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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-12 Work Session Minutes Meridian City Council Work Session October 12, 2021. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, October 12, 2021, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Treg Bernt, Jessica Perreault, and Liz Strader. Members Absent: Joe Borton and Brad Hoaglun. Also present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Steve Siddoway, Mike Barton, Berle Stokes, Joe Bongiorno and Dean Willis. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader Joe Borton Brad Hoaglun _X_Treg Bernt X Jessica Perreault _X Luke Cavener _X_ Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call the meeting to order. For the record is Tuesday, October 12th at 4:30 p.m. We will begin today's City Council work session with roll call attendance. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: Next item up is adoption of the agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Incredibly excited to make a motion this evening with regard to the adoption of the agenda. So, I adopt the agenda as published. Cavener: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as published. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it. The agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] 1. Approve Minutes of the September 28, 2021 City Council Work Session Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 2 of 11 2. Approve Minutes of the September 28, 2021 City Council Regular Meeting 3. Dovetail Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 2 4. Dovetail Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 1 5. Lavender Heights No. 1 Sanitary Sewer Easement No. 1 6. Lavender Heights No. 1 and 2 Pedestrian Pathway Easement No. 1 7. Final Plat for Pura Vida Ridge Ranch No. 1 (FP-2021-0043) by B & A Engineers, Inc., Located at 3727 E. Lake Hazel Rd. 8. Final Order for Artemisia Subdivision (FP-2021-0046) by Engineering Solutions, Located at the Northwest Corner of W. Overland Rd. and S. Linder Rd. 9. Final Order for TM Frontline (FP-2021-0047) by Brighton Development, Inc., Generally Located on the South Side of W. Franklin Rd., Approximately '/4 Mile West of S. Linder Rd. 10. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Horse Meadows MDA(H- 2021-0050) by Riley Planning Services, Located at 710 N. Black Cat Rd. 11. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Wells Street Assisted Living/Andorra Subdivision (H-2021-0024) by Jamie Koenig of Babcock Design, Located at 675, 715 and 955 S. Wells St. 12. Resolution No. 21-2290: A Resolution Vacating the 20-Foot-Wide Landscape Easement Platted on the South Property of Lots 1 and 2, Block 3 of Olson and Bush Subdivision No. 2, in the Office of the Recorder, Ada County, Idaho; and Providing an Effective Date Simison: Next up is the Consent Agenda. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Very grateful that I'm here to make a motion on the Consent Agenda. Do so with -- for-- I make a motion for -- to approve the Consent Agenda. For the Mayor to sign and for the Clerk to attest. Cavener: Second. Page 5 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 3 of 11 Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the Consent Agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. The ayes have it and the Consent Agenda is adopted -- or approved. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. ITEMS MOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA [Action Item] Simison: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. PROCLAMATIONS 13. Fire Prevention Month Simison: So, we will move on to Proclamations. It is Fire Prevention Month and if I could have the chief and Pam -- is Pam here? Do I see Pam? Oh. I mean Sparky. Sorry. Oh, no. Sparky and Pam. Wow, we got the whole crew. We can join at the podium. Bernt: This is great. Cavener: I have never seen Sparky have a bad day. Ever. Sparky has never had a bad day. Simison: All right. Well, it is an awesome day. Anytime we get Sparky in the room it's going to be an awesome day. So, I'm going to go ahead and read this proclamation and turn it over to you all for some comments. Whereas the City of Meridian is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living and visiting in our city and whereas fire is a serious public safety concern, both nationally and locally and homes are locations where people are at greatest risk from fire and whereas Meridian's first responders are dedicated to reduce the occurrence of home fires and related injuries through prevention education and whereas Meridian's residents are responsive to public education measures and are able to take personal steps to increase their safety from fire and whereas the 2021 Fire Prevention Month theme Learn The Sounds Of Fire Safety effectively serves to remind us all the sounds of our alarms warn us of danger. Therefore, I, Mayor Robert E. Simison, hereby proclaim the month of October 2021 as Fire Prevention Month in the City of Meridian and call upon the community to heed the important safety measures of knowing the sounds their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms make to advise them of danger. Dated this 12th day of October 2021. So, Pam, I will turn this over to you. Orr: Thank you. I so appreciate you reading that proclamation, sir, and the important thing -- thing about Fire Prevention Month is that this gives us an opportunity to get the National Fire Protection Association message out and the message this year is to learn the sounds of your fire alarms and so the alarms that you have inside your home, your smoke alarms and your carbon alarms, are the number one things that you can have in order to be your best defense should you have an emergency in your home and so we would like the community -- and we are doing all that we can from the fire department Page 6 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 4 of 11 standpoint to educate the Meridian citizens on ensuring that they know what their alarms sound