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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-02-15E IDIAN~- ~®AHO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AGENDA Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7:00 PM 1. Roll-Call Attendance David Zaremba Brad Hoaglun Charlie Rountree Keith Bird Mayor Tammy de Weerd 2. Pledge of Allegiance by Joshua McMullan with Scout Troop #152 (Pg. 1) 3. Community Invocation by Pastor Ken Redford with Meridian Friends Church (Pg. 1-2) 4. Adoption of the Agenda (Pg. 2) 5. Consent Agenda (Pg. 2-3) A. Approve Minutes of February 1, 2011 City Council Special Meeting B. Approve Minutes of February 1, 2011 City Council Regular Meeting C. Personal Services Agreement with Lisa Johnson for Human Resources Consulting and Training D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP 10- 014 Silver Oaks Apartments by Silver Oaks Apartments, LLC Located Approximately 1/4 Mile West of Ten Mile Road, North of W. Franklin Road Request: Conditional Use Permit for a Multi-Family Development Consisting of 369 Units on 24.61 Acres in an R-15 Zoning District E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 10- 011 Silver Oaks Apartments by Silver Oaks Apartments, LLC Located Approximately 1/4 Mile West of Ten Mile Road, North of W. Franklin Road Request: Modification to the Development Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Page 1 of 2 All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. Agreement to Reflect a New Development Plan and Increase in the Number of Residential Units Within the Development F. Pedestrian Easement Between William E. Howell and Mary J. Howell and the City of Meridian G. Pedestrian Easement Between Meridian Gateway Associates, LLC and the City of Meridian 6. Community Items/Presentations A. Smoke-Free Parks Presentation, Discussion, & Public Hearing (Pg. 11-23) B. Resolution No. 10-759: A Resolution Of The Mayor And The City Council Of The City Of Meridian, Adopting The Recommendation Of The Meridian Parks And Recreation Commission That City Parks Be Generally Declared To Be Smoke Free Premises; And Providing An Effective Date (Pg. 23-24) 7. Items Moved From Consent Agenda (Pg. 24-25) 8. Action Items A. Continued Public Hearing From January 18, 2011: TE 10-034 Jericho Subdivision by Washington Federal Savings Located 6055 & 6185 N. Jericho Street Request: Approval of a Two (2) Year Time Extension to Obtain the City Engineer's Signature on the Final Plat (Pg. 3-15) B. Public Hearing: TE 11-001 Baraya Subdivision by Dyver Development, LLC Located on South Side of W. Franklin Road Between N. Black Cat Road and N. Ten Mile Road Request: Approval of a Two (2) Year Time Extension to Obtain the City Engineer's Signature on the Final Plat (Pg. 8-11) 9. Department Reports A. Mayor's Office: Ordinance No. 11-1472A (To Replace Ordinance No. 11-1472): Updates to Title 2, Meridian City Code Regarding the Traffic Safety Commission and Planning & Zoning Commission (Pg. 25) 10. Future Meeting Topics (Pg. 25-28) Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Page 2 of 2 All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. Meridian City Council Meeting February 15, 2011 A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 15, 2011, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Brad Hoaglun, David Zaremba and Charlie Rountree. Others Present: Bill Nary, Jacy Jones, Anna Canning, Bill Parsons, Warren Stewart, Mike de St. Germain, Joe Silva, 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: I would like to welcome all of you here this evening. We appreciate you joining us. For the record it is Tuesday, February 15th. It's 7:00 p.m. We will start tonight's meeting with roll call attendance. Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance Joshua McMullan with Scout Troop #152 De Weerd: Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance and posting of colors by Scout Troop No. 92 and they will let us know when we need to stand up. So, come on forward. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) De Weerd: Special thanks to Troop No. 92. We appreciate you joining us tonight. We do have our city clerk who has City of Meridian pins for you that she will hand out while we are in our meeting. So, thanks again for joining us. Item 3: Community Invocation by Pastor Ken Redford with Meridian Friends Church De Weerd: Item No. 3 is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by Pastor Ken Redford with Meridian Friends Church. 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 joining us. Redford: Thank you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we see the presentation of colors tonight we are reminded of how much we have to say thank you for. Thank you, Lord, for this great country. Thank you for the freedom and the right to assemble like this. Lord, we are blessed in this city with great city employees and servants and leaders and so we remember tonight, come before you and ask for your wisdom, for Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 2 of 28 your help, amidst the many details of this agenda with easements and discussions, details, Lord, we don't want to forget to pause, say thank you to you, to ask for your clarity, for your help. Let every comment be heard well. Let every decision be made in the right way, in Christ we ask, amen. Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda De Weerd: Thank you for being here. Okay. Item 4 is adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: There are no changes to tonight's agenda, so I move adoption of the agenda as printed. Rountree: Second. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as printed. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 5: Consent Agenda A. Approve Minutes of February 1, 2011 City Council Special Meeting B. Approve Minutes of February 1, 2011 City Council Regular Meeting C. Personal Services Agreement with Lisa Johnson for Human Resources Consulting and Training D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP 10- 014 Silver Oaks Apartments by Silver Oaks Apartments, LLC Located Approximately 1/4 Mile West of Ten Mile Road, North of W. Franklin Road Request: Conditional Use Permit for a Multi-Family Development Consisting of 369 Units on 24.61 Acres in an R-15 Zoning District E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 10- 011 Silver Oaks Apartments by Silver Oaks Apartments, LLC Located Approximately 1/4 Mile West of Ten Mile Road, North Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 3 of 28 of W. Franklin Road Request: Modification to the Development Agreement to Reflect a New Development Plan and Increase in the Number of Residential Units Within the Development F. Pedestrian Easement Between William E. Howell and Mary J. Howell and the City of Meridian G. Pedestrian Easement Between Meridian Gateway Associates, LLC and the City of Meridian De Weerd: Item 5 is our Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Again, no changes to our Consent Agenda, so I move approval of tonight's Consent Agenda and the Mayor be authorized to sign and clerk to attest. Rountree: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. If there is no discussion, Madam Clerk. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: Council, at this point we do have two items under 8-A and B that are -- will take just a short period. I would recommend moving those above our Community Presentation, as I suspect that might take a little bit longer. So, if there is no opposition to that, Council, would you mind if we move those items forward? Item 8: Action Items A. Continued Public Hearing From January 18, 2011: TE 10-034 Jericho Subdivision by Washington Federal Savings Located 6055 8~ 6185 N. Jericho Street Request: Approval of a Two (2) Year Time Extension to Obtain the City Engineer's Signature on the Final Plat De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and on Item 8-A is a continued public hearing on TE 10-034. Bill. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 4 of 28 Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. This item was continued from the January 18th City Council hearing. Council gave staff direction to make contact with the property owner, who was Washington Federal at the time and it was Council's direction that we try to determine what their purpose is for moving forward on developing this property. I would inform the Council that the property has been sold now and the new owner is CBH Homes. After finding that out staff actually initiated a meeting with the new owner, the applicant's representative, the Kern's lateral folks and the HOA president and at that hearing I brought it up to those folks that they really needed to come to some resolution on the bug control, the weeds, and also the flooding that was occurring on each of these properties. We did get a commitment from the applicant's representative, who was entertaining solutions. She did get a written statement from Corey Barton Homes and in that letter he's outlined his commitments for upgrading and solving those problems out there and just to highlight on what he's committed to, he's committed to upgrading the PI system out there. The timeline for completion of that would be fall of 2011. He's also committed to removing the arborvitae along the southern boundary, which was also a cause of concern for bugs in the adjacent subdivision, Arcadia Subdivision to be exact, and, then, also he's included a -- to -- committed to keeping the weeds down on the