HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-11-19E IDIAN ^~ CITY COUNCIL REGULAR
MEETING AGENDA
City Council Chambers
33 East Broadway Avenue
Meridian, Idaho
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 6:00 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 Boy Scout Troop 140
3. Community Invocation by Jared Hansen with the LDS church
4. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted (Pg 2)
5. Proclamation for Homelessness Awareness Week (Pg 2-4)
6. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 4-7)
A. Approve Minutes of November 6, 2013 City Council Special Meeting
B. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement with Kristy Sweeney for
Wellness Massages
C. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-039 Tradewinds Subdivision No. 2 by Don
Newell, SDN, LLC Located at the Southeast Corner of S. Victory Road and
E. Locust Grove Road Request: Final Plat Consisting of 22 Single-Family
Residential Building Lots and 2 Common/Other lots on 10.42 Acres of Land
in an R-8 Zoning District.
Moved to Item 8 and continued to November 26, 2013
D. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-040 Touchstone Place by Iron Mountain
Real Estate Inc. Located on the South Side of E. Fairview Avenue and West
of N. Stonehenge Way Request: Final Plat Consisting of 16 Multi-Family
Lots and 7 Common/Other Lots on Approximately 4.49 Acres in an Existing
R-15 Zoning District.
E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: Public Hearing: RZ 13-
010 Three Corners by C13, LLC Located at Southeast Corner of N. Locust
Grove Road and Chinden Boulevard Request: Rezone Approximately 31.73
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, November 19, 2013 Page 1 of 5
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please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
Acres from the C-C (Community Business), the R-8 (Medium Density
Residential) and the R-2 (Low Density Residential) Zoning Districts to the
C-C (Community Business) (12.52 Acres), the R-4 (Medium-Low Density
Residential)(16.51 Acres) and the R-8 (Medium Density Residential) (2.70
Acres) Zoning Districts
F. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 13-025 Three
Corners by C13, LLC Located Southeast Corner of N. Locust Grove Road
and Chinden Boulevard Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of
Eight (8) Commercial Lots, Fifty-Four (54) Single Family Lots and Six (6)
Common Lots to Approximately 30.27 Acres in the Proposed C-C, R-4 and
R-8 Zoning Districts
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 13-017 Three
Corners by C13, LLC Located Southeast Corner of N. Locust Grove Road
and Chinden Boulevard Request: Modify the Recorded Development
Agreement (Inst. #108022887) to Incorporate a New Concept Plan, Attach
New Home Elevations and Update Certain Sections of th DA to Reflect the
Proposed Changes
H. Award of Task Order 10461 D for Professional Design Services for "Well 29
Test and Production Well Design" to SPF Water Engineering, LLC for the
Not-To-Exceed amount of $75,000
Agreement with Nampa Meridian Irrigation District for the Extension of
Water and Sewer Services Across the Milk Lateral Easement
J. Water Main Easement for Capital Educators Federal Credit Union
K. Approval of Task Order 10045E for "Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)
Fermentation and Odor Control Project Programming and Integration" to
CH2M Hill Engineers, Inc. for the Not-To-Exceed amount of $150,975.00
L. Approval of Task Order 10033.d for "Ashford Greens Trunk Sewer" Design
to JUB Engineers in the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $60,099.00
M. Development Agreement for Approval: MDA 13-016 Copperleaf Subdivision
by Providence Properties, LLC Located 4405 E. Ustick Road Request:
Modification to the Development Agreement to Remove the Requirement
for Townhomes to be Constructed on Two of the Building Lots and
Inclusion of a Revised Conceptual Development Plan and Building
Elevations
N. Development Agreement for Approval: MDA 13-013 Baltic Place Addition by
HD Fowler Company Located South of E. Franklin Road and West of E.
Kalispell Street Request: Amend the Recorded Development Agreement
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, November 19, 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.
(Instrument #102090926) for the Purpose of Excluding the Proposed Baltic
Place Addition Property and Modifying Certain Sections that Reference the
Development of the R-40 Apartment Parcel
O. Development Agreement for Approval: RZ 13-007 Baltic Place Addition
Located South of E. Franklin Road and West of E. Kalispell Street Request:
Rezone of Approximately 9.41 Acres from the R-40 (High-Density
Residential) Zoning District to the I-L (Industrial) Zoning District
P. Award of Bid and Agreement for "Bulk Ferric Chloride" to Weschem, Inc. in
the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $76,000.00
Q. Resolution No. 13-163: A Resolution Approving CPAT 13-001
Comprehensive Plan Text Amendment by City of Meridian Planning
Division Request: Amend Certain Action Items Contained in the
Comprehensive Plan
R. Resolution No. 13-961: A Resolution Authorizing Destruction of Meridian
Police Records
S. Resolution No. 13-962: A Resolution Authorizing the Donation and
Transfer of Ownership of Police Canine "Carlo" to His Handler, Meridian
Police Officer Seth Washburn
7. Community Items/Presentations
A. Franklin Road, Black Cat to Ten Mile -Overview of Roadway Widening
Project and Discussion on Center Median Design (Pg 7-28)
B. Transit Planning: Review Draft Charter and Public Outreach Plan for the
Meridian Transit Planning Team (Pg 28-31)
C. State Highway 16 River Crossing Impacts on Local Roadway Network (Pg
31-35)
8. Items Moved From Consent Agenda Item 6C Moved Here (Pg 35-36)
9. Action Items
A. Public Hearing: RZ 13-011 Crimson Maple by Crimson Maple Townhomes,
LLC Located on the East Side of NW 4th Street, North of W. Maple Avenue
Request: Rezone 1.59 Acres from the R-8 (Medium-Density Residential)
Zoning District to the R-15 Zoning District (Medium High-Density
Residential) Approved (Pg 36-44)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, November 19, 2013 Page 3 of 5
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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.
B. Public Hearing: CUP 13-011 Crimson Maple by Crimson Maple Townhomes,
LLC Located on the East Side of NW 4th Street, North of W. Maple Avenue
Request: Conditional Use Permit to Construct aMulti-Family Development
Consisting of 12 Residential Units in a Proposed R-15 Zoning District
Approved (Pg 36-44)
C. Public Hearing: AZ 13-012 Sagewood Subdivision by Sagewood Overland„
LLC Located on the South Side of W. Overland Road Approximately 650
Feet West of S. Stoddard Road. Request: Annexation of Approximately
16.34 Acres from R1 and RUT in Ada County to the L-O (Limited Office)(5.02
acres) and R-8 (Medium-Density Residential)(11.32 acres) Zoning Districts
Approved (Pg 44-54)
D. Public Hearing: PP 13-026 Sagewood Subdivision by Sagewood Overland,
LLC Located on the South Side of W. Overland Road Approximately 650
Feet West of S. Stoddard Road. Request: Preliminary Plat consisting of
two(2) office lots, forty-five (45) residential lots, and Eight (8) Common Lots
on Approximately 15.62 Acres in the Proposed L-O and R-8 Zoning Districts
Approved (Pg 44-54)
E. Public Hearing: AZ 13-009 Spurwing Orchard East Subdivision by Brighton
Investments, LLC Located North Side of Chinden Boulevard and West of N.
Ten Mile Road Request: Annexation of 26.53 Acres from RUT in Ada
County to the R-4 (Medium-Low Density Residential) Zoning District
Approved (Pg 54-59)
F. Public Hearing: PP 13-021 Spurwing Orchard East Subdivision by Brighton
Investments, LLC Located North Side of Chinden Boulevard, West of N. Ten
Mile Road Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Sixty-Three
(63)Single Family Residential Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on
Approximately 25.85 Acres in the Proposed R-4 Zoning District Approved
(Pg 54-59)
G. Public Hearing: AP 13-001 Virden Auto Care by Mike Virden Located 2651
E. Fairview Avenue Request: City Council Review on an Appeal of the
Planning Director's Decision for the Installation of City Street Lights
Adjacent to E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Avenue (UDC 11-3A-21 B)
Approved with the Virden Auto Care Certificate of Zoning Compliance (CZC
12-018) Approved (Pg 59-73)
10. Department Reports
A. Public Works: Staff Resource Discussion (Pg 73-80)
B. Parks and Recreation Department: Future Dog Park Discussion (Pg 81-87)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, November 19, 2013 Page 4 of 5
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Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
C. Community
Cooperative
90)
11. Ordinances
Development: Meridian
Agreement with the Idaho
Road Interchange Inter-Agency
Transportation Department (Pg 87-
A. Ordinance No. 13-1581: An Ordinance (RZ 13-007 -Baltic Place Addition)
For The Re-Zone Of A Parcel Of Land Located In The NW'/4 Of The NE'/4 Of
Section 18, Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, City Of
Meridian, Ada County Idaho; Establishing And Determining The Land Use
Zoning Classification Of I-L (Light Industrial) Zoning Districts In The
Meridian City Code; And Providing An Effective Date Approved (Pg 90-91)
12. Future Meeting Topics (Pg 91-92)
Adjourned at 10:52 p.m.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, November 19, 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 November 19, 2013
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday,
November 19, 2013, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Charlie Rountree, David Zaremba, and
Keith Bird.
Members Absent: Brad Hoaglun.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Caleb Hood, Bill Parsons, Tom Barry, Clint
Dolsby, Kyle Radek, Scott Colaianni, Chris Amenn, Mike Barton, Austin Peterson, 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: Okay. I will go ahead and call this meeting to order. I would first like to
start by welcoming you to the Meridian City Council chambers. We always appreciate
having a crowd, but, wow, this is quite the crowd and we really appreciate it when we
see friendly faces. So, thank you for joining us. I did say to Larry Woodard -- because
this is a similar crowd that helped us get the Ten Mile interchange, but he forgot the
sign. They were lime green fluorescent signs and they do a good job, Larry. So, keep
up the good work. Okay. We will start with roll call attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance Boy Scout Troop 140
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. Tonight we are going to be led by
the Boy Scout Troop 140. Boys, if you want to step forward and lead us in the Pledge
of Allegiance. If you will all rise.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Community Invocation by Jared Hansen with the LDS church
De Weerd: You know, that was awesome. I don't think we have heard it quite so
compelling. So, thank you for joining these young men in leading us in the pledge. Item
No. 3 is our community invocation. Tonight we will be led by Jared Hansen. He's with
the LDS church. Jared, thank you so much for joining us. If you will step up here to the
mike. Please join us in the community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a
moment of reflection.
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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Hansen: Our dear Father in Heaven, we are so thankful for this beautiful day. We are
grateful for the rain that we have been receiving. We are thankful for this beautiful
building that we have to meet in. We are grateful for this great country and for the
freedoms which we enjoy. We are grateful for our Constitution and for the liberties it
provides and we pray that we can always remember those who have sacrificed to give
us these freedoms and those who to continue to sacrifice to preserve these freedoms
and we -- we are grateful for our public servants and pray that thou wilt bless them, our
firefighters and police and the people on this Council. We pray that thou wilt, please,
bless them and their families and we -- we are grateful for the example of thy son Jesus
Christ. Pray that we can better emulate him in our lives. We pray that thou wilt guide
the discussion of this meeting tonight, that -- that all can use wisdom and civility and
reach a good conclusion with the issues that come before us and we pray that thou will
prosper this community and that we might be worthy of thy blessings and these things
we pray for in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
De Weerd: Thank you so much. It's a great way to kick off a meeting. And I will say
that we do have a community Thanksgiving event on the 24th and this is a long time
Meridian tradition where the community comes together to give thanks to God for all
that we are thankful for and the tradition is that people of all faiths come together on the
common ground of what we all are thankful for is a safe community, good places to
raise our family and our children. So, you are invited. It will be at the Valley Shepherd
Church of the Nazarene and so we hope to see as many faces there as we do have
here tonight.
Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Item No. 4 is adoption of the agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: We do have one change in tonight's agenda. Under Item 6-C, we need to
move that to Item 8 and also under 6-O that is Resolution No. 13-163, 6-R is Resolution
No. 13-961, 6-F is Resolution No. 13-962. And 11-A is Ordinance No. 13-1581. So,
with that, Madam Mayor, I move adoption of the agenda as amended.
Rountree: Second
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Proclamation for Homelessness Awareness Week
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: Item No. 5 is a proclamation. I will move down to the podium and ask
Jason Billester to come and join me. Reverend Bill Rosco would have been here with
us, but he was called away on an emergency and so we have Jason here with us to
present this proclamation to. We appreciate all the work that the Rescue Mission does
in our communities and this proclamation is on behalf of those that they serve.
Whereas for the past several years the National Coalition for the Homeless and
National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness have sponsored
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and whereas the theme of
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week 2013 is Bringing America Home
and whereas the purpose of Homelessness Awareness Week is to educate the public
about the many reasons people are hungry and homeless, including the shortage of
affordable housing for the very low income residents and whereas the City of Meridian
encourages the community to support homeless assistant service providers, as well as
community service opportunities for students and school service organizations and
whereas there are many organizations committed to sheltering and providing support of
services, as well as meals and food supplies to people experiencing homelessness,
including the Boise Rescue Mission and the Meridian Food Bank and whereas the City
of Meridian recognizes that hunger and homelessness continue to be a serious problem
for many individuals and families in the Treasure Valley, therefore, I, Tammy de Weerd,
Mayor of the City of Meridian, do hereby proclaim Hunger and Homelessness
Awareness Week here in the City of Meridian and I do encourage all citizens to
recognize that many people do not have housing and need support from citizens, both
private and nonprofit service entities -- we need to support them and hold up these
safety networks of our communities and I will present this for Jason, but do we have
representatives from the Meridian Food Bank here as well? I know, Luke, you want to
come up here. I saw Luke. Luke Cavener. I'm asking you to come and represent the
Meridian Food Bank, as this has been proclaimed Hunger and Homelessness
Awareness Week and thank all that the Boise Rescue Mission and the Meridian Food
Bank do in our communities to serve those that would not be served had you not been
there to help fill a gap and I will ask, Jason, if you have anything you would like to share
and, then, Luke.
Billester: Thank you. Well, good evening, everyone. Mayor Tammy, Council Members,
on behalf of Boise Rescue Mission thank you, thank you and thank you from the bottom
of our hears for being so proactive in your community, for helping those in need. We
see it every day. The need is increasing. You know, at the Rescue Mission we are
currently serving about a thousand hot meals a day, serving a population of about 500
men, women and children every night and we couldn't do it without Mayor Tammy and
the support of this wonderful and generous community. So, again, thank you so much
for this very special opportunity.
Cavener: Boy, those are hard comments to follow, so mine will be brief. And I know
that we have many members of Ten Mile Christian Church that are in the audience
tonight and as a member of the Meridian Food Bank I'd like to say thank for your
ongoing generous support of the Meridian Food Bank. As you may or may not know,
we are an all volunteer organization and so a hundred percent of your donations that
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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you give to the Meridian Food Bank goes directly to feeding people in our community.
As is often the time when we get to the Thanksgiving season we have an ongoing need
for turkeys. I'd ask that if you could be so generous to, please, stop by the Meridian
Food Bank and make a donation there. You can also purchase Turkey Bucks from the
local Albertson's and that money will go to the Meridian Food Bank and there will also
be a turkey drive at Rosauers next Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- it's going
to be this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So, if you are in the neighborhood,
please, stop by and make a donation. We would really really appreciate it. Thank you
again for your generosity. It's very much appreciated.
De Weerd: I'm going to have to recruit someone to take a picture with my phone. But I
do want to make special note -- we have a homeless issue in our school district. Now,
bear in mind that our school district is 380 plus square miles large and it covers most of
the cities in Ada County and parts of Canyon county, but we have over 380 students
who are homeless. Those are not acceptable numbers and this is where we as a
community can step forward and be part of the solution. There is a partnership in our
schools called Catch that is a safety net, nonprofit program, that works with the school
district to place families so these kids do have homes. But I would hope that you can
keep them in your prayers over this holiday season and if you can, reach out and
support these organizations. Thank you so much for being part of this proclamation,
although it was all part of the meeting. It was well timed, wasn't it? So, I'm going to
hand this to one lucky person and ask them to take a picture, because I don't have
someone to take a picture for me. Who wants to volunteer? You. I'm sorry I'm so
bossy. You can see it on my Facebook later.
Item 6: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of November 6, 2013 City Council Special
Meeting
B. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement with Kristy
Sweeney for Wellness Massages
D. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-040 Touchstone Place by Iron
Mountain Real Estate Inc. Located on the South Side of E.
Fairview Avenue and West of N. Stonehenge Way Request:
Final Plat Consisting of 16 Multi-Family Lots and 7
Common/Other Lots on Approximately 4.49 Acres in an
Existing R-15 Zoning District.
E. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: Public
Hearing: RZ 13-010 Three Corners by C73, LLC Located at
Southeast Corner of N. Locust Grove Road and Chinden
Boulevard Request: Rezone Approximately 31.73
Acres from the C-C (Community Business), the R-8 (Medium
Density Residential) and the R-2 (Low Density Residential)
Zoning Districts to the C-C (Community Business) (12.52
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November 19, 2013
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Acres), the R-4 (Medium-Low Density Residential)(16.51 Acres)
and the R-8 (Medium Density Residential) (2.70 Acres) Zoning
Districts
F. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 13-025
Three Corners by C13, LLC Located Southeast Corner of N.
Locust Grove Road and Chinden Boulevard Request:
Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Eight (8) Commercial
Lots, Fifty-Four (54) Single Family Lots and Six (6) Common
Lots to Approximately 30.27 Acres in the Proposed C-C, R-4
and R-8 Zoning Districts
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: MDA 13-
017Three Corners by C13, LLC Located Southeast Corner of
N. Locust Grove Road and Chinden Boulevard Request:
Modify the Recorded Development Agreement (Inst.
#108022887) to Incorporate a New Concept Plan, Attach New
Home Elevations and Update Certain Sections of th DA to
Reflect the Proposed Changes
H. Award of Task Order 10461 D for Professional Design Services
for "Well 29 Test and Production Well Design" to SPF Water
Engineering, LLC for the Not-To-Exceed amount of $75,000
Agreement with Nampa Meridian Irrigation District for the
Extension of Water and Sewer Services Across the Milk Lateral
Easement
J. Water Main Easement for Capital Educators Federal Credit
Union
K. Approval of Task Order 10045E for "Wastewater Treatment
Plant (WWTP) Fermentation and Odor Control Project
Programming and Integration" to CH2M Hill Engineers, Inc. for
the Not-To-Exceed amount of $150,975.00
L. Approval of Task Order 10033.d for "Ashford Greens Trunk
Sewer" Design to JUB Engineers in the Not-To-Exceed Amount
of $60,099.00
M. Development Agreement for Approval: MDA 13-016 Copperleaf
Subdivision by Providence Properties, LLC Located 4405 E.
Ustick Road Request: Modification to the Development
Agreement to Remove the Requirement for Townhomes to be
Constructed on Two of the Building Lots and Inclusion of a
Revised Conceptual Development Plan and Building
Elevations
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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N. Development Agreement for Approval: MDA 13-013 Baltic
Place Addition by HD Fowler Company Located South of E.
Franklin Road and West of E. Kalispell Street Request: Amend
the Recorded Development Agreement (Instrument
#102090926) for the Purpose of Excluding the Proposed Baltic
Place Addition Property and Modifying Certain Sections that
Reference the Development of the R-40 Apartment Parcel
O. Development Agreement for Approval: RZ 13-007 Baltic Place
Addition Located South of E. Franklin Road and West of E.
Kalispell Street Request: Rezone of Approximately 9.41 Acres
from the R-40 (High-Density Residential) Zoning District to the
I-L (Industrial) Zoning District
P. Award of Bid and Agreement for "Bulk Ferric Chloride" to
Weschem, Inc. in the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $76,000.00
Q. Resolution No. 13-163: A Resolution Approving CPAT 13-001
Comprehensive Plan Text Amendment by City of Meridian
Planning Division Request: Amend Certain Action Items
Contained in the Comprehensive Plan
R. Resolution No. 13-961: A Resolution Authorizing Destruction
of Meridian Police Records
S. Resolution No. 13-962: A Resolution Authorizing the Donation
and Transfer of Ownership of Police Canine "Carlo" to His
Handler, Meridian Police Officer Seth Washburn
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 6 is our Consent Agenda.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: As noted when we adopted the agenda Item 6-C has been moved to Item 8.
Under 6-O that is Resolution No. 13-163. 6-R is Resolution No. 13-961. And 6-S is
Resolution No. 13-962. So, Madam Mayor, I would move approval of the Consent
Agenda as amended.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda as amended.
Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
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November 19, 2013
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Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 7: Community Items/Presentations
A. Franklin Road, Black Cat to Ten Mile -Overview of Roadway
Widening Project and Discussion on Center Median Design
De Weerd: Item No. 7-A is regarding a request that we had from Larry Woodard. I will
ask staff if they have introductory remarks first.
Hood: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, over the past year and a half or
so I have been serving as a City of Meridian's representative on the ACHD project team
for the Franklin, Black Cat to Ten Mile, roadway widening project. Diane Bevins, the
project manager from ACHD, is here tonight and after I'm done with my opening
remarks and a little bit of background and history, Diane has a couple of things to add
before Larry and a couple others from the church speak. This is just a quick refresher
for you. This is a -- this is a federal aid project. It's currently scheduled for construction
in 2016, which more than likely will probably end up 2017, as that is a federal aid project
and so some of those funds probably won't be expended until calendar year'17 and that
will be constructed -- this mile -- this mile segment will be constructed with the Black
Cat-Franklin intersection currently planned. So, I did mention that I have been -- and
we have talked about this a couple of times before each of the previous public
involvement meetings, the open houses. The first one I did not attend. Jay Gibbons
attended that one for me. That was at the concept level and we talked to Council about
really three things at both of those meetings that we highlighted for Council. One is the
detached sidewalks and that's now pretty commonplace for the city to ask for detached
sidewalks on these arterial projects. The other one was street lights. Remember, this is
a federal aid project, so we said, hey, we can get a pretty good deal and put our street
lights in at seven cents on the dollar, basically, and, then, also the center median and
just -- that was more of a disclosure to all that the concept shows a center median
consistent with the Ten Mile specific area plan. So, I mentioned Jay attended that first
meeting. I went to the most recent one, which was in July, and I -- after that -- that
public involvement meeting we have been working talking and with ACHD a little bit
about an additional break in that median and I have got some maps that I will put upon
the board here in just a second. For that second public involvement meeting in July
there was -- ACHD had designed it with only one break in the median near the Black
Cat intersection and so we had asked ACHD to look into a potential other break
between Ten Mile in the vicinity of the church since this summer and they have looked
into that and have included an additional break as of right now. Just a little bit of history
on the city's involvement with the church. In 2005 the city did annex the property.
There was a traffic impact study that was submitted with the annexation of the church.
There was a development agreement that the city has on that property with the church.
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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It did approve entry points into the property in 2005. So, just -- 2005, obviously,
predates our 2007 adopted Ten Mile specific area plan. So, there was -- this property
was annexed and was approved and reviewed before the adoption of our specific area
plan. In 2007 the church did submit and obtained detailed conditional use permit
approval with the same access points that were looked at in 2005. This -- the reason
for this being before you tonight, as the Mayor mentioned, we did receive a request from
a community member and as is typical when someone wants to address the Council we
try to get them on an agenda item in the near future. For this one we did route it
through our -- well, it's been April or May since the group started to meet -- but our
transportation commission met this last month and also heard a similar presentation and
had a similar discussion to I imagine what's going to happen here on November 4th, so
just a couple of weeks ago. We went to the transportation commission. This is a
discussion. There was a split vote on that one, but they, at the end of the day,
recommended to the Council, who will recommend to ACHD -- because the Council
doesn't -- the city -- it's not a city project, the medians aren't ours to include or exclude,
but ACHD has asked for our input on this, as it is, obviously, going to be within the city
limits and part of it already is, but the transportation commission didn't recommend any
changes to the design that ACHD currently has for the roadway, but, again, it was a split
vote on that -- on that -- on that vote. So, I think that's all that I wanted to get in before
Diane has a couple of points I believe and you had a memo in your packet for this
evening that has some of the technical memorandum and addressing medians and
more this project specifically, more this project specifically. But, Madam Mayor, if you
have any other questions at this point I would be happy to answer them.