like and how to maintain those alarms, so that should they have an emergency and they can be notified of that emergency. Simison: Yeah. If I -- just real quick and -- you know, because I hadn't experienced this over the last couple months where I had the chirping going on in my -- in my alarm and, you know, I appreciated the opportunity to reach out to the fire department and really explain it. I just thought it was the battery. It was not. It was time for replacements from that standpoint and it was a simple thing of understanding what your fire alarm means when it chirps five times, compared to three times and everything else. So, appreciate all you guys do to help educate the community on these things and if we can do a quick picture with everybody that would be awesome. Strader: Thanks, Pam. DEPARTMENT / COMMISSION REPORTS [Action Item] 14. Parks and Recreation Master Plan and Community Center Needs Assessment Kickoff and Discussion Simison: All right. Council, next item we will move on to is Department/Commission Reports and we will be hearing from Parks and Recreation Master Plan and community center needs assessment kickoff and discussion. I will turn this over to Director Siddoway. And, thanks, Chris, for taking care of that. Sorry, I forgot. Siddoway: Good afternoon, Mayor, Members of the Council. It is time for us to kick off the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. The Council generously approved the budget this last summer for us to update the master plan. We talked about it during those budget workshops about the -- the need for the master plan update. With the growing population that we have, more than 50 percent growth since -- growth since it was adopted just over five years ago -- about six years ago now -- it's hard to believe, but the amount of growth has just been amazing. Feel like it's time to go out and touch base with our citizens, our growing population, make sure we have still got the right priorities and meeting the needs of our growing community. As part of that two add alternate budgets were also approved by Council, one for the community center feasibility study and also the cost recovery analysis, which I know there was specific interest among several Council members as well. So, those are all part of this plan. GreenPlay has been hired to --to do these studies and it's an update of the -- the current master plan. I just want to take a quick note and just say, you know, in my professional career that process was for me one of the -- probably the top three processes that I have -- I have been through. It was very thorough, lots of public engagement, lots of consensus that was built around the priorities that have given us a sense of direction over the last five years that we look forward to updating. Art Thatcher is our lead consultant with GreenPlay and he is remote, but online and ready to make a presentation to you. We want to go over the public engagement plan, our various touch points with Council, how we expect to engage with you over the next several months, as well as the public and with that I'm going to turn this over to Art. Page 7 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 5 of 11 Thatcher: Thank you very much, Steve. I appreciate the -- the opportunity to -- to join you tonight from -- from Virginia and I look forward to -- to this -- this project. Steve didn't mention that I had the pleasure of being the project manager for the 2015 Parks and Recreation Master Plan and so I'm very familiar with the -- with the community and had a great experience with --with Steve and Members of Council and the Parks and Recreation Commission. So, looking forward to -- to a repeat performance. So, I'm going to share my screen and -- so, we are here today to -- to really to kind of kick off the -- the master planning process and to -- and to give you a briefing on where we are and so just very quickly that the GreenPlay team -- there are several -- several members that are -- that will be on the project with me. Tom Diehl, who is another one of our principals, will be heading up the -- the community center feasibility study and Teresa Jackson, who is one of our project managers, will be heading up the cost recovery and financial sustainability process. And, then, Dave Peterson has come on board and we will be updating the grasp analysis. We have also brought on Jon Breckon with Breckon Land Design. He was with us when we did the -- the master plan in 2015. So, I'm very excited to have the team back together again to -- to complete your update. You know, we are -- we are really, you know, experienced and curious consultants. We bring the best practices from our national work. We have been around for 22 years now. Done almost 700 projects. And so we do really have a customized approach with national and regional experience and the big thing is that we really believe in building relationships with staff and stakeholders. Those are really key to -- to a successful planning process. So, as we -- as we build our master plans and as we look at this master plan update, we know that there are multiple factors involved and it's not just about recreation, it's not just about parks, but it's -- it's balancing these three components, this financial and economic component, the social piece and the environmental piece, it really brings balance into -- into the program and into the system to really kind of create that sustainability for the system. So, looking at that conservation and passive recreation, mixed activities, and, then, active recreation into the process to help communities thrive. You already -- you have great things to offer to the community and -- and I know a lot has happened since we were there six years ago and so very excited to -- to get in and see some of the new things that have occurred. Our process -- we really have this four stage process and we are kind of in that first phase where I have the red circle of this strategic kickoff. Then a strategic kickoff with staff to identify the critical success factors. We looked at