property, keeping it maintained until such time as he goes to move forward in developing the plat. He also states in that letter that he is keeping in -- keeping with the commitments that were approved under the previous final plat and the preliminary plat. So, no change is proposed. So, the elevations that I presented to you at the last hearing and that site design and those amenities that were proposed are all to remain intact with this application as well. There are some noted changes for you this evening that I'd like to point out to you. I did have Elroy Huff, the city arborist, go out to the site and do a current inventory of the current trees on the property. I have included that -- that should be included in your packet this evening. That, basically, tells you the conditions of the existing trees on the site. After receiving that report I did refer to the approved landscape plan that we had on file and after looking at his report I determined that there are actually 94 caliper inches that need to be mitigated for in compliance with his report and so, basically, I made that aware to the applicant and he has committed to actually mitigate for those trees and his resolution would be to plant a single two inch caliper tree on each buildable lot and that's something he committed to in an a-mail to me today as well and so staff has revised some of the new conditions of approval with the time extension and that's what you have before you right now. Item number three, when I presented this project to you on January 18th, the -- condition of approval number three, the applicant shall coordinate with the city arborist, I'm actually recommending that that condition be removed and be replaced with the one that is underlined underneath that. So, basically, that states that the applicant will commit to the items that he's stated in that letter submitted to you on that date and that letter is dated February 8th, 2011. If those commitments are not completed by the timelines in that letter this subject time extension would be null and void and, then, condition number four is also a new condition which, basically, states the requirement for adding the additional trees and the fact that he would do that through adding that provision in a CC&R and submit a revised landscape plan to you -- to the city for review as well. So, what I would anticipate is prior to getting signature on the final plat the applicant would have the two additional amenities and, Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 5 of 28 then, also a landscape plan that shows those trees on the buildable lots so that staff can track that if and when homes are proposed and constructed on the property and, then, we would follow up with the building department to make sure that those trees were, indeed, installed. Other than the other -- the letter from the applicant, staff did not receive any additional testimony on the property -- or on the project. Other than the tree issue -- it looks like that's been resolved as well, so to staffs knowledge there are no outstanding issues before you and with that I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions? Rountree: I have none. Bird: I have none. De Weerd: Okay. Would the applicant like to comment? Stiles: Madam Mayor, Council, my name is Shari Stiles with Engineering Solutions in Meridian, Idaho. And, first of all, Mayor, thank you very much for putting us before the public hearing. That's very much appreciated. And also I wanted to personally thank Bill Parsons and just let you know what a great employee he is to work with. I have never enjoyed working with a public servant more than I have enjoyed working with Bill. He returns calls quickly. We got this resolved. Just literally to almost 5:00 o'clock today we were working on it and he was very responsive and I just want you to know what a great guy he is. De Weerd: Thank you. Stiles: One -- the only thing that I wanted to mention -- and I don't know if members of the Hightower Subdivision are here tonight -- is there will probably continue to be problems with the flooding until that ditch is piped. They have changed the trash racks, so that they are not the vertical kind, they have an angle to them now. There is one up on Chinden, another one just at the northeast corner of this property and they were both vertical trash racks that -- and they were just clogged, they were continually getting clogged. Now, the Hightower Subdivision is going to be monitoring that more closely and as -- I don't know if Hightower Subdivision -- I think -- I believe that's an individual -- that's ahomeowners association irrigation system. Correct. I know that when we presented Jericho we had to come up with an irrigation plan for the lots and I think what's happening is that the upstream users are using all the water all at the same time and when they are done it's just -- there is nothing to check that water coming down and, you know, there were also some -- a matter of other ditches that were existing that don't exist now. But it might be that maybe something's in the file that they had to give to the Public Works Department for that schedule and I just wanted to let you know that they should have had that and maybe keep all of their lots on a schedule, because, you know, the farmers used to flood the whole thing all at the same time and, then, let the water go and the next guy would take it. Well, it's a lot different when you're -- when Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 6 of 28 you have got individual lots. So, if you have any questions I'm here to answer them, I hope, and, again, thank you and I would hope that we would get this approval so, hopefully, something will be built there. De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions? Rountree: I have none. Bird: I have none. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Shari. Stiles: Great. Thanks. De Weerd: I do have two others that have signed up, a Ralph and Darlene Beilinski signed up for. Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Beilinski: Okay. My name is Ralph Beilinski. I'm the president of Hightower Homeowners Association. I live at 6178 North Saguaro Hills Avenue -- De Weerd: Thank you. Beilinski: -- adjacent to the Jericho property. With respect to some of the issues brought up by the lady before me, we have replaced the grates that were the two flooding grates, one running under Chinden at the exit of our irrigation system. The other one upstream at a transfer point where the box ends and there is -- there is no control in it now. So, we might get three, four, five, six times the water that our system can handle and that's why Jericho is flooding. We did replace the grates and we made provisions to monitor the grates to make sure that the collection -- the debris collection stays down. I also -- Kerns has given us -- given the homeowners association -- they put a special lock on their in box and I have a key for that and we are going to have somebody monitor that, so we can try at being closer associated with the issue that we can have better control over the flow of the water. So, hopefully, for the next year we will be able to do a little better job of controlling the water that comes into our system. Other than that, I would say, then, having had Jericho flood and having had the water in my backyard, I fully support having that box rebuilt and having those two ditches -- having those two ditches tiled per the plan that's been presented. Any questions? De Weerd: Thank you, sir. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 7 of 28 Zaremba: Even though it sounds like there may be a little bit of a problem for you, are you satisfied that the eventual plan will solve the problem? Beilinski: Yes. We had an independent -- when the bank -- when D.L. Evans had this they had an independent engineer come in and do an assessment of our system and he -- his feeling was that when the box was repaired and those two ditches tiled, the Jericho flooding problem would go away. Zaremba: Great. Thank you. Beilinski: Okay. De Weerd: Thank you so much. Is there any additional testimony on this item? Well, I will. have to commend staff and the applicant for working on it. It seems that there were a number of neighbors that had some concerns about this and it seems that many of those concerns have been addressed. So, thank you. Council, any additional information needed? Bird: I have none. Rountree: I have none. De Weerd: Okay. Do I have a motion to close? Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move we close the public hearing on this item. Bird: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 8-A. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move that we approve TE 10-034, to include the new conditions presented by staff tonight. Bird: Second. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 8 of 28 De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-A. Is there any discussion? Rountree: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: Did the maker of the motion intend to include the commitments made by the new owner of the property in their February 8th letter? Zaremba: Yes. Rountree: Thank you. De Weerd: Okay. If there is nothing further, Madam Clerk. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. B. Public Hearing: TE 11-001 Baraya Subdivision by Dyver Development, LLC Located on South Side of W. Franklin Road Between N. Black Cat Road and N. Ten Mile Road Request: Approval of a Two (2) Year Time Extension to Obtain the City Engineer's Signature on the Final Plat De Weerd: Item 8-B is public hearing TE 11-001. I will open this public hearing with staff comments. Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The subject application before you is, again, another two year time extension. The subject property is located on the south side of Franklin Road between South Black Cat and North Ten Mile Road. The property consists of 92 acres. The plat was approved with 34 buildable lots, one school lot, 28 common lots zoned R-8 and R-15 and there is also two multi-family lots proposed and two common lots associated with that currently zoned R-40. Here is the site design that they proposed to you back in 2007. You can see the school lot there and the mix of housing in here. Staff has reviewed the file. They approved approval for this site. It appears that all those approvals comply with the current requirements of the UDC. I would also point out that the density and the road layout is consistent with the Ten Mile interchange specific area plan. This plat was reviewed and found consistent with that plan back in 2007 as well. I did also want to state that as far as amenities, open space, and those items, again, this does comply with current requirements of the UDC. Because of those items being addressed and because there is a development agreement on the site, that also ties this property to the certain design criteria. One Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 9 of 28 being that single family homes need to comply with some of the design standards in that DA and, then, also future CUP approval is required for the multi-family lots. That will also require design review and consistency with the Ten Mile interstate specific area plan as well. And so here were some sample elevations that were presented to you during that hearing as well. So, looking at the related files, looking at the recorded DA, staff is confident that this plan is consistent with the city's goals in the Comprehensive Plan and the standards in the UDC and, therefore, staff is not recommending any new conditions of approval with the subject time extension. Staff did receive written testimony from the applicant. He's in agreement with the staff report. Staff has not received any additional testimony on the application. To staffs knowledge there is no outstanding issues before you this evening. With that I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions? Rountree: I have none. De Weerd: Okay. Would the applicant like to comment? Schultz: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Matt Schultz with the Schultz Company, 2127 South Alaska Way. And I have never had a staff report like that in 15 years. So, it's a good night. There is usually always something. We did get the approval back in 2007 after purchasing the property in 2006 and working through about a year long process with the Ten Mile area planning effort. So, what we have here is a result of that, that's why it conforms to your code in dealing with architectural, landscaping, regional access roads for adjacent properties and all those things. So, that's why we don't have to change anything now, because we kind of came through right when all those things were getting incorporated. You're having to go back and fix some previously approved plans -- four now -- we are coming through later now that has all those things incorporated in the original approval. So, I just want to comment that we did design and submit final plats for a phase one and phase two back in late 2007. We planned to get going under construction early 2008 and as you know everything just shut down and so what we have been doing since then is keeping the plan alive, the Ten Mile interchange getting done here this year, which is a very good thing. This spring. Very exciting. Hopefully that will help us be able to continue with those already designed plans for phase one and phase two and get going here in the next two years, so we don't have to do this again in two more years. We want to get it done. I do want to comment real briefly that when we did submit this back about a month and a half ago the phone started ringing off the hook about you got to help us with some access issues out here, because what we have is good access on Franklin and Black Cat and there are some other properties to the south of us that don't. I can't remember the name of the project south of us, Meridian 118, LLC, Mr. Bradbeau, recently approved -- De Weerd: Meridian Crossing; right? Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 10 of 28 Schultz: Beautiful project. They are landlocked. They did work through some issues with ITD on Ten Mile, but they still needed a second access. I'm happy to report that assume gentle persuasion by staff we -- we did ao talk to tnP ~~~~nAr __ ~„" .,,.,,,o,- .,~,~ ..,,. nave got an the owners together and th agreements are being drafted, easements written, so those -- that value will be adc locked in and it's a good time to add that ~ before we are ready to go, they can bui~ property with -- with that. But as long as ~ and liability and all those attorney-type issu should see an attorney draft any day now. also for the main north-south access that landscaped there for the access as well. ; days we will have that all resolved and, tl market bears so we can get going. Appreci :re is a high spirit of cooperation. Legal are -- or right-of-way descriptions are being ed to everybody out there of having those alue for everybody and if they want to build ~ it, you know, and it don't encumber our ie take care of the farmer and the irrigation ~s and that's what we are going through is I Not only for an access out to Black Cat, but you see on your landscape plan, it's very ~o, that's the goal. Hopefully in the next 30 ien, we will kind of wait and see what the tte your consideration. De Weerd: All right. Thank you. Council, any questions? Bird: I have none. Rountree: I have none. Schultz: Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. I do have someone that signed the sheet named Doug. Is there someone who would like to provide testimony on this item? Council? Zaremba: Having given the opportunity for public comment and seeing none, I move we close the public hearing. Rountree: 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 carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move we approve TE 11-001. Rountree: Second. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 11 of 28 De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-B. Any discussion from Council? Rountree: Madam Mayor, just a note to Matt that it's great to hear that cooperation -- the spirit of cooperation out there and we look forward to that to maybe blossom throughout that Ten Mile area. 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 6: Community Items/Presentations A. Smoke-Free Parks Presentation, Discussion, & Public Hearing De Weerd: Thank you. And thank you to those that are here for item 6-A. We are now at that item. So, I will go ahead and welcome Mr. Siddoway, our parks director, to introduce this item again. Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. This item regarding smoke free parks has had four public meetings so far to date, two with the Parks and Recreation Commission on August 11th and November 10th. Two with the City Council on August 17th and December 14th. At that December 14th meeting this item was continued primarily because we wanted to make sure that there was ample opportunity for public comment, that there was -- the public had the opportunity to know about this proposed policy and give an opportunity for testimony in a public hearing. Since that date on December 14th we have had quite a bit of media coverage on this topic. We have had stories in both the Valley Times and the Idaho Statesman and their representative is here tonight from there. We have also had news stories on Channel 2, Channel 6, Channel 7 and Channel 12 and tonight's meeting has been noticed as a public hearing and we anticipate taking testimony tonight. With that as a introduction I would like to invite Joanne Graff up to the podium from Central District Health to make the first part of the presentation, after which towards the end I will come up to the podium and address some specific questions that were raised by Council at the December meeting. De Weerd: Thank you. Good evening. Graff: Good evening, Madam Mayor and Councilmen. My name is Joanne Graff; I'm a health education specialist with Central District Health Department. Shall I spell my name? Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 12 of 28 De Weerd: No. You're good. Graff: Okay. De Weerd: Thank you. Graff: Thank you. I reside at 4608 North Futurity Avenue in Boise. Thank you for the opportunity to revisit the smoke free parks issue in regards to smoke-free policies for outdoor recreational areas and also public health districts in the state of Idaho are working -- currently working on smoke free park policy. This has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I'd like to define -- since I will be using these terms in my presentation -- of smoke free deals with smoking, which includes the possession of any lighted tobacco product in any form. Tobacco free would include both smoking and smokeless tobacco use. The world has changed. In 1965 about half of men and a third of adult women in the U.S. smoked and they did so just about everywhere. Now, a majority of Idaho residents and U.S. citizens do not smoke. In fact, in Idaho the current data from 2009 is that 16.3 percent of Idaho adults smoke. We also have many examples of smoke free or tobacco free policies at work sites, such as Central District Health Department, Blue Cross of Idaho and area hospitals have tobacco free campuses. Our elementary and secondary schools are tobacco free. Boise State University has a smoke free campus. And Bogus Basin is a smoke free outdoor recreation area. Many hotels are smoke free and 79 percent of Idaho homes have smoke free rules. So, why should you consider smoke free policy? Well, parks promote healthy activities. Adults also influence youth behaviors. Tobacco free policies are becoming the norm. A majority of people are nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke can affect nonsmokers. Cigarette butt litter is harmful and costly to clean up and we have found the public to be very supportive. The mission statement for the Meridian Parks and Rec Department. states that it's to enhance the community's quality of life by providing well designed and properly maintained parks and recreational opportunities for all citizens. A smoke free park policy would support this. There is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. Exposure has immediate health consequences, including cancer -- including an increase in cancer, asthma, and sudden infant death syndrome and we know that infants, young children, and older people are especially vulnerable. In the most recent 2010 U.S. Surgeon Generals Report, even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke exposure can cause immediate damage to your body and can lead to serious illness or death. Repeated exposure weakens the body's ability to heal the damage and inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage the DNA, which can lead to cancer. What about outdoor secondhand tobacco smoke? Research has shown that during smoking outdoor smoke levels may be as high as indoor smoking levels if smoking is occurring. And being upwind from a smoker does not eliminate the chemicals from the air, because as secondhand smoke rises it becomes invisible and drops to a lower level where people breathe in the toxins even if they can't see the smoke. Nationally the smoke free parks concept is not new. In fact, there are over 470 parks that have smoke free park laws that cover the total park area. So, what's happening in Idaho? There are currently policies in Moscow, Melba, Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 13 of 28 Payette, Twin Falls, Victor and Wilder. Ordinances in Ammon, Emmett, Hayden, and Rexburg. And other municipalities that are considering smoke free parks include Boise, Cascade, Coeur d'Alene, Driggs, Idaho Falls, McCall and Pocatello. Meridian currently has a smoke free park policy in the playground area at Settlers Park. In the skate area at Tully Park. And Cable One Movie Night at Settlers Park is a smoke free venue. The City Hall campus is smoke free. And the Meridian Police Department campus as well. Are the existing tobacco policies working? Ina 2004 survey of park directors in one hundred Minnesota cities and counties with tobacco free park policies, 74 percent reported that they had no problem with park users violating the policy and 90 percent would recommend tobacco free policies to other communities. Tacoma has had a park wide smoke free ordinance for their 75 parks since 2009 and reports that most people are compliant with the signage and they have had very few complaints about the policy. Salt Lake county with its 70 plus parks has had a park wide smoke free ordinance since 2008. It's predominately self enforcing and they have had only occasional complaints about noncompliance. Most people comply with Ammon, Idaho's park wide smoke free ordinance. And no complaints or opposition has been experienced by Rexburg with their smoke free ordinance, which does not allow smoking 50 feet from designated areas. So, smoke free park policies are working throughout the United States. Is there support? Yes, there is in Idaho. A Department of Health and Welfare 2009 survey showed that more than half of Idahoans surveyed supported smoke free outdoor areas, especially when children were present. Central District Health Department completed surveys fast summer and found that 69 percent of survey responders supported tobacco free parks and actually 85 percent supported smoke free -- actually, tobacco free playgrounds. The City of Meridian in a 2010 citizen survey found that 62 percent of Meridian survey responders supported smoke free parks. And South Central Public Health District, which is located in Twin Falls, found 78 percent supported tobacco free parks. North Central Public Health District in Lewiston -- in the Lewiston area found that 80 percent supported tobacco free parks. A U.S. National Institutes of Health survey of over 167,000 people, which was conducted in 2006 and 2007, found that 79.2 percent supported that smoking should not be allowed in outdoor children's playgrounds and sports fields. Some of the comments and concerns surrounding smoke free policy that I would like to revisit include the enforcement compliance, the personal rights issue, discrimination and the concern of what will be prohibited next. And with enforcing and publicizing, similar to other park policies, such as the hours of operation and litter policies, the primary enforcement will be with signage. This empowers park users to speak up and most do comply with the signage. Of course, education is very important and these are just some examples of ways that you could educate the community, including your website, newsletters, activity brochures, policy manuals and coaches and parents meetings. Most communities that have smoke free park policies or tobacco free park policies do not ask their police to actively patrol the parks, you know, instead they rely on peer enforcement among the park users. Smokers are not a protected class, such as race or gender and it's not a violation of anti-discrimination laws to prohibit smoking. Smoking is a behavior, it's not a condition of birth, and so it is not protected from the discrimination. And there is a concern -- there may also be a concern of what is going to be outlawed next and the health problems with sugar, fat, salt, and alcohol stem from the misuse, overuse, and abuse of these products. And tobacco is the only Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 14 of 28 one of these products that when it's used properly as directed leads to severe illness and premature death. Central District Health Department is poised to help you in this endeavor. We have information for those people that are interested in quitting tobacco use. There are tobacco cessation classes available free of charge throughout communities in Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties. There is also -- there are also resources available through the Idaho Quit Line, which is telephone based counseling and the Idaho Quit Net, which is web based counseling. These programs are supported by the Idaho Tobacco Millennium Fund. We will also provide ongoing support as you work through the process of smoke free park policy. And we have free metal signs for the parks. And these are just a couple of examples of the signage that is available, which can be adapted to meet your own needs. And at this point I'll go ahead and turn things over to Steve, who will have some concluding remarks. Siddoway: So, Madam Mayor, Members of Council, at the December hearing there were a handful of specific questions that we were asked to look at and come back with information about. The first one, as mentioned by Mayor de Weerd, was to meet with the police department and talk about enforcement. We did meet with Chief Lavey and talk about this and we talked about the signage that we would put up, the fact that peer enforcement would be empowered through that signage and that what experience shows us from our research is that most comply with the signage element. Officer enforcement would be an option and the police officers would enforce this policy, but as a lower priority compared to other things that would be on their radar. We would begin, of course, with education, as opposed to just writing tickets and it would -- such would be at the officer's discretion. I'd actually like to pause here and ask Chief Lavey if he'd like to come up and add any comments about our meeting? I did give him a heads up was going to do that. Lavey: Madam Mayor, Council, I don't know if I have anything else to add. I will just say that the police department's position on this is neutral. We don't take either side. We will enforce any ordinance that you put into law and Steve is correct in what he says, is that we will enforce any law that we have, but you need to realize that it will be a lower priority based on other calls that are going on. We really look at peer enforcement as being the main thing. But we really look at the opportunity also for education to be the main focus here. And, then, I will add, since I have peers in the back that as a private citizen I support this ordinance. Thank you. De Weerd: I guess -- I guess my comment that I brought up at our last meeting is a concern if this was passed that you had one person in the park and they lit up a cigarette, what -- and a neighbor across the street were to call it in, say someone's over there smoking in the park, what -- what if they are not bothering anyone, what is the recourse there? Lavey: Well, Madam Mayor, the recourse would be the fact that they are committing a violation of city ordinance, so it is against the law. It would go into the queue and any domestic, crash, or any other calls for service that the officers are handling would be handled first, then, the officers would respond to the park. If the person was still there Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 15 of 28 and still lighting up we could take enforcement action at officer's discretion we could use this as an educational opportunity. But if it is an ordinance and a citizen calls in and complains, based on our city values, we need to respond to that call. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Council, any questions for the chief? Bird: I have none. Lavey: Thank you. Siddoway: I also point out at this point that the -- one of the key exclusions that we are proposing in this resolution is to exclude the parking lots of all parks from this. So, if someone did light up and was bothering someone, they could be asked to go to the parking lot as a place where they could smoke without having to leave the park entirely. The second item we were asked to specifically look at was the park wide ban versus a distance from specific elements, such as playgrounds, concessions, or shelters. When I was before Council the first time last summer I was favoring the distance from version of this policy. However, in working with the police department they do have concerns about a distance from ban as creating more enforcement problems. For example, if we were to say 50 feet from the playground area, you know, are they 45, are they 55 feet? Are -- you know, where does that line begin? Is it right up against the playground? Is it at the sidewalk next to the playground? It's just a cleaner enforcement if it's -- if it's the park and not a distance prescription. The park wide ban with the parking lot exclusion is preferred for a clear enforcement policy. The next item was regarding sidewalks along the parks and we have talked about this with both the legal department and with the police department and our recommendation is to keep this a clean policy. By that I mean that simply if the sidewalk is on park property smoking would be prohibited. If the sidewalk is not on park property, but in ACRD right of way, then, the rule does not apply, because it's not on our property. We did look at what it would mean to modify the smoke free policy for detached sidewalks that do come into the park's boundary and what would happen if we tried to allow smoking there and the signage that would be required just becomes confusing or simply requires a lot more signage, for one, and we believe that keeping it simple, if it's on park property it's nonsmoking and if it's not on park property the rule doesn't apply, is the simplest way to move forward and would be our proposal to you tonight. We have a recommendation from the Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission. They did pass a resolution, which you should have a copy of in your electronic packet for tonight. They recommend using the existing Meridian City Code, 6-3-2 that prohibits smoking where signage disallows it and there is specific requirements about the height of the lettering and things like that that we would need to comply with. The area covered under the proposal is park wide for all of our parks, excluding the parking lot, so that there is a place within the parks for someone to go if they do wish to smoke and also an exclusion for the Harold Cox monument as it is not a place that is a traditional park that has amenities that are frequented by children. With that I will stand for any questions before we take public testimony. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 16 of 28 De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. And just to note, we do have two of our parks commissioners in the audience, Michael Martin, their chair, and vice-chair Phil Liddell. Thank you for joining us. Siddoway: Yes. Thank you for noting that. De Weerd: Council, any questions? Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I think I was looking for a little more discussion of a tobacco free ordinance Siddoway: Okay. Zaremba: I have no hesitation to say I already support the smoke free ordinance, but what would change if we also said tobacco free? Siddoway: What would change is it would require a new ordinance, as opposed to just a resolution. The resolution simply directs us, as park staff, to sign the parks as nonsmoking under the existing ordinance, which is a smoking ban where signed. So, we are trying to come under the existing ordinance with a resolution. If you wanted to go tobacco free, then, we would need to propose a new ordinance to you. De Weerd: Any other questions from Council? Rountree: Not at this time. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Steve. Siddoway Thank you. De Weerd: This is a public hearing and I do have several people who have signed up. When I get through the list if there are additional people who would like to provide testimony I would invite you forward at that time. I will read these names and if you'd like to come forward to provide testimony I would invite you to do so at that time. I have Doug on here again. So, Doug, are you here this evening? I had to ask. Okay. Steve, if you would like to, please, come forward. Signed up against. Or you didn't mark a box. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Davanzo: My name is Steve Davanzo. My address is 132 East Idaho Avenue, Meridian. De Weerd: Thank you. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 17 of 28 Davanzo: I'm here to urge the Council to, basically, disapprove of this ordinance. I moved here six years ago from California, basically, to get away from what I felt was government interference in my ability to do -- to function as an individual. I don't think anybody here would take issue with the fact we don't want smoking in playground areas, we don't want our children exposed to that, but I think parks are for everybody. It's not for 85 percent of the public. okay? It's for everybody. Most smokers are considerate. If you are offended by the smoke and you go and approach somebody who is smoking, most of the time -- I'm not saying a hundred percent of the time, but most of the time they will move to another area, because they do not want to offend anybody and they want everybody to get along. I don't feel this is something that the City Council should be dealing with direct, I think it's something that should be presented to the citizens of Meridian to have them vote on it. This is not -- I know you have had hearings on this thing, but this has not been a tremendously publicized situation here in Meridian. I own a smoke shop. Most of the people who come into my store are not aware of this. Okay? We have been trying to generate some response and, unfortunately, most people tend to be apathetic. Okay? The reality is most of the facts that have been presented here tonight are misleading. Most of the facts that are presented here tonight talk -- are, basically, based on cigarette tobacco and cigarette smoking. There are a lot of additives in cigarettes that aren't necessarily in pipe tobacco or cigar tobacco and you're, basically, throwing everything into one lump area, okay, and I just think -- I don't want anybody to rush into anything. I'd like for the Council to look into this a little bit more and do something that would be fitting for all citizens where it could accommodate everybody. Other than that, thank you very much. I appreciate the few minutes you gave me. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Bert Montgomery resigned up against. Tom Roy signed up -- oh, I'm sorry. Bert, Ididn't -- yes, please. Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record. Montgomery: Bert Montgomery. I live at 184 Pennwood Street. De Weerd: Thank you. Montgomery: And my biggest thing is people call this a health issue and if it was really a health issue, basically, every major park in this valley would either have one or two major streets going by it where literally hundred of cars and trucks and buses going by every hour spewing out a lot more smoke and stink and things that are a lot worse for you than a little bit of tobacco smoke. So, this isn't a health issue, this is a take away a person's freedom issue. That's the way I see it. And that's all it is. We just keep chipping away at people's freedoms and I'm not a smoker. I occasionally enjoy a cigar once in awhile and that's it. But the thing is I'm looking at the freedom issue. Not so much -- it's -- the health issue is a smoke screen as far as I'm concerned, because, like I said, if it was truly health, we would be worried about those streets next to the parks, because they are a lot more harmful with the smoke they are putting out than any tobacco ever will. And that's about all I got to say. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 18 of 28 De Weerd: Thank you. Montgomery: Thank you. De Weerd: Tom Roy signed up for Roy: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, thank you for letting us come and talk to you. My name is Tom Roy, I'm the executive director for the Police Activities League and just want to let you know as we have venues with lots of kids who participate within PAL, typically we have about four to five thousand kids a year, we have always made our -- our venues smoke free or tobacco free and we just encourage good roll models for the kids. My daughter has sports-induced asthma, so we certainly understand some of the negative aspects of smoking in the community. So, I will turn the time over the Hannah to talk a little bit more about some of the affects on her. H. Roy: Okay. De Weerd: Hannah, if you can also state your name, please. H.Roy: My name is Hannah Roy. De Weerd: Thank you. H.Roy: Madam Mayor and Council. I'm a high school student that has played soccer through PAL and other means that use the parks to run and have a good time with my friends and I also have sports-induced asthma. Running while someone is smoking near me can actually stop my breathing and I have to stop and catch my breath. Personally, I like breathing and I like running. I like being able to do both at the same time, too. And on top of this I also help my dad coach girls that are ten years old with their soccer and a lot of these players take in everything that adults do. So, if somebody is smoking around them they will think, hey, there is an adult smoking in a park. That's cool. I may want to do that. And this can put them in a mind set that will make them later on in life smoke. Maybe even before it's legal for them to smoke, getting them in trouble with the law. And this will also have them help like get them to pick up habits that will actually hurt themselves, like physically like with their lungs it could cause problems. Also parks are usually a place for families to get together with their children and so children are also just not soccer players, but everyone in general is looking at these adults thinking, hey, this is what they are doing, maybe I should do this, too. And it puts them in this mind set like that. One of the examples that I like to use whenever talking about smoking is while at a soccer tournament me and my friend both have asthma and we are on the same team and people smoking at a field next to ours -- she actually got sick because of it and I was coughing while on the field. She was taken off the field and I had to try to recover from the people's smoking and the tobacco that was breathing in along with the smoke, which is worse -- secondhand smoke is worse than you -- because there is no filter that you're breathing it through and I was Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 19 of 28 recovering while on the field. So, ever since then my friend and I both strongly believe that smoking should be banned from all parks. Thank you. Roy: Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you both. Any questions from Council? Thank you. Bonnie Speas signed up for. Speas: My name is Bonnie Speas. I live at 2116 West Parkstone Court De Weerd: Thank you. Speas: I'm here in favor of the ordinance and encourage you to vote for it. The nonsmokers in this community are the majority and I think it's important to represent the majority in your decisions. We have the right to breathe clean air. We have the right to enjoy the park without offensive fumes. We have the right to bring our children to the park not seeing bad examples. Not worrying about them picking up cigarette butts that are dirty. And not breathing unhealthy air. The -- I'd like to draw your attention to the park's mission, which has already been mentioned, which is to enhance the community's quality of life and that's in the parks and it's for all citizens. I'd also like to point out the city code. In the disorderly conduct code it mentions that a person cannot conduct themselves in a way which is a breach of the peace of another person and I feel that smoking in a park is a breach of my peace and our family's peace. So, I encourage you to vote for this ordinance. Smokers have the ability to leave the park and go to the parking lot. My family does not have the ability to leave the park and enjoy the amenities somewhere else. It is the only p ace we can. So, please, choose this ordinance and vote for it, because you are voting for the majority of your citizens if you do. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Is there any other person who would like to provide testimony on this item? These were just the names that had signed the sheet. Yes. I'm sorry, Janelle. Janelle. J.de Weerd: Janelle de Weerd at 2621 North Miranda Avenue. I am on Mayor's Youth Advisory Council and smoke free parks is just kind of something that we took on as an issue in our community that we would be better without. There is no positive reinforcement by allowing smoking in parks. Kids are seeing these teenagers -- I'm sure half of them not even allowed to be smoking, but it's away from the parents. I mean if you're 16 you're not going to have your parents there with you at the park. It's teaching these little kids, looking up to those either teenagers or adults and when they see that negative behavior it starts to rub off and in our society we are already seeing a lot of that stuff increase, because it's more publicized and if we were able to take that out of a park environment, especially parks with those playgrounds -- playgrounds are made for kids. They aren't made for adults or teenagers. So, that's one of the biggest things. We have kids crawling on the ground, picking up cigarette butts and that are littering the entire park. So, I really don't see anything that is coming out of allowing that Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 20 of 28 smoking in parks, because the parking lot is a hundred feet away. It's not that hard to take yourself out of the environment where children are around and be able to do whatever you need to in the parking lot and as Hannah said, I agree with a lot of the things she said and with her having that first-hand experience it does go to show that the smokers -- smoking in the parks that have sports being played, where kids are running around, is having an impact on the kids that have asthma and whatnot. So, I will now stand for questions. De Weerd: Council? Thank you. Okay. Granger: My name is Colton Granger. 1734 West Sugarcrest Street. I'm the vice-chair of the government affairs committee on MYAC. And I think it's pretty interesting listening to this whole debate. Actually, our generation was the first generation to kind of grow up and realize and had realized the full extent of the health affects from tobacco use. I mean we grew up being -- the entirety of my childhood I grew up knowing that like tobacco use has cancerous properties and yada yada. I think this -- I mean our generation is a generation that expects change and I think that this ordinance is key to set a social image and these societal norms that we expect growing up. This is a positive image, because, first off, it stigmatizes smoking in parks, so it prevents certain teens from smoking and just an overall in parks, open air, clean air, healthy activity, healthy lifestyle and it just clears up the issue that simultaneously advocating that, oh, smoking is bad for your health, but at the same time not regulating it is kind of sending a mixed image to the entire population and so pretty much without regulation you have no effect on setting the social norm that you don't want people smoking. And the biggest reason behind this is it's not necessarily an individual right, because it affects the lives of others and it's a higher risk to the lives -- I mean dealing with smoking like this is a high risk activity and it's an activity which one small segment of the population has the ability to enforce a biological control over a larger percent of the population. I mean even dealing with -- with just the fact that, oh, this is a high risk activity, that should be absolutely no question that, oh, this isn't an individual right, like what you do affects other people and the fact that it's such a high risk effect that -- I mean you have less -- you have a -- less risk if violating the rights of the smokers or -- by saying, all right, smoke in the parking lot, than you do of violating the rights of the higher percentage of people in parks who don't want to inhale secondhand smoke. And so 62 percent of those surveyed approved. So, thank you. Any questions? De Weerd: Questions, Council? You can tell you're a debater. Thank you, Colton. Additional testimony? Yes, please. Connolly: Thank you, Madam Mayor and Councilmen. My name is Carrie Connolly. I live at 2948 West Divide Creek, Meridian, Idaho. I am completely for smoke free. I have a child who is allergic to smoke and every time I used to take him at a young age to the parks we would come home for a two week bout of him being in bed sick because of people around smoking. It wasn't fair that he was punished to stay in his home and not get to enjoy the other children. Otherwise, he would be in bed sick for weeks at a Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 21 of 28 time and I just really, really hope that you guys vote to put this into place, so that everybody can enjoy the parks. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Any other citizen wish to comment? Yes. Sheets: Sayara Sheets. 2948 West Divide Creek, Meridian. De Weerd: Thank you. Sheets: I'm really for the nonsmoking in like playgrounds and parks and stuff, because like I feel like I should have my rights to live as long as I can and smoking is going to like lower -- or possibly make me die sooner, because of lung cancer and things like that, which secondhand smoke does cause. So, I'm just saying that I'm for it. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Any other testimony? Good evening. Knapp: I'm Elizabeth Knapp and I live at 747 East Redrock Drive. 