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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001 07-23 Joint ACHDMeridian City Council Joint Meeting with July 23, 2001 Ada County Highway District and Ada County Commissioners The special joint meeting of the Meridian City Council with the Ada County Commissioners and the Ada County Highway District was called to order at 8:35 A.M. on Monday, July 23, 2001, by Ada County Highway District Commissioner Judy Peavey Derr. Council Members Present: Mayor Robert Corrie, Keith Bird, Ron Anderson, and Tammy de Weerd. Council Members Absent: Cherie McCandless. Other Staff Present: Shari Stiles, Gary Smith, Bill Nichols, and Will Berg. ADA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS & MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING MINUTES JULY 23, 2001, 8:30 AM The Board of Ada County Commissioners (Board) met this date in an Open Meeting in the Boise City Council Chambers to act on the following item. The following were present: Sharon M. Ullman, Grant P. Kingsford, Jeff Patlovich, Patricia Nilsson, and Nichoel Baird Spencer, Ada County; Judy Peavey-Derr, Susan Eastlake, Sherry Huber, Dave Wynkoop, Dave Bivens, Jay Schweitzer, and Diane Kushlan, Ada County Highway District, Mayor Robert Corrie, Keith Bird, Ron Anderson, Tammy deWeerd, Cherie McCandless, Shari Stiles, Bill Nichols, Gary Smith, and Will Berg, City of Meridian; Wendell Bingham, Meridian School District; Dave Turnbull, Brighton Corporation; Frank Varriale and Becky Bowcutt, Primeland Development Company; Clair Bowman, COMPASS; Elaine Clegg and Jon Barrett, Idaho Smart Growth; Eric Shannon, Idaho Transportation Department; John Eaton, Building Contractors Association; Ramon Yorgason, Capital Development, Michael Wardle and Jon Wardle, Wardle and Associates; Justin Martin and Brian McColl, Far West LLC; Brad McColl, Wilson and McColl; Jim Conger, Conger Management Group; and Herbert Atienza, The Idaho Statesman. Minutes Recorder: Gloria Uscola. (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( I. IN THE MATTER OF CALL TO ORDER: ACHD Commissioner Judy Peavey Derr called the meeting to order at approximately 8:35 a.m. II. IN THE MATTER OF CHANGES TO THE AGENDA: There were none. III. IN THE MATTER OF NEW BUSINESS: J. Peavey-Derr requested that they go around the room and have everyone present introduce himself or herself for the record. She said at the last meeting, the developers offered to hire a consultant. Therefore, she turned the meeting over to Dave Turnbull to present a report. D. Turnbull said they held some meetings with the developers and at the first meeting, they retained the services of Mike Wardle. They had a meeting with Elaine Clegg and Jon Barrett of Idaho Smart Growth along with a couple of people they have been working with from Treasure Valley Futures. Mike Wardle has compiled a report of the activities that have taken place to date and completed a plan to move forward. M. Wardle handed out the North Meridian Planning Area Status Report, dated July 23, 2001. Since the last meeting on June 18, 2001, the developers met on June 22, 2001, and they initiated the process. However, they have not developed a whole work program. He reviewed some the assumptions (page one of Status Report) that he thought would be associated with this effort as it moves forward. They would be going through a series of steps, which were outlined in Tool #4 of the status report. Currently they were at Step No. 1, identify the Stakeholders and Understand Their Issues. They have talked to the agencies to find out what planning efforts are underway. The next step is to visit with all of the elected officials involved including the City of Meridian, Ada County, and ACHD because those three entities have the most involvement in the planning and platting process. He said this type of a planning process is not quick. They have to go through a stage of public involvement or the effort will be wasted. This will be a community process that achieves the goals of both Meridian and the development community. M. Wardle continued by saying that they have gotten responses from all of the agencies and the officials that they requested information from. Also, they made contacts with everyone at the staff level. The next step is for them to meet with elected officials and prepare a work program and schedule. In order to do so, they needed to clarify who the lead government agency is for meeting notices, organization and location. Also, they needed to confirm the planning area and set a tentative date for work program presentation to the stakeholders, which should be four to six weeks out from this point. A stakeholder list was included in the status report packet and he asked everyone to submit any corrections, additions, and edits to him. J. Peavey-Derr said in regard to confirming the planning area, she asked a member of the ACHD staff if they were in agreement with the planning area described in the status report. D. Kushlan replied that they were in agreement with it. J. Peavey-Derr asked Mayor Corrie if Meridian was in agreement with the planning area depicted. Mayor Corrie replied that he thought it should go to Eagle Road and the County line. J. Peavey-Derr clarified that it would include the land one mile east and one mile west. She asked if the