HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-08-13~~E IDIAN ~' CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
MEETING AGENDA
AMENDED AGENDA
City Council Chambers
33 East Broadway Avenue
Meridian, Idaho
Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 3:00 PM
1. Roll-Call Attendance
X 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. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 2-6)
A. MFP 13-001 McNelis Subdivision by Ten Mile Investments, LLC Located
Northwest Corner of N. Ten Mile and W. Ustick Road Request: Modification
to the Final Plat to Remove a 20-Foot Wide Landscape Easement on Lots 3,
5 and 9, Block 1 of McNelis Subdivision
B. FP 13-033 Bridgetower Estates by Cottonwood Development, LLC Located
North Side of W. McMillan Road, Midway Between N. Black Cat Road and N.
Ten Mile Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Sixty-Three (63)
Residential Lots and Nine (9) Common Lots on Approximately 27.10 Acres
in an R-4 Zoning District
C. FP 13-034 Bellabrook Subdivision by ZWJ Properties, LLC Located 300 S.
Locust Grove Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Twenty-Six
(26) Building Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on 4.38 Acres of Land in an
R-15 Zoning District
D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 13-004 Valenti
Rezone by Jeanne Valenti Located Northwest Corner of N. Meridian Road
and W. Washington Street Request: Rezone of 0.34 of an Acre from the R-4
(Medium-Low-Density Residential) Zoning District to the O-T (Old Town)
Zoning District
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Page 1 of 5
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.
E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 13-012 Accolade
by Fields at Gramercy, LLC Located South of E. Overland Road and West of
S. Bonito Way Between E. Blue Horizon Drive and the Ridenbaugh Canal
Request: Amend the Accolade Development Agreement (Instrument
#112107771) to Reduce the Required Number of Carports
F. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 13-009 Touchstone
Place by Iron Mountain Real Estate, Inc. Located South Side of E. Fairview
Avenue and West of N. Stonehenge Way Request: Preliminary Plat
Approval Consisting of Sixteen (16) Multi-Family Lots and Six (6) Common
Lots on Approximately 4.38 Acres in an Existing R-15 Zoning District
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP 13-003
Touchstone Place by Iron Mountain Real Estate, Inc. Located South Side of
E. Fairview Avenue and West of N. Stonehenge Way Request: Conditional
Use Permit Approval for Sixty-Four (64) Multi-Family Dwelling Units in an
Existing R-15 Zoning District
H. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 13-011
Touchstone Place by Iron Mountain Real Estate, Inc. Located South Side of
E. Fairview Avenue and West of N. Stonehenge Way Request: Modify
Certain Provisions Approved with the Recorded Development Agreement
(Instrument #106187189)
Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: VAR 13-003 Plovanich
by John Plovanich Located at 983 E. Tuweep Street Request: Variance to
UDC 11-2A-3D.3, Which Prohibits Accessory Structures From Encroaching
into the Required Side Yard
J. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-028 Heron Ridge Estates Subdivision by
Mason & Stanfield, Inc. Located North of Chinden Boulevard, South of the
Phyllis Canal and Approximately a 1/2 Mile East of N. Black Cat Road
Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Ten (10) Single Family
Residential Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on Approximately Six (6) Acres
in an R-2 Zoning District
K. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-031 Fall Creek Subdivision No. 1 by
Coleman Homes, LLC Located West Side of S. Stoddard Road and North of
W. Victory Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of 93 Single-
Family Residential Building Lots and 13 Common/Other Lots on 39.67
Acres of Land in an R-8 Zoning District
L. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-030 Reflection Ridge Subdivision No. 2 by
Chist Todd, T-O Engineers Located West of S. Locust Grove Road and
North of E. Amity Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Twelve
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Page 2 of 5
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.
(12) Building Lots and Two (2) Common /Other Lots on 5.41 Acres of Land
in an R-8 Zoning District
M. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-032 Paramount Commercial Southwest
Subdivision No. 3 by Brighton Investments Located Near the Northeast
Corner of W. McMillan Road and N. Linder Road Request: Final Plat
Approval Consisting of One (1) Building Lot on Approximately 6.84 Acres
of Land in a C-G Zoning District
N. Resolution No. 13-934: CPAM 12-007 Woodburn West Subdivision by
Northside Management Located North of W. Ustick Road, Approximately
1/4 Mile East of N. Linder Road Request: Amend the Future Land Use Map
Contained in the Comprehensive Plan to Change the Land Use Designation
on 6.8 +/- Acres of Land from Mixed Use-Community (MU-C) with a
Neighborhood Center (N.C.) Overlay to MDR (Medium Density Residential)
O. Resolution No. 13-935: VAC 13-002 Accolade (aka Gramercy) by Field at
Gramercy, LLC Located South of E. Overland Road and West of S. Bonito
Way, Between E. Blue Horizon Drive and the Ridenbaugh Canal Request:
Vacate the Following Easements: 1) A Portion of the 10-Foot Wide PUDI
and Landscape Easement Along the South Boundary of Lots 2 and 3, Block
7; 2) City of Meridian Water and Sewer Easements Along the North
Boundary of Lots 1, 2 and 3, Block 7 Platted with Gramercy Subdivision;
AND 3) a 25-Foot Wide Emergency Vehicle Access Easement Along the
Shared Lot Lines of Lot 2 and 3, Block 7 Recorded as Instrument
#108013634
P. Approval of Bid Award and Contract to AME Electric, Inc for the "Well 20
Sites, Well 24 and Well 14 Control System Upgrades" Project for the Not-to-
Exceed Amount of $209,000.00
Q. Reimbursement Agreement for Connection to Sewer Service at 1507 N.
Meridian Road for an amount not to exceed $19,938.00
R. Meridian Community Block Party 2013 Presenting Sponsorship Agreement
Between Rehab Authority and the City of Meridian for aNot-To-Exceed
Amount of $1,500.00
S. Pedestrian Easement Agreement with Ada County Highway District as part
of the Ground Reservoir #2 and Booster Pump Station Project
T. Recreational Pathway Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
U. Sewer Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
V. Water Main Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Page 3 of 5
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.
W. Sewer and Water Main Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
5.
6
7
8.
X. Sewer and Water Main Easement for Mulberry Subdivision
Y. Pump Station Operation and Maintenance Agreement for Meridian Ground
Reservoir #2 and Booster Pump Station with Nampa & Meridian Irrigation
District
Z. License Agreement with Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District to Encroach
within the Easement of the Ten Mile Creek and to Discharge into the Ten
Mile Creek
AA. Agreement for Use of Kleiner Park for Barley Brothers Traveling Beer Show
Special Event Pulled off of Consent and Moved to Item 6/Moved to 8120113
agenda
BB. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2013 Single-Night Sponsorship
Agreement Between Westside Body Works and the City of Meridian for a
Not-to-Exceed Amount of $350.00
CC. Resolution No. 13-936: Authorizing The City Clerk To Destroy Certain
Semi-Permanent Records Of The Meridian Police Department
Community Items/Presentations
A. Police Department: Idaho Chiefs of Police Association Presenting
Accreditation Plaque to the Meridian Police Department (Pg 6-10)
Items Moved From Consent Agenda Item 4AA Moved Here (Pg 10)
Action Items
A. Public Hearing: Proposed Fall 2013 Fee Schedule of the Meridian Parks
and Recreation Department (Pg 10-11)
B. Resolution No. 13-937: A Resolution Adopting the Fall 2013 Fee Schedule
of the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department; Authorizing the Meridian
Parks and Recreation Department to Collect Such Fees; and Providing an
Effective Date Approved (Pg 12)
C. Meridian Arts Commission recommendation on Meridian Road Interchange
Overpass Public Art Project Approved Meridian Arts Commission
Recommendation (Pg 12-15)
Department Reports
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Page 4 of 5
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.
A. City Clerk's Office: Appeal of Denial of TUP-13-0065 The Pursuit Worship
Service by The Pursuit Granted Approval of Appeal (Pg 15-20) (Pg 54-56)
B. Mayor's Office: Community Liaison Update (Pg 20-24)
C. Human Resources/Legal Department: Mayor and City Council
Compensation Report (Pg 24-28)
D. Human Resources/Legal Department: Ordinance No. 13-1567: An
Ordinance Amending Title 1, Chapter 6, Section 5, Meridian City Code,
regarding Compensation for the Mayor of Meridian Approved (Pg 28-29)
E. Human Resources/Legal Department: Ordinance No. 13-1568: An
Ordinance Amending Title 1, Chapter 7, Section 9, Meridian City Code,
Regarding Compensation for the City Council Members of the City of
Meridian Approved (Pg 29-30)
F. Community Development: Discussion of Potential Unified Development
Code (UDC) Changes - Potential Code Changes Include: Fencing
Requirements; Common Driveways; Development Over Irrigation
Easements; and Other Miscellaneous Clean-up Items. (Pg 30-50)
G. Legal Department: Settlement Agreement in Eastern Oregon Construction
vs. City of Meridian Approved (Pg 50-51)
H. Community Development: Update on Certain Plans, Projects and Initiatives
in Downtown Meridian, Including an Upcoming Demonstration Project and
Roadway Cross-Section Study (Pg 51-53)
9. Future Meeting Topics (Pg 56-57)
Adjourned at 5:42 p.m.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Page 5 of 5
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 August 13, 2013
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday,
August 13, 2013, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Brad Hoaglun, Charlie Rountree, David
Zaremba, and Keith Bird.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Caleb Hood, Nancy Radford, Justin Lucas,
Brian McClure, Jeff Lavey, Scott Colaianni, John Overton, Jeff Niemeyer, Emily Kane,
Robert Simison, Patrick Dilley and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
x Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I will go ahead and get this meeting started. I'd first like to welcome all of
you to this City Council meeting. We always like to see friendly faces out in our
audience, so thank you for joining us. For the record it is Tuesday, August 13th. It 3:00
p.m. Madam Clerk, will you start with roll call attendance.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the
pledge to our flag.
Holman: Madam Mayor, we have two Boy Scouts who are going to come up and lead
us.
De Weerd: Okay. Emmett and Caleb, would you like to come and lead us in the
pledge. Sorry, I didn't look at my little note.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
De Weerd: If I could -- boys. Emmett and Caleb. Present a City of Meridian pin to you.
Come on up. This is for your leadership in leading us in the pledge to our flag. Thank
you.
Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is the adoption of the agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 2 of 57
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: A couple items to note on today's agenda. 4-N is Resolution No. 13-934.
4-O is Resolution No. 13-935. And 4-CC is Resolution No. 13-936. 7-B is Resolution
13-937. 8-D is Ordinance No. 13-1567. And 8-E is Ordinance No. 13-1568. So, with
those noted, Madam Mayor, I move adoption of the agenda as printed.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as printed. All those in
favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. MFP 13-001 McNelis Subdivision by Ten Mile Investments, LLC
Located Northwest Corner of N. Ten Mile and W. Ustick Road
Request: Modification to the Final Plat to Remove a 20-Foot
Wide Landscape Easement on Lots 3, 5 and 9, Block 1 of
McNelis Subdivision
B: FP 13-033 Bridgetower Estates by Cottonwood Development,
LLC Located North Side of W. McMillan Road, Midway Between
N. Black Cat Road and N. Ten Mile Road Request: Final Plat
Approval Consisting of Sixty-Three (63) Rsidential Lots and
Nine (9) Common Lots on Approximately 27.10 Acres in an R-4
Zoning District
C. FP 13-034 Bellabrook Subdivision by ZWJ Properties, LLC
Located 300 S. Locust Grove Road Request: Final Plat
Approval Consisting of Twenty-Six (26) Building Lots and Four
(4) Common Lots on 4.38 Acres of Land in an R-15 Zoning
District
D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 13-004
Valenti Rezone by Jeanne Valenti Located Northwest Corner of
N. Meridian Road and W. Washington Street Request: Rezone
of 0.34 of an Acre from the R-4 (Medium-Low-Density
Residential) Zoning District to the O-T (Old Town) Zoning
District
E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 13-
012 Accolade by Fields at Gramercy, LLC Located South of E.
Overland Road and West of S. Bonito Way Between E. Blue
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 3 of 57
Horizon Drive and the Ridenbaugh Canal Request: Amend the
Accolade Development Agreement (Instrument #112107771) to
Reduce the Required Number of Carports
F. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 13-009
Touchstone Place by Iron Mountain Real Estate, Inc. Located
South Side of E. Fairview Avenue and West of N. Stonehenge
Way Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Sixteen
(16) Multi-Family Lots and Six (6) Common Lots on
Approximately 4.38 Acres in an Existing R-15 Zoning District
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP 13-
003 Touchstone Place by Iron Mountain Real Estate, Inc.
Located South Side of E. Fairview Avenue and West of N.
Stonehenge Way Request: Conditional Use Prmit Approval for
Sixty-Four (64) Multi-Family Dwelling Units in an Existing R-15
Zoning District
H. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 13-
011 Touchstone Place by Iron Mountain Real Estate, Inc.
Located South Side of E. Fairview Avenue and West of N.
Stonehenge Way Request: Modify Certain Provisions
Approved with the Recorded Development Agreement
(Instrument #106187189)
Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: VAR 13-
003 Plovanich by John Plovanich Located at 983 E. Tuweep
Street Request: Variance to UDC 11-2A-3D.3, Which Prohibits
Accessory Structures From Encroaching into the Required
Side Yard
J. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-028 Heron Ridge Estates
Subdivision by Mason & Stanfield, Inc. Located North of
Chinden Boulevard, South of the Phyllis Canal and
Approximately a 1/2 Mile East of N. Black Cat Road Request:
Final Plat Approval Consisting of Ten (10) Single Family
Residential Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on Approximately
Six (6) Acres in an R-2 Zoning District
K. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-031 Fall Creek Subdivision No.