8646. De Weerd: Thank you. Knapp: And I am for smoke free parks. Someone mentioned earlier that -- the parks are for everyone and it's true that parks are for everyone and different people, as has been mentioned, have different health issues and things like that and I don't think that people in these free parks should be forced to breath in secondhand smoke just because they wanted to go play at the park. So, I think that we should definitely ban smoking in parks as dangerous to our health and it does set a bad example for the youth. Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Any further testimony? Okay. Council? Oh, Steve, do you have concluding remarks? Siddoway: Madam Mayor, my concluding remark would simply be that in crafting the proposed resolution we have strived to find the best middle ground that we can. We have seen tremendous public support in the surveys that we have done through both Central District Health and the citywide survey. We wanted to be conscious of the fact that someone in the park who wanted to smoke -- we wanted to provide a way for that to happen away from the places where the kids were at the playgrounds and the sports fields and the shelters and the concession areas and bleachers and things, so we felt like an exemption for the parking lots was a way to do that without forcing people to get in their car and leave the park entirely. So, that is our proposal to you tonight and I will stand for any questions. De Weerd: Thank you. Mr. Zaremba. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 22 of 28 Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I should know this, but does this include the community center as well? Siddoway: The buildings are already smoke free, but -- so it includes Centennial Park now next to the community center. I suppose the parking lot between the two would be covered by this exclusion. Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. De Weerd: Council, any other questions? Rountree: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Rountree: A question for Bill or Steve or both. I have heard some different words tonight. Excuse me. Apparently it's not on. Now it's on. I have heard some words tonight talking about policy. I have heard words talking about ordinance. Bill, is there a difference? Some of the explanation on some of the other communities talked about a policy in place and others were ordinances. We have an ordinance. We are contemplating a resolution, which appears to be a policy that would, in effect, extend the ordinance. So, help me understand the legal aspect of those. Nary: Certainly, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Rountree. In 2010 the City Council passed an ordinance that prohibited smoking -- either lighting up to smoke or refusing to put out a cigarette or tobacco product once you were asked to do so anyplace that is signed no smoking. So, we posted no smoking signs, for example, on City Hall campus that comply with our city ordinance that makes it, then, illegal to violate that ordinance. What your resolution that's in front of you tonight would then direct staff to, essentially, sign different city properties as no smoking, in addition, similarly, to what's been done at the City Hall campus and the police department campus. So, the reason it's a resolution in front of you is because all your -- all you're being asked to do in the resolution is direct staff to post signage. The ordinance already exists -- it says anywhere that signs exist that say no smoking and there is some specifics about the size and it has to be visible and those kinds of things, but, basically, anywhere that no smoking is posted is a violation of city ordinance to smoke or refuse to put out a tobacco product when asked to. So, that's why it is -- it is a little unusual in the sense that you already have an ordinance in place and I think one of the comments that was made was if the desire of this Council was to create tobacco free or possession of tobacco as a violation of city ordinance, that's a different ordinance. The only ordinance that you have currently on the books makes smoking or refusing to put out a tobacco product as a violation of law. If you wanted to make possession of tobacco products or use of smoke free tobacco on city properties a violation, we would have to craft a new ordinance to do that. But all you need to do tonight, if your desire is to follow the recommendation of the parks commission, is the ordinance that's in front of you basically directs no smoking signage to be placed in the city parks to identify that the Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 23 of 28 exclusion does not apply to the parking lot areas, that the Harold Cox Park, essentially, would not be signed at all that would prohibit smoking there, so it wouldn't be prohibited at the Harold Cox monument or, obviously, the parking lots that are adjacent to it wouldn't be covered as well. So, that's -- that is an unusual circumstance that we don't normally see, but we already have an ordinance in place and that's why a resolution is all that's necessary. Rountree: Thank you. De Weerd: Anything further from Council? Rountree: I have nothing. De Weerd: Okay. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move we close the public hearing on the smoke free parks. Rountree: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 6-A. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. B. Resolution No. 10-759: A Resolution Of The Mayor And The City Council Of The City Of Meridian, Adopting The Recommendation Of The Meridian Parks And Recreation Commission That City Parks Be Generally Declared To Be Smoke Free Premises; And Providing An Effective Date Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I move that we approve resolution number 10-759. Bird: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-B, which is ten -- resolution number 10-759. Any discussion? Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 24 of 28 De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Just a couple quick comments. Number one, I do want to thank the parks commission for their work on this. They took it through a couple of meetings and looked at what other communities were doing, how they are doing it, and I think came up with a good recommendation to the City Council in how this ordinance is going to be drafted and -- or the resolution that would be part of the ordinance is going to move forward. It's certainly within the purview of the city to regulate safety -- health and safety issues and this is something that is a health and safety issue and it's no different than creating areas of skateboarding, we only allow it in certain areas because of the potential harm and impact to people if they are skateboarding in a crowded area. Pets off leash, there is liability concerns of control, because it's a safety issue. Smoking is a safety issue. There is an impact to someone else's health and we are not telling the person not to smoke if that's their choosing, but we are regulating where they can smoke and that is to the parking lot and while it might have been easier to say completely smoke free, we recognize -- or I recognize the fact that we have some city employees that smoke, parks employees, you know, sending them off to someone else's property to smoke is -- I don't think responsible on our part. So, I think the parking lot area is a compromise that works and I can live with that. So, I just -- I think we are being responsible to our citizens about protecting their health and safety while they are utilizing our city parks. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: On that note I'd also like to thank Central District Health and the work that's being done statewide as well and our youth who are, of course, our future and very much appreciate your being in favor of this and behind this and understanding the impacts to yourselves and your friends as well. So, thank you for your efforts in support of this. De Weerd: Okay. Any further discussion? Rountree: No. De Weerd: 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: Items Moved From Consent Agenda. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 25 of 28 De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-B -- oops. We just did 6-B the Consent Agenda. Item 9: Department Reports We did not move any items from A. Mayor's Office: Ordinance No. 11-1472A (To Replace Ordinance No. 11-1472): Updates to Title 2, Meridian City Code Regarding the Traffic Safety Commission and Planning & Zoning Commission De Weerd: 9-A is under Ordinance 11-1472-A. This is to update Title 2, Meridian City Code, regarding the Traffic Safety Commission and Planning and Zoning Commission. Council, we reported on this earlier in terms of number of commissioners. We did take one of the designated commission seats for the school district and put it as an ex-officio, so now the number of commissioners on this -- to this particular one is at nine. So, this was mostly aclean-up item. Mr. Nary, do you have anything further to add? Nary: Just briefly, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I think a few weeks ago I mentioned to you this would probably be coming as we confirm that with the -- a few weeks ago we mentioned this would be coming as we confirm that with the school district. This, again, would bring it back to nine. We held the prior ordinance, if you recall. We passed it so we could make sure we had the right number of members, but we held publishing that until we could clarify this position. So, we can put this on your agenda next week if you're comfortable with it for approval and, then, we would have, again, nine back on the traffic safety and the other clean-up is on the Planning and Zoning, is just the location, so - Item 10: Future Meeting Topics De Weerd: Okay. Any questions? Okay. We will put that on the agenda next week, then. Thank you. Okay. Our last item, Item No. 10 is on future meeting topics. Council, we put this on here. On occasion we get requests to be added to a City Council agenda and so we thought this would be one place that we would have that opportunity to bring those requests in front of you. Mr. Nary. Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, there is two items and the clerk's office can confirm -- there is two items that have been a request basically made through the Mayor's office. The process has been that if a citizen has an interest to speak before the Council about any topic they've needed to identify what the specific topic is, so that we can notice it properly. It's gone through the Mayor and the Council president and the agenda setting process to determine, one, if it's something of topicality, I guess, for this Council to hear and, then, when would be the appropriate time to hear that. The two that are -- the two that have had the most recent request that I'm aware of and Madam Mayor can certainly correct me if I'm mistaken. One was a request from a citizen that wanted to speak in regards to the backflow program. You have heard that a number of times in varieties of forms, but this particular concern or question was in regards to how Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 26 of 28 the rate setting was done back in 2002 and how the system has evolved to now where the Council has changed the backflow testing program and he wanted to address the Council to inquire about that. The second was an individual who has requested -- and he wasn't very specific as to what the topic was. He talked about liability issues. I did talk with the gentleman, as both the city attorney and the risk manager, and, then, the topic of liability was pretty vague and not very specific, but his individual concern was that there are some liability issues in his mind of the city's interaction with him or with his group and he wanted to make the Council aware of those things. So, if you have an interest in hearing either of those topics, we could get those noticed on a future agenda. Just for the public record, we couldn't -- we can't take -- the way the public meeting law is set up we can't take essentially random topics at this meeting, we have to notice them so that there is an opportunity for both the information that's needed for you to make a decision or anything, is being able to be presented, but, secondarily if anybody has an opposing viewpoint or a like viewpoint they have an opportunity to know that we are going to discuss it. So, just for the record sake we couldn't talk about future topics here, it was merely simply to raise these to you and if you'd like to hear them, then, we could schedule them in the future for you. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Just to express an opinion, I think we have discussed the backflow issues and made what I think is a final decision on that with the support of the Public Works Department. The other one -- is that an open discussion or an executive session type discussion? Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Zaremba, the gentleman hasn't identified specifically what liability if any he thinks exist. The -- in my brief discussion -- again, he wasn't necessarily very forthcoming about what liability, but it wasn't something, in my opinion, that rises to the level of executive session type of discussion at this point. Zaremba: Then, my opinion on that one would be I would want more information from him before we calendar that for the agenda. That's one person's opinion. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I guess my comment on that, too, either one of these issues, if -- if they haven't gone to staff -- and, I don't know, like the backflow program where they sit down and have a full discussion and get a thorough understanding of what happened in 2002, don't want people coming before the Council and we say, okay, now we go -- you need to go talk to staff, because they can explain that to you. I mean that's just a waste of time. There is a process and if there is a decision to be made, that's what we are here Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 27 of 28 for is to make decisions. And so if they have a problem, want us to consider changing city code or policies, that sort of thing, I'm a little more open to it, but if they just want information, then, they need to sit down with staff and do that and, then, formulate what they want changed. If there is no change, they just want to talk about it, well, they can sent us an a-mail as well. So, I guess that's my approach to it. De Weerd: Okay. Any other comments? Rountree: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: I don't have an issue with somebody wanting to come and talk to us, but I think that what they want to bring ought to be specified. The idea of exploring what happened in 2002, even if I would have been on the Council at that point in time, I wouldn't be able to recall what happened, that would be something that they would have to take up in the record with staff and -- and it should be resolved at that point. Having said that, anything that Council has done previously does not necessarily hold a newer Council, because we can shape, change, modify resolutions, ordinances, et cetera, to accommodate what needs to be done presently. So, I have kind of a -- I'm unclear what would be accomplished with that kind of a conversation. With respect to the second one you brought up, it seems a little bit vague and nebulous at this point in time and, again, I'm not sure what we would accomplish, other than hearing it. I don't have a problem with hearing it, but I would hope that whomever brings that kind of a discussion does not expect an action on the part of the Council, because we simply couldn't take an action, particularly if it meant changing policy or whatnot, because that all has to go through some kind of a public hearing process. Those are my thoughts. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: Along the line of Councilman Rountree, I think we are a public entity and if people want to come before us, I think they have a right to come before us. The procedure, as have been told for the 13 years I have been on here, you get a hold of the Council president, who is head of setting the agenda or the city -- through the city clerk's office and get it on here. But I mean it should be a valid reason to get on. The two items you have mentioned I don't see where coming before us is going to help at all on it. But I think if they have got a legitimate reason to come before us, I'm for one to listen and while we can't make any decisions, because there is a procedure to do it, we can at least listen. Nary: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Nary. Meridian City Council February 15, 2011 Page 28 of 28 Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we can certainly communicate all those things back. I mean just so you know -- and, again, as anybody that reviews the minutes, the record here, in the six years that I have been here in this role, both with Madam Mayor and almost all the Council members that are here, I don't think we have had really any issue that hasn't ultimately come before you if it couldn't get resolved at the staff level. I think as Council Member Hoaglun stated, I mean that has been the process that's worked fairly well. I mean many of the things do have to get vetted through the staff just for explanation and understanding of history and those type of things and you all know many times, whether it's my office or Mrs. Canning or Public Works or whatever, we have certainly come to a point where we have said, you know what, we can't resolve anymore issue for you, but we certainly can ask the Council to do that and that's worked effectively on most occasions. These two were just simply out of the norm, they didn't want to talk to staff any more than they had to this point and -- and guess just from the legal standpoint it concerns me that if the Council becomes a shortcut to people that they don't necessarily follow any process to do that, it becomes a very unworkable type of situation. But we can certainly communicate back to both the parties that, one, without really some real specificity of what they want to talk about, the Council is certainly willing to hear it once they can identify what it is that you would be able to have a conversation about and that they vetted it through the staff as much as is reasonably possible and, then, we can just take it from there. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. So, Mr. Nary, will you or the clerk's office follow up? Nary: Yes, Madam Mayor, we will do that. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. We are at the end of our agenda. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Rountree: So moved. Hoaglun: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:19 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR De WEEI~~E9` ~ ~4f~~~'~% DATE APPROVED :~ G~~ ~PORq r~~~'L ~'~.~~ A ST: c~'~C~.~~ ~~~I~CEE lam! 9 ~o~ ,Q /~'~ 9 ~~ T 1 S~ • 1 `C' ~•~` ,,,~ ~~oc~~c `\\\,,,. LMAN, CITY CLERK