development community would have a problem expanding the area as stated. D. Turnbull said he was concerned that if they made the area too large, they would not be able to focus on a specific planning area. The area east of Locust Grove is already platted. He thought the area west of Black Cat should have its own planning area. R. Anderson said they have already seen a number of development requests in these particular areas and they are definitely going to have to tie into this other eight square mile area and the planning process that will go on with those. When Meridian looks at their problems regarding public safety, park, roads, etc., they feel strongly about including the other four square miles in this process. J. Wardle said they did not expect to work in isolation from Meridian’s comprehensive planning effort. There would be close coordination with Meridian’s staff. E. Clegg said the areas to the east and west should be considered, but maybe its possible not to consider them in quite as much detail. In regard to the area to the east, the main consideration would be the interface with what already exists and what is planned there. She thought it made sense to concentrate the work on the eight square miles. J. Peavey asked if it would acceptable to the Meridian City Council to do this on a somewhat main section and subsection basis so those four square miles could be considered but the concentration would be on the eight square miles. Mayor Corrie replied that was acceptable. P. Nilsson said the Boise City Comprehensive Plan goes west of Eagle Road. While it should be referenced, she thought they should contact the City of Boise about it. D. Turnbull replied that he considers the section east of Locust Grove between Chinden and McMillan in Boise’s Area of Impact. Most of the rest of it is platted or preliminary platted and well on its way to being developed. He said that was his rationale for not involving some of those areas. S. Eastlake said from a transportation point-of-view, she thought it was a mistake to stop any kind of plan on one side of the street. She asked that all of the fronting property on Chinden, Black Cat, Locust Grove, and Ustick be included as well. Matching driveway locations, signalization, etc. are dependant on using two sides of the street. D. Turnbull replied that they could look at that as far as transportation concerns but those areas are outside of Meridian’s Area of Impact. S. Huber said that M. Wardle indicated that it was important to have all the stakeholders agree before moving forward and know what their jobs are in this. She thought there were six major topics to consider related to water, sewer, roads, parks, fire, etc. She asked if he had identified anything unusual that would not fall into those areas. M. Wardle replied that she identified most of them but there is one issue that is going to come up—the irrigation districts. ACHD is the party that is going to have to deal with that issue because eventually, almost all of the arterial systems, collector systems, and the local streets will be draining into facilities that ACHD is going to help provide. Mayor Corrie said he would like them to consider west of Black Cat Road to the County line. This area is progressing and there are going to be some problems if they ignore it. D. Turnbull clarified if he meant from Ustick north of Chinden and Black Cat Road west to McDermott. Mayor Corrie replied that was correct. D. Turnbull said he did not think there was a problem with it. However, the challenge in that area is that there are different sewer systems and a few other differences. D. Wynkoop said in response to M. Wardle’s comments, ACHD is not a drainage district and has no funding for drainage facilities. He said that is a very difficult community-wide problem. D. Bivens said in addition to what S. Huber identified as the major issues, he thought they had not mentioned police and security, which would be a major concern for Meridian. J. Peavey-Derr stated she thought the understanding of this body was that the boundaries are fine with consideration being given to the areas west of Black Cat. She said they should now discuss the stakeholders list and asked if there was anyone else that needed to be added other than the police and irrigation districts. K. Bird said the obvious ones for Meridian are the police, fire, and parks departments. Also, he thought they should add the Nampa-Meridian Irrigation District. D. Turnbull commented that almost the entire area is in the Settlers Irrigation District but some parts may be in other districts and that could be verified. S. Ullman added that another thing to keep in mind was the Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Ada County has had discussion with the City of Meridian about where EMS should be out there. D. Wynkoop stated they should add Drainage District No. 2 or 4. He was not sure which one is in this area. G. Kingsford commented that they should include the utility companies. T. deWeerd said they should include the library districts on the list. E. Clegg stated they should include the Public Transit Authority because the area will be served by transit at some point. Also, she said they needed to consider the current residents in Meridian because they were going to have a big stake in accepting that this is how they