HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-02-11~ IDIAN CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
MEETING AGENDA
City Council Chambers
33 East Broadway Avenue
Meridian, Idaho
Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 3:00 PM
1. Roll-Call Attendance
X David Zaremba X Joe Borton
O Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Genesis Milam X Luke Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted
4. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 2-8)
A. First Amendment to Lease Agreement for Concessions Operations at
Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park
B. Award of Bid and Approval of Agreement to Asphalt Driveways & Patching,
Inc. for the Five Mile Pathway Segment E project for the Not-To-Exceed
amount of $114,655.84
C. Approve Minutes of January 14, 2014 City Council Workshop Meeting
D. Approve Minutes of January 21, 2014 City Council PreCouncil Meeting
E. Approve Minutes of January 21, 2014 City Council Meeting
F. Approve Minutes of January 28, 2014 City Council Meeting
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: Public Hearing: RZ 13-
017 Sheryl 4-Plex by JTC Inc. or Assigns Located 3150 W. Sheryl Drive
Request: Rezone of 0.54 of an Acre of Land from the L-O to the TN-R
Zoning District
H. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-047 Baraya Subdivision No. 1 by CBH
Homes Located at South Side of W. Franklin Road, Midway Between Black
Cat and Ten Mile Roads Request: Final Plat Consisting of Forty-Seven (47)
Single-Family Residential Building Lots and Three (3) Common Lots on
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Page 1 of 4
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.
11.05 Acres of Land in the R-8 and R-15 Zoning Districts AND Request to
Renumber this to Subdivision No. 1
5
Items Moved From Consent Agenda None (Pg 3)
6. Action Items
A. Continued from January 21, 2014: Public Hearing: RZ 13-015 Solterra by
Capital Christian Center, Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Rezone of Approximately 22.61 Acres
from the L-O (Limited Office) Zoning District to the C-G (General Retail and
Service Commercial) (2.39 acres); L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 acres) and R-15
(Medium High Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning Districts (Pg 3-8)
B. Continued from January 21, 2014: Public Hearing: CPAM 13-002 Solterra
by Capital Christian Center Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Amend the Future Land Use Map
Contained in the Comprehensive Plan to Change the Land Use Designation
on Approximately 22.61 Acres from Office to Mixed Use-Regional (Pg 3-8)
C. Continued from January 21, 2014: Public Hearing: PP 13-037 Solterra by
Capital Christian Center Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting
of Three (3) Commercial Lots, One (1) Office Lot, Ninety-Three (93)
Residential Lots and Eleven (11) Common/Other Lots on Approximately
21.51 Acres in a Proposed C-G, L-O and R-15 Zoning Districts (Pg 3-8)
D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 13-015 Solterra by
Capital Christian Center, Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Rezone of Approximately 22.61 Acres
from the L-O (Limited Office) Zoning District to the C-G (General Retail and
Service Commercial) (2.39 acres); L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 acres) and R-15
(Medium High Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning Districts Approved
(Pg 3-8)
E. Development Agreement Approval: RZ 13-015 Solterra by Capital Christian
Center, Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory
Way Request: Rezone of Approximately 22.61 Acres from the L-O (Limited
Office) Zoning District to the C-G (General Retail and Service Commercial)
(2.39 acres); L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 acres) and R-15 (Medium High
Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning Districts Approved (Pg 3-8)
F. Resolution No. 14-977: CPAM 13-002 Solterra by Capital Christian Center
Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way
Request: Amend the Future Land Use Map Contained in the
Comprehensive Plan to Change the Land Use Designation on
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Page 2 of 4
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.
Approximately 22.61 Acres from Office to Mixed Use-Regional Approved
(Pg 3-8)
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: Public Hearing: PP 13-
037 Solterra by Capital Christian Center Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E.
Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Preliminary Plat Approval
Consisting of Three (3) Commercial Lots, One (1) Office Lot, Ninety-Three
(93) Residential Lots and Eleven (11) Common/Other Lots on
Approximately 21.51 Acres in a Proposed C-G, L-O and R-15 Zoning
Districts Approved (Pg 8-9)
7. Department Reports
A. Legal Department: Strategic Plan Update (Pg 9-)
B. Community Development Report: Growth Impact Tool (Pg 33-42)
C. Public Works: FY 2013 Engineering Project Closeout Report (Pg 42-57)
D. Fire Department Report: Compliance Engine Inspection Reporting and
Notification System
Vacated (Pg 57)
E. Title amended to read: Community Development: Update on
Transportation Projects, Plans and Studies -Includes Discussion About
Center Medians/Curbing in Overland Road West of Meridian Road and
Upcoming Construction Projects (Pg 22-33)
F. Community Development: Discuss Protocol for Requests to Continue
Public Hearing Items (Pg 57-62)
8. Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 14-1598: An Ordinance (RZ 13-015 -Solterra) For The Re-
Zone Of A Parcel Of Land Located In The Southwest'/4 Of The Southeast'/4
Section 05, Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, City Of
Meridian, Ada County Idaho; Establishing And Determining The Land Use
Zoning Classification Of L-O (Limited Office) Zoning District To The C-G
(General Retail And Service) (2.39 Acres), L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 Acres)
And R-15 (Medium High Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning District
Approved (Pg 62-63)
9. Future Meeting Topics (Pg 63-64)
10. Other Items
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Page 3 of 4
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
A. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c): (c) To Conduct
Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest in
Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency Vacated (Pg 64-65)
Adjourned at 6:10 p.m.
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda -Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Page 4 of 4
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
Meridian City Council Workshop February 11, 2014
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday,
February 11, 2014, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, David Zaremba, Keith Bird, Joe Borton,
Genesis Milam and Luke Cavener.
Members Absent: Charlie Rountree.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Bruce Chatterton, Caleb Hood, Warren
Stewart, Kyle Radek, Bill Parson, Justin Lucas, Michael de St. Germain, Perry Palmer,
and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Joe Borton
Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Genesis Milam X Luke Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Okay. I would like to welcome everyone to our City Council workshop. For
the record it is Tuesday, February 11th. It's 3:00 o'clock. We will start with roll call
attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the
pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is adoption of the agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Item No. 6-F, the resolution number is 14-977. Item 7-D has been asked by staff
to be vacated at this time. And Item E is to be amended to read community
development, update on transportation projects, plans, and studies and, Ordinances,
under 8-A the proposed ordinance number is 14-1598. And with that I move we
approve the amended agenda.
Meridian City Council Workshop
February 11, 2014
Page2of65
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 4: Consent Agenda
A. First Amendment to Lease Agreement for Concessions
Operations at Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park
B. Award of Bid and Approval of Agreement to Asphalt Driveways
& Patching, Inc. for the Five Mile Pathway Segment E project
for the Not-To-Exceed amount of $114,655.84
C. Approve Minutes of January 14, 2014 City Council Workshop
Meeting
D. Approve Minutes of January 21, 2014 City Council PreCouncil
Meeting
E. Approve Minutes of January 21, 2014 City Council Meeting
F. Approve Minutes of January 28, 2014 City Council Meeting
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: Public
Hearing: RZ 13-017 Sheryl 4-Plex by JTC Inc. or Assigns
Located 3150 W. Sheryl Drive Request: Rezone of 0.54 of an
Acre of Land from the L-O to the TN-R Zoning District
H. Final Order for Approval: FP 13-047 Baraya Subdivision No. 1
by CBH Homes Located at South Side of W. Franklin Road,
Midway Between Black Cat and Ten Mile Roads Request: Final
Plat Consisting of Forty-Seven (47) Single-Family Residential
Building Lots and Three (3) Common Lots on 11.05 Acres of
Land in the R-8 and R-15 Zoning Districts AND Request to
Renumber this to Subdivision No. 1
De Weerd: Consent Agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Meridian City Council Workshop
February 11, 2014
Page 3 of 65
Bird: I move we approve the Consent Agenda as published and for the Mayor to sign
and the Clerk to attest.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. Madam
Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea;
Cavener, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 5: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Action Items
A. Continued from January 21, 2014: Public Hearing: RZ 13-015
Solterra by Capital Christian Center, Inc. Located Northeast
Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request:
Rezone of Approximately 22.61 Acres from the L-O (Limited
Office) Zoning District to the C-G (General Retail and Service
Commercial) (2.39 acres); L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 acres) and
R-15 (Medium High Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning
Districts
B. Continued from January 21, 2014: Public Hearing: CPAM 13-
002 Solterra by Capital Christian Center Inc. Located Northeast
Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request:
Amend the Future Land Use Map Contained in the
Comprehensive Plan to Change the Land Use Designation on
Approximately 22.61 Acres from Office to Mixed Use-Regional
C. Continued from January 21, 2014: Public Hearing: PP 13-037
Solterra by Capital Christian Center Inc. Located Northeast
Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request:
Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of Three (3) Commercial
Lots, One (1) Office Lot, Ninety-Three (93) Residential Lots and
Eleven (11) Common/Other Lots on Approximately 21.51 Acres
in a Proposed C-G, L-O and R-15 Zoning Districts
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February 11, 2014
Page 4 of 65
D. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 13-015
Solterra by Capital Christian Center, Inc. Located Northeast
Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request:
Rezone of Approximately 22.61 Acres from the L-O (Limited
Office) Zoning District to the C-G (General Retail and Service
Commercial) (2.39 acres); L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 acres) and
R-15 (Medium High Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning
Districts
E. Development Agreement Approval: RZ 13-015 Solterra by
Capital Christian Center, Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E.
Fairview Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Rezone of
Approximately 22.61 Acres from the L-O (Limited Office)
Zoning District to the C-G (General Retail and Service
Commercial) (2.39 acres); L-O (Limited Office) (9.04 acres) and
R-15 (Medium High Density Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning
Districts
F. Resolution No. 14-977: CPAM 13-002 Solterra by Capital
Christian Center Inc. Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview
Avenue and N. Hickory Way Request: Amend the Future Land
Use Map Contained in the Comprehensive Plan to Change the
Land Use Designation on Approximately 22.61 Acres from
Office to Mixed Use-Regional
De Weerd: So, we will move to Item 6-A, which is a continued public hearing RZ 13-
015. I will ask for staff comment.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council.
De Weerd: And, I'm sorry, Bill, I'm just -- we are accepting comments on all 6-A, B, C,
and D. And E. And F.
Parsons: All of the action items listed in the agenda
De Weerd: Yes. All of that.
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this
January 21st hearing, based on recommendation from
They wanted to have their commission act on the
project was continued from the
ACHD's planning division staff.
application before your body
recommended either approval or denial -- made action on the application as well. I am
happy to report that that hearing was scheduled and heard on the 5th. The commission
-- their commission did approve the project as it was presented to you on the 21st with
no changes to their site specific conditions of approval. The findings that are on the
agenda this evening -- they do reflect those updated site specific conditions moving
forward and to my knowledge none of the adjacent neighbors even testified at ACHD's
Meridian City Council Workshop
February 11, 2014
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commission on this project. So, with that we are asking you to take final action on this
application today and I'd stand for any questions you have.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none at this time.
De Weerd: Any comment by the applicant? Okay.
Bird: Any other public --
De Weerd: This is a continued public hearing. Is there anyone that would like to
provide testimony on this item -- these items?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Hearing none, I move that we close the public hearings on RZ 13-015, CPAM 13-
002, PP 13-037, RZ 13-015, and RZ 13 -- no, that isn't a public hearing. Neither RC --
Nary: Just the top three.
Bird: Just the top three, A, B and C. Excuse me.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearings on Items 6-A, B
and C. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve RZ 13-015 and to include all staff, application, and public
testimony.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-A. Any discussion by
Council? Okay. Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, abstain; Borton, yea; Milam, yea;
Cavener, yea.
Meridian City Council Workshop
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Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I was out of town on that day and I apologize that I have not
caught up from the minutes, so I will abstain from voting on this item.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Zaremba. Okay. That motion passed.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSTAIN. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Item 6-B.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve CPAM 13-002 and to include all staff, applicant, and public
testimony.
Nary: Madam Mayor? You're actually -- Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you're
actually approving the resolution for the comp plan amendment, which is Item 6-F.
Bird: So, we don't approve this, but wait until we go down to the resolution?
Nary: Yes. Actually, those -- those are the actions below -- are D, E, and F. D and E
would normally on your regular agendas be on Consent, but you can approve those
and, then, the resolution is what's required for the comp plan amendment.
Bird: So --
Nary: And, then, there is findings for --
Bird: So, we do the resolution instead of the public hearing?
Nary: Correct. All you have done is close the public hearing and, then, you're going to
approve the findings and the development agreement and, then, the comp plan
amendment.
Bird: Okay. I withdraw my motion. Do you want to go to F, then, or do you want to --
De Weerd: So, Mr. Nary?
Nary: Yes, ma'am.
De Weerd: They have just approved the rezone --
Bird: Yes.
Meridian City Council Workshop
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De Weerd: They have already moved and approved Item 6-A. So, now they need to
approve the resolution?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, what -- what I actually took that to be --
you're not really approving A, B and C, you're approving Item D --
Bird: D, E and F.
Nary: -- with the findings for the rezone, then, you would need to approve the
development agreement that's attached to the rezone --
De Weerd: Right.
Nary: -- which is E.
De Weerd: They approved RZ, the rezone
Nary: Correct. Item D. Correct. And, then there is also a rezone ordinance that's at
the end of your agenda as well. Sorry. It was a little confusing, because of the way we
had to set this up to do them all together, but when I took the last Council action really
was approving the findings for the rezone and so your next action could be to, then,
approve the development agreement, which is Item 6-E or -- and, then, the comp plan
amendment, which is the resolution that's F.
De Weerd: Okay. So, we can go to -- to the --
Bird: 6-E.
De Weerd: -- development agreement.
Nary: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve the development agreement approval, RZ 13-015 and to
include all staff, applicant, and public testimony.
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the development agreement
under -- listed under 6-E. Any discussion from Council? Madam Clerk.
Meridian City Council Workshop
February 11, 2014
Page 8 of 65
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, abstain; Borton, yea; Milani, yea;
Cavener, yea.
