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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 09-18Meridian City Council Meeting September 1$, 2007 A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:10 P.M., Tuesday, September 18, 2007 by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Joe Borton and David Zaremba. Members Absent: Charlie Rountree. Others Present: Bill Nary, Will Berg, Anna Canning, Len Grady, Tracy Basterrechea, Mark Niemeyer, Stacy Kilchenmann, Bruce Freckleton, Brent Bjornson, and Dean Willis. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X David Zaremba X Joe Borton O Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird X Mayor Tammy de Weerd De Weerd: Good evening. I will go ahead and start tonight's meeting. We appreciate you all joining us here. We will start tonight's meeting with roll call attendance. Mr. Berg. Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance by Antonio Basterrechea: De Weerd: Tonight we have the honor of being led in the pledge by Antonio Basterrechea and he is three years old. He knows the Pledge of Allegiance and he is going to be our leader tonight. If you will all rise. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) De Weerd: Antonio is the son of one of Meridian's finest, Lieutenant Basterrechea. So, we certainly thank you for bringing your family with you here tonight and, Antonio, thank you again for leading us. Thank you. Item 3: Community Invocation by Pastor Steve Moore with Cherry Lane Christian Church: De Weerd: Item three is our community invocation. We will be led tonight by also one of Meridian's finest, Reverend Moore, who is one of our Meridian Promise partners and he has been with the Meridian Promise program since its inception. We appreciate his leadership with youth programs. In fact, he is being nominated for an award and Joey, Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 2 of 38 who wrote the nomination, I think understated a lot of what you bring to our community. We appreciate you being here with us tonight and leading us in the invocation. If you will all join us in the community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of reflection. Pastor Moore. Moore: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Very kind of you. Our Father God in Heaven, I'm privileged to be able to follow athree-year-old that may cause us to be faithful, to have allegiance to what is so good and so great. The history of this nation, its present potential, and its future opportunity if, indeed, we will be under you, God. We thank you for Antonio, for his life, for what he helps us adults in this room see and to dream again. I pray for a blessing on his family and on him and for his future, for his potential to be realized. !thank you, God, to be a part of a community wherein this Council in a recent meeting approved a resolution that specifically addresses the well-being of youth in this community. Indeed, God, we are blessed as citizens to have such leadership and I pray for a special blessing on them and their families. I pray that, indeed, we will be a community where youth are involved in the processes and protected and called to contribute. Specifically, God, I thank you for -- for the freedoms that we have in this nation, in this state, and in this city. I pray for direction for this particular meeting, as in all of them, important decisions are going to be made that affect the citizenry, that go beyond the moment. God, I ask that you would, with your Holy Spirit, speak to the hearts of the people that are not here tonight, of the citizens of this community who have never been to a Council meeting, but enjoy and benefit from what is decided here. May we be a humble and appreciative people. I pray that as these decisions are made your will is done and the best interest of all parties are considered. It is an awesome task that is before these members of Council and our Mayor. I thank you for city servants, every layer, every aspect of them, from the public works, to the police, in all points, in Jesus' name, amen. De Weerd: Thank you. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I don't know if it's appropriate to comment, but one of the things -- we talk about the growth of Meridian. One of the things that makes Meridian attractive is the participation of the churches in our community and Cherry Lane Christian, which is becoming Ten Mile Christian Church, has been one of the leaders in helping our community be the kind of community it is and I just wanted to comment. They are having a groundbreaking on Sunday and I think it's a wonderful step in their growth and wish them well. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 3 of 38 De Weerd: Thank you. Certainly they just had a community fair out at Pastor Moore's house. He always opens up his farm to this community celebration and I think you had well over a thousand people come out to your place. Moore: Well, we know for a fact that we wrapped 1,200 hamburgers or hot dogs and there were so many people in line that a lot of them just grabbed them hot off the grill. And that doesn't count the barbecued chicken. So, with that much other food we calculate very few people ate two burgers or dogs, so you kind of do the arithmetic; at least a conservative figure was 1,500 people this year. We just live in the greatest city in the world, without exaggeration. Item 5: Recognition for Keith Borup's service on Planning & Zoning Commission: De Weerd: Well, we agree with you, Steve. It's my pleasure to recognize a long time community volunteer and I have something I'd like to read and, then, I have some items I would like to present to Keith Borup. So, Keith, you will have to bear with me in listening to us sing your praises, but when we talk about the community and what it's about, Meridian has always been about its volunteers and certainly Keith Borup is a shining example of what Meridian is. Keith Borup began serving the citizens of Meridian on the Planning and Zoning Commission on August 6th, 1996. He served with distinction and ended his 11 years of service in March of this year. I had the pleasure of serving with him during that time and I can tell you that he taught me a lot and he actually had to put up with a lot, especially when I first started. Sheri Stiles sitting next to him was our planning director and I still remember my first planning and zoning meeting when I was looking at this plat and I was looking at what I thought was loading docks on the back side and they were actually just parked trucks and, you know, I thought what odd places for these things. I think Keith was the one that pointed out to me what I was mistakenly reading as a loading dock. But he has tutored a lot of us through the planning and zoning process. I'd like to share some comments from people who worked with Keith during these 11 years. David Moe said I appreciate the help that Keith gave me. He was informative and very familiar with the planning and zoning process, was willingly forthcoming with that information when I was a new commissioner. From Sheri Stiles: I loved working with Keith. It was apparent he actually read the applications and, you know, that is very apparent -- and the staff comments before the meetings. Even though he had a hectic building schedule he made a point of getting together with staff to ask questions and make sure he understood the issues. He would also explain to me the consequences of some conditions we placed on projects, helping us see things from the builder's perspective. His common-sense approach to development was refreshing. Shari also states she's a distant cousin of Keith's, which -- which she wasn't aware of until her parents went to some funerals he attended. Her mom was a Borup. I didn't realize that, Sheri. So, she ended it with no wonder he's great. Wendy Newton-Huckabay sent along these kind Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 4 of 38 words. Keith, I regret I am unable to attend tonight's City Council meeting to recognize your many years of service to the City of Meridian. Your willingness to share your knowledge and experience was invaluable, particularly when I was a new commissioner. I have missed your pragmatic style, direct nature, and the vast knowledge bank you seemed to be able to draw on at a moment's notice during a meeting. With your dedication to the Planning and Zoning Commission, the city, and your spirit of volunteerism, you left a legacy any commissioner would be hard pressed to match. I wish you well. It has been an honor serving on the Commission with you. From Jim Johnson: Keith just quietly did his job when t was the head of P&Z, was most always there and was very consistent in his decisions and opinions. Keith did not play favorites or side with a developer on all issues, even though he was in the business himself. I truly believe that his thought process led him to come down on the side of what was best for the community of Meridian as a whole. Everyone should appreciate the job he did as an outstanding volunteer. Keith, with many of these comments that I have received from a number