HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009 11-04 SpecialMeridian City Special Council Meeting November 4, 2009
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday,
November 4, 2009, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, President Charlie Rountree, Keith Bird,
Brad Hoaglun, and David Zaremba.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Pete Friedman, Kyle Radek, Tracy
Basterrechea, Bill Johnson, Lucas Cavener, Steve Siddoway 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: Good evening. I'll go ahead and call tonight's meeting to order. I'd like to
begin by welcoming you to the City Council Special Meeting. It's special because you're
here. Naw, I'm kidding. It's special because last night we didn't hold this, because it
was election day and so we always do it the evening following election, so we
appreciate you joining us this evening. For the record, it is Wednesday, November 4th.
It's little a bit after 7:00 p.m. We will start tonight's meeting with roll call attendance.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance:
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the
pledge.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Community Invocation by Verlyn Brower wit Meridian Fire
Department.
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by Verlyn
Brower, who is with the Meridian Fire Department and he is our new chaplain and we
are very fortunate to have him join us this evening and we will ask you to join us in the
community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of reflection.
Brower: Take a moment with me, please. Our Father in Heaven, we want to take just a
moment tonight just to call on our hearts and give you thanks for your goodness to us.
We want to thank you for these City Council members and the city leaders that take
care of all this business that goes on behind the scenes behind our daily lives. We just
ask that you give us an appreciation for that and an understanding of what they do and
pray for the participants tonight here that represent a business or a cause, that you
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November 4, 2009
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would calm their hearts, that you would give both Council members and them wisdom to
come to good conclusions about what they need to decide to work their matters out and
we pray, too, for our city employees as this just goes down the ranks, that you would
bless them and bless their families, provide for them, and thank you for their service to
us here in this city. We pay for our citizens, too, and for our city, that you would give us
your favor in this kind of a trying economic times, that you would provide for our citizens,
that you would show us, the city workers, how to provide for them, that you would give
our business leaders through innovative ways to think of new businesses and to get
new businesses and just to keep this city going. So, we just ask for your favor here
tonight and we thank you for your goodness to us and pray in your name, amen.
De Weerd: Verlyn, what we do with our faith leaders the first evening is we offer them a
City of Meridian pin and thank you for joining us.
Brower: Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Zaremba: If I may, I would like to comment that it is a big deal for the fire department to
have a chaplain. It's something that they have worked on and wanted for years and
there was a serious selection process. We are honored to have you as fire department
chaplain and welcome.
Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda:
De Weerd: Item No. 4 is adoption of the agenda.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: On the Consent Agenda, Item 5-B has been requested to be removed from
the agenda. Item 6-A-1 under the Mayor's office is resolution number 09-698. Item
6-D-1 has also been requested to be vacated from the agenda. And with those
changes I move we adopt the agenda.
Hoaglun: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as noted. All those in
favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
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November 4, 2009
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Item 5: Consent Agenda:
A. October 20, 2009 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes
C. Task Order 10094 for Master Agreement Dated December 12,
2006 with Transportation & Civil Solutions, P.C. for Downtown
Water Line Replacement for NW 4th Street for aNot-to-Exceed
Amount of $25,000.00
D. Task Order 10018a for Master Agreement Dated December 12,
2006 with CH2M Hill for Additional Office Services and
Construction Staking for aNot-to-Exceed Cost of $44,300.00
E. Task Order 0710a with Hydro Logic, Inc. for Well #20
Evaluation for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of $11,583.00
De Weerd: Item 5 is our Consent Agenda.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, as noted previously, Item B is not included. Otherwise, I
move that we adopt the Consent Agenda and for the Mayor -- approve the Consent
Agenda without Item B and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Hoaglun: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, will you,
please, call roll on the Consent Agenda.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carves.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 6: Department Reports:
A. Mayor's Office
1. Resolution No. :Appointing
Jessica N. Proctor to Seat 6 of the Historic Preservation
Commission
De Weerd: Item 6 under Department Reports. Go ahead, Luke. I do have information
about our youth council -- our youth leader that we are going to appoint to the Historic
Preservation Commission. The last week -- or I think it was two weeks ago you
approved a change to designate a youth seat on this commission. Tonight in front of
you is Jessica Proctor and Jessica joined the Youth Council last spring just towards the
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November 4, 2009
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end of our season and has been an active member thus far and we are very excited to
see her stated interest in historic preservation. Thank you for joining us tonight.
Proctor: Thank you having me.
De Weerd: Luke, do you have comments?
Cavener: Boy, no comments. She -- Jessica has -- she's a senior at Rocky Mountain
and has been a real superstar in the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council since joining last
spring and I just want to share one thing from her application that really stuck out with
me when -- when asked why she wanted to be involved is that she's interested in
making sure that the historical aspects of our community stay alive and I think that's a
great testament to why she wants to be involved in this commission. She chose the
Historic Preservation Commission by choice. It was her only selection and I know that
they are very excited and happy to have heron board.
De Weerd: Thank you. Jessica, do you have any comments?
Proctor: Just that I'm very excited to become apart -- bigger part of our community and
to join the Historic Preservation Committee. I think it would be an excellent opportunity.
De Weerd: Thank you. And we appreciate your stated passion for it. I didn't have to
twist arms this year or anything. It's very exciting. So, thank you for joining us this
evening. And thank you, Luke. Council, with that said I would appreciate confirmation
of this appointment of the youth seat to our HPC.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Resolution 09-698, the appointment of Jessica Proctor to Seat
6 of the Historic Preservation Commission.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, roll call.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carved.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
B. Solid Waste Advisory Committee
1. Environment at Work Awards
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November 4, 2009
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De Weerd: I will move down to the podium on the floor, if you will give me a moment. I
would ask our representatives from SSC, the chair of our SWAC committee and,
Samantha, that includes you and the SSC. If you will, please, come forward. And also
our representatives from Pro-Build and from Threw the Outdoors, if you will join us up
front as well. I did want to say a few words about each of the companies that we are
going to recognize this evening and, then, ask Nancy Mann, who is with our SWAC
committee, to also make a few remarks as well. Pro-Build in Meridian is being
recognized with an award for their outstanding recycling effort. Pro-Build recycles
everything they can, including documents, metal, cardboard, wood, plastic and
commingle. In one year Pro-Build recycled 146,000 pounds of materials and reduced
waste cost by 76 percent, a savings of just under 14,000 dollars. Through the recycling
efforts Pro-Build employees have saved 240 cubic yards of landfill space. This is quite
amazing and I think that they are, indeed, a leader in these efforts and really raising the
bar, setting a standard that challenges all of us to step forward as well and follow their
lead and we appreciate you being here this evening. And Threw the Outdoors are a
predemolition specialist. Their objective is to keep reusable building and landscape
materials out of landfills by salvaging everything possible from property set for
demolition. In two years the company has pre-demoed 60 properties and saved over
320 semi trailers of reusable building and landscaping materials from the landfill and so
I will ask Nancy to make a few comments and, then, we will present the awards.
Mann: Thank you, Mayor, and thanks everyone for being here. I'm especially proud
this evening to offer these awards to two outstanding businesses in the Meridian
community. I'm the chair person of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, which is a
committee that meets about once a month here at City Hall and what we do is we
oversee the curb side recycling program and recycling efforts in the City of Meridian.
We have been working for about eight years. When I first moved to Meridian there was
no curb side recycling and somebody found out that I really was into recycling, so eight
years later here we are. As you all know, we have a fabulous curb side recycling
program here in Meridian, but tonight we are recognizing people who have gone over
and above curb side recycling and are recycling in their businesses and I'm very
impressed with both of the efforts of both of these companies. This is the second year
we have given these awards. I hope we will see this in the future and I'm just so happy
that there are people other than myself in this town that think that we need to keep stuff
out of the landfill, because it's getting very cost prohibitive to keep hauling everything up
to the landfill. So, I'm just very happy to be here with both of you tonight and I thank the
City of Meridian for working with us to help us all just move forward on all these great
projects. So, congratulations and we have some really nice plaques for you to hang in
your businesses.