De Weerd: Motion passes.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSTAIN. ONE ABSENT.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Resolution No. 14-977.
Milani: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-F. Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, abstain; Borton, yea; Milani, yea;
Cavener, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSTAIN. ONE ABSENT.
G. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: Public
Hearing: PP 13-037 Solterra by Capital Christian Center Inc.
Located Northeast Corner of E. Fairview Avenue and N.
Hickory Way Request: Preliminary Plat Approval Consisting of
Three (3) Commercial Lots, One (1) Office Lot, Ninety-Three
(93) Residential Lots and Eleven (11) Common/Other Lots on
Approximately 21.51 Acres in a Proposed C-G, L-O and R-15
Zoning Districts
De Weerd: So, will you explain Item G?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, so you have also heard the preliminary
plat -- was part of the public hearing and normally you would have had the action -- or
you would have had the hearing items, you would normally, then, approve them and,
then, we would bring you back these other items at a different date for approval. Since
we are doing them all at one hearing, it seemed easier to just approve the specific
items. So, now Item 6-G is the preliminary findings for Solterra that needs approval.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: I move that we approve the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law on PP 13-
037.
Meridian City Council Workshop
February 11, 2014
Page 9 of 65
Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve this item. Any discussion from
Council? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, abstain; Borton, yea; Milam, yea;
Cavener, yea.
De Weerd: Okay. Motion passes.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSTAIN. ONE ABSENT.
Item 7: Department Reports
A. Legal Department: Strategic Plan Update
De Weerd: Thank you. That seemed a little painful. But there you go. Item 7-A is
under our Legal Department, so I will turn this over to Mr. Nary. The Knights of the
Round Table, uh?
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. We try to think of a theme
every time and some of the folks thought that alone again was good or we are alone.
De Weerd: Naturally.
Nary: Something like that. But we do use that round table quite a bit. It actually is kind
of the signature for our department and we do all of our preparations, all of our pre-
Council, post-Council collaboration, discussions are done at that table. So, it actually is
kind of the heart and center of our -- of our department and what we do and we just
think it was appropriate to highlight that as our presentation for this year. So, I
appreciate it. We are small, but mighty now. We have five of us in the Legal
Department. That includes myself. We have two deputy attorneys, Ted Baird and
Emily Kane. As well as an assistant city attorney Andrea Pogue. And, then, our
paralegal, legal services support manager Michelle Albertson. So, we do do a lot with a
very robust staff and we try to make sure that all the things we do really are -- our
objective is always to make sure that we protect the city's interest in every way. Kind of
like the Knights of the Round Table. So, it seemed to be very fitting for us this year to
pick that as a theme. I wanted to show a little bit of our office. We have a new space. I
think most of you have been by, but if you haven't -- our lobby. One of these days we
will actually have a sign, I think, on the door. That might be nice. Or in the hallway. We
do have a little trouble with people finding us, so we are trying to get that handled here
soon, so that people know where we are. And this is some of the interior. Our
conference room and area. Actually, as I was doing -- looking for different knights. This
is actually my great great grandfather's crest from England, so I thought it seemed
appropriate to include that. So, what do we do? Well, for most folks Ithink -- for all of
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February 11, 2014
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you you probably have the most interaction with my staff than anybody else in the city,
but we do a lot with a little. We -- we review every Council agenda. We review every
item that gets on the Council agenda. We, of course, are here at all the Council
meetings, but we also cover all the boards and commissions of the city. We have a
legal representation for all of those. We provide training for all of those commissions,
both on public meeting requirements, public records meeting protocol, public meeting
act requirements and such. So, we are -- we are there present at all of those different
meetings of those different boards and commissions to make sure legal compliance is
being handled appropriately. We review all the resolutions and proclamations that are
done for certain items. We do all the development agreements. You see many of those
on your land use applications, a development agreement. We work with a lot of private
counsel on those around -- around the valley. We are always looking to improve those,
but we work pretty diligently to kind of cut those down as best as possible, keep them
sort and clean, to the point. We don't get paid by the word in the public sector, so
longer is not necessarily better, so we try to make it more concise as we can. We
prepare all --
De Weerd: Is that a jab?
Bird: Do you believe that?
Nary: Prepare all the ordinances for the city as well in the matter, which level -- whether
it's the ordinances for land use, the ordinance for Police, Fire, Public Works, whatever it
is, we prepare all of those. And, again, as I said, we provide all the meeting coverage,
we do training, we review all the contracts of the city and we draft most of the
documents that you will see in front of you we have either drafted them -- or we
definitely have reviewed them all and a majority of them we have drafted originally. So,
a few of the highlights for 2013 I wanted to talk about. The Victory South annexation, I
think that was a big undertaking with my department, with myself, Mr. Barry, Public
Works and, then, our -- the private partners with the Meridian Heights Water and Sewer
District, as well as the residents of both Kentucky Ridge and Meridian Heights. It was a
very major undertaking. We had not done aCategory A -- or, excuse me, a Category B
annexation of that type in the city of that scale and that was -- we think it was very
successful. We are still working through the finalities of the agreement. We are still on
track with Public Works on getting this accomplished by the end of the year, for the
district to dissolve and for all of that to become part of the city and we are very proud of
that. That's -- that was a very major undertaking and it's really positive for the city and
we were very happy to be a part of that and we think that was a very critical step
forward for the city. Commercial recycling also has been avery -- a very involved and a
very lengthy discussion over about a year's time period on both our transition of our
trash service from Sanitary Services to Republic Services, but also in how the various
types of solid waste are disposed of in our community. Some of it is done through
public services and some of it's done through other vendors of Pacific Recycling and
Western Recycling and a few others do various types and trying to sort that out as to
what falls under our contract and what doesn't and how we would manage that was a
task undertaking both for the Solid Waste Advisory Commission, as well as Andrea
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February 11, 2014
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Pogue from my office, environmental with Mollie Mangerich and also with utility billing.
It was a major undertaking of that commission to work through that to try to figure out
what's necessary and to bring an ordinance that was passed last year to the Council.
We thought that was a big success story for the city again to try and manage the solid
waste interests throughout the city was very time consuming and very complex -- much
more complex than we thought at the outset it would be and it was really a -- I think a
job well done and a success for everyone. Parks code is another area. We have spent
a few years -- Emily Kane is our primary attorney that works with the Parks Department.
We have spent a lot of time in trying to put the parks code in order to make sure there
was some clarity and sometimes there has been some issues of how parks are used
and what you can do, what you can't do, how you rent facilities, what things you can do
in parks. You know, we want to make sure parks are open to everybody, but we also
want to make sure that the public's ground is protected and it doesn't become some free
zone for people to open a business, run a business, you know, not really have any
reason to care or take care of the park, yet they are making money off of the public's
ground. So, we wanted to make sure our ordinances were in order to do that and,
again, we have a lot of different types of activities in our parks and we want to make
sure that it was done appropriately, legally, and safely and working with the parks staff
is always a pleasure and the parks commission is a very actively engaged citizen's
commission in our city and Emily did a masterful job in managing that in taking a very
long code and trying to put some sense to it all. I know sometimes it can be very -- it
can always be what's off putting sometimes with lawyers, when you think you're going to
fix one thing and, then, we bring you a 30 page ordinance as a rewrite, sometimes that's
a little off putting for folks, but we really want to make sure it's all done properly and it's
all put together and try not to make it quite so complicated. So, we -- now sometimes
we try to chunk those out a little bit smaller. But the parks code was a major
undertaking, it took us a few years to get it there. The new City Council training, we did
that in December. Some of your -- or all of you were part of that and we were really
proud of that. We thought that was a good undertaking for all of our departments to
work together to provide training on, again, all the levels of different things that council
members need to know, our elected officials need to know in dealing with the public.
There is a lot of complexities that you may or may not have known at the outset in
dealing with public record and public opinion about things and -- but working with all of
our departments in putting that together again was a success and a highlight for us.
The impact fee update was done -- it's not quite done, but we -- it is a major undertaking
to put that on to work with our consultant in the Finance Department. We think we are
close. You know, obviously, we had a great discussion last week about that and we still
have some work to do and Mr. Baird, Ted Baird, from my office is the one that manages
that particular process and I think we are going to bring you back something you're
going to like and I think we will get to some finality, but it's still an undertaking and we
really -- feel really invested with. We know that it's a long term look for the city and it's a
long term need for the city and we as a legal department want to make sure we are
doing it correctly, it's an area that can be litigious out there. We want to try to avoid
litigation on those areas if we can, so I want to make sure we are handling those right
and we are really proud of the effort that's been made to this point and what we have
brought to you. TUP updates. Those are the temporary use permits that we issue in
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the city. There is a lot of -- every year we learn different things on how they work. This
is for things that occur in the parks, like some of the large scale events. Last year -- for
some of the council members that were here, remember we had the one issue with the
event that wanted to go into Kleiner Park. The Council did deny it. We, again, want to
make sure we follow the appropriate process, so that way the public's rights are
protected, but that the city's rights are protected in the use of our facilities and we learn
something new all the time. We have a TUP team now that the Legal Department is a
part of with the Clerk's Office, with Fire, with Police, with the building department, to
make sure, again, the people that want to put on these large scale events or activities
whether they are in the parks or in the street or on the sidewalks or in other facilities,
that they are done safely, that they make sure they meet all the requirements. You
know, we can't find that after the fact that somebody forgot to get the Central District
Health approval to serve food or they didn't get their electrical permit or inspections and
they have electricity running through that event if somebody gets injured or something
even as innocuous as a tent, again, if they are not put up properly they can be very
dangerous and harmful to people, so we want to make sure all those things are done
and I know at times it seems to the average person that it's just a lot of red tape and
really all that red tape is intended for safety and to make sure that they are done
properly and we feel an integral part of that team to help that get done properly. Dark
fiber is an agreement we worked on last year in dealing with the expansion of fiber in
our city for our different facilities and it was a little different, because of the methodology
we were using and the way we were entering that contract with Syringa was different
than how we had done other types of contracts in the past, so it took a little bit -- a little
different effort to do a little bit of research and time to make sure that the city was
protected and that we had the right pieces in place in this particular agreement to make
sure that the city's investment wasn't going to get lost and so, again, that took a little bit
of time, but, again, we felt it was a long term benefit for the city in making sure that the
city was protected once again. We had a DBSI bankruptcy case out of Delaware. We
didn't have to go to Delaware, which is good. We were able to settle that very
inexpensively with outside counsel and we were able to retain the city's funds. It seems
like a no brainer and sometimes in law -- I think Councilman Borton can agree -- some
things seem like they should be obvious -- this was simply a case where DBSI had paid
us for services, for water and sewer services, but this bankruptcy court allows the
bankruptcy trustee to rescind those payments that were made close to the bankruptcy
filing no matter what they are and, then, they come back and try to sort through it all and
decide what was actually services rendered versus what was paid for some other
purpose and so it took us about almost a year to get it, basically, through the bankruptcy
court and to make it clear all we were paid, which was about 25,000 dollars, was simply
for services we had already performed. So, we were able to finally get that through and
get that concluded at a fairly inexpensive cost to the city. We also had two public
records appeals last year. We handled those in house. We don't hire out for that. We
usually will handle them ourselves. We had one appeal that was in our favor -- actually,
excuse me, we had two appeals to the district court and both were in our favor. These
were people -- a person requesting public records of both a police matter and a fire.
The police matter was -- was concluded in our favor and, then, the person appealed to
the supreme court, so that matter is still pending. But the fire one was also in our favor
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and that one was not appealed and is concluded. So, again, we think it's a much better
use of our resources on some of these to handle them internally, rather than hire
outside counsel for them. These are areas that we feel like we have more expertise
internally to handle these than really spending outside, so I think it's of greater value to
our citizens to be able to do these internally whenever we can. We had some
accolades this year. That's really not Emily Kane, but that's the best women lawyer
picture I could find. But Emily Kane from my staff was selected as one of the Idaho
Business Review women of the year for this year. I think the ceremony is next week.
We are really proud of Emily and really proud of that selection, which we feel she is well
deserved and probably should have been selected even earlier, but we are really proud
of that. She is also the incoming president of our Idaho Municipal Attorney's
Association and that's an old picture of me, that's why it's in black and white, that was
the leadership award we had a few weeks ago and we wanted to make note of that.
Sometimes we don't -- very often in our business you don't get a lot of opportunities to
have accolades. Usually people are just mad. So, we thought we would take at least
one slide to point out some good things that we have had. So, what I also wanted to
highlight as part of this is what we do for the different departments. Again, some of
them are fairly routine items, some of them are very specific to the specific needs.
Obviously, the Mayor's office we are very intricately -- we are connected physically and
we are also connected by the work that's necessary for the Mayor's office to function,
whether it's legislative reviews -- we sit on the legislative group for the city with the other
departments. We sometimes help draft legislation. We sometimes help craft white
papers for that. Or contact legislators if necessary. Myself and Emily Kane are on the
technical analysis team for the Idaho Municipal -- or for the Association of Idaho Cities
lawyers' group. We do research, obviously, for citizen inquiries. We get, you know,
occasional folks that just don't understand why this is the way it is or why it shouldn't be
the way they would like it to be and a lot of times it really is just educating folks as to
how government works, how the law was instituted and lots of times it's -- sometimes
it's really enlightening. I mean people will bring things, whether it's to the Mayor's Office
or the Council Members directly through maybe an a-mail or a comment card or to us
directly and there are things that we had not thought of, the unintended consequence
sort of situation and that may be something we might be, then, bringing back to a
department or ultimately to you to look at a change, whether an ordinance change is
appropriate or necessary. So, it really can be a real good both education tool for the
city, as well as a good learning opportunity for us and sometimes, again, we think things
should make sense, but they don't always and so sometimes as I just pointed out, we
make a change. We provide advice and support, of course, to all the various areas.