De Weerd: Council, any questions at this point for staff?
Rountree: Not at this moment.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, real quick. Caleb, on that split vote you mentioned, was that
to -- was to recommend to us to move forward, but was it pertaining to another
alternative that you had mentioned earlier or just one the one -- on their proposal as --
as is?
Hood: Madam Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, the question before the Commission and
really for you focused on the center median in particular and so is there some other
direction that we would like to ask ACHD to consider as they go through the design of
this project. So, that was, essentially, the question. We gave them a little bit more of
the -- more background on the project itself, but that was, essentially, the question for
the commission.
Hoaglun: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from Council at this point?
Bird: I have none.
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De Weerd: Okay. Diane.
Bevins: Mayor, Council Members, my name is Diane Bevins, project manager for the
Franklin, Black Cat to Ten Mile, project. What a surprise to see the big crowd here
tonight. It's nice to see them show up. So, I just had a couple points I wanted to touch
on and, then, I will stand for questions as well. Right now, as Caleb mentioned, it's the
staff recommendation to keep medians in place. On December 4th it will go to our
commission and they will have your recommendation, as well as the transportation
commission's recommendation to make their final decision on the median. So, in our
design with the median -- which also meets our policies, the church will have two full
access points, as well as their current main entrance, which will become aright-in, right-
out and also in their development agreement they already have approved an additional
driveway that would also be a right-in, right-out. So, ultimately they would have two full
accesses and two right-in, right-out accesses. So, the question today is -- is not limiting
their access to only right-in, right-out, it's a question of how many of those full accesses
that they could possibly have. We have the full accesses, one is on Franklin Road, one
is on Ten Mile Road. I will point out that the one on Ten Mile doesn't have a paid
driveway within their property. It is a fully constructed driveway on Ten Mile, but it is
well used, even as a dirt road today. But in their ultimate master plan it would be a
paved access on their property and the -- one of the full -- the full access point on
Franklin Road is at Umbria Hills, which we are -- with the project we will put in all the
infrastructure for a future signal when -- most likely when the southern part of Franklin
Road develops it would be warranted. At the time that the signal is warranted there will
be a signalized access that the church has available to them in the ultimate plan and the
traffic projections are 24,000 vehicles per day, so having that signalized full access is a
safer option ultimately as well. So, with that I will stand for questions. Thank you.
De Weerd: Council, do you have questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Diane, why -- why the Ten Mile to Black Cat setup is -- is going to be different
than Linder to Franklin where I think the traffic is probably just as heavy on Linder to
Ten Mile than -- than it is from Ten Mile to Black Cat. Why are we having medians in
that mile and not -- and we took the medians out of the other mile?
Bevins: Mayor, Council Member Bird, we did have medians in the Ten Mile to Linder
section originally. Those were actually taken out very late and Caleb might have more
information on that, but my understanding was it's more developed in that area. Our
preference would still be to have the medians there. Ultimately I think there is some
provision to get that as the property that's develops. However, with the -- there is a
trash service there, a trash company and the bus company, and they have a harder
time doing U-turns when there is a median and I know the Council's recommendation to
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commission was to remove the medians and the commission supported that and
removed it, so --
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Dianne, you had mentioned 24 -- the projection is 24,000 vehicles per day
and how far out is that projection? Is that 2017 or what was that projection?
Bevins: Mayor and Council Member Hoaglun, that is 2035. So, we are talking 20
years. Just a steady increase in traffic.
Hoaglun: And Madam Mayor and Diane, do you happen to have what traffic count
current or last year orany -- where we are right now?
Bevins: I do not have that information --
Hoaglun: Okay.
Bird: -- right now.
Hoaglun: Not a problem. Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I have actually two questions, a follow up to the one that Councilman
Hoaglun just asked. In your projected traffic counts does that include Highway 16
ending at Chinden for an amount of time? I have -- at one time when traffic projections
were being done they were done with Highway 16 going all the way to I-84. We are, of
course, concerned that when it doesn't go all the way that when it for a number of years
stops at Chinden, all that traffic is going to come down Black Cat and Ten Mile and
much of it will come a cross this section of road to get to the Ten Mile interchange. Are
the projections you're talking about including that change?
Bevins: Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, our model does not include the State Highway
16 connection all the way to the interstate. It -- we are keeping it stopped at Chinden in
our model.
Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. And the other question is the driveway in question, in
front of which the discussion about the median currently is going on, as you probably
know is at the base of a hill that is significant enough that it blocks the view of that
driveway from westbound travelers from any distance and I guess my question were
absent a median what other safety features -- what other options are there for the safety
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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of through traffic and anybody attempting to make a left turn in or out of -- of this
driveway.
Bevins: Mayor and Councilman Zaremba, I think with the -- the new project we do
flatten that vertical curve out a bit and I'm not a hundred percent sure what the -- the site
distance would be there, but there is a canal crossing there, it's the high point of the
road and it's -- and it's definitely a design and constraint. So, with having to tie into Ten
Mile intersection a given elevation, having to go over the canal, there is not a lot we can
do to increase that site distance there with the constraints that we do have.
Zaremba: Okay. Thank you. I think I might have said westbound. I meant eastbound.
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Thank you, Madam Mayor. What's -- what's the projection on Ten Mile, the
one access that you indicated is a full access? Ina 20 year projection will that remain a
full access? It seems to me there is plenty of conflict there.
Bevins: Mayor, Council Member Rountree, it's always a possibility that we would need
to add a median there in the future. ACHD does reserve that right. It is beyond the --
the double left turn lane there, so it could happen. It could turn -- the Ten Mile access
could be right-in, right-out one day.
Rountree: And what's the geometrics at the main entrance? Is that the five lanes?
Seven lanes? Four lanes?
Bevins: It's five lanes.
Rountree: Five lanes.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any further questions?
Rountree: Madam Mayor, if you will.
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I have one more question. The intersection just west of the main entrance,
that's the intersection you're saying is going to be signalized?
Bevins: Yes, sir. That is Umbria Hills that will have a future signal there.
Rountree: Okay. Thank you. Future signal. Will it be part of the project?
Bevins: We are putting in the infrastructure with the project, but the signal wouldn't be
warranted at this time. Most likely when development occurs south of Franklin.
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Rountree: Thank you
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from Council? Thank you, Diane. Mr. Woodard.
Thank you for being here with us tonight and bringing your friends.
Woodard: You're looking at a small portion of a 2,000 member church and we are glad
they are here today, because this is important to us.
De Weerd: Larry, if you could, please, state your name and address for the record.
Woodard Okay. My name is Larry Woodard. I have been here many times praying for
your wisdom. I live at 1701 Almaden in north Meridian and I am an elder at Ten Mile
Christian Church.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Woodard: We have heard from Caleb and Diane already tonight and both have
indicated that the city and ACHD did approve our main entrance onto Franklin Road
during our annexation into the city in the summer of 2005 and specifically both the city
and ACHD approved our main entrance with left turn and right turn options onto
Franklin. In other words, full access. We were advocates, our church, for the Ten Mile
interchange and hosted several public meetings, which led eventually to ITD
construction of the interchange and, Madam Mayor, we remember that you
congratulated us on our support of that key interchange for the city. After our purchase
of the property the city prepared an area plan for the orderly development of the land
between Franklin and I-84 and -- but in that plan apparently there was a proposal to
widen Franklin to five lanes with a raised median and plantings and we, frankly, missed
that median and planting aspect. The impact of this raised median blocking left turns in
and out of our main entrance seems to reverse an earlier agreement with us that led to
our construction of a ten million dollar facility, based on city and ACHD approval. As a
major faith community in Meridian we have been active participants in community
affairs. You heard some of that tonight and long time elder Dale Newberry was recently
honored as the city man of the year. Our senior minister Steve Moore is well known,
having ministered in Meridian for almost 40 years. We have grown steadily in our new
location from slightly under a thousand when we moved in on Easter of 2009. That day
we had 2,000 there and sitting on the stage. We offer five services on Sunday and this
minimizes the large surges of traffic on Sunday. Needless to stay, we are chagrined to
learn that our earlier approval by the city for left turns in and out of our main entrance is
proposed to be reversed. It is both a legal issue and a fairness issue with us. This
decision, unless reversed by this Council tonight, seems to contradict the support and
leadership we have given to our community. And I would be willing to answer any
questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions for Mr. Woodard?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: The issue, of course, is safety and I'm sure you're all concerned about that
as well.
Woodard: Sure.
Zaremba: Let -- let me ask a kind of background question if I may. When this was
annexed my recollection is that the entire property was annexed as a C-G. Am correct
in that or do you know?
Woodard: I don't know.
Zaremba: Okay. Staff, do you know that? Where I'm going with that is you have still a
significant portion undeveloped --
Woodard: Yes.
Zaremba: -- and if it is a C-G zoning that could be developed with pretty high level
commercial stuff. I guess my question is does the church have any plans for the
undeveloped portions of the property? Yet.
Woodard: Not yet. We are constantly -- now with the 2,300 in attendance we have
people coming in now to advise us on the best options for additional space. Our original
master plan called for a major facility in the corner of Ten Mile and Franklin, around that
direction, and as said -- Diane has said, we do have a smaller entrance that we could
put in, but we -- we understand as close as that is to the intersection that would be
right-in, right-out only. We are talking primarily here about the main entrance, which is
800 feet west of the intersection.
Zaremba: Just for the record, staff has put up a schematic that shows that property as
C-N, which is nowhere near as intense as C-G. So, that helps me a little bit.
Woodard: Okay.
Zaremba: All right. Thank you.
De Weerd: Any other questions from Council for Mr. Woodard?
Bird: I have none.
Woodard: We have two other speakers that I'd like to turn it over now to Nick Bates.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Nick, thank you for joining us. If you will, please, state
our name and address for the record.
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November 19, 2013
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Bates: Yes, ma'am. Hello. My name is Nick Bates. I live at 1398 East Mallory Lane in
south Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bates: I have grown up in Ten Mile Christian Church. The first one was on Cherry
Lane and now on Franklin. I am 17 years old and I am very active in our church. I work
there part time as a custodian. I assist with the preschool kids in class on Sunday
morning. I am a small group leader with the middle school program on Tuesday
evening and I participate and assist with the high school programs on Sunday morning
and Monday evening. I am very familiar with all the youth programs of the church. I am
there four to five days a week. We have a very large children and youth program. In
the preschool through 5th grade we have over 800 kids, including our Pioneer All Stars
Club on Wednesday evening. Our middle school program, which is primarily on
Tuesday nights, has between 250 and 300 young people. Special events have brought
in over 500 middle school kids to our church. Our high school program meets primarily
on Monday evenings and has around 200 high schoolers who attend. The important
thing for the Council to understand is that 70 percent of these kids are brought to our
program by parents who do not attend our church. Many of these kids come from
dysfunctional families and their home life results in drug and alcohol abuse, self
mutilation, dangerous sexual activities or other anti-social behaviors. Our programs are
designed to help these kids. Any barriers -- any barrier to the parents bringing their
children to the church gives those parents another reason not to bring their kids to
church. It is much better to have them participating at a church than on the streets or
elsewhere getting into trouble. Our church is active in the Mayor's Faith Council and our
kids are involved in the community programs, such as Rake of Meridian, which we just
participated in last Saturday. And we also participate in Meridian Old Town clean up.
We like Meridian and the support from the City Council creating a great place to live.
We simply ask for your support tonight in erasing a planning decision that would make
our efforts far more difficult. Thank you. Are there any questions?
De Weerd: Thank you, Nick. Council, any questions?
Rountree: I have none.
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Bates: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you for joining us. If you will, please, state your name and address
for the record.
A.Bates: My name is Allen Bates. I live at 1498 East Mallory Lane.
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: Thank you.
A.Bates: I have a small business with ten employees at 850 East Franklin Road. And
I'm also at Ten Mile -- elder at Ten Mile Christian Church. Both my business and the
church have watched the steady improvement of Franklin Road from Boise through
Meridian over the years and we support this effort. In addition to the activities
mentioned by Larry and Nick, our church hosts the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Celebrate
Recovery, which is a program to help people with psychological hurts and addictions.
Weekday Bible studies. A week day preschool program. And senior program. Our
Wednesday Glory Sider group draws people from five other Meridian churches. Other
community groups also regularly utilize our facility. We believe our programs for youth
and adults save the city thousands of dollars in potential treatment, repair, and other
social expenses and significantly improve local quality of life. Our concern is with the
proposed -- the proposed median blocking our main entrance on the next segment of
construction on Franklin Road. We are convinced that having a raised median will
adversely affect all of our weekly activities there. Also, this proposal is counter to the
approval we received before we began construction of the church several years ago, as
Larry mentioned. It's an issue of fairness and we are concerned with this proposed
reversal of that earlier agreement. If potential traffic congestion is a concern, please be
aware that the vast majority of activities at our church occurs during off peak traffic
hours. Our activities occur on the weekends, evenings, and in the middle of the day.
We are aware, as was discussed, that this raised median issue came up last year prior
to the widening of Franklin Road between Linder and Ten Mile. Local businessmen in
the area objected and the Meridian school bus drivers in particular were vocal in their
objection to the raised median. This Council reversed that plan requirement and today
the newly finished section looks good, drives easily for all parties. I drive it regularly
from my office on Franklin over to the church. Ten Mile Christian Church is not a
business like those who objected last year. We are a faith community that helps make
Meridian one of the safest and best places in the nation to raise a family. We simply
ask that the same courtesy that was extended on the Linder to Ten Mile section of
Franklin Road also be extended to the Ten Mile to Black Cat section. We look forward
to your decision. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Allen. Council, any questions?
Rountree: I have none.
Bird: I have none on this one. I do have a question for Caleb or for Diane later.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. And I think it was explained this isn't a public hearing
tonight, but I would ask, because I know you're itching to do it, is for a show by raising
your hand all of those who favor the petition that's being considered in front of us raise
your hand. It means you agree with Larry. Okay.
Rountree: A well behaved group.
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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A.Bates: Any questions?
De Weerd: We have no questions. Thank you, Allen.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Could Ihave a -- Caleb or Diane, which ever one of you guys want to -- I'm trying
to think -- maybe you can help me -- but Franklin Road from Orchard west to Ten Mile
has been completed now and I'm trying to figure out where there is any medians in that
road and I --Ihave traveled that road a lot and I can't figure a single median -- and I
can't figure out why all of a sudden for one mile we want to put medians in.
De Weerd: Well, there is a median -- okay. So, I will ask that you not clap. We do
appreciate your enthusiasm. Mr. Bird, there is not a median, but there is a barrier in
front of Portico that you cannot get out of that business park to -- you do have to go
down --
Bird: That was one in the approvals, though. Remember? They brought the -- they
brought the nice traffic scenario in and did it and, that's right, it's to allow you right-in
and right-out onto Portico.
De Weerd: Well, you have to go down to the light.
Bird: You have to go down to the light, but there is no barrier. There is no center
barrier in that mile there, other than -- and that isn't even a barrier there.
Rountree: It's a raised curb.
De Weerd: It's a raised curb.
Bird: Yeah. It's a little raised curb, so you can't turn left going out. And Idon't -- I'm
sure there is some, but I can't think of any -- what you would call medians on Franklin
Road from Orchard where the -- where the widening starts and to Ten Mile where it
stops now.
Hood: Madam Mayor, Councilman Bird, just in my head I went through and I could
make it to Maple Grove and I can't think of any, so I'm thinking that there aren't any --
just to confirm what you're saying. Some of the reasons, though, for the median here --
and just to bring you back. Again, the Ten Mile specific area plan was a distinctive plan
for this area that wasn't meant to be like the rest of the valley. And this was one of
those components that set it apart a little bit where the street -- the tree lined streets
with the southern median and I will just -- just show you real quick the concept for street
Section B, which is this section of Franklin and as has been testified tonight, I mean the
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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mile to the east the Council did recommend to ACHD removal of that and that
happened. But the idea -- if you look at Ten Mile south of here there is a median. So,
that's -- that's the idea with this is that it was meant to be a -- some special roadway
sections that we would call the Ten Mile interchange area apart from the rest of -- of the
valley. So, I'm just -- I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but that's what the plan called for.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Follow up. The Ten Mile medians and stuff -- if you remember, there is only one
-- Taylor's house was the only house sitting there and I don't even know if it was
occupied when that was started. So, you had no businesses or anything between the
freeway and Franklin Road on Ten Mile, am I not right? So, by putting the medians and
in and outs there, you set a precedent. Now you have got a lot of homes and
businesses between Ten Mile and Black Caton Franklin Road on the north side.
De Weerd: You know, this is not against the staff, this is a publicly adopted plan that we
had considerable community involvement in developing and including, as Larry pointed
out, the church and City Council did approve that with the medians in there, so -- and I
would call that -- that the medians from Ten Mile to Linder, they are not installed right
now, but they still are contemplated when the traffic counts come to a certain number
and just like Eagle Road -- and I think that our police could speak to this -- is when they
put in the raised medians between Franklin and I-85 on South Eagle Road or north
Eagle Road, it increased the safety of that area exponentially. We went from an area
that had alot -- a large number of accidents, pretty serious accidents, to almost zero
and we were spending a lot of our resources out there. We may not have the traffic
counts today to warrant raised medians, but it is a safety factor and the first lives lost is
what stopped us in our tracks and our responsibility as elected leaders is all about
safety. We take that responsibility very serious. And I think that this Council, including
myself, and although only when they tie do I have a vote, we would feel horrible if we
said do not put those medians in there and we had a fatality, because those center turn
lanes are not safe. Now, what I did here today from Diane is some of that -- that hill will
be reduced, because that hill coming out of your church -- because I do come out of it --
is asight issue, because people do speed on that road and I think that's why -- another
reason why those center medians were contemplated when they were put in. So,
Council, this discussion is -- I will turn it over to you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Question for Diane. And I think you answered this, but I didn't write it down.
But would ACHD's specifications from distance from the intersection allow the main
entrance to be right-in and right-out only or would it allow for a full turning movement?
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November 19, 2013
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Bevins: Mayor, Councilman Rountree, our policy is right-in, right-out on arterials, so
that driveway per our policy would be right-in, right-out. But this -- like I said, this matter
will go before our Commission and they can approve variations to our policy.
Rountree: So, that would be -- without a median it would, at a minimum, have a raised
curb restricting that movement.
Bevins: No, sir. The vote that the Commission will take is to remove the medians there.
Rountree: So, at some point -- I guess what I'm getting at is we don't control what
ACHD puts in the road. We help and hinder at times. Your job is public safety, as is
ours, and you have rules and requirements with respect to how traffic moves. No
matter what deals were made at some point in time in the past, as the problem
becomes a problem you anticipate that and change access.
Bevins: Yes.
Rountree: That is allowed by state statute. That's allowed by your provisions. So, my
question is is the question going to be before the Ada County Highway District board to
allow for full running movements at that point or maintain a median or some kind of a
restriction.
Bevins: Yes, sir, that will be in front of the commission. Alternatives for them are to
remove -- to leave it as designed with the two openings in this mile section, to remove
the median just in front of the church, or to remove the median on the entire mile, which
we feel that as soon as we remove it for one specific property owner we will be
removing it for the entire mile is generally how we think it will go. So, most likely we will
keep it or to remove it for the entire mile.
Rountree: And where is the other median opening? I just see one in the graphic that I
have.
Bevins: It's further to the west.
Bird: Go to the west.
Bevins: About a quarter east of --
Rountree: Oh, it's at the quarter mile. Okay.
Bevins: -- east of Black Cat. Yes.
Rountree: Okay. Thank you.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
Page 19 of 92
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Just a comment. And you're right about the safety aspects. I mean that is --
that's what we do and -- and just so the folks at Ten Mile Christian don't realize -- realize
that they are not being picked on. We have this at almost every major intersection in
Meridian right now. When development comes this -- this is an issue of turn lanes,
right-ins, right-outs, medians, the whole bit. How far back from the intersection can they
safely have entrance and egress and whatnot. To me it's a matter of when the medians
come in. In four years we really don't know what's going to be happening on the south
side or when that's going to happen. Yes, it's a safety issue, but I hate just picking an
arbitrary date saying, well, in four years when we do this project they are going to go in
and that's that and there might not be the traffic volumes that warrant safety
consideration. But there will be a time -- and, who knows, maybe it's when Nick has
kids -- and he's going to instruct his kids that you do not turn left when you come out of
the main entrance to the church, because that traffic volume is too heavy. And, then,
we know, okay, it's -- it's time to have medians there and move them back to the light.
But I -- that's -- that's the difficulty in these things. Sometimes we set these things and
say, okay, we have to do it right now, because this is the project and maybe like we did
on the other side of Franklin -- of Ten Mile on Franklin Road -- to say let's hold off on
that and take a look at it when it's really warranted. And part of that was the fact why
we didn't do it -- you can't, as a practical matter, bus -- buses and garbage trucks
couldn't make that U-turn at Linder. So, it's just a matter of not if, it's just a matter of
when and it might not be in four years that this median goes in. It might not be
warranted and you can allow full access until that time comes -- and I think people are
smart enough to know, you know what, now is the time, you know. And that's -- but
when is that? That's working with the traffic engineers, it's working with the folks who
are going in and out and saying it's -- it really isn't safe, we do need to do something to
help keep our kids safe, our young drivers and whatnot, so -- but I just don't know when
that is and -- and that totally is out of our hands in terms of ACHD making the final
decision. But we are -- we are concerned about the safety, so I just -- I'm not real
certain about setting a date four years from now.
De Weerd: Council, any further questions for the church members or staff or ACHD?
Rountree: I have another question for Diane.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Rountree: As you develop the intersection west of their main entrance will there be
provision in additional lane width in there to accommodate a U-turn?
Bevins: Mayor and Councilman Rountree, yes, there will be.
Rountree: Okay. Because it doesn't appear on this graphic, so -- okay. Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
Page 20 of 92
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Caleb or Diane, which one -- tell me what's safer about a U-turn that gets going
out into a median and waiting to flow into the traffic?
Hood: Madam Mayor, Councilman Bird, Ican -- I can start that answer. So, I -- there is
less conflict points is basically what it comes down to. You're having to cross more
lanes and there is more potential points at which two cars or pedestrians could intersect
than doing a U-turn you really only have two lanes of traffic you're turning around. So,
that's -- that's the quick answer, there is less conflict points, basically, with doing a
U-turn. I think for this application in particular I don't think anyone needs to make a U-
turn. You have got a full access point on the west boundary and will be signalized.
Bird: Yes. I understand that.
Hood: So, that's -- you could do a U-turn still and as Diane just pointed out from
Councilman Rountree's question, you could do a U-turn, but you wouldn't have to.
Bevins: Mayor, Council Member Bird, that's the point I was going to make. With their
connection to the full access point at Umbria Hills, that would prevent them from having
to do U-turns. If you're turning left out of the church you would go to Umbria Hills, make
that left turn movement. There would be no reason to make a left turn or a right and,
then, a U-turn again when they have access to the full -- full access point at Umbria
Hills.
Bird: Not knowing anything about traffic, Ijust -- I just don't see how -- I have watched
out on Eagle Road a couple of the U-turns that have come so close to having collisions
it's not funny, because people hurry and swing out in a U-turn in front of flowing traffic
coming. So, I don't know which is the safest, to blend in from the median into the traffic
or to swing out and go around. I realize that this is going to have -- on the west end, but
that don't mean everybody is going to go out the west end. So, I don't know. I just want
to know what the logic was behind a U-turn over letting them in out of a median. Thank
you.
De Weerd: Before Diane goes and sits down again, any further questions from Council
o r --
Rountree: She needs the exercise.
De Weerd: You might be safe this time, Diane. Yes. If you will, please, state your
name and address for the record.
Nichols: Yes, ma'am. My name is Mark Nichols. I live at 5200 Valley Grande,
Meridian, Idaho.