those key focus areas. We really developed our schedule, identified stakeholders, and -- and really kind of looked at, you know, those pieces and we are at that bottom piece of briefing the decision makers. So, I have a meeting tomorrow night, again, virtually with the Parks and Recreation Commission to go through this same presentation and to brief them on where we are in the process and so as we look at these four stages, the first is that information gathering and it's -- it's where we will be doing our needs assessment. We are working with staff and stakeholders. We will be doing public meetings. We will be doing an online survey and a mailed survey. Doing our inventory. Looking at the level of service analysis. Looking at your community profile. And we are looking at trends currently that are going on regionally and nationally. From there we will kind of move into the findings and visioning where we bring all this data together and begin to really synthesize that, you know, look at -- look at our key issues matrix, look at where those key issues come about and how we address those and prioritize those. Also analyzing your programs operations, your maintenance, your Page 8 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 6 of 11 marketing and your financial resources. After we have done that, then, we begin to draft the plan and really kind of put these strategies together and -- both long term and short term, as well as looking at implementation strategies and recommendations. We develop the action table and, then, began to put that through the review process with the elected officials, as well as the staff and the community, kind of getting to that final plan and, then, the implementation. So, as we look at the -- kind of our schedule and this process, really, we did our strategic kickoff with staff on October 10th and -- and, then, we will be doing leadership interviews this week. You should have received an invitation from me to -- to select some -- some dates for a 30 minute leadership interview. That will be a Zoom one on one. So, that we can, you know, get started with looking at your -- your vision, where you see things going with this process and -- and really kind of get you started -- you know, engaged right from the start. I will also -- after I get a schedule I will be filling in those dates with the -- with the Parks and Recreation Commissioners, so that we can get all of that done. Once I finish those interviews this week we will be developing the survey, which will go out in -- in October. We are shooting for the 22nd for that to -- to go to the printer and, then, go out in the mail to hit communities -- your -- your residents. I will talk a little bit about the survey a little bit later, but from there we are also in the process of doing this feasibility study for the community center and we will be gathering information from the survey and, then, in the November time frame we will start having some public meetings and some charettes to -- to talk about, you know, the components within the -- within the community center and looking at, you know, how we size that, how we meet those needs. Working with staff we will also be doing some community charettes. Jon Breckon will be helping us to develop some conceptual plans from those charettes and begin to look at that process. Also in the November time frame we will begin our community engagement with focus groups, stakeholder meetings, and our public presentation. So, we are scheduled to come out the 16th through the 18th and we are hosting some specific meetings around teens and seniors and department heads, but also having some open community meetings, doing those in a combination of both in person as well as virtual and, then, concluding those three days with a public presentation with a town hall public meeting. Also in the November time frame Dave Peterson and Caylon Vielehr will be coming out to update the inventory we began -- you know, adding the new components and the new parks, putting them into the GIS system and, then, begin their evaluation of your level of service and that analysis. After the first of the year we will be coming in and doing our kickoff for the cost recoveries and sustainability study. Teresa will be coming in, we will -- we will do a session with -- we will do a series of three workshops over a three month period, January, February, March as we are beginning to develop the process. We will be meeting with you and having some conversations with you around that process as well. So, as we gather all this information we will be doing our findings presentation in March and so -- and presenting all of that data, looking at our findings, looking at those recurring themes and, then, we will begin to kind of draft our recommendations. Be back in May with -- with a presentation to you and to the public on -- on our draft recommendations and, then, in the -- in the June, July time frame we are looking at draft and final presentations for pre-adoption of the plan and so this is kind of our public engagement process. We use a mixed method to our -- to our public engagement and so as I mentioned we will be doing leadership interviews. We will be doing a SWOT analysis with the staff, focus groups, town hall and public meetings. We Page 9 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 1 of 11 will do a random mailed survey like we did last time, which will go out in -- in October and, then, in November we will be -- we will be launching an open link survey, so that anybody in the community can take the same survey. We keep the URL's separate, so that we can preserve the statistic validity. We really had a tremendous turnout for the last survey that we did. So, we are anticipating a similar turnout this time around. So, again, you know, looking at that statistically valid survey, the individual discussions, there is public meetings, as well as doing some online surveying and interaction with -- with the public. So, again, our next step is to move into this information gathering phase that I have already kind of gone over with you in -- in pretty much detail. So, that's, you know, kind of our exciting time. So, it's really kind of the -- our introduction and where we are and where we plan to be going and kind of a timeline for -- for that. So, I appreciate your -- your time. I will stop sharing my screen and, then, I'm open to questions that you may have that -- on any part of this as we move forward. Simison: Thank you, Art. Council, any questions? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Art, great seeing you virtually. You guys do a great job. I do have a couple of questions, kind of about the process. Clearly this time around we are -- we are adding kind of the cost recovery model component of the -- of the planning process. Are there any other differences between what this process is like now versus what it was when you guys did it in 2015? Thatcher: Well, I mean from -- since the 2015 plan we -- you know, we have a -- we have a base to build on. Cavener: Right. Thatcher: As Steve -- as Steve mentioned earlier, I think if you look at the 2015 plan, you know, we did a five, ten, 20 and 30 year, you know, estimate of your population growth and I think you met like the 15 year mark within the first five years and so, you know, we will -- we will definitely be, you know, continuing to engage the community. We will be looking at -- you know, really the needs assessment is the biggest piece, because your demographics have changed, your population has changed, so we -- we really want to reach out to new residents, as well as existing residents, to make sure that -- that your programming and your facilities and services are still meeting those needs. So, we won't -- we won't have to do as deep a dive into that inventory level of service analysis, we will be looking at those components that, you know, have -- you know, are ten years or older to kind of give them a rating and see where they are. We will be looking at your new components and adding them to the process and, then, looking at where your new growth is -- is occurring, so that we can -- we can really get a feel for kind of where there may be some gaps and, then, where -- you know. And also where some of those may be being covered by other service providers. Page 10 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 8 of 11 Cavener: Okay. Thank you. Thatcher: Thank you. Simison: So, a question I had -- based upon some things that may or may not be fully within our ability, but the community center time frame, is that something that could be moved up to go faster, say as early as -- completed in January if necessary? Thatcher: We -- we are moving as fast as we can and, yes, I think once we get through the -- the staff charrette and the -- and the public engagement charrette, we will have a lot of the -- lot of the data that we need and so over that, you know, Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday and getting into January time, Tom can start crunching numbers. I tell you, you know, Steve and Garrett have done a fabulous job of really kind of front loading a lot of data for us. They have done a lot of work and have provided that to us. So, Tom is already, you know, beginning to crunch numbers and look at things. It's just a matter of once we narrow in on -- on the size of the facility and the -- and the programming spaces, yes, we will be able to jump right on there. So, I feel, you know, that if we need to move quicker that we can be -- we can meet that like end of January, beginning, you know, early February easily. Simison: Okay. Thank you. Steve, did you have some follow-up on that that you were wanting to say? Siddoway: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of Council. I have expressed to Art and his team a desire to move as quickly as possible and get as much done targeting the end of the year as possible. One of the things we are up against with that time frame is the holidays and the amount of public engagement we can do between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, what we -- what we are doing is leading off with these leadership interviews, trying to get to that -- get that survey out just as quickly as possible, so that we can start digesting the results of that survey come November, into early December. We will, then, begin the staff level charettes with -- with their team in December and try and get as many answers as we can before the end of the year and, then, we will, then, confirm that direction through the -- the public charettes and things going into January. Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Thanks, Steve. One question. Are you going to include the community center in the survey? The assessment of needs and such? Siddoway: Yeah. There -- the -- we still need to determine what the questions are, but that is the intent to ask questions surrounding the needs of that community center with that survey and that is part of why we want to engage you early and up front. Simison: Thank you. Council Woman Perreault, did you have a -- Page 11 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 9 of 11 Perreault: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Steve can correct me if I'm wrong, but when he and I were going over this information he shared with me that any of the surveys, studies, questionnaires that were done from open space to what -- the information we gathered during the Comprehensive Plan, all of that information it's my understanding is going to be provided and so I just wanted the Council to know that, hopefully, Art's team will have a good basis for where the community is at from the last couple of years. At least some specific areas of this. It's -- it's not going to cover every topic that -- that the master plan will, but -- Thatcher: Yes. Yes. And thank you very much for saying that. You know, we do -- we do look at, you know, your existing planning processes and we make sure that -- you know, that we are looking at those and your adopted plans, making sure that our master plan is in conjunction with