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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009 09-01A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:14 p.m., Tuesday, September 1, 2009, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Charlie Rountree, Keith Bird, Brad Hoaglun, and David Zaremba. Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Anna Canning, Warren Stewart, Bob Stowe, Bill Johnson, and Dean Willis. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird X Mayor Tammy de Weerd De Weerd: I'd like to welcome everyone to our City Council meeting and apologize for our late start, but we appreciate you being here this evening. For the record, it is Tuesday, September 1st, 2009. It's 7:14. I will ask for roll call attendance, Madam Clerk. Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance: De Weerd: Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the pledge. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) Item 3: Community Invocation by Retired Pastor Burton Roberts with Meridian Gospel Tabernacle: De Weerd: Item No. 3 is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by retired pastor Burton Roberts with the Meridian Gospel Tabemacle. If you will all join us in the community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of reflection. Pastor, thank you for being here with us. Roberts: And thank you, Madam Mayor. We are always pleased to be here. I was sitting here a moment ago thinking about how proud my father would be of this building. He was such a long time resident of this city and always was so much a part of it, that I just found myself thinking back and going, wow, dad, you should be able to see where we are now. So, with that kind of thankfulness in my heart, let us pray. Our most gracious and kind Heavenly Father, we are, indeed, thankful for your many blessings. In times like these we need to remember and realize how far you have led your people and how much we still need your constant guidance in our lives. Tonight, Father, we, Meridian Ciry Council September 1, 2009 Page 2 of 14 with great joy, come before you and ask of you that you would truly watch over and care for us as citizens of this wonderful community, that you would bless our Mayor and the Council and all of those that labor in this community, may we find the strength in you and the wisdom, the guidance that we need. We know, Father, that we can count on your help if we will but turn to you and ask. So, tonight, Father, we are asking for your blessing and we ask this in Jesus mighty name, amen. De Weerd: Thank you again for joining us. It's always nice to see you. Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda: De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 4 is adoption of the agenda. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: There has been a request to drop Item 7-A-1 from the agenda. So, that would mean there are no Department Reports tonight. And there is a request to add an Item 11, which will be an Executive Session per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)(c), Charlie, and (e), Echo. With those two changes I move that we adopt the agenda. Hoaglun: Second. De Weerd: 1 have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: Item 6 is our Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Have to do the proclamation. Zaremba: The proclamation. Item 5: Proclamation for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month: De Weerd: Oh. I'm sorry. Is there anyone here in the audience that's here to receive this proclamation? We had a problem getting a hold of them. We do have a proclamation hereby proclaiming that September is the month of prostate cancer awareness. I will forego the reading of this proclamation, since there is no one here to receive it, but we will be presenting it at an event and so we will read it then. But just for -- for the public's information, please, be aware that it is prostate cancer awareness month for the month of September. Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 3 of 14 Item 6: Consent Agenda: A. Approve Minutes of August 11, 2009 Pre-Council Meeting: B. Approve Minutes of August 18, 2009 City Council Workshop Meeting: C. Approve Minutes of August 18, 2009 City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission Special Joint Workshop Meeting: D. Approve Minutes of August 25, 2009 City Council Regular Meeting: De Weerd: Okay. Item 6 is our Consent Agenda. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move we adopt the Consent Agenda as published and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest. Hoaglun: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Seeing no discussion, Madam Clerk, will you call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 7: Department Reports: A. Planning Department: 1. Review and Approval of Task Order No. 10088 with HDR Inc. for preparation of Energy Efficiency Conservation Strategy in anticipation of Energy Efficiency Community Block funding award of $48,800.00 to be paid through grant funds: De Weerd: Okay. The Planning Department item was removed from the Department reports. Meridian City Council September 1.2009 Page 4 of 14 Item 8: Items Moved from Consent Agenda: De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. Item 9: Public Hearing: ZOA 09-002 Request to amend the standards for temporary signs listed in UDC 11-3D-6A.6 to allow an increase in the amount of time a temporary sign may be displayed from 90 days to a maximum of 180 days for UDC Text Amendment -Temporary Signs by City of Meridian Planning Department: De Weerd: So, we are at Item 9, the public hearing for ZOA 09-002. I will