1 by Coleman Homes, LLC Located West Side of S. Stoddard
Road and North of W. Victory Road Request: Final Plat
Approval Consisting of 93 Single-Family Residential Building
Lots and 13 Common/Other Lots on 39.67 Acres of Land in an
R-8 Zoning District
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 4 of 57
L. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-030 Reflection Ridge
Subdivision No. 2 by Chist Todd, T-O Engineers Located West
of S. Locust Grove Road and North of E. Amity Road Request:
Final Plat Approval Consisting of Twelve (12) Building Lots
and Two (2) Common /Other Lots on 5.41 Acres of Land in an
R-8 Zoning District
M. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-032 Paramount Commercial
Southwest Subdivision No. 3 by Brighton Investments Located
Near the Northeast Corner of W. McMillan Road and N. Linder
Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of One (1)
Building Lot on Approximately 6.84 Acres of Land in a C-G
Zoning District
N. Resolution No. : CPAM 12-007
Woodburn West Subdivision by Northside Management
Located North of W. Ustick Road, Approximately 1/4 Mile East
of N. Linder Road Request: Amend the Future Land Use Map
Contained in the Comprehensive Plan to Change the Land Use
Designation on 6.8 +/- Acres of Land from Mixed Use-
Community (MU-C) with a Neighborhood Center (N.C.) Overlay
to MDR (Medium Density Residential)
O. Resolution No. :VAC 13-002
Accolade (aka Gramercy) by Field at Gramercy, LLC Located
South of E. Overland Road and West of S. Bonito Way,
Between E. Blue Horizon Drive and the Ridenbaugh Canal
Request: Vacate the Following Easements: 1) A Portion of the
10-Foot Wide PUDI and Landscape Easement Along the South
Boundary of Lots 2 and 3, Block 7; 2) City of Meridian Water
and Sewer Easements Along the North Boundary of Lots 1, 2
and 3, Block 7 Platted with Gramercy Subdivision; AND 3) a
25-Foot Wide Emergency Vehicle Access Easement Along the
Shared Lot Lines of Lot 2 and 3, Block 7 Recorded as
Instrument #108013634
P. Approval of Bid Award and Contract to AME Electric, Inc for
the "Well 20 Sites, Well 24 and Well 14 Control System
Upgrades" Project for the Not-to-Exceed Amount of
$209,000.00
Q. Reimbursement Agreement for Connection to Sewer Service at
1507 N. Meridian Road for an amount not to exceed $19,938.00
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 5 of 57
R. Meridian Community Block Party 2013 Presenting
Sponsorship Agreement Between Rehab Authority and the
City of Meridian for aNot-To-Exceed Amount of $1,500.00
S. Pedestrian Easement Agreement with Ada County Highway
District as part of the Ground Reservoir #2 and Booster Pump
Station Project
T. Recreational Pathway Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
U. Sewer Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
V. Water Main Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
W. Sewer and Water Main Easement for Rushmore Subdivision
X. Sewer and Water Main Easement for Mulberry Subdivision
Y. Pump Station Operation and Maintenance Agreement for
Meridian Ground Reservoir #2 and Booster Pump Station with
Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District
Z. License Agreement with Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District
to Encroach within the Easement of the Ten Mile Creek and to
Discharge into the Ten Mile Creek
BB. CableONE Movie Night in Meridian 2013 Single-Night
Sponsorship Agreement Between Westside Body Works and
the City of Meridian for aNot-to-Exceed Amount of $350.00
CC. Resolution No. :Authorizing The
City Clerk To Destroy Certain Semi-Permanent Records Of The
Meridian Police Department
De Weerd: Item 4 is our Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun
Hoaglun: Under 4-N, as noted earlier that's Resolution No. 13-934 and 4-O is
Resolution No. 13-935. And I also want to request that we remove Item 4-AA and move
that to Item 6. And, then, as noted Item 4-CC is Resolution No. 13-936. So, Madam
Mayor, with the removal of AA I move we approve the Consent Agenda and the Mayor
to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Meridian Ci[y Council Workshop
Augusl 13, 2013
Page 6 of 57
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda as changed.
Any discussion? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Community Items/Presentations
A. Police Department: Idaho Chiefs of Police Association
Presenting Accreditation Plaque to the Meridian Police
Department
De Weerd: Okay. We will move right into our agenda. 5-A is under Community
Presentations. I will turn this over to who? Oh. Retired Chief Moore. What am I
supposed to call you, chief?
Moore: Chief.
De Weerd: Okay. Chief.
Moore: Chief. Mayor Tammy, Council, my name is Dave Moore. I'm the recently
retired chief of police from the city of Blackfoot. After 36 years of law enforcement and
16 of those for the city of Blackfoot, I retired two months ago.
De Weerd: Congratulations.
Moore: Thank you. But it was very apparent that the chief didn't want me to leave, so
they had me hang on to do their accreditation for at least the next year or two, so I have
stayed on board to do the accreditation for the chiefs. So, that is why I'm here today
with you today. Mayor Tammy and Council, I'd like to read a letter to you into your
record if I could and, then, I will go into a brief explanation. Dear Mayor and Council
Members, it's my pleasure to inform you that the Meridian Police Department has
successfully completed the Idaho Chief of Police Association's accreditation process.
Doing an on-site inspection by members of the Idaho Chief of Police Association
accreditation crew on July 23 and 24th, 2013, your police department was found to be in
compliance with all accreditation standards set the ICOPA. This milestone achievement
came with no small effort. Our special thanks go out to Chief Jeff Lavey and his staff for
taking this opportunity and putting forth their efforts in meeting accreditation standards
set forth by ICOPA. This is an accomplishment that you and the citizens of Meridian
can be proud of, because it demonstrates your dedication to maintain a progressive and
professional police department for your community. Now, that's the official letter I'd like
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August 13, 2013
Page 7 of 57
to submit into you for your council meeting minutes, but I want to take just a few
minutes and explain to you I have been doing accreditation for the Idaho Chief of Police
for 16 years, so I have been to Caldwell, Nampa, Boise, Twin Falls, Post Falls,
Lewiston, Moscow and I had the opportunity to also do the City of Meridian
accreditation. So, I have had an opportunity to see what they look like all across this
state. Chief Lavey started on this project about three years ago. He probably could
have finished that project up, but midstream they changed policies, along with what
ICRMP recommended for several cities and that's to go to an Lexipol format. So, Chief
Lavey had his staff change direction literally in the middle of the stream and go back
and restart their accreditation process about two years ago and to work it into the
Lexipol program and the policies and procedures set forth that are honored by ICRMP.
But your chief did one thing even better on that. We found out that the Lexipol policies
are not always in line with ICOPA standards that have been set. There are 95 set
standards and criteria by the Idaho chiefs and it takes a lot of alignment to pull those in
so that you get accreditation for the chiefs after you adopt the Lexipol policy. You're
lucky enough that you have a member of your police department, Lieutenant Scott
Colaianni, who sits on the Lexipol board and it was with Lieutenant Colaianni's help that
we were able to correlate the guidelines that have been set by Lexipol and now
correlate those into the accreditation standards for the Idaho Chiefs of Police
Association. So, now the next city in the state that decides they want to do
accreditation will have an advantage that nobody's ever had before and those efforts
were put in place by the City of Meridian, the Meridian Police Department. So, I will tell
you, I have done a lot of them, Mayor Tammy, but I have to tell you, this has got to be
one of the best run ships I have seen in many, many, many years. It has to be. And I
was so impressed to see the organization and everything that was in place -- we found
literally nothing wrong to go over Chief Lavey with, other than one minor detail that we
fixed the day we were here. I mean that just doesn't happen. But I have got to tell you,
your volunteer program in this community is amazing. I cannot believe how many
programs you have in place and how many volunteers you have step up to the plate to
support your local police department, let alone the City of Meridian. So, I'm telling you,
you have an excellent police department. I have to leave you with that today and I think
they deserve a round of applause when I give Chief Lavey his plaque. The City of
Meridian is the 14th city in the state of Idaho to receive accreditation. Coeur d'Alene
should come on board next week and Ada County SherifFs Office, I met with their staff
today, Sheriff Raney has decided he wants to be the first sheriff's office in the state to
meet the accreditation standards set by the chiefs. So, we set some pretty high marks,
but I will tell you Chief Lavey has done one heck of a job here for your city.
Lavey: Madam Mayor and Council, you knew I couldn't sit down without saying a few
words. It just shows that --
De Weerd: I knew I didn't even have to ask.
Lavey: Yeah. It just shows that after two months of being retired he's already lost his
mind, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm up here to accept this on behalf of
the Meridian Police Department, but it's not -- excuse me -- it's not me that -- that
Meridian Cily Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 8 of 57
deserves it. It is our staff and it's an unbelievable team and we have been working hard
on this for about three years, but it really goes back to 16 years ago when we first
started accreditation in the state of Idaho with the chiefs association, because Chief
Gordon wanted to go for accreditation and it fell upon Chief Musser that also wanted to
go and do accreditation. So, I always knew that that was their goal and it was my goal
as well and, then, Chief Moore has already outlined some of the hiccups that we had
gone through during the process in making it better for the next departments. But I do
have to recognize a couple of people in that Lieutenant Scott Colaianni, as mentioned
before, has been very instrumental in making this happen and really it's -- it's some of
his skill sets that made it successful. Yes, he's a little anal. Yes, he's got an attention to
detail. But he has a loyalty to the city and to this department that has made him
persevere through this process. Even with a skiing injury and setting him back about six
to eight months he persevered.
De Weerd: We kind of like that light duty type of stuff there, lieutenant.
Lavey: You know, he has -- he has an area of opportunity that you and I both have and
that's an area of patience and that was truly a test of his patience, that light duty. But
we took full advantage of it for this process. The other person I'd like to mention -- and I
don't believe she's in the audience, but -- is she? Did she show up? Oh, there she is.
Is Beth Erickson. And Beth Erickson actually came from another police department and
had been through the accreditation process before, so it was secondhand to her, but the
amount of documentation that she put forth was instrumental in making this successful.
I know that a couple of the issues that came up is that the accreditation evaluation team
said, well, you have stuff in here that conflicts with each other and I went and would look
and that's because she gathered stuff that occurred in 2005 and she gathered stuff that
occurred in 2013. I mean she had these -- these files packed with every documentation
that she could come up with to the point where they didn't fit in the box anymore, so we
had to go out and cull some of that. But that's just the type of person she is as far as
her organization, attention to detail as well. So, it really falls on the shoulders of both
Beth and Scott as to why we are here today. But it really even goes beyond them. It
goes to our command staff who took ownership in this process. It goes to our FTOs,
our field training officers, it goes to our subject matter experts, our trainers in the
department and it goes back to the officers that the team rode with that night. Officer
Salisbury, Officer Hodges, and Officer Price, who had to endure the stranger in their
car. Officers don't like to have riders most often and we -- not only did we put a rider in
their car, we put a -- really someone that's going to test them in their car and quiz them
on topics that they had no idea what they were quizzed on while still having to do their
job out there on the street and they represented us well, too. So, it really goes to
everybody in the police department and, Scott, did you want to say anything at all?
Colaianni: Sure.
De Weerd: He's someone else you don't need to ask.
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Lavey: Scott has been on vacation for -- you know, he worked so hard on this he went
on vacation. I told him I said I want to -- I want to give you something, I want to give you
some time off or something. He says I will be sure to take you up on that. The next day
I sent him an a-mail and his out of office was already on. So, he didn't waste any time
leaving. Now, Beth, she still needs her vacation. So, Scott, why don't you come
forward.
Colaianni: I'm Italian, so I have a lot to say. Madam Mayor, Council Members, I will just
be very brief. This -- I don't own all this. There was a lot of help I had in this process. I
was just the one that was pushing a lot of the buttons, but it is -- it was a great honor in
working with the rest of the staff to put this together. You know, what Chief Moore had
said, you know, really kind of resonated with me. We worked hard and I believe we
have the best department in the state. The programming we have, the volunteers, and
my goal from the very beginning and it still will be until I retire is to make our department
the most accountable and professional department in the state of Idaho and I think we
just took a huge step in there through this certification. I'm going to continue to work on
some other things that with the training and everything we have in place now we are in
a good spot -- we are in a very very good spot. So, thank you for the opportunity.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, lieutenant. Anything further, chief?
Lavey: No
De Weerd: Chief Moore, we appreciate you joining us and certainly delivering such a
positive message. We have known and firmly believe that we have the best police
department in the state, if not beyond, and it's nice to see it validated and I do know a
lot of work went into that and we appreciate all the hands that were a part of this,
because we know that there are many and, chief, to you our congratulations for just
putting another feather in the cap of the accomplishments of the police department and
the recognition you have been so well deserving. Any comments from Council?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, if I may, I just would like to add that I have had a great deal of
respect for our police department all along and my contact with the citizens leads me to
believe that Meridian citizens are very happy with our police department and the
individuals with whom they have had contact in the police department, so just by feeling
I have been proud of our police department and I think it's wonderful to have such a
prestigious organization validate that as the Mayor said, and to tell us that we got
something really good going here, so I appreciate it. I appreciate what the police
department does all the time and the individuals in it and I appreciate the validation that
we are not just making this up.
De Weerd: Just one last comment. You know that in emergency services the guys in
the red truck always pull up and they are the heroes, because when a police car pulls
up in front of a home there is usually some real serious issues and they are not always
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seen as the heroes. They are our unsung heroes. We appreciate what you do to keep
our streets safe and our neighborhoods safe and what you do in our communities have
really lent to continue to be in the top spots and safest communities in our state led to
the designation of the 42nd safest community in the nation. Those -- those don't go
unnoticed, but what I appreciate is I have seen that trend where many of the comments
I got were concerns or usually comments regarding a negative experience with our
police department. It's always been unfounded, but now I'm getting positive comments
from our citizens and you see that trend shifting. It's because of the professionalism
and, yes, lieutenant, the accountability that our police officers are taking responsibility
and ownership for. I appreciate the attitude, the ever changing culture of wanting to be
the best and understanding that you are all public servants and you're serving our
community with dignity and integrity and that's greatly appreciated. So, thank you and
congratulations. Well deserved.
Item 6: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
AA. Agreement for Use of Kleiner Park for Barley Brothers
Traveling Beer Show Special Event
De Weerd: Okay. We did have an item moved from the Consent Agenda, Item 6-AA.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we asked to remove that contract
agreement for the Barley Brothers Traveling Beer Show event. That's not this coming
weekend, it's the following weekend. We found out today they don't -- they had not
secured medical coverage for the event, so we have asked to pull that. They still have
time to do that before the event, but they didn't get that done. They had contacted Ada
county, Ada county was contacted by our department, they have said, yes, they have
been contacted once, but they have no agreement. So, we have asked to pull that.
They have time in which to get that complete. If not, then, the event would likely be --
the permit would actually -- could be pulled if they don't get it done, but they have one
more week.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Bill. Any questions from Council?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: No.
De Weerd: So, I assume it will be on next week's agenda?
Nary: Yes, ma'am.
Item 7: Action Items
A. Public Hearing: Proposed Fall 2013 Fee Schedule of the
Meridian Parks and Recreation Department
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De Weerd: Okay. Okay. Thank you. Item 7-A is a public hearing regarding our
Meridian Parks and Recreation Department schedule. Garrett. That's what I get. I
didn't wear my glasses.
Dilley: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we had a successful summer in the
parks and the community center with our programs this summer and especially at the
elementary schools and we'd like to thank you again for securing that agreement with
Joint School District No. 2 and our campers and our staff greatly benefitted from the
added space and classroom space, green space, playground space for our camps. We
were getting a little cramped over there at the community center, but -- so we appreciate
that and the ability to serve north and south Meridian with those programs. Let's see.
We are all -- now we look forward to the fall season, some cooler weather hopefully
soon and the fall edition of our parks and recreation activity guide. Before you should
be the Meridian Parks and Rec Department proposed new editions and changes to the
fee schedule. We have some new classes and activity editions as you can see and
added fees for our newest edition to Christmas in Meridian, the Winter Light Parade, as
well as entry fees. With that I will stand for questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Patrick. Any questions from Council?
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. We don't have any questions for you, Patrick. I will see if there is
any comments from our citizens. Thank you.
Dilley: Thank you for your time.
De Weerd: Okay. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide
comment on this item? Patrick, it was so comprehensive there is just no comment.
Dilley: Thank you.
De Weerd: Council --
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: -- no further questions or testimony, do I have a motion to close this item?