De Weerd: So, first, we will recognize Pro-Build. The plaque states: In recognition for
an outstanding recycling program and we are very honored to present you with the
Environment at Work 2009 winner plaque. And Tracy and Justin, I appreciate you being
here with us tonight. And, Lorraine, I am very honored as well to present to you the
Environment At Work 2009 winner for Threw The Outdoors in recognition for an
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November 4, 2009
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outstanding reuse program. Thank you for joining us. Again, we thank SSC for being
such a positive partner to the City of Meridian and to Nancy for her leadership. We
have great -- we have great participation in our recycling programs as individuals and as
you see from our business leaders. Again they are raising the bar and expectations for
others to follow. So, thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, before you leave that area.
De Weerd: Yes.
Zaremba: There is a beautiful wreath on the back wall that was brought in just before
this meeting began. I believe it's a gift from Lorraine. I wonder if she would care to give
the history of it and explanation. At the microphone, though, please.
De Weerd: Yes. We need you on the microphone.
Lorraine: As we did the pre-demolition on all those homes and farms and projects in the
valley here, we went ahead and made a wreath and there is something from every one
of them in it, something different, unusual, that was left behind by the owners and so
that's to represent all the farms we have lost towards growth and I hope everybody
enjoys it.
De Weerd: Thank you so much. That
great pride. We do take great I guess
remembrances in the City Hall project.
and thank you for doing that, Lorraine.
was very thoughtful and we will display it with
privilege and honor to have a lot of historical
We do appreciate the history of our community
C. Police Department
1. FY2010 Budget Line Item Reallocation for Towing
Expenses
De Weerd: Item 6-C under our police department, I will tum this over to Lieutenant
Basterrechea. And the chief told me I could give you a hard time.
Basterrechea: Of course he did. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the reason
we are here tonight is the police department, through the budget -- budgeting process,
we were trying to reallocate funds so they match more accurately what they are being
spent on and during that process they moved a lot of the funds out of an area called the
operating funds and it was money that was taken generally for a variety of reasons
through the police department and that money was reallocated in different line items
and we realized that we had two areas that we had missed that we used out of that
general operating fund budget item and that was towing for non-police vehicles and
towing for police vehicles as well. So, what we want to do tonight is we just want to
reallocate 1,000 dollars from the office supplies line item and move that to anon-police
vehicles towing fund and take another 1,000 dollars from that same office supplies line
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November 4, 2009
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item and move that to a police vehicles towing fund and we have worked out all of the
details with finance on that and we are just looking for your approval.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Thank you for your report.
Basterrechea: Thank you.
De Weerd: So, Council, we need a motion to approve this line item reallocation.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I move we approve the reallocation of 2,000 dollars from the office expense
fund into two different towing expense funds for the police department.
Hoaglun: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, Madam
Clerk.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
D. Public Works
1. Appeal by Richard Boyack of September 14, 2009 Notice
of Default and Order to Correct, regarding August 10,
2007 Agreement for Hookup to City of Meridian
Sewer/Water System Outside City Limits at 4270 E.
Overland Road
De Weerd: Item 6-D was requested to vacate from the agenda.
E. Parks Department
1. Ten Mile Interchange Landscape Update
De Weerd: So, we will move to Item 6-E, our Parks Department.
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Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I was before you last
week to discuss the Ten Mile interchange landscaping plan and seek feedback. It is my
hope to bring back some items to you based on what we teamed last week and,
hopefully, we are going to close in on the desires of Council in relation to the
landscaping in this area, so we can get final direction to ITD's design team. They are
trying to do construction documents by the end of this month for the funding decisions
that will be made in December. Last week I walked away with three specific items on
my radar based on the discussion. The first is that we need to consider native ground
cover options. Tonight I have here in the audience Skip Vetten with the Natural
Resources Conservation Service, who has been working with the design team to
explore options in the ground cover. The second issue was related to the interchange
design and the maintenance access to the islands and things. So, Vance Henry with
H.W. Lochner, who is the engineering firm that designed the interchange, has gone out
to bit. The third one was the acreage, which as we discussed last week had grown. We
have reduced that from the 25.6 acres to 17.4 acres. What was discovered as they
relooked at that in the last week is that there are 20 foot wide gravel shoulders along the
freeway and along the ramps that will not be landscaped and are part of the -- the
pavement section. So, the top soil and -- and seed -- seeding for the grass areas were
beyond that 20 foot shoulder, which reduced the acreage by a little over eight acres.
With that I would like to invite Skip Vetten up to the podium to address some of the
discussions that have been had about the ground cover options.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. Thank you joining us this evening.
Vetten: My pleasure. Thank you, Madam Mayor and Councilmen.
De Weerd: If you will state your name and address for the record.
Vetten: Sure. Skip Vetten, 132 Southwest 5th Avenue, Meridian. 83642.
De Weerd: Thank you, Skip.
Vetten: As Steve mentioned, I have been working with them and he asked me down to
see if I could answer any of your questions about some of the species. I have those
species on a handout here if you would like to have those.
De Weerd: Okay. And, Skip, you helped us with our Five Mile Creek project as well;
right?
Vetten: Yes. Yes. Yeah. I worked for Kyle on that very closely.
De Weerd: I'm sorry, Iwasn't -- wasn't responsible for pairing you with him.
Radek: I was going to say, he's still helping, ma'am.
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Vetten: So, the sheet that you have there, it's very basic. Comes out of the technical
note from our agency and that technical note has hundreds and hundreds of grass and
wild flower and shrub species in it. I just took these five species here for your review,
but that's the ones we have been talking about for revegetation on the interchange there
and part of the discussion, as Steve mentioned to me, was that there was consideration
by the Council to look at native species on -- for revegetation there and the bottom three
species are native species. The top two are introduced species. They are all very well
adapted to this climate and precipitation zone. So, any questions you have -- I guess
what I could do for you is let you know that a lot of projects that we have worked on,
including the one with Kyle at Five Mile, we had introduced native species there, in
addition to the introduced species and I told Steve the other day that for the interchange
it's not really a habitat site and I didn't feel the need to have native species, which are
generally more friendly to -- for native animals. So, my ultimate recommendation for
Steve was these top two species here are very very drought tolerant, they are both
introduced, they are not native, but as you can see in here they are meant to be used
for highway plantings, air strips, sites that need erosion control and ground cover and
the nice things about these two top species are they are very good at controlling weeds
once they get established and, fortunately, you have irrigation at this site, which is a
huge plus for anything in this climate. So, any questions on any of that or concerns?
De Weerd: You know, Skip, I guess I do in terms of how do these -- any of these five
that you have listed withstand the salt and sand that often are thrown off the road into
the planting areas, how do they stand to that kind of treatment as well?
Vetten: That's a very good question. Those -- those items aren't listed in these
paragraphs. There is a chart that can give you more information on that and I can get
Steve if you would like to know. Generally speaking, if there is excessive salt -- the
sand I wouldn't worry about. If there was excessive salt probably any of these species
would be susceptible to weakness or death from too much salt. The question is is how
much is too much. With irrigation, rain fall, snow melt, that sort of thing, it will usually
dilute a concentration of salt and that helps protect the species. There is -- we have a
lot of reclamation species that are very adapted to salty -- saline conditions and they
actually thrive when it's too salty and those are specialty plants for specialty spots.
These would do -- I guess I wouldn't be concerned. I'm not sure how much salt goes on
the highways here, but as far as I know it is not that much considering the amount of
show fall that we have and I know that can -- that can change year to year, but,
generally speaking, these would -- these would handle the situation pretty well.
De Weerd: Thank you. Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, thank you. Both the species you have indicated you'd
recommend are the fescues and both of them being bunch grasses. I guess I had in
mind something that was more of a sod form or just for the esthetic aspect of it. But my
question is with -- with the bunch grasses and the availability of irrigation water, will they
in-fill pretty well, as opposed to what you see native stands or natural stands look like?