those. One of the other things it's kind of -- that -- with this process, with this update, is that we are -- we are repeating several of the questions that we used in the 2015 master plan, so that we can get -- so that we can use some longitudinal data from -- from '15 to now and, then, going into the future. So, we -- we are using the same research firm and everything, so it will -- you know, that's one of the things that will help us as well. Siddoway: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Yes, Mr. Siddoway. Siddoway: The only thing I would add to that is one of the push me pull yous with the survey is trying not -- trying to get everything we need, also not making it too long for people to take. So, as a -- as the base, as Art just said, we want to use many, if not most of the questions that were part of the 2015 survey, so that we can benchmark against how -- how were we doing then, how are we doing now. So, we want to keep as much of that as -- as possible. Some of it may be outdated and -- and may be able to come off. We know we need to add things related to the community center. We know we have added a lot of new facilities, so there is facilities questions in the survey and Rachel has already taken a look at those questions today to help us figure out which facilities have been added. So, there is going to be some updating. The -- the previous survey will be our base and, then, the question is what do we add to it and try and balance the -- let's get as much as we can without making it overly long. Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Steve or Art, could you share with us kind of the balance between what -- the focus on recreation versus parks locations and those kind of things? They are sort of a -- are we going to try to focus on all of those equally or are we going to be -- you know, is there a particular topic that we really want to get more information on than others and maybe one area where we really feel like we have it nailed down or is this just going to be a broad swath of everything that we offer? Page 12 Meridian City Council Work Session Item#1. October 12,2021 Page 10 of 11 Thatcher: You want me to take that, Steve? Siddoway: You can start. I have some thoughts, but I think you will probably be better at starting it. Thatcher: No problem. As part of the master plan update we will be doing a broad brush kind of approach to that. You know, we will be looking, you know, both at the recreation, as well as the -- the -- kind of the financial and the facilities piece, because that really is -- it's a system master plan and, then, as part of the community center feasibility study and also the cost recovery financial sustainability study, we will be drilling down much deeper, one, into the -- kind of the activity facility side of the need for the community center and its -- and its feasibility. On the recreation side -- on that -- I'm sorry. On the cost recovery side of things one of the things that we will be doing is we will be looking at all of your -- kind of your services that -- that you provide and how those are being received by the community and how those are being kind of rated. As we look at the -- the cost recovery model that we had developed, we look at it on a -- with a -- with the lens of the base of that -- of our pyramid being greatest community benefit and, then, the top of that pyramid being greatest individual benefit and, then, how your services fall onto that five tiered pyramid and so that's really where we get down into -- even the facilities when it comes to rentals versus open play and those pieces and -- and so programs and facilities really fall into that. So, those are the two areas that we really will do a deeper dive. Simison: Thank you. Council, any additional questions? Comments? Perreault: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Perreault. Perreault: Art, are you going to be looking at what we have budgeted overall and how that compares to other cities our size? Is that part of the planning process or is that something that the department will kind of do on their own once the master plan is complete? Thatcher: So -- so, we will do -- typically as part of the master plan we do a financial analysis and so we look at three to five years of your budgets and your revenues and -- and, then, also look at how they kind of compare to communities of similar size and -- and demographics nationally, as well as regionally, both -- if you kind of look at the -- at the current master plan and both on the revenue and the expense, as well as on the staffing levels and so, you know, it's -- it's easy to -- you know, one of the things that we put -- we look at is that your current level of service and where the community wants you to be in level of service, not only in parks and trails, but also in recreation programming and -- and staff to run those programs. Perreault: Thank you. Simison: Council? Okay. Thank you, Art. Thank you, Steve. Appreciate it very much. Page 13 Meridian City Council Work Session October 12,2021 Page 11 of 11 Siddoway: Mr. Mayor, my final word would be to, please, look for Art's e-mail. We are trying to accomplish those leadership interviews over the next few days. So, if you could look for a time that might work for your schedule and get back to him, we would appreciate it. Thank you. Simison: Thank you. Thatcher: Thank you all very much. I do look forward to speaking to you individually this week and, again, excited about this opportunity. Simison: All right. We have reached the end of our work session. Do I have a motion? Bernt: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Bernt. Bernt: Move that we adjourn the meeting. Simison: I have a motion to adjourn the meeting. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. TWO ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:04 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) 10/26/2021 MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON DATE APPROVED ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK Page 14