We want especially to point out Ada County landfill, because that's been a moving
target for a couple of years. There has been a lot of changes in how the landfill has
been operated and that's one that's kind of a -- it's kind of a red flag for us, because,
again, we are not the biggest player in the landfill business in Ada County. Obviously,
the city of Boise is a lot bigger user, but it does affect our citizens very greatly and how
we do things is a little different in Meridian and so we try to keep a good eye on that.
Our Solid Waste Advisory Commission is very connected with the landfill and how
things are being operated and how it might affect all of us. Of course, as I said, we
prepare for all the Council meetings and we provide all general counsel to any legal
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issues that come up, both for the Mayor's Office, as well as all the departments.
Finance. Again, the bankruptcy cases -- we don't have -- we had a lot a few years ago.
It's down a little bit, but we have certainly had a new area of expertise that we got -- got
involved in with bankruptcies during the recession. We had a number of accounts that
went into bankruptcy and it's a different world and it's a different type of law and it has a
lot of different regulations and so we needed to get up to speed pretty quickly. Andrea
Pogue from my office is really the primary attorney we placed on that. She's the one
that handles and monitors all those cases, files the appropriate stays, acquires the proof
of claim, makes sure that the city does get what they are entitled to under the
bankruptcy laws. We also have a board of adjustment, for the new council members,
you may or may not know. We have a board of adjustment that deals with billing
disputes between utility billing and a citizen and they may be something as innocuous
as they think they were overcharged for a service and we have a board that's made up
of myself, Tom Barry from Public Works, and a citizen member who is the chair, and we
hear those disputes from the citizens and we make a decision on whether or not the bill
was correct, whether it needs to be adjusted, whether it needs to be waived, depending
on what the circumstances are, and my department provides that support, along with
utility billing for that in making sure all the -- both the legal process is followed, as well
as all the documentation and material is provided. And, then, again, hopefully,
sometimes educating the public on how things are done and why they are done in a
particular way. And, then, of course, we also provide support and -- for asset disposal.
Again, there is a specific Idaho Code on how government can get rid of the stuff we
have. Sometimes it's as easy as throwing it way and sometimes it's a lot more
complicated than that. So, we want to make sure we are always following whatever
legal process is necessary. Information services and IT and the City Clerk -- again, we
review all the permits and licenses that are issues by the city, especially in the alcohol
and beer and wine area. Again, there is some specific codes on those, so we make
sure we review all those, but we also review, again, the permits that are issued for the
other types of licenses and when the code needs to be updated we bring that or if it
needs to be changed in some way we will bring that forward. We review all the public
records requests. So, for -- again, if you didn't know it, every public records request that
we get we direct through the clerk's office -- now, I'm sure there is a few here and there
that may get missed or just get responded to incorrectly, probably, but we -- some of
them also -- we have one as a tracking tool, so we know how many records requests we
get, which is a lot, and also they are reviewed properly, because, again, there is a very
specific legal process regarding all public records and how they get disseminated and
what can be disseminated and so we have a process that our office reviews them and
our contracted counsel with the police department provides the police department
reviews, so they get hundreds of requests at the police department and they get
reviewed as well, because, again, we want to make sure we are compliant. If you
comply that's why you sometimes end up in district court and we had a couple last year,
we would like to avoid those if we can, we want to make sure we are following what's
required. Again, records retention and destruction is a process that we help work with
the clerk's office to implement and we make sure that that's followed and as I spoke
before, we have a TUP, special events team, that we are a part of to help, again, make
sure that all those activities are going so the city's protected, we want to make sure that
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the city's liability isn't exposed by some activity or event, that we have some authority or
control, we want to make sure that the city's interests are taken care of. Community
development. Planning and the building services, again, we -- we work very closely
with planners and the planning department on all various levels of the UDC on
enforcement, Planning and Zoning Commission, ordinances, interpretation -- again,
development agreements, working with developers, working with their counsel, dealing
with all levels of the planning process from the pre-app stage we may get calls -- we
don't sit in on the pre-app meetings, but we are certainly involved with how those things
are done and we are involved very closely with how those are interpreted, including the
international codes that the city has adopted. So, the building code, the mechanical
code, and those such -- again, we provide analysis for those and interpretation, we
assist on those rewrites when they are necessary. The state dictates that a little bit.
So, we have to follow that. And, again, we help with departments in making sure that
we are consistent across the board that those are being applied. Police. This last year
one of the things we helped implement was no smoking in the parks. Some people like
that, some people didn't, but we as a city felt that was important and the City Council
passed that as both part of the parks code, as well as in the general city and the city
buildings, especially regards to e-cigarettes. That was a new area of the law that kind
of came upon us last year. The legislature sort of missed the boat in dealing with e-
cigarettes. They did prohibit them from minors to possess e-cigarettes, but they didn't
prohibit them in indoor spaces and I, frankly, don't know if they are going to do that this
year or not, but we felt as a city it was important, so we did bring that forward and we
did prohibit e-cigarette usage inside public buildings in the city. We also, of course,
provided a lot of assistance and support and worked very closely with code
enforcement. It's an area that can sometimes be very very tenuous in dealing with and
the public sometimes gets very agitated by -- by code enforcement, both ways, I mean
sometimes people don't like being told they can't park their boat there, some people
don't like that we didn't tell their neighbor not to park their boat there. So, it works both
ways and so we try very hard to work -- we have some excellent code enforcement
officers and we have some excellent folks in the police department that help manage
that and we work side by side with them on both code interpretation and how -- excuse
me -- how to message that, how to make sure that we are being consistent and that's
always the biggest concern I think for code is that we are being consistent across the
city, whether it's, again, any of these items here, whether it's a UDC violation or like
someone building in a setback area, nuisance, like weeds, nuisance like junk cars, junk
in their yard, those kinds of -- abandoned vehicles, all those things are being taken care
of -- weed control. So, those things you want to make sure we are consistent and we
work as a partnership with police in trying to both interpret the law, as well as help them
and give them the right tools to enforce it. Many times with that, as I noted in here in a
couple of these bullets, we will attend meetings with the -- with the violator and try to
explain and educate why do we do this and what's the outcome and whether or not, you
know, a court action is instituted or not goes through us. Many times most people will
comply without court action, some people won't, and so sometimes we have to go
beyond sending them a nasty letter and have to go to court in another fashion, then, we
do it and we certainly handle that and we do that internally as well. In Fire we do a lot of
public records with a lot of requests for run reports. Lots of them are not a problem for
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us to provide. Obviously, our fire department responds to all motor vehicle accidents
and crashes out there, but there are some issues that are different, so we have to make
sure we separate out those types of things, so that there is health information that's in
those reports sometimes and they do an excellent job in fire in separating those out.
We want to make sure that we are complying with the public records requirement, but
also making sure we are compliant with the HIPAA requirements of the federal code.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Real quick, Bill. Are most of those public records requests from the media, the
majority of the police and fire?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Borton, I would say the
largest percentage of them are insurance companies -- because of crashes.
Sometimes the media -- not -- not a real large amount for the media. A majority of them
are either citizens and primarily insurance companies.
Borton: Okay.
Nary: Administrative warrants, that was a different area we had to get into last year.
We had a property owner that is on our inspection requirement that we inspect for large
scale mass gatherings of people, didn't want us to enter voluntarily, so it required us to
go get a warrant, which was fine. A judge issued a warrant for access to simply just,
again, verify safety, that all the safety measures were in place, that all the right fire
equipment, fire sprinklers worked, fire extinguishers were up to date, those kind of
things. So, it was a different area of the law we haven't had to explore before, but --
and, then, if we have that issue come up again where we have a property owner that's
apprehensive on allowing us access, we have a means to go acquire that and, then,
again, it's for the public safety and that's the only reason we do it, just to make sure that
all those things are in working order. Parks and rec. You know, again, it's a -- it's a
great venue in our city to have the great parks that we have, which means a lot of
people like to use them, so, again, our role many times is to make sure that whatever
their people are doing that they are doing it consistently and that the city's interests are
protected, so sometimes you will see in front of you contracts that we have with an
event, we are making sure they have the appropriate insurance, they have the
appropriate permit, so they can do whatever it is they want to do and we will draft those
contracts for them most of the time. Again, many of them are forms now that we have
worked with the parks department, so we can do them very simply and it's not that
complicated. If it's a large event you probably will see it occasionally on your agenda
and usually it's things that we have worked out with the vendor and one of the things I
think that has been good for our city is we have been very up front about that process,
so now we have people that want to put on large scale events that will come to us three
months in advance saying I want to do this, how do I do it. They know that we are a city
that holds people accountable that way and they want to make sure they can do their
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event and we are trying to help them get it down. I don't think we have ever been of a
position that we are saying you can't do it, it's just you need to follow certain ways of
doing things and I think by being very public coming now -- we have a specific time
period in which you're supposed to apply and we do have people coming 30, 60, 90
days in advance of the application date to ask what do I need. We assist in all these
other things. Community garden. I think you have a community garden agreement --
it's either on this agenda or it was last week's agenda -- yeah. And so we worked with
them for the last couple years on having that in Kleiner Park. We have an agreement
on how that's managed. And sometime, again, we have real property agreements,
whether it's pathway easements and us acquiring pathways in different parts of the city,
or sometimes we have had alease -- in the 77 acres we have had a lease for farming
where the Borup property is, so we have those things that we help craft for those
departments. Public Works. Again, water and sewer easements, we review all of those,
we get a number of those for our infrastructure, so we review them all to make sure they
actually match up to where we actually want them to be. We provide legislative
assistance as well in a variety of different areas. We have been working with Nampa-
Meridian Irrigation District on a master agreement. We think we are close, but I don't
want to put that on the high list yet, but we are hopeful. We had a very good meeting
with them a week ago with their board and we are hopeful that we will get this master
agreement, which will be a very good thing for the city overall. It will ease our -- how we
do crossings and how we do our work and, then, hopefully -- the attempt is to speed it
up a little bit, so our building season, our construction season, in the ditches and
irrigation areas is very limited and so time is critical. So, if a master agreement we can
get done and other future crossing agreements we can get done in a much faster pace
that it will help us, as well as help them, so we are out of their business when they need
to be and we get our business done when we need it done. Again, recycling programs,
we have a variety of recycling programs through the solid waste commission and we
have worked with them and worked with our vendor, with Republic Services, to make
sure they are getting done properly, the money flows in the right place, everything goes
in the right place. And, then, of course, we have done some work with departments --
you know, we have had issues in the last year and probably will for a time period going
forward dealing with water consumption and pressurized irrigation, cross-connections
and those types of things and working very closely with environmental division on
whatever programs the city needs to do we can be sure whether ordinance driven or
whether it's resolution driven, how it's going to be done, so it gets in front of you in the
appropriate time and the appropriate way. Human resources. We worked together very
closely with -- with human resource on a variety of things. Sometimes it's legal issues
that come up -- I thought this kind of looked like Patty. I don't know if you would like this
picture, so -- we work pretty closely with HR, both on our union contracts, you know, on
interpretation or how -- if there is an issue or a dispute, but also on our city policies and
our city codes and how those get interpreted, both for the employees, as well as for the
city, and, of course, if there is ordinance that are needed or relate to human resources
or city policy, we can help craft those, as well as HR, so sometimes we will review them
for legal compliance or we might write them and, then, have HR review them to make
sure it fits the needs they want and if there is disciplinary matters, again, as well,
because there is, obviously, potential for exposure -- liability exposure to the city, we
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want to work very closely together in that area and make sure that we are meeting the
needs of HR, as well as all the employees.
De Weerd: Is that you laying on the ground?
Nary: No, I don't think that's you. I'm not sure.
Bird: Hair is the wrong color for --
De Weerd: No. I said you.
Nary: Oh. Me. That could be. No, that could be.
De Weerd: Not me.
Nary: Risk management. So, in our risk management we -- we have been I think from
ICRMP -- the Idaho Counties and Cities Risk Management Program is our insurer and
speaking with their director I'm really happy to say I think the city is -- is really a bright
star for them. We are one of their larger clients -- not their largest, but we are one of the
larger clients, but our loss ratio and our claims in relation to the size of our city is very
small. A majority of our claims annually are very small amounts of money and very
small amounts of types of claims. Therefore, some are crashes of city vehicles,
sometimes our fault, sometimes the other person's fault. We have some minor things.
We have had some claims regarding some of the lid covers around the city that are in
the streets will get knocked loose, so we are getting better at keeping those attached,
but they might injure a vehicle or something like that, but no large scale claims to be
paid out. We haven't had any issues. You would know better than anybody if we did
and we just don't. We have -- I think we have good management at the departmental
level to keep the larger scale types of claims from occurring. We don't have -- you
know, at other cities of our size or larger they will get a lot of claims for false arrest, they
will get a lot of claims for police harassment or police brutality -- we just don't get that.
That's -- I mean that's not our culture and that's not the type of department we have,
that's just not the types of claim we get. We don't get claims about sewer backups all
the time. We used to. We have gotten better. I think our department is much better at
cleaning sewer lines, repairing old lines, replacing old lines -- we don't get a lot of those.
Those happen occasionally, but not like it may have been ten years ago or 15 years
ago. We do -- we as a city I think do a good job of managing the work, so the claims
just don't come and on the litigation side, again, most of the claims that we have just --
ICRMP would cover those claims and we don't have very many. I mean right now we
have -- as I have mentioned before, we have a pending appeal to the Idaho Supreme
Court that's on a public records case, that's ours, and we are handling that internally.
We have one case with outside counsel that is still pending. That's actually not a
covered claim by ICRMP and we have one that is a covered claim by ICRMP that has
outside counsel on it. But we don't -- again, we don't get a lot of Human Rights
Commission complaints, we don't have alot -- we don't get any unlawful -- or unlawful
discharge types of complaints, we just don't. Again, I think we as a city -- we as the
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leadership team and the directors and the Mayor, I think we take a very active roll in
how our departments operate and that really helps keep the claims down. On the other
side where the other things that you find in risk management many times is safety and I
have stood before this Council about a year ago and said -- and I have the same
response again this year from the -- from the Idaho -- or the State Insurance Fund that's
our insurer for safety, for work comp claims and their question always to us is how do
you do it? How do you get people to come back to work and how do you not have a lot
of lost time, because we have claims and like any employer we have people that do get
injured at work, they don't get injured severely, we don't have very many that have been
injured significantly, because, again, we have very active departments that make sure
that our officers are trained really well, the police, that our firefighters are trained really
well, that helps avoid injury. We have a culture of workforce to come back to work.