It would be more of a turf type of condition.
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Vetten: Yes. And I described to Steve -- there is several examples of these species in
the valley around here and I had described to Steve that under droughty conditions, you
know, these bunch grasses will get a base about maybe six, seven, eight inches and
they will be two to three feet apart on the landscape. With irrigation they will be denser
and thicker. The reason that these two plants are so good at holding out weeds is they
are fine leaved and they grow up not very tall and, then, they kind of fountain out and
those leaves covers that area around the base of the plant and prevent the other -- the
weeds from germinating and growing in there. That's the primary reason why these are
so effective and even though they don't form a turf per se, they cover the whole ground.
And it's a matter of choice. Some of the other projects we have put in that third species
of thick spike wheat grass and the fourth species is a stream bag wheat grass, those do
tend to creep and form for more of a sod area. Again, those are the native -- part of the
problem with putting those -- a sod form in with these bunch grasses is the bunch
grasses will probably out compete them in the end anyway. There is no harm to include
all five of these species or four of them. There is no harm to do that. Eventually I think
what you will end up with is the top two species, even if you put the others in. But I as
mentioned to Steve the other day, there is always little micro sites out there where one
plant may not do very well and the other species could do quite well and that's why we
put mixtures together for projects. So, it wouldn't harm to do it, but it wouldn't be
something you count on having in the long run, because of the competitive nature of the
top two species.
Rountree: A follow-up question. Given this is going to be in somewhat of an artificial
environment with the availability of imgation water, couldn't there be a mix of native or
hardy wild flower put in with these and have an annual spring or fall showing of color in
addition to the low growing grasses?
Vetten: Yes, you could do that. Steve and I did not talk about that. It's possible to do
that, especially if you have got irrigation, because those other plants have a chance to
compete. I think over time what you will find is that they won't stay in the --
Rountree: The bunch grass will move them out.
Vetten: Because these top two are so competitive.
Rountree: Okay.
Vetten: And these really -- they are a reclamation grass. They happen to be very
attractive and low growing and easy to maintain, but they are so competitive they -- they
will crowd out almost everything else.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
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Hoaglun: Question regarding the first two. We talked about they are drought tolerant
and here it talks about ten inch precipitation zone, 14 inch precipitation zone. We do
have irrigation. How much water would we be applying to these -- you know,
summertime it's dry, you know, you got 30, 40 days no rain. Is that a once a week type
of thing or what type of watering system do we have to get into?
Vetten: Yeah. That's a very good question and it's -- it's a difficult answer, because it's
so variable. A lot of it will depend on the condition of the soil and how course it is and
how well it holds water. What we always recommend to anybody that's planting these in
a reclamation situation or a pasture situation, whatever, is it's just a matter of watching
the plant and looking at the amount of moisture that is in the soil to determine how much
irrigation it needs. As an example, if we were into our 38th day of hot, dry conditions in
early August, these plants would do fine with water once a week for a few weeks and I
mentioned to Steve the other day that once they are established they don't need very
much water, they hang on really well. So, it's not a frequent frequent irrigation scheme
that you need to have. But, again, it does depend on what is that soil down there and
that's not hard to figure out. Whoever would be in charge of watering, I would be happy
to work with them and you just take a shovel, you dig a hole, you'd look and see how
wet is the soil. Just a small hole. You see how wet is the soil. If it is dry, then, it's
prudent to imgate them and, then, they will stay strong and healthy and they will really
do the job for weed control and soil stabilization.
Hoaglun: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any other questions from Council? Thank you, Skip.
Vetten: Okay. My pleasure. And, Steve, Kyle, of course, have my phone number. Any
other questions that come up, please, feel free to call.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would now invite Vance Henry up if I may from
H.W. Lochner to address the second issue, which was the interchange design and
access for maintenance vehicles.
Henry: Madam Mayor, Council Members, we have got a few slides here that --
De Weerd: Vance, just for the record, if you will state your name and address.
Henry: Vance Henry, 201 East King Road, Kuna, Idaho. 83634.
De Weerd: Thank you so much.
Henry: When we laid out the interchange and the landscaping was either going to be in
the project or the companion stimulus project, we looked at a couple ideas and we will
show those. What you're looking at now is one of the interchange islands -- the
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interchange at full capacity will be running somewhere between 40 and 50 thousand
cars a day and with the ramps and free flow there is pretty well travel lanes all around
there, so we did put in approaches, one on each island, I believe they are in the order of
30 feet long, fit a truck and alandscape-type trailer that the maintenance people can
pull onto that, it's real similar to on the connector I think down by Orchard. Now there
they have got a -- quite a wide shoulder and, then, they have -- have the access, but
this allows them to get the truck out of the travel lanes, which are the north and south
bound Ten Mile Road travel lanes. I think, you know, anytime they are working around
those active travel lanes they would still put out some type -- you know, some cones
and some signage to let people know that somebody's working. So, that would allow
them to get their vehicle off on all four islands and they would do that off of Ten Mile
Road. I guess we can just work through them and, then, we can ask questions. See
what we -- here, this -- there is two medians on Ten Mile, one I will call the south
median, which is between Ten Mile and this future mid block intersection and, then,
what I'll call the north median, which is from the mid block up to Franklin. Where we
show the median is the color part with the landscaping. If you're at the very southem
end of that it's -- there is a 24 foot wide striped area that is similar to what you have got
on the islands, you're just -- you're adjacent to the travel lanes, you're in a striped-off
area. So, they can pull in there, back up to the medians, set some cones out, and they
are completely out of the travel lanes to access the southem island on the south side.
The other situation we have is on the next slide and here is the situation for the north
median, both ends of it, and what would be the north end of the south median where we
envision they would pull into the very back end of these double left turn bays. These left
turn bays are dual left turn bays, they are on the order of 400 feet long, so they could
pull into a turn bay, they are out of the travel lanes, they'd have to cone off a short
section of turn bay, but it does get them out of the travel lanes and that was our thought
for the medians. There was a question posed can we put an approach on -- into the
medians. We can do that. It would be a -- take up about half the width of the median
for 30 or 40 feet. It would be concrete. But we didn't see that as being any safer
situation. They would still be, similar to here, just adjacent to travel lanes and have to
put out a few cones and some signage.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Rountree: No. That takes care of my concerns.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor. The last thing on my mind is if we are at
resolution, I think after we give them direction to move forward with design, once it is
designed and under construction, then, we put it out for bid, that we should bid the
maintenance of these areas with options from a showcase option to bare bones options
and look at some things that can be varied and possibly reduced, such as the frequency
of trash pick up, the mowing frequency, fertilization schedule, things like that, so that we
have some options to pick from as we decide how we are going to move forward on the
maintenance side. So, with that I will stand for any questions and direction and seek
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November 4, 2009
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your concurrence with the -- the fescue grasses in the interchange areas, as well as the
maintenance options that have been presented tonight.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. It looks like you have tried to think of all the different
scenarios and situations that can come up. Council, any questions?
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I don't have any and I think the direction that Steve's going
with the input tonight is the right way and I agree with the idea of looking at options and
--from showcase to bare bones and see what kinds of costs we are looking at.
Siddoway: Okay.
Rountree: Because, again, it's going to be a forever agreement that we enter into.
Siddoway: Right. Okay. Anything else?
De Weerd: Thank you. Anything else, Council? Okay.
Siddoway: Thank you very much.
Item 7: Items Moved From Consent Agenda:
Item 8: Action Items:
A. Public Hearing: AP 09-003 Southridge Construction Site
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. Okay. The next item is No. 7 and under 7-A is public
hearing AP 09-003. I will open this public hearing with staff comments.
Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council Members. On April 7th of this year
Council approved of the South Ridge 31 annexation request. That annexation approval
included a develop agreement provision that was to allow operation and construction
activities related to the I-84 widening and construction of the Ten Mile interchange to
occur as part of -- on the property that was annexed. June 8th of this year the planning
director did issue a conditional letter of approval for those construction activities that
was to include aggregate or gravel extraction on the south and east of the realigned
Overland Road, grading, and the establishment of a concrete batch plant and asphalt
mix plants. As you know, some of those concems were raised during the public hearing
process for the annexation. The concems were particularly related to noise, light, and
traffic. We included in that approval letter quite a few conditions and one was a
limitation on the hours of operation, restricting construction activities and gravel
extraction and that sort of thing between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. In August
of this year Idaho Sand and Gravel, who is a contractor, submitted a letter to Mr. Jewett,
who is the owner of the property, requesting that they be allowed to conduct gravel
extraction operations 24 hours a day through December 23rd of this year. After review
of the request and the history of this annexation, the planning director denied that
Meridian Ciiy Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 14 of 34
request and so the property owner and contractor are seeking Council's review of that
decision.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any comment from the -- I guess are you an applicant? Is that
an applicant?
Nary: Appellant.
Friedman: He is the appellant.
De Weerd: Appellant.
Jewett: Thank you. Jim Jewett, 1560 Carol Street, Meridian. The -- the real purpose of
-- behind the 24 hour request is simply to get as much material across the interstate, so
we can tear down the overpass. Right now the overpass was scheduled to be tom
down the 21st of November. The request is to have 24 hour operations to the 23rd of
December, but as soon as the overpass goes down we would no longer need the 24
hour operation, we are just trying to get the quantity necessary across the freeway, so
we don't have to go around and impact other roads, either going east or west, and
Franklin to the north in bringing all the gravel around. We are behind schedule on
getting that -- that 21st date. Even if we got 24 hour operation today, we probably
couldn't meet the 21st, but it would certainly before the 23rd of December. So, we
realize it's an impact with some of those neighbors that are right there located, but
overall the impact would be much less on the community as a whole by getting these
trucks across the freeway and this gravel across before as soon as we can. So, that's
really the purpose of that. It's just simply to get this material moved and so we can get
that overpass tore down.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I might ask Mr. Jewett how many trucks are running a day in this 7:00 to 8:00
time period right now?
Jewett: We have 11 running at one time. Yeah. We have 11 running at one time.
They -- right now what we do is we -- they come through the pit in a circular manner, get
loaded, go back out onto Ten Mile, go through the scales, which are right down below in
the operation area, and on and at times I see a truck about every two minutes, because
they really just get across there, dump, and get back over. Go through the scales only
once going, not coming back. It simply would be a second shift for the same period at
night that they have during the day.
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November 4, 2009
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Hoaglun: Follow up, Madam Mayor. So, there is no way to increase the number of
trucks in that same time period?
Jewett: Like I said, at times when I'm there I see a truck every two minutes. So, it takes
a certain amount of time to load those trucks, it's just -- we just don't have enough
space nor enough equipment to load that quickly to tum them around any faster.
Hoaglun: Thank you.
Jewett: Right now we move about somewhere between 11,000, 12,000 tons a day in
that 12 hour shift and we'd like to, you know, almost double that.
De Weerd: Thank you. Anything --
Jewett: With the original schedule, we will -- you know, we are scheduling the 21st, the
night of the 21st for the overpass to come down. That's all coordinated with the
completion of Overland Road. Right now Overland Road is scheduled to be completed
and open on the 20th of November and that's the other key that has to happen before
Ten Mile overpass can be tore down. Right now we are a few days ahead of schedule
on that project. As long as the weather holds we should maybe even pick up a few
more days, but still just getting all that gravel across, the sooner we can get it across the
sooner that -- the Ten Mile can come down.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Bird?
Bird: Yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Jim, what -- if you don't get the 24 hours and
have to haul the long way around, which way are we going, up to Overland and down
over to Black Cat and --
Jewett: The most likely route would be done to Lamont on the south, over to Black Cat,
back to Franklin, back to Ten Mile. There is also -- Idaho Sand's contract does not limit
their operation, other than pile driving, to less than 24-7, so they have an option of this
coming from a state pit and coming down the interstate, getting off at Meridian Road,
going down Main, getting onto Franklin and over. So, they might opt to go and just
bring the material from a different pit and just impact different roads. We just have got
to get that material across there and done as quick as possible, so -- we were a little
late getting started, so make sure we had all our state approvals.
De Weerd: Well, thank you for saying that, because that was one of my comments that
I was going to make. I was trying hard not to, so --
Jewett: Making sure you have all your ducks in a row and your I's dotted and your T's
crossed sometimes can be a little lengthier than we think, so --
De Weerd: Okay.
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November 4, 2009
Page 16 of 34
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I'm sorry. I was just going to comment on the number of trucks required. My
experience is with moving people and buses, not moving goods and trucks, but when
you're trying to move a lot of people and you are doing it in a short distance, if your first
bus can get back in enough time, there comes a point where adding more buses doesn't
do any good, because if -- using Mr. Jewett's example, if he's got 11 trucks going and
the first truck is back, while the 11th truck is loading, adding more trucks doesn't make it
go any faster, they just sit there and wait.
Jewett: The other consideration for -- is weather. The sooner that we can get this
material moved across the interstate, the least chance that weather could affect our
operation. You know, cold, snow, rain, that's all going to affect -- once the material is
moved across the interstate and the overpass goes down, they will close Ten Mile from
Franklin all the way to Overland and it will be closed for the duration of the project. So,
then, it won't be that -- weather or safety concerns. But right now getting that material is
just -- is the concem just getting it across.
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I do have a question now. Is there a mandate in the contract that that
structure be removed by the date you specified? Or could it remain in place while Ten
Mile is closed for the purposes of hauling material at such time as that was complete
and, then, it could come down?
Jewett: I have a representative from Idaho Sand that's here that might be more versed
on the contract, but I believe that closing a Ten Mile or demolition of the overpass both
trigger a time frame in which the project must be completed by. So, either action starts
a time -- a second time window to complete the entire project. So, they are trying to
leave them open as long as possible to accommodate the traffic, but also to
accommodate their schedule with ITD. But -- okay. So, I was right on that. And I do
have a representative from Idaho Sand, if you have some questions for him, he can
certainly come up.
De Weerd: Yeah. You can't make it from there. Yes. Please come forward. If you will,
please, state your name and address for the record.
Von Lintig: My name is Bob Von Lintig, 5972 South Settlement Way, Boise, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Von Lintig: And I work for Idaho Sand and Gravel. Sorry. I work for Idaho Sand and
Gravel. One of the key things -- and I think you were just about on the same subject --
safety is a big concem and by adding any additional trucks it's really a safety concem.
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November 4, 2009
Page 17 of 34
If you were to look at the project as it's gone now, it's going like clockwork, you know, a
truck comes in, in a very short period of time it's turned around and efficiently back and
over the bridge. We do a lot of work in the Treasure Valley and one concern we have --
it's not unusual for us to have difficulties with local roads. Local roads are not normally
structured for the kind of use that we are putting on those roads and the unique thing
about Mr. Jewett's pit is that all of -- or at least 95 percent of the roadway that we are
using right now gets replaced in this project. So, when the project is done there is no
scars, you know, from roads that we have damaged and I realize that, Kyle, maybe you
might address this, but, yes, the local roads are built to certain designs and our trucks
are legal to drive on those roads, but when you start moving the quantities that we are
moving in a short time frame, it sure is nice when the roads that we use, the majority are
being replaced within the project and it alleviates any damage or any scars left of the
local roads when we are done, so -- and safety -- just safety, again, was the big issue.
We are trying to put more trucks -- right now in the last month, maybe month and a half,
we have been working seven a days week, 7:00 to 7:00, two separate crews, to
maximize the window that we have. So, I think we have exercised, you know, our -- as
much as we can we have minimized the impact of the project. One other thing that Mr.
