HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-1111 ~ CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
AMENDED MEETING AGENDA
City Council Chambers
33 East Broadway Avenue
Meridian, Idaho
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 3:00 PM
1. Roll-Call Attendance
O David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted
4. Proclamation
A. Gene Kleiner Day Proclamation (Pg 2-3)
5. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 3-5)
A. Approve Minutes of May 22, 2013 City Council PreCouncil Meeting
B. Approve Minutes of May 22, 2013 City Council Special Meeting
C. Approve Minutes of May 28, 2013 City Council Regular Meeting
D. Approve Minutes of June 4, 2013 City Council PreCouncil Meeting
E. Recreational Pathway Easement Agreement #1 with Regency at River
Valley
F. Recreational Pathway Easement Agreement #2 with Regency at River
Valley
G. Approve Easements with Franklin Centre, LLC for Recycled Water and
Water Mains as Part of the Ada County Highway District (ACRD) Franklin -
Ten Mile to Linder Project
H. Approval of Task Order 10329 with Murray, Smith & Associates for "NW 8th
Street Sewer Trunk Main -Broadway Ave to Cherry Phase 2" for the Not-to-
Exceed Amount of $80,500.00
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 11, 2013 Page 1 of 3
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.
I. Award of an 18 Month Construction Trailer Lease to Pacific Mobile
Structures for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $5,115.00
6.
7.
J. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2013 Single-Night Sponsorship
Agreement Between All CAD Northwest and the City of Meridian for aNot-
to-Exceed Amount of $350.00
K. Revised Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 13-002 Red
Wing Subdivision by WH Moore Company Located Southeast Corner of S.
Meridian Road (SH 69) and E. Victory Road Request: Rezone of 32.87 Acres
of Land from the C-N and TN-C Zoning Districts to the R-4 (16.55 Acres)
and R-15 (16.32 Acres) Zoning Districts
L. Final Order for Approval: TEC 13-003 Bellingham Park Subdivision by
Conger Management Group Located Approximately 1/4 Mile East of S.
Locust Grove Road and Approximately 1/4 Mile North of E. Amity Road
Request: Two (2) Year Time Extension on the Preliminary Plat for
Bellingham Park Subdivision in Order to Obtain the City Engineer's
Signature on a Final Plat
M. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-022 Accolade Subdivision by Idaho Survey
Group Located South of E. Overland Road and West of S. Bonito Way,
Between E. Blue Horizon Drive and the Ridenbaugh Canal Request: Final
Plat Consisting of One (1) Multi-Family Residential Building Lot and One (1)
Common Lot on Approximately 11.23 Acres of Land in an R-40 Zoning
District
N. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-023 Irvine by Northside Management
Located Southeast Corner of W. Chinden Boulevard and N. Ten Mile Road
Request: Final Plat Consisting of 40 Single-Family Residential Building
Lots on Approximately 8.84Acres of Land in an R-8 Zoning District
O. Meridian Teen Movie Night 2013 Single-Night Sponsorship Agreement with
Calvary Chapel
Items Moved From Consent Agenda None
Department Reports
A. Parks and Recreation: Strategic Plan Update (Pg 5-14)
B. Meridian Parks and Recreation Department: 2013 Budget Amendment
Regarding UPRR Rail With Trail Arterial Study for aNot-to-Exceed Amount
of $85,000.00 Approved (Pg 14-15)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 11, 2013 Page 2 of 3
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.
C. Public Works: Budget Amendment for FY2013 for the Not-to-Exceed
Amount of $245,000.00 for Water Main Replacements and Sewer Main
Replacements Approved (Pg 15-17)
D. Clerk's Office: Budget Amendment for the Reorganization of the
Information Services Department Moved to 6/18/13 Agenda (Pg 17)
8. Action Items
A. Public Hearing: Appeal of City Clerk's Denial of Application for Temporary
Use Permit for Special Event - TUP-13-0043 Motion approved to uphold
denial (Pg 17-49)
9. Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 13-1561: An Ordinance of the City of Meridian Granting Re-
zoning of a Parcel Located at 807 N. Meridian Road, Meridian, Idaho to the
O-T (Old Town) District Approved (Pg 49-50)
10. Future Meeting Topics (Pg 50-51)
11. Other Items
A. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c)(f): (c) To Conduct
Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest in
Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency, and (f) To Consider
and Advise Its Legal Representatives in Pending Litigation (Pg 51-52)
Into Executive Session at 5:36 p.m.
Out of Executive Session at 6:01 p.m.
Adjourned at 6:01 p.m.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, June 11, 2013 Page 3 of 3
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 Workshop June 11, 2013
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday,
June 11, 2013, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Charlie Rountree, Keith Bird, and
Brad Hoaglun.
Members Absent: David Rountree.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Jeff Lavey, Scott Colaianni, Mark
Niemeyer, Warren Stewart, Steve Siddoway, Emily Kane, Kristy Vigil and Dean
Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Well, welcome to our City Council Workshop. It's our afternoon
retreat. Thank you for being here. For the record it is Tuesday, June 11th. It's
3:05. We will start with roll call attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all join us in the
pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is Adoption of the Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: On today's agenda under Item 7-D, Clerk's office, we need to remove
that and that will be moved to the agenda for next week to do some changes.
Under 9-A, that is Ordinance No. 13-1561. So, with that, Madam Mayor, I move
adoption of the agenda as amended.
Rountree: Second.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 2 of 52
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt agenda as amended. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 4: Proclamation
A. Gene Kleiner Day Proclamation
De Weerd: And, Council, for the proclamation I will be moving down to the
podium. Okay. If I can ask Steve and Treg to come and join me. So, this
proclamation is -- is past. This was a proclamation to honor Gene Kleiner, who
was the generous donor -- I was thinking of another word, but I guess that will
have to do -- of the Julius M. Kleiner Park and this proclamation is for this year,
but I did talk with our city attorney and we will come back with an ordinance to
institutionalize this. A gift as large as Kleiner Park, a 25 million dollar gift, is
something that we would like to institutionalize as a day that we stop and reflect
on the generosity of this kind of gift and challenge our community to think in
terms of paying it forward. So, we want this gift to keep on giving. Whereas, on
June 9th, 2012, one year ago today, Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park was
officially dedicated and opened to the public and whereas Gene Kleiner donated
both the land and construction of this 25 million dollar park through the Kleiner
Park Trust and whereas Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park has become a landmark
park known and loved by citizens throughout Meridian and the entire Treasure
Valley and whereas the donation of this great park has impacted our lives for the
better and increased the quality of life for our citizens and whereas Gene
Kleiner's generosity serves as an extraordinary example of selfless philanthropy
and community giving, therefore, I, Tammy de Weerd, Mayor of the City of
Meridian, do hereby proclaim June 9th, 2013, to be Gene Kleiner Day in the City
of Meridian and call upon all citizens to seek for opportunities to follow Gene
Kleiner's example of selfless generosity and pay it forward in countless new acts
of service across the community. And I will present this to our director and to the
chair of our Meridian Parks Commission. They certainly -- they were part of the
ceremony on Sunday to Gene Kleiner, but also have been instrumental in both
the donation and carrying the tradition and how we can continue to honor this
park through activities and maintenance. So, I will turn this over to you, Steve,
and ask for your comment. I will shake your hand as well.
Siddoway: Well, we all know and love Kleiner Park. Let me just say that I had
the honor of spending this last weekend with Gene Kleiner, both on Saturday
giving him a tour of the park for a couple of hours, and on Sunday and where we
had Gene Kleiner Day and a dinner in his honor. I think he's flying out this
afternoon. He's probably a little white knuckled on an airplane as we speak at
the moment and -- but the gift is one that we will not forget and I'm pleased to
hear the Mayor say that we are going to memorialize this proclamation into an
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 3 of 52
ordinance that will memorialize June 9th on its anniversary as Gene Kleiner Day.
So, on his behalf thank you.
De Weerd: Hey, Steve, do you want to turn the podium. I guess since you will
be standing in front of it yourself anyway. But thank you. And it was a great
event that was provided in the Senior Center to -- to honor Gene and to give him
an update. So, your staff, the presentation you put together to really show what
has transpired over this last year, was phenomenal. So, thank you.
Siddoway: Thank you.
Item 5: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of May 22, 2013 City Council
PreCouncii Meeting
B. Approve Minutes of May 22, 2013 City
Council Special Meeting
C. Approve Minutes of May 28, 2013 City
Council Regular Meeting
D. Approve Minutes of June 4, 2013 City Council
PreCouncil Meeting
E. Recreational Pathway Easement Agreement #1 with
Regency at River Valley
F. Recreational Pathway Easement Agreement #2 with
Regency at River Valley
G. Approve Easements with Franklin Centre, LLC for
Recycled Water and Water Mains as Part of the Ada
County Highway District (ACHO) Franklin Ten Mile to
Linder Project
H. Approval of Task Order 10329 with Murray, Smith &
Associates for nNW 8th Street Sewer Trunk Main -
Broadway Ave to Cherry Phase 2" for the Not-toExceed
Amount of $80,500.00
I. Award of an 18 Month Construction Trailer Lease to
Pacific Mobile Structures for the Not-To-Exceed Amount
of $5,115.00
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 4 of 52
J. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2013 Single-Night
Sponsorship Agreement Between All CAD Northwest
and tha City of Meridian for a Notto-Exceed Amount of
$350.00
K. Revised Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for
Approval: RZ 13.002 Red Wing Subdivision by WH
Moore Company Located Southeast Corner of S.
Meridian Road (SH 69) and E. Victo/}' Road Request:
Rezone of 32.87 Acres of Land from the CoN and TN-C
Zoning Districts to the R-4 (16.55 Acres) and R-15 (16.32
Acres) Zoning Districts
L. Final Oreter for Approval: TEC 13-003 Bellingham Park
Subdivision by Conger Management Group Located
Approximately 1/4 Mile East of S. Locust Grove Road
and Approximately 1/4 Mile North of E. Amity Road
Request: Two (2) Year Time Extension on the
Preliminary Plat for Bellingham Park Subdivision in
Order to Obtain the City Engineer's Signature on a Final
Plat
M. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-022 Accolade
Subdivision by Idaho Survey Group Located South of E.
Overland Road and West of S. Bonito Way, Between E.
Blue Horizon Drive and the Ridenbaugh Canal Request:
Final Plat Consisting of One (1)Multi-Family Residential
Building Lot and One (1) Common Lot on Approximately
11.23 Acres of Land In an R-40 Zoning District
N. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-023 Irvine by Northside
Management Located Southeast Comer of W. Chinden
Boulevard and N. Ten Mile Road Request: Final Plat
Consisting of 40 Single-Family Residential Building Lots
on Approximately 8.84Acres of Land in an R-8 Zoning
District
O. Meridian Teen Movie Night 2013 Single-Night
Sponsorship Agreement with Calvary Chapel
De Weerd: Item No. 5 is our Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 5 of 52
Hoaglun: One of the items, 5-O, was -- one of the reasons why this was added
to the amended meeting agenda, that was added after their first one went out,
just Meridian Teen Movie Night sponsorship that got completed and we wanted
to get that on the agenda, but -- so, Madam Mayor, I move approval of the
Consent Agenda and the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda.
Madam Clerk, roll call.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, absent; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 6: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
De Weerd: Item 6. There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 7: Department Reports
A. Parks and Recreation: Strategic Plan Update
De Weerd: So, we will move to 7-A. Oh, before we do that. Council, you might
notice that there is another body up here and so I will ask Mr. Nary to, please,
introduce Spencer.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Sitting next to me is
Spencer Lacey. Spencer is a legal intern with the Idaho Municipal Attorney's
Association for this summer. He's working out of our office. He's assisting us
with legal issues, as well as other attorneys and municipal attorneys around the
state with any legal issues they may have in their communities. He attends not
the University of Idaho, I think it's called Concordia College or something like
that. Concordia University. Somewhere east of here. But, anyway, we are really
glad to have Spencer aboard. He's been a great addition to our team for just
even the short time he's been here so far and thank you for allowing him to sit up
here and see how we -- how we work from here.
De Weerd: Thank you. And welcome, Spencer. I will apologize in advance in
who you get to work with, but -- okay. Item 7-A is our strategic plan update with
our Parks and Recreation Department. Thank you, Steve.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Well, June is
the month that Parks and Recreation gets to provide to you our strategic update.
As you know, part of this update is to report on projects that we have been
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 6 of 52
working on over the past year at your direction. Also to talk about current
projects and challenges and, then, a glimpse into the future. Our presentation
today has four parts. We will start out, as you can see on the screen, walking
down this pathway through -- the first section on administration and statistics is
our numbers. Then we will talk about parks and pathway projects, followed by
recreation programs and, then, look ahead strategically into the future. We are
also trying out a bit of new software on you, so -- let's see.
Rountree: Oh, joy.