Zaremba: Seeing nobody coming forward I move we close Item 7-A the fall fee
schedule for parks and recreation.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 7-A. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
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MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
B. Resolution No. : A Resolution Adopting
the Fall 2013 Fee Schedule of the Meridian Parks and
Recreation Department; Authorizing the Meridian Parks and
Recreation Department to Collect Such Fees; and Providing an
Effective Date
De Weerd: Item 7-B is the resolution to 7-A, which is 13-937.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I move we approve Resolution 13-937.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 7-B. If there is no
discussion, Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
C. Meridian Arts Commission recommendation on Meridian Road
Interchange Overpass Public Art Project
De Weerd: Item 7-C is a report from our Meridian Parks -- or Arts Commission. Who is
going to give this one? Emily or Stephanie? Did Bill leave at a convenient time?
Kane: No. Actually -- I actually thought it was going to be Robert, but I'm prepared. I
can go for it. Maybe I misunderstood. I will shoot from the hip. So, as the Council is
aware, a call to artists was released for the Meridian Road interchange overpass public
art project I believe this summer -- in July. The selection panel met on July 23rd and
there were three submissions. The selection panel's charge was to narrow the field to
five, so that was easy. Those three submissions were forwarded for public input and we
have received a number of comments. There was a town hall meeting and another
meeting sponsored by ITD. The public comment seems to favor the submission by
Alicia Dyson and at their meeting on August 8th the Meridian Arts Commission
considered the public input and the criteria in the call to artists and is recommending
that the Council approve the selection of Alicia Dyson's design for -- as the concept plan
for the Meridian Road interchange overpass. The scope of the call was really just for
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the design of the concept and not for implementation, but the selected design would be
entitled to 2,500 dollars to -- for the city to purchase that design and implement it at a
later date. That would be a second -- second phase.
De Weerd: Thank you, Emily. Any questions for Emily?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, to clarify where the artwork is going, we are talking that it
would be on the pedestrian fence railing over the top of the bridge on both sides. Is that
-- am I correct? Is that where we are talking about?
Kane: Correct. I'm not sure if it would be on both sides. I believe it would be on one
side or the other.
Zaremba: Okay
Kane: Do you have in your packets a picture of the selected design? No? I would be
glad to show that to you.
Rountree: That would be great.
Kane: Is that with this projector? We have the arts commissioner Stephanie Barnes is
in the audience. She can also answer any questions. That's pretty small. The one I
have is very small, so I'm going to try to pass those down. That would be great. These
are the two other submissions and a fourth is -- is the one that came from staff that was
kind of the default, the third design that you're familiar with. The one on the overhead is
the selection. Again, that was by Alicia Dyson. She writes that the design represents
the Snake River and the natural textures and colors found in the surrounding wildlife
and it's a Birds of Prey theme. So, I will pass that along as well and I will also include
this -- the one from staff as well.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Hoaglun: A question for Emily. When you say it's only going to be on one side, do you
mean it's going to be only on -- on the eastbound traffic? It will be only on the
eastbound -- above the eastbound lanes and on the westbound traffic it's only going to
be above the westbound lanes or is it just going to be on the east side or the west side?
So, if you could clarify -- you or Robert could --
Simison: Thank you, Councilman Hoaglun. It's really designed to go on both sides of
the interstate. It's really up to the city on whether or not they want to do both sides.
Initially I thought is as you're coming from Caldwell that's the side that it most definitely
would want to be on. But there is nothing prohibiting it from being on both sides
mounted, it's just whatever the cost ends up being if we want to go down that road and
do both.
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Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor and Robert, that is an option, instead of doing it all the way
across, we could just go above the -- and that might look a little odd, but that is an
option. One side. Both sides. Split on both sides.
Simison: Everything is an option. Once you purchase the design you can work with the
artist if we need to or we can make the changes ourselves to incorporate it.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would comment I like the design. I like the design, but I would like to see it
on both sides if we can swing it. The exterior sides of the fence. It doesn't need to be
on the inside.
De Weerd: Well, I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.
Zaremba: Yes.
Rountree: I wasn't going to say that.
De Weerd: You were waiting for me to, uh.
Zaremba: Had to take an overpass at that.
De Weerd: Any other questions for staff? So, what are the next steps, Emily, on this?
You will bring back an agreement -- an artist's agreement?
Kane: Yes. If City Council approves this or another design it would prepare a contract
to be executed with the artist for the purchase of that design and, then, it would be
essentially just a purchase of the design.
De Weerd: Okay.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor, do we need a motion?
De Weerd: Yes, we do.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move that we accept the Meridian Arts Commission recommendation of the
Alicia Dyson design for the Meridian Road interchange overpass public art project.
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Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the recommendation by the
Meridian Arts Commission. Any discussion on this motion? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you, Emily --
Kane: Thank you.
De Weerd: -- for filling in for Robert.
Kane: Thanks.
Item 8: Department Reports
A. City Clerk's Office: Appeal of Denial of TUP-13-0065 The
Pursuit Worship Service by The Pursuit
De Weerd: Okay. We will go ahead and move to Item 8-A under the City Clerk's office.
Madam Clerk.
Holman: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. This is on for an appeal of a denial
of a TUP for The Pursuit. I actually have Nancy Radford here of my staff that will
present this item.
Radford: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor, Councilmen. Nancy Radford,
Meridian City Clerk's Office. I will be going over the timeline of events for denial of the
special event application for The Pursuit, file number TUP 13-065, which you have in
your Council packet. October 10th of 2012 the organizers of The Pursuit, after having a
successful 2012 event, booked Kleiner Park with Colin Moss for their September 1st,
2013, event. February 12th, 2013, I e-mailed all previous special event applicants,
including The Pursuit, the updated ordinance proposal with the 30 day requirement,
along with a copy of the new special event application. April 3rd, 2013, I e-mailed all
previous special event applicants, including The Pursuit, with the large scale special
event information, along with a copy of the proposed ordinance. July 31st, 2013, Colin
Moss called the applicant to remind them that the application was due on August 2nd
and spoke with Jeff Fish. August 2nd would have been the deadline. It came and went.
The clerk's office, nor the parks department received an application. On August 6,
2013, I received three pages of a special event application via fax, then, two more
pages later in the day. No site plan was included and they provided an expired
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certificate of insurance. August 7th that same day I spoke to Emily in our legal
department about having to deny the application due to missing the 30 day deadline, as
well as receiving a partial application. That same day, August 7th, I prepared and
Jaycee Holman signed the denial letter, which was sent via a-mail to the applicant.
August 7th as well Luke from The Pursuit called Jaycee Holman and sent an a-mail to
appeal our denial, which you have before you. August 7th as well Luke from The
Pursuit called Jaycee Holman another a-mail with questions about what they can do to
now get their application approved, requesting copies of last year's application. On that
same day Jaycee Holman responded by a-mail and Jacy Jones processed the request
for last year's application as a public records request and sent the application via a-mail
to Luke Dillon at The Pursuit. Yesterday the clerk's office received a more complete fax
application from The Pursuit. Still some unclear information and an expired certificate of
liability insurance. So, in summary, the applicant had a successful event in 2012. It
was part of the temporary use special event changes notification. Unfortunately, this
year, short of filling out the application for them staff made multiple attempts to get the
applicant to apply for their TUP prior to their 30 day deadline. Not only did they miss
their deadline, but what they ended up submitting was inadequate for the city to
understand their plan and help prepare for their event from a public safety, park
maintenance, or good neighbor standpoint. We work with applicants every day on how
to complete an application and are very willing to go over every step with the applicant.
There has to be a good faith effort on the part of the applicant as well. Facilitating this
conversation and good customer service is why the ordinance was put in place to
require that 30 day deadline. Thank you for your opportunity and I will stand for any
questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions for Nancy?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none. Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Is -- oh, Councilman Zaremba
Zaremba: I just want to comment that earlier on the agenda we had a similar question
about a group who was only missing one item, which they appear to be able to supply.
So, my comment is these are not entirely parallel questions, since it sounds like you
have much more missing from this one than just one item that can be fixed within the
next week, so it sounds much more serious.
Radford: Well, yes. Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, this is a smaller event, so
the 30 day deadline it -- I mean we are not -- certainly not talking anything as large as
the item that was mentioned earlier, but, you know, the information is still important.
About 700 to 900 people expected.
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De Weerd: Okay. I would ask the appellant if they have comments. Good evening -- or
good afternoon. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Houck: My name is Chad Houck. I live at 6026 Moose Creek Way in Meridian. Mayor
de Weerd, Members of the Council, first I wanted to offer our apology for having to take
the Council's time with this matter. We accept full responsibility for the fact that the
application did not make it in on the correct timeline. The communication wires got
crossed in our office and we didn't realize that the date had passed or that it had not
been submitted until just recently and that was why we immediately submitted by fax
what we believed to be a complete application immediately after that. I do have a copy
of the information we submitted and be happy to answer any questions regarding the
site plan -- you mentioned the site plan was incomplete -- If there is any questions on
that. But five minutes ago was the first time that we had noticed the expiration date on
the insurance and on the application the date submitted on the top that we requested
when we requested it from our insurance company was -- the form that was submitted
was dated 8/6/2013. We just realized that the expiration date on that 2013 form was
2012 expiration date. So, that was a clerical error. I do have with me -- we have
completed that since we got here. I do have the correct insurance form with me. So,
that was my understanding that that was the only thing that was missing at this point.
Anything else we are happy to correct immediately. We, as you mentioned last year,
had a successful event. We had over 900 people that we were able to introduce to
Kleiner Park. I actually had just moved back to Meridian after five years in Texas and
being out of the state of Idaho and it is my first introduction, along with my family, to that
park and we would love to be able to be back there again on the 1st to bring people
back into that park again. So, if that's possible we certainly would be happy to do
anything as expediently as we can to make that -- make that work for the city.
De Weerd: Council, do you have questions?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Hoaglun: Just -- if they have the insurance certificate, Nancy, and the other information
was the -- was the layout?
Radford: I can provide -- I think it's part of your packet. I have the faxed copy of the
application. Because it was faxed it's virtually unreadable. There is a copy -- a
photocopy of a driver's license. There is a site plan that we don't understand what --
there is circles all over. I mean this is stuff that if -- if applicant's come in and talk to me
and go over this stuff, I will fill the application out. I mean this is not -- it's -- it's
incomplete and at this point now it's -- today's the 13th, so we are 13 days late -- or 12
days late.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: So, what would be your availability to sit down with staff in the next day or so
and --
Houck: I'm available right now.
Zaremba: -- and clear up those things?
Houck: As far as the -- the use is concerned, we -- we specify on the -- I have the same
copy of the map. The circles you're referring to are the band shell and A-2 space that
are marked out and hashed out and if they didn't come clear on the fax, then, we can
certainly clarify that, but it is -- we have got parking delineated. We have got probably
sign locations delineated on the site map and we specified the areas of the
amphitheater and the -- the picnic area that we were hoping to be able to utilized and
those are both on the application -- marked out on the application as well. So, I'm
absolutely happy to work with anyone to clarify anything. But, like I said, we weren't
aware that the insurance aspect was even an issue until literally moments ago when I
walked into the clerk's office to make sure that the application was complete as received
by fax. So, we started -- when we heard that it still was not complete we start scouring
over it and just came up with the insurance. Immediately sent an a-mail off and a phone
call off, got that faxed here within about five minutes. We are really eager to make this
event happen. We are responding as quickly as we can. We have had a lot of
transition. I know that's not an excuse. I have been on the staff of The Pursuit for five
days. We have had people moving around in positions. So, we are trying to get this
done. I apologize for the experience you have had. That's certainly not the kind of
experience we want people to have when they work with us.
Holman: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Holman: I would like to just note -- what really the issue is here is -- I'm sure they had a
great event last year and I'm sure it would be a really nice event this year and
something we would like to see in Kleiner Park or at least a use for that park. Really
what I think the core of the issue is is that 30 day deadline for these big events and
getting the public safety aspects and those details and items in place, so we have that
information and can process it and deal with it and have enough time to -- to do that
before the event takes place. I know for this one I had e-mailed Luke Dillon on Friday
and we did mention that the -- we did mention the insurance certificate in there in my
e-mail to him, so we have been going back and forth with this information with different
-- I think a few different people at The Pursuit. Really, that's the crux of the issue here.
We have missed a deadline. It wasn't a complete application. We couldn't process it or
even really get a good idea of what this event might be, because we couldn't make the
assumption it was going to be identical to last year. So, I guess that's really where we
are at on this one, so -- and I would stand for any questions.
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De Weerd: Well, Council, if it would be okay for all of you, if we can maybe ask Chad to
sit down with Nancy and postpone an action by Council to see if you, indeed, can
resolve these issues before the end of the Council meeting and just ask him to come up
at the end. That gives a little bit of time to see if it's -- if it can be resolved.
Holman: And, Madam Mayor, if I could --
De Weerd: Yes.
Holman: Oh, thank you. If I could ask the application -- is there any possibility, since
the 30 day deadline has gone and it -- are you sold on just this weekend or --that it has
to be that weekend or is it something that you could move out a little bit further to have it
at a later date and still be able to meet the 30 day deadline? Just wanting to know if
that's --
Houck: Our hope is to be able to make this a Labor Day tradition
Holman: Okay. Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would comment, one, on behalf of staff, that some of these are new rules,
but we impose the deadline so that things could process in an orderly fashion and since
we are discovering we are having bigger events in our parks and in particular Kleiner
Park, we have it --the Council imposed that deadline and staff has to follow those rules.
The fact -- the fact that they have informed you that you could appeal this and have
brought you to here indicates to me their willingness to work with you as well and,
again, if it was a successful event next year and you'd like that to continue for many
years I understand we changed the rules about six or nine months ago sometime, so it
is different than when you applied last year and I'm sorry if that came as a surprise to
you and your members, but I think the Mayor's suggestion is a good one, if you can
work together with staff during the rest of this meeting I think we are willing to listen to
the results.
Houck: And I do have the original with me, so both of us can take care of that.
Absolutely. So --
Zaremba: So, I just wanted to say staff is doing what they were told to do and we
certainly appreciate that. But also we'd like to make this work if we can.
Holman: Madam Mayor? One thing I would like to add, Councilman Zaremba, that was
said in Nancy's opening remarks is one of the things we did when we did change this
ordinance and made some changes to it, we contacted every applicant and informed
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every applicant that had had events in the last year of the changes, so they could
prepare for it and it sounds like their church has had a little bit of change in staff and
that may have gotten lost in the shuffle there, but I wanted you to know we do make
every attempt to go above and beyond and make it an easy process for our applicants,
so --
Houck: And please understand as I listen to the timeline as you went through it, you did
make every reasonable effort and like I said when I first stepped up, this is absolutely
our fault, not yours. You did communicate what you needed to communicate. We lost
those communications at some point along that path. We take responsible for that. We
just appreciate an opportunity to try and still pull the event off.
Holman: Great.
De Weerd: Well -- and I will just give kudos to Nancy. She is never in a favorable
position when it gets to this point and I know she goes above and beyond to not get in
this point. So, if we can give her one last opportunity. You have until the end of this
meeting. Okay.
Houck: Thank you.
De Weerd: I will go ahead and postpone this until the end --just after H.
B. Mayor's Office: Community Liaison Update
De Weerd: Okay. Item 8-B is the Mayor's Office. Ken.