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De Weerd: And, Mark, it's only because you took a picture that I let you do this. Just in
case anyone else wanted to raise their hand. So, thank you.
Nichols: Okay. In listening to all of the comments tonight, there is one thought that
hasn't been brought up to control traffic and the impact of a full access to that road into
our church and that's the speed limit. Right now I believe it's 45. And that does make it
an issue. But if the speed limit is reduced to say 35 due to the potential congestion, that
could make it more feasible for a full access at our access to our church, our main
access. Just nobody's mentioned speed limit. If you slow traffic down before -- either
westbound or eastbound in that section -- I mean it's done other places on -- on other
roads when the congestion is potentially hazardous. Potentially. And you slow them
down. Slow them down before they come over the canal. Slow them down as they
come across the intersection at Ten Mile.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mark. That was a good point. Thank you. Caleb, did that come
up during the transportation commission meeting, the speed limits in that area?
Hood: Madam Mayor, I do not recall that being a topic that they -- they discussed at
any length anyways.
De Weerd: Did they discuss the leveling of that -- that hill that has caused concern,
because it is a site obstacle with that leveling out, that that makes that area safer?
Hood: Madam Mayor, that was discussed just with the -- the topography there and
getting into a little bit of the profile grade and how much of that can be accommodated
with this project, how much can ACHD dig that down a little bit and -- or build up the
other side a little bit. I think there is still going to be somewhat of a site distance issue,
just a little bit on the -- coupling that with the speed limit issue, I'm not an engineer, as
you know, I'm a planner, but I do hang out with traffic engineers quite often and so I pick
up some of these things and I think, you know, police could even tell you you don't want
to just arbitrarily change speed limits. People will still drive whatever they are
comfortable driving. You could, you know, put 35 out there, but people may still drive,
because there is really not a lot going on out here. So, they do speed studies and come
up with the 85th percentile and you set the speed limit basically what with -- with what a
motorist is comfortable driving. So, again, that didn't come up too terrible much in the
transportation commission meeting as I recall it, but it is something that over time -- and
Diane maybe can address the design speed for this roadway. I don't remember what
the design speed is. I'm sorry, she could have just yelled it to me. She didn't have to --
but that's okay.
De Weerd: No. You're fine coming up here, Diane.
Hood: But I think there is -- Madam Mayor, there is some acknowledgement that, you
know, as the city becomes -- goes from rural in these types of fringe areas to more
urban and there is more development, the speed limits do get changed and they do go
less and less. But as this aerial shows fairly well, this is pretty undeveloped right now or
Meridian City Council
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at least underdeveloped and as we -- it annexes and grows out there the speed studies
will be done and speed limits may get reduced. One of the bonuses to having -- one of
the pros to having a median is you generally can keep the speed limit a little bit higher,
because you don't have those conflicts of access points. So, it does help with capacity
over time as well, because people feel comfortable driving closer, because you're not as
worried about getting side swiped, because no one can come out and cut you off that
way, so -- but design speed, I guess that was -- I don't know what the current design
speed is for this project, so that may help a little bit with speed limits.
De Weerd: And we will just say first, Diane, that it wasn't any of the Council Members, it
was Mark, so --
Bevins: Mayor, the design speed for this is 45. I -- I believe that if you go all the way on
Franklin Road to the east it's -- it's either 40 or 45 all the way into Boise --
De Weerd: The whole way.
Bevins: -- on this roadway. It is a principal arterial. It is an emergency detour route for
-84 as well, so -- but as Caleb said, as just adeveloped -- as things change, you know,
speed limits are looked at and they can be lowered, but he is correct in saying you can't
just arbitrarily sign it at 35 and except everyone to go 35 on a five lane road that is
mostly undeveloped right now. So, that would be a concern. And I was asked to point
out with our redesign to five lanes it will probably help the site distance, but we cannot
completely take out that high point in the road, so --
De Weerd: But it will improve the site distance
Bevins: It will. I can't tell you to what extent.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you again.
Bevins: May I make one more point while I'm here?
De Weerd: Please.
Bevins: Thank you, Mayor. Putting the medians in with the project -- I know we design
for 20 years out and we design aseven-by-seven intersection, which is what the
Franklin-Black Cat intersection is going to be and as anyone can tell you we don't need
that today, but we are designing for 20 years. This is federal aid, we are paying for the
medians, the landscaping, everything on seven cents on the dollar. That's just a bonus.
De Weerd: Did you say landscaping? Did I just hear that?
Bevins: That's --
De Weerd: It is on the public record.
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Bevins: Yes. And to go back and add them in later we know that's not easy. It's not
going to be easy on the mile to the east. It's not going to be easy on Fairview. It hasn't
been easy on Eagle Road. So, if we don't do it now it most likely will not get done.
That's -- I can't say that for certain, but that has been the case. As we know when we
try to go back and put them in later we still have the same arguments from even more
developers that are to the south. I know we do have one development application in on
the south side, so --
De Weerd: Thank you. Good points. Council, any other questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Yes, Larry. Because I do have a question for you. I saw you wiggling in
your chair over there, so I knew you had something to say. Go ahead. If you would,
again, state our name for the record.
Woodard: My name is Larry Woodard. I just draw your attention to the aerial
photography and you can see that at Umbria the amount of the median that has been
taken out for left turn lanes in and out. If that were projected down also in front of our
entrance you would still have space for a median between our entrance and Umbria and
between our entrance and the intersection. So, we are not opposed to medians per se,
it's where they are at is the problem. And -- and, again, we would hope that they would
not be installed directly in front of our entrance.
De Weerd: So, Larry, I guess my question to you -- I know your elders have probably
talked about safety in that area. Some of the challenges that -- that the current
configuration has, but now envision this built out, what -- what is the safety plan for the
church? At some point that is -- that would have to be a concern putting the amount of
traffic in an area that -- that does not have some of the safety features. When is that
acceptable?
Woodard: The access across from Umbria will be used to develop the first area to the
south is my understanding. There is going to be no other access points on the south
side between the intersection and Umbria. We have talked about it and, you know, if
worse comes to worse, then, we would have to have police directing traffic on Sunday
morning. That is an option. We would rather not go that direction, but when you talk
about U-turns, I can see a car load of kids and -- that have been jacked up from Sunday
school trying to make a U-turn and, you know, I think U-turns to me are the worst, but I
will accede to the traffic engineers. So, that's what we have talked about. But, again,
you know, at what point does our prior agreement not hold water anymore?
De Weerd: Well, you could ask all of the businesses on Eagle Road that very same
thing. It's a safety aspect and safety does trump those -- those access points. You will
continue to have them, but there is never a guarantee for full right-in, right-out, left-in,
left-out, whatever, when it is trumped by safety.
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Woodard: We are 840 feet in, so we are not right on top of the intersection, so --
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none for Larry.
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Anything further, Larry?
Woodard: No. Thank you very much.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. And I guess, Larry, I would also comment on a couple of
your remarks. You guys were awesome for the Ten Mile interchange. The Ten Mile
interchange has improved the quality of life for our entire community, an addition to that
area, it's really opened it up. So, I know you filled another room down at ITD when --
when we went and advocated for the Ten Mile interchange and there is no doubt that
Ten Mile Christian Church -- and I'm sorry I almost called you Cherry Lane Christian,
because that was my church and it -- it is an amazing community partner. Again, this is
a question about safety, folks. It's not about if you're not an extremely important partner
in our community, because you are.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, we have a very long agenda ahead of us yet. We have just
started the night, so --
De Weerd: We do. But when we have quiet time it makes people want to ask
questions, so what -- what direction are we wanting to go here?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, can I ask Caleb -- what are you looking from us for tonight?
Hood: Madam Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, nothing is required of you this evening. I
think any direction, any comments you would like to forward on to Diane -- if you want to
have a vote that you support the medians or that the options that Diane, you know, laid
out, no medians, an opening in front of Ten Mile, or as designed. If you want to take a
vote I'm sure ACRD commission will consider that in their -- their deliberations when
they ultimately decide. If there is just general comments -- I mean Diane and I can carry
that message forward to the commissioners, too. So, this isn't an action item
necessarily. I'm sure there is some in the audience that would like to hear Meridian City
Council X, Y, Z, but that's not a must do. If you don't have enough information or aren't
comfortable or whatever, you can just make comments and forward them on to ACRD
as individuals.
De Weerd: I think I could probably speak for Larry is if your motion is to support the
removal they want a motion. If it's not they just want you to make comment. Is that
correct, Larry? I thought we had that thing going.
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Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I might throw a question at our Police Department for a moment, if I may.
We have other places -- well, let me back up before I ask the question. I do
transportation systems all over the country and, of course, I have dealt with one way
roads and medians and where I have seen them put in for safety reasons, the
businesses that complained that they will go out of business, that turns out not to be
true. Other activities -- people get there and there are accesses here. But we have
introduced a concept around Meridian that I have not seen other places and that is a
three-way access, as opposed to a full four way access, and we have a couple of
places where right-in, right-out and left-in, but not left-out is allowed. One of them I
think has been mentioned, Portico, and I think we now have a couple of them on Eagle
Road and I guess my question for Scott is how is that working and might that work
here? My biggest concern about this -- I travel up and down Franklin myself in this
section of road and -- and that hill is a definite safety issue. Even if it gets slightly
flattened out and it can't go much flatter than it is, this is still a safety concern in this
spot. But my question -- my long-winded question to get to is would athree-way access
work here and is that an improvement in the other places we have it?
Colaianni: Madam Mayor, Mr. Zaremba, I was hoping I wouldn't get called into this
conversation.
Zaremba: Sorry for that.
Colaianni: Thank you for that. The short answer is I don't know. I would have to look at
the statistical analysis and compare the accident rate and such with that. I just don't
know. There is probably something our analysts can do to look at that. I will tell you off
the top of my head that in the 17 years I have been at the Meridian Police Department
some of the worst accidents I have seen were because of left-hand turns. They are
broadside accidents, they are always very serious. The only other accident that's worse
is a head on. And since we have put the medians in on Eagle Road we have reduced
that to almost none. Unless somebody is doing something really hair brained, but -- and
the U-turn accidents we haven't seen -- still the rear enders, the people that aren't
paying attention and traffic that slows down and so those medians have helped us
enormously with reducing those serious accidents and I have seen people die on Eagle
Road many times in my career because of left-hand turns. I don't have an answer for
you on those. We don't have many of them in the city. I don't -- I don't recall any
serious accidents in those, but I just don't have the statistics to tell you what the
difference is between the two.
Zaremba: Thank you.
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: Sometimes these raised medians elicit different comments from the police
and fire, so since I guess Councilman Zaremba put Lieutenant Colaianni on the spot,
Chief Amenn from the fire service perspective, raised medians have always been a
concern. Are there concerns in this area if raised medians were put in?
Amenn: The concern for us is usually where it hinders our access with our vehicles.
We have found in areas where they have put in raised medians by planning ahead we
have been able to find alternate routes. I have to concur with the lieutenant that some
of the worst accidents again that we have had are because of the left turn lanes. And,
again, I could check our statics as well to give you that information.
De Weerd: But the crews, have they been hindered on Eagle Road?
Amenn: Madam Mayor, no, we have not. We have actually taken into account those
left turn lanes and have entered that into our dispatch system, so we can pick and
choose by which side of the road comes in as to which apparatus may be responding.
De Weerd Thank you.
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor, just to kind of kick off comments -- I don't know if we
need a vote on this or not, but I will comment we will just go from there. One of the
things that Councilman Rountree kind of focused on was the intersection along Ten Mile
and that's 330 feet. I think that's going to come sooner for problems making a left turn
heading north on Ten Mile than the other intersections, because when I go to church
and go past there and that's -- that's one of those turns with the turn lanes, it's just
before that they are having to cross and to get to a center lane, that one is going to be --
be aproblem and, then, that creates a problem if people don't turn left there and you
can't turn left out of the main entrance, how are you going to head north on Ten Mile
Road, except for going back -- back to the quarter mile mark. When we approved the
Ten Mile planning for that south side, that was a blank slate and it's one of those few
times that we get to do something with a blank slate and say, okay, here is how it's
going to go and you can plan for that and everyone knows the rules going in. It's always
hardest with people who are already there and, then, you try to change things, because
it does have an impact and that's -- that's why we get people here all the time saying,
well, yes, I know you're doing this, but -- so, this argument we hear time and time again
and so it's not new -- it's never easy, but it's not new and I understand Diane's comment
that we get the federal dollars and we need to use them and it's planned for that and if
we don't do it it's going to be harder later on and more expensive, yes, that's true with
Eagle Road, but look how far Eagle Road went before we really determined, yes, we
need -- now we need the medians and they are generally accepted, because people
realized without them there is a bigger problem. So, I go back again to that timing
issue. I would like to see ACHD plan for the medians four years from now, whenever
that is built, but it's one of those options that only if needed. If the traffic counts warrant
those medians would they go in and you still have the discussions with the folks in that
area, because they are the folks who use that all the time and they will know if it's time
or not. I mean that's -- I still trust people and their common sense. I think they realize
Meridian City Council
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when there is -- when there is safety issues and they don't want their kids or grandkids
or somebody else -- or in my case my parents at risk when their skills aren't quite what
they used to be and -- oh, Councilman Bird. Yes. But that would be my comment is
have that in there as an option, but not -- in my opinion they are not going to be going
in, but they are there and as you get closer you take another look at it to determine are
they needed from that safety standpoint. If they are not they don't go in. And it might
be truly when Nick is a parent and his kids will need those, because of the traffic counts
and we don't know when that is. So, it is a safety issue, but I hate to take an arbitrary
number and just say, well, four years from now it's going to be a safety issue when it
really may not be and development may be such that they still can do that safely, so
that's my comment.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I realize with all things that it ends up costing more to put it off, but I could
support the idea of asking ACRD to design this for future medians, but not put it in until
it appears to be needed.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: My recollection is is that was exactly where we ended up east of here on
Franklin Road. My comments are that this whole area went through a fairly extensive
and very expensive and long process to come with the Ten Mile area plan to create
something different, as opposed to what we have all grown up with. To plan for the
future, not to patchwork to the future. To grow into and get used to. Maybe a bit
visionary, but at some point in time we have to stop doing things and redoing things
and, then, doing it again, because we knew that we were going to have to do something
in the future. I supported the Ten Mile specific plan, I supported the medians, Ican -- I
can see deferring the medians, but I'm not sure that takes care of the issue we have
before us tonight, because I don't believe anybody here tonight is at all concerned about
medians west of their full intersection into and out of the church property. The question
is at the entrance and I do not believe that ACHD, given the safety issues that they have
experienced on multi-lane facilities will want to allow full access at that point. I'm willing
to suggest to them that we support medians. At that location we would support
deferring it if their safety analysis indicated as such, at least in and about that
intersection, but that we don't lose sight of the medians for the rest of the facility and we
don't lose site of providing as much medians in that area as possible and providing full
movement. If that's not engineeringly feasible and/or safe, then, I would support putting
in the median at this point in time. We had before us in our information package a
number of studies, a number of responses from communities across the country -- Utah,
Minnesota, on and on of these kinds of issues that communities face, the concern
people have about controlled access and the facts that come out after this happens
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and, essentially, what happens is people get accustomed on how to get around,
business does not go away, business doesn't change -- in some cases it's enhanced
and you might actually find that instance on Eagle Road now. People might be more
inclined use it, because it is a bit more safe. Not that that's -- this is an example of that.
But I think this is just the start of an issue that you have with the location you selected
for your establishment. I see Ten Mile becoming a real problem for you in the future --
and in the near future. When Highway 16 comes across the river probably next spring
or fall, the traffic volumes on Ten Mile are going to be even greater than they are now
and right now it's bumper to bumper during the rush hours and the cues are a quarter of
a mile to a half a mile long and for whatever reason -- and I haven't figured this out yet --
it's both north and south traffic morning and night. So, that intersection is going to be
tough. Now, I understand that you're off peak, I understand that you're weekends, and
that is an advantage for you and for that reason I'm not uncomfortable about providing
access at your main entrance for a period of time until it's just not even feasible. But I
think you probably ought to start looking at an access plan for your facility, because I
think in the not too distant future it's going to be difficult getting out going left. So, that's
what I have to say. I would concur with Councilmen Zaremba and Hoaglun that we at
least look at deferring the median at that location, but not for the rest of -- of Franklin in
this project and if it's not engineeringly feasible and if it's determined not safe by ACHD,
then, move forward with the median.
De Weerd: So, I think that was pretty clear, Diane? Okay. Council, any further
discussion for action necessary on this?
Bird: I don't think I need to speak to --
De Weerd: So, just to repeat in case you didn't understand what we just said is the
recommendation from what I heard is to keep the medians in -- in the section between
Ten Mile and Black Cat and delay any installation in front of your main entrance until
traffic counts warrant it. Is that correct, Council?
Rountree: Good summation of my long windedness.
Zaremba: Close enough.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. We will take a three minute break, because I
don't imagine the rest of you want to sit through the rest of our meeting.
Recess: (7:32 p.m. to 7:39 p.m.)
B. Transit Planning: Review Draft Charter and Public Outreach
Plan for the Meridian Transit Planning Team
De Weerd: Okay. We will now consider Item No. 7-B and invite Kelli forward. Thanks
for joining us, Kelli, and thank you for lasting through the first item.
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November 19, 2013
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Fairless: Thanks, Madam Mayor. No problem. I'm Kelli Fairless with Valley Regional
Transit. We are here today to -- I guess present to you a charter for a planning project
that we'd like to do with the City of Meridian, as well as for the City of Meridian. We
have been working with a project team and I believe this charter was in your packet, so
I'm not going to go into lot of detail, other than to -- as an overview say that we are
interested in doing these kinds of projects for the -- all of the jurisdictions within our
service boundary and this is the first one we are doing -- or I guess we did a similar
process with the city of Boise for the last couple of years as we have been preparing for
their budget discussions. What we are thinking about here is to have a -- we are calling
it a mid term service plan, knowing that we don't know when the system would be fully
funded, but we appreciate that the Council has put some funding into their budget to
develop a new route in Meridian and what we want to do is make sure it's the right
route, that the routes that we select to do in the short-term with the funding available is
the right route and not -- it's something that can be successful and we think in order to
assure that we want to look at it in the context of serving the entire City of Meridian with
-- with transit service. So, we have a conceptual guide in our plan called Valley
Connect and this will give us a chance to look at the assumptions that were made in
that, the areas that you would all like to serve and get stakeholder input, citizen input on
that as well. So, I'm not going to go into all the detail of the charter. The one thing that I
will point out -- we are going to do public involvement and our goal is to try to use the
public involvement tools that you all already use to try to reach out to many citizens and
get them to participate in the process and, then, just an overview of the decision making
process that this project that's listed in the charter will bring a recommendation to the
City of Meridian Transportation Commission and, then, that group would bring a
recommendation to you and once you make your recommendation on the plan, then, we
would carry it through the Valley Regional Transit board process. So, with that, Madam
Mayor, I'd stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: No questions?
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Kelli, did I understand you to say you're looking at developing a plan for the
entire city or just for this fixed route?
Fairless: It would be a plan that would -- it would be the transit system that we think a
city of Meridian's size would have or should have and then -- then we would pick a
route, prioritize the different routes that would be envisioned and, then, pick a route that
we think could be successful as a stand alone route. My concern if we don't do it that
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
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way is we may pick a service that might serve an area, but not -- but need to be
connected to other things, so --
Rountree: I guess my only caution in doing that is to not build an expectation that the
City of Meridian will have a complete transit system. It's too identify an additional fixed
route for Meridian within the budget that we have established for doing that. Okay.
Fairless: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Council Member Rountree, that is the stated goal.
Consider a medium term service plan with ashort-term emphasis on developing a
commuter base fixed route.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
Rountree: At sometime that gets --
Fairless: Yeah.
Rountree: -- goes way beyond any expectation.
De Weerd: Well -- and the expectation is kind of already out there anyway. This item
that was put funding towards was to be a Ustick route that would connect Boise and
Meridian in a loop area, so I think the expectation is kind of already out there. Mr.
Zaremba.
Zaremba: Well, Madam Mayor -- and that is the point. This may be refocusing that
expectation shall we say. I know I'm the one that promoted joining this with a
suggestion that I thought came from the city of Boise to extend their Ustick route and I
described the loop that you're talking about. As the committee that Kelli was talking
about is moving forward, what she's explaining is that what I described may not be the
best use for the money that we set aside and what I agree with the point that Kelli is
making is that in order to have an idea of what is the best use for that 60,000 dollars we
first need to have an idea of what a full system for Meridian would be and, yes, we are
not saying we are going to try and do that with 60,000 dollars or anything, but if we have
an idea of -- of what the overall service Meridian needs are, then, as Kelli has said, out
of that we can pick a route that we can probably test for 60,000 dollars, as opposed to
inventing with no context -- which apparently I was doing, inventing with no context the
route that I suggested, but this makes it much more focused and Meridian as a whole
would get a better bang for its 60,000 dollars if this is a route that may eventually be
part of a whole plan. So, yes, we are refocusing the expectations from what I originally
suggested, but we are not going beyond the 60,000 at this point.
De Weerd: And so what is the funding for the study?
Fairless: Madam Mayor, the -- we are using internal resources for Valley Regional
Transit. So, we have planning dollars that we get every year and so it's our internal staff
time.
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: Thank you. That's refreshing. Just wanted to point that out
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Yeah. I'd point out she's reading from the project objectives and outcomes. It
does say completed mid term and short term service development plan with budgets to
include the following and it includes an outline of service to meet the needs of Meridian
in mid term, routes, detailed operations -- so, there will be that and Councilman
Rountree talked about expectations, but of course from a planning perspective at least
we know what that would cost and we are going to do this, but that's up here. So, it's
hard not to create expectations. When you talk about numbers -- oh, it costs this or it
costs that and people jump to conclusions, but you have to have that if you're going to
plan, so --
Fairless: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, that's really the point is so that
there is a -- a clear understanding of what those costs are and, you know, we certainly
will -- would be happy if the city were to entertain the idea of expanding transit, but I
think it's always for your citizens to know when they are thinking about ways that we can
fund this to know exactly what we would be funding and how much it would cost.
Rountree: That's good.
De Weerd: I think you have a good team to vet the information and --
Fairless: Yes. They have been very engaged and it's been so far a really good
process. I have been really happy with how it's going.
De Weerd: Very good. Anything further from Council?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: No.
De Weerd: Thank you, Kelli.
Fairless: Thank you.
C. State Highway 16 River Crossing Impacts on Local Roadway
Network
De Weerd: Item 7-C is regarding State Highway 16 and I think Caleb or Ryan
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Hood: Just a quick intro, Madam Mayor, and, then, Ryan Head is here. So, as we
discussed ACHD's draft 2014 to 2018 integrated five year work plan here about six
weeks ago, a comment came up -- I believe it was Councilman Rountree asked ACHD
to look into the impacts that are forthcoming with State Highway 16 being constructed
across the Boise River and Ting into U.S. 20-26, Chinden Boulevard. So, ACHD --
Madam Mayor did send a letter to ACHD. The commission directed their staff to look at
it and staff recently provided feedback on their initial analysis and steps forward and
Ryan is here to report to -- to some of their analysis findings and next steps.
De Weerd: Thanks, Caleb. And I -- I think I called it dump. You know, you have a
Highway 16 that's going to dump their state highway traffic onto local roads, so how are
we accommodating those trips.
Head: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council. Ryan Head, Ada County Highway District.
Planning and programming supervisor. You know, it's always nice to -- you know, when
you work for ACHD you expect not being very popular, but it's nice to not be the one
who is completely the least unpopular for the night, so --
De Weerd: So, what are you inferring?
Head: That Diane was less popular than I was tonight, so
De Weerd: Oh, point it to Diane.
Head: She left, so I can say that.
Zaremba: But you're appreciated, nonetheless. And so is she.