Siddoway: Okay. First we will talk about the section on administration and
statistics. Let me begin, first of all, by talking about this great staff and I have
asked my staff to join me here in the back of the room. I would put them up
against any parks and recreation staff. They provide more service for the
amount of numbers that we have than any group that I have know and can think
of. We have currently 20.5 year around staff, but that increases this time of year
to about 66 when we get all our seasonals in place. In addition to that, all of our
courses and classes are taught by independent contractors. We have
approximately 39 of those. This January, as you will remember, Rick retired and
that set some changes into -- into motion. Dave Cereghino was hired in his place
as a groundskeeper one. Phil Harris was promoted to a construction and
maintenance tech three and we have also been able to -- we have our part-time
seasonal office assistant you can see in the -- on the upper left-hand part, Hillary
and Jean, who are at our front counters with Janice. Probably the most
important thing on this slide, though, is in that lower left corner, which is the
picture of Janice and --
De Weerd: Don't be so excited, Janice
Siddoway: She doesn't like to have a big to do made, but Janice has been with
the city for 31 years and she has let us know that it's time for her to retire this
year. She plans to retire at the start of the new fiscal year in October, which
means that we need to start advertising for her position beginning at the end of
this month in order to have a few weeks of overlap, which is very crucial to us,
between the new office administrative assistant and Janice with her wealth of
knowledge. I want to take just a minute here -- and there will be more said later I
know, but we don't look forward to losing Janice, but we do want you to know
how much we love and -- and we will miss you when that time comes and what
an honor it has been to work with you over the past many years. Some of our
numbers in parks. We currently have 240 acres of developed park land. You
can see the breakdown there. In addition to that, we have 36 acres on 34 sites
that we maintain by contract. Our current level of service in the City of Meridian
is three acres per thousand. If you remember last year I gave you a number
higher than that, so why is this year's number lower? Well, our park acres didn't
change, but the population of Meridian is growing and so it's -- two numbers
affect acres per thousand, both the population and the acres of parks. So, we
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 7 of 52
have that 240 acres, but population, according to COMPASS, is currently
estimated at 81,380, thus giving us our current level of service. We do own
future park land that we anticipate developing, 141 acres currently in ownership
for future development. If all of that were developed today we would have a level
of service of 4.6 acres per thousand. Looking forward down the road -- I tried to
get a 2020 population number from COMPASS. They didn't have one, but they
do have a 2040, which was 154,000. So, if all of those sites were developed out
at that population it would have two and a half acres per thousand. Additional
projects that aren't on here yet, like the Aldape property, will help increase that as
well. Our goal that has been in place since I have been here has been to -- to
shoot for four acres per thousand. Looking at some pathways. We have got
14.3 miles of maintained pathways that we oversee. A little more than half of it is
in our parks, actually, but about a little over six miles of that are areas like the
Bud Porter Pathway and elsewhere throughout the community. About 12 miles
of unconnected pathways are not maintained by us. I say approximately,
because we don't know exactly the mileage that's out there in all the
subdivisions, but that's the estimate we put together with efforts with planning. I
want to look at urban forestry and point out here the orange box towards the top.
Last year in 2012 we were able to replace 11 of the downtown tree boxes,
approximately double of what we have been able to do in a lot of past years and
we hope to continue that trend. It's due in large part because of a partnership
that we have with MDC and the additional funds that they are contributing as we
are able to put towards that project. Sports teams are doing great and, Garrett, I
give kudos to you. He manages the sports programs amazingly well and you can
see that we are on track and alittle -- even a little above where we were last
year. We have added anew -- you don't see as many yellow boxes on the other
charts as you do in this year and that's because that's the --anew summer
women's volleyball program that's just begun and we will talk a little bit more
about that. All right. Softball fields. Incredibly high amount of use. You can see
on the left the amount of use times and the amount of unused times for our
spring softball season. Those are not days, those are just open slots which
represent just a few days which were held for rain outs and, fortunately, a lot of
those rain outs held off. On the right you can see our total gym usage, which
also continues to grow, and we have already used more gym time this year in
schools than we did all of last year. So, it's a -- those programs continue to grow.
De Weerd: Steve, maybe next year you can make the numbers a little bit
smaller.
Siddoway: I was trying not to have too many slides.
De Weerd: Ah. there is reason to that madness.
Siddoway: Just want you to see height of the chart. Patrick oversees our activity
guides and kudos to him as well. You can see that the enrollments are up. If
you just look at the -- I'll try something here. Look at the blue down here in 2013
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 8 of 52
and you can compare it to last year, you can see already how we are on track to
do more enrollments than we have been. We are only into the beginning of the
summer and we have -- we are already well on our way to last year's numbers for
enrollments. Okay. Now, I'd like to show you a new tool that we have developed
that I'm very excited to have at our fingertips. A lot of people don't know where to
find specific amenities in our parks, so we had the idea of coming up with a web
search tool. I want to recognize the efforts of IT and Rachael in this endeavor,
but if -- this is now live on our website and let's say, for example, that I wanted to
find a park that -- you just scroll through and you click what's important to you.
So, if I wanted a playground and a picnic shelter and basketball -- a basketball
hoop, you can see I have eight different opportunities to -- to look at those and if I
click on those they will tell me what they are. I will show you here. I just wanted
to show one other. If what was important to me was -- I really wanted a water
feature and game tables, I picked one that would just give me one on purpose,
but if you -- if you click on that it takes you directly to another page that will tell
you details about that park and you can see here it's Generations Plaza. You
can see here the water feature at Generations Plaza and there is the game table
and that's in Generations Plaza as well and additional information about that. So,
this new web search tool is something we are hoping will be user friendly to our
public. It's currently a little bit buried within the website and Ihope -- we have
been talking city wide about web improvements to the city website and I hope to
have this prominently displayed on our page moving forward. So, that's it for
some of the key numbers. Now, let's talk about some of our parks and pathways.
Kleiner Park itself has received several upgrades over the past year since we
were last before you, as well as awards. We received awards from the American
Council of Engineering Companies, both at the state and national level, as well
as civil engineering award for the state of Idaho. We plan on submitting Kleiner
Park for an additional award, hopefully, this year through both the American
Society of Landscape Architects and the Idaho Recreation and Parks
Association. We have -- there have been improvements to parking lot drainage.
We tried our off-leash dogs program. We had our first year with the community
garden, which, by the way, donated over 5,000 pounds of produce to the
Meridian Food Bank and also pathway upgrades in that arboretum area. In
addition, still in Kleiner Park, this spring we have added electrical upgrades to the
event area of the recreation complex. We have been able to add a tree plaque to
Eldon Gray's wife, Dorothy Gray, which he is incredibly grateful for. The tree
grates, which the City Council has approved and provided funding for are -- have
been ordered and are in and we are getting ready to put those in this summer. I
think one of the most impactful improvements are the -- visually are those
fountains that you see. They really add a lot of activity and visual interest and
are a great great addition. I think one of the biggest ones that we have been
working on just in terms of level of effort are those barbecues. They are actually
griddles, but we call them barbecues. But those grills -- we have two in the park.
One at each of the large shelters. They have just been installed in the last few
weeks. All of the -- the unit itself was obviously premade, but the stand, the
cover, everything that locks them up was all done in house and it's an amazing --
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 9 of 52
amazing fete that they put together to get this done in a way that fits in with the
park so well. They will have their first use tomorrow night with the -- when the
parks and recreation commission comes out and has a team building barbecue
and some games to get together as a commission. Tree markers have been
added within the arboretum, so that the public coming to the arboretum we have
240 species or will when the whole park is -- the whole arboretum is complete.
Those markers are identifying what the trees are. The concessions building was
not signed as such and now has a new sign and as was already mentioned we
celebrated Gene Kleiner Day just this past Sunday. We have also instituted a
park ambassador program with partnership with the police department, so I think
Chief Lavey and Barb Hatch, who is pictured in the -- in the vehicle there is
overseeing that ambassador program and she coordinates volunteers, but our
citizens, both from Meridian and across the valley, really care about this park and
sign up to take shifts and help us patrol that park. There is still openings, too, if
anyone knows of anyone interested in volunteering. Two weeks ago tomorrow, I
believe, we cut the ribbon on our new parking maintenance facility. You were all
there, so I don't need to say too much about this, except I just want to say how
proud we are to have this new facility, to be able to move out of the old, outdated
facility that we have been in and outgrown, as we have grown from double digit
acreage numbers to triple digit acreage numbers and we are maintaining just so
much more and this new facility will give us room to grow in the future and the
move in has begun in earnest ever since that ribbon was cut. We will plan to
take you through it as a moved in facility as part of our parks tour in September.
Very proud of the way that this project has turned out, the Meridian's baseball
overflow parking. It's on school district property directly adjacent to the Meridian
baseball field at Settlers Park. Last fall as you know we put up no parking signs
along sections of Ustick and Meridian Roads and there needed to be a place to
handle the parking demands for this spring. Interestingly, this new parking area
is more popular than even the existing parking, because it's so convenient to
those baseball fields and it was great to see it immediately adopted by the people
coming to be part of those games. In Settlers Park we also have a tennis facility.
We have been before you before talking about right-in, right-outs and things like
that. We have been working on the permits since that time. We are -- I believe
we got the final ACHD approvals and the final plans submitted this week and I'm
going to look back at Mike. Are we going out to bid this week? So, out to bid this
week. And let me just say thank you to Mike for his leadership and project
management on both that and the Meridian -- and the parking maintenance
facility. Pathways are overseen in large part by Jay Gibbons and last fall many of
you were at our ribbon cutting for the Five Mile Creek pathway. Segment H1,
which is not a very glamorous term, but it's right down here by -- at Pine Street.
It's a beautiful section of pathway. You're in the heart of downtown and you feel
a million miles from anywhere when you're walking along it. It's a -- it's a great
new addition to that system. We plan to continue the extension of that Five Mile
Creek system this summer next to Bridgetower Subdivision on Ustick. It was a
couple of sections there that will be built in conjunction with ACHD and the
section we will be building right in front of the Bridgetower Subdivision. The
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 10 of 52
connecting piece from there over to Ten Mile Road is currently planned to be a
part of the Isola Creek Subdivision when it develops. Oh, let me back up. I also
want to point out the sign up in the upper right. We have replaced the Old Bud
Porter Pathway sign with one of the new style pathway signs that we started with
the Diane and Winston Moore pathway. Slightly smaller, but very beautiful and
we are very excited to have that up and have been receiving positive comments
since that went up this spring. 8th Street Park has a current project. Public
Works went in to do some sewer work underneath the existing -- the old
playground that was outdated and needing to be replaced. We have a
community development block grant that will provide the funds to replace that
playground and add a new restroom facility in that -- in that park and that park is
one of our only ones that does not have a restroom and Lori den Hartog was
here last week talking about Centennial Park as the other one that we would like
to add a restroom in next year. So, this is a project for this summer and is out to
bid now. Storey Park was before you last week with the Land and Water
Conservation Fund. You see the plat in the lower right-hand corner. In short, I
think you know the issues here, but we have been working for some time on this
to try and find a solution that will clear up the Land and Water Conservation Fund
items in a way that is a win-win for all the parties involved, including Parks, Public
Works with their well lot, and the speedway and dairy board. Additional smaller
accomplishments that I just want to group together. The new fountain in Tully
Park, that upper photo, is -- was put in and paid for by the environmental division.
It fills water bottles in a -- so that people walking along the pathway can fill water
bottles, instead of just have the drinking fountain. We had instituted recycling
programs successfully at Settlers Park and expanding that this year to both
Heroes Park and Kleiner Park. We unveiled our first park dedication sign last
year at Kleiner Park, but as was presented to you just a couple of weeks ago by
Jay, we have been working on all the dates and getting system wide park
dedication signs finalized and those will be moving forward for installation this
summer. And, finally, the Ten Mile Interchange landscaping was finalized last
year as well. That slide does it for the parks section and now we move to
recreation. Special events. Where do we start. There are a lot of special events
in the city, from Cable One Movie Night and this year we are starting for the first
year our Teen Movie Night program. Unplug and Be Outside Week was a big
one. I don't want to walk through all of these. I will say one of the biggest
changes this year that we are looking forward to is the changes to the Christmas
Parade and doing that this year for the first time as a night light parade. Move on
from there. To adult sports programs. I mentioned at the beginning that we have
a new summer outdoor volleyball league. It's being held at Bear Creek Park and
we were hoping to have at least 20 teams register for its first season and we had
30. So, we beat our hope by 50 percent and there seems to be a lot of interest in
that and kudos to Garrett for getting that up and running and moving forward, in
addition to new ideas for tournaments and you will see at the bottom we have a
new open gym time for city employees that actually starts tomorrow. It will be
Wednesdays and Thursdays in the evenings between 4:30 and 6:00 and will be
available for employees to come and play basketball on Wednesdays or
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 11 of 52
volleyball on Thursdays. We have our classes and camps, which continue to
draw interest. I love the bottom right one, which is a communicator group that
came and did a program in Kleiner Park at the band shell. It went well enough
and the word got out that we have two additional children's theater groups that
have asked to be -- to do their own productions in the park using that band shell
and they will be there this summer. We have also expanded this year from one --
one summer camp site at the community center to two at the school -- to two
school district sites. One in south Meridian at Sienna, one in north Meridian at
Prospect. What made that possible for us was that mutual fee waiver agreement
that came to Council earlier this year and they have agreed to let us use those
two sites free of charge and -- and Patrick's just had his hands full with the new
staffing requirements and everything running an additional camp site. He also
was involved with the Teen Activities Council and some of their highlights from
this year, Ignite Youth, and the project with Ben's Bells. I'm not going to take the
time to demo this, but I do want to let you know that this year for the first time we
have an electronic activity guide and not just a paper one. We have always had
an electronic one in terms of having a pdf, but this is more than a pdf, this is an
interactive one where you can flip through it like you do on the city news. You're
familiar with how the city news turns pages. You can flip through it that way, but,
then, in addition you can just read about your -- the class, click on it, and it will
take you right to the registration page of our website. So, that is a great new
addition to -- to that and Patrick and Collin have both been working on that.