Most of our folks don't like to sit home and watch Judge Judy, they'd rather come to
work and so we don't have people that other employers experience that you can't get
them to -- you have to order them to come back to work. I mean it can be very difficult.
We just as a culture in Meridian -- we don't have that as a workforce, we don't have that
-- and as a management we don't have that. People do want to work and do their job
and come here and, again, we take a very active stance on safety in the department
and so we don't have a lot of lost time for injuries related to either training or on the job.
Most of it's pretty minor stuff. A couple of doctor visits for a lot of them and they are
back to work. Future needs. Trying to look -- you know, part of this process that each
department was to go through this year is to kind of look at long term and these are the
things that -- that I thought of that as we grow as a city there are things that we are
probably going to have to consider differently than we do today. The police attorney is
one of them. We currently -- if you don't know, we have a contract with the city of Boise
and they have been our -- they have been our prosecution and police attorneys for 12
years and it's been a great partnership and they have been great to work with and the
court facility is downtown Boise, the court facility is three blocks from their office, they
handle criminal prosecution cases by the bus load and our little piece of that is a little
piece and so it's been a really good fit for Meridian to partner with Boise, for them to
handle our criminal prosecution. In addition to that, with their criminal prosecution
contract, they also provide police attorney services, so they have an on-site attorney in
our police department three days a week in the afternoons providing general -- general
questions to the officers, answering any types of legal issues they may have. They also
review all of the public records requests while they are there and they also provide
training annually to our block training. So, when we have annual training of police they
participate in that and they also provide legal updates and bulletins to the police
department periodically as well. It's a great service. And, again, it's been a great
partnership with Boise and the people they have provided to us for that have been top
notch. So, we have no issue with that. But in looking at the long term and you put that
lens on, at some point it probably will make sense that at least that piece of that service
may be something that we want -- we prefer the person work for us. The need is
greater, the need is busier, and that really is a discussion the chief and I have every
year is, you know, have we got to that point that we need to come back in the budget
time and ask for that position and I don't know when that's going to be, but it probably
will be at some point. I didn't include on here prosecution services, because that one
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has some other nebulous factors attached to it. As long as the court is in downtown and
the city of Boise continues to want to provide us on a contract basis, it's probably going
to make sense to leave it there. If the court ever changes, then, we would have to
revisit that and decide what would make sense for the City of Meridian. But definitely
the police attorney is a short -- shorter window. I think that we need to look at and
decide would it make more sense if the person worked here. We have apart-time
attorney. We have had apart-time attorney position for seven years and we had the
same person in the part-time attorney position for five and she's great. Andrea Pogue is
a great attorney and manages that type of scheduling better than I think anyone could.
It's very difficult to be an attorney part time, because it's really hard to just say, well, my
time is up, even though I have a legal question I have got to finish, I will have to do it
tomorrow. You know, it sometimes can be very -- so, you have to be really organized
and a very good time manager to do that and she does a great job. But as I look at long
term there is a point in time that our workload and our need will be enough to want to fill
that through a regular full-time position and when that is I don't know, but that's the most
logical extension or expansion of our current staff, it's just moving that. We are also
fortunate, too, because whenever I talk with people who want to work part time as an
attorney they only want to do it until we can make them full time. No one does it for five
years. Andrea is just the right person in the right job, because it fits for her, but if we
had the need for full time she would be willing to do that as well and we just need to
gauge our workload and when that's the most appropriate to come and ask for that.
Expanding knowledge base on various disciplines. You know, the law is an ever
moving target and there is a lot of different things and I don't think -- I can say for myself
when I was in law school they didn't spend a lot of time explaining what municipal law
was like. Probably good. Maybe I wouldn't have wanted to do this, but I have, but there
is so many different areas of law you have to understand in the municipal world that you
may not need to in the private world or you may not need to in certain types of places.
If you work for the city of Boise as a criminal prosecutor you don't have to know a lot
about contract law, you don't have to know necessarily about land use, but they have --
they have 25 attorneys there and I have four. So, we have to be very active and we
have to constantly make sure we are in front of the variety of issues that we have and
so I know we are going to be probably reevaluating how we do our training and where
we get our training from and how expansive that knowledge is, because it's my objective
to be able to handle the city's needs as much as possible with the staff that we have. I
don't like to have to hire other attorneys all the time. I mean litigation is one thing and
it's a very special skill set and we try to not be in a lot of litigation, but there is other
areas of law that we maybe just need to be a little bit more trained in and that way we
could be on-site help for the department in a better way and so we are always looking
as to how we can do that and I think we have been very successful, but I know that's
something I have to -- as a department -- the department director I have to make sure
that our folks are meeting those needs and I make sure I'm giving them the tools to
meet those needs. And the last, the city-wide staff training. When I met with each of
the departments as we did the change in departments, I met with each department
director to ask them what were we doing they liked and what we were doing that we
could do better and I'm appreciative and grateful that they didn't have a lot of things that
they thought we could do better, but they did agree that they would like some --
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sometimes they do need specific training in varieties of things that we can be a greater
assist on than trying to find somebody else. So, whether it's in legislative changes,
whether it's in law -- legal changes that occur elsewhere, court cases in the land use
area, the departments have asked for that. So, we need to look at creating something
from our department to provide that training and if we are going to be in house we really
need the ones to be the go to people for those types of issues and we want to be that
and the departments want that, too. So, we want to make sure we are providing those
levels of need and how we do that, again, is something we as a department will be
formulating and, then, bringing back to the Mayor and the directors. And that's all I
have. That's -- that's our department in a nutshell and that's both the things we have
done and things we are doing and the things we are going to do and if you have any
questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just one question from me and I was informed that this presentation may be,
indeed, awesome and it was almost nearly awesome and I thank you for the very
competent report. Bill, what's a determining factor as to when you handle the case
in-house versus hiring someone from the outside to handle it?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, what we look at -- one, obviously, is do
we have the expertise first. If we don't have the expertise, then, we, obviously, need to
look outside. Unfortunately, it depends sometimes on if it's a covered claim or not. If
it's a covered claim by ICRMP, then, they will provide counsel, we have already paid for
that in a sense, so that's an easy one. But if it's something that's not covered, we look if
we have the expertise and, secondarily, we look if we have the time. If -- because of --
because of the size of our staff, if I -- if I look at a case and think, okay, this is a litigation
case, it's going to take a lot of time whether it's depositions or court appearances or
whatever, and I can't really devote one attorney to do that for a year or more, because,
then, everything else has to shift back to everybody else, because they will primarily
spend most of their time doing that, that's -- that's usually the deciding factor for me to,
then, come to the Mayor and Council and say Ineed -- I need to hire outside counsel for
this. I don't have the time to devote to it. But certain things like the appeal is a great
example. Public records is our thing. That's what we do. So, we probably know it as
much as most people do and the time on appeals is a little different, because it's much
more structured. You know, there is a time period in which to file your briefs and there
is a time period where it's set and so it's not quite like a litigation case, it's a little bit
more orderly and not quite as time consuming. So, those are the ones we could decide
we can handle that ourself. But those are the two biggest factors I look at is do we have
the expertise on staff to do this and, secondly, do we have the time, so that we are not
-- you're not losing the rest of our clientele or the rest of our departments are suffering,
because I have one attorney that only is doing one thing.
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De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Anything else from Council?
Bird: Just a nice report. Very nice.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Nary: All right. Thank you.
E. Title amended to read: Community Development: Update on
Transportation Projects, Plans and Studies -Includes
Discussion About Center Medians/Curbing in Overland Road
West of Meridian Road and Upcoming Construction Projects
De Weerd: Council, I'm going to move Item E up, because we have a couple of our
committee members and businesses that would like to weigh in on this. So, unless
anyone has an issue with that.
Bird: No, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay. Okay. So, Caleb, I will go ahead and turn this over to you on the
community development update, kind of your all things transportation, but in particular
to discuss about the center medians and curbing on Overland Road west of Meridian
Road.
Hood: Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I'm sure you just
made some project managers in our Public Works Department not so happy, but that's
okay, I appreciate moving it up. We do have a couple of guests here that --
De Weerd: But our public -- I mean our Public Works, they love transportation, so --
Hood: They should anyways. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, for the newer
members of Council this is something I provide on a -- basically a bi-monthly basis --
semi-monthly basis, an update on transportation projects that are happening that I'm
involved with that either have -- that have transpired over the past couple of months or
about to go into construction. So, hopefully, you have all received a copy in your packet
of a memo that I prepared dated February 5. As stated in that memo, I'm not going to
go through all things, I am going to focus on primarily the item that the Mayor mentioned
that was on your agenda. There is just a couple of other things also noted in that
memo, though, that I did want to update you on, because that's what it says I was going
to do. So, under key ACHD design and study projects on page two of the Franklin,
Black Cat to Ten Mile Road, project that was something that was discussed late last
year. Ten Mile Christian Church packed the house, they came and addressed the
Council about some center medians -- center landscape medians that were being
designed as part of an ACHD project to widen Franklin Road between Ten Mile and
Black Cat. So, the exhibit that's on the screen now kind of shows where one of the
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exhibits that was discussed at that meeting -- so, Ten Mile Christian Church, obviously,
is here and the center median is the purple in the middle of Franklin Road as it gets
widened. I did attend the ACHD commission meeting on the 5th, the Solterra project
that you acted on earlier was also on that agenda. During that meeting Diane Bevins,
the project manager at ACHD, put out a new proposal and that includes -- and it's just
off screen here, but there is a signal plan for the Umbria public road and that wasn't
planned to be constructed until the warrants were met for a signal there, but after some
more discussions with some of the traffic engineers over at ACHD, they decided that a
compromise would be to install that signal day one with the project. So, as soon as the
roadway gets widened to five lanes, that signal would go in, alleviating some of that --
well, if there is a safety concern over time and accidents occur or congestion gets to be
too heavy, then, they will put that signal in and may restrict the main driveway to the
church. They just said let's put it in right off the bat and get it on the ground, that way
there is a safe left-in, left-out of the church, again, from the outset. That information
was shared again at that meeting with the church and their representation and they
weren't comfortable having the dialogue just having received that, so they have been
talking this past week, ACHD commission did, to continue out that project to their
February 26th meeting. So, no final action on that yet. I don't know where the church is
at. I did talk with Jeff Hess for a few minutes after the meeting, he's representing the
church, I think they are, again, trying to figure out what their next steps are, if that's a
happy compromise and they are ready to go forward with it. Just a quick status update,
since that was something that was discussed a couple months ago now at Council, so --
De Weerd: So, Caleb, the light would go in when?
Hood: With the widening of Franklin Road, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Okay. So, once they take some of that -- that hump out, because that --
okay. So, that's still a year or two down the road.
Hood: Right.
De Weerd: Two years?
Hood: Sorry. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, that is an FY-17 project, but it's
advantage construction, it would be done sometime '16, '17. I don't know what --
probably about a year worth of construction. So, somewhere in there. So, yes, a
couple years out still.
De Weerd: Okay.
Hood: Any other questions on that?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
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Milam: My question is -- so, when they put that light in, are they putting -- when they
widen that they are putting the median in right away or are they going to wait and see if
that's necessary?
Hood: Madam Mayor, Council Woman Milam, that is the counteroffer or the
compromise that ACHD came up with, is that if they put the signal in here that would
justify the median. The Council said we'd prefer you not put the median in. That was
under the premise, though, that the signal would be some time in the future -- 20 years
from now or whatever. So, I don't know if that changes anyone's opinion or not, but it's
certainly a different conversation than we had when the church was here and the signal
was something that wouldn't be with day one. So, what ACHD is saying, again, is we
will put a signal at this access, which, again, the church has access to, and construct a
landscape median there and the remainder of the mile back towards Black Cat.
Milam: I had another thought on that, which would be just to have a blinking light with a
reduced speed limit when church is in session, since that's really the only time that
that's going to be a hazard, for the most part, with a lot of traffic going in and out of
there. Something that the church can control when they have something going on at
the church.
Hood: Something I can bring up with them and the engineers at ACHD.
Milam: Thank you.
Hood: So, I will be back on that one when a final decision is made by the ACHD
commission. Just real quickly and before we talk about Overland, the Fairview corridor,
we had the meeting last -- there was a joint meeting. Thank you all for attending.
Councilman Borton, we missed you, but you didn't miss too terribly much. It was a good
discussion I thought. I apologize we didn't get you that full strategy before the meeting
so you could fully review it. I know Brian gave a brief presentation a couple of days
before. ACHD has been on that same meeting the 26th -- is planning on taking action
on that. Hopefully you all received my e-mail with the electronic copy of that. If you
have any comments I would be happy to take those forward. Madam Mayor, I don't
know if you wanted to draft a letter, a compilation of comments or not. That's not
necessary. I spoke to Jeff Lowe after the meeting last week. They will take any
comments we have, either individually or on our letterhead signed by you. I just wanted
to touch base and see where everyone was at. If you want to direct me to draft a letter
that -- a letter that we sign, I need some talking points for that, obviously, but I just
wanted to --
De Weerd: Caleb, when are they hoping to get those?
Hood: We don't have to do it now. We can do it, again, electronically. If you want to
send them to me and I will see what I get and, then, I would kind of share those and
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say, you know, does it warrant a letter or shall I just forward on some of these
comments directly to Jeff, you know.
De Weerd: I think it would be important to have this on a future agenda and get the
comments to Caleb, so he can kind of compile and consolidate and, then, we can have
a discussion. I think that the letter should come through -- through the city and under
the signature of the Mayor and Council.