open this public hearing with staff comments. Canning: Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is our code amendment for temporary signs and it would apply citywide. The Planning Department has initiated the text amendment to increase the display time of temporary signs from 90 days to 180 days and as you may recall, we spoke to Council before we initiated this text amendment. The new standards are on an interim basis, as city staff is in the process of rewriting the entire sign code and the temporary sign standards will be reviewed in a future zoning ordinance amendment later this year. We hope to adopt that new sign ordinance before the beginning of the year. The Commission has recommended denial at their August 6, 2009, public hearing. The Planning Department spoke in favor of the text amendment, but there was no one in opposition, commenting, or providing written testimony. The key issues of discussion by the Commission were the time frames for the adoption of the new sign ordinance, anticipating, again, a late December adoption date. The temporary sign requirements proposed in the new sign ordinance and the current temporary sign standards -- and by that we are looking at allowing more permanent signs to reduce the need for temporary signs in the new ordinance. And the impact from the community and the business if the display times are increased. And there was also discussion about the effectiveness of temporary signs with regard to -- if they are up too long they lose their effectiveness is what the Commission stated -- or one member of the Commission. So, the key Commission changes to staff recommendation --they did recommend denial of the zoning ordinance amendment. So, that is the --the outstanding issue before Council. As I said before, there was no one at the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing. We have tried to get the word out a little better and I think you will find that there are some folks here to testify tonight in support of the text amendment. And with that I will answer any questions that Mayor or Council may have. De Weerd: Council, any questions? Rountree: I have none. Bird: I have none. Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 5 of 14 De Weerd: Okay. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide testimony on this item? Please come forward. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Reitz: My name is Kathy Reitz. I live at 12374 West Goldenrod is Boise and I own Renewed Expressions Consignment Boutique in Meridian. De Weerd: Thank you. Reitz: Okay. My business is located at the intersection of Cheny Lane and Linder, across the street from Pizza Hut. I would like to state that it's been a rough year and a half. My business is four years old next month and I have advertised via the Money Mailer Mag -- mailers. The Book of Good Deals. Radio. Cable television. And consistently for the last year in the Hometown Values. This ad -- this half page ad right here cost me approximately 600 dollars every time I run it and it reaches about 50,000 people. I generally get about 15 to 20 new customers every time it's run. I found out about the Marquee signs with the fluorescent letters about a year and a half ago and I have utilized it my three months out the year for the past two years. It's hands down my number one advertising avenue. I get probably five to ten new customers a week off of it and, basically, what it does is it gives me the ability to change out what I say on it. Because I'm consignment I'm always advertising to get new consigners, as well as new customers. It's also important in that when we publish this kind of thing, when we do radio, television, sometimes signage will just cause people to connect all the dots and they will realize, oh, that's the place that I heard the ad on or whatever. I ask my customers how they find me and most of them tell me it's either via a friend recommending them to my store or off of my signage and I would say that one of the challenges for the businesses, especially on the west side of Meridian, is that a lot of people are coming down the main corridors, like Linder, Meridian Road, Locust Grove, and they are taking a left and they are headed east to do their business rather than west. So, I'm sitting on the west side, which is a challenge. I'm sitting, basically, a mile between the two Albertson's, so it's been an advantage for me in that I'm right on the edge of a subdivision and people will spot that sign before they will see the sign on my building. So, I am requesting that you would change the sign ordinances from three months to six months. It would absolutely help my business no question. Any questions? De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions? Rountree: I have none. De Weerd: Thank you so much. Reitz: Thank you. Meridian Ciry Council September 1, 2009 Page 6 of 14 De Weerd: I do have asign-up sheet here that has a number of people that signed up. If, when I read your name, you would like to provide testimony, please, come forward at that time. Rick Thomas signed up for. Good evening. Thomas: Good evening. I'm Rick Thomas. I live in Meridian off of Black Cat on 2463 North O'Conner and I own a business on 950 East Fairview. We have been open about four months now and we have taken advantage of the Marquee signs that Kathy was just speaking of. Unfortunately, we don't own the building that we currently occupy. We are right next to Hastings and if everybody has driven by Hastings, they have a nice big road Marquee sign that says Hastings on it. They have the ability to put different promotions and whatnot on that sign. The owner of our building has