Volunteers this past year. Last year we had over 3,000 volunteer hours, saving
us over 48,000 dollars. Many of them in Eagle Scout projects, but many others
with church groups and other organizations coming and being part of our parks
system. We thank them and appreciate Collins efforts to coordinate them. So,
now we go to the -- the final section, which is looking ahead. We have several
challenges and opportunities on our radar. Starting out at the upper left we -- we
get approached with a lot of partnership ideas that may not have the funding to
be successful, so we are looking at a partnership policy. We presented a draft to
the parks commission last month. We will be following up with them next month
and, then, bringing that forward. In addition to that we are -- it's been many years
since there has been a comprehensive look at the parks and recreation code
section of the UDC and we have been working closely with Emily in the Legal
Department to do that and that was also presented in draft form to the
commission last month and we will be following up on that more this summer.
We own 77 acres in the south and we need to develop our water right next year
or risk losing it, so we are preparing to do that. We also know we need to look
not just in our department, but across all departments at the TUP process and
the timeline for elements that are there. Generations Plaza fountain pictured at
the top does not have UV as part of its system. We want to upgrade that. You
approved us last month to get some design work going. It's been surveyed. That
design work is underway. By the end of this month we should have those
designs and we will be before you by the end of this month with an enhanced --
or an amendment for moving forward with those improvements this summer. We
also are working for a solution to geese control in Kleiner Park. Also looking at
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 12 of 52
ways to better utilize and manage the Settlers Park splash pad. Without getting
-- you know, each one of these could have a slide of their own, but in the interest
of time I just want to tell you about these and we will follow up more about them
with you in -- in budget hearings and elsewhere. The Rail With Trail has a -- was
presented to you last week and we -- getting money from ITD and we have a
budget amendment for you I believe on today's agenda that will give us spending
authority on those funds to move the planning for the arterial crossing for that
Rail With Trail. And, of course, the gym and field house project currently
designed is on hold while we seek for opportunities with partnerships that might
be -- that may be potentially out there. But as you saw from the gym usage
numbers at the beginning we do have a need for additional gym space and look
forward to feeling that out in the future. Speaking of the future, what is coming?
Well, the next project we have -- the next big project we are likely to develop is
the Borup property. Of course that is contingent on development and utility
solutions and things like that. But we do hope to develop that with the ball
complex -- softball complex to meet those growing demands of the softball
program and since we anticipate lit fields we want to get those lit fields in before
the rooftops come, so everyone knows ahead of time that they are going to be
out there. We have the south Meridian 77 acres. We have been talking quite a
lot lately also with Sherry and John Ewing with the Aldape property. This next
year we hope to do a master plan -- concept plan for all three of those parks as
part of a comprehensive Parks and Recreation master plan, because our current
action plan is ten years old now and largely implemented. In addition, we have
other neighborhood parks we know that are coming our way. Finally, we have
been doing a lot of work with our commission. We have a great commission and
we have several commissioners here today and thank you, commissioners, for all
of your work and for coming today to support us. We really do appreciate that.
You have heard from Treg earlier this year, just a couple months ago, on
commission goals and the progress they are making and they are making
tremendous progress on their goals. Number six on that goal list is a Meridian
Parks and Recreation Department community video and the community liaison
committee has been -- over the entire last year going to events and activities that
we have put on from beginning to end and, then, taken video clips of those
activities. We have taken those video clips and with the help of Natalie
Podgorski in the Mayor's office, have developed a new department video that we
will be using as part of presentations when we go do schools, when we go to
Kiwanis, when we go to put it on our website and elsewhere. We would like to
share that video with you right now and show it for the first time.
(Video played.)
Siddoway: Thank you very much. Well, that ends our presentation today and so
from our numbers to our park projects to our recreation programs and looking
ahead, that's our strategic presentation for you and I will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 13 of 52
Bird: Not a question. Just thank you for a nice presentation and for everything
you have done this year and I know we are going to do better in the future.
Thanks, Steve.
Siddoway: Thank you.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I did have one question. In the Meridian -- south Meridian property,
the 77 acres, the well development, is that something that we are just going to be
using for a water development there or is that a joint project with Public Works for
a city well as well or do we not know yet?
Siddoway: All our rights are for that property and we would be developing them
for an irrigation well. We -- public works is aware of the project. If they had a
need we could find a partnership. Right now I don't think that's necessary. But
our anticipated project right now is to develop an irrigation well.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thanks.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Man, we have really come a long ways and I know Keith and I go
back to two parks and the formation of the commission and where we are today
and it's -- it's amazing what the community has done. A couple words struck me
in your video and your comments. Our goal is four acres per thousand. It's
attainable if we could just slow down a little bit and quality and I think what we
have is really a quality approach. There is one element that I want to spend
some time with you on -- not here today, but something somewhat visionary that
might relate to pathways.
Siddoway: Okay. We are very passionate about pathways and --
Rountree: But a terrific job. I'm just really pleased.
Siddoway: Thank you. Well, I want to deflect those comments back here to staff
and the commission. It wouldn't happen without them and I really really feel
proud of the work that they do. They make all of us look good and they serve the
community very well and the public. So, thank you guys.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 14 of 52
De Weerd: Yes. And I'm glad they are hearing that from Council. I come to staff
meetings and, again, just to reiterate, the quality of life in our community has
received a lot of recognition and much of that is -- is tied to our parks system and
to the quality that we see in our parks. The pride that the staff takes in the parks
system is second to none and what Collin and Patrick and Garrett have done
with our recreational programs in growing it and getting activities for our citizens,
for our families, to create those lifetime memories is certainly important and,
lastly, I know Jay has still hair on his head, which is amazing, but in building and
connecting a pathway system that is not only for our families to use and those
safe routes to school, but it's an alternative mode in a transportation system that
we hope some day we see utilized in getting to and from work and, you know,
certainly that's the end goal, but we greatly appreciate the roll that all of you play
and in particular in being that customer service expert. I have been -- and been
able to hand out a couple of the Meridian Way coins at your staff meetings to --
Janice is our most recently one, but I know that our citizens acknowledge that the
care and the pride and the service that they get from our parks staff. So, thank
you, Steve. You are the roll model. It certainly has to start on top as well. So,
thank you for all that you do, too.
Siddoway: Thank you, too.
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor, I think Steve and the rest of the staff know when
Janice leaves they all are going to have to step up their game quite a bit, so --
De Weerd: And Janice has it down to the minute I think. Iran into her and Gary
at lunch and so it's like she -- she reiterated that the time -- talk is -- or the clock
is ticking. The talk is clocking. So, thank you for -- for your presentation and for
being here.
B. Meridian Parks and Recreation Department: 2013
Budget Amendment Regarding UPRR Rail With Trail
Arterial Study for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of $85,000.00
De Weerd: Item 7-B is our Parks and Recreation Department as well and in front
of you you will have a budget amendment for a Rail With Trails.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Since Councilman Zaremba is not here, he's the liaison, I will move --
De Weerd: Do you want to have --
Hoaglun: Oh, yeah. Jay -- we will have Jay present it first. I was ready. I knew
what was going on, so --
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 15 of 52
De Weerd: You saw that this was going to be really fast, uh?
Gibbons: Caught me off guard. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, if you
remember last -- last week's Council meeting Caleb presented an update on the
Rail With Trail project and the grant that we received from ITD and the feds as far
as to pursue an arterial crossing study, a planning study on our future Rail With
Trail program and I said at that time that we would be back this week with a
budget amendment reflecting that grant. So, before you we bring an 85,000
dollar -- that was the amount of the grant. The city's match ends up being 6,239
dollars. That's seven and a third percent of that 85,000. So, we need
authorization from the Council to be able to spend the 85,000 dollars and be able
to ask ITD for reimbursement of 78,781 of that. So, with that I will stand for
questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Jay. Any questions from Council?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: None.
De Weerd: Councilman Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor, I move approval of the 2013 budget amendment,
Rail With Trail arterial study for a not to exceed of 85,000 dollars.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-B. Madam Clerk,
roll call.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, absent; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
C. Public Works: Budget Amendment for FY2013 for the
Not•to-Exceed Amount of $245,000.00 for Water Main
Replacements and Sewer Main Replacements
De Weerd: Item 7-C is our Public Works Department. It looks like, Warren,
you're on.
Stewart: Thank you. Excuse me. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the
Public Works Department is seeking your approval of the budget amendment for
245,000 dollars for the water and sewer line extensions for the split corridor
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 16 of 52
project. As you can imagine this was a substantial project. When we -- when we
started this it was through the downtown area. We knew that there was bound to
be a lot of surprises and it has not disappointed and there have been some
significant things. You can see in the memo that is associated with this that we
have had several significant things that have happened. Probably the two most
significant was the replacement of some PVC water main line up at the
intersection essentially along Fairview between Meridian and Main Street. That
PVC main was of a vintage that had fittings on there that had been problematic
for us and caused leaks and breaks throughout the city and we did not know that
that's the kind of pipe that was in the ground until we opened it up and we felt like
that it was probably unwise to leave it in there underneath that brand new
concrete intersection and have the potential for a major expense if that pipe
failed. So, that was one. Probably the next most significant thing, as you can
imagine, when we dug a 20 foot deep sewer line down the road we ran into in
some cases some material down there at 20 feet that was rather mucky and not
in very good condition and we had the option to either pull that material out and
try and condition it, essentially work it over and dry it out and, then, reuse it, but
that would have postponed the project and delayed the project to do that work
and we opted to go ahead and bring in import material and keep that project
moving forward and not impact the schedule of the project. So, those are -- there
is several other issues that I will let you -- you probably read that memo, but
those were probably the two most significant, so we are here today asking for the
245,000 dollars to go ahead and complete that project and complete the mainline
extension. I would note two things. One, as far as the City of Meridian work is
concerned, the vast majority of the utility work for this project is nearing
completion. So, the sewer and the water lines associated with this project are
almost all in the ground. The mainlines are almost all in the ground. There is still
a tremendous amount of roadway work and stuff that has to be done, but we
don't anticipate anymore major surprises, because most of that work has been
complete. Secondly, there is a pot of money that we reserved for this project,
about 250,000 dollars, that was associated with the possibility of an early
completion of the project in paying the contactor for completing on time. I don't
know what the schedule is going to be at this time. He doesn't appear to be
significantly ahead of schedule. I would just mention that if they -- if they don't
use that money, essentially, that will offset this budget amendment and it will
come in, essentially, at the same price that we had originally anticipated.
De Weerd: Well, Warren, we are hoping they use that money.
Stewart: Yes. I can understand that.
De Weerd: That pot of money. I wouldn't quite call it a pot, but -- any questions
or comments?
Bird: Have you signed off on that, Tammy? Your signature isn't on there.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 17 of 52
De Weerd: I don't know. I think I have. Yes.
Bird: But you're okay with it? Okay.
De Weerd: Uh-huh. Council, any questions?
Rountree: If there is no questions, Madam Mayor, I move that we approve the
budget amendment for the water main replacement and sewer main
replacements on the split corridor in an amount not to exceed 245,000 dollars.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-C. Madam Clerk,
will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, absent; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
D. Clerk's Office: Budget Amendment for the
Reorganization of the Information Services Department
De Weerd: Item 7-D will be put on next week's meeting due to my not getting the
information in, just wanted to say. So, Council, we will put that on next week's
agenda as well.
Item 8: Action Items
A. Public Hearing: Appeal of City Clerk's Denial of
Application for Temporary Use Permit for Special Event
-TUP-13-0043
De Weerd: Item 8-A under Action Items is a public hearing on an appeal. I -- oh,
Mr. Nary. I won't have to guess on who I turn those over to.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. No one's ever
accused me of being short winded, but I will try to do my best. I'm here, Madam
Mayor, Members of the Council, to speak first on and introduce a temporary use
process for applicants for special events like the Northwest RibFest which is in
front of you today and what the requirements are to comply prior to issuance of a
TUP, a temporary use permit, for using city facilities, such as Kleiner Park in this
case and, then, I will turn the time over the Emily Kane to speak on behalf of the
TUP team to explain the details, all the work that's been done by city staff, all the
time that's been invested to try to bring this application into compliance with our
city requirements under ordinance. The TUP is comprised -- the TUP is
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 18 of 52
comprised of various staff members from various departments that all have a
stake in all of these types of events that we are putting on. We have people from
Planning, Building, Police, Fire, Legal, Parks and the City Clerk, which is the final
point of contact. So, that the parties know there is one place to go for delivering
information, where they can receive information. They sometimes need to go to
departments individually for a specific thing. If they want to know how many
trash cans are in the park, then, they probably should ask the parks department
for that specific information, but we prefer all of them go through that same point
of contact, so, again, there is no misinformation, there is no misunderstanding,
they are not one party to approve something in the parks department that's really
a police function or somebody in the fire department approve something that's a
building function. So, we want to make sure that the information is done cleanly
and concisely and directly for all applications. So, they are all here today from
the TUP team. If you have specific questions after Emily is done to ask for either
the departments of what she may or may not be able to answer, because it is a
department specific, they are here to be able to answer that for you. So, since
this is the first denial that we have issued as a city on these types of events, I just
wanted to explain to you, to the public, to the public record, about what the
purpose is and what we are trying to accomplish here in doing these. The
process is -- it will take a few minutes, but the ordinance that we have in place
currently was enacted originally in 2010. It was amended in 2012 and 2013.