Head: Well, thank you. It's always a pleasure to come and visit with you all. So,
tonight as Caleb mentioned, we just wanted to respond to the questions that were out
there and -- and give you our path forward and how we hope to address the impacts
that we see that -- that are coming. I -- there we go. Okay. So, as you already know,
the alignment will be extending State Highway 16, it will come out in the area of
McDermott Road where that road currently sits now. The traffic coming to the south will
have the option to go either east or west. Access directly onto McDermott Road will be
limited and they will not be allowed to proceed directly onto McDermott Road. Traffic
that wishes to access State Highway 16 will have to access it either from the east or
from the west. There will not be direct access to State Highway 16 and the river
crossing from McDermott. Our understanding of the thinking there is that the future
alignment for the roadway would -- would not actually be McDermott for any future
extension, it would be parallel and McDermott would serve as an access road and so as
to not create those expectations now this is the traffic pattern that's being set up. So, if
you're on McDermott, McDermott would actually act a lot like aright-in, right-out
roadway or a development as it accesses Chinden at that point. The result of that is
where we are seeing the majority of impacts coming from State Highway 16 is on Black
Cat Road and Ten Mile Road, as you can imagine. The primary reason for that would
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be the interchange at Ten Mile. So, existing conditions. All intersections and roadways
-- and we look at them separately. Typically you would expect that the intersections
would need to be -- would fail prior -- or would not meet the level of service threshold
before the roadways would and when you expand an intersection it allows it to go longer
before the roadway would fail. Currently existing conditions has been all intersections
on the roadway are meeting our level of service standard, which level of service
standards are based on a level of congestion and the perception of service on the
roadway. It has a ranking A through F. F being failing. Our standards are D, which it --
so that when a facility reaches that threshold it gives us time to make improvements to
the -- to the facility before it completely fails. So, if we were to take State Highway 16
and have it added to the system right now with what's out there on the road without the
improvements that are programmed into the five year work plans, what we do see is
that the intersection of Franklin and Black Cat would cross those thresholds. What we
do know, though, is that that intersection is programmed, as was just discussed
previously tonight, that intersection is programmed for improvement in 2016.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Okay. I see. You're going farther with future conditions, but I was just
questioning the Ten Mile -Chinden intersection, which is -- appears to be close to failing
now, so I was surprised it didn't come up with --
Head: We will get there.
Zaremba: Okay. Thank you.
Head: So, now if we were to take that five years out, the -- in 2018 if the State Highway
16 bridge wasn't completed, which we know it will, just to give you an idea of what we
expect -- is that the three intersections in red are expected to cross that threshold just
with the development that's projected over the next five years and the growth that's
projected there. With -- if you add in the State Highway 16 bridge it makes those ones a
little bit worse, but it adds to the list of those that are not meeting the standards, the two
intersections on Chinden. Now, how these were expected to be addressed -- there is a
-- a development cooperative agreement that we have for improving the intersection at
Ten Mile and Chinden with the Walmart that's coming in in that location, that they would
make that improvement to that intersection. The intersection of Ten Mile and Franklin --
afamous place tonight. When that intersection was built out recently they built it out for
a seven by seven. Currently they are not utilizing all lanes. They are striped out. Part
of that it so to wait for the improvements to the west to occur, so that when those
additional lanes are needed they will able to be received by the roadway. So, for the
time being there is existing infrastructure that would make that meet standards once
that -- once those were opened up and the improvements to the west are made. So,
that leaves us, really, with three intersections. And I apologize. It should be -- it should
be a Ten -- we should have a red dot at Black Cat and Chinden and not at Franklin. I
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apologize. It didn't get updated there. So, the intersections of -- of Chinden and Black
Cat, Cherry and Ten Mile and Ustick and Black Cat are all in our CIP for improvement.
Ustick and Black Cat was included in our prioritization this year, it just fell lower in the
process. We do -- have had some preliminary discussions for potential development in
the area of Ustick and McMillan, which would have some mitigation factors, mitigation
requirements to those -- the two Black Cat intersections. However, they are not far
enough in the process to get any of those details. However, we do identify that those
three intersections really are the -- are the three that kind of don't have improvements
planned at this point in time. Our proposal that we took to our commission and that they
approved was that we -- with our scoping trip that we scope these projects, we explore
interim improvements where they would be needed and, then, we add them into our
prioritization process, just similar to what was mentioned regarding the budgeting and
making decisions on where you put those funds with ACRD. We have many
intersections that aren't meeting our threshold that fall into our prioritization process.
Really, the situation is when they rise to the level of needing improvements that's when
we -- when an actual improvement would be made. However, the interim treatments
would be helpful, especially in areas where you have stop -- four way stops or two way
stop conditions. So, with that I will stand for any comments or questions you might
have.
De Weerd: Thank you, Ryan. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Rountree: Would you go back one slide?
Head: Sure.
Rountree: So, you have got Ten Mile and Cherry listed there, yet we have Ten Mile
from Cherry to Ustick project in the program for next fiscal year?
Head: Uh-huh.
Rountree: Does that not -- if we are going to do a project out there are we not going to
improve the intersection to accommodate future traffic volumes?
Head: That is a great question and, I apologize, I can't speak to -- to what the full plan
is with that improvement, whether that -- and maybe Caleb knows that project a little bit
better than I do, but -- Caleb, do you know if that does include the intersection or not?
De Weerd: Well, I know Diane said you plan for 20 years, so it must.
Head: Yeah. Let me see if I can get an answer for you and I will try and answer that
before -- by the end of the meeting.
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Hood: Sorry, Ryan. Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, I know it does not include
that intersection. It is just road widening -- roadway widening basically north of
Walgreens up to the recently improved Ustick-Ten Mile intersection that was just done
last year. So, that intersection in the plans -- in the five year planning anyways for a
rebuild and particularly not with that project, but the 16 project for the roadway widening.
Rountree: You say it will stay as a five by five?
Hood: There is no other plan to change it now, yeah.
Head: Right. And as I -- as I try and think back on where we were, the -- the
intersection as it -- as it sits now and when we do our -- our five year work plan and we
do our prioritization of that, we use the existing system and apply the projects as -- on
top of that to where -- and that particular intersection currently does serve -- serve the
traffic that's out there. What we did discuss is that we are seeing that it would -- it
wasn't triggered in that system, because of that -- because it's served appropriately now
and it doesn't rise to the prioritization unless it's not meeting our appropriate level of
service standards at this time. So, when we prioritize those that aren't meeting our level
of service or if they are requested by the city. So, that's -- that's one way to get it into
that pipeline. And I can try and get a better answer for you if you would like.
Rountree: Please. And, then, follow up. What needs to be done at Franklin and Ten
Mile? Just opening up those lanes that are stripped, so it's really -- it's not an
acceptable standard, it's just that it hasn't been opened up.
Head: Correct.
Rountree: Okay.
Head As it sits now it wouldn't -- it wouldn't meet standards, but once it's opened up it
will.
Rountree: Okay.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions for Ryan?
Head: Thank you.
Bird: I have none.
Item 8: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
C. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-039 Tradewinds Subdivision
No. 2 by Don Newell, SDN, LLC Located at the Southeast
Corner of S. Victory Road and E. Locust Grove Road Request:
Final Plat Consisting of 22 Single-Family Residential Building
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Lots and 2 Common/Other lots on 10.42 Acres of Land in an R-
8Zoning District.
De Weerd: Thank you, Ryan. Okay. There was one item moved from the Consent
Agenda. Item 8-C, the staff requested that this be continued to November 26th.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move that we move FP 13-039 to the November 26th scheduled meeting.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to continue this item to November 26th. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 9: Action Items
A. Public Hearing: RZ 13-011 Crimson Maple by Crimson Maple
Townhomes, LLC Located on the East Side of NW 4th Street,
North of W. Maple Avenue Request: Rezone 1.59 Acres from
the R-8 (Medium-Density Residential) Zoning District to the R-
15Zoning District (Medium High-Density Residential)
B. Public Hearing: CUP 13-011 Crimson Maple by Crimson Maple
Townhomes, LLC Located on the East Side of NW 4th Street,
North of W. Maple Avenue Request: Conditional Use Permit to
Construct aMulti-Family Development Consisting of 12
Residential Units in a Proposed R-15 Zoning District
De Weerd: Item 9-A is a public hearing on RZ 13-011 and CUP 13-011 and we will
open these two public hearings with staff comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The first land use
application this evening is the Crimson Maple Subdivision -- it's not actually a
subdivision, it's actually amulti-family development. The site consists of 1.59 acres. It's
currently zoned R-8 in the city. Is located on the east side of Northwest 4th Street, just
north of West Maple Avenue. This project was before you in 2007. The previous
application and the application was requesting a preliminary plat and a rezone and with
that rezone application that's how we have R-8 in place today and there was a six lot
residential subdivision and two common lots. That plat has since expired and now the
applicant is here this evening to discuss their proposal for rezoning, conditional use
permit, to construct amulti-family development. As I mentioned to you the site does
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consist of 1.59 acres. The residence to the north is not part of the development. The
applicant is providing one access off of Northwest 4th Street. Access into the site will
be provided through a private drive or basically acommon -- not a common lot, but just
a private driveway. All of these units will be held under one -- under single ownership,
so staff is not requesting or requiring any cross-access with the development. The
applicant is proposing eight structures on the site. Five of them will be duplex -- a mix
of two units attached and, then, there will be two units that are single units and, then,
one property management office located within the northeast corner of the development
here. The applicant has also worked with the adjacent neighbors and has proposed two
story and single story units throughout the development to blend in with the surrounding
residential development as well. Open space for the site does consist of basically a
large 48 -- 4,600 square foot open space there at the entry. There will be guest parking
at the entrance for overflow parking. One unique feature with this site plan is the
applicant is actually proposing two car garages with 20 by 20 parking pads in front of
those. So, it's not a typical multi-family development where you get covered parking
and a parking lot, you're actually -- the applicants designed this to emulate a single
family development, but because there is multiple units on one parcel, it is identified as
a multi-family development in the Unified Development Code. Again, here is the
concept plan or the landscape plan that they are proposing this evening. You can see
here it's -- the two story and single units is delineated on this plan and you can see how
it interfaces -- how it's meant to look like a single family development. The applicant is
proposing a mix of units in there. All of them are to look similar to that of a single family,
as I mentioned, with board and batten, decorative corbels, a mix of materials. Because
the applicant is proposing a rezone this evening, staff is recommending a development
agreement and Commission came forward with that same recommendation. So, the
way we have it set up for you tonight is staff is, basically, requiring that they comply with
their site plan, landscape plan, and elevations that were before you this evening and we
have also restricted the number of units and the maintenance office on building as well.
So, we feel we have it locked in pretty consistent with their concept plan. As I
mentioned to you earlier, Commission did forward recommendation to you with these
modification -- these DA provisions before you this evening. The applicant and the
property owner did sign up in support of the application. There was one gentleman
named Wayne Stevens who provided written testimony in opposition of the project, who
didn't feel it was an appropriate location for multi-family development. No one else
commented on the application and as far as any outstanding issues or any key items of
discussion by the Commission, there aren't -- there weren't any discussed. There are
no changes to the staff report. It was a pretty clean application at the Commission
hearing and to staff's knowledge there aren't any outstanding issues before you this
evening. Be happy to answer any questions Mayor or Council may have.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions? Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor. Bill, can you go back to the landscape plan. I just -- over at
the left end where the private driveway is ending and the guest parking is, I hope that's
a typo. Does -- does that not connect to the street that -- this drawing appears to have
landscaping between the -- the entry road and the -- and the street.
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Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Zaremba, that's an
oversight on the plan. They will actually be doing their street frontage and providing
detached sidewalk along 4th Street, as it is designated a collector street and ACHD has
commented on the application and required that as well, so --
Zaremba: Great. And, actually, they are making 4th Street at that point the full width
that it's supposed to be? I believe it's less than full width now, isn't it?
Parsons: That's correct. They will be doing those --
Zaremba: So, are they correct in that?
Parsons: Yes.
Zaremba: Cool. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions for staff at this time? Is the applicant here? If
you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Leraris: Good evening. Justin Leraris with J.J. Howard Engineers, representing the
applicant. We are at 5983 West State Street, Boise, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Leraris: You know, I will try not to -- I will try to be pretty fast. I know there is still some
people behind me, but there is just a lot of good things to say about this project. I think
from the very beginning the developer has done whatever he can to -- to really exceed
requirements in making sure that the neighbors were all comfortable with the
development. We had a neighborhood meeting with full size color renderings of the --
the elevation plans and the site. You know. And I think the -- something that is
important to point out is with the geometry of this lot and its size, it kind of what dictated
the way that it was developed and that how this really is a smart development. It's only
about 194 feet wide in the thick portion and only has about 80 feet of frontage and so to
do a typical -- a regular subdivision with a public road most of your area gets eaten up
by basically right of way and street and, then, you would have to have a cul-de-sac in
the end, because we have no access out to the east side and so with what our
developer wanted to do, which was provide a nice duplex and single family rental
homes, it wasn't necessary at all to do land splits or a public road and so it all just
worked out really nice that this provides, you know, density close to the center of town,
but yet these -- these are, basically, going to look like 3,000 square foot, nice single
family homes and I just think it's just a really smart way to develop and so I just wanted
to bring that to your attention and that's also why we were seeking the R-15 rezone. We
are not actually increasing the density from R-8, it's still R-8 density. The R-15 was just
necessary to allow for multi-family. Let's see. What else? There is -- and, like I said, in
terms of making the neighbors happy, we also have put our one story townhomes along
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November 19, 2013
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the south side of the project to match -- we have one story single family homes along
Maple Avenue there and, then, over on the east side is where there are some existing
duplexes. So, that's where the two story townhomes will be, as well as on the north
side, which is the church softball field. So, that actually took care of a lot of -- any
issues that people might have had with privacy from the two story duplexes. Six foot
vinyl fencing will be around the perimeter of the site. That's another thing that will help
with screening if anyone has any concerns at the way these are esthetically. And
another positive, which I think if Bill goes back to the picture, is just like he said, 4th
Street is not completely improved right now. It's in actually pretty rough shape. And so
this project will -- will have full improvements there with the bike lane per ACHD staff
report. That will really clean up that section right there and some of the site photos
shows here that this lot has been, you know, undeveloped for a while and there is just,
you know, a lot of weed growth and everything like that and I think just putting in some
nice -- nice homes and getting some people there occupying this space close to
downtown is a big positive and, you know, I just think Planning and Zoning, they
responded really favorably to this project. I think they were really excited about the
amenities with the barbecue area and the community garden and, you know, it's kind of
one of those projects that if I were a neighbor I would be all for it. I think it will do
nothing but raise property values in the area and so I'm here to answer any questions
that you might have.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions?
Rountree: I have none.
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Lararis: Thanks.
De Weerd: This is a public hearing and I did have a couple of people sign up on the
sign-up sheet. If when I call your name if you would like to come forward and provide
testimony we would invite you forward at that time. Delores Borden signed up as
neutral. Thank you for joining us. If you will, please, state your name and address for
the record.
Borden: I'm Delores Borden. I'm at 1612 Northwest 2nd in Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Borden: My only question -- and I'm not sure who to address it to. They said something
about getting 4th Street kind of cleaned up there close to where they are going to put
the apartments and things, but is there any proposal to put 4th Street all the way
through to Cherry Lane or is it still going to be dead ended right there and where the
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November 19, 2013
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church -- where the LDS church is and everybody -- all the traffic that's going to be
routed down West 2nd. Yes.
De Weerd: Well, in the site it doesn't show that street going through, so this
development doesn't go all the way to Cherry Lane.
Borden: Right. It does not. But it's on the corner of West 4th and Maple -- Northwest
4th and Maple close to the corner and so it -- they would be coming down Northwest 4th
to get into the area. So, in order to leave that area they will -- in order get onto Cherry
Lane they will have to come down Maple and, then, turn down West 2nd Street in order
to get to Cherry. So, we are already seeing a huge amount of traffic increase after there
was no longer a way to get onto Northwest 1st from Cherry Lane if you were coming to
the west. You would have to -- so, they come down to 2nd Street, turn down 2nd Street
and go back over to 1st. So, are they going to be looking at the same thing for West
4th? Are they going to be coming down West 2nd to get to 4th all the time and we have
already a huge amount of traffic added down West 2nd and they are just adding a whole
lot more.
De Weerd: Yeah. I can't answer -- usually they do a traffic impact study, but this
probably isn't large enough to -- to ask for that. I do know that 4th street goes clear to
Pine, which when the roads were closed a lot of people used 4th.
Borden: Right. West 2nd to get to 4th Street.
De Weerd: And they also went out that -- whatever. Cresmont. I think this one would
probably go out Cresmont before they go down 2nd, but who knows.
Borden: Who knows. Yeah. We see an awful lot of them that's in Cresmont come
down to West 2nd to get down to Cherry Lane as well. So, especially if they are turning
to the right, so they can get into the traffic pattern going on out to the freeway and so
forth, so I was just wondering if there was any kind of a study to see if -- if we were
going to have another big problem with traffic. If there is, you know, like you say, there
is only going to be eight or twelve units, which is at least eight or 12 cars, usually times
two, because almost everyone has two cars, that's, you know, that much more traffic
coming in. So, we were kind of concerned on West 2nd if we were going to get hit
again.
De Weerd: Yeah. That's ahard -- hard question to answer, but -
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: While I can't actually answer that question at this time, I would point out that
in the future it is still in the plan that 4th be connected all the way through. I forget how
long ago now. It's probably four or five years ago, the church came in asking for permits
to do something around their church. I don't remember what. They were going to build
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November 19, 2013
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another building or something and at that time we required them to complete that part of
the road as a condition and I believe they withdrew their application after that condition
was --
Borden: They did.
Zaremba: -- put on them. But I suspect they won't sit there forever. At some point they
are going to need to do whatever it was they were asking to do some time ago. So,
while this isn't an immediate answer, 4th Street being connected and completed is not a
no, it will happen at some time, we just don't know when.
Borden: We have only waited 32 years. Thank you.
De Weerd: AI Borden signed up as neutral. Thank you for your patience If you will,
please, state your name and address for the record.
A.Borden: Allen Borden and I live at 1612 Northwest 2nd.
De Weerd: Thank you
A.Borden: And as Mr. Zaremba was mentioning, when we -- and I come to that meeting
when the Mormon church wanted to build another building and I remember you people
asking them if they wouldn't share with the cost of putting 4th Street out and since it's
going to increase the traffic on our street, what would be your feelings of asking this
developer to share in putting some money towards making 4th Street go through to
Cherry Lane. It would take a lot of traffic off of our street if they did that.
De Weerd: Well, they will be paying impact fees, but those impact fees do collect into a
pot and so -- and they will be giving right of way as part of this development.
A.Borden: Uh-huh. I realize some people will go out through Cresmont, but a lot of
them will go out through 2nd Street. They will go to Maple and go out through 2nd.
Quite a few of the people in that area on Cresmont do now and I don't know why they
do, but we walk a lot in that area and I have noticed quite a few of the people that are
on Cresmont when they want to access Maple go that way for some reason. I haven't
asked any of them why they do that.
De Weerd: Yeah
A.Borden: But we have noticed it's a little hard sometimes to get out of our driveway
even when we try to back out and there is so much traffic already. I'd hate to see more
of it. And, then, the gentleman just before us said he asked to have a meeting with all
the neighbors, but he didn't ever contact us. We was never invited to a meeting and so
I suspect he only went to three or four of them right close around --
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: There is a requirement that they invite everyone within 300 feet of their
development.
A.Borden: Well, we are 300 if you went across the Mormon's lot. Anyway, we was
never asked to a meeting. Didn't even know they was going to have a development
there, so --
De Weerd: Well, they did post their property and we do show that they did their -- their
public notification.
A.Borden: Yeah. Nobody sees that posting on that dead end street unless they walk
down there.
De Weerd: Right. I was walking in that area a couple weekends ago and I didn't see it
myself. But I didn't go back there. There was no reason to.
A.Borden: Well, we would like to see 4th go through and it was just a thought, maybe
you could require the developer to help pay for it. Since you were going to require the
church to help pay for it.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Because the church is the adjacent property owner, we could make that a
requirement. There is -- there is an issue in Idaho with off-site developments. This
developer is being required to improve the road on the frontage that he has on the road,
but we actually aren't able to force them to contribute to something that's not adjacent to
their property. So, it was voluntary on the church, to do all of it in their portion and we
were hoping they would move something sooner rather than later, but -- but this
developer is doing what he's required to do, which is improve the roadway along his
frontage, but we can't by law ask for more than that.
A.Borden: That's too bad. Thank you.
Zaremba: Thanks.
De Weerd: Thank you. Is there a Leroy here? I assume someone signed up on the
wrong sheet, but -- okay. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone else who would like
to provide testimony on this item? Okay. Council?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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November 19, 2013
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Bird: Hearing nobody wanting to need anymore public, I move we close RZ 13-011 and
CUP 13-011.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on this item. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: I guess before that motion I should have asked staff this question, but there
is an old house -- and I don't think it's occupied -- that's in the -- that's lot -- yes, that lot.
Is -- is that annexed into the city?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, it is.
De Weerd: Okay.
Parsons: R-4 at this time.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. That's all I wanted to know. Okay. Council, what would
you like to do?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve RZ 13-011 and include all staff and applicant and public
testimony in our facts -- conclusion of law and findings of facts.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-A. Any discussion from
Council? Hearing none, Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Item No. 9-B.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
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November 19, 2013
Page 44 of 92
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve CUP 13-011 and to include all staff, applicant, and public
testimony.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-B. 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. Public Hearing: AZ 13-012 Sagewood Subdivision by
Sagewood Overland„ LLC Located on the South Side of W.
Overland Road Approximately 650 Feet West of S. Stoddard
Road. Request: Annexation of Approximately 16.34 Acres from
R1 and RUT in Ada County to the L-O (Limited Office)(5.02
acres) and R-8 (Medium-Density Residential)(11.32 acres)
Zoning Districts
D. Public Hearing: PP 13-026 Sagewood Subdivision by
Sagewood Overland, LLC Located on the South Side of W.