Hood: Okay. So, we will do that and shoot for -- it's either the next meeting or the
meeting before. Again, the 26th is when ACHD is planning to act. So, not a whole lot of
time to get those comments, so --
De Weerd: Well, we can put it on the next agenda. I guess, Council, my question to
you -- I know that they will be accepting comments at the 26th -- on the meeting of the
26th. Would you like to accept comments at our meeting as well?
Bird: I would.
De Weerd: Okay. So, my office can work with you and get something out.
Hood: Thank you. And, then, the headliner and the last thing that I have to discuss with
you this afternoon is regarding some -- again medians. Are you sensing a theme here
with the medians? So, center curbing, medians, on Overland Road were installed
recently between Stoddard and State Highway 69, Meridian Road. The transportation
commission did take this matter up during their January meeting and discuss those
medians. The commission voted to recommend that the City Council engage ACHD on
this topic, asking them to consider modification to the center median near the main
entrance at Walmart. So, in the memo I put the main entrance to Walmart, because this
is -- oops. There is a -- what would be their main entrance or entrance closest to the
front door off of Overland Road. So, that's -- when I say main entrance, that's how I
would -- the reference point there. So, just a little bit of background on why this is
before you and why the transportation commission discussed it. City staff did receive
several correspondences from Walmart patrons, homeowners in the Bear Creek
Subdivision, just people in the area that are traversing it and business representatives,
which two are in the audience today, and I believe, Madam Mayor, if you're willing,
would like to address the Council for just a couple minutes here about the traffic flow in
the area. So, Walmart patrons have complained that they have had to go around the
store to get there. As you can imagine with the interchange being fairly close, the
dominant direction of travel is from east to west and with the -- similar to the Franklin
Road there is a little -- you're going uphill as you -- as you continue west on Overland
Road. A lot of folks miss the signal at Lowe's. It's commonly referred to as the Lowe's
signal, because Lowe's is here and you get a lot of folks that drive right on past that
and, then, they can't get into the main entrance at Walmart and they have to go around
the block to Stoddard. Slide this over and Ican't -- which is just off screen here. And so
you get folks that are frustrated, because they have missed it and they have got to go
around the block. In fact, the first driveway on the back side of Walmart is a truck
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entrance only, so they go all the way to the south side of the building and, then, they
have to drive around and come in here, so --
De Weerd: I recently did that. But not to Walmart, it was just to take a left out of
Wahooz and that was infuriating.
Hood: So, Madam Mayor, that's one of the other things that I have heard is with the
center median. So, there is a median -- I should use a different color. Apologize. But
there is a -- there is a median in the middle of the road, which does allow -- again, a
signal here and, then, there is a center median that prohibits this from being a full
access driveway, but you can turn left into Pinz and Wahooz, but the other concern that
I have heard is if you're leaving Pinz and Wahooz you can turn left out of -- out of that
site, so you get pedestrian -- or vehicles that will cut through the driveway to get to the
signal. I don't know if they -- how they go through there, but that's --
De Weerd: And I don't think it's intuitive to go through adriving -- or a parking lot to get
to a traffic light.
Hood: And, again, that's some of the concerns -- you know, obviously, you have got
generally kids in this area and so you have got motorists and kids and -- obviously, it's a
parking lot, so cars are to be expected there, but the more cars that are just passing
through the parking lot is something generally to avoid. Now, you can turn right out of
here and make a u-turn at Stoddard as well, a legal u-turn and turn around --
De Weerd: There is no sign that says you can.
Bird: That's right.
De Weerd: And it has to be signed, from my understanding, is that correct? I don't
know -- you're a detective, but you know traffic laws.
De St. Germain: I don't remember traffic ten years ago, Mayor, and I think it should be
signed. I'd have to look up the -- the state ordinance on that, though.
De Weerd: Thank you, lieutenant.
De St. Germain: You're welcome.
Hood: So -- but that is one of the concerns, again, that we have heard about is that with
the median that the access points and the conflicts and -- so, again, from neighbors,
from patrons, from business owners. So, the -- the transportation commission again
recommended that you engage ACHD -- they don't have that authority to ask ACHD to
evaluate this scenario. Just a little bit more background and, then, I will let you have the
floor, but ACHD did require those medians get put in with Walmart. So, their staff can't
change that. That was at the action of the ACHD commission. So, I have engaged with
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their -- at the staff level and they said we can't touch that. Our commission required that
of Walmart and so any changes out there will require commission action.
De Weerd: And just for our newer City Council members, this wasn't a condition of
approval either. That's not something that the city asked for or even knew about and I
know when they were put in we got -- my office got instant phone calls from -- from the
neighbors, because you couldn't -- you didn't have very many options.
Hood: So, again, I have engaged with ACHD staff on a solution to this. We talked
about potentially putting, you know, some sign overhead at that signal saying Walmart
with an arrow to the left, you know, letting motorists -- or something near that signal or
before that signal saying, hey Walmart here is -- turn here type of thing. It didn't seem
to meet their warrants. I will keep this nontechnical. They generally don't like to
advertise businesses, unless it's for short durations and related to construction type of
things. So, they weren't comfortable on their arm mast putting up a sign saying turn
here to get to Walmart and the other -- a monument sign or whatever kind of along the
-- the frontage there was fairly quickly dismissed, too. So, again, we have tried to
problem solve this. Again, the transportation commission thinks that some modification
of the existing median primarily, again, in this area is appropriate. They -- they did -- in
their motion they didn't say to modify it to match the left-in allowed here, so you would
have -- sorry, my artistic ability is not all that great in this computer, but to do something
like that where you mirror left turns that turn into each other -- it would still prevent a left
out of either side, but that seemed to be where the commission was going. Certainly
the question is before you, shall we just ask them to take the median out, you know,
somewhere back in here or move the whole section to Stoddard or whatever. But,
anyway, Madam Mayor, I think that is -- is my presentation and, again, we have Pat
Morandi representing Wahooz and Roaring Springs here in the audience and Van
LeFevre, who is the manager at Walmart here as well. So, unless there is any other
questions you have of me at this point, I'm done with my presentation.
De Weerd: Thank you, Caleb. Council, any questions for Caleb at this time?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. I do know I saw a hand up. Was it about the u-turns? You want to
make a quick comment? I really like that you raised your hand. That was really nice.
Petersen: Thank you, Madam Mayor and Council. I know that Idaho state law allows
you to make a u-turn at any intersection as long as there is not a sign saying that you
can't. It was the opposite way.
De Weerd: Thank you, Austin. Well, see, we learned something tonight.
De St. Germain: We did.
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De Weerd: Pretty cool. Okay. So, Pat, do you or Van want to come up? Hi. If you will
state your --
Morandi: Can we both be up here?
De Weerd: Sure. Just speak one at a time and you will have to state your name and
address for the record.
Morandi: Pat Morandi. CEO of Roaring Springs, Wahooz and Pinz. 3162 South
Silvertip Lane.
De Weerd: Thank you.
LeFevre: Van LeFevre with Walmart. My address is actually in Nampa at 2023 West
Honeydew Drive.
De Weerd: We won't hold that against you.
LeFevre: All right.
De Weerd: At least until after you speak and, then, we will decide. Thank you, Pat. Do
you want to tell us what your thoughts are about access in those areas? I know you
serve on the transportation commission as well, but would just appreciate both your and
Van's feedback in this area.
Morandi: Well, we are seeing a lot of confusion from our guests trying to leave our
property and get out like you did the other day and during the summertime -- Walmart
opened up in August, so we had -- the water park was open at that time and we had a
lot of traffic in the water park parking lot and we had a lot of cars coming through that
parking lot to access that light out in front of the water park. Ideally it would be great if
we could somehow remove that median, so that we could have free access, afull -- a
full out, left, right out of Wahooz and I think speaking on -- I will let Van speak on his
part of his business.
LeFevre: So, I agree with Pat that the -- the best solution would be if we could just
remove that. Obviously, the complaints that have come to the city and to the county -- I
take a lot of those calls as well from my patrons, as well as the property that neighbors
mine and another aspect to it is just the safety concerns with that median in place. You
could stand out there on any afternoon and watch just u-turn after u-turn not at the light,
but right around the end of the median, which creates a safety issue and a potential
accident. There has been none to this date that I'm aware of, but just from a business
aspect -- or from a business aspect, as well as, you know, us trying to -- to work with the
neighbors there so that we don't impact them negatively, removal would be the optimal
solution to that in my opinion.
De Weerd: Council, do you have any questions for either Pat or Van?
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Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just one quick question for Pat. When -- the last time that I was at Wahooz
was a couple of weeks ago. Did I notice that you have signage now at Pinz and
Wahooz that directs traffic to the signalized -- the signal in front of Roaring Springs? Is
that accurate that I saw that?
Morandi: Yes. I asked ACRD to -- for some signage, because people didn't know to go
through the water park parking lot and they -- they came and installed that signage. Not
a lot of people see that on the way out.
De Weerd: You see it as you drive by it.
Cavener: As was my experience. Thank you, Pat.
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: What is the speed limit right there?
Morandi: I believe it is 35. It might be 40. One of the two.
Milam: Thank you.
De Weerd: Yeah. So, any -- any other comments? Okay. Thank you.
Morandi: Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I might asked our first responders the same question. I know they have to
deal with access to businesses on an emergency basis and I guess my question would
be how does that affect response times to maybe have to make a u-turn at Stoddard for
--for response?
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De St. Germain: Well, it's definitely going to increase our response times, no doubt
about it, but the officers will do a u-turn, because they are running code three and red
lights and sirens if it's clear, I would imagine that would cause a 20 second delay to go
around that. Wouldn't you agree?
De Weerd: Well -- and it's those speed curb things, so it's not a rolling curb that they
can roll over. They will be trying to do the same -- the response time for the police is
going to be better than fire, because that u-turn is going to be a little bit more
complicated with a fire truck.
Zaremba: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions for staff? I guess, Council, this is
something that definitely is -- as a community we should be weighing in on. I know
when we first started getting the phone calls from the neighbors, we reached out to Ada
County Highway District and they really wanted to wait and see as people started to
learn that area and the new patterns and that sort of thing. I don't think it's gotten any
better, I think it's possibly gotten worse. So, I think that if we want to weigh in probably
this is a good time.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Milam.
Milam: My personal recommendation and thoughts on this would be to reduce the
speed limit and remove the medians.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I don't know. All of a sudden the last couple of years some engineers at ACHD
and the state have got real median happy. I think medians personally are the best
deterrent to encourage business. I think turn lanes work -- this is just my opinion. I'm
not a traffic expert by a long ways, but we had turn lanes for years on busy streets and
now all of a sudden we got to have medians -- confuse people to start with and we are
sticking them where we -- I don't think we should, because we are causing traffic jams
more than we are helping. As far as reducing the speed limit, like Council Woman
Milam said, I think 40 along there is very good if we have the traffic design to get in and
out of the deals. I mean we can't -- medians is not going to make up for stupid drivers.
I don't care what it is. You got -- you got people that -- and we have all done it, had a
lapse of memory and done something stupid. But Ijust -- I think we are putting medians
-- we are hindering traffic more than we helping are with medians. That's my personal
opinion.
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De Weerd: Any other comments? I know, I am trying to not respond, but I think on
Eagle Road we have cleaned up a situation out there and our safety personnel can tell
you that we are spending less time on that road because of those medians, but that's a
high speed road. It's different than some of our arterials that are lower speed facilities
and have multiple access points that you don't really have on Eagle. So, it is -- it is
different and I would agree that we need to be less generous with our median on our
arterials. How was that? I'm trying. That's a New Year's resolution is not to be so
pointed. Go ahead, Austin.
Petersen: Just from -- from ACHD's perspective of their access management program,
the installation of medians is really to reduce the amount of access points along arterial
roadway and that's where you get the most -- generally have the most crashes and also
causes congestion when you have different, you know, turning -- the more movement
you have in an area the more congested it gets and so they try to put the medians in
there so you could -- your arterial movement, because arterials are generally so that
you have traffic moving through the area and you want to keep your different
movements to certain areas and that's why they have this signal here in front of Wahooz
and then -- and so I would just like to say that they have the medians there to help
improve safety and I think that in most cases that it does improve safety and there have
been multiple studies as far as whether they prohibit business or not. There has been
several case studies that I have read and looked into on this and in most cases it has
shown not to reduce economic development.
De Weerd: And, Austin, I -- I would agree with you on that. However, this is -- Roaring
Springs is -- is different. If we had a backage road or a frontage road that didn't run
traffic through the middle of the parking lot that has lots of kids in it, I would agreed with
you, but that's an accident waiting to happen and, you know, it's -- if you can look at
roads in isolation and land uses in isolation, it's easy to -- to be black and white. This is
really gray right here because of the land uses that it has with a family friendly
entertainment and it's -- it's tourism. This is a tourism location. This is a designation
location and my concern is you using this because it doesn't have a frontage road, that
we are running traffic through a busy parking lot that has kids in it as the alternative -- or
the alternate to get to a traffic light and that's where my concern is. You have this off
the freeway to be easily accessible and Pinz and Wahooz is as much of a destination as
Roaring Springs to not let them get back on the freeway by taking aleft-hand turn is -- is
going to cause some stupid mistakes from people who are frustrated, because they
don't have an option there and that's my only point, so --
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Austin, my -- my concern is how many -- how many wrecks are we having with
turn lanes that are -- that are t-bones against -- most of your wrecks is because -- is rear
end ones, am I not right? On these roads, arterials and stuff? And on Eagle Road
putting in a -- putting in an extra lane from the freeway to past the Village, has really
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helped safety wise there. So, I -- I don't know. I think maybe there is places medians
could, but if you -- if we as a city are encouraging businesses or entertainment centers
to these roads, then, we need to make sure that these businesses have access both
ways.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Thank you, Austin. Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: The comment I would add -- I have worked with transportation systems all
over the country and in many places they have medians that work very well. One of the
big differences, though, I have found in many of the cities that I work in, whether --
whether or not the city began before there were automobiles, they tend to have arterials
on the quarter mile. They have quarter mile grids and their systems work well and to
have medians in between those block lengths is not that much of an inconvenience.