And without getting into every detail of the ordinance specifically, I could tell you
the overall intent of the ordinance was to assure the following: That all the
events that are held on city facilities are -- the general health and safety of both
the patrons of the event, as well as the use of other users of the facility -- so, for
example, in a park those that want to attend the event that's being requested, but
those that just want to attend and use the park for their own purposes and, then,
also the general public at large, so that they aren't impacted by these events in a
negative way. We want to be sure this is a judicious use of the city's resources
and reimbursement when appropriate. It's not appropriate, in our opinion, for the
public to fund events unless they are being reimbursed. There is, obviously, a
certain level of service that's necessary for any type of activity or event, but
things that are beyond that, that tax the resources of the city, whether it's
personnel or property or anything else, we think it's important that the city be
reimbursed for those type of things and the way we normally have done that is
through contract and we contract with the -- with the applicant to make sure that
the city is covered both liability wise, as well as resources that are going to be
reimbursed in a timely fashion and that the city has a mechanism in which to
enforce that if it isn't paid in a timely fashion. Finally, the maintenance of good
relations with our neighbors is an overall objective in all the uses of our facilities.
We have neighbors -- whether it's neighborhoods, we have neighbors whether
it's retail outlets, whether it's general commercial, whether it's industrial, whether
it's residential, we have neighbors to all of our facilities and Kleiner Park is
unusual and unique in the sense that we also have a restriction with Kleiner Park
and how it's to be used for all events in relation to our direct neighbors with
CenterCal. So, again, we try to make sure that there is communication, there is
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 19 of 52
permission granted, there is a dialogue between the parties to make sure, again,
we are not impacting our neighbors in a negative way. We as a city feel it's
important to protect our neighbors and certainly adjacent to Kleiner Park we have
some very significant commercial areas, as well as residential. Residential to the
east and to the north. We have the commercial to the west. We have
commercial to the south and across Fairview, again, some large commercial
projects between Walmart and, then, the DDR property. So, we want to make
sure that those are included in the conversation and that something is being
done to not impact them also in a negative way. So, through the ordinance and
the planning process we have learned a few things. First, the more preplanning
the better. The more people do that -- Council Member Zaremba is not here
today, but I certainly can beat the drum, as he has said, in front of all of you and
to the public -- again, having done large scale events like he has, he knows the
more planning, the time, the better off the project or the event is going to be.
Sometimes the details of the most minor part of the event can be as critical as
the most major. We have found that over time with various events throughout
the city that forgetting a minor detail can probably be the most biggest downfall of
any event. So, covering all those bases is significant and important. Honest and
detailed communication between the applicant and the city are critical. We need
to know what they are doing, what information they can provide, what
assurances they can provide the city, and what other approvals they may have
needed to gather before they came to the city. Sometimes with Central District
Health. Sometimes with ACHD or ITD, depending on where the property is
located. There may be other agencies besides the city that they need approval
from and we want to be sure that that dialogue is had and that those approvals
are done prior to us approving the event. Fourth. The city will do as much as
possible to help the applicant succeed. We meet, we discuss, we prioritize
information, we will do follow up as necessary to be sure things are getting done.
We will follow up with the applicant. We will meet and meet and meet. We have
a preapplication that's required for the TUP process to make sure that the
applicant knows what's required, when we need it, and what the deadlines are.
At some point, though, we have to say enough is enough, we have done this, you
haven't met the deadline, you haven't met the requirements, and a decision has
to be made. In this particular instance, after all of the meetings and all of the
discussion and all of the a-mails between all these parties, including our
neighbors to the Kleiner Park facility, the decision was made to issue a denial on
the CUP. That's why we are here today. The Council has expanded the
deadline in the current ordinance now to 60 days prior to the event the applicant
is supposed to submit a completed application and a completed means all of the
approvals, all of the requirements have been met. Not that we have started, but
that we have completed them. We require prior to that, 14 days prior to that 60
day time limit that they have met with the city staff, so they understand what
those requirements are. Not meeting with the city staff is grounds for denial by
itself. But, again, we have history and we have other events that we have dealt
with, but that's in our ordinance, 14 days prior, 60 days prior. Our prior ordinance
was 30 days. So, this specific event was one of the two last remaining events
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 20 of 52
that were in the process when the ordinance was changed and we notified them
of that and we gave them the 30 day window as a courtesy, because we felt it
was too short a time frame to push that back on them. So, we did have a
preapplication meeting. They did meet with staff 14 days prior to them submitting
the application. That meeting, as I said, is critical, because, again, it's to identify
all the things that we are going to talk about and Ms. Kane is going to talk about
as well. If the application is complete at that point, the matter moves forward for
final approval, and the event can occur as planned. When they miss a date we
have a very small window of time to cure those defects to allow the event to
proceed. We pushed the window back in this case, but we -- again, we want to
make sure that those -- details which, again, relate to the public safety, safety of
the general public, safety of the patrons at the event, safety of our neighbors, are
all being met prior to issuing this TUP. We may return to you later this summer
after more lessons learned over the last couple of years and maybe having a
further discussion on when even the preapplication process needs to occur,
because, again, the more planning the better, the longer the better, the more
time the better for, again, the safety and health of the citizens that are going to be
at this event. The city staff does not take denial lightly. Like I said, this is the first
one of this type that was done. At some point the process has to be concluded
and a decision was made to meet those objectives or the ordinance as I have
laid out on health and safety and our neighbors' well being. If the staff
determines after all these meetings that the event can't be approved, a denial
was issued and in this case an appeal is brought before you. My last point Ms.
Kane will step up here -- and staff has struggled mightily with this event. We
have expended hours and hours of city time and resources trying to make this
application meet the needs of the city and the objectives of our ordinance. We
recognize that a denial is -- at this point may have great impact, but we cannot as
staff recommend in good conscience to approve this at this time. This event is
16 days away. It has been advertised heavily. It has been presold heavily. To
allow additional time to meet these needs -- if you run the risk that if those can't
be met that you're going to try to then stop having this event and not have
thousands of people show up on June 27th when no event is going to happen,
two weeks gives us the ability to at least make sure the public understands this
event either has gone to another venue and that gives them time to do that if they
can do it and that it's not here. Otherwise, you again run the risk of people will
show up anyway. They are thinking this event is still going to be there and it's
not. So, we don't recommend that further delay be allowed. This is the second
year of the event. Most of this planning and logistics should have been done.
They were -- that was last year. They were communicated last year. There was
an opportunity to have a follow up meeting, which they declined. But we had
information and we provided it to them prior to this time. Our neighbors DDR,
Carmacks and CenterCal are very concerned about the impact on their
properties. I spoke to Mr. McNamara from Carmack, they have absolutely
prohibited any use of their property. They have wells and irrigation on their site
and this is an open field of dirt right next to Kleiner Park, which is seriously
concerned that without some security measure that we need to make sure no
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 21 of 52
one will use that. Mr. Hugh Crawford from CenterCal is here today. He would
like to at some point, if you wish, express the concerns that they have had in
regards to the planning and the permissions that have been sought in this event.
He would like some opportunity to provide you feedback. And, again, if the
Council upholds the staff recommendation we have time to make the public
aware of what's happened here. If we delay even further, again, it may be very
difficult to get people to understand what's happened and why and what needs to
be done appropriately and timely, so that, again, we can have an event that
everybody would like to have, but done in a way that is safe for all the people that
attend it, all the people that don't attend it that are near it, and all the people that
live near it -- live next to it. So, I will turn this over to Ms. Kane and she can go
into the specifics of the staff timing and meetings and information that's been
provided as to what went into the denial. Thank you.
Kane: Hello. Mayor and Members of City Council, I'm Emily Kane, deputy city
attorney for the city. I'm providing you with a timeline that shows the time and the
work that city staff have put into reviewing this application and working with the
applicant to look for solutions to the public safety issues that were presented by
the proposed event and there are copies on the table in the back of the room as
well. I do also have copies of the supporting documents that are referenced as
attachments in the right-hand column and if you're interested in that or if you
want further details about what happened, but for now I will just plan to cover the
highlights of this process. So, a version of the RibFest event occurred in Kleiner
Park last year and the necessary process improvements identified from that
event included a need for designated event parking, traffic control, and the need
for an onsite police presence via the mobile command center and a need for on-
site medical personnel. The need to address fees and other concerns in the
event planning process were communicated to the applicant and on May 8th
preapplication meeting with staff members from several, if not all departments
and in a follow-up meeting on June 4th. Between and since those meetings staff
has spent hours communicating with the applicants by phone and by e-mail,
largely focused on expressing the public safety concerns that are presented by
the event without a parking plan or medical plan. Ultimately staff's efforts were
not fruitful and as Mr. Nary just stated, staff denied the application on June 7th on
the grounds that a complete application had not been submitted. Specifically the
denial was based on the lack of a parking plan, lack of written permissions from
purported partners regarding parking. Lack of a medical plan and lack of an
insurance certificate. The applicants did also fail to submit an application for an
alcohol catering permit to my knowledge. A medical plan is now in place. The
applicants engaged the Meridian Fire Department to provide on-site medical
staffing services at applicant's cost. So, that would be an add on service that is
provided for a fee. But to date no proof of insurance has been submitted and
that step is crucial to protect the city and its property, particularly during the
proposed concerts when the event organizers wish to charge admission.
Allowing a few for use in a city park could jeopardize the city's recreational
immunity, which potentially exposes the city to liability and this is why we do
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 22 of 52
require proof of insurance. It's my understanding that a parking plan has been
submitted to City Council today. Parking is a public safety issue for this event.
Without a viable plan for off-site parking, neighboring businesses and property
owners at Village at Meridian, Meridian Crossroads and Carmacks will be
adversely affected. Cars intending to park in Kleiner Park will back up onto
Fairview creating a traffic hazard and a burden on our public safety services if
they are called in to direct traffic. People parking in unauthorized locations may
double park other cars, which causes inconvenience and sometimes fights and in
some instances cars parked in unauthorized areas might damage crops,
landscaping, and irrigation infrastructure. Just a brief review of the plan. It
doesn't protect our neighbors across the -- or, excuse me, the irrigation
infrastructure. There is potential damage to the physical plant and taking up
parking for other business patrons. There is no evidence that the school district
has been contacted regarding the plan to park at River Valley or Centennial.
One detail is that spaces available at Capital Christian are a little less, because
they mention in this message that there is a soccer league on Saturday, so that
affects the math a little bit. It sounds like maybe that wouldn't necessarily affect
the -- the overall numbers. At least there would be possible if this were available
off-site parking. There is also no evidence that a shuttle service has been
engaged and a contract is in place and one thing we have learned in this process
is to do our due diligence and make sure that that is taken care of and not rely on
the assurances of that applicant. The owners of the Village at Meridian, Meridian
Crossroads, and Carmacks have stated categorically that they do not wish for
event parking to preclude their patron parking and absent any plan to prevent
that situation they are not willing to provide event parking at their properties.
Staff has been repeatedly assured that these property owners are on board and,
in fact, grateful for the proposed event, but after making an effort to verify these
assurances, we found that is not the case. Another major problem at last year's
event was that there was no solid waste management and the Parks Department
had to remove truck loads of garbage from the event. Staff has also learned that
the applicant has not reserved any roll offs from Republic or arranged for special
garbage pickups during the event. The Central District Health Department has
contacted staff and advised us that they have not received any public health plan
that would describe which vendors will be present, where they will be located,
which will require power or water hookups, where that power or water will come
from, how gray water will be disposed of, locations of hand washing stations and
whatever else Central District Health requires. Finally, the agreed upon private
security company has not been contacted by applicant. In sum, this application
was denied because the event as proposed presents significant public health and
public safety hazards to event attendees, park users, patrons of area businesses,
and vehicular traffic on Eagle and Fairview. The event organizers have neither
acknowledged nor prepared any plan to mitigate these hazards. Well, I guess
until -- until today with regard to the parking plan. Given this ongoing status of
the application it's the recommendation of staff that City Council uphold the
denial of Temporary Use Permit Application No. TUP 13-0043. And I would be
glad to answer any questions you might have.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 23 of 52
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Emily.
Kane: Thank you.
De Weerd: Certainly at this time I would ask if the event coordinators have
comments.
Nelson: Madam Mayor and Council Members, I appreciate the opportunity to
come and be able to address this issue with you and first like to apologize for the
fact that we have got to take your time for this and that we did miss our deadlines
on Thursday.
De Weerd: Thank you. Can you, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Nelson: Oh. Sorry. My name is Randal Nelson. I'm a director with Help Idaho.