Jewett did mention is part of the delays were from some utility issues, not of anybody's
fault here, along the interstate that delayed some of the fill that we could start, so I think
that's all the things that came to mind during Mr. Jewett's statement.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: If you would respond to the question I asked Mr. Jewett about closure and
removing of the structure, closing of Ten Mile and utilizing Ten Mile with the structure in
place, to move material as it's closed or what's -- what's the contract allow you to do?
Von Lintig: The intermediate milestones, the way I understand them, and I wish I could
have looked at them today, rather than a month or two ago, is that the bridge demolition
and the closing of the road are the same milestone. So, if we were to close the road,
that would start that milestone and we have a limited period of time throughout the
project that we could have that road closed. So, in essence, it would do the same thing.
Rountree: So, the other part of that is keeping Ten Mile open, keeping the structure in
place until you have got all of your material moved.
Von Lintig: That's correct. And the issue we have there -- I'll try to stay on the subject.
This is a very unique bridge that we are building here and it's what they call apost-
tension bridge. If you happen to be into bridges, it's really a cool structure. The -- one
of the drawbacks is we really need to be through certain phases of that bridge
construction before the onset of cold next year and so that's the added incentive to us to
be working seven days a week, 12 hours a day, and possibly another shift at night to
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 18 of 34
keep us on schedule to prevent us from backing into colder weather next winter. This
bridge is what they call post-tension, so it actually gets built on false work and, then,
cabled within the bridge -- huge cables have large force tension put on them and it
actually lifts the bridge right off the false work. The whole mass needs to be of uniform
temperature and has some temperature requirements, so it would really be bad if we
got into too cold of temperatures next fall, it could delay the project as much as 90 days
for a few days, just because once that mass starts to get a certain temperature we
would have additional issues, so --
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Rountree: Could also one of the incentives be that you get back on time and there is
some monetary benefit to Idaho Sand and Gravel?
Von Lintig: Absolutely. I'm going to stand here and deny that. There are --
Rountree:. Okay.
Von Lintig: And, you know, we are looking at eight miles to go around and it costs us
more money to drive eight miles around than it does a half a mile on the job, so I'm not
denying that.
De Weerd: But I can only imagine you were aware of the restrictions placed on this
prior to entering into the contract with ITD.
Von Lintig: We were. And to some degree, because of the utility delay, if we are not
successful in meeting our milestones on time, there is a possibility that the state -- and
we had a meeting today -- entertains some incentive -- acceleration incentive to try to
get us back on schedule, because the utility delay is beyond our control and wasn't
something that we could foresee in the documents, so -- it's quite convoluted.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: How many yards of gravel do you have to get moved over there, roughly?
Von Lintig: I want to say about 150,000 yards.
Bird: And how many -- how many yards are you moving a day?
Von Lintig: Well, we are moving 11,000 tons in a day, so probably 15 -- no, that's
wrong.
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November 4, 2009
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Bird: Eleven tons?
Von Lintig: We are moving 11,000 tons a day. I have to be careful, because the -- the
individual that's the actual project manager is away this week, I'm covering for him, so
there are -- there is bits of information I know thoroughly and there is information I don't
know thoroughly. We have got several different product that have to go over. I threw a
number out of 150,000, but I think it's greater than that. Maybe you know.
Jewett: At the beginning of the project we estimated around 550,000 tons to go across.
As of the beginning of the month we were at 307,000 tons on the north side. So, there
is 243,000 tons, if all those estimates are true, left and there is this -- we still think the
state might have missed their number a little bit, because we think it's a little higher on
the north side. But what Ryan told me, who was the project manager, is that we had so
many shift days left and if everything went smoothly, by the 21st we would be four or
five shift days short, if we had 21. So -- but -- and we have been hitting around 11,000
tons a day. So, 11 into 243 is 21 --
Bird: Eleven into that. You're not going to make it by the --
Jewett: 21st.
Bird: You will be lucky to make it by the 23rd of -- but you're asking to be extended until
the 23rd of December when the bridge is coming down the 21st of November?
Jewett: No. What we are asking for is no later than the 23rd of December, but to cease
when the bridge comes down. So, if it's the 22nd of November or the 29th of November
or if it's the 21st of November, whenever that -- whenever that bridge at Ten Mile gets
closed, that's the trigger when the 24 hour will stop.
Bird: So, in other words, if you go 24 hours and you stay to your -- what you're doing
right now, you're looking in ten days of having about 220,000 tons over there?
Jewett: If we went to 24 hours immediately, I don't know if we could be as efficient at
night, but if we get 22,000 ton a day, it sounds like about 21 days. Excuse me. Eleven
days.
Von Lintig: Shall I tell my name again or --
De Weerd: No.
Von Lintig: Okay. It's a little more -- little more complicated than that. I'm not sure that
a night shift would be quite -- right now we are running a 12 hour shift during the day.
We do have some service and maintenance time that we have to do.
Bird: I was just going to ask that.
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November 4, 2009
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Von Lintig: The night shift could very well be 10 or 11 hour shift. We have -- we have
additional safety concerns at night. There are advantages to night, because maybe less
traffic, but, you know, we have to put some light plans up, we have to make sure that
everybody understands where they are going. You won't see things as well at night, so
we may not push that same productivity level at night. You know, we can certainly gain
a lot to it. There are some other issues in the bridge demolition and my best guess
would be that it could be as much as a week or more delayed right, so, you know, a
date of the 21st -- right now it seems for sure that it's going to slip, but hopefully --
hopefully we would have it down baring anything unforeseen certainly before
December.
Bird: Let me ask -- follow up, Madam Mayor? Let me ask you a question. I know there
is a lot of trucks sitting around. Why can't you bring another 11 trucks to run the night
shift and service your day trucks at that time? I mean the guys that service them aren't
the same ones that drive them, I don't believe.
Von Lintig: That's true. And we -- we have enough trucks of our own to do that, but it's
also the loaders and dozers that are pushing. It's also -- we have a safety meeting,
which takes us anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes each day for each shift.
Bird: I understand that.
Von Lintig: So, there is quite afew -- you know, we have got blades and stuff that are at
-- at each fill spot. Some of those would have to be serviced, rather than, you know,
bringing a whole complete -- trucks are, indeed, probably the easiest piece of it and we
could -- you know, even if we had six of them there, we could roll into six and fuel and
service six more and run them through that way, so --
Bird: And the delay strictly was because of the utilities?
Von Lintig: To the best of my knowledge that's true. Again, I'm not the individual that
deals with every day, he works for me and he does a good job, but --
Bird: Okay. Thank you very much.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Hoaglun: I just want to be certain. Are all the truck loads right now going to the north
side of the freeway? Are there anything being dumped onto the south side?
Von Lintig: Gets some work on the south side, but currently -- at least 95 percent we
are going to the north side. Occasionally we have a load or two go to the south side.
We had some other product brought into the south side today to build pads, but, no,
every -- every time that we can get over that bridge is run over the bridge each day.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
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Hoaglun: And do you anticipate -- Madam Mayor, follow up. The vast majority of those
loads going to the north side right now?
Von Lintig: Yes.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from Council at this point?
Bird: None forme.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I have no questions here, but I have a question for Pete.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, sir.
Rountree: When we all were looking at the original application, did you have available
to you the environmental document on this particular project?
Friedman: No, we did not, Council Member Rountree, Madam Mayor, Council
Members. No, we had pretty much a request came to us two or three days in advance
of the bid being awarded and so we scrambled to put together an approval that we felt
contained appropriate conditions related to the use of that property and so forth. So, we
did not have an opportunity to review the environmental document.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further? I do have several members that have signed up
on the public hearing sign-up sheet that when I read your name if you would like to
provide testimony at that time I would invite you forward. Scott Nichols signed up
against. Good evening.
Nichols: Good evening.
De Weerd: If you will state your name and address for the record.