The difference here is that we have the arterials on the mile and I have heard -- people
have heard me say this before, to go around the block is a four mile trip and, therefore,
the function of medians here is much different than it is in a place where the arterial grid
is on the quarter mile and we need to be very aware of designing in u-turns and
alternatives and maybe sometimes leaving the median out where it might be justified,
but because we don't have the option of going around the block being a short trip, it
does have a different impact than it does in many other cities and while I support the
use of medians many places, I think we need to be very careful here because of the
difference. Personal opinion from a lot of experience.
De Weerd: They do make sense in certain areas and that's usually when we have been
able to plan ahead and we do have the frontage or backage and there is a circulation
plan in how those vehicles will flow. Any additional comments or questions? We are
looking for direction.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I think Councilman Zaremba --
De Weerd: Do you want to pull that closer to you.
Borton: Councilman Zaremba's comments are fantastic and his experience I think is
very valuable to all of us and I agree with him in every respect with regard to medians
and it truly is a case-by-case, in my view, review of their appropriateness. In this
particular instance it does make the most sense in light of all the factors to ask that it be
removed, but another component with medians that I see needs to be addressed also is
the sequence of their implementation. They have -- I'm very certain of this -- they can
have a devastating impact on prospective development of bare ground and the ability to
construct a successful project of any size after medians are in and I'm referencing in
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particular the Franklin Road from Ten Mile to Black Cat, where there is the vast majority
of vacancy. Medians -- the impact of medians there would be much more devastating
to economic growth than in this particular area. So, the timing of them are really critical.
They may be appropriate in certain locations, but they also may be appropriate after a
certain traffic count, after a certain density in development has come in to allow those
businesses to launch and be successful. So, in this context here, this location, it makes
the most sense in my mind to have it removed. With regards to the Franklin Road
location I'm unclear of any justification for the medians throughout that mile stretch until
some future date. So, I --just comments on both -- both sections.
De Weerd: Okay. So, Caleb, I think you have a sense of -- and you can write up a
letter. Council, do you want it to be under all of your signatures or -- or are you okay
with just mine? Not just mine, but mine.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I'd be happy if you signed it on behalf of Mayor and Council
with your signature.
Bird: I have no problem with it at all.
De Weerd: Okay. Very good. That's what we will do. And thank you for letting us put
this ahead and -- and, Austin, thank you for your comments.
B. Community Development Report: Growth Impact Tool
De Weerd: Item 7-B is our Community Development report. Growth Impact Tool.
Chatterton: Mayor and Council Members, we have just been dealing with some of the
decisions which are -- added up to on what our community ends up being like with
growth. Transportation is one of those many areas. It's a funny thing, though, when
you talk about growth, we really don't often stop to think about how those decisions add
up. What's the overall impact? What kind of community will we end up having? What
-- what are those -- really, what does it add up to in terms of the overall effect on the
community. You know, because you -- a good 80 percent of your typical agendas deal
with land use issues, often with transportation, and we need to maybe step back a little
and see how those decisions add up to affect our community. And, obviously, the fiscal
impact of growth management is critical. When I arrived on the scene, what, going on
two years ago, I was really happy that -- when the Finance Department, with Stacy and
Todd and Rita, introduced me to a model that Meridian had commissioned and it was --
Ithought it was great, because it was similar back in a previous life as a consultant I
had worked on a similar model -- basically a model which is a tool that can help us
figure out the impact -- dollars and cents impact of land use decisions, both from a
comprehensive planning standpoint or from those small tactical decisions that we make
week in and week out having to do with land use, annexation, and on and on. Well, we
have been planning on looking at the model and maybe dusting it off and starting to use
it. We have also been thinking about it several -- the last several meetings we have
talked about the overall economic development strategy for the city, which we are going
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to be rolling out to you here in the next couple of months and we have been thinking
about this model as being an important tool for that overall economic development
strategy. Well, completely by coincidence Idaho Smart Growth had been thinking about
this model as well. They had been looking at the approach and realizing that there was
a lot to like about the -- about the approach of saying how could we grow in a fiscally
responsible way and so they are looking at promoting this statewide and it's really pretty
cool that Meridian, perhaps inadvertently, showed the leadership to be the first city in
Idaho to develop this model. The deal is we never used it -- or at least not much. There
was a little thing called the recession intervened and kind of changed our plans a little
bit. But there was really nothing to assess at that point -- or very little to assess. But
now that we are in the middle of all the minutia of growth I think it's good to maybe step
back and see if we can use this model. So, really happy that Scott Oliver with Idaho
Smart Growth is with us here today and Anne Westcott, who in her former life also was
a consultant -- was on the team that helped create this model for us. Scott's going to
talk about talk a very interesting offer of assistance from Idaho Smart Growth as we look
to whether or not we want to dust this off and begin to use it. I will let him talk about
that, but just got a letter hand delivered by him a couple minutes ago, so I think you may
be interested in that. And so Scott's going to talk about Idaho Smart Growth's interest in
this model as an approach and perhaps promoting it statewide and Anne's going to talk
about the tool and how we might use it. So, let's go ahead and introduce Scott and,
then, I think he will cue up Anne.
Oliver: Thank you.
De Weerd: Welcome. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Oliver: Thank you, Madam Mayor and Commissioners. I'm Scott Oliver, Idaho Smart
Growth. 910 Main Street in Boise.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Oliver: Thank you for this opportunity. I really don't have anything else to add. I don't
even know what this tool is or does. I'm going to turn that over to the expert here in a
minute. But I just want to agree with Bruce, it is -- it's a great opportunity for all of us.
Smart Growth -- we recognize that cities of all size have issues with growth and
development in Idaho and we are interested in helping cities achieve the kind of growth
that is not just, as Bruce said, fiscally beneficial, but also socially and environmentally
beneficial. I know we all share that -- that goal. So, we find ourselves in a position of
being a caretaker of an economic analysis tool and -- and also with the opportunity to
work with the City of Meridian to -- to see that in action and I trust that the results are
going to be positive and that we would like to share them with other cities in the state.
We have a small grant from a -- from funders network that is also interested in that and
so if it will help us take this tool to others cities and -- and with your -- with your support
and we would be able to -- to maybe replicate the Meridian success that we suspect
that it would bring. So, I'm just going to step aside and turn it over to our consultant
expert Anne Westcott, unless you have any other questions. Thank you.
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De Weerd: Thank you
Westcott: I am Ann Westcott. 1214 Johnson, Boise. I have seen many of you before,
but it's been many -- a number of years that I have been doing this topic. I have worked
with cities in the western states for 20 years and the thing that I always have found so
interesting is that we make land use and fiscal planning decisions in isolation a lot of the
time and about ten years ago my economist partner in Denver, Colorado, and I
developed a model to help cities figure out whether or not the decisions that they were
making -- land use decisions were going to be a net win or a net loss for the city. But
because my background is in public policy and I'm not an economist, I said it needs to
be easy for people to understand, because I had worked for a City Council in Salt Lake
City for a long time and, I don't know, every time I got something from an economist I
never could understand it. So, we set about to develop a model that was going to be
useful for any city, for a planner, for a financial analyst, anyone to know how to use. We
wanted to make sure that elected officials always had the information they need to
make good policy decision whatever they constitute as being good for that community.
Fast forward, then, 20 years and I have this model and I have been using this model
throughout the western states and the economist retired and I went and got a real job
with the city of Boise police and fire department, so I could work with people like Perry
and Chief Niemeyer, who has been keeping me very busy lately on your JPA.
De Weerd: And thank you for that, by the way.
Westcott: Yes. So, I had this model and I have been talking to Smart Growth about
how important I thought it was for cities to have a model like this and Tom and I, my ex-
partner, decided we would give the model to Idaho Smart Growth. We just wanted
communities to be able to have it and we wanted to be able to train people how to use
it. Well, Idaho Smart Growth was applying for this grant, I gifted the model and said that
I would help train the first two cities to use it and Idaho Smart Growth staff. So, that's
what I brought on the table and so, then, yes, Bruce and I were having coffee about a
different topic and I was telling him about this and he said, well, didn't you do this project
for us eight years ago? I said yeah. It would be great to update it. And, hey, we could
do it for free. So, that basically is the offer here is what we can do for free for you and
right now I'm going to show you what it actually does. And just interrupt me. Okay.
The thing isn't here anymore, Bruce. Can we go back?
Chatterton: You can just tell me when you want the slide to advance.
Westcott: Okay. Just go back one.
Chatterton: Okay.
Westcott: All right. So, my first question for Smart Growth was, well, what do you think
the benefits of Smart Growth are? And they talked about we have diversity in housing
and transportation at six different lifestyles. It's a great place to do business. We have
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a healthy environment, we can preserve farmland and ranch land and, then, this one in
bold -- efficient use of taxes and a lower cost of service. I said how do you know that.
That's not always true. You can't just bandy that about. You have to be able to prove
that and so we talked about how one goes about proving that. Questions that I hear
from elected officials throughout the west are how much does it cost for our city to serve
every new home or every new commercial development? Does growth really pay its
own way? Do any development projects warrant some additional incentive on our part
to make sure that they come into our community? Are we planning for the right mix
between residential and commercial development? And how does the fiscal impact of a
densely defined community compare to the fiscal impact of a more sprawlish
community? So, here are some myths or realities. I also happen to be the person who
did your impact fee analysis for the first time, so I get around, and in impact fee I'm
always talking about there is two questions about growth. How do you pay for the
capital infrastructure and how do you pay for the operating cost. So, this is the question
that most people say, well, impact fees are designed to cover -- to recover the cost of
new growth. Impact fees are actually only designed to cover the cost of capital
infrastructure. Firefighters. Police officers. Electricity. Things like that to operate the
services that you provide, your General Fund budget, impact fees can't pay for that. We
have to make sure the taxes and the other revenues that you're getting from this new
growth are paying for what it costs you to provide services to that new growth. And the
next question is, well, all knew growth brings in new revenue; correct? That is correct.
They do bring in new revenue. But what's funny in Idaho about property tax and sales
tax revenue? Particularly sales tax. What happens in -- if I go buy something at
Walmart where is that money going to go?
De Weerd: To the state.
Westcott: To Challis in most cases; right? They are not coming back to Meridian.
Some of it's coming back to Meridian, but it's not dollar for dollar. So, yes, new growth
does create a lot of new revenue and what we want to do, as stewards of a community,
is to figure out how much of that is coming back to our community and how much do we
have to spend of it to support that growth. So, a fiscal impact analysis is basically
asking you whether or not any new development -- it could be your entire city at build
out, it would be an urban renewal area, it could be one planned unit development, is it
going to generate more revenue than it's going to cost to serve or is it going to put in a
deficit situation. Fiscal impact -- go ahead. I just talk about that. So, the report that we
did in 2007, back when things were good and money was -- was flowing a little more
easily, what we were asked to do was to take the city's comp plan at that time and say
let's pretend it builds out exactly the way we have planned, put in all the assumptions
about how much all of this development is going to be worth, put in assumptions about
how much it cost to serve all of this development, are we going to be making enough
money or not. Answer was you are going to be short 50 million dollars over 20 years
and that was kind of surprising. I think, Mayor -- believe you were the Mayor at the
time, and it was sort of interesting and so the next question the Council asked was,
okay, Anna Canning was your planning director at that time and I said, Anna, give them
a scenario of a more dense pedestrian oriented or transit oriented comp plan and model
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that. And so we modeled those assumptions as well and that model showed that you
could have an operating surplus of over 175 million dollars. Now, why is it different?
Essentially what's different is that it tripled the number of residential units you would
have in the community and residential units are where a community like Meridian makes
its money. Costs less to serve than it usually does in terms of revenue if you're looking
at a certain price point, because why we stopped using the model in 2007 is that the
price points on the development crashed and it really wasn't worth, one, talking about it
and, two, we knew we weren't going to be able to get -- I think at that time a house that
would be worth 250,000 dollars in Meridian in order to break even in terms of providing
services. So, that's just the math part of it. So, I have done a study on a lot of different
communities and this is a somewhat hypothetical, but really, it's actually a master plan
for the northwest part of Salt Lake City, the area that's close to the airport. The
community is master planned in this whole community and he wants it to be transit
oriented, so the light rail would come from the airport through this area, there would be
a lot of mixed use, dense residential, retail and office and, then, there would also be
more traditional residential developments around it. So, in this screen that you probably
can't read very well, but maybe you somewhat can in your printed version, what I asked
them to do is tell me in their master plan how many units of low density residential,
medium density, high density, how many transit oriented apartments right by the track
station would they have and how much retail, industrial, and office. So, that was all of
the numbers of those units, how fast they would absorb those units into the
development and what the assumed market value was of those pieces. So, all I'm
doing is simple, noneconomist math, although the economist did approve this -- is you
take how much new stuff you're going to build, how much does it cost to serve, how
much new revenue you will get and you will either have a negative or a positive number
at the end. So, this is what the math looks like in summary. The left-hand column is all
of the different kind of land use that I showed you in the model slide before and, then,
each of these columns are how much new revenue is going to be generated. There is a
lot of mathematical calculation that goes on behind the scenes. Property tax. You can
see we identified if the house was worth 250,000 dollars, you would reduce it by the
homeowners exemption, you would take that net taxable value, multiply it by your mill
levy and that's how much property tax would come in. Sales tax we have to do even
more complicated calculations, because as you know sales tax doesn't go right back to
the city, so we had to use those calculations and how much sales tax -- in this case a
house would produce 75 dollars worth of sales tax back to the city per year. So, total
revenue per unit, you can see that your low density house was going to be producing
875 dollars of revenue on average per year. As you go down to the transit oriented
development, the town center apartments, they are bringing you less revenue, because
they are worth less. Their market value is less. And, then, you can see how much each
unit of commercial development would produce in revenue. Then that second to the
last column there shows how much we calculated it would cost to serve every new --
new piece of development? And this isn't just doubling the budget that you have, we
actually go through and say in the fire department, for example, you're not going to need
another chief, but you are going to need a lot more firefighters, so we were able to
calculate with marginal differences there. So, in the right column this is the magic of
math and it says that your low density, medium density residential units are going to
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come out slightly to the positive. Your high density and transit oriented development
units were going to create a deficit, but your commercial, mixed use, retail, office and
industrial -- not the industrial, actually. Office and retail was going to produce a positive.
