidewalks.
De Weerd: Okay. What am I missing?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
Hood: Madam Mayor?
Cavener: Why are we working with someone else who is not a subject matter
expert for the design of sidewalks where there are clearly other more qualified
subject matter experts that can handle the design for sidewalks.
De Weerd: Caleb.
Hood: So, let me just clarify. I mean the reason this is before you is we had an
applicant. The city did not apply for the CDBG funds. In the past we have --
parks has been a potential sub recipient and came to you with a project and said
the city wants to do this, then, through CDBG. Sean doesn't do any of these
projects. He administers the program; right? So, if CDBG goes and we still say
sidewalks are important, we could potentially have parks fill that gap and be the
sub recipient for this project. Now, my question to Sean is -- I don't know if that
triggers a substantial amendment or not, because you're approving a project, but
you're also approving the sub recipient. So, it's -- depending on how the action
plan is written -- I don't know if it's just as easy if we say we want sidewalks -- it
doesn't matter who -- who designs the sidewalk, we want sidewalks; right? But I
don't know if we can write the action plan that we say 50,000 dollars for design of
a sidewalk or 50,000 dollars for design of sidewalk for BCD, essentially. You
know what I'm saying? So, that's -- that's the question. But the reason it's the
way it is is they applied. It wasn't the city that applied or MDC or anybody else
that applied, they are the ones asking. So, that's the way it's couched in the
action plan currently.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: So, then, to that, while they applied for it, it appears that almost anybody
who -- who cared enough to come and testify, plus the several e-mails that we
got, if there is more -- like while we were in Executive Session I haven't had a
chance to review them, that the people said they don't want us to incentivize this
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project. There is backup projects, there is other projects that we can spend
these funds on that apparently have no controversy tied them and I think it would
be a responsible decision to make that to approve this simple, because it was
applied for, even though people -- many people came and said don't incentivize
this project.
Kelly: Madam Mayor, as a response to that -- and this is, again, not as an
advocate, but just someone who works for the city that manages the program,
our consolidated plan for five years specifically says this is something that we
probably should do, should be able to enter it. Maybe not a low income housing
tax credit program, but our analysis of impediment have this as a specific barrier.
Nimbyism -- affordable housing in general and so that's why they applied and
that's why that they qualified. So, just -- I want to make sure that we are clear
that it's not just simply that they applied that they are here, they applied, they
qualified and they are meeting some things that our citizens have already
weighed in on four and a half years ago when we built that consolidated plan, so
just so that that's clear.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions for Sean?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Milam: Are you done? Sorry. I was going to close the public hearing. I move
that we close the public hearing on the fiscal year 2016 Community Development
Block Grant Action Plan.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 11 -
A. All those in favor say aye.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
B. Resolution No. 16-1156: A Resolution approving the
Draft PY2016 Community Development Block Grant
Action Plan for submission to U.S. HUD for review
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Move that we approve the resolution number 16-1156. Approving the
fiscal year 2016 Community Development Block Grant Action Plan for
submission to U.S. HUD for review.
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Borton: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: That project aside, the reality of the situation is the federal government
has no money. My children will not ever even come close to helping pay off what
we owe. You wouldn't give a drunk a beer and so to continue to support the
federal government's ridiculous spending spree I think is the same thing. If we
start telling them we are not interested, you know, other people, hopefully, they
will stand up and do the same thing, given there is plenty of cities out there that
I'm sure would be happy to take the money. I say let them and we quit feeding
the drunk.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other comments?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I think comparing some of those in our community that are needs to
that of a drunk is imprudent and borderline insulting to our community and so
while you can have your own opinions about this to insult the citizens of Meridian
is where I take exception. We have a responsibility to our community to all of
those in Meridian, not just those that elected us to do what's best to serve them.
The applicants have brought forth some proposals, many of which I think have
merit, some I don't believe that do, but to politic and pontificate and compare our
citizens to -- to those of a drunk I think is -- is a disservice to those who serve
and work in our community.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: To clarify the twisting my words, what I mean specifically to those in
Washington DC that are mishandling the use of -- of the borrowed funds that they
have, not at all those that are the recipients of the funds.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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Bird: I take exception to the point that I hope that the young kids don't ever have
to walk on 2 1/2 Street without a sidewalk.
De Weerd: Are we ready for the vote? Madam Clerk.
Roll-Call: Bird: yes; Borton, yea; Milam; yea; Cavener, nay; Palmer, nay; Little
Roberts, absent.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. TWO NAY. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Thank you, Sean. We appreciate your efforts and --
Bird: Patience.
De Weerd: Yes. Your patience.
Kelly: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you again for taking a look
at all these projects and I welcome any direct feedback on this plan and hopefully
next year we will be able to have a little bit more of a robust early conversation
about some of these projects. I would certainly like to know what those -- those
feelings are earlier on and I'd like to give them to you earlier on as well. But
thank you once again.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Milam: Good job, Sean.
Item 12: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Okay. Any items for future agendas?
Item 13: Amended onto the Agenda Continued Executive Session as
per Idaho State Code 74-206 (1)(f) – To Consider and Advise Its
Legal Representatives in Pending Litigation; 74-206A(1)(a)(1) -
All negotiations between a governing body and a labor
organization shall be in open session and shall be available for
the public to attend. Provided, however, a governing body or
its designated representatives may hold an executive session
for the specific purpose of: (a) Considering a labor contract
offer or to formulate a counteroffer
De Weerd: If not, I would entertain a motion to adjourn -- reconvene into
Executive Session.
Bird: Madam Mayor?