Nichols: My name is Scott Nichols, 2730 West Val Vista Court, Meridian, Idaho, just
south of the project, border the South Ridge Subdivision. Mayor, Members of the
Council. I think that in a famous movie quote: What we have here is a failure to
communicate. We were all quite surprised that there was even a gravel pit on the South
Ridge Subdivision and I think the first thing that happened was it was absolutely
unacceptable, knowing the history of this project and South Ridge Subdivision, that that
gravel pit would have been administratively approved with no notice to the neighbors.
Absolutely unacceptable. And I cannot believe that -- that the administration would
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November 4, 2009
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have approved that. I'm just -- it is incredulous to me. That said, we all understand the
benefit of taking gravel out where it's being taken out now. Twenty-four - seven, I was
happy to see that it was denied. The information on the denial of the 24-7 originally at
the administrative level, again, comes with no information, no background information
about why they want 24-7 and I think, Councilman Rountree and Bird, you have got
some really good questions. I guess my comment is, representing the residents in Val
Vista, is that I don't want to see, you know, Jim get, you know, put between a rock and a
hard place, so to speak. The real party that we don't have here is ITD. ITD decides
when the bridge comes down. Sorry, I don't agree with 24-7, neither do my neighbors.
I'm probably the least vocal about it. I'm in the construction industry. I'm doing swigs all
the time, I do environmental permitting, I do conditional use permitting in three western
states and to me, you know, poor planning. I'm sorry. I would no more expect to
inconvenience the residence in that neighborhood and I, myself, really don't care if they
run 24-7, but in speaking for our neighborhood, they are definitely opposed to 24-7
operations. We need to be talking with ITD and say, ITD, the bridge doesn't come down
until the gravel you want is removed from the north side and everything's on the south
side. Why should we be inconvenienced and the neighbors right there even at Tasa -- I
feel sorry for those people. At least they get up in the moming and they leave at about
the same time I'm taking a shower. So, that said, you know, there is a lot of issues out
there and, again, a failure to communicate. I mean there could be a lot better
communication and -- and I appreciate your comments and questions, so thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Jana Puga e and I apologize if I said that wrong. Signed up
against.
Puga: Before I start I wanted to find out if I could just play, just very briefly, a second,
somewhere in here, the sound that we hear at night -- or in the moming. Okay.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Puga: Yes. I'm Jana Puga. I live at 3325 West Davis Lane. And that's Meridian.
83642.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Puga: I just wanted to thank you, Mayor and City Council, for giving me the opportunity
to share that I am very pleased that the planning director did not -- or denied, basically,
the extension of the construction hours. When you go in and look up anything on sleep,
you will -- you probably all know how important sleep is and when I went and looked up
just some current studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Health from
Stanford University, from the University of Michigan, they all talk about the importance
of sleep and the negative affect that it has on people when they don't get enough hours.
They recommend, you know, up to 13 hours for preschoolers and we have preschoolers
that live in my neighborhood. Ten to 12 hours for elementary kids. We have
elementary children in our neighborhood. We have teenagers. They recommend eight
and a half to nine hours. And we have an athlete and other kids that participate in
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November 4, 2009
Page 23 of 34
sports and kids that don't have enough sleep can suffer from health issues, depression,
health problems, kids can't concentrate at school and I found it interesting -- I mean I
think you can go and look at studies and you will see it, but even this week it's called the
Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, November 2nd to 8, and that was in the Idaho Press
Tribune. And the reason they have this prevention week, which is this week, is to bring
attention to the dangerous problems when people drive without enough sleep and they
drive drowsy. There is 100,000 accidents a year attributed to drowsy driving. So, I just
wanted to say that as a neighbor -- we live right across the street from the construction
area and we get a lot of noise and I understand that, but I'm glad that it starts in the
moming and ends in the evening and I just wanted to play for you just a short section
here. This is the sound. I don't have it very loud. But this is the sound that wakes you
up in the moming and it's the waming sound of the truck when they back up. And if you
were to listen to this three second recording -- or three minute recording you would hear
that about every minute you get those beeping sounds that you hear like at Home Depot
when a forklift backs up, they have that waming sound. Well, they are meant to be a
waming sound, because they penetrate through the walls. So, if you're sleeping with
your window open, you close it and if you're -- if you open your window in the moming,
you close it, because that sound penetrates. In fact, three bedrooms from where we
sleep, if we are watching TV with volume at the regular sound, if you listen that sound
penetrates your home and it does it from the time the construction starts until it ends.
So, for the health and safety of our community as far as negatives when you don't get
enough sleep, as well as for the safety of travel and that sort of thing, I really would
hope that you would go along with the planning director and deny the extended hours
for construction. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? Jana, before you go -- I have a quick question for her, if you
don't mind. Was that from your house, that recording from your house, or were you
down closer to the --
Puga: That is actually from standing at my bedroom window when the window is open.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Puga: That's what you hear.
Hoaglun: If I recall correctly, your house is a little farther up on Davis, it's not right on
Ten Mile.
Puga: Correct.
Hoaglun: You're a ways in.
Puga: Yeah. We are three houses in and -- yeah, you kind of feel like you're in a
Hollywood scene from the transformer movies, you know, where they are crushing each
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November 4, 2009
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other and you get all that sound and that stuff you get used to, but that beeping is
penetrating and you hear the ground rumble and the vibrations and that kind of thing
and those you don't -- I can deal with that, it's that beeping sound that if I heard that all
night, would just -- it's meant to wam you and it does.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
Puga: So, yeah.
Hoaglun: Appreciate it.
Puga: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Curtis Eaton signed up against. Good evening.
Elton: Good evening. My name is Curtis Elton. 2906 West --
De Weerd: Oh, I'm sorry, I couldn't read that.
Elton: What?
De Weerd: I couldn't read your -- I saw the L as an E, so I apologize.
Elton: Okay. That's no problem. My name is Curtis Elton, 2906 West Val Vista,
Meridian, Idaho. I live adjacent to this huge dust bowl and I am totally against 24 hours
of construction work, simply because right now we can hear the construction going on
inside our house with all the windows and doors closed. We can also feel the vibration
in the dining room from the dozers pushing gravel and I do not want to listen to this 24
hours a day and I see no reason to run this 24 hours a day, other than to save
somebody some money. We have put up with this construction all the way through and
it's something I know that has to be done, but to run it 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, and sit and listen to this construction going on when you're trying to sleep and
conduct normal familiar activities I think is unacceptable and I don't see really the
reason for it. We have put up with the dust for the last year or so and we keep hearing
these sprinkler stories and planting grasses and putting back top soil and all this -- all
these promises, which nothing has happened, other than they delivered some rocks and
a little bit of top soil last fall and there is -- we are right now putting up with the dust all
the time and we will be putting up with dust probably for the next one, two years on this
construction project and, then, to take and put up with the noise and vibration 24 hours
a day I think is ridiculous. And I think they can either put on more trucks, more loaders,
and get it done in 12 hours aday -- and I have seen almost no construction project that
can't work 12 hours a day and get a decent job done and I have worked construction
myself and I have never worked 24 hours a day. It is not to me that pressing and if they
have to add more trucks, more loaders, and so forth, so be it. That's their problem,
that's not our problem. And I would like a little bit of fidelity as far as to construction
project and if any of you want to come and look at our windows just from the dust and
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November 4, 2009
Page 25 of 34
dirt from the last two weeks, you're welcome to it and you're welcome to come and
stand in my dining room if you want to and feel the vibrations in the house, because it
happens. And I -- to me I think at least 12 hours a day we can put up with it for the
purpose of the construction, but to put up with it 24-7 I think is ridiculous.
De Weerd: Thank you, sir. Questions? Thank you. Okay. Those were the three
names that were signed up. Does anyone else want to provide testimony? Okay, sir.