Now, this is not what Idaho Smart Growth wanted to hear, because what they wanted
me to tell them was that transit oriented dense development was going to make a ton of
money. Next slide, please, sir. And what I wanted to show you is that this is the
importance of a land use mix in making a fiscally positive performance for your city.
This is a screen that says if we take all of that revenue from the residential, we would
have 204 million dollars worth of revenue and it would cost us 197 million dollars to
support it over 20 years. So, all of that residential combined -- some of it that was
making money, some of it that wasn't, was still coming out positive. Next, please. On
this commercial side we were going to be making a lot more money on the positive side,
54 million dollars. Next one, please. So, because I believe very strongly that every
assumption you put into an analytical model can be wrong, it's important for us to do
what we call a sensitivity analysis, which is to say if my assumptions are ten percent off,
whether the market value of that house is higher or maybe we need to hire more police
officers than we thought we did, what's the range of the likely outcome in terms of net
fiscal impact and in this case this master plan that we developed -- that center box
shows that they could feel generally comfortable that it was going to be a win for the city
over 20 years at net present value, 24 million dollars. What we liked about this example
is the worst case was still positive. Ten million dollars. The best case was 42 million
dollars. That gave the Salt Lake City council some comfort that, okay, this master plan
is fiscally sustainable. Just questions about the model before I give some summary
comments. Next, sir. I like bossing you around, Bruce, because you used to boss me
around all the time. This is kind of fun. All right. So, as supposed, the example that I
just gave you will pay for itself. It is fiscally sustainable. We could say that it's fiscally
smart. What we want to understand is that in order for something to be fiscally smart it
probably has to have that balance of residential, nonresidential -- different price in order
to subsidize each out. Even if it costs more to serve or values go down -- we did that
sensitivity analysis that gives you a range of whether or not something seems like it's a
good risk, worth the investment -- for example, an economic development incentive, is
this something that's probably going to be a high winner for this city. Next. But it's
important for me to stress that just because certain types of development don't pay for
themselves does not mean that they are not smart. What it means is you just want to
be aware of where you're going to offset. Certainly many communities have a high
importance on affordable housing. They also know that density in their community is
going to reduce costs elsewhere. One of the things that is easy in Salt Lake City is their
roads department is part of the city and as you know our roads come from somewhere
else. So, in the model we did for Meridian we actually brought in ACHD and the school
district into the model, because we wanted to say in the whole community what does
growth look like. Now, what worked well for the city did not necessarily work well for the
school district or ACHD and that was an interesting component that we can continue to
look at if you're interested in moving ahead with this. You might be able -- density for a
city that pays for its roads is a great thing, because we are not building million dollar
lane miles of additional mileage, but when you're in a city that only gets -- doesn't get --
doesn't have to be paying for those roadways, you have a whole different model and so
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Meridian and other cities in Ada County it's a little bit more difficult to have this
conversation. But I just wanted to show that. Density is not always fiscally bad, it can
be fiscally smart from a roads perspective. It might produce units that don't bring in
more money than it costs to serve, but they will be offset by development that you have,
maybe more traditional development elsewhere and, therefore, fiscal impact analysis is
really only one component of any policy conversation you have about your land use.
De Weerd: Yeah. Because density also brings more kids and --
Westcott: Right.
De Weerd: -- necessarily doesn't pay for the schools.
Westcott: Right. The school district is a loser when you're a winner, basically. That's --
when you're doing really well and it's not having -- if you're bringing into -- more density
and you're tracking maybe smaller homes that don't have as many children in them,
those children are not generating the amount of state and federal income to the school
district, so a mixture. That's just another underscoring of how important a mixture is in
your community of different types of housing, different price points, different types of
support for commercial and nonresidential.
De Weerd: Council, do you have questions?
Bird: I have none. Just a very nice report.
De Weerd: I think there was a question in this presentation and that is do we want to
participate in kind of going beyond the role that we already had earlier -- what the
interest level is from Council.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I don't have a good sense of what participation means. What would those next
steps be?
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Member Borton, my understanding is that Idaho
Smart Growth with the grant would actually be contributing Anne's time to help us look
at the model, perhaps do analysis, make sure it's working for us and that the
assumptions are correct. Is that --
Westcott: That's about ten percent.
Chatterton: Okay.
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Westcott: The other 90 percent would be -- you already own the model, because you
bought it from me eight years ago. Yea for you. Yea for me. So, what I will do,
because you have new staff, you have a new planning director, you have new Council
Members -- and we will start over from the beginning, we will update the entire model,
eight years, totally different information, you can choose what we will model. We could
model again your comp plan at build out to update it or we have had some great
conversations with your economic development director about maybe we want to look at
a conceptual economic development project, an urban development -- an urban renewal
project. You can do a master plan. It would really be up to the city to decide what is
most interesting to them. The take away would be your staff would be trained on how to
use this model in any future land use conversation that you might have about a specific
product.
De Weerd: I guess, Bruce, will you bring back at our -- a later date recommendations of
what model you would like this to be created for and maybe if you have a couple of
different suggestions that Council can consider those and give you feedback on what
would be most valuable from their perspective as well.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, that says it very well. How we are going to use it is open.
There a lot of different possible applications. Would we use it, for instance, to say
whether or not we want to approve or deny a particular development? Probably not. I
think Mr. Nary might be -- there would be some real issues with that. I mean there are
reasons -- there are ways in which you can make land use decisions that are valid
under the law and are appropriate, but what the model does do is -- or can do is it helps
us strategically say what type of city do we want, how do we want to build out in terms
of land use? What sort of densities? How is it designed? And is that fiscally
sustainable. And that allows us to make, as we go into looking at how we use urban
renewal, for instance. If they are going to have more industrial land or going to have
industrial land configured a different way. We can use that as an important tool for
helping inform us and know where we are headed.
De Weerd: Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I think Bruce probably just summed up what I was thinking. I'm I guess
chagrined a little bit that the two things that I have been advocating that we need more
industrial space and we need more transit oriented densities turn out to be the ones that
are not profitable, although a city isn't supposed to profit, but they are --
Westcott: Not in that case. That was just one example. That's not applicable to all
cases.
Zaremba: So, I --
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Westcott: Industrial is often the real winner, because you don't usually have to supply
as much -- much more first responder services to a Walmart than to an officer park or
an industrial area, unless it's hazardous material, so --
Zaremba: Well, I'm very pleased to find out there are advantages as well. So, I guess
my question is -- and I think Bruce maybe answered this -- is that could we use this tool
to modify our future land use map and, therefore, our comprehensive plan and say, you
know, in certain areas we do need more of this or less of this and if that's the objective it
sounds great to me.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor and Council Member Zaremba, that's exactly the way in
which other cities had -- in other parts of the country had used similar models. They
said what we are -- the path we are headed -- and perhaps we saw some warning signs
back when the model was first used, with that sort of assumptions back in '06, they said,
you know, we have seen some warning signs, we need to strategically amend our land
use plan over time to help it to create a great yield for our community and to create the
quality community that we are looking for. That is -- that's maybe my most -- that's
where I would place the greatest emphasis, as opposed to say, you know, do we need
to approve more big box retail or not in a tactical way strategically this could be very
valuable to us.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: And I might state part of that a different way and as we say the city can't
actually make a profit, but we certainly could use this as a tool to keep our taxes lower
and what might appear to be a profit if we say, okay, we can reduce our taxes by some
percentage of a mill, that would make a difference to people.
Chatterton: And along with all the other implications of our land use plan for our -- for
our community, we perhaps should look at it as it's the community's portfolio and how
do those various land uses on the land use plan and the comprehensive plan produce
sustained ability in certainly an economic sense for our community into the future.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I think this is a very good model, Bruce, but I also think we need to be open
minded about what development brings in and as we know -- as we have seen through
the last 20 years what we have planned maybe isn't what is going to go, so we have
had to change our land use. So, while this is a great model and if we can live by it as
much as we can, we still got to be open minded to be able to move it around and I know
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Idaho Smart Growth believes in that, too, so -- but I think this is a good model to start
with, but I think as the Mayor said, bring us back some options.
Chatterton: Madam Mayor, Council Member, absolutely. We will do that.
De Weerd: Any other questions? Thank you, Anne. It's always nice seeing you in front
of us and we love -- we love what you're offering. Especially the price. I like that. One
time only. It's a deal.
C. Public Works: FY 2013 Engineering Project Closeout Report
De Weerd: Okay. Item 7-C is under our Public Works Department and I will turn this
over to Warren.
Bird: Don't we get Kyle?
Stewart: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you're going to get to hear the rest of
them.
Bird: Uh?
Stewart: You're going to get to hear the rest of them.
Bird: Oh. Okay. Well, we just wanted to get Kyle.
Stewart: Yeah.
De Weerd: No. No. No. I think you're much -- I think your brief -- you are a lot briefer
than Kyle is.
Stewart: I don't know about that. Anyway, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council --
De Weerd: Briefer? Is that a word? More brief.
Stewart: We are pleased to have the opportunity to come before you. I think this is the
third time we have done this. A few years ago we changed the purchasing policy at the
city, which actually requires when you finish projects to come and do a close out report
with the City Council. I'm not sure whether other departments are doing that or not, but
we have been doing that for three years and we are going to do that again. So, today
we are going to, essentially, present those projects which were completely finished in
2013.
De Weerd: Is this in Meridian?
Stewart: No, I don't think -- this is one of Kyle's photos and I'm not sure where --
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De Weerd: We are getting all starry eyed with --
Stewart: I should have given you some explanation of that. Anyway, we have 13
projects that we want to, essentially -- that we were able to close completely out. Now,
this represents a small portion of what the staff is, essentially, involved in. They have,
essentially, design projects, as well as other projects that are in various stages of
construction. At any given time one project manager is probably managing
approximately ten projects in various stages of design and construction. So, this just
represents, essentially, what was completed in 2013 and I will take an opportunity
maybe to just introduce a few of the staff. I want to just say I'm very proud of these --
my staff for the work that they do. They work hard and they are very dedicated and I
think that over the, you know, several -- last several years they have done an excellent
job in trying to make the City of Meridian municipal water and sewer systems some of
the best in the valley. In fact, we often get requests from other cities asking us how we
do things and what we are doing, because I think by and large we have a very reliable
and very safe water and sewer system that provides quality sewer services to the
citizens here and the staff takes great pride in that and I'm grateful to them. You have
had the opportunity to meet most of the staff members. Ashley Newbry was one of our
staff members that was with us last year. It just so happens that all the projects that she
was working on last year -- she's only been here a short time, so she --
De Weerd: More contentious and busy and --
Stewart: Yes. And this year she -- all the projects that she is working on are continuing
into this year, so she gets off two years in a row she doesn't have to do a close out
report. But she will be back next year to talk to you about split corridor. So, there will
be plenty of things for her to talk about next year. You also -- I was going to introduce
for the first time Austin. Austin Petersen was -- is our newest engineer and he beat me
to the punch, he came up here to the podium and made comments, so --
De Weerd: But, Warren, we have chewed on him before, so --
Stewart: Okay. So, he's going to get that, too.
De Weerd: And it's not you, Austin.
Stewart: But I think you can see that he has a great deal of passion and a great deal of
interest in the work that he's been assigned and we are grateful to have him and so
without any further adieu I'm going to turn the podium over to Kyle who is going to
introduce the -- the rest of the agenda.
De Weerd: Thank you, Warren.
Radek: Madam Mayor, Council Members --
De Weerd: You heard my cue; right?
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Radek: The cue or the -- that I need to be brief.
De Weerd: Both.
Radek: I will -- we will be brief, Madam Mayor. Yeah. We are going to cover four
categories of projects, water supply, water-sewer line replacements, water-sewer and
recycled water extensions and wastewater treatment plant slash sewer projects. A
couple points before we get going. We had some very interesting projects and slides to
show you. We understand if you get excited and want to ask questions. We would
prefer you hold the questions to the end, so we can give a concise presentation and get
you out of here at a decent hour. With some exceptions the project managers will be
presenting on the projects that they completed, but in the interest of not having too
much travel between the podium and back to their seats, there will be some exceptions
to that rule. And although there were some medians constructed in the projects that we
had, Public Works funds were not expended on any medians in any of these projects,
these were all median neutral projects from a Public Works standpoint.
De Weerd: Median neutral.
Radek: The first category we want to cover is water supply projects. We completed
Well 10-B pumping facilities, Well 17 upgrades, and two well evaluation and
reconstruction projects. Well 10-B pumping facilities is one of the projects that takes a
lot of other projects to get to the end and so I want to cover what those projects are, so
you have more understanding of what we go through when we do one of these well
projects. Well 10 was turned off in 2010, because testing showed that the water had
uranium concentrations of the regulatory maximum contaminant level. So, the first part
of the project was to find out if we could pull out the screens of that existing well and
deepen the existing well to get away from that uranium. Incidentally, this -- all these sub
projects were managed by myself and David Allison did a significant portion of them
and, then, Brent Blake did the pumping facilities construction and he's going to come up
and talk about that, so -- and the -- the total cost of all the projects was 811,000 dollars.
In that we had 8,000 dollars in change orders that we are going to cover individually in
the sub projects, a total of 819,000 dollars when we got all that construction done. So,
the first thing we wanted to try to do was reconstruct the existing well and so what you --
when you -- when you go and try to do a project like that the well screens at the bottom
of the well, they are about 360 feet down in this particular well -- you use what's called
the spear and jar is what that little Acme bomb looking thing there is on the left side and
that's how you grab a hold of the screens and, then, you try to pull them out through
these hydraulic shacks in the second picture and they put about 70,000 pounds of force
up and -- and it's a different spear and jar set up, but you can see that one on the next --
third picture there and the fourth picture says what we did pull up, which is the -- the
head pipe out of the well. It separated from the screens and, in fact, our contract was
unable to retrieve the well and he actually lost one of his tools down the well, which is
still there, so the well actually won that battle and we were not able to reconstruct the
well. That cost us 14,000 dollars. There were not any change orders in that project.