Our address 1121 East State Street, Suite 101, in Eagle.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Nelson: What we have done since receiving the information last Thursday of the
denial was to try to address those issues as rapidly as we could and put together
some information and presented it there in front of you. Just a little history on
this for all of us. This is a new event in a new park in a rapidly developing area
and my background in doing these types of things says that it's going to be about
three years to really work out all of the kinks. Last year we had a number of
issues with the RibFest in the way that we executed some of the items there, but
overall we felt very good in the way the event turned out and our follow-up
discussions with the police department and we felt that having alcohol there and
the massive number of people that showed up for the event, that it was a very
well mannered and well attended event. We don't realize -- hadn't heard of any
alcohol-related type incidents or anything like that. There was lots of parking
problems. There were lots of car problems and I think that's why there is such a
focus on the parking plan this year. The park was brand new, under
development, there was dirt everywhere and we had not done anything to
address that, because we really had no idea what the size of our turnout for that
was going to be. So, we believe that we have learned a lot and we instituted a
lot of changes this year going forward. The parking plan that we have put in front
of you today addresses really the parking spaces that are going to be needed.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 24 of 52
Some of that. What you did not see in there was any plan for working with the
neighbors. We are trying to work with them directly right now to put up signage
and they want to see this plan as well, so we are sharing this plan with the
neighboring groups there to say, okay, this is where we are at today. We
understand that it's not as fully developed as you would like it to be, but I'm trying
to get their input as to what they would see and we will do our best, you know, to
meet their requirements as far as putting up people, putting up signage and all of
that and I understand that someone said that he was here today and I sent them
some stuff and, hopefully, he will tell you that everything is moving in the right
direction. As far as the dirt lot goes, our plan is to not use that. We did not
request permission to use that dirt lot. We understand if we don't do anything
people will do it anyway, so we are going to staff that with volunteers and put
signage up all down there to make sure that the public knows that they are not
allowed to park in that area. If there are other areas like that, that's one we
specifically talked about in our meeting with the city folks, if there are other areas
like that that need to be addressed, we will do -- take those same types of
precautions. Before we talk about the next area is there questions on the parking
plan? Anything that I could answer at this point?
De Weerd: Council, do you have questions on the parking?
Bird: Not at this point.
Hoaglun: I did, Madam Mayor. I was just looking at your parking
communications, because that's going to be a big deal, especially for Centennial
High School, which is three miles away, that is not something people would think
of to park there --
Nelson: Right.
Hoaglun: -- to come to RibFest. You know, Riverside Elementary or the church
are close enough that, okay, it makes sense. From what I gather you just -- on
your website, social media pages -- the DJ announcements, is that prior to?
Nelson: Yes. Yeah. That started -- starting right -- I believe this weekend with
the Cumulous Group. But we are running ads for this event on multiple country
stations and Meridian stations and that and so what we are proposing to do is to
have the DJs make announcements on those stations as well to direct people for
parking to come to our website and see what we have available for parking.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
Nelson: So, that's the DJ announcements. We also put down on new printed
materials -- obviously there is things out there today, but we are still printing up
most posters and fliers. We have requested -- we have more restaurants that
are willing to hang those up. Wanted to let you know that this -- there will be a
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 25 of 52
parking information announcement on those also directing people to the website.
You know, we understand the parking plan is no good if nobody knows about it
and, like you said, the places that are closest we have put in here some black
signs, because they are near by and with some signage we can allow people to
know there is additional off-site parking and point them there. But, true,
Centennial High School will only work if people know about it ahead of time.
Hoaglun: And also, Mr. Nelson and Madam Mayor, follow up. The volunteers, to
prevent parking in the Carmack's and other property, how do you get volunteers
to work at this event?
Nelson: Right. What we have done is we have worked with nonprofit
organizations. We want them to be able to come in and set up a booth at the
event and share their information. Instead of charging them an entrance fee to
do that we have given them the option to provide people on a volunteer basis to
help us work. We need people to watch the perimeter fencing, we need people
to empty trash, because we had a large problem with trash last year and we
need people to help with the different parking aspects of this. So, those are the
three areas that we are using our volunteers for.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor and, then, Mr. Nelson. Somehow I recall last year there
were volunteers utilized to do some things and from what I gather from reports
that didn't work out that well.
Nelson: That did not work out at all. No. We -- we had one person in charge of
doing that and they were trying to set it all up with one organization and it never
came together and I think when we got out there with the parks and rec people
we ended up with maybe three guys running around trying to do some trash. So,
what we have done this year is we really -- and that's why we went to the system
of working with as many different nonprofit organizations as we can, kind of not
putting all of your eggs in one basket. So, we feel very confident that these
organizations are going to be able to come through for us and if one or two don't
we will still have a lot of people to be able to come in then.
Hoaglun: And Madam Mayor, Mr. Nelson, do you have someone who will
oversee that specifically?
Nelson: We will. Right now we have -- we have a person who has been
responsible for making the calls and putting together the schedule and all that.
I'm not here to commit today that that's the right person to oversee that event,
however.
De Weerd: Okay.
Nelson: Okay. The next area was the medical plan. We -- our plan is to use the
Meridian Fire Department who has a medical plan on file with the city. We had a
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 26 of 52
brief discussion with one of the gentlemen after our last planning meeting and it
was just I will say a communications failure. We thought that everything was
good from that conversation and I think they thought that we were still exploring
our options and so when it came time for the deadline to be there and they were
contacted they said, well, we are still waiting to hear back. But we have made
those connections, we have our a-mail here to show that we have -- we have that
I would say more finalized at this point. Any questions on that one?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor. Mr. Nelson -- sorry. On that you mentioned here
emergency medical services will be provided by the Meridian Fire Department.
Is this just major medical, if someone has a heart attack they would respond with
a truck?
Nelson: Correct. And understand the new guidelines for an event of our size the
city is asking that there be two EMT people there with the equipment. And so
that's -- that's kind of the medical plan and the services they are going to provide.
Last year at our event it was very hot and we had a number of people who
suffered from some heat symptoms and problems like that and so those types of
things are what we are envisioning. We have the American Red Cross and some
other people are going to have minor assistance places to let people know that
they can get some water there, they can get band-aides and that, but the
Meridian Fire Department would be, you know, kind of that top tier of service with
-- with the EMTs and the equipment.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor, Mr. Nelson, American Red Cross, if they are
getting dehydrated they can go for water, they can go for band-aides, they can
go for whatever, and American Red Cross would take care of those.
Nelson: Yes.
Hoaglun: And do you have a signed agreement with them?
Bird: Yes, we do.
Hoaglun: All right. Thank you.
Nelson: Also it depends, because there was a number of bees there last year
from the barbecue being attracted to the garbage cans and that, so we brought
those in this year just as a safety -- the third area that was listed on the denial
was due to our certificate of liability insurance. We were contracting a lot of the
event management out to Triumph Ventures and they had provided the original
certificate. We were asked to have that changed and get a certificate from Help
Idaho. We went out and got a quote for that and I submitted that to make sure
that it was going to meet the requirements. There was some questions at our
last meeting on some of the coverage areas. I pointed out what I was told by my
insurance guy and it was my understanding that there needed to be a little more
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 27 of 52
research or something done by the city to make sure that those coverages were
adequate. I would say that I didn't hear anything back and I kind of waited until
the last minute to go ahead and purchase the policy, assuming that everything
was okay at that time, but because of that I did not hit the deadline at 5:00
o'clock. We have since done that. We have certificate of liability insurance here
for you to see. One other thing that was brought up by Emily when she talked to
you was in our parking that we have the confirmation note on here regarding the
ability to use the space at Capital Christian Center and she was concerned with
the school. I did not put it all on there, but I do have a signed rental usage
agreement from the school giving us authority to use their parking spaces, as
well as other schools in the event that we need them that I can certainly give
somebody if they would like to take a look at that. But we do have those written
documents. I just didn't want to make this packet any -- any larger than
necessary to address the concerns that were in the TUP letter.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mr. Nelson, I got a couple of questions. When did you guys plan on doing
this event? When did you start planning this event?
Nelson: I would say last year at the end of the -- that last event. We thought it
was good and we wanted to do it again.
Bird: Well, why are we 16 days from the event debating this stuff and getting
stuff in when this should have all been planned and set aside and been ready by
-- actually in May 8th you -- you met with the staff got the requirements and stuff
here we are on June 11th just getting the parking plan and certificate of
insurance and the certificate I got here don't say that -- it's a copy of it, but don't
say it's been purchased or anything, but I'm sure it has. Why -- if we are going to
put on a big event like this do we wait -- why we didn't have all this in place, so
that we are not here 16 days before the event debating whether we are going to
have it or not.
Nelson: Yeah. Well, we really I would say underestimated the new requirements
this year over last year. I think we felt that last year went very smoothly as far as
the application process and we knew more additions were coming, because we
had been told of the city about that, but when it came to like the parking plan, we
didn't truly understand I guess what the parking plan was. I mean we talked
parking plan and we left and we thought that what we had done was good and
when we came and we talked to the city about what we said they said, no, that's
not adequate. You also need to have -- you know, think about the security here
and directing this and so we went away and we talked about it some more and,
you know, we have gone back and forth. I think it's getting better every time. But
I think for us what would have really been helpful would be some sort of an
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 28 of 52
example of what a good parking plan is. I called some folks that -- that have put
on other events and asked them if they had one and they did not. I talked to
Hugh to see if he has from a CenterCal perspective someone that had put
together a good parking plan, because I really would like to do it in a format that,
you know, the city likes or our neighbors like, so that I can feel good when I hand
it off to you and there just were no sample plans to work off of and so we are
trying to do this for the first time and deciding, you know, what do people want to
see, what they expect to see in this parking plan, because, like I said, we didn't
have to do one last year.
Bird: Follow-up, Madam Mayor, if I may?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bird: That's true, but you just said here that you had problems with parking last
year. So, if you are going to run another event the next year that would be your
first priority is to get in and find out and every event is different, so we can't have
a sample --
Nelson: Right.
Bird: -- you know. It's -- it's up to you to -- to present to us. We can't tell you
how to do your parking plan, you have got -- you have got the program, you know
what you're going to have and stuff. You should bring that to us and it should
have been done three months ago.
Nelson: Yeah. Yeah. To that point when we looked at last year and we said,
boy, what happened, we attributed a lot of that to the fact that the develop -- the
area was not yet developed and we had some discussions say, boy, next year
when the CenterCal thing opens up there is going to be 2,300 additional parking
spaces, that's going to be wonderful. Now, we did not know -- you're right -- that
there is only a certain percentage of those that would be available to be used and
we didn't know that it was up to us as the event guys to go get that permission. I
probably was -- it was kind of like a Boise State football game where you go
down there and you find a spot that's legal, right? I understand you can't park in
front of hydrants and on people's lawns, but you find a legal spot, the closest one
you can get to the stadium, and you walk from there.
Bird: But you don't go park -- excuse me, Madam Mayor. You don't go park in
front of businesses.
Nelson: Right.
Bird: I mean they have got businesses in there that are depending on customers
being able to park. That's why they are in there.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 29 of 52
Nelson: Uh-huh.
Bird: So, why would you want to even be able to count any of that? I don't know.
I guarantee you at Boise State you don't -- if you pull in and park in front of a
business you're towed somewhere and you pay 75 dollars to get out.
Holman: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Holman: I would like to note in regards to the parking and CenterCal, when we
met on May 9th I did state at that meeting that I had just met with Hugh Crawford
and Ramona -- I'm sorry, I don't remember her last name -- a few days before
that and I did let both of you know at that meeting that I had just met with him, he
was definitely wanting to be informed of any major events and had stated clearly
that he would want to protect his retailers parking and the next day we sent you
information on how to contact them, because Ramona, who works for Hugh, had
said she actually had some experience in this area from -- I believe her prior job,
but they wanted early contact and that they would be opposed to all of the
overflow parking coming into their area. So, I just want that on the record that I
did state that at the May 8th meeting.
Nelson: Yes. And I totally agree with what you said. I was just trying to address
your point as to why I didn't think, you know, get started on this a year ago.
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: One thing that bothers me here, Mr. Nelson is the fact that apparently
you sent an a-mail to Ms. Kane stating that CenterCal and Hugh Crawford had
approved parking at CenterCal, that's ShopKo Plaza management had approved
parking and that, in fact, was not true. How -- and that troubles me, because
now you're telling me things that we have done this and done that -- it makes it
difficult for me to believe that and it very well may be true, but can you explain
why those things were said when they were, in fact, not true?
Nelson: Well, I didn't send those -- that e-mail, but I can tell you what is my
understanding. There was conversations taking place that involved both signage
as far as putting up signs on their properties about the event, as well as parking
and in looking back and trying to dig in and understand what happened, it seems
like there was more agreement or agreement as far as the signage, but not so
much as the parking and on the person on our side -- the conversation said
sounds good, you know, just want to say this, that it was approval to move
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 30 of 52
forward and in conversations I have had -- I talked to Hugh on Friday and the
other day to say, okay, help me understand this, what happened and all this, and
I got a lot more clarity on that situation. But I really didn't -- I wasn't fully
knowledgeable about that at that time. So, I have tried to address that. Like I
say, we want to do things right. We want to meet your requirements, we want to
be good neighbors, we are trying to respond as quickly as we can to these
specific items to make sure that this is a good event again this year. You know,
we are not here I guess so much arguing for ourselves on this, as the
commitments that have been made to, you know, a hundred local businesses
that are going to be down there and to the advertising that we have done and
everything that, you know, the impact that canceling this event would have. But I
want to just address these issues and answer your questions and go from there.
De Weerd: Yeah, you can't address it from your chair, but you can come up
front. What I want to make sure -- if Council has any other questions for Randal.
Bird: We can bring him back --
De Weerd: And if you do, yeah, we can bring him back up. Sure.