Corder: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the gentlemen from Rock Harbor will
appreciate the fact that I'm standing here, because although I attempt to be brief,
sometimes I am not successful at such. You can thank me later, sir. Thank you,
Jaycee. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm Ken Corder, the community liaison
for the City of Meridian. My job is to be a connector to -- from the city to the citizens of
our great city, as well as a conduit for information. Today we will be looking at four key
areas in our updates, relationship reports, and also look ahead. We will take a brief
look at the MYAC, the Meridian faith community, the HOAs, as well as continuing the
outreach endeavors. Mayor's Youth Advisory Council. As we begin to ramp up for this
next school year I think it's good to take a look at the year review from last year. You
should have a document in front of you. Although the accomplishments are many, we'd
like to highlight the success of the Treasure Valley Youth Summit, as well as the Ball at
the Hall fundraiser in which we transformed this room into a decadent palace for the
MYAC parents and youth to enjoy. We raised close the 3,000 dollars for the Ben's Bells
nonprofit. In addition to the year in review we are also excited of the fact that we did
apply for and win three grants in which the children did the breadth of the preparation
for the grant work. We ended on such a high note that as the advisor to MYAC I really
wanted to get the youth in. I wanted to see them. I wanted to see their eyeballs to
make sure we maintain the culture and the continuity amongst those. So, we
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participated in the team road safety assessment program through the NOYS
organization -- National Organization for Youth Safety. To my knowledge we were the
only team organization actively doing road safety assessments in which we have done
two. Additionally, we entered the above influence video contest. The community did
back us. We are waiting on the final results, though it does not look promising. There
was another community that just had thousands and thousands that we could not
compete with. But I see it as a -- as a different way of engaging the youth. They wrote
the script. They produced the script. And, in fact, we even incorporated Lieutenant
Leslie from Meridian PD. Looking ahead, we are actually right in the middle of MYAC
registration in which we are going to target not only the four main high schools, but also
the charters as well. That being said, the executive council will be meeting next week to
plan for the upcoming year. Also the youth summit was so successful last fall that the
Meridian School District asked us to move it to -- or, excuse me, it was last spring --
they asked us to move it to the fall to allow for better planning for the instructors and for
the message to really adhere with the youth. So, that will actually be September 17th at
Wahooz. In addition, the following the events -- will be the standard Idaho community
events in which we will have faith leaders, civic leaders, business leaders, several
mayors, including Mayor de Weerd, will do a community bike ride and hear from
keynote speakers on the -- on leadership topics for youth. In regards to the Meridian
faith community, the Mayor and I challenged the faith community here in Meridian to
step up to the plate for our youth in regards to activities during the 11 weeks of summer,
as well as spring break and Christmas break and we asked them to open their doors
during the evenings for an alternative to house parties and whatever the youth do when
they are not being constructive with their time. They did actually rise to the challenge in
regards to the Friday night lights ministries. We and our churches will be partnering
with the ministry, headed up by the former Boise State track coach and they will be
doing speed and agility drills at various churches. One church would do it basically
once a year. So, it's a great partnership and also easy to plan for our churches. In
addition to the team challenge to the topic of Planned Parenthood operating in Meridian
has been a hot topic in this community. My job as community liaison has been one of
just education to let them know -- let folks know that Planned Parenthood does have
every right to be here, that there is an alternative in healthcare, which the 26:8 Church
headed up by Pastor David Snyder is leading a fundraising effort towards. Relations
between the faith communities has been something -- somewhat of an elephant in the
room at some of our meetings with the faith leaders. As we all know, there are
communities within communities and Meridian houses several different faith
communities and so what we are seeing is actually the appearance of bullying amongst
our youth based on doctrine -- doctrinal issues amongst the churches. So, evangelical
to LDS, LDS to evangelical -- you name it we are starting to see it. So, bullying has
started to rear its ugly head into the faith community. In response to this we are doing a
greater effort and outreach to incorporate all members of the faith community and the
faith ambassador council, as well as faith leader visits, not only to the senior pastoral
staff, but also to various ministries that can benefit this cause. That being said, one of
the ideas to combat this issue of bullying and to promote unity amongst the faith
community is the idea of a youth group town hall. Really to invite the various youth
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groups in for an evening of music and really focus on what we have in common and the
fact that we are in this great sandbox together.
De Weerd: Well --and, Council, I might add in our faith ambassador's meeting we have
all faiths that has been represented and they work very well together, from -- if any of
you have gone to the Christmas program, the live nativity out at the Seventh-Day
Adventists, they are right next door to an LDS church and they -- they commingle the
music, the actors, a lot of it and those two entities have now brought in other churches,
other faiths, that have added to the choir, as well as helping serve refreshments after
you have gone through the story of that -- the Christmas story that they recreate and it's
been really positive and that's just one example of a number of them. But how they
have come together in trying to look at this void of what to do with your teens in -- and
free time. They have looked at their facilities and their programs and said how can we
open it up to all of the teens of our community, not just our own congregations. And so
it's been very positive and we have heard good feedback as well.
Corder: Absolutely. Absolutely. The last Faith Ambassador Council we did we had 26
members of the faith community there, so it is growing and there is a great response
from the leaders in just working together for the greater good of this community. So, it
is fantastic. I do believe it all started with the I Heart Treasure Valley event with Nick
Vujicic. There was really some unification there. So, moving forward. Homeowners
associations. So, I -- I maintain relationships with several of our HOAs through the --
through the Facebook and group functions, as well as the just picking up the phone with
property management companies, board members, and we just had the opportunity to
engage our HOAs through the National Night Out. This summer has been the summer
of community pool issues. I know at a recent -- at a recent Council meeting we just
gave a hometown hero award to three individuals who saved a youngster. That is
actually two near drownings we have had this summer. Additionally, security and safety
has been a major problem. Even last night Baldwin Park actually had their -- the light
fixtures pulled off their walls in their clubhouse. So, we are seeing teens jumping
fences, we are seeing people opening gates without key cards for other folks. So, it is
something that we have seen. Unfortunately, we have seen several issues -- I believe I
have documented eight issues of kids not wearing diapers and so human waste has
been an issue in our pools as well. That being said, it's not only my position to identify
this, but to apply resources to it. We had a tremendous resource in the Meridian
community pool, in which they had two full safety events, as well as a -- as well as some
local CPR classes that have gone to our HOAs to offer up their services at discount
prices. I have been working with -- with an Eagle Scout to set up a CPR class in my
home subdivision Silverleaf. So, irrigation and city water, moving on here, there are
several signs around Meridian with a tentative shut off date of September 2nd, which is
causing a lot of concern and confusion with our constituents as far as how to water
lawns and maintain them. So, I know Tom Barry and his team are putting together a
comprehensive plan to educate both on how to let your lawn go into dormancy, things of
that nature. Just want to bring it to your attention that it is something I am seeing.
Additionally, Costco and Walmart -- at the recent town hall Walmart was a big topic as
far as where they are going to be, the esthetics of it, as well as building placement in
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front of it and also Costco has a big rumor. They were allegedly moving into the Eagle
side of Chinden at the old Foxtail.
De Weerd: And they are not.
Corder: And they are not. I would like a dollar for every time I have told someone that,
actually, so -- but just -- it is something that does keep reappearing and I was asked that
question several times at National Night Out on the Costco thing and, then, folks have
several questions regarding Walmart. A lot of folks think it's going to be on the
southeast corner of McMillan and Ten Mile and so I have just been educating folks on
that and working directly with Walmart to educate them properly through their team.
Last -- last topic on homeowners associations. Animal control. We are seeing a lot of
posts on Facebook regarding dogs on the loose, dogs attacking other animals and what
I have been doing is just being a conduit of information, having them call our code
enforcement, but also sharing the city ordinance regarding the ownership of dogs. So,
again, something that has popped up, so just keeping an eye on it for you and I will
report accordingly in the future. Community outreach. Mayor de Weerd and I have had
the pleasure of sitting down with a few of our high school principals and the topic in
which we are seeing amongst them all is bullying. Obviously, it's been around for
awhile, but it has gotten worse, primarily through the use of social media. Principal
Hirano over at Rocky Mountain has actually had to have students into his office and
school hasn't even started yet. So, some of our charter schools we -- we took a fourth
of them last year, they did not have this issue. They are now seeing it. So, the Mayor
and I and the members of MYAC will be working on this topic and we have an asset in
Officer Gomez who specializes in this and so we will be -- we will be focusing a lot of
our attention in MYAC on this and looking at resources to educate our parents out there.
So, we are also losing our teachers here to the -- to the Boise School District and this is
based on wages and their pay structures and so Principal Hirano had lost 43 teachers
last year. He's already lost 32 this year. So, it is something of concern for continuity for
our students. Just want to bring that to your attention. Our last town hall received a lot
of positive feedback and so we are looking to duplicate that in the different quadrants of
the city and really specialize in those areas, what businesses are coming to that area,
how the process of the public hearing notice works, et cetera. So, we look to expand on
that. This is the last one and make sure that folks are in the know. Again, we do not
want to -- to have folks coming to us and, then, have to -- to react to an issue when we
can be pro-active and let folks -- let folks know the process in layman's terms.
De Weerd: And, Ken, I guess just to add -- each of you have a --apart of our Council
will be working with you as well for the subsequent town halls to include you in the
planning and location thereof. So, stay tuned. We will be calling you.
Corder: That being said, we confirmed Mountain View for October 23rd for a candidate
forum for our future City Council candidates, as well as the area specific meetings we
just spoke about. In regards to ribbon cuttings, we have celebrated 12 thus far in 2013.
As a person who tries to be opportunistic in these -- in these celebrations I have been
able to bridge MYAC to several of these through the MYAC leadership program, so
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these new businesses are opening their doors for us to hold our meetings and have the
ownership talk to their youth about give their voice to their ownership of their business,
their past, et cetera. So, lastly, in community outreach, we just celebrated the Relay For
Life events on July 12th at Meridian ,High School. The event was considered a success.
There were approximately a thousand people who attended. There was one noise
complaint and in talking with the leadership team of Relay they did mention that that's
the status quo. Lieutenant Overton mentioned that he was okay with that for that
particular event and so -- and so they are looking to host it again at Meridian and make
it an annual event. That being said I stand for questions, concerns, comments.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, not really a question, but this was cool. It's always nice to
hear from the MYAC representatives what they are doing, but when you put it pretty
much all down in one place and we see three full pages of activity after activity, each
one of which is a great thing to have them do, it's really cool to see it that way. Thank
you.
Corder: Thank you, Councilman Zaremba.
De Weerd: They were an outstanding group last year, very motivated, and very excited
for the coming year as well. So, watch out.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: They might even be challenging all of you. Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I agree on the MYAC. They are very good and I think they will be just as good.
But I want to compliment Ken on his leadership with those kids. In fact, I think he's
probably the biggest kid in the whole group when you -- if you want to come watch. He
interacts with these kids --
De Weerd: I can guarantee it.
Bird: It's just unbelievable. But, Ken, you have done such a great job in your position. I
certainly appreciate it.
Corder: Thank you, Councilman Bird. You know, I do like to say that it is the garden
that Luke Cavener planted and I'm cultivating at this time.
Bird: Yeah.
Corder: Thank you.
C. Human Resources/Legal Department: Mayor and City Council
Compensation Report
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De Weerd: Okay. Any further? Thank you, Ken. Okay. Item 8-C is under our HR-
Legal Department.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I have in your packets a
report from our Mayor and City Council Compensation Committee. We talked about this
a couple weeks ago just as a preview. According to our city code every election cycle
we gather a group of a variety of different people within our city. This year the
committee was comprised of myself, Christine Donnell, former city council member,
Treg Burnt, the current parks and recreation commission chair, Clint Shiflet, an
executive with a local Meridian business, Chris Kline, also another local businessman
with Edwards Jones Investments and Ann Little-Roberts from the Chamber of
Commerce, John Berg, local Meridian resident, and Bill Bock, another Meridian
businessman. We have had two meetings to discuss compensation for the elected
officials, Mayor and City Council. They reviewed a number of different sources of
compensation. They reviewed -- the Association of Idaho Cities compiles a list of
current pay or benefits that are provided for elected officials around the state. They
looked at our past history, what changes have been implemented over the four -- last
four election cycles. We haven't had any changes in the last -- the last two. The
methodology and philosophy of compensation methods in general, they looked at a
variety of different things. They looked at market rate, longevity, pertormance, effort,
trying to create a plan for a long term type of compensation plan for elected officials in
the city and they also looked at, again, what in the past we have done or not done in
regards to elected officials, especially during the recent recession that we are just kind
of experiencing the end of we hope. They discussed a number of alternatives, including
changing things in regards to benefits and other types of methods of compensation and
looking at a whole compensation package. What's in front of you are two ordinances
that if you agree with either one or both, we do need those for approval today. It's
required by state code that changes to compensation for elected officials must be done
75 days prior to the election date. That 75th day is next Tuesday. So, it can't wait
another week, so, really, that's why it's in front you today. What they decided -- in
looking, of course, at the benefit side they made a decision not to make any
recommendations to change benefits, they felt with the national Affordable Healthcare
Act they weren't comfortable in making recommendations for changes at this time, just
because they are not clear, as are most us feel in the field very clear as to what that's
going to -- what that's going to mean over the next year or two. For a long term value
the committee agreed that it would make sense to create a standing committee. They
all offered to be a part of that if the Council would like, to help work over the next two
years during the -- until the next election cycle to develop a plan to bring in front of you
for long term -- I guess long term consistency, long term accountability and
transparency for the public as to how compensation for elected officials is done, how it
is evaluated, how it is changed. As you recall, Council, we made a similar
recommendation at the budget hearing in regard to city compensation as a whole of
doing the same thing, creating a plan with guidelines that you could look at long term
consistency with guidelines around it, so that there is not a mystery or a perception of
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folks that this isn't done in a systematic process, they all offered to participate in that, if
that was your direction or desire. Lastly, they looked at the current compensation in
relation, again, to others, as well as what's been done in the past. No increases have
been done in the last couple of election cycles. The last one for the Mayor's office was
done -- the Mayor was done in -- or the Mayor's position was done in 2011. The last
one done for the City Council was done in 2009. So, it's been quite awhile since any
changes. They looked at the Consumer Price Index, as well as other changes in the
city, and made the following recommendation. So, they did recommend that the
Mayor's salary increase from it's current wage to 80,000 dollars in 2014 and, then, to
82,500 dollars in 2015. That ordinance is in front of you. They are recommending
increasing the Council Members' salary from its current to 9,500 dollars in 2014 and,
then, to 10,000 dollars in 2015. They, again, recommended that the benefits not
change. Those are their recommendations for this election cycle and, again, they hope
that you would agree to maybe having a committee made up of them or others as you
elect to look at this for the long term as well before your next election cycle in 2015. So,
if you have any questions I'd stand for questions. I invited them all to be here, but they
just wanted me to present it I guess. They all were in agreement.
Bird: They all had to work.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird
Bird: I do have one suggestion. Bill, I think that was a very good committee and if they
would stand I'd like to see us get a committee that -- a standing citizen's committee and
get the proper resolution in place and -- and if they would serve on it I don't think we
could find a much better group of people to serve on it.
Nary: Thank you, Councilman Bird.