Overland Road Approximately 650 Feet West of S. Stoddard
Road. Request: Preliminary Plat consisting of two(2) office
lots, forty-five (45) residential lots, and Eight (8) Common Lots
on Approximately 15.62 Acres in the Proposed L-O and R-8
Zoning Districts
De Weerd: Item 9-C and D are public hearings on AZ 13-012 and PP 13-026. I will
open these two public hearings with staff comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Next item on the agenda
is the Sagewood Subdivision. It's currently located on the south side of Overland Road
approximately 650 feet west of South Stoddard Road. The land for annexation this
evening consists of three parcels zoned R-1 and RUT in Ada County. Three years ago
the parcel -- the far west parcel here was in for was annexation known as Dexter King
property. He was trying to get the existing home hooked up to city sewer and water --
or city services. At that point he wasn't sure what he was going to do with the property
and later withdrew that application. So, what the applicant has done is come -- he had
two remnant parcels, he wanted to make a viable project after talking with staff and
discussing with him in the pre app he felt it was his best interest to consolidate
additional properties and come in with a proposal this evening. You can see that the
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November 19, 2013
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properties are currently developed with two single family residences and several
outbuildings and one of the outbuildings -- or excuse me. One of the single family
residents the applicant is proposing to remain on one of the office lots and I will get into
that in a little bit more detail as I get into the presentation. And the other existing home
to the east will be demolished with the subdivision improvements. You can see here
that the property is adjacent to vacant and commercial development. In the area
currently on the Comprehensive Plan this property is designated medium density
residential. In our analysis not only the office portion, but also the residential portion,
that property to the east of this site is mixed use. So, what staff did is -- as you know,
land use is not parcel specific, zoning is. So, if we look at the surrounding uses in the
area and also mixed use or land uses in the area, we float some of that designation
over onto this property and we feel it's an appropriate request by applicant to request
the two office lots. At this time they do not have any development plans to move
forward with yet, but they do get two office lots zoned L-O here and, then, the south
two-thirds of the property they want single family detached houses. So, in order to give
us a proposed development plan for the office lots or a concept plan, the applicant
sketched out six office buildings in various square footages anywhere from 6,000 to
9,000 square foot range. Their main entrance -- access into the site will come off of
Overland Road via South Sagewood Avenue. The office lot will take access to that new
roadway connected to Overland Road and the applicant has reached out to not only the
property owner to the east, but also to the west and has provided and proposed cross-
access to that property as well. So, we are trying to eliminate some of those curb cuts
onto Overland Road moving forward. I'd also mention to you at the time that this office
building to the east developed this area that's she's proposing cross-access was
basically a fire emergency turnaround for the fire department. So, in order to get that
connection it should alleviate some of the fire department's concerns moving forward
and getting secondary access between both developments. The residential portion of
the plat consists of 45 residential lots and eight common lots. There are future stub
streets to the west. Because that the transfer station and the Freedom Storage to the
east, the applicant is not providing any access to that property and if you recall to the
south is a large vacant parcel that currently the school district owns, so the applicant
has provided pedestrian connection along the south boundary. Not only would that
provide secondary -- or pedestrian connection to the school, but it will also provide a
secondary looped water system when the school site develops, so they will be able to
bring that water system in, tie into the system and ultimately we will have a water
system that connects into a collector road that was approved with Fall Creek farther
south. Here is the proposed landscape plan that the applicant has demonstrated. Per
the UDC the applicant is required to provide a 25 foot landscape buffer along Overland
Road, to have a highlighted entry into the development the applicant is proposing center
medians, detached sidewalks and parkways to give you the boulevard look. Staff has
conditioned them to provide that look into the development. As I mentioned to you,
there is cross-access to the west and to the east. One action item for -- or one item for
Council to consider tonight is the properties to the east -- or west of this development is
currently zoned R-2 in the city and as you know when we have residential zoning up
against commercial zoning it usually requires a landscape buffer. Well, in the UDC the
Council is allowed to reduce that buffer width through the public hearing process. So,
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November 19, 2013
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the applicant is asking you to take action on that tonight and reduce that buffer as you
see it in the concept plan this evening. So, more than likely the minimum landscape
buffer will be ten feet and, then, the building will be set back 15 feet. So, you get 15 feet
between the building and the property line and ten feet for the parking area. Both staff
and Commission did support that recommendation at the Commission hearing. Open
space for this site is around 15 percent. It consists of a central open space park with an
interconnected pathway and, then, the proposed amenity is a micropath lot, of course,
to the school site, but also the applicant is providing covered picnic area here on the
south end of the open space. Both the open space and all the lots within the
subdivision -- they comport with the UDC as far as dimensional standards and lot sizes.
If I can go back to the plat very quickly. As I mentioned earlier on in my presentation
the applicant is proposing that one home remain on one of the office lots and this is
currently Lot 1, Block 1, on the preliminary plat. Typically staff does not support keeping
-- once this goes commercial we typically see -- the existing residence will become a
nonconforming use under the UDC. We don't allow residential uses in a commercial
district. The Commission -- when we were at Commission the applicant proposed some
language for the home to remain until it was redeveloped in the future. I think
Commission brought forth a recommendation to you this evening supporting leaving the
house in place until the property redeveloped. My recommendation to you, based on
Commission's action is that we add another DA provision kind of just spelling out what
could occur with that property with future development. Because we -- the applicant did
submit elevations consistent to what's in the surrounding area and proposed Fall Creek,
you can see they are -- had a mix of material -- some high quality materials. So, there
is a recommended DA provision that all future elevations comply with the submitted
elevations as well. Not to belabor this too much, but here are the six recommended DA
provisions. The one -- the first one addresses the home elevations in compliance with
those elevations. The applicant did not provide any elevation for the office lots, so,
basically, staff is conditioning them to comply with our design standards, not only the
UDC, but also the design manual. We require cross-access as shown on the concept
plan in C there. D is a Pubic Works condition that needs to be -- because of the way
this sewer shed is in this area the applicant actually has to get an easement on the
adjacent property owners parcel in order to get sewer and service development. So, we
wanted to make sure, since that is an off-site improvement and this is an annexation,
we wanted to make sure we had that in a DA moving forward and the applicant and the
current developers are aware of what needs to happen to run services. That goes
along with E as well. Excuse me. And, then, F is the bold DA provision that I'm
proposing is the one that references existing residential home on Lot 1, Block 1. And
so, basically, we are recognizing that -- once it's zoned L-O we are recognizing that it is
nonconforming and that it will be demolished and removed upon development of that --
that parcel and we noted that in that DA provision. At the hearing Planning and Zoning
Commission did recommend approval to you. Becky McKay did testify in favor of the
application. She also provided written testimony on the application and several DA
provisions and conditions of approval were modified based on her comments. One had
to do with the existing home remaining and, then, the applicant worked with Bruce
Freckleton in land development to work with some of the conditions -- Public Works
conditions of approval and those are, then, reflected and updated in the staff report.
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Key issues of discussion. There weren't really any before the Commission. As I
mentioned to you, there are two outstanding issues that staff would ask you act on
tonight. The first has to do with the reduced buffer between the office zoned property
and the residential property there to the -- in the northwest corner of the site and, then,
also allowing the existing home to remain on Lot 1, Block 1. With that staff has not
received any other additional testimony on this site. There are no outstanding issues
before you this evening and I would stand for any questions you have.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Bill, the last condition in the DA that you talked about, the existing residence,
I'm concerned that -- and I don't know that this is going to happen, but it probably will if
we don't do something about it. If the owner decides to sell the residence and it
remains a residence, we don't want to go there. If it's vacant and sitting there, we don't
want to go there. I'm not sure we want to get in and see rental business there, so I don't
know how you get around all of those peculiar situations that we always seem to get
ourselves in without thinking about this stuff. So, I just throw that out for us to be
thinking about for a few minutes.
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Rountree, I think Becky
-- the applicant's representative has some history on how that home is to interact and
interface with the development around it, so I think she can elaborate on that a little bit
more.
Rountree: Okay. Good.
Parsons: Staff's original recommendation was scrape both houses at the Commission
hearing.
De Weerd: Okay. Becky.
McKay: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Becky McKay with
Engineering Solutions. Business address 1029 North Rosario, Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
McKay: I'm here representing the applicants on this particular property. As Bill
indicated, there are -- there are three -- three parcels there and -- Bill, if you can go
back to the map. I initially met with the staff on -- my clients -- I initially met with staff.
My clients owned these two parcels right here in green. Obviously, they -- it was a
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challenge to try to come up with some type of a quality development when the property
was so narrow. You said, you know, have you talked to the property owner to the west,
maybe you guys could get together and make a better project out of it by combining the
parcels. So, we did -- we did approach Mr. King, who had come in at one time to annex
to the city and, then, withdrew his application and he indicated his desire to -- to have
some office up front and, then, to sell the southern portion. So, we were able to
combine the properties. Oops. Now it won't move. There we go. So, what we -- what
we looked at was what's existing out there. You have commercial to the north. You
have C-G, office and future retail to the -- to the east of the property and we thought,
well, you know, it made more sense if matched -- oh. I'm having technical difficulties.
Sorry. It made more sense if we matched up with that office lot and came across the
frontage of that property. The staff liked that idea. They said, you know, if you can
come up with some type of a concept we think that that makes sense. Overland Road
is a principal arterial, it's going to have high volumes of traffic, it's five lanes, it's targeted
to be seven lanes in the future. We really don't want single family backing up to it. So,
we created this -- this limited office buffer, which we felt would, obviously, benefit the
area, but would be compatible with the single family development. So, the depth of that
office was match up. The other thing that we wanted to do was -- with that one point of
access to Overland Road, we did a split median type -- with parkways on both sides and
median -- landscape median as you enter into the property. So, we have a good feel.
It looks like a neighborhood. It's coming through the office. It's an integral part and not
just piecemealed together. As we come in we did a loop street and stub these future
streets to the west. We did work with -- talk to Mr. Denny Johnson. We tried to acquire
his property. He owns the two skinny parcels to the west. He was not interested in
selling. I did coordinate with Mr. Fost who lives here to the -- on the western corner and
he has a triangular parcel with a home. He said, you know, I'd like to be office
sometime, too. I think it makes sense, because, obviously, single family adjacent to
Overland is probably not going to work from along-term perspective. So, we agreed to
do across-access to him. We also worked with Kelly Hogan who owns the office parcel
on the east side of us and he has an appropriate point on his site plan where he already
has curb and gutter that abuts us, so we could just swing him in also. So, we are trying
to get some interconnectivity along that Overland corridor and, then, reduce the number
of curb cuts. One of the things that we had to work with was -- Dexter King does have a
mortgage on his property. There is an existing home that is occupied on the parcel.
So, typically when we are doing a development we are scraping the houses. That's the
case on the east side of our entrance where that house is unoccupied. Due to the fact
that -- the complication that he has a mortgage and that he needs to retain that house
until such time as it develops, we came up with a creative solution where, obviously, on
the east side of the entrance road we would -- prior to signature on the final plat remove
all structures, but prior to any certificate of zoning on the western office lot -- meaning
they couldn't do anything with it, they would have to remove the home and I think Mr.
King is here this evening, it's his intent that, obviously, to develop the property as office
and so that's the long-term solution. We worked -- we did all the heavy lifting at the
Planning and Zoning Commission. They did a great job. We worked through these
conditions. We kind of did some wordsmithing and we came to great compromises.
The only thing that I wanted to mention that concerned me is, obviously, the 25 lot
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restriction as far as a redundant water source. We are eventually going to have the
stub streets extended to the west, which will connect to the south to Fall Creek. We
have also stubbed to the south, so the school district will loop their water through us.
We will make a connection to them. They will be hooking to Stoddard and to Kodiak.
We have an Idaho Power substation to the east of us, which, obviously, there is no
opportunity for a stub. We have the mini storage and the office on the east. We do
have astub -- a second stub off of Overland Road that the City of Meridian installed as
they came down Overland with -- as far as these Overland Road improvements. So, we
could potentially bring that water down and connect here. The staff thinks that that
might be the solution, but I want to -- you know, obviously, bring it to the Council's
attention. We do have properties where making a secondary connection is going to
happen, but it just happens in the future and like this particular project we are 45 lots,
it's hard to build a subdivision and be kept at 25 and make it, obviously, economically
viable. And so the Council is going to face this. I think here we have figured out a
solution, but it is something that the Council is, you know, going to have to be -- address
with other projects, especially on your periphery. Do you have any questions?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Rountree: Becky, you heard my concerns and I still have those with your presentation,
but what's to keep that residence from selling at some point in time in the future and
maintain the residence if the future owner decides, well, maybe I don't ever want office
there or maybe I want to turn it into a rental, when, in fact, it's a nonconforming use, but
it gets perpetuated in some fashion. I don't have the language that would take care of
that right on the tip of my tongue, but I think there is probably some there and I need to
be comfortable with the fact that at some point in time in the future that does not
become a problem for the landowner and the planning staff and the development.
McKay: Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, obviously, I can't make commitments on
the property owner. I think Mr. King would have to address that question. You know,
what we can do -- he will be signing the development agreement. That development
agreement will be recognizing the fact that -- that it is intended that that parcel -- it can't
get any building permits, it's not eligible for -- you know, I don't think they can even get a
fence permit, because they can't -- until such time as the house is removed. Basically,
we can plat the lot and build the roadway, provide the necessary public improvements,
but I think he's going to have to address that.
King: Thank you. My name is Dexter King. 1195 West Overland Road.
De Weerd: Thank you.
King: I fully support this project as it is. I have been trying to do something with this
property since I owned it in 1989. I built a house there in '90. I do realize there is a
highest and best use for this property that's imminent. It may be two, three, five years
away, but I think what the applicant has proposed -- particularly on the -- the acreage
behind the house and for the -- what is it, 45 lots? It's something that really is good for
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this particular piece of property -- these two properties and I think that if there is a deed
restriction that needs to be put on this particular piece, my intent as the owner of this --
even though Ihave amortgage -- is to go ahead and go forward with the highest and
best use, which I believe this plan right here shows. Any questions, Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: Ihave none.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Councilman Rountree.
Rountree: Do you currently live in that residence?
King: Yes, I do.
Rountree: Okay. And do you plan on staying there?
King: Yes, I do.
Rountree: Until it's developed?
King: That's correct.
Rountree: Okay.
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba?
Zaremba: I just wondered if we could add the words owner occupied to the -- was it
Condition F that we were adding? Can we stick those words in someplace? Does that
help?
De Weerd: I saw our attorney nod his head and -- thank you, Mr. King.
King: Thank you.
Rountree: I would add words to the effect that it would not be sold for any other use
other than commercial and it would remain owner occupied.
McKay: Is that acceptable? Mr. King indicates that that would be acceptable to him.
Rountree: That would work with Mr. Nary and Mr. Bill?
Nary: Yes, sir.
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De Weerd: Mr. Bill. Any other questions from Council?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? Bill, could you go back to the DA requirements? On Item E
we do discuss shall we stick to the conception no more than 25 lots and, then, underline
-- unless this number of lots is increased in the future by action of City Council. I recall
on Ten Mile or Black Cat, Chinden, between Ten Mile we are reviewing that and there
may be some changes in that here in the future, so that -- that might alleviate some of
that problem for you, Becky, I think. We are looking at -- can you elaborate a little bit
more, Bill?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Hoaglun, that is why we
put that soft language in there, because we knew that discussions were being had by
Council, so we tried to give Becky some latitude on that, because things can change.
De Weerd: And the change proposed is to move it to 50 or it was 50 and you want to
move it to 30.
Radek: Madam Mayor, Council Members, we came to you a couple weeks ago and
said that we were aligning with the Fire Department when they changed their code. As
of January 1, 2013, they are going to go to 30 lots for their access requirement and
that's where we want to be for our requirement for redundant water supply as well.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, I guess I just have -- we have been allowing 50; right? Has
there been a reason other than some code that has always been there that we still allow
30 -- that we are moving it -- or 50 that we are moving it to 30?
Amenn: Madam Mayor, I'm not aware of any other than the change in the 2009 code
that we adopted.
Nary: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: It's like where is that coming from? Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I think the 50, Madam Mayor, if I recall,
is regarding vehicle access for the apparatus, not water access.
De Weerd: Oh. You're very correct. Thank you. So, what does that do when it says
25, unless the number of lots is increased in the future action?
Radek: Madam Mayor, I believe that what -- what we do about -- it says that that
number is changed from 25 to 30.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? From what I understand, that way she -- Becky and the
applicant there would have to come back and redo this to get up to the increase. This
allows that if the Council makes that change, then, they have automatic expansion to
that -- to that number.
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: But I think Becky's request is more than 30. Is that what I understand?
McKay: Well, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we have 45 lots and the
standard has been the 50 for one point of ingress and egress and my understanding is
when you guys adopt the new fire code as of January 1, anything beyond that will be 30
and so the 30 is going to be consistent with the Fire Department. In the past we -- we
have looped our water based on staff's input. This redundancy is a new thing. I guess
it's aDEQ -- it's regulations coming down through DEQ as far as -- they don't have just
one feed to a subdivision. But I guess, you know, the point is -- the thing I stressed to
the city engineer when Warren Stewart and Ihad adiscussion -- Kyle and I had the
same discussion -- there are instances where we have no opportunity to get a
redundant source and those properties will -- you know, they may be in-fill properties,
but they are sitting there -- and some may never have an opportunity. They will sit there
forever. So, I think you have to look at each particular project independently and like
this particular area, you know, combining these parcels, doing stub streets, in-fill, cross-
access -- it doesn't get an better than that as far as, you know, these older residential,
large estate-type lots that at one time were just on an ag road and now Overland is five
lanes. So, you know, if we are going to encourage in-fill we do have to make
exceptions. I guess that's may point and the Council has to be aware of that. I don't -- I
don't think if -- a property can develop knowing that you get 30 lots, that's it. Period.
And you will have to sit there until such time as you can loop it to another source. Or
not just loop -- to another source. Yeah. And so it's not economically feasible, it's not
practical.
De Weerd: Is this hairy November? Is that -- okay.
Radek: Madam Mayor. Mo-vember.
De Weerd: Mo-vember.
Radek: And it's almost over. I can't wait.
Hoaglun: I thought it was a Halloween custom, the wolfman, so --
Radek: Madam Mayor, I would agree with many of the concepts that Becky was talking
about. In this particular case second connection is fairly easy and we -- as she alluded
to, we discussed this before the meeting. A second connection to Overland would give
this development redundancy and there wouldn't be an issue. There may in the future
be developments where we can't find a solution, but I haven't run into one yet.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any further information needed?
Rountree: No.
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide
testimony on this item? Okay.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, question for Kyle. You said you discussed that with Becky,
that there would be -- there could be or there needs to be two access points off of
Overland for a water connection?
Radek: Madam Mayor and Councilman Hoaglun, what we discussed is -- is, you know,
the way the staff comments are written it's either -- it's either provide a redundant supply
or limit it to 30 -- 30 lots and the applicant has that choice. A second connection to
Overland would provide a redundant connection, so they could build the whole
proposed plat and they are certainly welcome to, you know, propose that and show that
on their plans and we will support it.
Hoaglun: So, Madam Mayor, Kyle, again, if -- if it's a single connection it's limited to 25,
but if they develop, they decide we are going to go forward with this second connection
off of Overland Road, then, they could increase that.
Radek: Madam Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, that's correct, with the exception of the
fact that we are at 30.
Hoaglun: Correct. Thirty.
De Weerd: Okay. Anything further from Council? Becky, anything further from you?
A reduction of landscaping on the --
McKay: Yeah. Because we anticipate it being office to the west, so we would ask for
15 versus 20, so we have to I guess -- the Council are the only ones that can grant that.
De Weerd: Okay.
McKay: Thank you.
Hoaglun: Well, Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Seeing that we have no other comments, I move that we close the public
hearing on AZ 13-012 and PP 13-026.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearings on Items 9-C and
D. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
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November 19, 2013
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Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval of AZ 13-012. That would include the reduced buffer to the
west part of the property as displayed, but the conditions on the existing home and the
new language crafted by Councilman Rountree be included in the DA and that the
proposed DA provisions as provided by staff and discussed and agreed to by the
applicant be included.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-C. Any discussion from
Council? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: I move approval PP 13-026 with staff and applicant comments.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-D. Any discussion by
Council?
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
E. Public Hearing: AZ 13-009 Spurwing Orchard East Subdivision
by Brighton Investments, LLC Located North Side of Chinden
Boulevard and West of N. Ten Mile Road Request: Annexation
of 26.53 Acres from RUT in Ada County to the R-4 (Medium-
Low Density Residential) Zoning District
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November 19, 2013
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F. Public Hearing: PP 13-021 Spurwing Orchard East Subdivision
by Brighton Investments, LLC Located North Side of Chinden
Boulevard, West of N. Ten Mile Road Request: Preliminary Plat
Approval Consisting of Sixty-Three (63)Single Family
Residential Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on Approximately
25.85 Acres in the Proposed R-4 Zoning District
De Weerd: Item No. 9-E and F are public hearings on AZ 13-009 and PP 13-021. I will
open these two public hearings with staff comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The next item on the
agenda is the Spurwing Orchard East Subdivision. Currently on the north boundary of
the north side of Chinden Boulevard just west of North Ten Mile Road. It currently
consists of 26.53 acres of land and is zoned RUT in Ada County. It's actually anon --
basically areserve lot of a residential subdivision through the county that is in Westwing
Estates. The applicant is basically here tonight to discuss a 63 lot residential
subdivision. Basically an extension of the existing development to the west, which is
known as Spurwing Greens or Jaykers Subdivision. With development of that site the
applicant has provided two stub streets to provide access to this development that was
provided at the north and at the east boundary or west boundary -- east boundary of the
Jaykers Subdivision that will be extended with a development of this site. If Council
recalls, there is a current access -- gated access point to Chinden here for Westwing
Estates Subdivision, currently a private road. The applicant is coordinating with ACHD
on closing this access point off -- well, the applicant isn't, but ITD and ACHD are
working with the homeowners of Westwing Estates to close off this access point and
allow this connection to occur along the east boundary here. As I say, will take access
to this subdivision and get to the signalized intersection at Chinden. It's not reflected in
this exhibit, but staff has met with ACHD staff and discussed this proposal with the
applicant and we are all in agreement that it's best for the safety concerns out there on
Chinden to have this access -- access connected. So, as it's represented tonight it does
not show a connection, but moving forward it will connect. Again, here is -- the
applicant has an exhibit for us this evening to show you how this will interact with the
adjacent properties. As I mentioned to you, to the north is Spurwing Greens Phase No.
2. These are estate lots, larger lots here along the boundary that was approved in 2012
and, then, this phase -- current phase is currently under construction and Council did
act on that final plat application, so I believe the roads are paved and they are moving
quickly and rapidly on completing those subdivision improvements. The open space for
this subdivision consists of 19 percent open space, which is approximately nine percent
over what the UDC requires, so they are in an abundance of open space. I'd also
mention to Council that they are providing a 75 foot wide landscape buffer along
Chinden that will be bermed and landscaped consistent with the Jaykers Subdivision
buffer to the west and the applicant will also be required and shows a ten foot pathway
along Chinden. So, as you can see here we are starting to get quite a bit of pedestrian
connectivity in the area here. At the public hearing there was two adjacent property
owners within this residential subdivision, Westwing Estates, that was concerned about
lot sizes and how it would transition with their one acre lots. The applicant has provided
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a generous -- basically, a wider landscape buffer along this boundary to provide some
of that screening and buffering along there. One other issue that came out from that
hearing was this gentleman was concerned that his driveway was impacting or
encroaching on some of the applicant's property and that isn't the case. The applicant
had testified that there is a workable solution. He will not be encroaching on their
property. One thing that I do want to bring to Council's attention is that in working with
ACHD and ITD, the Westwing homeowners would like their gate to be relocated here,
so they still will have a gated access from their private street. So, they -- the seven
homes that front along that road would only have access through that gate moving
forward. Planning and Zoning Commission did recommend approval at the -- at their
hearing. Other than a few adjacent property owners no one else testified on the
application. There weren't really any items of discussion at the hearing, besides the
landscape buffer and that connection point between the private road and this
development. I think we are moving forward on that pretty quickly here. The applicant
is in agreement with the recommended conditions from -- in the staff report. To staff's
knowledge there aren't any outstanding issues before you this evening and I'd stand for
any questions you have.
De Weerd: Council, any questions? Good evening. If you will, please, state your name
and address for the record.
Wardle: I will. Thank you. Madam Mayor, Council Members, Mike Wardle, Brighton
Corporation. 21601 West Explorer Drive in Boise. I don't think I will take any of your
time, other than to answer any questions that you might have, but I just will kind of
conclude with Bill's comments that this Westwing Estates Double Eagle Drive issue is
something that has been happening kind of on the side. We are accommodating the
action by ACHD and I know that your fire department has been involved in that
discussion. We have never had any concern about it, because, in fact, when we had
our neighborhood meeting the question of the two families that he came to visit with us
were -- can we at least have access through that landscaped area, so that we can walk
and ride our bikes on your streets and is it possible in the future that that can happen,
that the street connection can be made and we simply said that's a decision between
ITD and ACHD and that does move forward, so all things really have been addressed
and we simply ask for your concurrence with the recommendation from Planning and
Zoning and approval of our proposal.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mike. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
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Rountree: Mike, if that case you just described actually happens, would the berm and
landscaping continue across the current access point that would be abandoned? And, if
so, would that be done with this development or who would that be done by?
Wardle: Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, I don't know quite how ACHD and ITD
are working with them and how -- what will happen down there, but that is on their
property. That is a private roadway. So, I suspect that there will be some landscaping
that would replace that street connection. But they already have a small berm on the
left side of their street. We are adding 75 additional feet to that and, then, raising it and
when we had the -- at the P&Z Commission hearing the only question of the staff -- or,
excuse me, of the neighbors was how high can you get that berm within that additional
25 feet and we said as high as we can, you know, physically go we will, so -- I suspect
that they will probably add that little bit of landscaping on the south end. There is also --
when you pull in off Chinden currently there is kind of a roundabout cul-de-sac and the
gate is beyond that. I suspect that will be retained, so that at least traffic coming down
would be able to turn around and come back up to the gate and that gate will be actually
installed right at the end of the stub street that we are showing on the plat and ACHD
will make a 24 foot wide connection, which is the same pavement section as that private
street. So, we simply said that we would work with them to make whatever
accommodations need to happen, but they are going to do it -- fund it through ACHD.