Nelson: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: And if you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Thompson: Kasey Thompson. 2131 North Park Forest Way, Eagle, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Thank you for your time, Mayor and Council. The letter that we received
really had three things that they wanted us to address. One was insurance,
which you have. The second was EMS. At the meeting we had on Tuesday last
week I had talked to the EMS and we went over pricing and that type of thing. I
left that meeting thinking they were -- that's who we were using. There was a
misunderstanding thinking that apparently we need to put together a contract,
this, that, or the other, so we left thinking it was a done deal. They put in this
letter that it wasn't a done deal. I immediately called the EMS and said I
apologize if you didn't think we were going to use you, but we are. He
immediately sent the attorney's office an a-mail, as well as me, and said we are
good, we are going to put together the whole -- all the paperwork you guys need
we will do. So, that really was just a misunderstanding, because I thought we
were -- it was set and he immediately sent the attorney's office a letter and said
we are good to go. It really comes down to the parking. Now, back to your
question, I had talked to DDR, she was a big fan of RibFest. We had talked to
her last year. She let us put signage up at her location. My conversation with
her was about the event. She goes that's an exciting event. My tenants are
excited. One of our major sponsors is Texas Roadhouse. She's excited about
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 31 of 52
the event. Would have loved to have made it. She can't. She's out of California.
San Francisco area. We went over the -- the layout where we are going to put
signage up and all that and that's what I sent over to the city. As far as DDR, I
had not talked to Hugh yet. Big AI's is one of our major sponsors and at that time
my understanding was that Big AI's could assign parking. So, that's where we
kind of assumed that would take place, later finding out that it wasn't Big AI's, it
was actually the -- you know, the property owner. So, that's where that a-mail
came across. Now, as far as parking, with the city, the city recommended at our
meeting that at the time we would need 1,250 spots. We looked at the park and
said, well, okay, if that's the case, there is 700 spots there, we need an additional
500 spots. When we sent that message out to the public -- and the other thing is
as we are having these meetings there was the police department, the fire
department, all the departments are there and I had conversations with all of
them and I said can you guys give us some help, some ideas? I don't
understand what you mean by a parking plan and, of course, there has never
been one done. No one's ever asked for one. We never had one last year.
That's why we hadn't started a year ago was, yeah, we were expecting to do the
event, but we didn't do a parking plan, we were just planning on renting the park.
We had no idea about this parking plan and how we were supposed to do it and
what it entailed. So, we, then, started making calls. The school district came
forward and said we -- we have to have this event. This is a community event.
This is the biggest event I think ever in Meridian history last year. So, the
schools came forward and said use our parking lots, you know. The wrestling
team contacted me and said we will do it as our fundraiser. We have had
Centennial. We have had Mountain View. We have had River Valley come
forward. As you guys have a signed paper -- Randal has it where they said use
our parking lot. It's all signed off. The church has started calling us. We have
had multiple churches say use our parking lot. We have a signed agreement
right here across the street with Capital Christian. Those two parking lots alone
is more parking than we need for this entire event.
De Weerd: Kasey, I guess the bottom line here is that the staff -- you knew that
parking was an issue last year. Last year was a time to ask these questions and
say if you don't know what a parking plan is, just sit down with staff and say how
can we work together and figure this out. I don't think this is the first event you
have ever organized.
Thompson: Just with a parking plan.
De Weerd: Okay.
Thompson: It's been inside for --
De Weerd: And I understand that. Most of your events have been on site.
There has been adequate parking. You learned last year there wasn't adequate
parking. We didn't want another disaster like that. It impacts the general
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 32 of 52
motoring public that's driving by there, it impacts your attendees and it definitely
impact those around you. To assume that you had additional parking spots from
CenterCal -- you have to understand they put those parking lots in for business
and, yeah, then, you have to work with them and say how are we going to secure
those spots. How are we going to identify what spots you're allowing us to use?
How will we assure that your other spots will not be used for this. That's
communication. I understand a lot of what you're saying, but you are an event
organizer, you are an excellent promoter. You get great venues. You market the
heck out of them. But it's these details that can endanger -- the greatest
responsibility we have is public safety. Number one. Bar none. The safety of
the public is our greatest responsibility and we take serious. That's why our staff
met with you early on, said we have to have these things. You have been
difficult to communicate with from what we understand. You have not been
timely in getting back to us and I know you're not the one that we were supposed
to work with. It's Randal. We needed this information to assure that we were
doing our job as well. This is the largest event that happens in our community
and this -- if it happens in a couple of weeks it will probably be even larger than
last year, because of the venues that you're bringing in with it, which makes it
even more important that we have this detail. This parking plan should have
been on every marketing piece that you had, so you do not inconvenience all of
those other business owners and that your -- your attendees know what to
expect. On every ticket it should have had what those alternative spots are. So,
think everyone is frustrated. We want to see a successful event. We don't want
to cancel an event that is the talk of the valley. But our number one responsibility
is safety and you haven't given us enough information or built the trust that we
are going to be able to assure our number one responsibility which is safety to
our public and that's why we are here today and that's why are really frustrated
right now.
Thompson: I totally understand. Do you mine if I go through the parking piece
by piece? We built this as, hopefully, a model for the City of Meridian to use
when it's at Kleiner Park. Do you mind if I go through it piece by piece, how we
are -- I know we talked briefly on marketing. I'm doing the marketing, so I can tell
you exactly how we are marketing it. I can tell you where we are putting signage
up. I can tell you how we are protecting CenterCal.
De Weerd: Yes, please do.
Thompson: Do you mind?
De Weerd: I think that would be helpful to our Council.
Bird: One question.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 33 of 52
Bird: Why on 16 days before the deal we are getting a parking plan. Why wasn't
this a month or two before?
De Weerd: Well, because, Mr. Bird, we thought we could work with them. If we
had done this 30 days out or 60 days out they probably would have been here a
couple days later saying this is the plan. But we were -- we were trying to
accommodate and we should have toed the line and not tried to be
accommodating. But the fact is we can't look back, this is where we are today,
and we need to -- to see if we can work it out.
Bird: Well, when you got an ordinance you shouldn't be accommodating, you
should stick to it and do it.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, I would like to hear from Mr. Thompson about the
parking plan, but one thing I do want to clarify -- when you said you talked to
ShopKo and whatnot and you talked about putting up signs, is this parking for
RibFest signs or no parking for RibFest signs?
Thompson: The conversation was about promoting RibFest. Where we would
put the signs in her area. She signed off on right there on the corner of Fairview
and Eagle we could put signage at Texas Roadhouse. We hadn't talked at that
point about no parking signs. Now we have put this into our plan. So,
essentially, if you look at the meeting we had last Tuesday with the account with
my group, was that at the high peak at any point of the show 1,250 would be the
most amount of cars that we would need to find parking for. The park holds 700.
Capital Christian right across the street, which we also have a shuttle system set
up with them, holds 500 cars. Now, Friday -- Thursday night and Friday night
they will hold 25 of those spots for soccer. That will leave -- that will give you
475. On Saturday morning until 1:00 p.m., which is only two hours into our show,
they will have 100 parking spots for I believe it's soccer. It's in the paper I gave
you. And, then, on Sunday the first part of our show they will have church, after
that it's completely open. Also the school district has given us Centennial High
School, which has over 800 parking spots. They have given us Mountain View,
which has over 1,200 parking spots. And they have given us River Valley, which
has walking right across the street, there is 190 spots. Just with Kleiner Park,
River Valley, which is walking across the street, and the church, which is a
shuttle and it's a -- you know, a few hundred yards, that is more parking than we
need for this entire event, those two spots alone. Now, Randal, my partner, has
been talking to CenterCal and in the meeting we would put no parking signs,
which is every single entrance into CenterCal and it's honored as of the
paperwork that you see and it asks, you know, if they would be willing to give us
some of those spots in front of Big AI's because it's vacant at this point. They
had given some to one of our partners, 103.3, to do as fundraisers a few months
ago. I don't know if you have heard back, but if they are interested in giving
those to us, then, that would open up several hundred -- up to 500 spots that is
there. So, again, he hasn't -- we haven't written back, but potentially that could
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 34 of 52
be another possibility. But we would go in with CenterCal and we would put
signage at all those spots to prevent anybody from going in there and parking.
We would also not only do that, we will put security on the back side as you go
into Kleiner Park where the construction is, one hundred percent of the time of
our show and not let people into the back side, so there won't be any issues
there. If DDR wants to do the same thing we will do that same thing there and
put no parking there as well. Now, to your point as far as -- you brought up an
excellent point about volunteers. Last year was our first year. This year we have
over 20 nonprofit organizations that are helping with RibFest that we have each
day over 150 volunteers at any moment working the show, so we will really
pound the security issues. EMT was something we didn't have to have last year
that was thrown in recently. That's why we added that and we have the Meridian
Fire Department. Idaho Lottery is bringing down additional help as well, as we
are, you know, on the Idaho Lottery right now. So, it's things like that that we
have increased. But as far as the parking plan, it exceeds what we were told
meeting last week that we needed at the highest peak time and that does not
include any parking spots of CenterCal or DDR.
Nary: Mr. President?
Thompson: And, then, to marketing, if I may. As you come down Eagle Road
the entire week of the show starting Sunday night we will have a big black sign
right there as you go into River Valley Elementary that says RibFest parking and
also up on the turn right where the Capital Christian sign is, we will set it out a
week early, we have already got places to put RibFest parking and all the other
places we will put not for RibFest parking as well.
Hoaglun: Okay. Mr. Nary.
Nary: Mr. President, Members of the Council, I guess I wanted to answer
Council Member Bird's question as well. Every deadline we have given to this
group they have missed. They have missed the -- and, in fact, what you have
received today doesn't meet our requirement. Still there is no proof that there is
a --there is a shuttle service under contract.
Thompson: Yes, sir.
Nary: I haven't seen the permissions from the school district, unless they just
handed it to you. They have no permission to enter Carmack's property to
prevent access.
Thompson: We aren't using Carmack's property.
Nary: I understand that. It's to prevent access to it. So, again, they have -- we
have given them deadlines to try to meet. We gave them June 4th. They didn't
meet it. We gave them June 6th. They didn't meet it. We gave them June 7th.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 35 of 52
They didn't meet it. We have given them deadline after deadline after deadline
and they haven't met it yet and today's June 11th. So, I'm sorry Mr. Thompson
thinks he's compliant, but the reality is they haven't been. We have given them
time. We have given them information. They have never met one deadline yet
and they still haven't yet today.
Thompson: At this moment everything is completely done. We already will have
security at Carmacks, back to your point. We have signatures on everything you
just mentioned. Everything. We have the signatures in front of you. We have
them done. In fact, we have two schools that said they would do it for free just to
have this event happen. So, every single thing that there is in this paperwork --
there is nothing missing.
Hoaglun: Mr. Thompson. Madam Mayor. Question. I'm just bothered by the
fact that you keep referring that everyone called you when I think you probably
went and reached out to them to get the parking.
Thompson: We had some calls that came in to help out
Hoaglun: You had some calls. All right. Madam Mayor. Again, my question to
you, Mr. Thompson, is security --
Thompson: Yeah.
Hoaglun: -- who is the provider for security?
Thompson: We do events out at CenturyLink. We always use MAV Security.
Mark. We use Mark at all of our events. If you are looking at how we are going
to do the concerts, what we want to do there, Mark and I -- we will use MAV
Security and, then, we will also use I think the Meridian PD. As I mentioned, they
are going to bring in more PD than they did last year and, then, also probably ten
times as many volunteers.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor and Mr. Thompson, there is no contract right now
with security?
Thompson: Well, me and Mark have texted each other back and forth and -- we
will use them. I mean I -- we are good friends. We have done about 140
something events together, so -- we have not signed any, no. He knows he's
doing the event. I have already told him he's got it. Has anything been signed?
No, I don't think anything has been signed. I don't think I have ever signed a
contract with him. If you would like me to we can sign one today. He knows he's
doing the event, yes.
Hoaglun: Qkay.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 36 of 52
Thompson: He's had it on his books for years. Same with ChiliFest.
De Weerd: Other questions?
Rountree: Best not.
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Anything else, Kasey?
Thompson: I just want to say I -- yes, I could have done things a lot better, you
know, I know that. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart the parking plan -- I
have never done one and neither has my partner and we think that this plan is
great for what we have. We think that it exceeds -- well, it does exceed what the
city has asked for us to have and we will market it where the parking spots are
and I really hope that you guys will -- this really is an event for the City of
Meridian as well and I hope it works and we really tried to get everything done.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, before Mr. Thompson leaves, just one quick question.
You mentioned shuttle services being provided. Who is providing those?
Thompson: We will use -- find my paperwork. Boise Shuttle Service. Also
another service has said they would do it as well. They have been working with
the Capital Christian Center, they have worked together on projects. Boise
Shuttle Service is the route from the high schools, if you guys think we need to
use the high schools. We use those as kind of our alternates, because -- you
know. Yeah. It will be Boise Shuttle Services. They are already locked in. We
may also use Capital Christian as a fundraiser.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Will your shuttle service be ADA rated, your buses or your shuttles?
Thompson: Yeah. They are -- Boise Shuttle Service will use the Meridian -- I
guess Meridian. Meridian Boise -- they are school buses. They are the high
school buses from the high school. Right, Randal? Meridian School District
buses. And that would be coming from Centennial and Mountain View. We
could use those.
Bird: And you will make sure they are handicapped buses that are on the
project?
Thompson: Absolutely.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 37 of 52
Bird: Okay.
Thompson: We have handicapped on nonprofit. So ,absolutely.
De Weerd: Kasey, could you talk about the event itself and
Thompson: Sure. I would love to.
De Weerd: I think that would be helpful to us.