De Weerd: Any questions, comments? Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor. I would thank the committee for their work and I know they
have -- similar committees have made recommendations to us in the past and
sometimes we have taken them and sometimes we haven't. I would like to comment
very much in favor or taking their recommendation for the Mayor's compensation to
change and to express maybe a kind of ambivalent opinion about the Council's pay
changing. We don't do this full time and whether we get paid 75 cents an hour or 80
cents an hour isn't really that big of a deal, but part of the reason that we discussed
having six council members as opposed to four is -- is kind of a two prong thing. If we
could spread the workload that we have a little bit thinner and maybe even raise the
compensation a little bit, we are likely to get younger candidates than the old farts that
we mostly have now, one of which I am.
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Rountree: Speak for yourself
Zaremba: I certainly am speaking exactly for myself. But, you know, we are people
who are either retired or certainly far enough along in our careers and not raising
children at home and to me one of the reasons to support going to six council members
was -- was to get council members who are in that stage of their life where they have
children at home and have careers to grow and some younger faces on the Council and
part of that is that, you know, younger people can't afford to do this for 9,000 dollars a
year. So, I guess I'm coming around to say I'm in favor of raising the Council
compensation as well, because as a part of also going to have six councilmen, I -- I
think that has worked. I mean from what I have seen of -- I haven't met all of the
applicants, but what I have seen of the applicants for the two seats that are coming up
in November we are getting younger people with some new thought and I'm -- I think
this is a part of supporting that idea. So, I guess I'm speaking in favor of raising the
Council as well.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other comments?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor. And I am in favor if the committee members want to stay
together and do some more work I appreciate that as well.
De Weerd: Very much so.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree
Rountree: I, too, support that -- Bill's suggestion on the committee and I think the folks
you have on the compensation committee now, if they are willing to move forward with
that, will be great. That's a great cross-section of our community. Well established.
They are active in the community. They know what's going on and they know the kinds
of things that we are facing. With respect to the Mayor's suggestion, I don't have any
problem with that, particularly given what I see going on in other communities around
here. It's a step in trying to get parody. As far as the Council, I have stated before and I
will state again that I never took the job and sought the job for the compensation, but I
can say in the past four years just the cost of fuel to get to and from here and the dozen
other meetings a month in addition to the City Council meetings, it's -- the 9,000 bucks a
year just about breaks even and we are not able to get compensated for those extra
meetings --
Bird: Nor should we.
Rountree: -- that are above and beyond our -- our assigned duties, which we shouldn't
be, but I mean there is a lot of stuff that we all do that's extra. We are involved in other
aspects of our community to help our community, to know what's going on with air
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quality and landfills and water quality and all of the things that we get ourselves involved
in. So, I would support the incremental increase in Council's compensation. For that
reason, but it's not a -- it's not something I would break my pick over.
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor, I don't want to burst Councilman Rountree's bubble, but
I worked out the 500 dollar a year increase, that's $9.62 a week. So, there is three
gallons of gas right there.
Rountree: Yeah.
De Weerd: Now I can give you one more meeting to go to.
Rountree: Yeah.
Bird: Not taking into consideration the 35 percent we lose in taxes.
Hoaglun: That's true. I didn't figure out the 35 percent taxes either, so --
D. Human Resources/Legal Department: Ordinance No.
An Ordinance Amending Title 1, Chapter
6, Section 5, Meridian City Code, regarding Compensation for
the Mayor of Meridian.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, Council, I will go ahead and move to item 8-D, which is
ordinance 13-1567.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval of Ordinance No. 13 -- oh, we have to read the ordinance.
De Weerd: Oh, yeah. It is an ordinance, not a resolution. I'm sorry, Madam Clerk. I
almost missed your opportunity to shine.
Holman: Madam Mayor, I almost missed it, too.
De Weerd: If you will, please, read this ordinance by title only.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 13-1567, an
ordinance amending Title 1, Chapter 6, Section 5, Meridian City Code, regarding
compensation for the Mayor of Meridian, 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? Okay.
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Hoaglun: Now Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval of Ordinance No. 13-1567.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a --
Bird: Rules.
Hoaglun: Under suspension of rules. Yes.
De Weerd: Second agrees?
Rountree: Second agrees.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-D. If there is no
discussion, Madam Clerk?
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
E. Human Resources/Legal Department: Ordinance No.
An Ordinance Amending Title 1, Chapter
7, Section 9, Meridian City Code, Regarding Compensation for
the City Council Members of the City of Meridian
De Weerd: Item 8-E is Ordinance 13-1568. Madam Clerk, with you, please, read this
ordinance by title only.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Ordinance -- City of Meridian Ordinance No.
13-1568, an ordinance amending Title 1, Chapter 7, Section 9, Meridian City Code,
regarding compensation for the city council members of City of Meridian. 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? Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I move we approve Ordinance 13-1568 with suspension of rules.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-E. Madam Clerk, will you,
please, call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
F. Community Development: Discussion of Potential Unified
Development Code (UDC) Changes -Potential Code Changes
Include: Fencing Requirements; Common Driveways;
Development Over Irrigation Easements; and Other
Miscellaneous Clean-up Items.
De Weerd: Item 8-F under Community Development. Justin. it seems so odd we can't
give you a hard time about roads anymore.
Lucas: Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Certainly you can,
but I will just say I don't know anything about the roads anymore. Thank you for having
me. Justin Lucas, representing the Community Development Department here today to
talk about some potential changes to our Unified Development Code. This is a -- as you
know is a workshop. These --all changes to the Unified Development Code have to run
through full public hearing and both Planning and Zoning Commission and in front of the
City Council, so just so you're aware, no application is being submitted at this point, this
is just for us to get feedback before we actually make application and, then, there will be
official public comments and all those things. But there was several issues that we
wanted to bring before you to get comments and to have a conversation prior to making
any official application and recommendations through that process. I'm going to go
through these as quickly as I can and I'm looking really to you to stop me when you
want to discuss something. If what we are proposing and what was in your packet is
sensible to you, then, we can probably move through pretty quickly. Some of them,
though, are -- we didn't propose anything, because we really want to know what you
think and so I will -- I will work through that as we go forward. So, please, feel free to
interrupt me at anytime. The first issue is double fencing adjacent to pathways and
open space and I don't know if you remember this -- I'm sure you do --this was several
months ago, a double fencing issue was brought before the -- before the Council related
to a dog in a neighbor's yard. This happens to be the fence that was in question there.
We are not here to specifically talk about that fence, we are here to talk about this issue
in a broader context. But to do that -- at that Council meeting you asked staff to take a
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look at this and see if there was something we could to within our code to solve this
problem. To step back a little bit, the city does have a requirement within the code that
talks about open space and micropaths and fencing adjacent to those areas and the
whole concept is -- and this is based on something called -- let's see here. CPTED.
And I have it here. It's Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. And I had to
memorize that before I came in. And the idea is eyes on these areas and when they
are closed off, when they are in the back and you can't see them, crime is more likely to
occur. That's kind of the simplest way to look at this and that's why these -- these
things were originally intended and included in the UDC. So, I don't want to lose that
overall concept of the fencing, because that's why -- that's why it's in there. We can
certainly talk about that, but I wanted to kind of give that justification prior to moving
forward. So, what staff has done is -- and I have some pictures just to show you what
the issue -- what the issues are and let's see if I can get the -- I can't see the -- would
you advance -- I can't see the -- thank you, Caleb. This is just from a different angle.
Go ahead and move one flag forward. This is another -- another example, kind of a
different look. This is adjacent to an open space area where the developer installed the
required open vision fencing and, then, the homeowners -- and I'm not going to give you
their address or we are not going to call code, I'm just using this as -- I'm using this as
an example. The homeowners installed fencing behind this and there is several other
locations I could go out and find just like this across the city and historically -- and this
one -- I can even get to one in a second. This one shows you what -- what was allowed
in the -- under the old code prior to the UDC. This is a micropath actually in my
neighborhood. Prior to the UDC it was built -- and you can see what you get when you
get a six foot tall fence and a micropath in it, it creates kind of a tunnel effect and the
area in the back part of that picture can be difficult for police or fire, whoever, to see and
especially at nighttime it's really dark back there. So, that's what we are trying to avoid.
And so the whole double fence issue, what we have done is proposed what we think is
a solution to that and if you go forward here -- I have put up a typical --atypical lot and
on the back let's say you have common open space and on the side let's say there was
a micropath. This would be like the perfiect storm for the -- the fencing. Our current
code would restrict fencing as shown in those colors. The red would be that six foot
open or four foot solid. It's required adjacent to that micropath and if they want a fence
adjacent to the open space, which is not required, it has to be six foot open or four foot
solid. The yellow represents where we would allow six foot solid fencing, which is on --
between the neighbor, you can still have six foot solid fencing there and, then, on the --
the front part of their house parallel to the street, as long as it's outside of the front
setback, they can have six foot solid fencing there. But adjacent to that common open
space and micropath they could only allow this. Now, what we are proposing, which is
not currently explicitly described in our code, but because of this double fencing issue
we thought we might want to be a little bit more explicit and this is staff's stab at this and
as with any code change this is -- this may not be pertect. We are trying to do this, but
we are tentatively throwing this out there for your comment. If you could hit that, Caleb,
the next advance there. It would allow for privacy fencing or six foot -- or back one.
Sorry. Six foot -- six foot fencing if it was set back from those -- those other fences.
Now, we could have done it by the setback in the rear yard or the side yard, we could
have done it by a lot of different things. We chose eight feet, because a standard fence
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panel is about eight feet and so we figured if that's where the transition is occurring from
the six foot fence down between the fence types, that had some sense to it. But what
you would get in a lot like this, the way the code is -- that we have proposed is the ability
for people to build a dog run or to build a fence around their hot tub or whatever they
have in their backyard and you would still potentially -- still allow for those eyes on the --
on the common open space and micropaths. So, what we did is we allowed these
fences, but we restricted it eight feet -- you have to be eight feet from the property line
and a lot of side yards don't even have eight feet in the City of Meridian, so they
wouldn't be allowed to build another fence behind that required micropath fencing and
we restricted it on the -- on the rear yard to only 50 percent of the lot width. Because if
you allow them to build an eight -- a six foot fence eight feet back all the way across the
rear yard it seems to defeat the whole purpose of why we even require the fencing to be
lower or open vision at those points. So, the exact language is in your -- is in your
packet there and I can go ahead and read it, it says: Other fences, which would be
other than these fences adjacent to the common open space and micropath, within the
rear or side yard, shall be set back a minimum of eight feet from the property line and
within the rear yard other fences shall not exceed 50 percent of the property width. And
if this code was in place when -- if we go back to the original picture -- we don't have to
-- when they came in -- once someone comes in this and asks about can I build a fence,
we could say, sure, you can, but it has to meet -- have the eight foot back and it can't be
wider than 50 percent of the lot. So, that is --that's -- as I say, this is staffs idea. There
is a lot of other things we could do related to fencing, but this was one that seemed to
meet the desire of the property owner to have some privacy versus the city -- the city's
desire to have eyes on those micropaths and open spaces. So, we are trying to kind of
straddle the fence there and we are here for your comments on that proposed solution.
And I will pause now as you digest it.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor. Quick question, Justin, to make sure I understand open
fence, because I think I have that on the east side of my property. They are just opened
about yeah much, is that --
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, you live the Bridgetower Subdivision?
Hoaglun: Yes.
Lucas: Yeah. That open vision fencing adjacent to your property actually doesn't meet
current city standards. When it was installed it did, so you're okay, don't worry, but it
doesn't meet current city standards. I believe the standard now is 50 percent open
vision. Is that correct, Caleb? Yeah. Fifty percent. And f think the fencing that went in
with Bridgetower, which was -- has its own -- obviously was approved quite awhile ago
-- was approved at 80 percent closed vision. So, only 20 percent had to open. So --
Hoaglun: Okay.
Lucas: So, it's a little bit more open than that.
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Hoaglun: Okay. That's what I wanted to check. Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Two different questions. I think this question has come up several times. In
the perimeter fence along a public open space there was a time when we allowed
somebody to go four feet solid and, then, add two feet of open vision above that and is
that no longer desirable?
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, yeah, the code actually was modified
specifically to prohibit four foot open -- four foot solid with two foot vision, which would
be a four foot fence with two foot of lattice or whatever it is on to and there is probably
several reasons for that, but I think the main reason was we had people just tacking on
the lattice you buy at Home Depot to the top subdivision fence and it wasn't -- it wasn't
very esthetically pleasing. Now, if it was with the development and there was a -- you
know, like a vinyl fence and that was all done together, that can look fine, but that wasn't
how -- the code, because it allowed it, you had a lot of people tacking it on and the
neighbor didn't and it was just an odd -- an odd looking situation, so that's why that was
prohibited -- one of the reasons at least.
Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. And, Mayor, a second question. In the -- let's focus on
the red line there. In my subdivision there are a number of four foot and even three foot
open fences and I guess my question would be in defining the red line I'm comfortable
of saying you can go up to four feet solid, but on the open could we say up to six feet
open, which would allow for a shorter open fence?
Lucas: Oh, sure. Sure. Yeah. And, Madam Mayor and Councilman Zaremba, that is
allowed within the code. You can build a shorter open vision fence.
Zaremba: Okay.
Lucas: It doesn't have to be a six foot.
Zaremba: I didn't want to prevent a shorter open vision.
Lucas: It can be up to six foot and maybe that's just my slide not explaining the code
completely, but, yes, it would be allowed.
Zaremba: Okay. Great. Thank you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
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Rountree: Just to clarify my lack of understanding on where fences are required, are
fences required on micropaths in developments?
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, yes, our code explicitly says that along
micropaths fences are required to delineate the private from the public area. Now,
adjacent to common open space it does not say that. So, there is a separation there.
Rountree: So, I -- on the red line in your graphic -- in your table that described what you
have, you have allowed fencing, but that would lead me to believe, if I'm reading that as
a citizen, that it was not allowed, so there -- probably on the red line on micropath it
ought to state required fencing, not allowed.
Lucas: Sure. And Madam Mayor --
Rountree: Understanding that I just don't want a fence there, so it's not an issue.
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, this graphic is not in our code.
Rountree: Okay.
Lucas: It's just to facilitate our discussion today. I should have made that more clear.
But this is not in our code. The code is what is in your packet and what it reads. There
is a -- there are some fencing graphics in our code that go through all the different
fencing types and show it much better here. But it's hard to put them in a PowerPoint. I
was trying to just use this to facilitate our discussion.
Rountree: Okay.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I'm debating this in my mind about -- in some ways I think we are devaluing
lots, because people buy lots and they want privacy and I think the development
community may have some issues with this. I mean when I think of my house and my
backyard and I want privacy, I'm not going to want a 50 percent open fence on my
whole rear yard and my major side yard in this situation and if you think if there is no
common open space, then, take the situation where a micropath cuts through, you got
streets on both sides, you have got four houses now that are going to be -- can be seen
from the pathway and from a policing perspective I understand having eyes on a
pathway, but from a homeowners perspective why are people looking at -- into my
backyard from the pathway. You lose that privacy aspect. You have got small kids
playing, I don't want people seeing small kids playing in a backyard, I want a six foot
fence. I mean there are those things as a parent you -- you just kind of expect public
access and I want to protect my kids type of thing, so it's one of those things you weigh
the different aspects and I have got some trepidation with that.
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De Weerd: Don't buy the lot.