see their city developing. If they do not include the current resident, there is going to be opposition in implementing the plan. J. Peavey-Derr asked if there were any neighborhood associations that would be interested. Mayor Corrie replied that they do not have any. M. Wardle said there would have to be general public notices provided so that the community is given the opportunity to review this. T. deWeerd commented that they might want to have a representative the Meridian Chamber of Commerce on the stakeholders list. Mayor Corrie said they could remove Thomas Barberio from the list because he is in California. He was on the Meridian Planning & Zoning Commission. S. Eastlake asked if there were any major wetland issues or something that the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) or the Central District Health Department should be aware of. J. Peavey-Derr replied that they could be invited to the discussion if they have any input they would like to provide. J. Peavey-Derr continued that they needed to discuss the tentative date for the work program presentation to the stakeholders. She asked M. Wardle what his thoughts were on it. M. Wardle replied that it should happen within four to six weeks. They will define a tentative work program and the development community will review it to ensure they are committed and want to fund it. Then, the intent is to come to a meeting such as this one to present the work program and get any input in order to move forward. He said they would be making phone calls and setting up specific appointments with the stakeholders as needed. J. Peavey-Derr suggested that all the stakeholders dedicate a week that they would be available. She asked if the week of August 13th would be acceptable. M. Wardle replied that he would be willing to try to concentrate it into that kind of a timeframe. However, he did not expect everyone to be available but he would try. D. Turnbull said if M. Wardle is able to meet with the different people earlier than that week, he should so there is not a big time crunch for him. J. Peavey-Derr said they would be available that week but if he wants to meet with anyone earlier, that was acceptable. J. Peavey-Derr stated they needed to clarify the lead governmental agency for meeting notices. She asked C. Bowman if COMPASS wanted to be that agency because that seemed to be the logical choice. C. Bowman replied that COMPASS would be happy to help. He said that COMPASS was relocating on August 15, 2001, and their new conference room would be available beginning the week of August 20th. J. Patlovich said if there is a potential amendment to the Meridian Comprehensive Plan, the City of Meridian has to give the legal notice for the meeting. He did not think COMPASS could do it legally. Mayor Corrie suggested M. Wardle meet with Meridian on August 14, 2001, because they have a planning meeting that night and he would be able to meet with everyone at one time. M. Wardle replied that would be acceptable. S. Eastlake referred to Steps One through Eight on the “Specific Area Planning Process” worksheet in the status report and asked for clarification on where they were in the process. M. Wardle replied that Step Three is in process currently because they are gathering data but by the next meeting, they would still be at Step Two, where they establish the program and the process. He did not think they would get to Step Four by the next meeting. F. Varriale asked what timeframe they were looking at to complete all eight steps of the process. M. Wardle replied that he had not put a timeframe on it but he thought it would take the rest of this year and the early part of next year. The development community would have to be somewhat patient because this is the kind of process that you cannot push beyond community buy-in or it will fail. F. Varriale thought they needed to specify a timeframe if they were going to keep the development community enthusiastic about this project. He thought part of the reason the developers stepped up to do this was to solve specific problems in an expeditious matter. He was concerned that the process was broadening and they would be addressing other issues than the six they originally identified. Initially, they set a four to six-month timeframe to bring forward solutions and now the timeframe is being extended. He thought if they were looking at a process that would take six months to a year, they should get input from the development group and see if that was acceptable to them. When they started this, it was an emergency situation and they were trying to solve immediate problems. Now, he saw this settling into a process that was going to move much slower and be much more detailed, and as a result, it may take a long time to solve anything. M. Wardle responded that he understood his concerns but they were not proposing to recreate the steps and the basic information that has already been generated by Meridian’s comprehensive planning process. He said the concerns that have been expressed will become key to the implementation of this plan. Before they come back to the next meeting with the stakeholders, they will confirm the development community’s support. They would not put anyone through the agony of a process if that support does not exist. He thought there are some major concerns