of people that you served with, it was very obvious that you were our mainstay, you were very dependable, you had good common sense, and you gave a great perspective that we don't always get in this volunteer service and so with that we are in great gratitude and appreciation of that. I have a couple of things that I'd like to offer you. So, if you will come forward. And you can stand beside me. We know you have missed all the paperwork that you have missed out on over time and, you know, I can say that the volumes have diminished over that time, too, but I do have a set of the first minutes or the agenda of the first meeting that you served. And also the minutes, so you can read how wise you were on that very first meeting. It's very interesting reading, by the way. So, I'd like to present you with that. Since our city clerk has not figured out how to recycle name tags, we couldn't figure out who else might want to use it, so we will also present you with your name tag. We also have the notorious plaque and Keith has given out a number of these to people throughout his years. He saw them come and go. And, again, he was always very gracious and patient as we brought new people on and I'd like to read to you what the plaque says. To Keith Borup, Planning and Zoning Commissioner, City of Meridian. Presented in recognition of your contributions and service to the City of Meridian as Planning and Zoning Commissioner from August 1996 to March 2007. The City of Meridian greatly appreciates your dedication and commitment to serve the city and the community. Again, our thanks and I have not done this and so it's -- I have one other thing that I will give you, before I give you the plaque. As Mayor I do have the privilege of deciding who I give the key to the city to and I have never given this away, because it's very meaningful -- okay. You didn't think you could get through a meeting without me doing this. But I truly appreciate what you have done for the city and seeing the city grow with grace and certainly we have learned a lot of lessons along the way and you have taught me many of those. So, it is with great honor that I present you with the key to the city and thank you. Would you like to say anything? Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 5 of 38 Borup: I really don't have any comments, other than it was an enjoyable ten years. was just thinking on these minutes, I don't think I even said anything at my first meeting, so I'm probably not even in there. I was kind of overwhelmed with what was going on. But thank you very much. It's very touching. Zaremba: Madam Mayor, if I may add a comment. The word that I would use is mentor. Keith Borup was the chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission when I joined. Seems like it was last millennium some time. But I always looked to him as a mentor and even now when things come up I think how would Keith think this through and I have certainly appreciated his leadership. So, just wanted to add that. De Weerd: Our current chair Michael Rohm is here tonight as well. I think that even Councilman Rountree served with Keith, as did our city attorney Bill Nary. Oh, he didn't? Bird: He chaired in the '80s. He was a councilman when Keith was appointed. De Weerd: So, again, Keith, we appreciate the contributions and we also worked with the Borup family on a park site and so certainly the legacy that you have given this community will be longstanding and we are thrilled that you have been a critical and crucial part of that. Thank you for joining us tonight. Apologize for the time delay between March 2007 and September. We changed our logo in the interim and we wanted to make sure that the new logo was on the plaque. So, some things just take a lot of time. But, again, appreciate your attendance. De Weerd: Council, we will go ahead and move forward onto our agenda. Item number six is our Consent Agenda. Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda: Bird: We have got to adopt it first, Madam Mayor. Zaremba: We skipped four. De Weerd: Oh. I skipped. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: I was too anxious to get going. Bird: That's fine. On the agenda -- on the Consent Agenda Items E and F need to be pulled to 8-E and 8-F on the regular agenda. Item one, the resolution number is 07- 577. Item number 10 on the regular agenda has been asked to be continued to Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 6 of 38 September 25th, 2007. Item number 12, the ordinance number is 07-1337. And Items 14, 15, 16 and 17 have been requested by the applicant to be continued to October 2, 2007. And Item number 20 is Ordinance No. 07-1338. And with that I move we approve the agenda as noted. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda with many changes. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 6: Consent Agenda: A. Approve Minutes of April 11, 2007 City Council Strategic Planning Workshop: B. Approve Minutes of July 11, 2007 City Council Budget Workshop: C. Approve Minutes of September 4, 2007 Pre-Council Meeting: D. Approve Idaho Power Easement for New Water Division Building: G. Award Bids for Grant for Senior Citizen Center Phase 2 ICDBG-04-III-01-SR: Entrance Door & Ramp -Brice Construction $15,250.00 Replacement Windows -Atkinson Mirror & Glass $4,544.39 Kitchen Cooling -Western Heating $4,805.00 H. Professional Service Agreement with Madeline Buckendorf Consulting, LLC for Conducting Three Historic Inventory & Consulting Projects for Meridian Historical Preservation Committee: I. Resolution No. Fee Increases for Solid Waste Collections: J. Water Main Easement Agreement for Challenger School by BABB Investments: Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 7 of 38 K. Development Agreement: AZ 07-009 Request for Annexation and Zoning of 22.67acres from R1 to C-G Zone for Queenland Acres by James Prather -Southeast Corner of South Stoddard Road and West Overland Road: L. Approve Contract for Task Order 0722 Black Cat Road Water Main Extension with Civil Survey Consultants, Inc. for $9,800: M. Change Order No.1 for the Water Division Building Project (Construction -Crawford Door Sales of Idaho, Inc. )for $875.00: N. Chancre Order No.1 for the Water Division Building Proiect (Construction - Joslin Millwork, Inc. )for $368.00: O. Chance Order No.2 for the Water Division Building Proiect LConstruction -Ira-Mac, Inc. 1 for $1,256.00: P. Chancre Order No.1 for the Water Division Building Proiect (Construction -Treasure Valley Fire Protection, Inc. )for ($988.00): Q. _Change Order No.1 for the Water Division _Building Proiect LConstruction - SBI Contracting, Inc. )for $685.00: R. Change Order No.1 for the Water Division Building Project (Construction -Northwest Electrical) for $5,458.00: S. Change Order No.1 for the Water Division Building Project (Construction - Ridgeway Industrial, Inc. )for $5,541.00: T. License Agreement with Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District for Bellingham Park Subdivision No. 4: U. Approve Blood Draw Agreement with Ada County Paramedics: V. Approve Business Associates Agreement with Ada County Paramedics: De Weerd: The Consent Agenda. Bird: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 8 of 38 De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: Items E and F, as stated earlier, have been asked to be moved to 8-E and 8-F on the regular agenda. Item one is resolution number 07-577. With that I move we approve the revised Consent Agenda and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest on all papers. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda with the change as noted. If there is no discussion, Mr. Berg, will you, please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 7: Department Reports: A. Mayor's Office 1. Reappointment of Scott Turlington to Meridian Development Corporation: De Weerd: Thank you. Item seven, under department reports, I have in front of you the request to reappoint Scott Turlington to the Meridian Development Corporation and would stand for any questions. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: I don't have a question, just a comment that Scott's a great addition to the MDC board. It's a pleasure working with him. He provides great input and he's much needed to be reappointed an additional term and provide his continued input. De Weerd: Thank you. He's fairly new on the board, so, you know, he filled a seat and so I think he is getting up and going and so if I have a motion. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 9 of 38 Borton: I would move that we approve the reappointment of Scott Turlington to the MDC board. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the reappointment of Scott Turlington to the MDC board. If there is no discussion, Mr. Berg, will you please call roll? Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 8: Items Moved from Consent Agenda: E. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Denial: AP 07- 008 Request for City Council review for an Appeal of the Planning and Zoning Commission's decision limiting the hours of operation from 5: 00 a. m. to 11: 00 p. m. for Anytime Fitness located in an L-O zone district within Sundance Subdivision No. 5 by Dave Evans Construction - 3220 North Meridian Road: F. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP 07-015: Request for Conditional Use Permit for a fitness center within the Sundance Subdivision No.S for Anytime Fitness by Dave Evans Construction - 3220 North Meridian Road: De Weerd: Thank you. Item eight. We removed E and F from the Consent Agenda. Anna. Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you have received as of today a request for reconsideration. If you wish to consider that at a future noticed Public Hearing you will need to pull the Findings off the agenda and just vacate -- or vacate them from the agenda tonight. Is that correct, Bill? Is it vacate or continue? Nary: Well, actually, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you have a couple of options. If you want to have -- since you have only received this request today, if you'd like to have the opportunity to review that letter you can simply ask to set over the Findings to an agenda item for next week with this letter and request for reconsideration. If that's what you'd like to consider, that would probably make the most sense. And there is an opportunity, then, to have provided notice that you're going to consider that reconsideration. If you want to, you could certainly grant the reconsideration tonight and, then, set the Findings over as well. Normally, we set them Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 10 of 38 over with a reconsideration hearing, because we would notice up a new hearing. If the result's the same, we don't have to change the Findings, other than the date. If the result isn't the same we will just -- you will just order new Findings and we will vacate these. So, you can do either one, but if you do want to take some time to consider the request, since it only came in today to you, your best bet would, then, be to set it onto your next regular agenda for a discussion. De Weerd: Council? Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird. Bird: I can -- I think it would probably be appropriate to do like Mr. Nary said, to -- if it's agreeable to the other two councilmen, I'd make a motion that we set these Findings of Facts AP 07-008 and CUP 07-015 to September 25th, 2007, for -- to reconsider the request of a reconsideration by the applicant at Anytime Fitness and put it on the regular agenda for next week. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Just a clarification. That would not actually be the reconsideration -- Bird: No. No. No. Zaremba: -- it would be a decision about whether we were -- Bird: The decision will be next week. The decision would be next week. Zaremba: I would second that motion. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to set these two items over to next week, along with consideration of the request that we received this evening. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say aye. All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 8: Items Moved from Consent Agenda: Item 9: Idaho Power Company Update by Layne Dodson: Request to be tabled to September 25, 2007 Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 11 of 38 De Weerd: So, Item nine is an Idaho Power update by Layne Dodson and that has been requested to table to next week. Berg: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Berg: If I could, Layne Dodson had another conflict, since he thought he was going to be on the pre-council he was trying to hit Meridian and Kuna the same night and there was a conflict and he'd rather have enough time before us to have any discussion. So, that's why he requested to be continued to next week. De Weerd: Thank you. Bird: We don't have a motion on that, but you can just set that aside. Item 10: Tabled from September 11, 2007: FP 07-026 Request for Final Plat approval for 140 single-family building lots and 21 common lots on 89.70 acres in R-2, R-8 and R-15 zones for Javker Subdivision No. 1 by Treehaven, LLC - 4042 West Chinden Boulevard: De Weerd: Item 10 has also been requested to table to next week as well. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we table FP 07-026 to September 25th, 2007. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to table Item 10 until next week. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 11: Public Hearing: Amendments for 2006 / 2007 Fiscal Year Budget: De Weerd: Item 11 is Public Hearing, Amendments for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Budget Year. Stacy. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 12 of 38 Kilchenmann: Madam Mayor and Members of Council, as we discussed the budget amendment in detail when we did the budget hearing I did not prepare -- as we discussed, I didn't prepare a presentation of the budget amendment. So, if there aren't any questions, I believe legal has already prepared the ordinance. If there are any questions on the amendment or anyone would like to discuss it again -- De Weerd: Oh, we can't hear it often enough, Stacy. Kilchenmann: I could read each line item. De Weerd: Council, did you have any questions regarding this? Bird: No. De Weerd: This is a Public Hearing. Is there any member of the public who would like to make comment? Thank you. Bird: Madam Mayor? Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we close the Public Hearings -- Zaremba: Second. Bird: -- on the amendment for 2006-2007. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 12: Ordinance No. Amendments for 2006 / 2007 Fiscal Year Budget: De Weerd: Item 12 is Ordinance No. 07-1337. I will ask the city clerk to, please, read this by title only. Berg: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of Council. Ordinance 07-1337, an ordinance of the City of Meridian amending ordinance number 06-1262, the appropriation ordinance for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2006, and ending Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 13 of 38 September 30th, 2007, appropriating additional monies that are to be received by the City of Meridian, Idaho, in the sum of six million, one hundred thirty thousand -- excuse me -- hundred thousand seventy-three dollars -- sorry. De Weerd: That's easy for you to say. Berg: There are too many commas and no period. 6,130,073 dollars and allocating additional expenditures and providing for an effective date. De Weerd: You have heard this ordinance read by title only. Is there anyone who would like to hear it read in its entirety? Seeing none, Council? Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve Ordinance No. 07-1337 with suspension of rules. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item No. 12. If there is no discussion, Mr. Berg, please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 13: Continued Public Hearing from September 4, 2007: PP 07-013 Request for Preliminary Plat approval for 11 building lots and 2 common lots on 26.35 acres in an I-L zone for Kennedy Commercial Center by DBSI Meridian 184, LLC - 1250 West Overland Road: De Weerd: Item No. 13 was continued from September 14th. It's a Public Hearing on PP 07-013. I will ask for staff comments at this time. Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this is the Kennedy Commercial Center. It is located at 1250 West Overland Road on the north side of Overland, approximately a quarter mile east of Linder Road, more commonly known as the DBSI property. The application before you tonight is a preliminary plat. DBSI had applied -- has applied for a preliminary plat for 11 commercial building lots and two common lots on 26.35 acres in an I-L zone. Excuse me. Just as other information regarding this property, the applicants had a Conditional Use Permit for a planned development approved in '01 and that was CUP 01-009 and that allowed for a day care, an office, Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 14 of 38 and retail uses with Conditional Use Permit approval in the I-L zone. The conditions that run with that CUP continue to run with the land and are still in effect. I would also like to point out that the private street you see coming from the south of the property going north was previously approved and that's why it's not part of the application tonight, so that private lane exists and was previously approved and they have just incorporated it into the plat. We have some elevations for you and this was elevations from the original CUP approval, just to -- in case you wanted to see them. Just thought I would have them for you tonight, so -- the Commission recommended approval at their August 2nd, 2007, Public Hearing. Tim Mokwa from Toothman Orton Engineering spoke in favor of the application. No one spoke in opposition. No one commented. And there was no written testimony. Key issues of discussion by the Commission were the length of the private street. The key changes to staffs recommendation was to modify condition 1.15 to read -- this is with regard to the private street --from the center line of Overland Road to the northern property boundary of the common lot, instead of from the center line of Overland Road to the end of the cul-de-sac. So, they limited the length of the private street. There has been no written testimony since the staff report and to our knowledge there are no outstanding issues before City Council. I would like to also note that there is a -- there is a condition of approval that -- regarding design review with the plat. Normally we don't see those associated with plats, but, again, it's a holdover condition from the original CUP approval and it just is good information for -- forthose folks that are interested in this property. They do have to either be consistent with those elevations I showed you tonight or go through design review. De Weerd: Thank you, Anna. Council, any questions? Bird: I have none. De Weerd: Is the applicant here? Hi. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Mokwa: Yes, Madam Mayor. My name is Tim Mokwa with Toothman Orton Engineering, 9777 Chinden Boulevard, Boise. I have been through the report and recommended conditions of approval and really have no issues. So, I would be happy to answer any questions if there are any. De Weerd: Council, any questions for the applicant? Bird: I have none. De Weerd: Okay. Mokwa: Thank you. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 15 of 38 De Weerd: Thank you. This is a Public Hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide testimony on this application? Ralph? Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I having heard all applicant testimony and giving the public the opportunity to comment, I move we close the Public Hearing. Bird: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the Public Hearing on Item 13. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: Any discussion? Do I have a motion? Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move that we approve PP 07-013 to include all staff comments. Bird: Applicant, too? Zaremba: And applicant comments, who agreed with staff. Bird: Second. De Weerd: Well, that one is an important one. He agreed. Bird: He agreed. De Weerd: I have a motion to approve Item 13. If this is no discussion, Mr. Berg, will you, please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 16 of 38 Item 14: Public Hearing: AZ 07-006 Request for Annexation and Zoning of 94.69 acres from RUT to a C-G zone for Pinebridge by Stanley Consultants -south of East Fairview Avenue, east of North Locust Grove Road and west of North Eagle Road: Request to be continued to October 2, 2007 Item 15: Public Hearing: RZ 07-010 Request for a Rezone of 75. 67 acres from I-L and L-O zones to a C-G zone for Pinebridge by Stanley Consultants - south of East Fairview Avenue, east of North Locust Grove Road and west of North Eagle Road: Request to be continued to October 2, 2007 Item 16: Public Hearing: PP 07-008 Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 61 building lots and 21 common lots on 170 +/- acres in a proposed C-G zone for Pinebridge by Stanley Consultants -south of East Fairview Avenue, east of North Locust Grove Road and west of North Eagle Road: Request to be continued to October 2, 2007 Item 17: Public Hearing: VQR 07-007 Request for a Variance Application for two access points to North Eagle Road for Pinebridge by Stanley Consultants -south of East Fairview Avenue, east of North Locust Grove Road and west of North Eagle Road: Request to be continued to October 2, 2007 De Weerd: Items 14, 15, 16 and 17 are all public hearings, AZ 07-006, RZ 07-010, PP 07-008 and VAR 07-007. I will open these four public hearings. These have been requested to continue to October 2nd. So, Council, I would need a motion. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we continue public hearings AZ 07-006, RZ 07-010, PP 07-008, and VAR 07-007, all of them for the Pinebridge development application, until October 2nd, 2007. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: Thank you. I have a motion and a second to continue Items 14, 15, 16 and 17 to October 2nd. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: I apologize to anyone who might have come tonight to testify. This will be heard on the 2nd. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 17 of 38 Item 18: Public Hearing: TE 07-012 Request for approval of a six-month Time Extension to record the Final Plat for McNelis Subdivision by Engineering Solutions, LLP -Northwest Comer of North Ten Mile Road and West Ustick Road: De Weerd: Item 18 is a Public Hearing for TE 07-012 and I will open this Public Hearing with staff comments. Canning: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, this is the McNelis Subdivision. Their request before you tonight is for a time extension. The property is located on the northwest corner of Ten Mile and Ustick Roads and the subject plat consists of 16 commercial building lots and four common lots in the I-L, L-O, and C-G zones on 32.55 acres. The applicant requests approval of a six month time extension to record the final plat. The final plat was approved on August 9th of 2005. A previous time extension was approved by the director and will expire on August 9th. The applicant submitted this time extension before that one expired. The applicant states that the reason for the delay is because of issues with pressurized irrigation system and agencies still reviewing the plat. With all time extensions the city may require compliance with current provisions of the UDC as a condition for granting the time extension. Staff believes that there are no additional conditions that should be added to those approved by City Council with the final plat for this subdivision. So, to our knowledge there are no outstanding issues before Council and staff is recommending approval of the time extension. With that I will answer any questions Council and Mayor may have. De Weerd: Council, any questions? Bird: I have none. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Borton: Anna, are you recommending compliance with the current UDC provisions as part of the extension? Canning: No. No. No. No. This project -- the preliminary plat was approved under the old code. The final plat was approved under the new code. We didn't feel it was necessary to make any adjustments to the project to reflect the new code. Borton: Okay. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 18 of 38 De Weerd: This is a Public Hearing. Is there anyone who would like -- is the applicant here for the time extension? Do you have any comment? Any public comment? I see a neighbor. Well, we have seen dirt moving out there, so I thought we'd finally get a gas station, so no public comment. No? Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird. Bird: I guess we are not going to have any public testimony, so I move we close the Public Hearing on TE 07-012. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the Public Hearing on Item 18. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird. Bird: I move that we approve a six month extension on TE 07-012 with the six month extension starting October 1st, 2007. De Weerd: Do I have a second? Borton: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Thank you. Any comments? Mr. Berg, will you call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: Thank you. Item 19 is -- Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Zaremba: I'm sorry, but -- t know it's too late, but the hesitation was that I -- I thought the staff report recommended that the extension end in January of next year, because Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 19 of 38 we are actually a month or two behind in granting this extension. Am I remembering the right thing? It was supposed to expire August 9th and six months from that date, instead -- although I'm comfortable with the motion we just passed, I just wanted to clarify that for the record. The motion we passed is the six months would run from October 2nd -- is that what you said? Bird: October 1st. Zaremba: Or October 1st. Berg: Which would be April 1st. Zaremba: Yeah. Which is different from what the staff report said and I -- that's fine with me, but I just wanted to make sure everybody understood that. Bird: Yeah. Well, we enacted upon it -- De Weerd: We went with the motion as stated. Bird: Yeah. Zaremba: Yes. And that's fine. De Weerd: Or you went with the motion that -- Zaremba: I agreed with the motion. I hesitated too long and that's fine with me. De Weerd: Okay. Zaremba: Just was pointing out the discrepancy. De Weerd: Well, thank you. Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I think I missed that, so what is the length of the extension? To what date? Bird: Six months from October 1st, 2007. Berg: October 1st to -- Bird: Which would be April -- Berg: April 1st. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 20 of 38 Canning: April 1st. Thank you. Berg: My six months' calendar. Zaremba: Actually, I believe we have the authority to extend it up to 18 months from when it expired, so we are not doing anything outside of the law. De Weerd: They were well within their power. Bird: Yeah. Zaremba: So, it still is a legitimate extension and I support my supporting the vote. Item 19: Public Hearing: New Meridian Building Fees: De Weerd: Thank you. Item 19 is a Public Hearing on the new Meridian Building Fees. I will open this Public Hearing with staff comments. Hi, Bruce. Freckleton: Good evening, Mayor and Council. De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name just for the record. Freckleton: Just for the record. Bruce Freckleton, Meridian Public Works. De Weerd: I think Dean knows you, but we wanted to make sure. Freckleton: Do you want me to spell that? Zaremba: B-r-u-c-e. Right? Freckleton: Madam Mayor, 22 years ago I -- my wife and I made one of the toughest decisions a young couple makes and that is to have a house built and we moved from Boise to Meridian and interviewed several builders and finally settled on Borup Construction. So, that was long before he worked -- or had served in any capacity for the city. But we entrusted -- we made a big decision, entrusted Keith with that decision back, then, and appreciated that and also as the -- probably the most senior staff member that's prepared staff reports and presented to -- to this body and also the Planning and Zoning Commission, I appreciate Keith's service for -- in that capacity and he always was very knowledgeable and just appreciate all he's done for the city, so -- well, tonight the much anticipated building department fee proposal. Have had several people helping with this project. Just kind of want to acknowledge their efforts. Brent Bjornson, he's put in countless hours doing research for me. He's sitting over here on Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 21 of 38 the side. Todd Lavoie with finance has been pretty instrumental in gathering a lot of the financial end of things. And, of course, Stacy, too. She's -- she's always a big help. And, then, there is Len Grady and Len -- Borton: Despite him. Freckleton: Len is -- he is just a whiz with numbers and with Excel spreadsheets and couldn't have done without him. So, just wanted to say thanks for that. So, go ahead and hit the first slide. De Weerd: There went your teamwork. Freckleton: We are going to kind of tag team this a little bit tonight. There we go. First of all, I just wanted to kind of give -- you guys have seen my graphs before, but this is pretty indicative of what we have experienced. The big boom of '05 and the decline down the other side of the mountain. Am I really on this thing? Berg: You bet you, buddy. Rules are rules. Freckleton: The thing that's interesting about this -- this graph is the -- these numbers that you see here and these are the percentage of total -- it's the breakdown of the percentage of total for residential and commercial and what you see in our current fiscal year is that the commercial component of that is 12 percent. The year before it was -- man, that's hard to read. I think it was like 5.7 percent. Bird: Yeah. It was about six percent. Freckleton: Yeah. And it continues to grow. I mean we are seeing our commercial picking up. Unfortunately, we are seeing our residential component drop. We are seeing the commercial come up and the residential -- Bird: That, naturally, would add your percentage up by -- by having less -- by having less residential, if you stay even with your commercial, that's going to give you a better percent. Freckleton: Absolutely. De Weerd: Actually, too, it lowers the -- the burden on the homeowner. Freckleton: Yes. De Weerd: That's always what I enjoy seeing. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 22 of 38 Freckleton: Yes. Just some -- some bullet points I wanted to hit on. Our last overall fee increase in the building department was in 1994. That was 13 years ago. I don't know why it has been 13 years. It's certainly not my intention from going forward --from this point forward what -- what I have set as a priority for myself is to annually be doing an analysis of our fees and making sure that we are keeping them current for the -- for each fiscal year. Currently Meridian has the lowest building fees in the entire valley. Fiscal year '07, development services fund, is going to close out just above break even due to salary savings in the planning department and fiscal year '08 budget at break even after moving code enforcement and street lights to the general fund. So, we have had to shift some of the burden around to try and get things to break even in '08. At this point, Stacy, do you have something you want to add to that? Kilchenmann: I just -- Bruce asked me to talk a little bit about that last bullet proof -- bullet proof -- bullet -- we want to be bullet proof -- bullet point. I'm sure you all examined your financial statements carefully and studied the projection for the development services fund, but we will -- we should end up with the year between 250,000 to 500,000 dollars in the red -- or in the black and if you remember we initially budgeted 1. 4 million dollar transfer to capital improvement fund. And the reason -- one thing that's helping us is that code enforcement planning and I think even building had some vacant positions, so we had some salary savings in those areas and, then, we had two or three really high commercial months. And I have to say that the commercial isn't consistent, so it's really hard to project it. Like so far this month we have only had 2,000 dollars in revenue in commercial. So, the next -- Bruce is going to show you a model that he and Todd worked on that will be a lot more accurate than what I did. In other words, you can actually plug in the number of residential permits and you can plug in the number of commercial permits and it will be a constantly updating average based on average home values and you can see what we need -- where we need to be to break even and, you know, where we need to be to make revenue and he's going to talk about that. But I think the second point 1 wanted to make is we have used that excess to transfer to the capital improvement fund and the capital improvement fund is kind of our way of helping to make growth pay for itself, because that's how we fund the capital projects that we wouldn't ordinarily be able to do to fund one-time capital projects. Like the City Hall. We have used it in parks. We have used it in fire. We have used it in police. And, then, the third point I wanted to say about increasing fees is if we say, well, we are going to wait until building picks up or we are going to wait, the problem when we do that is our costs don't wait, they don't change, we are still subject to the same inflationary pressures that everyone else is and we also get the argument that we did with the impact fees is, well, why did you wait? Why did you -- why do you come in and ask us for a big increase, instead of looking at your costs annually? So, that's -- that's just kind of the input that I had, the three points I had. Freckleton: Thank you, Stacy. Yeah. Let's go to that next slide. This -- this is a model that Todd put together and we have been working with. Basically, this column is if we Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 23 of 38 left our fees alone. You're going to see the net effect is 1,067,666 in the hole. Under our proposed fee increase, we still kind of come up in the hole, but he plugged in some very, very conservative building permit numbers. The question we asked ourselves when we looked at this is, you know, at what point do we need to -- at what point do we need permits to be coming in to be able to break even and this 48 residential permits a month and nine -- or, excuse me, 48 -- yeah. Forty-eight residential, nine commercial, gets us back in the black by 7,500 bucks. So, I believe the month of August closed out at 37 residential permits. So, somewhere in between the two. I wish we had a good crystal ball that was polished up good that we could tell what was going to happen in the future. You know, we can -- we can take our best educated guess and, you know, shoot for the -- shoot for the best. You should have a copy of the BCA letter in your packet. We did go before them and made our presentation. The presentation went very well. They -- they understood our need. However, as expected, you know, they -- they think the timing's not so good, but Iwas -- the letter was exactly what I was anticipating I would get from them, so -- Borton: Bruce? Madam Mayor? Bruce, my read of the letter actually was impressive to the extent it doesn't sound like they are griping about the calculations and the formula you used to justify the increase, but the timing is the time and we understand that, but -- Freckleton: Right. Borton: -- is that -- is that an accurate representation that they didn't really seem to have the gripe with the methodology, it was more just market issues? Freckleton: Exactly. It's market issues. Borton: That's great. De Weerd: I think it's the best nonsupport letter you could get. Borton: That's how I read it. Freckleton: I have certainly seen worse. But one thing that -- let's go to the next slide. One thing that we have -- that we looked at, under our current fee methodology, when somebody comes in with -- with an application we would go to a -- a fee table to pick off the valuation to figure out how much their building permit fee was going to be, based on the value of construction and it was a -- it was a weighted fee schedule. I think it -- what it did is it -- it was a curve. The blue line is our existing fee table. Now, it capped out at 100,000 dollars and went linear from there. The existing fee structure -- it was -- once you hit 100,000 dollars, it went to $7.75 for each additional thousand dollars in value. And so it went linear from that point on. What we did is Len compiled -- I can't remember how many years of data we looked at. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 24 of 38 Grady: I think it was about -- Freckleton: Seven? Grady: -- four years. At least four. Freckleton: We looked at our historical permit data and tried to plot a line that -- that would fit better than this -- this curve that we have been going with. And, plus, we are always looking for ways to try and simplify our permitting process. And so what we are proposing is a linear model that is a 50 dollar base and $5.50 per thousand. Linear from the get go. It doesn't impact the residential much, because they are going to mostly fall in this -- this area. It's your commercial guys that are going to be feeling the most affect from this change of methodology. But I think that -- 1 mean statements that Todd has made certainly is that, you know, basically, the commercial hasn't been hit as hard for many years and they have been getting -- getting a good deal compared to the residential component. De Weerd: Well -- and, Bruce, I think it's not just that, it's the -- the work is more intense and the commercial reviews and in the number of visits out on site. Freckleton: Oh, absolutely. De Weerd: You know, there is -- there is more complexity to that. So, it is an adjustment even in the time expectations and time allocation more so. Freckleton: Oh, absolutely. They are far more intense. Let's jump to the next slide. This next slide -- we wanted to give you some comparisons and so we looked at State of Idaho Division of Building Safety, Ada County, City of Boise, Nampa, Eagle, Middleton, and Star. We wanted to see where we fall on the radar screen compared to those other jurisdictions. So, what we did is we just took a 1,600 square foot home with 400 square foot garage, at a value of 160,000 dollars and, basically, looked at their fee structures to try and figure out where they would fall versus us. One thing that we did find that was kind of a headache for Brent is every jurisdiction has different methodology of calculating fees. The information that I have provided for you guys a couple of weeks ago had a lot of that information. It's hard to convey clearly in one document all the different complexities and methods that different cities use. So, hopefully, you were able to glean something from that. I did send that updated one I believe last week that we tried to peel out some of the stuff that was a little confusing. But our current fees are approximately 33 percent lower than the average of all of those jurisdictions. And our proposed fees will put us approximately 14 percent lower than the average of the following for that 1,600 square foot home. So, we will still be below the average of all the other cities. One thing that Brent noticed tonight as we were sitting over there Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 25 of 38 waiting for our turn to come up, was that in the latest edition of the Valley Times, city of Eagle has a fee proposal in there. So, these numbers may not be accurate if the city of Eagle gets their fee increase. They are looking at going quite a bit higher, so -- we did a similar analysis on the commercial. This is based on a 6,500 square foot building at a 650,000 dollar value. This would be -- basically, the permit that we looked at was The Ram -- The Ram Pub over on Eagle Road. This is what they would have. And our current fees put them approximately 22 percent lower than average of all those other jurisdictions. With the new fee increase we would be 3.7 percent higher than the average. So, you got to look at that average. And, again, we have got other cities around us that are considering fee increases as well. So, those numbers could change. Just wanted to give you a little bit of a timeline of where we -- where we came from on this. We began discussion and analysis early in '06, so we have been kicking this can around a long time. Development services presented the proposed fees to the BCA on August 14th. Our fee proposal was published in the Valley Times September 3rd and September 10th to satisfy the publication requirements, Public Hearing before you this evening, and if it is your desire to go ahead and approve these, I would like to implement new fees 30 days from the approval date, so -- and that concludes the presentation. We are open for questions, anything you might have. De Weerd: Council, questions? Bird: Madam Mayor, I don't have a question, I have got a statement. While I think it's nice to compare ourselves with other cities, I don't think you will find Eagle having 160,000 dollar valued homes very often. Freckleton: No. Certainly not. Bird: In fact, I don't think anybody but Star and us and maybe Nampa. The comparisons don't -- De Weerd: Your time is up. Bird: My time's up? The comparisons don't affect me at all. What affects me is what we need to break even, with a little overhead profit, and, evidently, that's what we need. And whether we implement it now or if we implement it in 2009 when everybody tells me we are going to start growing again, doesn't make any difference. So, I -- I mean the biggest fault that I can see that we -- me and all the other Council people have sat with me for the last 11 years, is letting this go this long. But it isn't the first fee we have. So, I think we bite the bullet right tonight, adopt these fees, and, then, never go a year without looking at it. And it -- we might not have to implement anything new, but I don't think it matters whether we implement it now or whether we implement them two years from now, it's not going to make a difference in the -- whether we sell a lot of permits or Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 26 of 38 not, because we all know we are in a downturn and we are not going to sell a lot of permits. Freckleton: Right. Bird: And if this is the fee you need to break even, with a little overhead profit, I'm for it. Freckleton: Appreciate that. De Weerd: Councilman Bird, I guess just to -- to also give a little bit more insight on the 13 years is we have been breaking even. We have been covering our costs and I think it's important to note that it's not necessarily the time that has lapsed, but it is more in have we been covering our operational costs and that's -- that's been our bottom line and the -- the consideration. So as -- as certainly the market tightens, we do have to make sure that what we are doing is covering the actual cost and that's why we are sitting down and the building department has gone through an evaluation of our contractual obligations as well and looking at our inspector contracts and those considerations and feel very comfortable that we are moving in the right direction and we are looking at these fees with the right reasons in mind. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Bird: I don't disagree, but in the same token, thank God we had contract labor in the inspections. De Weerd: Amen. Bird: But we -- Freckleton: Yeah. Bird: -- we were so -- we were spoiled with 400 and 500 permits a month that we didn't know where we were at and -- so that doesn't justify us not looking at our permits every year and that's all I'm trying to get across is -- is -- I mean I -- you don't have to take credit or anything else, I'll take credit for being lax on it and we have been lax on a lot of fees and, then, we have to pay at the end for it and just because we have been in a growth pattern that we had so much growth we didn't know where we were at, so -- Freckleton: And I think that's -- that's a big part of why we have been able to break even. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 27 of 38 Bird: It's been exactly why. Freckleton: We have been riding this huge tsunami wave for the last three or four years and that wave is starting to crash down on the beach, so -- Bird: That's right. De Weerd: Well -- and it's hard to request fee increases when your -- you are -- you have such a buffer. And so that's another reason. And, Stacy, correct me if I'm wrong, this is the last fee that is to come on line for the annual review. Kilchenmann: We still have Planning. De Weerd: Planning's coming up next month. Kilchenmann: And the impact -- we will be bringing the impact, but it's on its annual schedule. Oh, all you mean that we haven't done annually, this is the last one, the only one we haven't done. De Weerd: This is the last one. Kilchenmann: Right. De Weerd: So, Mr. Bird, I just want you to realize that they are on a calendar and Stacy rides herd over those fees. Mr. Zaremba. Freckleton: Madam Mayor, if I could add just one thing. De Weerd: I'm sorry. Freckleton: Just to clarify one point that Keith brought up and that is profit and, really, we don't look at it as profit. I mean -- Bird: It's overhead. Freckleton: It's overhead and there is a certain component of that that needs to feed the capital improvement fund. It needs to feed all these others funds. So, it's -- in working with finance, they have identified the percentages of breakdown of where these funds need to go and so it's to try and feed that capital fund, too. De Weerd: And I think we -- we have gone through some extra steps in making sure that data and what funds need to be fed was all part of the exercise we went through on our capital improvement planning last year. Mr. Zaremba. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 28 of 38 Zaremba: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Part of what I think I got from the presentation, though, is that some of this budget has been balanced by moving a couple items out of the budget. So, there has been some shuffle there, but those expenses still happen to the city, they just weren't listed under this department. So, I'm all in favor of going to the increase that you feel is reasonable and supportable. The one thing I would say would be the value of comparison to other cities to me is if you discover that they are charging for something that we are not charging for is -- you know, if -- if every city is doing -- or every jurisdiction is doing it a different way, are we missing a bet somewhere that we ought to consider putting fees on, you know, that somebody else is. I can't imagine how a builder could live with 20 different formulas, you know. I can see why some select only one city to work in, I guess, if -- Bird: You hit it on the head. Zaremba: -- if they run into all of this kind of stuff all over the place, but -- Freckleton: One thing that does come to mind with your comment is the city of Boise charges -- they have agrading -- a grading permit. We have never charged for a grading permit. But as the EPA rules tighten up and we start having to comply with the SWIT plans and that sort of thing, I -- that's something that we may have to look at in the future. I mean we are going to be expending a lot more time to do those plans in the future and we are going to have to possibly look at -- look at creating a fee for it. Creating a permit for it. De Weerd: When we hit that -- Zaremba: And, Madam Mayor, instinct would say certainly if somebody were building in or near a flood plane, that's -- the grading would be a big issue that we have to monitor. Freckleton: Certainly. Certainly. Zaremba: Yeah. De Weerd: Well, when we hit the 50,000 mark it did put us in a difficult category with different regulatory expectations and certainly associated costs and that's what has made I think a lot of this a little bit more complicated and necessary, so -- Zaremba: Madam Mayor, the question there would be is there another mark coming? If we hit 75,000 or 100,000 or -- does that put us in another new category that -- De Weerd: I think it's 100,000. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 29 of 38 Grady: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, yeah, it's -- it's the 100,000 mark. However, we are in the process now of reevaluating that, because we -- we, basically, sit contiguous with Boise, there is a good -- there is a pretty solid indication that we may be there right now. And, in fact, we are going out for a proposal to have some consultants help us make that decision and get us back into compliance there and if we are into the category called phase two, then, yes, we will be back for -- back in front of you with some costs, so you're right on the money there. Zaremba: Thank you. De Weerd: Okay. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: Just I'll ask you one short question that probably has an easy answer. But I'm reviewing the materials. Can you explain why Nampa does it the way they do, based on occupancy and construction type? And I'm looking at the fee schedules, at least on the commercial. One, we are way low. Even with the increase we are -- we are lower -- it looks even lower than your percentages than everyone else, it lists Nampa fees, the fee table based on occupancy type and construction type and no other municipality in the valley utilizes that methodology and I hadn't heard of it and -- Freckleton: Commissioner Borton, which -- are you looking at the commercial fee or the residential --? Bird: Yeah. Commercial fee for Nampa. They do it different. Freckleton: I'm probably going to have to defer to Brent. He was the one that did the research forme on these and -- Brent, could you address that? Thanks. Bjornson: Thanks, Bruce. Madam Mayor, Members of Council, the city of Nampa, what they do is they base their construction type and square footage costs -- basically ICC tables for the construction type and the geographic location. We are, basically, going to do the same thing, using the ICC table, it's published annually for the same purpose. So, there is a number of jurisdictions that are starting to do that, so that's -- I don't know if that quite answers it. The ICC publishes this yearly. It's a yearly fee table that is based on -- yeah. It's is actually -- but it's basically the construction type for the geographical location in the region and the type of construction. So, Nampa's gone to that ICC table. We are looking at that, too, as a basis for our fees. Borton: Thanks. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 30 of 38 Freckleton: The beauty of that table is that it is regionalized and they monitor the market -- construction costs for the market. And since we have adopted the I codes for the building department, it's just an excellent reference to use -- Bird: Do they do it on the residential, too? Because I didn't see Nampa using it in the residential. Borton: I'd don't think so. Bird: No. That's what I was wondering, Bruce, if they do it in -- Freckleton: I'm not sure what they use for residential. Bird: -- if they do it in residential. I hope they do. I'm with you, I think that's a great deal of -- Freckleton: Yeah. It's certainly our intent -- Bird: They have got the model for us to look at, I mean that's -- Freckleton: That's what we are going to use. Bird: It's a proven model, if nothing else. Freckleton: Yeah. De Weerd: It is consistency. Freckleton: Yeah. Exactly. De Weerd: Any further questions? Bird: I have none. De Weerd: Okay. Freckleton: Thank you very much for your -- your time. Bird: Thank you, Bruce. De Weerd: Thank you. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 31 of 38 Bird: Thank you for doing it. De Weerd: This is a Public Hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide testimony? If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Borup: Yeah. Suppose to do that. Keith Borup. 2250 North Meridian Road. Madam Mayor, Members of Council. First of all, I want to say I'm not here speaking on behalf of any organization and I really wasn't planning on it. It doesn't surprise me that the Meridian building department has -- is the percentage that it is, below other cities around. 1 have always known that Meridian building department I think is the most efficient building department in the valley. I mean they have shown that and we have always got agood -- a lot of bang for our buck with Meridian building department. I think they have been very efficient and so that -- that figure didn't surprise me. I have always felt that it probably was. I did want to mention one thing and I -- I didn't come with facts, but I think the statement was made there hasn't been a fee increase in 13 years -- and I can't tell you the years, but, effectively, I believe there has. At one time the multiplier -- there were several multipliers that were used based on what the department felt was the value of the house in that area. I think it was usually by subdivision, had different multipliers. I believe the -- I believe the various ones have gone by the wayside and not surprisingly, I believe it was the highest of the multipliers is what was used and the lower ones were eliminated. So, in that -- in that way there has been a fee increase without increasing the ordinance, I think. It's -- obviously, it's a good thing that this option -- sometimes you -- it's too bad that private -- private enterprise in a downturn can't increase their revenue by increasing their prices. It doesn't work that way. That being said, I would agree with the other comments that it's -- it's, obviously, time, reviewing this more often every year or every two years, whatever is appropriate. I agree with Councilman Bird's comments that just because you do a review you don't need to do an increase, it would be what's appropriate at the time. And so I'm glad to see that it's being looked at and, hopefully, that will be part of -- part of what comes out of this from the -- from the Council that it will be looked at regularly and a small increase is always easier to take than one large one ten or 12 years apart. It's just that sudden impact that's hard to say, but with -- I would agree with the BCA's comments that it sounds like they felt it was appropriate, it's just hard to take with everything else that's going on. But I think when the industry can see that the -- that the city and the department is doing their best to keep those costs down and not do it just because they have the ability, it's -- it's something that can be supported by the building industry and I guess I commend Meridian for, hopefully, being conservative on it and doing -- doing that which they can and, again, it's probably time. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Bird: Just a second. I got a question for Keith. At adopting this here, you're in the business to sell a lot of homes and stuff. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 32 of 38 Borup: Used to be. Bird: Yeah. Used to be. I know everybody isn't. I personally -- and 1 hope you feel the same way -- that I don't think raising these fees are going to cost us any building permits at this point. Borup: I would agree with that. Bird: Yeah. Borup: I mean it's -- it can't get any worse. Bird: No. Borup: Thank you. Bird: Thank you. De Weerd: Any further testimony? Freckleton: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the -- the multiplier that Keith was talking about is the ICC numbers that I was mentioning before. It certainly is our intention to keep monitoring that and annually we are going to make the adjustment. Bird: We have to. Freckleton: It's in my PAD to do. De Weerd: I love those PADs. Freckleton: And Len is my accountability. So, we will be doing that. Just -- I just wanted to throw out an example for you. Median permit is approximately eighty -- or, excuse me, 185,000 dollars. The change -- the net change that this is going to realize is 166 bucks on a permit. So, you get up around the 650,000 dollar number that I was mentioning for The Ram, their net change is going to be a thousand bucks on a permit. So, just wanted to throw those examples out for you. De Weerd: I do have an unrelated question. Freckleton: Unrelated. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 33 of 38 De Weerd: And it's just while we are on the topic of the building department. I imagine we will be seeing some contracts coming up. Freckleton: Madam Mayor, I -- I had targeted to have fees in front of you in August and on my calendar was September is the contracts, so that I could have them in place by October 1. I have -- I basically have rewritten the contracts, but I have got some -- some tweaks I need to do to address some of the concerns that you brought up and other members of the Council. I anticipate having those in front of you -- I'd love to have them before you before the end of the month, but I don't think I'm going to make it. But it will be the first part of October. De Weerd: Okay. Freckleton: Did that answer -- De Weerd: Is that in his PAD? Nary: It is now. Grady: Yes, it is. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird. Bird: On that -- on that deal, give us at least a week to look at them before you want us to decide. Freckleton: I would -- I would certainly appreciate any input that you guys might have. I know that there have been some -- some concerns and some questions brought up over the last year and I would definitely like to get those addressed in one fell swoop, so De Weerd: If maybe we could get a draft out to Council by the end of the week just on what you have and I know you're doing some tweaks, but that way if they have any comment, they can get those to you as well. Freckleton: Absolutely. I would very much appreciate it. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 34 of 38 Bird: Bruce, on that subject, I have got -- you know, I have had some questions. I have talked to you about some of the stuff, but I'm so thankful that they are contract, because I'd hate to be -- I'd hate to see you out there laying people off. Freckleton: Well, I'm sure you probably saw the article in the Statesman back towards the end of August about Ada County Development Services. Bird: Oh, yeah. Freckleton: 1.7 million dollars in the red. Bird: Yeah. I'm just thankful that those are on contract right now. Nary: Those are all tenant improvements for them, that's why. Those were all tenant improvements for Ada County, that's probably why. They did a whole lot of remodeling, so -- Bird: They did. De Weerd: Okay. Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I -- De Weerd: Any further comment? Yes. Zaremba: I guess my question is what do we need to do now? Does this need to be passed as an ordinance, come back to us as an ordinance or -- Bird: It's a resolution. Zaremba: -- what's the process? De Weerd: Resolution. Zaremba: Resolution. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Before you give me a motion, I think Len has a comment. Bird: I got to close the Public Hearing. Oh, Len wants to -- De Weerd: Are you sure? Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 35 of 38 Bird: You want to speak? I can't believe that. Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Bird: I move we close the Public Hearing on the Meridian Building Fees. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the Public Hearing on Item 19. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve the new Meridian Building Fees and to instruct the attorney's office to bring back a resolution on September 25th, 2007, showing such and an effective starting date of November 1st, 2007, on the new fees. Borton: Second. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. I believe it was shared with the BCA that those would be effective what date? Was it October 1st? Freckleton: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, what I presented to the BCA was exactly what I showed you tonight. I said that 30 days from approval I would like to have them implemented. De Weerd: Okay. Freckleton: I kept them in the loop, you know, from August and we've had publication in the paper and it's not going to hit anybody as a surprise. Our staff has already prepared the publications that we are going to put on the website and paste them on the counter and so we are ready to go. De Weerd: Very good. Thank you, Bruce. Freckleton: Thanks. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 36 of 38 De Weerd: If there is no further discussion, Mr. Berg, will you, please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 20: Ordinance No. AZ 07-009 Request for Annexation and Zoning of 22.67acres from R1 to C-G Zone for Queenland Acres by James Prather -Southeast Corner of South Stoddard Road and West Overland Road: De Weerd: Thank you. Thank you, Bruce. Item 20 is Ordinance No. 07-1338. Mr. Berg, will you, please, read this ordinance by title only. Berg: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Ordinance 07-1338, an ordinance for the annexation of a parcel of land located in the northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, as described in Attachment A and annexing certain lands and territories situated in Ada County, Idaho, and adjacent and contiguous to the corporate limits of the City of Meridian, as requested by the City of Meridian, establishing and determining the land use zoning classification of said lands from R-1 and RUT to C-G in the Meridian City Code, providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County assessor, the Ada County recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required by law, and providing for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the reading of the rules and providing an effective date. De Weerd: You have heard the reading of this ordinance on Item 20. Is there anyone who would like to hear it read in its entirety? Hearing none, Council? Bird: Madam Mayor'? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve Ordinance No. 07-1338 with suspension of rules. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 20. If there is no discussion, Mr. Berg, will you call roll? Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 37 of 38 MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Item 21: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)(a) - (to consider hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, not to include. This paragraph does not apply to filling a vacancy in an elective office): De Weerd: Item 21 is an Executive Session per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)(a). Do have a motion? Bird: So moved. Borton: Second. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: Mr. Berg, will you, please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea: Rountree, absent: Zaremba, yea: Borton, yea. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Borton: I move we come out of Executive Session. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. Borton: Move to adjourn. Bird: Second. Meridian City Council September 18, 2007 Page 38 of 38 De Weerd: All those in favor. MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:22 P. M. (TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) APPROVED: /J/~ /~J(///J/' zE' ~4~ MAYOR TAMMY de EERD ~ + ~~ „~,J ~, ATTD"5~13~1~`~ r DATE APPROVED ~. _ `~;,`~"~ ~ ,'~;,~~~ERG, JF~!Clrtl(CLERK