Rountree: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Well, I guess just for staff, if that does happen to get some connectivity
between the sidewalk and the subdivision and bringing it east through -- through at least
their -- their sliver there to the property to the east of it.
Wardle: Madam Mayor, just for clarification, ACHD actually -- Bill, do you have that
exhibit that I have included in that little PowerPoint that shows that existing easement
that ACHD secured from the previous property owner?
Parsons: I don't. I don't have it.
Wardle: Okay. Well, I guess just to clarify, we are providing a permanent easement
across that -- what's shown as the landscaped area at the end of that stub street. Yeah.
Right there. I'm not sure if your question pertained to that or not, but --
De Weerd: No, it's the south side. Just along Chinden.
Wardle: Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have any knowledge about what they are proposing to do
there. That's been purely outside of our --
De Weerd: Yeah. I just wanted a note to staff that we pay attention to that.
Wardle: Yeah.
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De Weerd: Or at least Ryan does.
Wardle: Okay.
De Weerd: Anything further for Mike, Council?
Wardle: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to
provide testimony on this item? Okay.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Seeing no further testimony, I move we close the public hearings on Item AZ
13-009 and PP 13-021.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve -- or to close the public hearings
on these two items. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we approve Item 9-A, AZ 13-009, including all staff and
applicant's comments and the indication that though it's not finalized, there is action
being -- taking place to eliminate the one access on Chinden and incorporating it into
this development.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-E as indicated. Any
discussion from Council? Okay. Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we approve Item 9-F, PP 13-021, subject to staff and applicant's
comments and identifying the proposed gated access along the northeast corner of the
preliminary plat.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 9-F. Anything further from
Council on this item? Roll call, please.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
G. Public Hearing: AP 13-001 Virden Auto Care by Mike Virden
Located 2651 E. Fairview Avenue Request: City Council
Review on an Appeal of the Planning Director's Decision for
the Installation of City Street Lights Adjacent to E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Hickory Avenue (UDC 11-3A-21 B) Approved
with the Virden Auto Care Certificate of Zoning Compliance
(CZC 12-018)
De Weerd: Item No. 9-G is a public hearing on AP 13-001. I will open this public
hearing with staff comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The next item on the
agenda is the City Council review application for Virden Auto. Approximately a year ago
staff approved a certificate of zoning compliance and design review application to
develop, essentially, the south third of the property with a vehicle sales facility and auto
repair shop. At that time we issued the CZC the applicant moved through the process,
got the okays, the approval of the site plan. As he was working with the building
department he was notified by the Public Works Department that he was required to
install street lights along both frontages of his development and the reason for those
improvements was because he was further developing the property. At the time that we
originally issued the certificate of zoning compliance there was not a condition in that
CZC that say -- directly called out street lighting. The applicant was about two or three
months down the road and called me up and said why do I have to do street lights. You
didn't put that in your approval from the planning division and so I explained to them
how the process worked and at the time that he came through street lighting was being
reviewed with building permit applications. So, the time had elapsed for him to appeal
the original issuance of the CZC. Several months has not elapsed since we have been
working -- he has been working with the Public Works Department on appropriate
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locations for those street lights. We have had Tim Curns who departed from the city
and gone to ACHD, so now we have Austin, he's here trying to get caught up -- get up
to speed and to work with the applicant to come up with a solution. In working with the
application -- I know the site plan that I have before you this evening those three street
lights, but I believe there really is only a requirement for one that we are really talking
about. I believe it's somewhat in this general location along Fairview Avenue. So,
probably the biggest issue for you this evening is one -- so, what I had to do is the
applicant reapplied for his certificate of zoning compliance. Submitted a revised site
plan showing the street light locations. That way it would open up that 15 day window,
so he could appeal this certificate of zoning compliance back to you. That was the only
mechanism we had to get this before you this evening. So, we put that condition in
there that he comply with the standards requirements. Probably the most significant
item here is he does not have a final certificate of occupancy for that building yet,
because we did not sign off on that until the street light issue was resolved and now we
are sitting here almost a year out and Mike wondering what -- what he needs to do to
get this thing resolved. So, Mike did provide you -- or the applicant did provide some
justification of why he feels he should not be required to install that street light and that
correspond -- he did provide those a-mails that he received with --from Public Works as
to light location. So, that is in your packet to review. I will go ahead and turn it over to
Mike now and have him present his argument to you and, then, Austin is also here from
Public Works to discuss the street lighting requirements and what they have actually
discussed to get us up to this point and if you have any other questions for me I would
be happy to answer them.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Is the applicant here? Thank you. If you will, please, state
your name and address for the record.
Virden: I'm Mike Virden. I live at 2303 West Bellagio Drive in Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Virden: Thanks, Bill. I mean he really did kind of sum it up in -- in what happened and I
have kind of this statement here I suppose I could partially try to read. Our original site
plan -- our early start approval was signed and that's what I kind of sent you guys a
copy of here to begin our foundation permit. I got my bids -- you know, my bank loans
secured. Virtually the cost of, you know, going forward kind of begun with this approval
and as you sitting behind me know, it takes a long time to get to this point. You know, I
had many many many conversations with the city, with planning on how to get to the
point where I got to here. So, I would assume any and all things that needed to be
added -- especially in the site -- in regards to the site would have -- would have been
placed on this plan. That's kind of -- I guess -- I mean I understand there is
requirements to do business and to do these things and I get it and I think I have
worked very well with Bill and Bill has been fantastic with me in creating a building that
would function and do what we want to do there. So, you know, ACHD -- all those
requirements were on there. They also required me to do three curb cuts, but they
immediately responded back -- come to the site and said, hey, you know, just do one.
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Actually, just modify this one and we are good. So, that was great. Because I knew
that ahead of time. I knew that going into it, so I could make that accommodation. And,
again, like Bill said, it was a while that this came in and my original -- the original
conversation was lights as in I thought I needed to add more lights to our parking area
and I was like, well, you know, okay. So, I didn't even think about it, at some point they
were coming back saying it was, no, streetlights on Fairview and I was pretty confused
by that. But, you know, I paid, you know, nearly 20,000 in fees -- I mean my ACRD fee
alone was like 15, 16 thousand and, obviously, I know it's going to that SA 16 project,
not my street light, so that's what's happening there. But I mean I paid a lot of fees just
to have the privilege to build there and, you know, I took a property over that was, you
know, virtually bankrupt and tried to diversify it enough, you know, for my family and I to
-- to, you know, have a job and employ some people at the same time. So, that's kind
of really my thing and I tried to give you a time line on when these things took place. I
mean I get the fact that that happens, but it just -- this right now has put me in a huge
burden, because I have to put this street light in, I have to run the power from the street
160 to 180 feet. I got to engineer the concrete to hold the street light. I got to buy the
street light. I got to pay the electrician to wire the street light -- every bit of this is
coming out of my pocket now. I'm not finished with my building. I have only went so far.
I have signage on it. I mean it's just blank right now, because I'm not sure what's going
on with this. I have just been in limbo and so -- because this is going to be, you know,
at least, you know, north of 6,000 dollars for me to add a single street light on -- on
Fairview and that's just -- that's -- you know, I don't have any plans, nor did I have any
set aside to do that, because it wasn't originally there. We talked about this for a long
time and, then, I thought I got to a finality of it when Idaho Power -- because the power
lines are so close to the sidewalk that they virtually said you shouldn't put a light there
and, then, the city came back and said, well, their Public Works did -- you know, add a
telephone pole and they would put a light on it and I was like, well, okay. And, then,
they come back with another special type of light. But when I'm sitting on this Idaho
Power everybody agreed the lot right next to me, which you see in my entryway, they
have a telephone pole sitting right there. I mean it would be so easy just to stick a light
there, you know, and I don't see this single street light really being a huge benefit to the
stakeholders. I just -- I just -- I don't see that illumination there to make that big of a
difference, whereas, you know, some of the other things that the site did ask us to do
we certainly were -- you know, were planning enough to get it down, you know, early in
our plan, so -- I think that's all I have.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mike. Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mike, how far -- is that about a hundred yards from the traffic light there or is it
even closer?
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Virden: The -- they are proposing it I think in a hundred -- it's a little past a hundred
yards they are saying to put it. A hundred and twenty or a hundred forty or -- I don't
know. They had some parameters within that. I don't know if I have it exactly, but I
think it's somewhere around 140 feet from the street light.
Peterson: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Austin.
Peterson: What we were -- what we are -- proposed to Mike is that he install a center
light, which would be about 106 -- 160 to 180 feet from the signal at Hickory and what
Tim sent in an e-mail in January to Mike's contractor -- which I don't know if he ended
up receiving that a-mail or not -- was that the -- the light on the corner -- on the other
corner of this property would -- could be installed not on the pole, but yet it was still too
far for it to meet our standards and that we needed to have the light in the center.
Virden: Well, originally we agreed -- I have an existing street light and they were going
to allow me to move that, so I didn't have to pay for another street light. They said, well,
use your existing -- I had an electrician test it and make sure it was bright enough, all
that. He did that and everything was fine. Well, Idaho Power said I couldn't use that
street light there, I have to have a shorter street light that extends out, because of the
power lines that are so close to the -- to where the street light was going to be. So, the
power lines are running right there. So, the light that I had on the property -- they
wouldn't allow it up there, because it was too high and too close to the power line. So,
then, that's when they said put a power pole and that's when they said, well, where
these -- whatever they think. So, originally we were trying to find a -- somewhat of a
middle ground compromise and, you know, in the meantime -- I wasn't wanting to do it
at all, but we were trying to find some compromise to do it, but that compromise wasn't
-- wasn't able to be done, because it was -- it was too close to the power line.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? Mike, where was that existing power pole located originally?
Virden: It's just lighting up my -- my entryway.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Virden: I mean the entryway into my business. I have --
Bird: Right there.
Virden: Correct.
Hoaglun: Okay.
Rountree: Is that still there?
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Virden: Yes.
Rountree: Okay.
Virden: And it's fairly well lit. All the canopies I have in front of our car wash and, then,
my sign that we just finally had put is very bright. I mean it seems to be pretty well lit, in
my opinion, but --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: This is for the staff. Bill, is it a safety reason? Because I did have a big campaign
sign out there and it showed very very well at night. I mean there was plenty of light
there. So, is it a safety issue that we are talking about? Can you answer that or --
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Certainly. I don't drive Fairview at
night, so I can't really respond to that, but I will let Austin -- I will defer to Austin,
because he knows that standard better than I do, because light spacing is dependent on
what the street is designated. Is it a collector? Is it an arterial? And that dictates how
many lights you put on that roadway. So, Austin may be better suited to answer that
question, Councilman Bird.
Peterson: Yes, Madam Mayor and Councilman Bird. So, our standards for Fairview
Avenue, which is considered a major arterial, is that we would have the lights spaced on
either side of the street at 180 feet for 30 foot poles with 250 watt fixtures and -- and it
certainly is a safety concern as far as also driver comfort and overall appeal for the
thoroughfare as cars are driving down the road and the problem with the current lights --
lighting that comes off the car wash and other things is that it doesn't actually provide
lighting on the surface of the street, it's more on the car wash area. In most cases
lighting to the side of the street, when you don't have sufficient lighting over the street, is
actually a distraction for drivers and doesn't allow you to see any objects that are
actually on the road or icy patches. So, when the street light changes were created
they were created -- the spacing was determined in such a way that an arterial would be
lit sufficiently and those specifications came down to 180 feet. So, a light that we are
talking about is -- in this image is the one on the right-hand side along Fairview and the
other light that we are talking about being installed on a pole is the second one next to
his entrance. We just could have the developer -- the next developer in the lot to the
west of him install that light instead. So, that's the compromise that we came to and in
the engineering plans that were sent by his engineer and approved for construction,
which showed the lights that are on -- that you see now, all three of them, those -- the
two on Fairview were listed as Ambica poles and that is a city standard for when
overhead lines are in conflict.
Bird: Madam Mayor -- follow up, Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Austin, when did we adopt these standards? Help me out.
Peterson: I'm not a hundred percent sure when they were officially adopted, but I know
that they were written in 2010 and I believe they were adopted soon after that.
Bird: Thank you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: My opinion of Fairview is it's a lost cause and it's being scheduled and
planned right now for a total renovation. Correct? Ryan? Okay. Woke him up. And I
can understand the frustration and I can understand getting caught up in kind of the
middle or maybe on one end or another of us changing our standards. It seems to me
that if the lights there light the entrance -- the access point, given the length of Fairview
that is spotty at best with street lights and will remain that way until such time as it's
improved, I don't see a great advantage of having either this gentleman or any other
folks that are going to make some other improvements on Fairview do this
incrementally. It needs to be done all together. It seems to me one -- one standard
street light out in the middle of -- an oasis of a street light out in the middle of Fairview
doesn't make a lot of sense. It really doesn't help the motorists per se unless you're
going to do the whole quarter mile. You're going to have an expense that within
whatever program year -- and I don't think it's too far in the future where there will be
improvements on Fairview and, unfortunately, that money you talked about going to
State Highway 16 are actually probably going to be scheduled for some improvements
on Fairview, which will result in loss of some of the right of way in front of your
operation, including any streetlight that you might put in. So, I can -- I can see in this
instance a reasonable justification for waiving that street light and I would suggest you
just leave the light that's there. If I knew at all that there was some hope that we would
have street lights up and down Fairview and this was the last one or near to the last
one, I would say, yeah, thumbs up, but knowing what's going to happen out there, I can
sympathize where you're coming from and I can understand getting caught in the end of
that transition in what the city's doing with street lighting. Not anything against the
standard. I think it's the right standard, but it's the right standard for projects that we
might do on a street or projects that ACHD might do on a street, but not one at a time.
Particularly when there is a construction project right down the road.
De Weerd: The church across the street was going to be coming in, so is that going to
be applicable to them, too? I mean there -- there is a lot of things going on around this
-- in this area.
Rountree: But would they come in -- would they come into this?
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De Weerd: So, I'm just wanting to clarify.
Rountree: Is this something new or were they caught up in this transition from having
no standards to developing standards to submitting plans that didn't have street lights to
getting on in the process and, then, having site plans that required street lights? To me
we have kind of cut a -- I have difficulty with this particular issue and I have difficulty
when people get caught up in our transitions and we have got a number of those.
Bird: And Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: We -- from -- from Hickory on down to Fairview we had the same problem. I
mean -- and the church is going to cross -- is going to come in and stuff. I'm like
Councilman Rountree, I -- if we went and did a whole quarter mile or a half mile or
something I could understand that, but you're taking individual things and it's not really
helping the overall lighting of the street as far as I'm concerned. I just think that when it
gets ready to get done and it will be redone and that's when we look at doing it.
De Weerd: I guess I'm just trying to understand -- get clarity on -- of the precedence
that we might be setting or not, because there is still plenty of development that will be
going in on Fairview and what we want to do, then, is not -- it's not important to have
lighting out there until whenever that stub road is improved, which could be in ten years,
it could be in 20 years. And that's -- I'm just trying to --
Rountree: Madam Mayor, if there is new development coming in on Fairview and the
development is such that it accommodates the right of way for the new roadway and it's
identified in the process that those people go through, then, put in the lights. In this
case there was nothing done in the landscape or -- or setback area, most of which is
going to be taken by expansion of Fairview. If a good part of developing their property
is behind that and we are asking them to stick new infrastructure out in right of way or
out in area that's going to be buffer right of way, it's going to be destroyed. Now, if it
had all been at once and we could utilize it all at once and have the advantage of it, fine.
But having it spotty based on what development occurs doesn't make a lot of sense to
me. ACRD apparently does not feel that street lighting is -- is required enough to have
it out there on this and so --
De Weerd: No. I think it's our responsibility. That's -- they have told us that.
Rountree: So, I don't -- if it's new development -- and, like I said, it's accommodated
with that typical section of roadway, then, we ought to put in the infrastructure and, then,
do the new development. But they are just making building improvements, I have a
hard time seeing that on an incremental basis.
De Weerd: Well -- and I'm just -- again, when we approved this development before Mr.
Virden owned it, it was a car wash and now it's a car wash and a car lot. The use was
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intensified and usually when we intensify the use of a piece of property we bring it up to
code and I think that's why this is in front of us to begin with and that's all I'm trying to
understand and I'm sure -- staff is going to have the same question, is where do we
apply bringing it up to code and where don't we. I am just looking for consistency,
nothing against you, Mike --
Virden: Can I interject real quick here?
De Weerd: -- but I would also say it makes it even more important to be consistent and
to code, because we did have a councilman's sign on this piece of property while that
application was active. So, I'm saying if we are going to do this here we will do it with
everything.
Bird: And I have
De Weerd: And with everything we have asked them to bring it up to code. That is
what I'm talking about.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Rountree: Madam Mayor, that's not what I said.
Bird: Yeah.
Rountree: I said I think this is a peculiar situation where our code requirements were
not identified early on in the process, because apparently we didn't have them finalized.
They later on got applied to this project. That's the way I understand this information. If
that's incorrect please tell me. I have the site plan. There is no indication on this site
plan that was approved that street lights are required.
Virden: May I interject real quick, just an observation? On the corner of Locust Grove
and Fairview that was an extensive change of occupancy and a higher volume business
put there when Blockbuster was changed and there is not a street light within a 160,
140 feet of that property.
Rountree: I think you're right.
Virden: And they say it's because it's a different use, but you just mentioned it's a
higher use -- well, that's exactly what they did, they changed Blockbuster into two
businesses and they didn't have to put any street light improvements out there and I --
you know, so that -- I'm just trying to say, you know, you don't want to make an
exception, you want to be careful, there is -- you know, that's -- that's what I saw. I'm
watching that happen right before my eyes and asking them the same question, why
not. I don't know.
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De Weerd: I can't answer that. I'm only talking about the project that's in front of
Council tonight.
Virden: Correct.
De Weerd: So, Bill, did you --
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I can elaborate a little bit more and I
can even use the example he just brought up. When that site expanded the building
footprint was already existing. This was new development. This was a new structure.
It's different. They went through a change of use. It's not necessarily a change of use
that will trigger that, but it's also new development and this site extended its
development. It developed the south third of the property and that's why the street light
got triggered. The only -- it's not an issue whether or not the street lighting ordinance
was in effect when he came in, it was. That's not acase -- that's not the issue here.
The issue is the Planning Department wasn't putting that condition in for the street lights
with certificate of zoning compliance, because that -- that wasn't the process that was
established. It happened at building permit stage. So, when Mike -- or the applicant
sent his building plans into building division for review, at that point it triggered Tim
Curns at the time to review the site plan and require the street light. Since we have
dealt with this issue with Mr. Virden we have corrected the issue to be consistent, so
now in our certificate of zoning compliance we are saying coordinate with Public Works
on street lighting requirements, so that this doesn't keep happening. So, we are trying
to correct the issue -- or at least the timing as -- trying to get it up in front of the
applicant early on in the planning process, rather than getting it in with the building
process. Now, with the subdivision application we always require street lights,
regardless if it's commercial or residential. That condition will always stay in place and I
think developers know that.
Rountree: So, Madam Mayor, this situation is reminiscent of a short in a residential lot,
it shouldn't have been there and, quite honestly, fingers can be pointed in both
directions and I will take my comment back about the street lighting standards not being
there, but our process was not in place and, then, demanding to get the process in
place. I understand it's going to take some time and we are going to have these
glitches. So, I still -- my comment is this is a case where I can say our standards are --
okay, they are there, but our process was not and put this gentleman in a situation
where -- I'm guessing if he would have known he needed a street light up front he
probably would have talked to his banker about it. And my comments about Fairview
stand. To me it's a lost cause.
Bird: Yeah.
De Weerd: Now, I disagree with that. I do agree if we didn't have it when he came in
for the original phase --
Nary: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: -- we just have to --
Nary: Sorry.
De Weerd: Can you just let me finish?
Nary: I'm sorry. I thought you were.
De Weerd: It's my meeting, so I can keep saying whatever I'm saying. But, I agree, it --
we can't go back and change our mind and this -- I will agree with Councilman
Rountree, not to say we shouldn't apply our code, but this wasn't part of the original
piece of the CZC and it's -- we can't go back and say, oh, we didn't tell you about this.
So, that's the exception that I can certainly hang my hat on. Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean just so that -- whatever motion
you want to form, you have to -- you have to remember in the process -- the CZC
process is only to determine whether or not you can actually conduct that business
there. Now, process improvement that's gone on is trying to provide as much up front,
but you're going to run into issues where things occur at different stages, building
permitting, building fees, permit fees, there is lots of those things that occur. So,
however you want to form your -- your motion, make sure to take into consideration that
the process improvement doesn't mean the process was flawed, it's trying to provide as
much information as early as possible, but you're going to run into these situations
where as staff improves the process or improves the information that's being provided, it
isn't because an error has occurred, it's simply because after a while we find people
seem to run into the same problem and so that's really the case here. The CZC in our
code is only to determine if they can actually do it. If you waited until the end there is
always going to be parts of your process that we cannot possibly give every piece of
information up front. So, however you form that, please, make sure to consider that in
your motion.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: One thing I would say is -- and the staff between all the departments are working
very very hard to make sure stuff like this don't happen. We do have the little glitches
that don't get out there and stuff and so, you know, it's certainly nothing against the
staff, but also the applicant needs to be treated fairly, too. So, as we go along and we
are -- and have better communication, we will -- we will get these little glitches taken
care of and won't have these problems back before us.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree, hold on. Mr. Hoaglun was next and, then, I will call on you
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Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, a question for -- I don't know if it's Caleb, Bill, or Austin, but
when the extension of Fairview takes place and if the property is not up to standards
and when it's been there forever, hasn't made any changes, are they responsible to put
in those street lights or will that be ACHD?
Peterson: Madam Mayor and Councilman Hoaglun, as you know, ACHD will only install
street lights at intersections where they deem it necessary and so far we do not have a
plan in place for updating areas that are currently not up to code when they do this
project.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Austin. I appreciate that. The Fairview interchange down the
road, that's going to take place. If we ask Mr. Virden to comply and put up that
streetlight and that change comes, then, he is responsible for moving that streetlight or
ACHD?
Peterson: Madam Mayor and Councilman Hoaglun, ACRD is responsible for moving all
existing facilities that are within the right of way and that need to relocate.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I did not imply or mean to imply that this was a
staff error. It's a -- it's a function of making changes in our processes and these things
are going to happen and when they happen we need to recognize they happen and we
need to make them right and that's the only point I want to make. So, we are making a
lot of changes and they are all in the right direction. At some point in time we will have
a close to perfect solution.
Hood: Madam Mayor, if I can, just real quickly to that point. We are looking to improve
our process all the time and as Bill mentioned when this one came through we were
reviewing street lights with building permits with Accella, which is our enterprise
software now. We are able to get comments from other departments earlier in our
process and get them out the door, but when we tell our staff you have three to five
business days to put out a CZC, you cannot get comments and conditions from
everyone everywhere and give that to an applicant in that amount of time. But we are
-- when we find these things that are bigger ticket items, we are putting those notices
out there in our CZC that says, yes, your use and site plan are approved, but go talk to
ACHD about impact fees, because we don't know what those are going to be, talk about
sewer and water, talk about street lights -- those bigger ticket items we are going to get
the notice out there and this is one of the bigger ticket items and we weren't putting that
notice in our CZC at the planning level that we looked at for three to five business days
after submittal and we have improved that process through Accella and working with our
departments, but there may be other ones out there and we try to disclose as much as
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we can up front, but this one -- this one was a fairly large one that we didn't disclose to
the applicant.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mike. Do you have anything further?
Virden: I don't.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like
to provide testimony on this item? Yes. Thank you for waiting patiently. If you will,
please, state your name and address for the record.