Thompson: The event is June 27th through June 30th. It's from 5:00 to 10:00 on
Thursday night. We have a band coming in to perform that night called Journey
-- Journey Unauthorized. They are the number one cover band for Journey
coming in to perform. On Friday we have a country singer that's had five -- five
to ten -- let's just say big names in country. He's got an opening act that's Anita
Cochran. On Saturday we have got the fish release that we have been working
with Fish and Game on that is going to be at the park at noon and who ever
catches the fish wins 10,000 dollars. It was a big draw last year. Another big
draw. And so people are pretty excited about that. And, then, that night we are
going to have Billy Dean will be perform. He had seven number one hits. He
had the theme song for Young Guns, a movie that came out in the '80s. What
we really want to do is make this a big community event where, you know, more
families of older age -- we are not working with like hip hop music or anything like
that, it's -- it's more of an older age demographics. Now, on Sunday at noon we
release another trout for 10,000 dollars and we will also have Boise State football
-- have some of the ex-football players come down. They will be there when we
announce the fish. They will release the fish and around Sunday night we had
Led Zeppelin live perform. Kind of sounds like -- I think that is Led Zeppelin, isn't
it?
De Weerd: Good timing, chief.
Rountree: Chief.
Thompson: So, yeah, we have got that. Also the big thing about RibFest is we
got -- last September we recruited the top barbecue teams from all over the -- all
over the United States. In fact, the top six ranked teams in the entire United
States are coming in from New York, New Orleans, most of them have
restaurants around the United States. Some have their own TV shows. KTVB
will be down there interviewing -- they are doing -- they will be down in the
morning doing -- on Thursday morning with the weather guy. Larry Gebert.
Thank you. Larry Gebert will be down there on Thursday and Friday morning
doing the news. They are doing a -- we are also doing a fundraiser in the park,
the first hour of the park. Each of the teams for the first hour, all the ribs sold go
to their charity as the teams choice. So, KTVB, Fox, Channel 6, BOB FM, KQFC
-- they will each tag team up. They will donate those to the charity of their
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 38 of 52
choice. So, there will be a ton of media that will be there. So, it's pretty exciting.
If you go to our page there is a lot of information about it, but, yeah, having the
top teams from all over the world -- and, by the way, last year it was the second
largest barbecue in the United States, which is pretty cool.
De Weerd: Okay. I don't thank Council has any other questions, but we will ask
you to come up after we have heard from a couple of others who want to --
Thompson: Thank you. And I just say we do want to work with CenterCal and
DDR, if they are interested. If not we will do whatever it takes to keep people out
of those areas and respect their businesses. We do have sponsors in both their
areas, so -- thank you very much for your time.
De Weerd: Thank you. Hugh. If you will, please, state your name and address
for the record.
Crawford: Hugh Crawford. Work address or home address?
De Weerd: Work address.
Crawford: 3600 East Fairview Avenue, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Crawford: My name is Hugh Crawford. Thank you for giving me the opportunity
to speak. My name is Hugh Crawford, I'm the general manager with CenterCal
properties with primary responsibility over the Village at Meridian, which is
immediately adjacent property to Kleiner Park and we are very interested in
events that are going on in Kleiner Park. We want to support the events that are
going on in Kleiner Park, because it's a great community amenity that is
immediately adjacent to us. But it has to compliment what we are doing at the
Village at Meridian. Executing large events like this is something I have been
doing for 25 years that I have been running regional malls in southern California,
Nevada, Colorado, and now the opportunity to do it in Idaho and understanding
how these kinds of events from concerts to -- I have put on barbecue events, car
shows, motorcycle shows, I have kind of done them all at regional malls and to
execute events like that take planning, coordination, but most of all
communication and events like this that are being proposed that far exceed -- far
exceed the capacity of the park itself or the venue, need to have planning,
coordination, and communication. That didn't happen with the neighbors that
surround the park. There was no communication with us. I did not receive any
communication from the event organizers until a phone call came in on May 22nd
saying he wanted to talk advertising and talk about the event. I immediately
called him back. I know of two times that I have record of -- I believe there was a
third time --didn't hear from -- back from them until the week of June 3rd wanting
to talk about advertising and telling me about the events -- I said, wait a minute,
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 39 of 52
back up a second. We need to talk about how you're going to help us and
partner with us on a shared parking plan. How are you managing the parking,
the traffic flow. I was not here last year for the event, but from the day I got here
and people talked about Kleiner Park, the one thing I heard is that RibFest was
an absolute disaster, despite what Mr. Nelson says about the success, I don't
think he looked outside of his event. While it may have been successful inside
the event, the community was negatively affected by this and the neighbors were
negatively affected by this and it's the talk of the town. I met with somebody
today who mentioned that. She says, oh, that event is a disaster. It's had me on
watch since this event happened. I e-mailed Jaycee. That's why I mentioned I
need to -- I'd like to know when these events are coming, so we can help, we can
plan, we can coordinate and understand what's going on, we can partner. That
didn't happen. What's most concerning is that when the communication did
happen I was bold faced lied to. I was told by -- under numerous times that shop
-- that ShopKo shopping center owner, the ShopKo managers and Michelle
Kaus, the manager for Developers Diversified, had approved the parking plan
and was excited about the event. I have spoken to Michelle several times in the
last week, most specifically this afternoon at 2:30, just before I came in, to find
out if she had had any other communication. She said she did, she was
frustrated by it, she was irritated by it, she didn't finish the communication,
because she felt like she was being pestered by it and did not feel that she ever
gave approval to use the parking lot and that's what was told to me over and over
again to make me feel as if I had -- was the one man out and I was very adamant
with Mr. Thompson that I need to understand how you are going to plan for this
event. How you are going to dilute the traffic that's attending this event,
understanding what happened last year, you know what happened last year how
are you going to prevent that from happening again. I have got businesses that
are open, I have to protect those businesses so they can contribute to the
community and they have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that they can
conduct their business over a four day period so they won't be negatively
affected. I have a major event occurring on Saturday that week. We are
launching this coming Saturday a public market, which is a farmer's market type
event with farmers, artisans, entertainment, family events, children coming. I
have to -- I have to have parking for that event. I have to have parking for my
vendors. I have to have parking for my customers that are coming to that event.
The event that's being planned was -- the RibFest that's being planned without a
plan. I have seen the plan that came today just before I got here. While it looks
like a plan and he's adamant that it's a plan, his plan does not address how he's
protecting our properties. He doesn't have a process how he's cooperating with
us in managing our parking and our properties. He talked about how he's doing
things at the site. Provided no evidence of that, other than his word and his word
has no -- no credence with me at all, because he lied to me and he lied to city
staff by saying he had my approval. There no credibility. While I want to believe
them, I can't, because he's proved himself uncredible. So, we want to be good
neighbors. We want to support events. We want things to be successful at
Kleiner Park, but this event has not been handled well by all the evidence
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 40 of 52
provided by Mr. -- by Mr. Nary and by Emily Kane and by me as an adjacent
property owner, so I ask you to do the right thing for the community and not
approve event and, then, I would like to work with City Council and city staff on
how we can make a better process and -- so that the park can be successful and
that the people that do bring events understand what's going on even better than
what it sounds like was laid out extremely well. Extremely well. So, thank you
very much and appreciate your time.
De Weerd: Thank you. Lieutenant Colaianni.
Colaianni: Madam Mayor and Council Members, I will be brief. I was the
commander over the special event last year and to say that there were parking
problems and traffic problems was an understatement. One of the things that
wasn't mentioned is I had to bring in three additional staff to handle traffic control
and we had to turn the signal off at Records and Fairview for the day, which
caused a lot of trepidation over at the Ada County Highway District. We do have
another entrance or two and exit out of the park again this year, so I don't
anticipate that to happen, but there has to be a parking plan. There has to be a
good plan, a sound plan, a traffic plan, because at the end of the day me and my
guys, when everybody is home at night, and we are working this event and all the
stuff that goes with it, we are left holding the bag when the neighbors complain
and the businesses complain and there is fights over parking spaces or where
not to park and it's not a good position to put our guys in, it's not a good position
to put the city in. The final note I will make is I spoke with the owner of MAV
Security -- Event Security last night about 11:00 o'clock. His name is Mark
Vucinich and Mark said that there was no contract yet between Kasey and him
for the event. So, I think Kasey alluded to that, but just wanted to make that
clear. There is no contract yet. So, I will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Any other comments? I will let you speak last.
Any other comments from staff?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, did have a quick question for Chief Niemeyer from the
fire department. Chief, I just want to better understand the emergency medical
services provided by the Meridian Fire Department and, basically, that is just like
any call in the city, if there was a medical emergency, what your crews would
respond, is that --
Niemeyer: Slight correction, Councilman Hoaglun. This is to provide three EMTs
on site during the event. An event this size we know we are going to get medical
emergencies, we can show that through the data. So, this is having three EMTs
on site and I know it was brought up that the American Red Cross would be on
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 41 of 52
site, you are correct, they can hand out band-aides, they can hand out mole skin,
but they are not there to provide medical services. It's true when Kasey states
that he did engage us. However, we still -- we don't have a contract signed with
them to be the provider of EMS. What we lay out is that we are an option to
provide EMS. They could always use Ada County Paramedics or another
service, as long as they have an Idaho EMS state certification, a license, a
medical supervision plan, et cetera, and that's a state requirement.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you. I wanted to clarify what emergency medical
services actually meant. So, it is EMTs on site. Okay. Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mark, what -- what equipment will we have on site at all times?
Niemeyer: If we are the EMTs, if we are going to be the provider for the event,
we would take a defibrillator, we would take oxygen, oxygen masks, et cetera, so
that we could treat those medical emergencies. Obviously if it's a transport
necessary type call we would still bring in the ambulance to transport out, but we
would have medical equipment there that only licensed providers can provide
and just to add the reason we had that discussion about rates, we would have to
use off-duty personnel to come in and as you know that creates overtime and so
there is a cost to us when we do that.
De Weerd: And those costs have been identified.
Niemeyer: Correct.
De Weerd: Okay. Kristy.
Vigil: Hello, Madam Mayor, President Hoaglun, Members of the Council. I am
the staff member that has been really pushing for the parking plan and as of this
time I really haven't had a chance to do an evaluation of a parking plan. There
was an a-mail that we got just before here, the one that included the Capital
Christian numbers and shuttles being provided and two schools that were able to
provide for parking on their sites as well. I have only seen written confirmation
from Capital Christian. I haven't seen anything from either one of the schools.
They weren't in my hands by the time I came in here. But I have been trying to
work with the applicant at both of our meetings to try to get a parking plan, but I
wanted to come up in case you guys had any questions, because I am the staff
member, along with Lieutenant Colaianni, that have been really pushing to make
sure the safety aspect is met for our community.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Any questions?
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 42 of 52
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Kristy, what -- not only a parking plan, but I think from what Lieutenant
Colaianni said was we need a traffic flow plan of some sort, too.
Vigil: That would be helpful, Councilman Bird, yes.
Bird: I mean that to me would be as much and how is the shuttle going to come
in and how are they going to go out and all this kind of stuff. I mean what kind of
flow are we going to have?
Vigil: Yes. I agree, Councilman Bird.
Bird: Thank you.
Vigil: Yes.
De Weerd: But didn't we ask for that? Did we ask for that?
Vigil: I believe we have asked for traffic flow, yes.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Kristy, quick question. Do we estimate number of passengers per car
at four?
Vigil: So, the estimation of the number of passengers per car of four was an
estimation that I sent out last Thursday in an a-mail and I did get that number
from an APA book. It is a very generous number. I would probably go towards
more three to -- two to three passengers per car, honestly. But Iwas -- I went to
the APA book just to find something that I could and the recreation outdoor
facility typically has four per car. But I would estimate that is a very generous
number and I believe that was in my e-mail that I sent out last Thursday.
Hoaglun: Yeah. I would agree with that.
Vigil: Yeah.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further? Any other questions? Thank you, Kristy
Vigil: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other comments from staff? Okay.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 43 of 52
Houston: My name is Shelly Houston. 11010 West Tidewater Court in Boise. I'm
an event planner of sorts and in listening to today's proceeding an area of
concern that I feel hasn't quite been addressed in as great of detail as the traffic
and parking and the EMT service, would be the concern dealing with this events'
relationship with Central District Health and requirements of having food vendors
or serving food to the public. I think Ms. Kane alluded that some of those pieces
and parts and arrangements hadn't quite been finalized, so I was hoping we
might hear a little bit more about that. That's a concern of mine.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anything further? Okay. Kasey.
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Nary.
Nary: Before Mr. Thompson starts, maybe one other thing he could add is the
deadline to submit the liquor catering permits -- it's required that they have two
liquor catering permits for this event, because it's four days. State statutes only
allow them for three days. We have not received any contact from anyone
regarding a liquor catering permit. The deadline for that was last Friday. We
have never received anything. So, at this point there is no liquor that's allowed
for this event at this point. But I just thought if Mr. Thompson is going to address
other issues, he should also address that as well.
Bird: The 7th was the deadline.
Nary: Yes.