Hoaglun: That's true.
De Weerd: You know. And I guess that would have been more my concern is -- and I
know that you guys hate notations on plats, but at some point when someone's looking
at a lot they -- and that fence is there, because that is part -- before you start the next
phase all the fencing is in, so that fencing is in, but they need to know that that fencing
is not owned by them, it's owned by the subdivision and it's required and -- and so there
should be notations on when there is a micropath and there is the common open space
that that is noted on that plat, so people know what they are buying into.
Lucas: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, these are all good points and
the fencing in general is not something we include on a plat note and it's not just us, it's
the county surveyor who is not hot on adding all this -- all these things to the plat note.
But the point of the homeowner, as they purchase a house, let's say in this situation,
you know, 90 percent of the time that -- well, the micropath fence is always installed,
because it's required as far as development and usually what we are seeing in these
developments if it goes out to common space, the developers are also installing the
common open space fence and so those fences are there when they -- when they
purchase the lot --
De Weerd: And that's why you get the second fence up against it.
Lucas: Yeah. Or usually it's restricted to the CC&Rs, the whole -- can they do another
fence there. It's just our code has been silent on that. We have interpreted our code up
to this point that that double fence wouldn't be allowed, but in that situation where we
had the -- that I showed you on that first graphic, the determination was made that our
code didn't strictly prohibit that double fencing and if that's what we want to do, we
would make that change to the code, leave all this other stuff out of it and say we are
just not going to allow the double fencing in these situations and, then, these other
fences like I have showed you in these graphics would be somewhat irrelevant at that
point, because they wouldn't be -- they wouldn't be allowed and so that's where staff
was kind of struggling with this one is on those lots where you have visibility from the
rear yard into the open space and from the open space into the rear yard and there is
quite a few of them out there, do we want to have a specific provision for those when it
comes to other fencing.
De Weerd: Well, Justin, I appreciate that you will put your heads together to find a
solution to this, because what caused the double fencing to begin with in the -- in Mill
Iron Subdivision, it was because there was a dog that escaped and ended up biting --
he jumped over the four foot and they wanted to keep their dog confined and so this --
this is a solution.
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Hood: Madam Mayor? Sorry, Justin. Can I interrupt? One more thing that Councilman
Hoaglun brought up that we deal with on a fairly regular basis is the privacy and I think
we are trying to find that sweet spot where we can still keep some eyes on those areas
for public safety, but allow some privacy in this. I also just wanted to point out, though,
this doesn't talk anything about landscaping. We do a lot of things with screening with
arborvitae and other shrubs and that type of thing and you can effectively create that
screen adjacent to this fence. So, I'm not encouraging folks to do that, but that is
something that we don't regulate how you landscape your backyard. So, you can do
some things that provide you some of that -- if that's your concern plant those things
together to create your own screening. So, that is something where we direct people
sometimes, you know, that run into those situations just to kind of address that a little bit
more. The other thing to the Mayor's -- to the Mayor's point, you know, we do get the
comment, too, about, well, my dog is going to jump the four foot fence. We can still put
up a six foot open vision fence that should contain most all dogs and so instead of doing
the lattice on top or things like that you can change out -- you can still have a six foot
fence there, it just has to be open vision. So, just a couple of points on what we deal
with on a regular basis and hear those -- those comments and complaints and concerns
on a fairly regular basis, so --
Hoaglun: And Madam Mayor and Caleb -- and what happens when the dog walks down
the micropath and the other dogs in the backyard all start yapping, because they can
see it, I mean you hear it every morning. There is never any -- you can't have awin-
win, it's just -- it's just the way it is, so --
De Weerd: They see or hear it regardless if it's open or closed.
Hoaglun: I did have another question, Justin. You had the underlying section under C,
other fences located and a minimum of eight feet and under the scenario you don't have
a micropath, but there are a lot of houses where it's just a ten foot setback on both sides
and so, basically, they can't have a dog run -- I mean unless you have a two foot dog
run it's ten foot from the house to the fence, they have to come in eight foot, then, it's a
two foot dog run.
Lucas: Councilman Hoaglun, Madam Mayor, good question. These -- these
regulations are listed specifically under fences adjacent to open space and micropaths.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Lucas: So, they are not -- they are only applicable here. This other fencing -- I mean
technically afence -- you could go and build if you have a standard lot you're not
adjacent to a micropath, you're not adjacent to a common open space, you could build a
maze in your backyard of fences and the city would have no -- nothing to say about it,
as long as they weren't taller than six feet. So, these are just in those lots where you
have -- where they are adjacent to micropaths and open space.
Hoaglun: Okay. That's what it says up there that I just didn't read, so -
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Lucas: So, I can certainly take more comments. With the code we change it every six
months. We can give this a test run. We can do a lot of different things. But I'm --
there is language proposed. If this language you're not comfortable with it and the
scenario I'm showing is not what you see as a good solution, that feedback would be
good, because I don't want to propose it to the public if it's not -- if it's something that
you're not comfortable with.
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor, Ijust -- I do want to see what the comments will be, so --
Lucas: Okay.
Rountree: Move it forward.
Zaremba: Uh-huh. I think there is some good thinking that's gone into it, so let's test
run it.
Lucas: Thank you. Let's move on to common drive requirements, which the developers
tell us is very complicated. What you have on your screen here is a common drive
scenario in the City of Meridian and you can see that each of those -- if you hold that,
Caleb, I was just going to talk about the -- you can see the -- the existing property lines
for those houses. This is actually four houses taking access off of a common drive and
our current code requires that all of those houses flag out to the street. There is four of
them, it has to be ten feet each, and so those flags equal 40 feet out to the street. So,
every lot has street frontage and that's part of that requirement. And, then, the
developer, what he has to do is all the lots have street frontage, but, then, there is an
easement that has to be worked out with each of those lots and platted on there that
says that, you know, this is a common access easement, all the different owners have
access to it and, then, they build it and as you can see what the common drive as it's
built doesn't correlate necessarily directly with -- with the houses, especially in that top
quadrant, the common drive could be shaped and the lots, you know, look a little bit
funny. So, the development community has asked us to look at this and has offered a
solution which seems to make sense to staff and it makes things a little bit easier, which
is -- if you hit it once, Caleb. They would recommend that rather than requiring all of
those lots to flag, that they be able to plat a common lot and call it a common driveway
-- it has to meet all of our existing common driveway standards -- and if you hit it once
again, Caleb -- and, then, those lots would all take access from that common driveway
and so the lot in the top -- in the top quadrant -- the two lots in the top quadrant, they
are very far away from the street and they would not have street frontage. But in our
current situation they only had ten feet of street frontage anyway and so it doesn't -- we
had a different way here. So, the common lot would be -- would be in place, it would
meet all of our common driveway standards that are in existence today. We are not
proposing to change the length, the fire department requirements, all of those things
remain in place, it's just the fact that instead of doing the flags out to the street we would
allow for that common drive to be in a common lot and the lots adjacent to it would be
able to -- would be able to take access to that common lot. Because of that change we
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are also proposing that we allow up to six lots, instead of four, to take access from the
common drive. So, you can see in this scenario those four lots up on top were the only
ones where we are taking access off the common drive. The two lots on the bottom we
are not, because we only allow four. If we allowed six those two lots on the bottom
would also be able to take access from the common drive, side load garage, so you
wouldn't have the garage facing the street. It allows the development community to be
a little bit more innovative in some of their -- in the design that they are trying to achieve.
Staff has looked at this. I have talked with police, fire, our addressing specialist, all of
them have said this scenario makes sense to them and, actually, on the plats it's a little
bit easier to track, because the -- instead of all these flags you will have a common lot,
you will be able to note it and say that common lot is a common driveway and it has to
meet all of the City of Meridian standards. So, this is just kind of a clean up item, but
there is a change and you can see depending on how creative the developers get there
could be some different lot configurations, not just this one I'm showing you, but you
could see some more creative lots where the houses would be pushed back from the --
from the street further and they would not necessarily have street frontage. So, that
was the second -- the second item I wanted to bring before you and I will pause for
comment.
De Weerd: Now, Justin, would that be, then, a private driveway, so they have to
maintain it and take care of it themselves and they would have to all pull their garbage
cans up to the road.
Lucas: Correct.
De Weerd: Okay. Any questions from Council?
Rountree: Just some background, Madam Mayor. Why did we have that ten foot
frontage requirement? Was there some legal basis for that or did it make addressing
easier or what's the deal?
Lucas: Good question, Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree. I wasn't here when the
UDC was created, but I think some different feelings on making sure all lots have street
frontage. It was that street frontage requirement and related to addressing that I think
drove that bus. But the city's addressing has become much more sophisticated and is
one of the things we have gotten really good at and our addressing specialist, after
looking at this, says, you know, under our -- the current way we do things they really
don't see a problem, because all these -- really, they are addressed exactly the same.
There is no change to the addressing as there would be either way, it's just how they
are shown on the plat and making that a little bit easier for the development community.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
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Zaremba: Actually, that was going to be my comment, because I was on those
committees when we were talking about it. The issue that arose was the old way of
doing it was that a back property that had no access often had an easement across the
front property and there were situations where the neighbors got into a tiff with each
other and even though they had a legal easement somebody closed it off. The front
property made it impossible for the back people to come and go and the solution to that
was to say even if it's only ten feet wide everybody's property has to touch the street
and so the front neighbor didn't own the piece that you could get your car in and out on,
so if they closed it off they were trespassing and that's the problem we were trying to
solve. This looks to me like just as good or even a better solution to that problem and I
think it solves it, but there was a reason why we originally said every -- every lot has to
own something that gets them to the street and it can't be an easement. This looks like
that would solve that problem as well. Any -- are there any rules about whether the
front properties can park along that street and atruck --afire truck couldn't get through
there if there were parking on it.
Lucas: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, yeah, parking is restricted
along common driveways. You have to be -- and every house is still required to have a
20-by-20 parking pad for their cars and so all of those things are covered within the
code. This just, as I say, cracks the egg a different way. It doesn't change really any
other standard, except for the number allowed to take access from the -- from the
common drive.
Zaremba: Works for me.
Lucas: Next one. And this is one that staff has been struggling with. I used to work for
the City of Meridian and I actually remember processing a subdivision that had this very
issue and it relates to irrigation easements and how they are maintained and who owns
them and how they work and -- and what we have found over many years is that the
irrigation companies for many of the -- especially the larger irrigation districts are very
restrictive in how they allow access to their easements and who is allowed on there and
how they are -- how they are maintained. This is Chateau Park. Once again, I live in
this area, I was choosing an example, because Isee -- as you drive around you see it.
this is right adjacent to Chateau Park. Chateau is the street on the bottom. And there is
-- this is a great example of these lots -- the property line actually goes to the center of
the creek. The property line does. And the fence line -- if you click one time, Caleb.
That's where their fences are, though. So, their rear fence is nowhere near their rear
property line. I mean the two things almost have nothing to do with each other. Their
fence is placed at the easement line that the irrigation -- the irrigation district has. But in
these situations what happens is -- and all of these houses have a fence there -- the
area behind the fence -- the property owner does not view it as their -- they don't see
why they should maintain it, because they have, basically, no use of it. The irrigation
district, you know, runs their -- their equipment up and down that ditch road and it's not
technically their land, it's their easement, but it's not their land, so, you know, they will
maintain it to the point that the irrigation district maintains anything, which is not very
much. And so -- but you get into -- let's say -- it puts us in an awkward code
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enforcement situation, because let's say there is an issue on one of the rear of these
lots, we end up having to go after the homeowner who owns the lot where there is the
issue, because the irrigation district says, well, it's not our land, it's just an easement, it's
just an access easement, and the property owner says, well, I can't use that ground,
why should I maintain it. So, this is -- and we have seen a lot of subdivisions like this.
And so our proposal is to add a requirement into our code when it comes to irrigation
easements and common lots, that these areas be placed in a common lot to be owned
and maintained by the homeowners association. That way no single owner is on the
hook for that area. The irrigation district still has access, but it's a common lot, so let's
say there is a major issue out there, the city can go to the HOA and deal with it, not the
individual homeowner. So, that's -- that's kind of a solution we came up with here.
There might be some situations where due to the size of the ground or due to the
development -- let's say it's a five acre parcel and they have a really large irrigation
easement and they can't meet our minimum lot size without including that area in a lot.
What we are doing is proposing that we allow for alternative compliance. If there is a
unique situation for whatever reason, staff will look at it and if it makes sense and what
they are proposing makes the same -- the same idea of having maintenance back there,
then, we can do that. So, those are the two things that I'm proposing on that specific
section of the code.
De Weerd: And I appreciate that, because as we saw in Kingsbridge they are paying
taxes on property they can't even use, which doesn't make any sense. So, Council, any
comments?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: The only thought that comes to mind to me is if that's going to become a
common lot is there any way we can also talk about pathways if we are not having to
deal with individual owners in the places where we would desire to have pathways.
De Weerd: It makes it easier.
Lucas: Sure. Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, absolutely, if it's on our pathways
master plan we can get those pathways in those areas and do that at the time of
subdivision. What this does is it allows us to -- it doesn't necessarily require the
homeowner's association to landscape that area or -- or make it pretty, because
sometimes it's just a ditch road and they can't do much with it, but in those situations at
least that ditch road isn't on someone's -- one guy's private property or gal, it's on the
common lot, it's on the homeowners association's property, which seems to be a more
sensible place for it.
Rountree: Madam Mayor? Just -- that helps solve a future problem, but it doesn't do a
thing to solve the issue we have with lack of maintenance. I have always professed that
that's adjacent property owner's property and they can do with it what they please. I
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mean I have the easements and the easements do not tell them they can't use it, it just
says all they have to do is provide access across it. They can fence it with a gate, they
can do whatever they want on that property and, unfortunately, the irrigation districts
have exercised the strong arm on a lot of people and we have the mess that we have in
these situations and they are an attractive nuisance in the neighborhood, they are a fire
hazard, because the irrigation districts don't take care of them. I'm surprised we don't
burn down more fences. So, I like your solution for the future, but we still have an issue
in the city on how to deal will some of these.
Bird: You're a hundred percent right, Charlie. Those are homeowners -- that's an
easement.
Lucas: Moving on. I know time is precious and there is a couple more things --
hopefully -- that's my last graphic, I believe, so we are done with pictures, and so most
of these others are just more administrative questions.
De Weerd: And, see, now you're competing with Caleb and his all things transportation.
Lucas: The next one is online retail sales and the idea is pretty simple. It's to allow the
products sold online through a home occupation that are delivered to customers by mail
and so this happens all the time where you have a home occupation and they are, you
know, packaging something and they are shipping it. They have no customers coming
to the -- to the house, but it allows for those online businesses and when our code was
written I mean, you know, those kinds of things just weren't really available and this is
just basically -- one of the thoughts behind this is to allow for those types of home
occupations to -- to be permitted by the city. Many of them aren't and may never be, but
at least if they come in and ask can I go to Costco, buy some stuff, and package it at my
house and ship it from my house to someone in Wisconsin. Our answer in the past has
been, no, we do not allow retail sales out of a home occupation. But they are saying but
I'm not -- there is no people coming to my house, the retail sales are only online, this --
this addition to our code would allow that. And it still has to follow the other home
occupation standards. So, you can't turn your garage into a shipping facility. You
wouldn't be able to do that, because you're required to be able to park two cars in there
and so there is always other standards that are in place, this just would allow for a small
scale home occupation that allowed for these types of online businesses.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba The only drawback that comes to mind is, yeah, if they package their stuff up
and put it in their car and take it to the post office that's one thing, but if they are having
UPS come, they could pick up twice a day or, you know, UPS in the afternoon, FedEx in
the morning and, you know, there are some neighborhoods where that might not work
quite as well to increase the delivery traffic like that. It only comes to mind, because I
once lived in a city where they actually tracked, you couldn't have UPS come to your
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house more than twice a month and I don't want to go there, but I assume, eventually,
we are going to have public hearings on these things.