Elton: I forgot one thing. The other thing is the traffic with the trucks. My wife had --
two times she had to pull into the left-hand oncoming traffic lane to get around a truck
that pulled out in front of her, I did once, and she's a little bit more easy to get along
with, I guess, than me, but I laid on the hom for at least 45 seconds while I drove into
the oncoming lane to get around him, because there was nothing coming and I had a
meeting that I had to attend to. So, I went to the meeting and on the way back I pulled
into the construction area, both my wife and I, and we talked to the foreman and we
went on and up to the top Joe that was there and I discussed it and I told them -- I said
if I have to I'm going to go to the police after this, because they were pulling out off of
the scale and just keeping those big trucks rolling regardless of the traffic and I think
they just figured, well, we are bigger than everybody else is, so they will stop for us and
we had three incidents where we had to either pull off, pull into the oncoming lane, or
get hit by the trucks and I think that's -- they can put flagmen down there if they have to
or they do whatever they need to, but I think they should make it safe and to run these
around the clock in the dark at night, 24 hours a day, is not I think wise at all and totally
unsafe and I think we need somewhat of a break being we live in this community and
they can have their 12 hours a day, 20 -- or 12 hours a day, seven days a week, but I
think they don't need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. If you will, please, state your name and address
for the record.
Stone: Susan Stone at 2530 South Del Rey Lane and we sit adjacent to the South
Ridge Subdivision disaster.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Stone: I'm all for allowing the Ten Mile bridge to stay intact until they move all the
gravel, because I think we all need to be environmentally conscious and to waste all
that fuel for this project is crazy. I'm not, however, in favor of 24 hours a day, because it
is very dangerous. The trucks do not stop at the new Overland Road, they just go. I
mean they are already in motion and if they are going to not obey the traffic signs and
look for cars, I recommend flaggers day and night, if you guys were to put the 24 hours,
because there -- I mean Curtis spoke out about it, but people coming to our to home to
visit are just -- they just can't believe the demolition that they drive through, that the
truck drivers do not respect the cars, because they are much larger and they really don't
care about us. Thank you.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 26 of 34
De Weerd: Thank you. Additional testimony? Not yet. Anyone else that hasn't
testified? We will allow you one more time.
Nichols: Scott Nichols again. I just wanted to comment that if the -- if you do decide to
allow 24-7, that I don't think it should be tied to a point when the bridge comes down. I
think Councilman Bird had a really good point, if it's tied to when the bridge comes
down, what happens when the bridge demo is extended by 15 days and another 15
days and another 15 days and the 20 to 25 days for 17 days -- whatever -- 20 days, let's
just round her off, 20 days of 24-7, is now 30 or 60 days of 24-7 and Idon't -- people
say that won't happen, but it's a worst case scenario. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. If there is no more testimony -- yes -- oh, well, what we
don't want to do is have people continue to provide additional testimony. Council?
Rountree: Comment. Sometimes less is more.
De Weerd: Wrap-up remarks?
Jewett: For the record, Jim Jewett again. I'll try to address some of the comments and,
then, if I do forget anything, please, remind me. I certainly don't know how to soften the
blow for the immediate neighbors. Obviously, every time I drive to the site I see the
effect, I see the traffic, I see the dust. We stress and stress and stress on -- on trying to
mitigate as much as we can and still keep some level of production. I think we do have
safety as our number one concern. Some drivers have been removed from the project
because of some driving habits and, then, I talked to Robert and in tomorrow morning's
safety meeting they will reiterate again to make sure they honor the traffic rules and
yield to the vehicle traffic. In our operation we have no trucks that back up. That was
one of the things that Idaho Sand committed to in the operation we set up. Everything
is done is a circular motion. Now, down at the interstate they do back up, because they
have to back up to dump, and so I think the beeping you're hearing, especially with that
lady's home, it's at the interstate location, not at our location. The trucks come in, they
go through a circular motion, they get loaded, and they go back out on a different route.
They do not back up. That was one of the things we did not want is the beep beep
beep beep. So, if that's coming from our site, then, you know, we will deal with it, but
don't have trucks back up there. As I stated earlier, too, the only thing that the state has
restricted Idaho Sand on on their operation at the interstate from 24-7 is pile driving.
Otherwise, they are allowed to work out there 24-7. If -- if we don't, it's just simply going
to delay and extend that project at that level down below, which impacts the same
amount of people and we run the risk of weather affecting that length, because snow,
rain, ice going down that hill could affect our operation during the day and night. So, the
quicker we can get it done the better off we are. And I said it before in previous
hearings, if people have issues they can call me on my cell phone and I will run out
there or I will have somebody run out there and I will deal with issues as it has to do
with trucks, drivers. I think I'm -- I have put that out there before and I will put it out
again, I will deal with drivers that aren't being conscientious to people, so -- I think I -- I
hope I have covered everybody's concerns there and I'll stand for any questions.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 27 of 34
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I understand the trucks not backing up, but is there other equipment, like
loaders that scoops and dumps and backs up and, then, scoops and dumps and backs
up? They would have the alarms on them I would think.
Jewett: They would. Discussion with Idaho Sand in the beginning was that those would
be disengaged, but can't rightly recall me hearing them, so I couldn't tell you if they are
functioning or not. There is a safety concern if they are not functioning, because if
somebody's behind, but I don't recall them. One of the things I have been trying to
consciously listen to is noise. So, I can certainly find out for sure, but the discussion
early on was those would be disengaged, yeah, because loaders would have to back up
and load.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Jim, I certainly hope that they aren't disconnected. Those are there for a reason
and I believe there is a standard of how many decibels those have to put out and I don't
know what they are, but it is -- it is very loud. I know it's louder than what we were
allowed to run at the speedway, which was 92 decibels. I think those alarms have to
run over 100. I'm not sure. Ninety-six. That's pretty loud. And I -- and if you have got
them disconnected, I hope OSHA shows up tomorrow morning. Period.
Von Lintig: Again this is Bob Von Lintig. In the pit area we have on occasion on other
projects -- OSHA will allow us to use a light system.
Bird: That's right.
Von Lintig: And so it's not something we can do during the daytime, because the light is
affected in the daytime, but we have to go through a certain set of rules, we have to --
everybody has to be trained, nobody's allowed to be on the ground in the pit area and
there is a special color of rotating light that has to be activated anytime anything backs
up. So, that's why we can do that in the pit. The work on the interstate, it's not -- to my
knowledge it's not possible to do that in constraints of what work we are doing there, we
need to have people on the ground. So, the back-up alarm would be necessary through
OSHA regulations. The pit area has a little bit different regulation and it's light enough it
is accessible.
De Weerd: Okay. Additional questions from Council? Okay. Thank you. Okay.
Council, discussion? Any additional information needed from staff?
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November 4, 2009
Page 28 of 34
Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, I believe Tracy has some information.
De Weerd: Okay.
Basterrechea: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I can tell you from the police
department's standpoint we are adamantly opposed to a 24 hour operation. One, due
to the traffic concerns, obviously, on that road at night running those trucks. The other
problem -- issue that we have is we are the ones who field the calls from the neighbors
who are upset about the noise and we field those now and there is nothing more
frustrating for the neighbors, other than -- it's as frustrating for us to have to tell them we
have no recourse for you. This would go against the city ordinance on the noise
ordinance -- I mean we can't just pass rules to go against our noise ordinances to speed
up their project. We don't --our officers are the ones who have to respond to this and it
takes a lot of time to explain to our citizens who we are supposed to be serving why it is
we can do nothing about something that is in violation of a city ordinance.
De Weerd: Thank you, lieutenant. Okay. Anything else? I guess you do have the right
for the last word.