said at some point when he has enough tenants in that building he would be willing to do something similar to the Hastings building, but at the current economy I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. We poll, since we are a new business, almost every single person that comes in our doors and radio -- haven't done any TV, but flyers, word of mouth, hands down -- seven out of ten people that we poll say the sign that is on Fairview that we put up and change weekly, bi-weekly, that the fluorescent letters is what pulls them into our store. We sit back from Fairview. We cannot afford ourselves to put up a permanent fixture sign, which is allowed to do, like Banner Bank has right in our same parking lot and at Smoky Mountain. So, changing the ordinance to extend the -- from the 90 days to 180 days would benefit a business like ours. Not only that, the city's getting money for the signage that we put out there as far as permits and whatnot, so I know the city could use the extra revenue. I see more of a problem with yard sales and garage sale signage than respectable, nice signs that are changed out from time to time and I'd really appreciate it if somebody would really think long and hard about doing something -- maybe for just a temporary period, but it really benefits small businesses like ours and we don't want to go out of business and if we stay in business more revenue for the city. So, that's about all I got, if anybody has any questions. De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Any questions? Rountree: Madam Mayor? Rick. De Weerd: Mr. Thomas. Thank you. Rountree: You have to take advantage of telling us what your business is. Thomas: Oh, I'm sorry. Kids Again Retail. Rountree: That's what I thought. Thank you. De Weerd: Jonathan Seal signed up for. Good evening. Seal: Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Jonathan Seal. I work for the W.H. Moore Company, 1940 Bonito. I'm here on behalf of, obviously, the W.H. Moore Company and so many of her tenants. I think, you know, recently you waived Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 7 of 14 the fire and the police impact fees and I think there is a recognition on the part, I would assume, of the Council and the Mayor that developers out there are struggling, that was to encourage them to bring business to the community. We are seeing the same thing with retailers out there. I think that several of these individuals have already spoke. It's a real struggle out there for them. We see them on a fairly consistent basis coming in asking that the rent be reduced, that there be some forgiveness for things. A lot of them are really struggling out there and some of them are hanging only by their fingertips. I know that temporary signs are not an attractive thing. I personally don't like to see them either. I know we have them in Centre Point, for example, and, personally, they are not attractive, but I would point out that I think they are less -- or they are not as unattractive is driving by and seeing empty buildings and that's what you're going to be faced with. There is a real struggle out here. So, I understand it's on a temporary basis and I would strongly encourage you to do it, because I think it's critical to these. Whether -- how long it's effective -- I heard a comment about -- with P&Z how effective it is. I can't speak to that. But I do know that it is very effective, it's very important, they need that, and it may be the difference between staying in business and closing down. So, I think it becomes the lesser of two evils. So, I would encourage you, I think it's -- I appreciate the fact that you have been able to take this into consideration and pass this tonight, because it is highly important, I think, to many of the tenants and, obviously, the businesses in the community. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you, Jonathan. Rountree: Thank you. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. William Bonner signed up a neutral. Travis Long also signed up as neutral. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Long: My name is Travis Long. I live in Meridian at 3554 Springfield. De Weerd: Thank you. Long: And originally I signed up just because I thought it was asign-in sheet. But, actually, we are here with our scout troop and -- but after listening to the business owners I come before you as a consumer of products and services and seeing signage going down the road, I believe that the longer, you know, the signage is out there -- I have seen a lot of these neon signs, they have drawn me into businesses, small businesses especially. I like -- I like to -- I'm always kind of a -- I'm an entrepreneur at heart, so I understand how these businesses struggle in an economy like this, so seeing something like this, you know, from 90 to 180 days, especially in an economy like this, as a consumer I think it's beneficial for the small business of Meridian and this community and I believe that if you pass this it will help the small businesses, not only for them, but also the community and the city. So, that's all I have. De Weerd: Thank you so much. Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 8 of 14 Long: Thank you. Any questions? De Weerd: Thank you. And thank you for bringing your -- your scouts down. Welcome. If I had known that, I would have recruited you to lead us in the pledge earlier. Eric Hull is signed up for. Hi. Hull: Hi. I'm Eric Hull. I live at 7280 Hidden Valley Drive, Boise. I own Sam's Toybox. De Weerd: Thank you. Hull: And, you know, we -- we did the 90 day sign thing during Christmas, obviously, because we were brand new, and so we were waiting until this next season to do it again. But at that time what we saw is -- you know, we spent a ton of money on advertising, radio, we had some TV, we had a lot of print, and we got more people off of our signs that were going to Winco, because we are located in the Central Park Shopping Center over there by Winco. So, you got the Panda Express on one end, but, then, you can't see us down at the other end, because of the angle of the building. And so when we had our signs out -- we are small enough and we are -- you know, we are slow enough that I talk to everybody that comes through and I have charted it, where everybody hears about us, and even when we were spending all the money on advertising, even during the Christmas season back then, eight out of every ten people -- it was 81 percent. So, basically, eight out of ten, came in because of the signs and because we are set back a little way and so it was really helpful for us to get people in. I know for us it would be a great help to be able to have the signs up longer and maybe through different parts of the year. So, I -- I really -- any questions? De Weerd: Thank you. Rountree: Just a comment. You have got great toys. De Weerd: And you do good advertising. I know about you, not because of your sign, so -- Hull: Trying to get people in. De Weerd: Thank you. Alexander -- I can't read the last name. Oh, there you go. Thank you for being here. Spencer, I imagine that -- Thank you for being here. Todd Booth signed up for. Good evening. Boothe: Todd Boothe. I live at 13924 West Daimler Court in Boise. With RC Willeys. And we definitely buy a lot of permits for signage from you guys. So, totally in favor of adding -- get it to 180 days. For what we do, we have a lot of advertising, as you guys know, and things change quite a bit. When we do print advertising we put it in three months before, sometimes two months, and by the time things change. Our mattress prices adjust, they go down, and what we do is we have -- they keep coming to our entrance. We have pillars there that we hang a banner on and we alert people with Meridian City Council September 1. 2009 Page 9 of 14 special deals that we are going that weren't -- we can't let them know with a N ad we did three months before, because it could be that 300 dollar reduction on something. And so we had tracked it and we have had mattress sales jump 200,000, you know, in a week because of that type of a sign. I feel like they are very professional. We are not, you know, running up and down the street with things. One thing is our events are usually a week long and so with the permits right now you have to give them in two week inter -- you know, intervals. So, really, we get six opportunities a year to do signs and this would help us quite a bit, take us to 13, and it does help businesses. I know that I'm not a small business, but we still are local, we have 235 local employees and it does affect our business and it keeps, you know, money in people's pockets and helps the economy. So, as long as it's professional, I feel like the sign is professional, I think it -- it's okay. I think there is some ratty signs out there. I think that's something we need to be concerned with, but -- anyway, I think it's a good thing. Also, I -- when they had further hearings on this I have some other great ideas for this and I don't mind paying the fees. I think it's a great sign. But, again, I think the main thing is keeping it professional and keep people in business, so -- De Weerd: Well, great. Well, we will look for your comments as we move forward with permanent sign changes. So, thank you for being here. Canning: Sir? Sir? De Weerd: Todd. Canning: Todd. Boothe: We need your business card to our planning director Canning: Do you have one? De Weerd: You piqued her interest with your further comments. Those are the names that have signed up. Is there anyone else who would like to provide testimony on this item? Okay. We thank you for your comments. Council, any further questions for staff at this point? Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Not really a question, just a comment. May take away from what I believe the Planning and Zoning Commission was saying is they -- they didn't feel the necessity to change a rule that was going to change in less than six months anyhow. And I understand that. I will also have to say as a former small business owner many, many years ago in another city -- the on-site signage is the biggest draw of all the things that you could spend money on and at a time when our economy is suffering, I'd be very Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 10 of 14 happy to cut some of our businesses some slack and make this change, even if we are going to revise the whole ordinance sequence. De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions or comments before I ask for a motion to close? Hoaglun: Madam Mayol'? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Just a quick comment. I read the Planning and Zoning minutes on this hearing and the comments -- one commissioner talked about, you know, if the signs are up too long, temporary signs, they lose their effectiveness and from a marketing standpoint there is some validity to that where they put a sign up there and they expect to drive their traffic and they don't change the sign. That's true. But at the same time, when you hear business people like -- I think it was Kathy mentioned, hers is part of a marketing program or strategy. She does advertising in some publications, she uses her sign to draw attention to her business, she changes the sign out, that's -- that changes the dynamics quite a bit and it's not just something that's thrown up there, never changed, and the visual element is lost, because it's always there and people don't see it. So, I think there is a difference to using signs as a marketing tool and smart business owners do that and that's what they need to do and especially in this economy. You know, the comment about ratty signs, yes, I hope our sign ordinance looks at that. When we do the permanent one we don't want to have wars, we want to have standards that look nice, they are professional, that they can be used and, you know, I don't want to get into the wars where someone has afour-by-eight, well, you have afour-by-eight, I'm going to go eight-by-ten and off we go and -- because that doesn't do anybody any good. But I think there is a place for signage in our city to drive business, drive traffic to businesses and I think something like this will certainly help. De Weerd: Thank you. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we close the public hearing on ZOA 09-002. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 9. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Bird: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 11 of 14 De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we approve ZOA 09-002 with staff and public testimony. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9. Is there any discussion? Rountree: Madam Mayor, I do support this and I appreciate the comments we have heard tonight. A lot of them ring true to things that are both a concern about temporary signage, as well as concerns about the importance of temporary signage. My only hesitancy is that we are in the process of doing our signing ordinances, so, hopefully, this doesn't build some sense of false expectation. I don't know where it's going to go, but it might go someplace different. But I do support it and I appreciate the folks that came out and talked this evening and your points did resonate. De Weerd: Thank you. Madam Clerk, will you, please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 10: Amended Ordinance No. 09-1417 A: AZ 08-013 Request for Annexation and Zoning of 32 separate tax parcels owned by 28 different property owners consisting of a total of 55.6 acres that are currently receiving city water and/or sewer service by City of Meridian -Implied Consent -Valley Life Community Church, Inc.: De Weerd: Thank you for being with us tonight. Item 10 is an amended ordinance 09- 1417-A on AZ 08-013. I ask our City Clerk to, please, read this ordinance by title only. Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Amended Ordinance No. 09- 1417-A, an amended ordinance AZ 08-013, implied consent, Valley Life Community Church, Incorporated, for annexation of a parcel of land in the northeast one quarter of the northeast one quarter of Section 30, Township 4 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, as described in Attachment A and annexing certain lands and territory 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 RUT, Ada County, to R-8, Medium Density Residential District, 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 Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 12 of 14 providing for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the reading of the rule and providing an effective date. De Weerd: Thank you. You have heard the reading of this ordinance by title only. Is there anyone who would like to hear it read in its entirety? Seeing none, Council? Rountree: Madam Mayol'? De Weerd: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: I move that we approve Item No. 10, Ordinance AZ 08-013, with suspension of rules. Bird: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 10. If there is no discussion, Madam Clerk, will you call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 11: Executive Session per Idaho State code 67-2345(1)(e) - (to consider preliminary negotiations involving matters of trade or commerce in which the governing body is in competition with governing bodies in other states or nations): (1)(c) to discuss acquiring property not owned by another public entity. De Weerd: Item 11 is an Executive Session per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)(e), which is to consider preliminary negotiations involving matters of trade or commerce. Do I have a motion? Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: 1 move we have go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 67- 2345(1)(e). Zaremba: Madam Mayol? De Weerd: Yes. Zaremba: There was a request from legal to add paragraph (c) to that as well. Meridian Ciry Council September 1, 2009 Page 13 of 14 Bird: And (1)(c). I'll add (1)(c). De Weerd: I'm sorry. And (1)(c). Rountree: Second. De Weerd: Mr. Nary, will you, please, note what (c) stands for. Nary: Cis for -- to discuss acquiring property not owned by another public entity. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Madam Clerk, will you please, call roll. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Rountree: Move to come out of Executive Session. Bird: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor say aye? All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: Do I have a motion to adjourn? Bird: So moved. Hoaglun: Second. Rountree: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor? MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Meridian City Council September 1, 2009 Page 14 of 14 MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:31 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) ~~ cc n . (z~~_____.--. R / z z /~ DATE APPROVED ~l Qn~.t,t, ~OU.x~it..~.. G\~y pF M~j~'%,~% P9 ~ SEAL HOLMAN, CITY CLERK