Lucas: We will. We will have public hearings on all these changes and just, Madam
Mayor and Councilman, to answer that question, the current home occupation
standards do say that the home occupation shall not have more than two outgoing
pickups per day from a common carrier. So, that's actually in our code now.
Zaremba: Okay.
Lucas: And staff talked about restriction deliveries also, too. I didn't add that, but if
that's something you're worried about we can certainly -- we could certainly add that.
De Weerd: I want to know who enforces that
Hoaglun: Well, my daughter's getting married this fall. She's in the middle of wedding
planning. Do you know how many deliveries we are getting at the house right now?
We are going to tell her she can't get those things?
Lucas: Madam Mayor, this is only for a home occupation. So, it gives acover -- well,
let's say there was a situation where there was just so many deliveries coming and
outgoing, it was like a shipping facility. Code could go, sit there during the day and
count them and say, whoa, your home occupation does not comply with this standard.
So, that's why that is included in the -- in the code.
Bird: I hope our code enforcement officers have more to do than that.
Lucas: Only if there is a complaint.
Zaremba: That's true. We wouldn't know about it unless a neighbor called and that
would mean somebody was being bothered by it, so --
De Weerd: We can put the Council in charge of that area of town. They can go out and
count them. Right, lieutenant?
Lucas: Any other questions on one that? The next one is definitions for vehicles. This
is just a proposal to clean up items that have been proposed by our code enforcement
and legal department to define vehicles more consistently with Idaho Code and all the
other different definitions of a vehicle. You can go through these and ask any
questions, but that's the purpose of that -- of that -- of that section is to help code
enforcement with their definition of what a vehicle is and how they can enforce the
parking and location of those vehicles.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
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Zaremba: At some point touch base with Ted Baird -- Caleb knows this. The
transportation commission is having a discussion about golf carts on public streets.
There seems to be some struggle with that and if you're defining vehicles he -- he
knows what the state code is about what constitutes a vehicle.
Lucas: Thank you.
De Weerd: That's a day old -- I mean an age old problem that has never been solved.
Lucas: It seems like this might not be the last time we come back with definitions, but
we are trying to get it and we are going to keep trying. The next one is actually a
relatively simple question. It might seem like a big question, but I'm hoping it's -- it's
simple, but if it's not we can talk more about it. Design requirements for single family
residential and I can talk about how we currently do it and see if you want to change
that. Currently single family homes do not fall under our Meridian city design guidelines.
There is guidelines for them, but there is no official review of single family homes as
they come into the -- as they come in for a building permit. The only time there is an
exception to that is if through a development agreement the City Council has specifically
addressed elevations in the development agreement and tied those elevations to a
specific subdivision. But there is a lot of single family lots out there that do not have a
development agreement associated with them and they are being, you know, built out
and planning may never look at those. So, the question is that adequate, is that the
way we want to continue or are there issues related to lots that face arterial streets, lots
that face open spaces, do we want to become more restrictive on how those lots, the
sides or the backs might look. Through the development agreement process you have
the complete discretion to do that. But if there is no development agreement in place
staff is not currently reviewing those -- those -- those single family homes for
compliance with our design standards and the question is should we be doing that. Is
that something you want us to do. We process a lot of these -- you know, hundreds -- I
guess -- I think right now we are at a hundred single family homes a month, so it would
certainly increase staffs workload to start looking at all of these in a lot more detail, but
you want -- design is always one of those things where we want to kind of gauge your
opinion on that before going down the road. We are not proposing any changes to the
code. I think staff's perspective is there is tools in place through the annexation and
zoning and platting process if there is a concern about quality, those tools are in place
during that process. Outside of that process, you know, we really look to the developers
to do what they said they were going to do when they came in and showed us the -- the
elevations that they propose.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: I think you brought up the only exception that -- that we have consistently hit
on and it's those homes that just the back side of them as they bump up against an
arterial or a collector -- an entry collector. I think that's what this group has been
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consistent on, but, yeah, home design -- na. No. We just want some more ugly
duplexes. I think that would be fun. Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Thank you, Madam Mayor. When we were formulating the Unified
Development Code there was discussion about some avant garde architect thinks it
would great to build an aluminum building with -- that looks like a stack of blocks and my
recollection was that somewhere in the code we put a very general statement that any
residential -- single family residential building at least has to fit in with the rest of the
neighborhood or has to have appearance similar to the rest of the -- I don't remember
what the wording was and it was very generic and maybe not even enforceable, but did
that happen, do you remember, or -- it seems to me there was some leverage.
Lucas: Mr. Zaremba, not to my knowledge. There is -- we do have in the code a --
design requirements that are applicable to all districts, but in general they have it and
they talk about facades and roof lines and -- but nothing specific to single family
residential and staff does not -- as I say, hasn't been enforcing those and they are more
geared towards commercial. They talk about, you know, extra block and more
commercial building materials. So, the answer to that is, no, there is nothing in the
current code that really gives us the ability to restrict any type of single family design,
unless there has been a -- through a development agreement a request from the
Council to have -- to require patios or some sort of articulation on the rear of a lot facing
a collector or arterial street and those, if you ask us to do that, through a building
restriction form, which is a process we have, we can do that and we do catch those
when they come through. But as I stated, there is a lot of lots that don't have any
restrictions on them and they -- some of those might even be against arterial streets,
just because the way it, you know, happened when they were approved. So, I guess
the potential solution is that staff will continue in new developments to focus on the rear
elevations of homes that face arterial and collector streets and make that -- make those
required as part of the development agreement that they have to meet certain standards
and if we do that moving forward we are covered. But it doesn't -- it doesn't do a
blanket -- blanket design requirement for all single family residential within that
subdivision, it would be only those lots adjacent to an arterial or the -- or the collector
and going forward we can continue to emphasize those things as you -- as you have
directed us to. But where we just want to touch base today briefly was that that's as far
as you want us to go for now and we don't want to overhaul our -- our requirements for
all single family residential.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I guess my comment to that is I can't recall in the distant past
where we haven't required at least some visual to represent the kind of design that a
subdivision is going to have. Whether it's included in a DA or not, if it's just testimony
and we approve the project, the approvals are all based on the fact of what's been said
in the testimony provided by the applicant. If it doesn't end up in a DA they have still
committed to it. That graphic still goes vvith that subdivision and to me that's kind of how
we have addressed design approval and, then, exactly what you said, we have modified
that in the past to say, well, where you are on an arterial or where the back side is
visible to some other portion of the community, then, there is some texture, there is
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some articulation -- whatever to those buildings, but I don't know that we have ever
expected anything more than that.
Lucas: Okay. What I'm hearing, then, we will move forward as we -- as we have been
consistently doing and staff will make sure that you're seeing all of those things through
the approval process that we are tying those through conditions to the approvals. I
have got two more. I don't want to over -- I don't want to overdo it, but, you know, I will
keep going unless you stop me. Vehicle sales or rental landscaping requirements -- this
is for auto dealerships, basically, or let's say a car rental that has a lot of -- a lot of
inventory on the site. The code has arequirement -- it was -- the purpose it seems was
to require additional landscaping in these display areas or they put additional
landscaping somewhere on the site, so that they could account for the large asphalt
display areas that they are -- that they are proposing. A couple of these we have seen
recently and staff has been a little concerned that the way the code is written doesn't
meet the intent of what we think we really want, which is to eliminate large expansive of
asphalt and an auto dealership I mean their desire is probably to have the biggest
expanse of asphalt that they possibly can and the way our code reads is if they could do
that, as long as they put some landscaping somewhere else on their site it's a
percentage, it's a one square foot of landscaping for every 50 square feet of vehicle
display area and as we have done these calculations and looked at these, staff has
been -- has looked at these and gone it's not very much and the way they can do it is
you can still have a huge expanse of asphalt and tuck some landscaping and they are
good to go based on the code and so we have had to approve them in that way and we
are a little concerned about that, because these large expanses of asphalt create heat
islands, there is a lot of -- they are not very attractive, so you get asphalt and LED lights
and cars and that's everything you see. So, staff's proposal here is to simplify this
actually and just require that the vehicle display area for a car lot meet our parking lot
standards, which is that every 12th space you have islands and you have a tree and
that they lay out there display area like a -- like a parking lot. That's where we would
start. If they didn't want to meet that standard they could apply for alternative
compliance, but that gives staff the ability, then, to say, well, what do you -- what are
you doing that's better than our parking lot standards, because that's what the point of
alternative compliance is and we feel that if we have that in place we will be able to
negotiate a better outcome, even if they want let's say 25 spaces in a row, because they
want to have a nice long line of trucks, because that's what they want to do and they
don't want to have that island in the middle, well, if you are not going to do that island
what else are you going to do? Maybe they are going to add way more trees or do
something different. It would just give staff a little bit more flexibility and we think it
would -- it would put us in a better position of negotiation, rather than the current code,
the way it's written. So, I could certainly take comments on that, but that's the purpose
of that -- of that change.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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Bird: They are not there -- I mean that's their showroom and I mean you got -- that's
why they got the automobiles out there. Pretty soon in the big showroom inside you're
going to want to be putting trees in there, too. Yeah, let's help the businesses, not
constrict them. I have nothing wrong with cars parked on asphalt. The cars look pretty
dad gum nice and that's their showroom, that's how they make money and that's how
they pay taxes to us. Let's leave the regulations alone.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I think flexibility is a key word here of alternative compliance. I think when we
did CarMax over by Kleiner Park trying to work -- because of its location and proximity
to the park and there was a lot of flexibility and how can we make it look good, but still
allow them to have a showroom outside, basically. So, I think flexibility is going to be
key on something like this.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I'd just repeat the comments I made to CarMax and that's more in how they
run their lot, as opposed to how they landscape it. I would like to see in our ordinance
that they are not allowed to elevate vehicles for public viewing, not be able to park
vehicles in the landscaped area. If we are going to require more landscaping let's have
them at least berm their facility if we are trying to look at some visual thing, as opposed
to just low shrubs and trees. I can't -- I can't see that having a bunch of trees every 12
spaces that don't get watered or never get pruned are going to be to anybody's benefit.
We see it all the time in some of the stuff we have already required and there is no
maintenance enforcement, people walk over the shrubs and they look really dandy the
first six months there and a year later they are beat down and they are stubs and they
are nubs and they look terrible and full of cigarette butts and pop cans and whatever.
So, I think we really need to take a look at what we are requiring and do we really get --
other than in some really fastidious businesses -- and I will name the one that is
outstanding in our community -- is Fast Eddy's. I mean those people are out picking up
micro debris and dusting everything and cleaning it up all the time. But you don't see
that in some of these with big places where we have required a lot of landscaping. The
new Walmart -- you drive out there right now, it looks tremendous. The landscaping is
just first rate. But if you go look at it next year I will bet it doesn't come across that same
way. So, I know what we are trying to do, but to me it's probably better to have that first
visual in some of those big expanses in the way of a berm, if you will, and I think they
will be more inclined to be able to -- it's easier to maintain that, as opposed to 15 or 20
planting beds within the parking lot. So, I guess I would say that whole issue needs to
be looked at a little bit. I'm not against breaking it up visually, but I'm not sure if we are
gaining anything with some of the things we are requiring.
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Lucas: Well, based on those comments I think on this one -- up to this point I think we
have been pretty successful. On this one I think staff is going to pause and, then, take
another look at this and -- and maybe see if this -- if this -- if what we currently have is
adequate and maybe what we are -- what we are recommending is not -- is not the right
way forward. So, we will go back to the drawing board on this one and see if -- if there
is anything we can do and maybe what we do is leave it alone and just move forward
with what we have. So, we will -- we will review that. The next one. Public hearing
signs. This is really simple. We propose they are not legible. People can't see what
they say. You're driving by you can't understand them. And so we have been asked to
look at and see if at a minimum we could at least make the date of the hearing a lot
bigger, because everything else -- you know, all the detail which will be put on there is
good and dandy, but when you're driving by the thought is at least if you say public
hearing and you can see 8/13/13, you go, oh, something's coming up, I want to call the
city. Maybe we make the date and the phone number really big and everything else we
leave alone. So, that would be something we wanted to run by the Council and see if
you were open to that. We have a specific graphic that we would modify within our --
within our code that would emphasize the date and the -- probably the phone number of
the planning department, because everything else, unless you're going maybe two miles
an hour, you're not -- you're not going to be able to read it. So, does that sound like a
reasonable change?
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
Rountree: Go ahead, David.
Zaremba: Well, I would comment the three biggest things on the sign ought to be public
hearing, the date, and the phone number. I agree with that. But also for consideration
-- can we come up with some method for insisting that they actually take the sign down
three weeks after the hearing or --
Bird: Or a week after
Zaremba: A week after or -- give them a little bit of time, but there are some of these
signs up that -- when a new one comes up it's meaningless.
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you're right and that's one reason we
want to make the date as big as possible, because if the date was a year ago people
would drive by and go, well, that's over, I missed it. But if it's bigger they can see -- oh.
But we do have a provision I believe that requires them to take it down. How that's
enforced, you know, that's more a --
Bird: We're not enforcing it.
Lucas: -- it's more of an enforcement issue, so --
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Rountree: Madam Mayor, I would -- I would condition that that we give code
enforcement some chain saws and have them remove those signs. I know they are
property, but I know of some that have been up for --
Bird: A year.
Rountree: -- two or three years
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Rountree: And I know we can't do that, Bill
Nary: No. I wasn't going to comment on that. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council,
we have discussed this and one of the problems with them is the ones that are in the
city code enforcement can enforce, but many of those signs are --
Rountree: They are in the county.
Nary: -- for property to annex and they haven't annexed yet, so we don't have the legal
method to get them to remove the sign. So, that is one problem that we have struggled
with. The ones in the city definitely code enforcement does go out there and remind
them to take it down, but many of the ones you see that are two or three years old,
actually, they have never been annexed. They have never signed their development
agreement or it's still pending, so --
De Weerd: Well, I won't suggest a stranger with a chain saw either. Can we write that
into our ordinance?
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this is allowed uses within the industrial
districts. This has been a topic that has gone back and forth with staff. I think the
Council has weighed in several times on this and this round of UDC updates we wanted
to look at the use table. There is a lot of uses that are conditionally allowed within our
industrial districts that are not necessarily of an industrial nature. I have highlighted -- I
believe they are highlighted in your packet some of those. Some of the most often ones
we see they are arts, entertainment, or recreation facilities, gyms, gymnastics facilities,
things like that. That's one thing that we -- we see go into the industrial districts that's
not necessarily an industrial use. Churches are something we see going to the
industrial districts periodically. And, then, the code does allow for other things, such as
RV parks and other things to be conditionally permitted within the industrial districts.