about this but also, some great opportunities. If there is enough patience to work through this process, they could accomplish something unique and dramatic for Meridian. He hoped everyone would be patient because the public had to buy in to this project but not force it. He had no desire to make this process long and slow. D. Turnbull said he thought F. Varriale was correct because when they met a month ago, they said if this was going to be a 12 to 18-month process, none of the developers would be interested in participating. However, much of the groundwork has been laid. He said it was up to them to bring the stakeholders together, get a commitment from the public agencies, and get the public participation process off the ground quickly. He said if this sat on the table too long, they would not get anywhere so they needed to be focused. J. Peavey-Derr said she saw a great commitment from the agencies represented at this table and they were after solutions. They were not trying to delay the process. T deWeerd agreed and said if this was not done properly, they would see individual applications coning in for a long time. She said they had to spend time with the detail upfront in order to make it work. She thought if this took six to eight months, it would save them a lot of time because the developers would not have to go through every agency independently with each development application. If they do it right to begin with, it will work. D. Bivens said he thought this plan was an expedited process rather than a delayed one. He thought it was better to address this as a whole rather than individually. It would save everyone, including the developers, a lot of time. D. Turnbull said they have laid out a program that includes public involvement through the hearing process and the developers were not pretending that was going to go away. In order to get to that public hearing process, they are counting on being the elected officials to be representatives of the people. The developers were concerned about too many people being at the table because it would slow the process down. They picked the key officials that are representing the public at large and counting on them to represent the voters. S. Huber if they were listening to what everyone was saying, they were not all saying the same thing. As elected officials, they may not be recognizing the constraints the developers are under with regard to financial issues and getting started on their developments. Their reason for participating in the process is to expedite it. The process sometimes is cumbersome and so she thought they needed to look at ways to make it faster. If they do not, the incentive goes away for the developers and then they will get individual applications in a piecemeal fashion because it becomes more cost-effective for the developers to do it that way. She thought they needed to be careful because they were not quite together on that issue from what she was hearing. E. Clegg said she tries to remind herself that this is not an overnight process and a development may get implemented. They were looking at the 20-year future of this area and they need to keep that in mind. If they could find the patience and look forward, they could make a better community in 20 years. J. Peavey–Derr asked M. Wardle when he planned to meet with this group again. M. Wardle replied that he was at their disposal. They will have a defined work program and a schedule that the development community is agreeable to. J. Peavey-Derr said she wanted to give him enough time to put everything together. She asked if they should meet in the latter part of August or in September. C. Bowman suggested holding the next meeting on August 27, 2001, which would be about five weeks out. He said the conference room in the new COMPASS building would be available. J. Peavey-Derr said they would meet there at 8:30 a.m. T. deWeerd appreciated that they were going to meet in Meridian next time. She said she had a concern about D. Turnbull’s comment in regard to public participation. She realized their community elected them but she thought they had to involve the public in the process. She could not represent them without giving them an opportunity to speak for themselves. J. Peavey-Derr replied that it states clearly in the status report that they believe the public should be a part of the process. M. Wardle said there are two levels of stake holders—the key officials and then others that need to be involved from an information and input perspective but do not have to be around this table. He did not think the group should get much larger. J. Peavey-Derr stated the next meeting would be August 27, 2001, 8:30 a.m., at the new COMPASS building in Meridian. In the meantime, they would have meetings the week of August 13, 2001, if not sooner, with M. Wardle and his group. She thanked everyone for attending and the meeting was adjourned. IV. IN THE MATTER OF ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Board on this date, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:25 a.m. ____________________________________ G.P. Kingsford, Acting Chairman ATTEST: ________________________________ J. David Navarro, Ada County Clerk (TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) APPROVED: ROBERT D. CORRIE, MAYOR WILLIAM G. BERG, JR., CITY CLERK