Jewett: Jim Jewett again for the record. We asked about the noise ordinance and we
were not given anything specific as to whether or not -- what the noise ordinance was,
so that we could comply with it. So, I'm hearing testimony or at least comments that --
that we would be in violation of a noise ordinance, so I would certainly like to be aware
of what that is, so I can comply, even during the daylight hours. Secondly, as I testified
earlier, denying us 24 hour operations does not stop the 24 hour operation, it just simply
stops the trucks coming from this pit. They are going to come from the state pit out
behind -- out Gowen Road or off of Federal Way, down the freeway, off at Meridian, up
Overland, right by the site and down Ten Mile. It does not change anything. It just
makes the trip longer and impacts more roads, you know, but I certainly understand. If
the Council wants to deny a 24 hour operation, obviously, we will accept that and move
on. But I just want to make sure everybody's clear, when they see trucks running down
Overland Road at 1:00 o'clock in the morning, they are not coming from me. But they
still might be coming from somewhere, because this decision doesn't change their
operation at the interstate, it only changes the operation at my site. So, I just want to
make sure that's clear, so --
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Jim, I -- the gentleman from Idaho Sand and Gravel just got up and said that,
really, possibilitywise it wasn't even feasible to run Lamont, Black Cat, Franklin to Ten
Mile and you're telling me they are coming from the state run down there?
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 29 of 34
Jewett: Approximately. Because of some of the delays early on, approximately
100,000 tons has come from the state pit already. The balance between the timing of
when the bridge comes down versus the bridge -- I don't understand all those, because
I'm really not involved in that part. My deal is the gravel and getting it across the
freeway and the project manager indicates to me that the time constraints in getting that
bridge down are greater and that and I don't think that -- certainly the cost going around
to Lamont and Black Cat and Franklin are more costly, but how that will go into where
the bridge comes down and the timing of that I really couldn't testify to that. So, I really
don't know. I think it just is an impact on traffic is what I was trying to testify to.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Council?
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we close the public hearing on Item 8-F, AP 09-003.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on this item. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carved.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I haven't been convinced, so I will make a motion that we do not overturn the
decision of the planning director.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second on this item to support the administrator's
decision. Any 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 9: Other Items:
A. Canvass Votes for November 3, 2009 City General Election
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November 4, 2009
Page 30 of 34
De Weerd: Okay. Item 8 under other items, Item 8-A is the canvass of the votes for
November 3rd, city general election, and I will ask our city clerk's comments.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. You have before each of you the unofficial results
that I put together today regarding -- it's broke out by precinct, it's broken out by total
votes and, then, percentage of the total votes. With the two races, Seat Two for Brad
Hoaglun, which, obviously, he got one hundred percent of the votes. And, then, Seat
Four, between Keith Bird and James Holtzclaw, I have also put the total ballots cast for
the city. One of the questions I had when I first put this together and was talking to our
precinct judges is I'm sure you probably all know this, having run for election, but the
total number of votes oftentimes does not match between the two candidates and
overall, because some are -- some are ballots where people wrote in for people that
weren't -- you couldn't vote for. So, anyhow, this is just everything I have here for you.
Hopefully it's self-explanatory. I will make one note. When you're looking at the poll
book tonight, I believe we had what I have determined to be the issue that we had with
two of our precincts with yesterday's election, is the library precinct, which is 802, a
section of those voters appeared on precinct 800's poll book. I believe that when Ada
County converted their database over something happened to that section and it
changed those voters to precinct 800. When presented with that problem on election
day, my direction to the precinct judge's was to allow people to vote at their precinct,
write them in, we throughout the day maintained a list of everyone that was being
written in the books at precinct 802, so when we received the poll book for precinct 800
where their names actually appeared, we made notes in the remarks section. It's kind
of shorthand. P802 is what it will say in precinct 800's book and that was just to make
sure that no one voted twice. No one wrote in over at the correct precinct and they
were able to walk over to the poll book that they erroneously showed up on and vote
again. So, we did verify all of that and I just wanted to make that note for the record, so
as you're looking through them you understand what those remarks are.
De Weerd: And I think it's also important to note that proactively, once they heard that
the polling books were run in error, they did staff -- they did send staff down there, staff
did have the opportunity to talk to any of the citizens who are kind of caught by this error
and explained it, which really helped diffuse anything and appreciate your staff and
those efforts.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I want to -- I want to compliment Jaycee for elections, running her first election,
but they went very smooth I thought and you did a heck of a job, young lady.
Holman: Thank you.
Bird: Appreciate it.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 31 of 34
Holman: It was an experience.
Rountree: First and last.
Holman: Yes. Leam it all to forget it.
De Weerd: Glad you had the opportunity to experience it.
Bird: Me, too.
Holman: I am, too.
De Weerd: Any other questions from Council? Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Do we need a motion to accept the canvass or --
Bird: We have got to look at the books first.
Rountree: We are looking at books first.
Zaremba: Okay. All right.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: When we go through these things, it absolutely makes me ill the apathy of our
citizens -- I mean you go page after page and there is 25 to a page, that nobody even
showed up on the page. You know, less than six percent turned out to vote. I don't
know what we do.
De Weerd: Well, I voted.
Bird: So did I.
De Weerd: I even got my sticker, which, Madam Clerk, appreciated the stickers. We
haven't always had them.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 32 of 34
Zaremba: Councilman Bird's comment, I would like to interpret the lack of voters not as
apathy, but as some evidence that the people think we are doing a fairly good job and
they are not coming out to run us all off.
De Weerd: Madam Clerk, also if you will, please, pass our -- our thanks to those that
ran our elections that have been so diligent with the city for so many years. Make sure
they know how much they are appreciated.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. They definitely made my job much easier,
because they were teaching me. I'll note for the record when I was talking to Ada
County elections and trying to explain that I thought there was an issue, as soon as I
said June Pack said there was an issue they believed me.
Bird: She's had enough experience I think.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Zaremba: Just for the record, I would ask the clerk -- I see a number of these where
under the remarks column it says absentee. What was our city process for absentee
voting?
Holman: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Zaremba, what was our
process?
Zaremba: Yeah. Did they come in here and pick up a ballot or during the week before
or how did that happen?
Holman: Absentee denotes anyone who came in and voted in our lobby absentee or
did absentee voting by mail.
Zaremba: Okay.
Holman: We had a total of a hundred and -- oh, actually we had one come in the day of
election, so a total of 114 absentee ballots.
Rountree: Are they totaled in the respective precinct, then?
Holman: Yes.
Hoaglun: That was a question I had on absentee, if it's stamped absentee, that means
the ballot went out or does it mean the ballot was received?
Holman: Councilman Hoaglun, what you will see in the record, if it says -- when we
delivered the poll books on the morning of November 3rd, if we had sent a ballot out,
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 33 of 34
but the ballot had not been received back, it said absentee mailed. So, the election day
we did receive one ballot back, so I delivered that to the precinct, but that was so the
precinct workers know that there was an absentee ballot mailed and they would not
allow someone to vote unless they turned over the absentee ballot that they had gotten
in the mail. They would spoil that ballot and, then, allow them to vote.
De Weerd: Any other questions? Council, seeing that you have canvassed the votes, I
will need a motion to make these -- to accept the results as presented.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we accept the votes as cast in the November 3rd, 2009, city
election.
Zaremba: It gives me great pleasure to second that.
Rountree: And contragulations to both candidates, Mr. Hoaglun and Mr. Bird.
De Weerd: And second agrees I'm sure.
Zaremba: Yes.
De Weerd: Thank you. I have a motion and a second. Any 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.
B. Executive Session per Idaho State Code 67-2345(1)fi~ - (to
consider and advise its legal representatives in pending
litigation)
De Weerd: Thank you and congratulations. Item 8-B is an Executive Session per Idaho
State Code 67-2345(1)0. I would entertain a motion to adjourn into Executive Session.
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. Roll call attendance, please.
Meridian City Council Special Meeting
November 4, 2009
Page 34 of 34
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Into Executive Session at 8:49 p.m. and out of Executive Session at 9:17 p.m.
De Weerd: Do I have a motion to come out?
Rountree: So moved.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Rountree: Move to adjourn.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: We are adjourned.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:17 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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