The Council doesn't see conditional use permits, it's our Planning and Zoning
Commission that's the final acting body on those and so these are businesses that can
happen and be approved that you're not necessarily seeing. And so staff wanted to
touch bases with you and see if you were interested in removing some of these
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conditional uses from the industrial -- specifically the light industrial district and just now
allowing them. The benefits would be preserving industrial land, which is a scarce
commodity in the City of Meridian. Some of the down sides would be that you would --
by doing that some of the existing businesses that recently went in would become
existing nonconforming, but that doesn't change their -- change their use, it just is a
matter they could no longer conform with our zoning code. So, is that -- is that
something you would like'us to bring forward. It's -- changing the use tables can be --
you know, there can be input on that from the community, so we didn't want to go just
start striking stuff out of there without some discussion with you.
De Weerd: I think you need to also research that a little further. If they are
noncomplying I think it's very difficult to get a loan and you don't want to impact a
business in that sense, so if you can do a little bit more research on that, Justin. I think
that's a slippery slope. Any comments?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, just --
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: -- a comment on churches. The discussion that was had as the UDC was
being written was that all churches ought to be zoned L-O and, then, somebody
mentioned, well, we already have some churches in industrial zones and, then,
somebody else said you really can't make a rule about a church. So, we ended up, I
believe, allowing them in every zone, even though that was not the original intent.
Maybe they are not allowed in R-4. But I don't remember the exact discussion, but it
gets dicey if you start to put rules on churches. That's a little bit of a struggle.
Lucas: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you're right, churches do have
specific standards under RLUIPA, which is a federal requirement of where we can do it,
but there has to be a reasonable accommodation within the city for churches and we
could -- we haven't done the complete test, but we can work with our legal department
to see if by restricting them in the I-L zone are they no longer reasonably
accommodated within the city and there is a lot of other places you can -- you can put
churches, but that would be a test through the process that we would look at.
De Weerd: Okay. Any further comments?
Rountree: I support that, moving forward with looking at all those classifications.
Lucas: Okay. So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, what we will do, then, is we
will go through those and staff will, through the process, go ahead and make some
recommendations related to that and you will have another bite at this apple, so -- but
that helps us to know that we are in the right direction and we are going to go forward
with that. Other than those items -- there were just a few at the end that were kind of
informational only. We are not proposing anything specific at this time and I believe
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Caleb or Brian will cover one of them in a subsequent presentation. But thank you for
your time today. I'm sorry it took so long. But I really appreciate the feedback.
Bird: Thank you.
G. Legal Department: Settlement Agreement in Eastern Oregon
Construction vs. City of Meridian
De Weerd: Thank you, Justin. Okay. Item 8-G is our Legal Department.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Bruce Castleton is also present to
discuss this settlement agreement. We have previously discussed this matter. This is a
legal matter with Eastern Oregon Construction and the City of Meridian. This is a
settlement where there is no payment of any sort, that basically the parties would
absorb their own fees. There would be a mutual release of any claims by anyone. Just
for --just for recollection this was a dispute that occurred back in 2009. We actually had
some work that was completed by Eastern Oregon, which the city did pay for. The
resolution we think is appropriate, we think it meets the -- the needs of this, as well as
the -- for both sides. I don't know if Bruce has anything else he would like to add, so --
De Weerd: Hi, Bruce.
Castleton: Madam Mayor, Members of the City Council, how are you?
De Weerd: Good.
Castleton: I don't have anything to add. I know that the Council is aware of the legal
issues that were involved in this case. The terms of the settlement, like Mr. Nary said,
are simply that the parties are going to walk away at this point and essentially bear their
own costs and fees. The issues have largely been litigated with a few remaining and
subject to the Council's questions I think it's rather straight forward.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none. Just thank you very much for you work, Bruce. Appreciate it.
Castleton: Thank you.
De Weerd: Did you hear that, Dean? You need to articulate.
Bird: I did articulate. It just wasn't loud.
De Weerd: That was -- I will translate. Thank you.
Castleton: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Appreciate it.
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Nary: Just need a motion to approve -- I think the settlement needs to be signed by
you, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve the settlement agreement with Eastern Oregon Construction,
LLC, and the City of Meridian and for the Mayor to sign and the clerk to attest.
Hoaglun: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the document in front of you on
Item 8-G. Any discussion from Council? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. Thank you, Bruce.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
H. Community Development: Update on Certain Plans, Projects
and Initiatives in Downtown Meridian, Including an Upcoming
Demonstration Project and Roadway Cross-Section Study
De Weerd: Item 8-H is under our Community Development Department. I will turn this
over to Brian.
McClure: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, thank you for having me. I do have a
few downtown project updates for you today. The first is that MDC recently rescinded
their in lieu fee. For those of you unfamiliar with this, basically, we had a requirement
downtown where our normal parking alternatives were not allowed and if you needed a
parking alternative instead you used the in lieu fee. That is no longer the case. The city
is working with the MDC and the parking committee to evaluate our future parking
policies and standards and the update would be that we will be before you next month
with some more information. The second item here for you is just kind of a reminder. I
have been before you before to discuss this project. It's the downtown street cross-
section master plan. This is for an area of the downtown -- we call it the city core.
Basically between Meridian Road, East 3rd Street, Carlton and Bower, basically. Why
are we doing this? It's really because we have avision -- we have streetscape design
guidelines, but in most cases we have no past forums as to how we go about
developing that, especially in the interim. You can see an example of where we don't
have even a sidewalk in some locations here. The goal of this plan is really pretty
straight forward. We want to know how to move forward. We want to be able to be
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transparent and clearly define our expectations and we want to know when we are
doing away with a burden with development in downtown. There is a big question here
and the reason I'm bringing it up is how do we involve the public. I will be a little bit
critical here, but traditional planning outreach is pretty boring, you have a public
meeting, hardly anyone shows up, and everyone gets mad later after the fact. Our
downtown is important and we want to engage stakeholders, we want there to be
vibrancy and energy and so we kind of -- we are trying to think of a way. that we could
do this and have energy and excitement and get some attention for this project and
involve people beforehand, rather than have complaints afterwards. Again, this isn't
really a big surprise. The real -- the real kind of excitement here is that whereas before
we presented an idea and started -- but now we are actually moving forward. So, I
presented a parklet idea before. The idea is particularly taking over an existing parallel
parking space and converting it into a pedestrian space. The key word here is
demonstration. This is not a permanent thing. We are not doing it all the time. We do
not have any policies for that. We are particularly doing a citizen use permit for a
weekend and allowing something like this to occur. Before I get too far into that, I do
want to take a moment here to basically thank some people. This would not be
happening without some generous donations by Bennington Construction. The deck
that we will be using for this, they have built and donated the materials for that. That
would have been an expensive piece otherwise. And, then, all of the departments have
worked really well us, fire, parks, legal, police and ACHD have all been very supportive
of this. No one has said you can't do that. No one has been concerned that -- no one's
been saying -- I mean really that, you know, this is a great idea for supporting
downtown. It's not the city getting in the way, it's the city, it's the city trying to do
something interesting. So, without their support we probably wouldn't be doing this right
now. So, we did have three locations basically identified right now. The first two are
Sunrise and Ricks. We have dates identified. For Sunrise it's going to be Labor Day
weekend, basically, August 31st, and, then, it will be Rick's Pressroom on September
8th. And, then, the third one just recently became a bit of an unknown. If it does occur
it will be on the weekend of September of 15th or 28th. Apparently there is a change of
ownership occurring over there and we don't know what's going on, so if someone does,
indeed, buy that and is interested, then, we can accommodate them, otherwise, we will
only be doing two locations. This is a schematic of what we are, basically -- an example
site. We had help with this and they have, basically, done that. The area you see in
red, just to help you understand what you're looking at, is the parallel parking space.
The space just north of that is outlined in the curb and north of that is the existing street
environment. So, the area with the three tables and the three umbrellas, the circles you
kind of see there, that's basically all going to be sitting on a deck and we will have some
barriers around that and there is some planters and other kind of decorations to create
some attraction and interest to people who see it down the street. The area in blue you
see, that's also being used for this demonstration project. Normally that area is,
basically, off limits, it's what we currently call the street furnishing zone. The purpose of
this area is being -- without parking you have to have accommodations for people to get
out of their cars and since we are not going to have parking here, we have to leave
even more of the existing street environment for this exercise. Again, the goal here is to
just have energy and vibrancy, provide the downtown businesses a chance to do
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something a little interesting and so far we have had a lot of interest and excitement
with it. And with that I will stand for any questions you might have.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would make a positive comment that I think this was the kind of thing that
was envisioned by the downtown marketing plan, which must now be ten years ago or
something like that. I think that's great. I would just ask -- particular the last schematic,
but probably all of them -- double check -- I see the five foot clear zone and I don't know
why, something in my mind clicks that ADA requirements might be eight foot. Have you
looked at those things? Okay.
McClure: Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, we have looked at them.
Zaremba: Okay
Bird: Very good
Rountree: I think it looks fun. It's a good concept. It's nice it's a demonstration.
Hopefully it will catch on.
De Weerd: Isn't it quicker, lighter, cheaper -- whatever. And that's good. Whatever
wasn't part of that. Thank you, Brian. It's exciting. And they are working with Natalie to
work on getting the information out to the public, so that people know it's coming up and
they can come down and be a part of the demonstration project.
Hood: And, Madam Mayor, I would just add, you know, if you can all get your
reservations into Ricks or Sunrise, too, and, please, participate in this as well. So,
thank you.
De Weerd: Well, can you maybe copy or a-mail the PowerPoint and -- so we have
some of this information on downtown?
McClure: Madam Mayor, I have actually provided Natalie with a whole write up on this
-- on this effort, but I can certainly give you the PowerPoint or whatever else you might
want, so --
De Weerd: Okay. And if we can also a-mail that out to the MDC, so they can get it to
their board, too.
McClure: Certainly.
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 54 of 57
A. City Clerk's Office: Appeal of Denial of TUP-13-0065 The
Pursuit Worship Service by The Pursuit
De Weerd: Okay. Thanks. Okay. Council, I just had a couple of things under --
certainly it's not Future Meeting Topics, but -- oh, yeah. I'm sorry. Madam Clerk, we
will bring it back around to Item 8-A and see what the resolution is.
Holman: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this will be really quick. It looks like
they were able to go through the application and get basically what we needed. There
is a few outstanding items that we would like to have by tomorrow. If we get those,
then, we will process the application. The applicant needs to contact Central District
Health Department regarding food service and contact Colin in our Parks Department
regarding the decibel level in the park and the placement of some water features that
they are using for baptisms on the grass and so as long as those three things are
addressed tomorrow we will enter it into Accella and start processing their permit if you
approve that.
De Weerd: Okay. Council?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Do we want to structure that as a tentative approval today with it coming
back next week to make sure everything was done?
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I think what the appeal is is to allow
them to complete the application process. So, I think really all you're doing is allowing
them to complete the application. They still are subject to approval based on
completing those requirements from the city, but that's what your appeal is is just the --
allowing them to complete the application. So, you would be granting them -- you're
granting the approval of their appeal to complete their application.
Zaremba: Thank you. That's a good way to put it. Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would move that we grant the approval of their appeal and allow them to
complete the application. But I would also stipulate that it be completed within the next
week.
Rountree: Second.
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 55 of 57
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Rountree: Madam Mayor, my only comment is that at some point in time we are going
to have to be able to draw a line in the sand. This is going to take extra effort on not
just the clerk's office, but fire and police and everybody else that is involved in this
approval process. It's not just one person, so I remind everybody that this -- it's 30 days
because it's -- you got to find these people's time to be able to work on these things.
Bird: That's right.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I would add to that in my current position as liaison to the Parks Department I
have talked with the Parks Department about proposing even a longer deadline for
some of the even bigger projects, because it's just -- there is so much to be done and it
lays a lot of work on a lot of departments and a lot of individuals to try and catch up with
-- at the last minute when they have got other things to do as well, so we may at some
time be proposing that that 30 days turn into something even longer.
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we have had that discussion with all the
various departments and if you recall we spoke about this earlier with the one that was
denied a few months ago we said post-summer we would have a department
discussion. There will probably be some things that we may be recommending to
Council are essentially deal breakers, that if you miss the deadline there isn't an appeal.
It's done. But there are things that we recognize that sometime just need to be
completed and aren't that complicated, so trying to figure out what those are, we have
had two seasons now of fairly aggressive large scale events and we have a lot of
history now to address that. So, I think we -- I think we intend to meet your
expectations, Council, in bringing you a recommendation on time limits and truly
deadlines that are deadlines, as well as not really an ability to appeal that. The deadline
is what it is. And that there are some things that can be cured in a fashion that would
make it more practical for the types of events that we have. So, I think that's our intent.
But I think on this one they have worked that out and feel comfortable that there is very
little that can't get accomplished in the short window frame we have, so I think we are --
Ithink we are solving a problem on the short term and, hopefully, on the long term as
well.
De Weerd: We got a little off track on discussion for the motion, but, Madam Clerk, will
you call roll.
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August 13, 2013
Page 56 of 57
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 9: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Item 9 is Future Meeting Topics. Council, any topics for consideration for
future agendas?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Just a couple of dates for a heads up. Councilman Zaremba, did you --
Zaremba: Huh-uh.
De Weerd: Oh. Split corridor construction meeting update is on August 19th. We are
doing -- our departments have looked at how they want to be involved on a voluntary
basis in our community and certainly the Meridian Food is one of those. It's -- they are
doing kind of a back to school drive for both school supplies and the backpack program
-- food program. So, that competition is going on right now through August 23rd, so I
would encourage you to -- to be part of the competition and participate. You will see
barrels. I invite you to put all your stuff in the Mayor's office.
Bird: The police department.
Nary: Legal department has got a room, too.
De Weerd: And if you don't have a list in your mailboxes already you will tomorrow, so
-- okay. And, again, that's through August 23rd. And we are putting together our
invitation list for the Recovery Day celebration. That's always in September. If you
have anyone you would like us to contact about that specifically, if you will, please, let
us know so we can get information to them and that is all I have. If there is nothing
further -- yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Your comment about the town hall with ACHD about the split corridor
reminds me -- rumor has it that construction is maybe two weeks ahead -- or at least
they -- they are thinking they may finish the whole thing maybe two weeks ahead and
my question is are we thinking of any kind of celebration or ribbon cutting or --
De Weerd: Absolutely. I believe that ACHD has been working with our staff to make
sure that it is -- it is recognized opening day in a -- in a good way and also to recognize
the businesses and the residents that have been so impacted by this project. They
would like to recognize them. Certainly the Greens come to mind in particular. They
Meridian City Council Workshop
August 13, 2013
Page 57 of 57
have been just tremendous advocates for ACRD and this ro'ect and been ood
p1 g
ambassadors to the project as a whole. So, anyway, as those details et ironed out I'm
g
sure you will be kept abreast of them. Caleb, anything you would like to add? Oka .
Oka y
y. If there is nothing further I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:42 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
~~~ q' / l~ / 13
MAYOR TAM E WEERD DATE APPROVED