Thompson: That's good to hear. I will contact the company that we are using
immediately. My understanding was he had tried to submit it, but, then, realized
he had to have two and I will find out the second I walk out of here. Central
Health District was a great point. We send out an e-mail each week to all the
vendors to let them know like when setup time is, who to contact for power,
electricity, all that. We also included Central District Health's phone number, so
my assistant Evaughn will contact them and go through every single food vendor
to make sure that they are licensed and if they are not, then, we won't. But we
have the information for Central District Health. But as the gentleman that spoke
from CenterCal, we are -- we will do anything, you know, to make them happy as
far as no parking signs, whatever it takes. We will do everything. Same thing for
anything over at DDR. And as far as his comment on -- again, when I talked to --
to the gal over there at DDR, she had heard nothing but good things about the
event and was more than happy for signage and that was the extent of the
conversation. And, again, misunderstanding as far as I talked to the gals,
assuming that that's been signed off, that's what I meant by, you know, an offer
of parking there and realizing that they are not the ones that can do that, it has to
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 44 of 52
be CenterCal. As far as extra spots, you had mentioned -- the gal come up and
talked about the 1,250. I probably decided to go really overkill and we have
available to us up to 3,500 parking if we use both the high schools and the
elementary school, as well as the church. Also there was a question about sign-
offs from the schools. If you guys want a copy right here -- that's the sign-off
from Meridian School District on all three parking lots for all three days. Also to
EMS, I received an a-mail from David Jones, he's an EMS, he had sent -- he sent
the letter and you guys have a copy of it where it says Kasey had spoke to them
this afternoon and pursuant to our conversation plan is on file with the city. So, if
there is more we need to do, then, let us know. As far as we know it's a done
deal. I mean we have said, yes, we are using you guys, so -- and that kind of
goes back with what your question was, why did it take so long on some of these
things. Well, I had told him, yes, we are using you and, then, he sent an a-mail
over to the attorney's office and we all thought we were ready to go and,
apparently, now we got to get something else in. So, it's little things like that that
we thought we were done and, then, we are kind of going on and on and on. But
as far as the parking plan we are excited about it and we think that the park
signage is going to be up a week in advance coming to the park. I think it will pull
a lot of the pressure off that whole valley. The other thing is the event is for four
days, that will dilute a lot of -- a lot of the high attendance numbers, because last
year it was only two days and that Saturday was the one that was really packed.
This year it's over four days and we have kind of diluted that where we think that
at any given time the numbers will be way down. So, I just --
Hoaglun: Quick question on that, though. Did you have the same number of
concerts -- I mean did you have concerts last time? I don't remember --
Thompson: We did. They weren't as --they weren't as big of names, but we had
more kind of your local -- local type bands and they played like all day long.
Yeah.
De Weerd: I don't think you sold tickets in advance; right?
Thompson: It's per event. What we are doing is we are taking -- we are doing
nine rows deep, right on the amphitheater just to cover the cost of the band that
we are bringing in. So, people can go anywhere they want in the entire event, it's
just right there nine rows deep, it looks maybe 20 feet by -- whatever the
dimensions are. It's a very very small piece of real estate.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor, Mr. Thompson, then, are there separate tickets to
the barbecue and separate tickets to the concert or is that a combined for the
rest of them? How does that work again?
Thompson: There is just one ticket and anybody can come to the event. It's free
to get in. To get to the reserve seating right in front, then, you have to have a
ticket for that, which you buy from IT Tickets and, then, our security will be set up
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 45 of 52
where they show their ticket and it will have a seat number and they will sit right
there. Yeah. So, we have a few hundred reserved.
Hoalgun: Okay.
Thompson: And we had approval for that. It was -- and the point of that is help
cover the cost of the bands. But, really, on behalf of our, you know, roughly 200
vendor sponsors -- thank you. We have been promoting this event for a year.
We were showcased on the Idaho Lottery ticket that's currently out. The
Barbecue -- Barbecue Bucks and when you turn it over, if you're not aware, you
redeem it at our show. We have been showcased on all the TV networks. We
are on the front cover of -- I don't know how many magazines. We are partnered
with BOB FM and we have got 200 sponsors and vendors that want to really --
this is on behalf of them. We are willing to do whatever it takes. We have
submitted what we think is a great plan. We have met the criteria. We want to
work the DDR. We want to work with CenterCal and we will put signage up
where ever they want. I know Randal has had the communication. So, whatever
they want we will do it and we want to work together to make this a big annual
event and year after year it gets easier and, yes, I promise you when this event is
over we will get ready for next year and this will be done immediately and
hopefully the parking plan will work and it's something we can just use in the
future.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor and Mr. Thompson, looking over this agreement that
you have with the school district, number four, list equipment included as part of
any rental, if any, and it says none. Now, you have mentioned something about
bus -- school buses being used?
Thompson: That's not what that's regarding. If you were going to use bleachers
or any equipment from the school. We were only renting the parking lot.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Thompson: So, that has nothing -- it's using an off-site bus. We are using Boise
Bus -- who is it?
Hoaglun: Brown Bus?
Thompson: Boise Shuttle.
Hoaglun: Oh, Boise Shuttle. Not school buses.
Thompson: They are using school buses, but it goes through Boise Shuttle.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 46 of 52
Thompson: But that's why she put none is that means are we renting any of their
equipment, like playground equipment and stuff like that.
Hoaglun: Okay. Got it.
Thompson: Yeah.
Nary: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor. Sorry.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, before Mr. Thompson sits
down, just in case you want to respond to that, too, he seems surprised by the
liquor catering permit. Last Tuesday we had that specific conversation in the
meeting we had at the Mayor's office, that two were needed, none had been
provided -- in fact, he was surprised his vendor hadn't contacted the clerk's
office. We said they need to be done. This came follow up after that meeting
that night, said Friday was the deadline. We have not had any contact of any
kind. They seem to have concern about the information and not getting
information timely. Your ordinance, 3-4-3 has every single one of these
requirements in it. It's in the ordinance. Everything. Central District Health, all
state permits, all requirements, all permissions from property owners, all security,
all traffic -- everything's in our ordinance. That's why we have it. So, this is
available. This is not new information to Mr. Thompson or anyone that applies
for these permits. It's in your ordinance already.
Thompson: That's -- he's got a very valid point. I am very surprised. We
outsourced that. We don't have a liquor license for, you know, the company and
he had told us he would have it done. Well, like Isaid, Ipromise -- Randal met
with him on Tuesday and -- what happened? Ipromise you the second I get on
my phone he will be the first phone call. Because my understanding was it was
done, so -- yeah.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: One other -- one other question, Mr. Thompson. You have got how many
vendors coming in?
Thompson: We will have -- right now we are at -- well, 150 and I would think in
the next two weeks, two and a half weeks, whenever the event is, it will be closer
to 200. That's vendors. With sponsors it will be around 200.
Bird: Well, the vendors are the ones I'm worried about. Now, you have their
liability insurance and have that on file with the city?
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 47 of 52
Thompson: Yeah. Each of the vendors has their own insurance.
Bird: You got it on file?
Thompson: They sign off an agreement when they sign up for a vender space
that says they will have it. We can get copies if you would like.
Bird: I thought we -- Mr. Nary, are we not --
De Weerd: You want to speak into your microphone.
Bird: Are not they required to have -- us to have a copy of their liability insurance
of their vendors?
Nary: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, Council Member Bird, we
require that the --that the applicant provide it, but we certainly want to make sure
that they are all covered. We have the same issues with other events, that they
don't have insured vendors, so, yeah, we do definitely want to know what that is.
Again, that's not been provided, so --
Thompson: We could go above and beyond and make everyone of them supply
it to us. That should help us out as well.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further?
Thompson: I don't have anything further. Thank you very much for your time.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: If there is no further testimony I move that we close the public hearing
on Item 8-A, the Clerk's denial of special event TUP 13-0043.
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: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 48 of 52
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: The more they talked the deeper the hole got. We have been
promoting this for over a year, to use their words, folks. It's on lotto tickets. It's
on magazine covers. The second largest Ribl=est in the nation. Lots of parking
problems last year. Learned a lot. Volunteers didn't work well. Plus are you
going to have somebody -- or do you have somebody overseeing your
volunteers. We will. Not we do. In September recruiting talent, yet we are on
June 11th, still haven't met the requirements to any degree of satisfaction for this
Council person as it relates to traffic and/or parking and a parking plan is not that
difficult to create. All you have to do is find somebody who knows how to do it
and spend a little money and a little time. If you were promoting and recruiting
for a year you could have found somebody in a year to do that. You don't have
your ducks in a line for your caterers, you don't have your ducks in line for
anything, as near as I can tell. You have nothing inked. I can't imagine entering
into something this big without having contracts, agreements in place. It's
unfathomable to me. Yet you want us to do the same assumptions that you have
made and I can't do it, because of the old adage, you can assume, but I'm not
going to. I think this is ill-advised, it's poorly planned as evidenced by the
comments from Mr. Crawford, who is also in the business of promoting and/or
extravaganzas. Staff has not provided any evidence to me that there has been
cooperation, that there has been valid communications, that there has been a
genuine effort on the part of this particular promoter and staff to engage
themselves in getting this done properly. So, I'm not pleased at all with what I'm
hearing.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: And I agree a hundred percent with Councilman Rountree, but I can't
believe a big event like this that's second biggest and you have got a year to plan
for it, that this wasn't done by the first of March. All this stuff should have been in
place and you're big promoters, you should have known. Our ordinance is pretty
clear what is required. Your alcohol people -- your permit hasn't even been
showed up yet and the deadline was the 7th. I don't know. I'm afraid -- I'm afraid
the larger it is this year, it will be worse than it was last year. I don't think -- I
think we need to get the ducks in a row before we even think about this thing
going on.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: You know, oftentimes we have staff deny something because it didn't
meet the statutory deadlines and it comes before Council and things have been
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 49 of 52
worked out, they were minor issues, and we approve them and move on. I would
not feel comfortable doing that in this case. There are just way too many things
where assumptions are made, deadlines not only missed, but I really don't have
any satisfaction that they will be met. There is just too many surprises when I
hear that, well, we had a misunderstanding with EMS. Well, we had a
misunderstanding with Big AI's. Oh, well, it wasn't quite what we thought with
ShopKo. Well, CenterCal, we had a misunderstanding. It was a communication
problem. Problem after problem after problem. We want events in this
community that are successful, that benefit the community, benefit the people
that participate and I would love to see something successful to come to our
community and be successful. That's -- we want that. But we have to make it
work and that means working with the neighbors to the park. Making sure plans
are in place and having that -- this is not a location where you can just hand
people a map and here are the public parking garages, here is where you can
park. We don't have that many public parking spaces. It's all private property.
And those things have to be met. And I don't want to put the onus on those
private property owners to have that impact to their facilities. That's not right to
them. And I also didn't want to have our taxpayers have to subsidize a private
event and that very well could happen when clean up plans and other emergency
situations are not met. So, I can't in good conscience move forward with any
approvals for this event.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: With that discussion I would move that we uphold the denial of the
City Clerk on the application TUP 13-0043.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, absent; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 9: Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 13-1561: An Ordinance of the City of
Meridian Granting Rezoning of a Parcel Located at 807
N. Meridian Road, Meridian, Idaho to the O-T (Old Town)
District
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 50 of 52
De Weerd: Item 9-A is Ordinance 13-1561. Madam Clerk, will you, please, read
this ordinance by title only.
Holman: City of Meridian Ordinance No. 13-1561, an Ordinance AZ 13-003, 807
North Meridian Road, for the rezone of a parcel located in the southeast one
quarter of Section 12, Township 3 North, Range 1 West, Boise meridian, and
being a part of Lot 3 of Block 1 of Westview Addition, as shown in Book Two of
Plats at page 68 in the office of the Recorder, Ada County, Idaho, and adjacent
and contiguous to the corporate limits of the City of Meridian, as requested by the
City of Meridian, establishing and determining the land use zoning classification
of OT, Old Town Zoning District, in the Meridian City Code, providing that copies
of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County assessor, the Ada County
recorder and the Idaho State Tax Commission as required by law and providing
for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the reading rules
and providing an effective date.
De Weerd: You have heard this ordinance read by title only. Is there anyone
who would like to hear it read in its entirety? Seeing none --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Ordinance No. 13-1561 with suspension of rules.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-A. Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, absent; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 10: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Council, under Item 10 is -- are there any future meeting topics you
would like to consider for additional agenda items?
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, we I think had received an a-mail earlier this week from
Caleb regarding your July 29th meeting and I wasn't certain if everybody had
received that information, so the fifth Tuesday meeting in July that we had
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 51 of 52
tentatively discussed with Idaho Power, they are willing to move it to a workshop,
so I just wanted to let you know that we will work with the Commission I think to
make sure that can be at a workshop either in September or October.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, one thing that I would ask that staff bring back
for future discussion is the TUP requirements for large scale events, in looking at
how far out should we require the parking plan, some of those public safety
issues prior to even scheduling an event or securing of scheduling on the
calendar. So, we would like to bring that back. We have had some tentative
discussions, because this is one thing we want to avoid.
Bird: Amen.
De Weerd: The promotion on this has been large scale and it is really
unfortunate the detail that they have spend on promoting was not spent on
securing and assuring the public safety. So, it is something that we will bring
back for a future discussion.
Item 11: Other Items
A. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345
(1)(c)(f): (c) To Conduct Deliberations Concerning Labor
Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest in Real Property,
Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency, and (f) To
Consider and Advise Its Legal Representatives in
Pending Litigation
De Weerd: So, with that said, Item 11 is Executive Session. I would entertain a
motion.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 67-
2345(1)(c), (1)(f).
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn into Executive Session.
Madam Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, absent; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
Meridian City Council Workshop
June 11, 2013
Page 52 of 52
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
~^'
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (5:36 p.m. to 6:01 p.m.)
De Weerd: I would entertain a motion to come out of Executive Session.
Rountree: So moved.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Rountree: So moved.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:01 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR
ATTEST: ~1
~ i a s ~ ~3
DATE APPROVED