Agulara: My name is Jessica Agulara. I'm with D.L. Evans Bank, 213 North 9th Street,
Boise, Idaho. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the bank across the street -- we
are very concerned about the lack of lights in the area and after hearing all the
comments tonight I can appreciate all the different viewpoints and concerns that all
parties have, but as you are aware, Fairview is going to be changing. Not sure when.
And when it does get presented the plan -- it eventually gets presented to this Council I
will be back, because it will have what I perceive as a negative impact specifically at our
location. We are concerned about the lighting in the area, lack of visibility, security
issues, perceptions of -- of security issues, especially because we are a financial
institution, we are hypersensitive to that. So, we are really here tonight to encourage
the light to be installed as required or as presented to you and I guess if you elect or
make the motion not to do it and the Fairview expansion happens, what I think I have
heard tonight was ACHD will be responsible for moving any utilities, infrastructure
currently in place. Well, if there is no lights there -- and what I also thought I heard was
ACHD will not be installing any new lights, when will the lights come? And you probably
don't have an answer to that. Or the answer is when new development comes. And I
have been a victim of this before -- presented to you, Boise city, other folks, where they
have requested to not to have to do something and Members of the Council and staff
says we have to start somewhere. We have to start somewhere. So, with that I just
want to restate our concern to the lack of lighting and we respectfully request that the
light be installed per staff recommendation. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Is there any further -- oh, Ryan. Thank you.
Head: Madam Mayor, Council. Ryan Head, Ada County Highway District. 3775
Adams Street.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Head: I just wanted to clarify a couple points that -- as you were talking that I looked up.
In this area we already own 120 feet of right of way and in front of this property. Our
capital improvements program shows the right of way width at 124 feet, so I'm just
putting that out there for you, so you can understand that the acquisition of additional
right of way in this area would be minimal. The other thing that I wanted to put before
you is the Fairview Avenue access management plan, which has not been adopted at
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this point in time, is -- will go before our commission in -- in February we are looking to
have a joint meeting with you all on this subject. The proposal in that plan is that the
first phase of improvement be from Five Mile to Orchard and that's where we have
funding at this point in time. It does not include this section. Our capital improvements
program does show the need for a widening of this section to seven lanes between
2017 and 2022. The expectation is that we would -- we would look at trying to
implement the components of the Fairview access management plan in the near term
and see what that gets us. The stomach for widening any roadway to seven lanes is a
difficult decision, based on the impact that that will have on businesses and other
developments in the area, but I just wanted to put that out there for your consideration,
because I think it's pertinent to this issue.
De Weerd: Thank you, Ryan. Any questions from Council? Thank you. Any further
testimony? Okay. Mike, do you have any final words?
Virden: I would like to say that this isn't a current representation of the lights there. We
do have a light on the corner that was moved over from your side -- to the opposite side
of the road here and the opposite side has a big vacant lot, so there is quite a bit of
darkness there, because there is no business across the street where Capital Christian
has and, then, there is Louie's and D.L. Evans, so our area Ifeel -- you know, if you do
drive through that way, we are on the corner of Hickory and I think it's well suited for
what it does and we do have six lanes there in front of our store. We have three lanes,
the middle lane, and, then, two. So, you know, we have quite a bit of -- this is a very
accessible corner and it seems to be a very safe corner from our recollection there.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any final questions here?
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor. Mike, before you go, then, I want to be certain I have this.
There is a street light there at Hickory, but -- at the corner there is a street light.
Virden: At the corner of Hickory and Fairview?
Hoaglun: Yes.
Virden: Yes, there is a street light there and then --
Hoaglun: And, then, you have one down at the -- at the other end of your property?
Virden: Correct. I have an entry street light right there.
Hoaglun: Right.
Virden: And, then, I have another entry street light up there. And they are dual lights.
They are twin. They are not singles like most streetlights are, they are the two headed
ones. So, they are twice as bright as the typical ones.
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Hoaglun: But, Madam Mayor and Mike, are those facing into your lot or are they --
Virden: They are just facing parallel to the entryway.
Hoaglun: Okay. Parallel to the entryway. Thank you. And Madam Mayor. What was
the distance from that corner to his -- or, Austin, what are our standards -- how many
feet? I can't recall now.
Peterson: Madam Mayor and Councilman Hoaglun, the distance required by our
standards for a major arterial is every 180 feet on both sides of the road. So, I -- we are
aware that there is the light on the corner and, actually, we moved that light from the
other -- opposite corner for Mr. Virden, because when ACHD installed this signal at
Hickory they installed a street light on the signal arm and prior to that there was already
a light on the -- the opposite corner of Hickory from Virden's property, so in order to help
Mr. Virden out, we just went ahead and moved that redundant light over to its current
position and the light in the center of the property that we are proposing is
approximately 180 feet from the light that we installed.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: And, Council, I -- you know, that area is improved out there, so it does have
sidewalk that -- on the whole side. So, without lighting it is -- it is pretty dark.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, if there is no more testimony, I would move we close this
public hearing.
Bird: Second
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 9-G. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Okay. Any discussion?
Rountree: Hearing none, Madam Mayor, I move that we accept the appeal of the
director's decision with respect to installation of the street light at this location and let
this project move forward.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion from Council? Madam
Clerk.
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Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 10: Department Reports
A. Public Works: Staff Resource Discussion
De Weerd: Item 10-A is under our Public Works Department. I will turn this over to Mr.
Barry.
Barry: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Perhaps we should take a
break, but that's for you to decide. Anyway. Thanks --
Rountree: Just getting started.
Barry: Just getting started? Oh, this is going to be a great night. All right. Thank you
for -- for having me tonight. I wanted to talk a little bit about the staffing situation in the
Public Works Department. You know that I have briefed you on and off over the last
several months about concerns I have had in certain areas of the Public Works
Department centered round staffing resources and workloads and those kinds of things.
And I promised you in October that I would bring you a presentation to sort of firm up all
of the things that we have been learning about some of the research we have been
conducting over the last couple of months and so that's what tonight's presentation is
about. In Public Works we are at a crossroads. Workload demands have increased
significantly for existing personnel resources in some areas of the Public Works
Department. Critical resources in engineering and inspection services, as well as water
and administration are needed to balance staffing levels with existing and future
workloads. This situation is not sustainable in its current state in these areas and has
greatly hindered staff and management's effectiveness and threatened our quality of
work. Some of the key drivers which have contributed to this over the past 18 to 24
months include growth and complexity are probably the most significant contributors,
but certainly our inability to move as quickly as we would have liked on strategic plans
and the fact that we have over leveraged the good will of our staff with some of the
situations we have placed them in because of the extenuating workload, also technical
advances in the regulations are always key drivers for everything in our department. I
wanted to give you a snap shot of what -- what it's looking like for us as you look at the
statistics and some of the matrix. Public Works over the last several years we have
seen a number of changes and since 2010 the number of permits has increased by 81
percent. Since 2011 the number of assessments have increased by 58 percent. Over
the last five years there has been increases in the number of water and sewer accounts
by 16 percent. Our project enhancements have increased by 189 percent. And the
current capital improvement budget for Public Works is about 16 and a half million
dollars, with larger, more complex projects becoming the norm for the foreseeable
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future. It has taken longer to complete these projects due to limited staffing and
increasing demands on our workers due to the size and complexity of these projects.
Our dig line tickets. These are the requests for locating utilities all around the city --
have increased by 72 percent and the workload associated to accommodate those
requests has increased by 185 percent. Correspondingly, our increase in Public Works
Staff over this same time period -- and that is the last five years -- has increased by only
five percent. If you look at a couple of other matrix internal to the city -- I already
mentioned that account growth has grown 16 percent over the last five years. Citywide
staff has grown 18 percent over the last five years, but in Public Works we have heavily
restricted staff growth to focus primarily on efficiency improvements and we have done
a good job at that, but we have focused maybe a little too intensively on those efficiency
improvements and although we have made great gains we have actually let slip our
overseeing of some of the resource needs that we have to accommodate the growth
and complexity and some of these other key drivers that I mentioned to you earlier. We
wanted to look at some of our per capita comparisons locally and so I threw this graph
together for your table rather. The City of Meridian with its population, number of
accounts, the number of employees represents a per capital to resident ratio of about
one to one thousand. Our closest neighbor Nampa is about 1.1 per thousand. Idaho
Falls is about 1.2 staff per one thousand residents. The city of Boise and United Water,
our other neighbors to the east, as you know, are 1.5 to one thousand and what we did
is combine both United Water, since they represent the water utility component, as well
as the city of Boise for sewer. Now, we do get a little bit of a skewing here, because
United Water represents certainly a larger area than just the city of Boise, so we would
expect that number to be slightly lower than what it is. Probably 1.4, but we couldn't --
with the data we had available to us to really correct for that. Pocatello are 1.5 to one
thousand residents or 1.5 staff members to one thousand residents and -- here we go.
We always like to benchmark our information to national standards. The American
Waterworks Association has a national standard which is a median number of service
connections per FTE for utilities at about 485, meaning that one staff member services
generally or averages generally about 485 service connections. Now, this information
comes from our friends over in Denver and they put this information together in May of
this year. And you will notice that they used us on their statistics here and we are three
times the national standard as it relates to water account service connections. Some of
the other cities there also represent comparable size cities that have similar utilities as
well. So, that's just really for comparative purposes. So, where are we sort of falling
behind? You know what's sort of the issue here. This particular graph demonstrates
the differences between what we are able to actually accomplish versus what we
budget and what we plan for in the capital improvement program. The capital
improvement program for this fiscal year, as well as the last fiscal year has been
unobtainable with the staff resources that we have had -- or have available to us rather.
The carry forward amounts have been successfully reduced significantly between the
years of 2008 and 2012 as part of our intensive proficiency improvement initiative,
recent capital project demands, fueled largely by growth, have escalated over the -- that
have escalated over the past several years -- two years in particular, have put us in the
position where we are no longer able to keep up with those demands with the existing
staff resources that we have. From a strategic planning standpoint we are also falling
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behind. As you know in 2010 the Public Works Department brought to you the first
departmental strategic plan the city has seen. It's been almost three and a half years
since we started that plan and, unfortunately, with 70 percent of the period behind us,
we have only been able to accomplish 25 percent of the objectives that we set out to
pursue. Now, I will say and acknowledge that possibly we may have been overly
ambitious in the development of our strategic plan, but undoubtedly we simply do not
have the resources needed to think, plan, and act as strategically as we would like to or
even need to. So, resultantly we have only completed those 25 percent of the
objectives and our current focus has, unfortunately, shifted to a more tactical focus, as
opposed to a more strategic focus, and when that happens we were not able to make
the kind of improvements and guide our direction, because we are not working
strategically. I want to talk a little bit about size and complexity. All of our tracked
matrix continue to show growth in accounts, water and sewer pipes, assessment
projects, inspection permits, population, you name it. All of the graphs go up. These
matrix show that Meridian is continuing to grow, which is great, and as we do our
infrastructure grows. It grows in size, it grows in complexity, it grows in area and these
projects have become larger and more challenging to manage and, therefore, consume
more time and, therefore, more resources. Private and public developments surge has
created increased workloads and, therefore, added stress on the staff, because we
continue to ask them to take on more and we don't provide the resources that we really
need in order to pursue the workloads that we are placing on them. So. we must insure
that we keep our staffing resources close to the same pace of growth to avoid
compromising our quality and integrity in that we want to promote doing the right thing,
instead of doing the easy things. So, feeling some of this over the last year we have
conducted a couple surveys in the Public Works Department. We developed internally
a Public Works supplemental survey to the citywide satisfaction survey with the help of
our HR staff and we floated this survey in March or April of this year. We got quite a bit
of feedback. The feedback from staff was -- was very informative and it revealed that
we have over leveraged the goodwill of some of the staff in certain divisions within our
department. Employees are becoming burned out, they are becoming defocused, they
are becoming confused regarding their roles, responsibilities and priorities as we
continue to ask them to do more and more. Financial resources in our department
outweigh the department's human resources by a significant margin and so does the
work. This leads employees to wonder about the departments objectives and priorities
and question whether human resources are as important as other assets within our
department and, of course, we know they are and I know that you know they are and
they have heard that from you. I wanted to provide to you some of the highlights of the
things that we are not able to get done because of the predicament that we are in.
Actually, one of the greatest examples I can use is the one you just heard before my
presentation started. When we are focused on the tactical and getting the things done
that we need to get done, we do not accommodate the kind of improvements that really
need to be pursued throughout the entire process, so one of the things as you heard
tonight, process improvement, if there is no time because of the work -- we are focusing
on project after project after project, we oftentimes don't get the opportunity for work on
the processes, the ordinance improvement, the policies, the procedures and those sort
of things, because, quite frankly, while those are priorities we have triaged the priority
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list and those things simply aren't getting done as quickly as we would like them to get
done and in some cases they can't get done with the resources that we have. In
engineering -- design and engineering, as well as capital project execution, has been a
struggle for us in meeting those obligations. The supplemental specifications took us
about two and a half years to get through. That's way too long. So, we end up in these
transition area periods where we would like to incrementally improve the specifications,
because a lot of development happens over two and a half years, so we try to
incrementally improve those specifications and we get -- we get folks that are upset with
that. We need to move through those types of projects more quickly and bring
resolution to those types of -- our standards and design guidelines more quickly than we
have been able to. In operations, utility line locating, as I mentioned earlier, has been a
challenge for us. Water maintenance activities have also been challenging for us. We
continue to add the number of fire hydrants and continue to add to the number of water
valves, service lines, meters, you name it. Inspection services. We are having trouble
with covering adequately all of the job sites and also making sure that the time that the
inspectors spend on the job site and the quality inspection that they do is meeting the
standards that we would like to have them meet. As built and GPS locating are also hit
or miss and sometimes we get it done if there is time and sometimes we can't. So, from
a strategic standpoint, some of our strategic activities, you know, again, we find
ourselves working very reactively right now. We aren't working as proactively as we
would like to. Or strategically, for that matter. Our strategic plan progress, I have
already mentioned, is -- is slower than we would like to see. Emergency management
is something that we know we need to be focused on, but, quite frankly, is not
something we have got much time and attention to divert to. Accreditation has been
completely put on hold. There is no way we can even entertain that project any longer
with the resources that we have. From an analytical and process improvement
standpoint, standard operating procedures development, there are hundreds and
hundred of processes and procedures that still need to be revised or developed in our
department and they are not getting done, because we just simply can't get to it with the
other priorities that are in front of us. Much the same with ordinance revisions and as
we stumble into one problem to the next, to the next, we find out it's only then that we
really have got a problem that needs immediate attention and, therefore, we go about
making changes for improvement to ordinances, for example. We have got a couple of
those going on right now. Legislative analyses has been much more intense over the
past couple of years than we have ever spent. This past year we have been following
almost two dozen different pieces of legislation that impact the Public Works and many
of those legislative proposals have changed many many times throughout the legislative
session. We have abbreviated decision making going on. We would like to spend time
with our staff to educate them and train them and teach them and get them to more
critically think instead of have them have only five minutes or ten minutes or the
manager for that matter come and ask a question, get told what to do, and go back and
do it. Because, quite frankly, that's all the kind of time we have to spend with them. So,
we need to spend more time with our staff guiding and mentoring and coaching and
teaching them than we have been able to spend, which is a management issue that we
have got to work through. Dashboard development. Put on hold. We know that we
need to be looking at dashboards and while we try to keep up with our financial
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dashboards and present them once a year to you, it was my hope to have dynamic
dashboards that we could report to you on a monthly basis if you should ever need that
information, but would allow us to better organize and optimize our -- our operational
components of utility. Continuous process and performance improvements have also
been loaded with cheese lately because of this additional workload. From a personnel
management standpoint -- I touched on some of this, but, essentially, recruitment and
retention strategies are antiquated, that we have been using the department, we have
been working with human resources to try to update those, but, quite frankly, those take
a lot of time to -- to update and feedback and communication with staff needs to
improve. Critical thinking and teaching as I just mentioned. Coaching and mentoring as
well. Succession planning is something we'd like to do, but we have spent virtually no
time on that. There isn't time for it. And employee incentive programs are also
something we have had on the list for many years and just not been able to get to. So,
where are we? If you look at where we are in some areas of the department -- this is
not our area, thank goodness. We -- we know that the ideal is to plan your work and
work the plan and that's what we would like to do. But in some areas of the department
we are not able to do that. So, we prioritize the work and, then, when that doesn't work
we have to triage the prioritized list and, then, that doesn't work we end up managing by
crisis. And when that doesn't work, then, we manage in a chaotic mode. And that's
kind of where we are in some areas here. We are just hanging on and we need to
make sure that we get out of this by moving back to being more proactive and assertive
and in order to do that we need more time and we need more resources in certain areas
to be able to accommodate that. So, it's time for Public Works to grow. That's kind of
the message here that I have been getting at and, essentially, as you know, for the last
four years we have been focused so heavily on efficiency improvements and we have
done such a good job we have attained over 30 percent improvement in personnel,
operations, maintenance over the past four years. Very proud of that. But the low
hanging fruit is gone and now we -- and we have also allowed the focus on efficiency to
overshadow the need for responsible staff growth. As you know, efficiency fixation can
lead to errors or mistakes or omissions and ultimately an increase an organization's risk
and liability, not to mention the likelihood of rework which often counters the very
purpose of efficiencies that you try to seek at the onset. We call this point the point of
diminishing returns and that's what we are trying to avoid. Without improvements in
resources or efficiencies, an increase in quantity of work can often lead to a reduction in
that work's quality and that's what we want to avoid. This problem, however, is very
solvable. We have the work and we have the financial resources, but we are short in
some areas in the organization on the staff. So, what we want to do is correct that and
balance the staff resources with the work demands, as well as the fiscal resources
which are available to us. So, the needs that we have in the department at this time are
six positions. These positions are largely growth related positions and focus in
engineering and inspection services. We are requesting a staff engineer and an
engineering technician two for the department to keep up with the capital project
demands, as well as additional supplement plan reviews and other engineering related
services in the department. We are also looking for two inspectors. One of those
inspectors we are still working on whether that should be an inspector slash surveyor or
one hundred percent surveyor, because we are very concerned about the inability of
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use to track and incorporate some of the GPS'ing of the assets that are going in with
new development. We are also looking for a management analyst that would help us
with those analytical components that I have talked with you about, including
organizational and strategic tactical policy financial personnel and procedural analyses,
which are important, including legislative for that matter for our department. And, then,
a water operator two, which would help us with the utility locates and the water
maintenance assets that we need in order to accommodate the continued demand from
the utility locating services and the maintenance of additional water infrastructure that's
going into the ground. So, here is what the budget -- or the financial impacts look like,
essentially, with these six positions that we are recommending for your consideration
tonight. There are two cost components. They certainly are a one time component,
which is incorporated with the ongoing and so what we have done here is we outlined
those six positions, we talked about this, we have listed it in columns that would be run
over, the base salary and, then, payroll taxes and benefits or the loading if you will, the
additional cost generally runs around 39 to 40 percent for the city. And we have added
that and ended up getting to a full loaded position cost and that's the -- one, two, three,
fourth column over. Of course, these staff are going to need furniture, they are going to
need some computers and monitors and other miscellaneous equipment and so you
add up some of those one-time costs as well and two of the positions are going to need
vehicles, because they are field positions and we have looked at our fleet and we do
have one additional vehicle in our fleet that's not being used right now. We don't
believe that that will work for those -- either of those three positions that have been
identified, either the two inspectors or the water operator two, but we can put that
vehicle back into service to service -- or provide vehicular services to the other three
positions together. So, we will be redeploying that particular vehicle for those three
positions. So, when we look at this, the total cost, essentially the first year cost of
525,000 with 109 rounded up to 110,000 dollars being a one time cost for those
incidentals. Ongoing costs after that appear to be about 416,000 dollars ongoing and
that's not a dimension that our ongoing costs represent approximately 1.5 percent of the
total department's annual revenues and that these revenues are up nine million dollars
in the last two years alone, meaning that we have seen a 22 percent increase in
revenue growth just from the development I have been talking about. So, with that I will
stop and address any questions you have. There is nothing for you to take action on
tonight, from your questions and direction I can bring budget amendments to you for
consideration next week if that's your pleasure, but in the interim I will address any
questions you might have.
De Weerd: So, Council this was brought up last month during the strategic plan with a
-- not a guarantee, but with a promise to bring it back for discussion. Tom and I have
certainly discussed the personnel need for the day-to-day carrying out of -- of duties in
Public Works and I do know that Tom has met with Charlie in terms of the budget
implications and so certainly I support this and I hope you will give feedback to Tom that
we can bring back a budget amendment next week. Any questions from Council?
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Just a comment. First off, I think we all recognize the major effort that Public
Works has done in terms of efficiencies and we certainly appreciate that and recognize
the savings to the city. It was interesting to go over this with Tom to see some of the
numbers that they have pulled together in terms of growth in the city and increased
workload and I for one support it. The only thing, Tom, that we didn't talk about was an
implementation strategy and I'm not asking you to address that tonight, but if you could
do that when you bring your budget amendment forward next week and how -- how
you're going to -- I don't think you want to just go out and put advertisements out for six
positions, you're going to want to do this in some -- craft it in some way that it makes
sense to get certain people on at certain times, but I fully support what you have said. I
think it's within the budget to be able to do it. We simply can't not do some of these
things that are not getting done or not getting done as best they can and I particularly
appreciate you bringing up the management aspect, because that's --that's critical.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Having met with Tom I -- he's got my hundred percent support. Bring it forward
and get it done and on the implication of it let's get that planned and get it done. I mean
we got -- the longer you take the farther behind you get, so -- this is something that we
probably neglected. We need to get it in, get it done right. Make sure we do it right the
first time, Tom, which I know you will, but I'm for getting -- let's get going on it. If you
need it you need it.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I will have to say this does not come as a surprise. I could feel this coming
even the last time I was liaison to your department and I'm happy to see that you have
the opportunity to actually put it on paper and one thing I always appreciate is when you
present us with a problem you present us with a solution as well and once again you
have done that, which I appreciate. I think the question I would ask beyond that is how
are you doing with open positions that already exist? Are you being able to -- I know
there have been some holes already existing. Are you being able to fill those?
Barry: Thank you, Councilman Zaremba, Madam Mayor. We are having mixed
success in the filling of certain vacancies within the department. Our challenge
continues to be hiring -- or finding, rather, higher level positions -- or candidates for the
higher level positions. As you know I have two senior level positions that have been
vacant for about 11 months or so. We have in one of those positions reviewed over 300
applications. We have conducted over three dozen different phone screens. We have
brought several people in. We are just not able to find the quality candidates that we
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want and some people have teased us about maybe being overly picky if you will, but I
think if you would have sat in those interviews you would have agreed with our
conclusion. However, we have had very good success in some of the staff level
positions. We just filled a maintenance position just recently, a couple of administrative
positions have filled. We have had lots of promotions this last year, ten percent of our
staff was promoted, for that matter, in part because they were the best candidates that
we were able to find. That has created vacancies in other areas. Of course, when you
get a promotion you don't actually get to fill the position, you get to create a hole
someplace else in the organization. So, we have had some of that going on, but -- so,
it's mixed. I think at the higher level positions we are still struggling. We have been
talking with Mrs. Perkins about new strategies for sourcing and recruiting for some of
those positions, but yet the standard procedures that we follow for the -- for the
identification and hiring of those other staff level positions seem to be working fine as
well so just kind of mixed.
De Weerd: Okay.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun.
Hoaglun: Just a comment. Tom, if someone were to tune in on the Internet to our
Council meeting here when you started your presentation, I really think you left people
with a bad impression and I just want to clarify for the record that when -- when you talk
about chaos and disarray and things like that, that could not be further from the situation
that you have in Public Works. We understand it from what you're going through, but
what people don't understand is the high standard that you guys operate to. I mean I
would put you and your staff -- your management team up against any other public
works department in the state and you guys would come out on top and so I can
understand it from your perspective and I fully support what you're doing, because you
guys need it, but I just want to make sure people understand it's not a situation they are
wondering one, gee, am I going to have water in the morning, you know, are the toilets
going to flush, what's going to happen and it's -- it's bad from our standard that we have
and the standard that you have for your department, but overall we got a great thing
going and we want to keep it going. So, I just -- I just wanted to make sure that people
have that understanding of that, so -- I do support what you're trying to achieve and the
positions you're trying to fill, but -- and you will get there.
Barry: Thank you, Councilman Hoaglun. I do appreciate that clarification and I think
you hit the mark right there. I mean it is true, we have very high standards in the Public
Works Department and -- and we do want to make sure that we maintain those
standards. So, I appreciate the clarification.
De Weerd: Okay. We will see it next week.
Barry: Thank you much.
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B. Parks and Recreation Department: Future Dog Park
Discussion
De Weerd: Okay. Item 10-B is under our Public Works Department. It's a follow up to
a previous -- previous discussion. Yeah. Oh, did I say Public Works? Parks and
Recreation. It's getting late.
Barton: Yeah. I got up and I sat down and got up again.
De Weerd: It begins with a P, Mike.
Barton: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, as you remember we were -- we came
to you at the October 8 workshop meeting and discussed the -- the future of a dog park
location. At that time we had three possible solutions to -- to relocate or locate a new
dog park and through that process at the workshop we kind of pared that down to -- to
two solutions and we were instructed to come back with some more refinement on
those potential sites with concept plans and -- and we did a short study and just kind of
developed some -- looking at pros and cons and kind of discussed where we were with
each one of those sites and -- and that's what we are here to talk about today. As well
as -- let's see if I can get this to -- there we go. As well as the location of the dog park,
there is something -- you know, as we go to the next step and we are getting some
direction of where to -- where to plan this out, we would like to have a short discussion
on the level of effort that you see. So, just so you know, that's -- that's a part of it, so we
have location and level of effort. The first site that we would like to discuss is the
Lanark site. This is directly west of the new maintenance facility on the corner of Locust
Grove and Lanark Street. It's -- it's a good location. It's definitely in the right area for a
dog park. It is in an industrial area. It's sized appropriately and we can go back to the
site plan here as we discuss the pros and cons. Like I said, it is the correct size. There
is some existing infrastructure there. There is no impact to the surrounding
neighborhood. The cons that we see are a lack of available parking. It would prohibit
the construction of the field house, which is --that has been discussed for the remaining
portion of that site. So, if we -- if we did put a dog park there and it was built to what we
think the citizens are -- are asking us for, which is, you know, a pretty high level of effort,
that we might be at the point of no return of a field house. And on top of that -- I mean
one of the biggest cons is right now it's currently not funded. So, the other site that we
came back with and developed is the Storey Park site and this is directly south of the
softball field. The layout on this site is contingent upon us completing the -- the land
swap and the conversion of the land and water conservation fund, that's kind of a hang
up right now. It's been approved. The conversion has been approved at the state level.
It went to national parks. We have heard that national parks has approved the
conversion, but we don't have any paperwork yet. So, right now as we talk about this
very park site and we -- and we plat is out, we are going on an assumption that we --
that this land swap will go through. We think it is. It's looking good, but we don't have
the paperwork back yet to -- to support that and move forward with surveys and final
platting, so -- you know, some of the real pros of this site -- it is -- it's a good size. It's a
great use of an awkward shaped piece of land. There is some infrastructure in place.
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It's walkable from downtown. The construction documents on this are in our current
year's budget and the construction of the remaining portion of that park, regardless of
whether it's parking and open grass or parking and a playground picnic shelter or dog
park is in our CIP for 2015 and could be possibly advanced to -- to this year, if that's the
desire of Council. The cons, of course, development is pending the land swap. We
currently don't own the land. We think we are close, but we don't have an answer this
evening that says, yeah, we are there and we could move forward. You know, there is
-- there is a conflict between the softball field and dog park and -- you know, we kind of
see it as a conflict that would exist whether a dog park goes in or not, because the
softballs could be hit over the fence into a drive aisle or a parking lot, so we kind of see
some kind of netting going up to catch the softballs, so as a pro -- as a con to that, that
is -- that is one for discussion. Now, before we go into the level of effort, is there any
questions that I can answer regarding location or any specifics on either site at this
point?
De Weerd: Council, any comments or questions?
Bird: Not at this point, no.
Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, real quick. Compare the size between the two. Are they very
similar or is the Storey Park one a little larger? It's hard to tell. I mean different photos,
but --
Barton: Madam Mayor. Councilman Hoaglun, the -- the Storey Park site, the way that
it's currently designed is actually a little bit smaller and that's because of a perimeter
path that goes up the east side and wraps around behind. So, if that was eliminated
and we shifted that path to maybe a wider sidewalk on the parking lot side, we could
gain that space back and they would be identical.
Hoaglun: Okay. So, in other words, Mike, they are fairly close.
Barton: Pretty close.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thanks.
Barton: Correct.
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I don't know if it's premature, but I -- I agree with making the
Storey Park site the preferred site and partially that is when you look at the Lanark site
and we have talked about a field house possibly going there, as much as I am
supportive and in favor of the partnership that I hope we are building with the YMCA, to
sort of solve our field house problem on a short-term basis, my assumption is that over
the next several years of growth, even with the YMCA partnership in place, we may still
need that field house and I personally am not quit ready to give that up, so I side with
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November 19, 2013
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the Storey Park site. Maybe -- maybe you're getting to more of that and that was
premature to say, but I just thought I would expose my bias.
De Weerd: Well -- and I guess, you know, the comment about this -- this is a real urban
use and I do like -- as Councilman Hoaglun indicated that this -- this is a nice urban use,
it's walkable, people in the area can get there, but that would be the same reason I
would like the field house there. Where the maintenance facility is it's -- it's industrial,
it's on a busy arterial that you -- you want these kind of facilities to be -- you can bike,
walk, and drive to it all -- all of it and it can be utilized as an urban use and that is why I
like Storey Park for that. Actually, for both of those.
Bird: Madam Mayor? You put a field house at Storey Park? You realize there is a
ditch covering that. You're not going to get a very big field house in there.
De Weerd: No, I'm not -- I do think that Storey Park is the place for a field house, but
not that piece. That is a dog park. I think that's a perfect park. No, my point with the --
the -- any kind of facility and/or gym -- I think it needs to be accessible by walking,
biking, or by car and the -- the maintenance location is not really friendly to that.
Bird: You're right.
De Weerd: Until we get a pathway on the rail corridor
Barton: That's what I was just going to say. So, Madam Mayor, Council, I think what
I'm hearing is Storey Park, develop -- start to think about that one more -- a little more
seriously. We have to push this land swap through and get that taken care of --
De Weerd: Yeah. Push it through. Come on.
Barton: You know, whatever that means, I -- we will do the best to make phone calls
and send a-mails and keep on top of it.
De Weerd: You know, Mike, I do think Storey Park, if we can get the land swap
buttoned up, I know all parties are interested, it's now a federal thing, but with the
timeline for the current facility and the need to -- to get his moving and done, so it can
be relocated -- there is an urgency there.
Barton: Yeah. Madam Mayor, that's -- that's a great point and I know that with the --
with the current facility closing we have opened up off leash hours in Kleiner Park,
which kind of helps a little bit. There is an option. Those go away in the spring, but if
this goes through we can -- we can put up a project sign at the current dog park and
generate some excitement and let folks know that we are -- we do have -- we do have a
new site, it's going to be really cool, you know, and they can just kind of hold on maybe
for a little while and we will have it there for them.
Hoaglun: And, Madam Mayor and Mike, we will accept donations.
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November 19, 2013
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Barton: Absolutely.
Hoaglun: Okay. You never know.
Barton: Yeah.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Something that hasn't been mentioned about this site, but it might be
beneficial for both of us is we have a neighbor right there that's very much into pets
and --
Bird: Zamzow's.
Rountree: -- animal feed and all the kind of stuff, so I can -- I can see them having an
interest in this and maybe even put their name on it. I don't know. Sponsor --
De Weerd: They were -- there were very helpful with the K-9 facility. They were a
critical partner to that, so -- they have already shown that they are very interested.
Barton: Yeah. Keep that in mind. Yes. So, with that said, I think we are definitely
hearing -- hearing a strong message -- go Storey Park, get the land swap done. So,
with that said, I think there is just a -- I'd like to touch on the level of effort for a minute
and we are working with the dog park task force, they identified some things that they
would like to see in a future dog park and those include separate small dog, large dog
areas, picnic shelters for shade and areas for people to congregate, dedicated
restroom, pathways, signage, drinking fountain, benches and shade. Is that a -- is that
an acceptable level of effort? I think we would like some feedback on, you know, some
of that.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I think off -- I don't know how we, to start with, can afford restrooms, because they
got to be pretty -- up to ADA standards, handicapped, men and womens and I -- I don't
believe I have seen any restrooms in Nampa.
De Weerd: I think we have restrooms -- certainly we have restrooms in Storey Park,
but --
Bird: We have restrooms in Storey Park. That's what I mean, but -- they are talking
about putting -- incorporating one in a dog park, aren't you?
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November 19, 2013
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De Weerd: But, Mike, aren't you redoing the restrooms over by the softball fields?
Barton: So, Madam Mayor and Councilman Bird, there is -- there is a couple of
different options. In the Storey Park master plan the current restroom facility that's in
Storey Park, we have had concerns from -- from park users that it's located across the
driveway and even from people that have younger kids at softball games, they are not
comfortable letting those kids -- those kids leave the softball field shelter area and go to
the restroom, because they have to cross the driveway and that problem is -- is going to
get worse when we open it up for through traffic out to Watertower. So, we see a
restroom of some kind being built in that lower half and whether it's one by the shelter
that can service the shelter and the softball field -- dog park people would have a little
further to go with the two restrooms. We see as just a potential solution to that is to
build a small restroom on that lower side, remodel the existing restroom and shop,
modernize it, do away with the restrooms up there for public use, but remodel that into a
shop -- maybe just put trusses on the roof, something like that. Esthetically bring it up
to standard. So, that's an option. Whether it's one restroom or two, but we see -- we
see one getting -- being built down there and we kind of sought it out even before we
discussed a dog park on this location, so --
De Weerd: Well, I guess I'm confused and maybe it's just because I'm cheap, but we
have restrooms in Storey Park in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce. In
Settlers Park we have one set -- we have three restrooms -- three buildings with
restrooms?
Barton: Three buildings. Correct.
De Weerd: Oh, my gosh. Well, we need to promote exercise and people can walk. But
at some point you do need to replace those. I think the parents should take their kids to
the restroom. I mean -- but -- so that -- that should not be one component to the dog
park. I think you can share that side of the park and make it a dual use.
Bird: That's exactly what he explained. I misunderstood him, Tammy. Mike had
already -- I did not realize that they had already planned to move those and redo those
existing ones and -- and if you're down there playing baseball or something you
certainly -- you certainly don't want come kid running up to the chamber office to go to
the restroom.
Barton: Okay.
Hoaglun: Mike, just a little different subject about the netting. You know, there are -- I
watched my son play softball this summer in city league and that business there to the
east has a fenced in open area and you hit a foul ball, it goes in there -- it's in there. In
fact, one game someone I knew had a dog that loved to retrieve balls, so we went over
there, got the gate open wide enough and it went in and provided softballs for the -- for
the umpire, but -- you know. And that happens and that's it. You know, we could go
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November 19, 2013
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with a gate concept, although if people are using the park it's a safety issue I guess. I
was just thinking if it's not used you wouldn't have to worry about it, but -- yeah.
Barton: Councilman Hoaglun, one of the -- this field is where we put are upper division
teams, because of the home run softballs and even -- I mean they can hit -- they could
hit where the -- where the current parking lot is on that diagram, they could hit a softball
into the -- over that driveway. So, there is going to have to be some sort of a netting
and from looking at pictures there really -- once they go up there -- they kind of -- I don't
know if you get used to them, but it's maybe not as ugly as it seemed, you know, having
a big -- a tall net there and -- yeah.
Hoaglun: Take it for what it's worth. A thought out loud. Yeah, we could do that, so --
Barton: Okay. Yeah.
Zaremba: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Zaremba.
Zaremba: Just on your level or work -- not that I want to add to the list, but -- and
maybe this is something for donations and dog park people to come up with, but I would
suggest that there be some kind of toys and by that I mean a long pipe that dogs can
either craw through or jump over and, you know, some steps for them to go up and
down and -- dog playground equipment I guess I would call it.
Barton: Okay.
Hoaglun: Is this going to be a public art project?
Zaremba: Yeah. It could be public art.
Hoaglun: Council, anything else for Mike. Mike, anything else for us?
Bird: Mr. President, I do have one.
Hoaglun: Councilman Bird.
Bird: Mike, have we -- have we got notice on the existing Bark Park that -- that it is
going to be shutting down? I mean we have got -- we are going to have equipment
moving in there before too long.
Barton: Mr. President, Councilman Bird, I had a discussion with Max Jensen, who is the
project manager on the -- on the new facility there and more specifically tiling the ditch
and I asked him, you know, if the fence was coming out, when is the fence coming out,
and he seems to think they can work around -- they can the the ditch without taking the
fence out. So, that's the last I heard that it was going to remain open for a little while.
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Hoaglun: Okay, Mike, we will ask Lieutenant Colaianni.
Colaianni: Council Members, we had this discussion in command staff today and the
latest is -- is the fence has to come down because on the east side of the ditch there is
a hump and it has to be leveled before they can bring that pipe in and the the canal and
we have to be out of that area by the second week in March and as it stands today, we
anticipate construction starting mid to end of December.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Scott. Okay. There we go.
Bird: What do we do in the meantime?
Barton: Well, there is -- Mr. President, Councilman Bird, we do have the off leash hours
at Kleiner Park, which gives people an option. They like an enclosed area. And if we
can get -- get some word on the land swap we can -- we can put a project sign up and
put it on the website and inform people that it's coming, it's going to be really nice, help
us plan it. We will generate some excitement.
Hoaglun: Okay. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it.
Barton: Thank you.
Bird: Thank you, Mike.
C. Community Development: Meridian Road Interchange Inter-
Agency Cooperative Agreement with the Idaho Transportation
Department
Hoaglun: We are getting close to the end. Next up -- and Mayor de Weerd had to
leave. She is leaving for Pocatello for an Association of Idaho Cities meeting first thing
early in the morning, so she took off and -- Caleb, are you doing Item 10-C?
Hood: Yes, Mr. President. Mr. President, Members of the Council, over the past year
or so staff has been working with the Meridian Interchange Taskforce, Connecting Idaho
Partners, ITD, and Parametrics on the design of the new Meridian Road interchange.
Mike Barton, who just sat down, Brian McClure, who -- who is also in the audience, just
wanted to -- to point them out. They have been very instrumental in -- in working on the
design concepts that we have talked about over the last year or so. Councilman
Rountree, also, just a quick thank you and shout out to him for participating in that
interchange taskforce and he's been very helpful through this whole process to me and I
think the outcome of it. So, what we have tonight is, essentially, the fruits of those
labors from -- in June Brian actually presented some of those elements for the
interchange, discussed some of those with you and whittled down a list to some of the
-- the things that we were interested in negotiating with the state on. Tonight we have
an agreement that's been reviewed by -- well, it was put together by ITD, but with heavy
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input from Parks, Planning, Public Works, and Legal Department staff has reviewed it.
What I'm seeking tonight is a motion to approve the agreement before you tonight, the
Mayor to sign, the Clerk to attest all proper papers. There are two copies I gave to the
clerk. Now, a little bit of what that -- that cooperative agreement with ITD talks about is
the city would commit to landscaping around the -- the interchange and, then, perpetual
maintenance of those irrigated areas. In exchange we get several of the elements we
discussed previously again in June, things like the state has done and will continue to
do, the irrigation and land -- landscape design. Now, that is to make those documents
bid ready for the landscaping, so, essentially, what we have negotiated with the state is
so they can close their project out, the city will go ahead and purchase a contractor that
could put in all the landscape materials and get the warranty on that, so they can close
their project out and they don't have to wait a year or 18 months or two years to see
how many of the plants die. That will be on the city. So, they said we will, basically, do
everything else if you, city, match the landscaping and put the landscaping in. So, we
are getting, again, all underground irrigation, they are designing all of it, all of the
landscape design to bid ready status and all the underground installation of the irrigation
system. We will also get the ten foot sidewalk pathway on the west side of the project.
Sidewalk connection to the Waltman, Commercial, Meridian intersection, and the well
abutment form liner with the stain, the parapet form liners with the stain, interparapet
form liners with the stain, the columns and center pier form liner and the SPUI concrete
joining area on the top deck. That would be in this area here. That's the joining, I don't
know if you recall that -- saw cutting, basically, of that concrete area and the stamped
concrete in Meridian Road center medians. The agreement says if the city doesn't at
least put in the landscaping area in Areas A, which are the four quadrants, including the
off ramp areas, we, then, have to pay a penalty for the state to redesign and, then,
install the hardscaping of that. So, they are going to all these expenses to design it, to
accommodate landscaping. If we change our mind they are going to not only change it
per the design to get ready for landscaping, but also charge us for the design and
installation of what they have gotten in the first place if we didn't want to partner with
them. So, it's a pretty hefty penalty, but we have at least to staff we have no intention of
recommending to anyone that we don't follow through with out at least landscaping of
those areas Ijust -- I just pointed out. In addition, the agreement also allows us -- it
doesn't require us to -- but it allows us to install barrier rail art and the rail art and the
rock that we discussed ad nauseum a little bit, but -- but there is things that are always
talked about in the agreement, but they are not required. Now, what city staff will be
presenting to you this next year will be an enhancement for the development, but if the
Council decides at that time not to fund those, there is no penalty with the state. We
think it makes sense, again, staff level to bring this concept to life to fund those things,
but the state doesn't necessarily care if we don't put barrier art in or the MSU wall art in
the future or the rock for that matter. So, again, more discussion to come on that. We
will work on getting some better concepts and, then, coming up with an enhancement
request or two, kind of depending on what Parks is willing to kind of manage and take
over and maybe some of that -- another department on a different line item or maybe
we lump it all together in one. Just a couple of other things to note, since we talked
about this last. With Brian and Mike and Jay Gibbons, too, was also a pretty active
participant getting serious in the landscape materials that are -- that are now in the
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November 19, 2013
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documents, they are very low water consuming plant materials, so there is no turf in
what we are -- what we are looking at for the landscape design, so -- and not only is that
good for water consumption, it's also good for maintenance. So, we don't exactly know
what that's going to cost, again, we got some -- but low water, low maintenance is kind
of the theme with some of these -- with the landscape design. So, with that, too, we
have kind of at this point gone away from a wall, that was something that we talked
about previously, and just using the potable water, because it is low water is the idea.
So, just wanted to bring you -- you know, kind of circle back on a couple of those things
we talked about previously with this project and I just real quickly I wanted to run you
through the rest of that agreement then. Exhibit A contains what the state is willing to
commit to. Exhibit B contains the irrigated areas. Just a quick note on that. So, Area A
are the four quadrant areas and, then, the off ramp areas that we talked about. Area B
would, then, be kind of the shoulder areas outside of that on all four quadrants. This is
a little misleading. We have actually pulled a lot of these trees in closer -- excuse me --
in tighter to the ramp and so what the city would maintain would just generally be, really,
the footprint area of the bridge. But that's in Exhibit B. And in the future it talks about
our potential and presence in the future and, then, D is the table with the penalties. So,
with that, Mr. President, I would stand for any questions you may have.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Caleb. Council, any questions?
Rountree: Mr. President?
Hoaglun: Councilman Rountree.
Rountree: Caleb, on the quadrant landscape -- not the quadrant, but the triangular
landscaping at the ramps, I was under the impression that the state was going to pay for
that or at least give us the cost of hardscaping and we would make up the difference.
So, is that still the case?
Hood: Mr. President, Councilman Rountree, there was some horse trading that,
basically, went on. A dollar for dollar line item --
Rountree: Okay.
Hood: -- like I mentioned the staining, some of those other elements that the city
wanted, the state basically said we will do all of your want list if you take over the
landscaping and put the landscaping in, because they didn't want to have anything to do
with that, again, for -- so they could close their project out. So, basically, again, the
state said we will pay for all of these other things if you do the landscaping.
Rountree: Okay. And that landscaping will be very similar to what we have at Ten
Mile?
Hood: Yeah. I didn't have that exhibit, you know, we do have a 95 percent -- even 99
percent plan I think at this point for that -- if you look on exhibit -- I don't know if you
Meridian City Council
November 19, 2013
Page 90 of 92
have that. It lists the plant -- lists the number of plants in Exhibit -- I just gave it to
Jaycee, because I was hoping the Mayor could sign it. In the exhibit it actually lists the
number of plant materials in Exhibit A and it's -- it's probably okay. Mike can speak to
how similar it is to Ten Mile.
Barton: Mr. President and Councilman Rountree, the upper triangles are -- will be
consistent plant material, the same as the medians on Ten Mile.
Rountree: And that's my question.
Barton: Yeah.
Rountree: But not the rest of the area.
Barton: Just the medians. And, then, in what we call Area B, which is the lower
sections, there is a few trees and that's it. And, then, it's mown grass and we will be
responsible for maintenance in the irrigated areas only. So, we are not maintaining the
entire right of way, it's -- you know, our maintenance burden will be probably 25 to 30
percent of the entire right of way, so --
Rountree: Thanks, Mike.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Mike. Any other questions? If not, thank you, Caleb. Brian,
thank you for your work on this. I know you have put a lot of time and effort and energy
and some great ideas. So, we really appreciate that. Great. Any -- and we need a
motion, right, Caleb? Is that what you're looking for? Council?
Rountree: Mr. President, I move that we authorize the Clerk to attest and the Mayor to
sign or execute the joint agreement with ITD for the improvements on the Meridian
interchange.
Zaremba: Second.
Hoaglun: I have a motion and a second to approve the plan for the Meridian
interchange. Moving forward with that. I guess -- I don't think we need a roll call vote
on that, so all those in favor, please, say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 11: Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 13-1581: An Ordinance (RZ 13-007 -Baltic
Place Addition) For The Re-Zone Of A Parcel Of Land Located
In The NW'/a Of The NE'/a Of Section 18, Township 3 North,
Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, City Of Meridian, Ada County
Idaho; Establishing And Determining The Land Use Zoning
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Classification Of I-L (Light Industrial) Zoning Districts In The
Meridian City Code; And Providing An Effective Date
Hoaglun: Item 11-A is Ordinance No. 13-1581. Madam Clerk, would you, please, read
the ordinance by title only.
Holman: Thank you. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 13-1581, an Ordinance RZ 13-
007, Baltic Place Addition for the rezone of a parcel of land located in the northwest one
quarter of the northeast one quarter of Section 18, Township 3 North, Range 1 East,
Boise meridian, City of Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, establishing and determining the
land use zoning classification of I-L, Light Industrial Zoning District, in the Meridian City
Code, providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County
assessor, the Ada County recorder and the Idaho State Tax Commission as required by
law and providing for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the
reading rules and providing an effective date.
Hoaglun: Thank you, Jaycee. Is there anyone who would like to hear the ordinance
read in its entirety?
Rountree: Oh, please.
De Weerd: Seeing none, Council?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Hoaglun: Councilman Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Ordinance No. 13-1581 with suspension of rules.
Zaremba: Second.
Hoaglun: We have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance 13-1581, with
suspension of rules. Madam Clerk, would you, please, call the roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea.
Hoaglun: All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 12: Future Meeting Topics
Hoaglun: Item 12, Future Meeting Topics?
Bird: I have none.
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November 19, 2013
Page 92 of 92
Hoaglun: One thing to note, we are not planning on having Council on Christmas Eve
or New Years Eve, so --
Bird: No.
Rountree: Very good.
Hoaglun: -- plan accordingly.
Rountree: Move that we adjourn.
Bird: Second.
Hoaglun: All those in favor, please, say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Hoaglun: We are adjourned.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 10:52 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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MAYOR TA Y DE WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTEST`:f
CE LMAN, CITY
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