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So, we moved on to -- we couldn't rebuild the well, we needed to abandon that well
properly. So, the main concern when you're abandoning a well is to make sure that you
fill up all the empty spaces down there on the ground with grout. So, the way you do
that is you use the -- the tool you see on the left is a perforator, you put that down in the
whole and you poke holes in the well casing in several different places and, then, you --
then you pump a grout under pressure all the way up and you try to -- you fill the space
of the well itself and, then, you see if there is any space outside the well, which is what
you're really worried about, because you don't want contaminants traveling up and
down through the aquifer and -- and you push that grout out under -- up to 150 pounds
per square inch of pressure until you can't pump any grout anymore. Sometimes you
have grout coming up out of the ground when you're done. But -- and, then, you have
got that well abandoned. So, we did that -- the original contract was 26,000 dollars. We
spent 4,000 dollars on extra grout, which indicates exactly what our concern was is that
you had places where grout went that -- you know, that were beyond the volume that it
should have been. So, it was a good effort to seal up that aquifer and having done that
and now we were able to start on the new well. So, when you go to build a new well
we, without exception now, make a wise investment in a test well and the test well
allows us to not only find out where the most productive zones are in the aquifer, but --
but it lets us isolate the water that we test and look at the chemistry of that water and
these pictures show our process. The first -- you can see it on the left you have the --
the well drilling rig drilling a hole. As the hole is drilled samples are collected to show
what kind of material we are drilling through and, then, in the middle there we insert a
probe into the bore hole that -- and that's redistributive and we also do a gamma --
background gamma radiation, and that tells us where the -- where the clay layers and
where the sand and gravel layers are and ties that down and gives us exact -- exact
locations of those layers that we are going to target for putting test wells in. Then we
construct our test wells and you can see that on the -- all those pieces of two inch PVC
tubing on the right there and, then, on the bottom right is the finished product where you
have got in this case I believe we had six -- six test wells. They are all individual wells
completed into different zones in the aquifer and so we can individually test those for
chemistry and when we did this project we felt like this was an important thing that we
needed to out reach to people and that was a couple years ago we had our consultant,
SPF takes the drill cuttings that came out of the hole and built us a little model and you
can see it back there and that explains what the aquifer layers are like and it tells you
what the test well was like, what the different layers of chemistry is like and it's very
enlightening to find out there is a lot of water down there, but there is a lot of water that
you don't want to be pumping and serving to people and I would like any of you that
haven't taken a look at that -- anybody in the audience that hasn't looked at that to --
after the meeting take a look at that with me and I will let you see it. It's a pretty
impressive little model. So, that project cost 127,000 dollars. There were no change
orders in it and with the completion of the test well project we were able to design and,
then, build our production well. A production well is drilled by boring to the depth just
above the target aquifer unit and, then, installing and sealing a casing and the City of
Meridian was the first municipal water supplier in Idaho to use PVC for well casing in
2002 and over -- over the course of now 12 years in our well assessments are showing
that using PVC provides us a much longer lasting material than a steel casing would
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last and after the casing is installed and sealed the large bore hole is advanced to the
target aquifer and, then, we put in a well screen and, then, we put sand fields back
around that well screen and you see the well screen in there and, then, this last picture
shows the pump testing of that well just before you -- you're able to design your
production facility -- your pumping facilities you pump test that well and that well pump
tested at over 3,000 gallons a minute, so we were ready to move onto our pumping
facilities project, which Brent Blake managed and he's going to present.
Blake: Madam Mayor, Members of Council, I'm Brent Blake, I was project manager for
the well pumping facilities. This project entails construction of a brand new masonry
building, associated pump and motor and discharge piping. Overall site improvements
that was compliant with all planning -- new planning and zoning requirements for the
City of Meridian. The original contract price was 438,000 dollars. We did have one
small change order in there. We added an antenna to the project for 4,000 dollars and
that brought the total project price of 442,000.
Radek: Thanks, Brent. Next project we want to cover in water supply is the Well 17
pumping facilities. This project was managed by David Allison and involved installing of
a variable frequency drive, new centrifugal motor and HVAC upgrades and the purpose
of this project was to let the water operations staff be able to control this well a little
better. Previously it didn't have a VFD -- a variable frequency drive, it had a -- what's
called cycle stop valve and it didn't give them the flexibility in their operations. We also
upgraded the motor and we upgraded the pump column and -- and, then, provided
some air conditioning for it to be able to keep that expensive equipment cool. That
project cost 80,000 dollars -- or 81,000 dollars. Of that 1,000 dollars was change
ordered and that was due to some changes that needed to be done in the controls of
the HVAC. We did two well evaluation and reconstruction projects in FY-13. Well 11
was done by Brent Blake and I did Well 15. Well 11 is our oldest functioning well. It
was built in 1979 and the pump for that was rebuilt. Anew pump column installed and
it's got a fairly clean bill of health to work for another ten years before we check it out
again. Well 15 water quality has been a concern at the water division for some time.
Therefore -- and you can see in the -- the little spread sheet there there was more effort
was expended assessing the water chemistry of that well and also more effort in -- in
reconstruction. The steel casing -- or a -- I'm sorry -- a screen liner was installed within
the -- the well to try to improve the water chemistry and we found that Well 15 is -- it
was constructed, I believe, in 1996 and it has a steel casing, as opposed to PVC. That
steel casing is nearing the end of its service life now and so we will be considering
moving forward, whether we can reconstruct or whether we have to put a new
production well in its place. And now Clint Worthington is going to go over water and
sewer line replacements program.
Worthington: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, Clint Worthington, project
manager for the Public Works Department. This slide is -- to give you a brief summary
of the water and sewer line replacement programs that we do. This is our fourth year
implementing the programs with both the water and sewer replacements. The
programs have increased our efforts to stay on top of the aging, undersized
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infrastructure and has been mainly focused in the downtown area. However, we have
some exceptions where fire flow supplies are low. The reasons for these water and
sewer line replacements, obviously, aging, deteriorated infrastructure, low water
pressure, fire flow, and insufficient sewer capacities and infiltration. Benefits of the
replacements are increased water pressure, flow, and sewer capacity. Reduced
groundwater infiltration into the sewer lines and reduced risk of water line failure and
leaks. And they also provide for a more reliable service. The coordination of those
programs we try to combine sewer and water replacement projects when possible just
to reduce cost and customer impacts. Overall cost for our completed projects in 2013
was 854,000 dollars, which includes four construction projects. Projects completed this
year for 2013 are the Northwest 1st water line replacement. King and Williams water
line replacement. And Northwest 8th sewer line replacement and Site 13 sewer line
replacement. And each of the project managers are going to come up and talk about
their individual project. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Clint.
Blake: I was project manager for the Northwest 1st Street project during this project we
replaced approximately 650 feet of aged and undersized cast iron water main. Along
with that we did fire hydrants and 18 water services, utilizing the open trench method.
One of the biggest challenges with the project was actually in the irrigation crossing, so
that kind of put a delay in the project. We had to actually spend a little bit more money
on that to pay for the contractor to mold and de-mold a couple times in order to get that
irrigation crossing done during the -- out of irrigation season, which is, coincidentally,
during our big construction season, so it cost us a little bit more money, contract price
was 98,000 and a total was 101,000 with the change order.
Petersen: My predecessor Tim Cerns was manager of the King, Meridian Road to Main
Street, water line and water and sewer replacement project. Thirteen hundred feet of
water main and 1,100 feet of sewer main were replaced in this project for a total price of
405,000. The original contract was 402,000 dollars. The original contract included
boring under Main Street due to a conflict with Meridian Irrigation District this portion of
the project was postponed until the end of the irrigation season when an open trench
was dug. This change in the project, along with some material quantity changes,
resulted in 3,000 dollars net change orders.
De Weerd: And probably could have been even worse if -- yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Bird: That's a very low percent of change -- net change orders compared to some of the
other jobs. That's very good.
Boyd: You will like this one, then. I love that one.
De Weerd: Yeah. I think this one has trumped all others so far.
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Boyd: In early 2011 -- by the way, Madam
John Boyd. This is for the 8th Street proj~
undertook a design project to rehabilitate a
between West 7th Street and West 8th S
Cherry Lane. Preliminary engineering revE
Mayor, Members of the Council, my name is
pct. Phase one of three. In early 2011 we
n existing eight inch sewer trunk line located
rreet from West Broadway Avenue to West
paled that the trunk line was located in back
yards and in an alley, which provided limited access for cleaning and maintenance.
Additionally, a portion of the existing trunk line had no easement to protect it or allow
operations for maintenance. Due to these factors Murray Smith & Associates were the
contractors, they completed the design to relocate the line within the West 8th Street
and West 7th Street rights of way. This project was phase one of three and consisted of
constructing approximately 2,00 linear foot of 18 inch trunk line from West Cherry Lane
to Carlton Avenue and rerouting and reconnecting 16 individual services from the
existing trunk line in the back yards of these properties to the new trunk line we installed
in the street in front of the properties. The original project cost was 364,000 dollars.
The native trench material was reused and a reduction in the contract price was 62,000
dollars for unused trench backfill, also known as pit run material, resulted in a final
contract price of 302,000 dollars. Schmidt Construction was the general contractor for
this project. I'd like to add that we had an unfortunate incident where one of Schmidt's
contractors -- subcontractors, Mike Rice, as well as others, were injured during a crime
spree by a young man during this project. Mike is doing well now and he will be working
on phase two of this project with McMasters Construction and that will be starting very
soon. Phase three is under design and will be accomplished during 2015. So, we will
be finishing up the next phase right in front of your house this year.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Bird: John, I just seen the phrase two. We did for 202,000. Did I read it right, was it
800 and some thousand for the phase two?
Boyd: Yeah. It's a lot bigger.
Bird: How come?
Boyd: It's a lot bigger.
Bird: Where are we going to? We are going just to Pine, aren't we, or are we going to
Broadway?
Boyd: Going to Broadway this time.
Bird: Okay. So, we are going to Broadway, so we are going actually right though the --
are we going over the 7th and down?
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Boyd: Yeah. Going over to 7th, down to Broadway, plus some other side tours on top
of that.
Bird: I didn't know where we was stopping. That's -- but I -- when you showed me this
I'm going --
Boyd: Yeah. Like -- and this had 16 services in phase one. Phase two had 54
services.
Bird: I was going to say, you got a bunch of apartments and stuff down in there.
Boyd: Yeah. Yeah. Whole bunch more.
De Weerd: So, John, thank you for updating us on Mike. It would have been one of my
questions. It was unfortunate, but I'm glad to hear he's doing better.
Boyd: Yeah, he is. He is doing better. I'm glad McMasters hired him, as a matter of
fact. That made me feel pretty good. I kind of talked him into it and it was like you
guys really want to do that.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Boyd: Sure. You're welcome. Site 13 was also my project. That was a small project.
We installed 462 foot of eight inch sewer main within the alley from Main Street to
Meridian Road, between Kings Street and Ada Street. The project was completed using
pipe bursting technology to save the city approximately 35 percent over traditional open
replacement methods. It also consisted of the reconnection of 13 residential sewer
services. The contractor agreed to honor the bid prices and we moved them to a
location on 7th street to replace another badly deteriorated section of sewer line. This
was change order one to the contact. The original project cost was 39,000 dollars.
Change order one resulted in an increase to the contract price of 7,000 dollars. That
resulted in a final contract price of 46,000 dollars. Titan Technology was the general
contractor on this job.
Worthington: Next is our sewer line -- or water, sewer, and recycled water extension
projects. The reason for these projects is to build new distribution and collection
systems to work in conjunction with ACHD road projects to save money on limiting
inconvenience to the traveling public. The benefits of the extensions are to improve
water pressure and flow, consistent robustness, provide water and sewer service to
developing areas. As with the water line replacements we tried to coordinate the water
and sewer projects together when we can to reduce cost and customer impacts. The
overall cost for completed projects in 2013 was 409,000 dollars, which includes the
construction of three different projects. The projects completed this year are pressure
zone one, Black Cat Road flush line and Five Mile diversion, 8th Street park dry line.
The first extension project was a project of mine. This is pressure zone one. We
installed three pressure reducing vaults, each equipped with two pressure reducing
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February 11, 2014
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valves and a SCADA system. The installation of these pressure reducing vaults creates
a new pressure zone one, which is the lowest pressure zone in our water system. The
creation of the zone will keep pressures at acceptable levels and enable development in
the northwest area of Meridian. Cascade Pipeline was the contractor on the project with
an original contract price of 234,000 dollars, net changes of 35,000 dollars, for a total of
269,000 dollars. The changes were due to the need to change the vault's planned
location. Where we originally had them they needed to be changed, because of utility
conflicts that we didn't know about at the time and ACHD required us to repave the
whole road section. That was an after-the-fact thing that they told us they wanted us to
do. And, then, there was also a pressure irrigation relocation as well.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Clint?
Worthington: Yeah.
Bird: Why did we have to relocate it because of other utilities in the way when surely we
had an idea where all the --the utilities were before we started the project, didn't we?
Worthington: Well, we had easement that we acquired a couple years --
Bird: Oh. Okay.
Worthington: -- before we started where that vault was going to go and, then, we found
out there was sewer services underneath there, there were gas lines, so I had to move
the easement to get out of all that --
Bird: Okay.
Worthington: -- and that caused problems with ACHD and repaving the road and it was
kind of a -- it compounded, so --
Bird: Thank you.
Worthington: The next project is the Black Cat Road flush line and this was in
conjunction with pressure zone one, but this was a project that installed a flush line and
a pressure relief valve at the low end of the pressure zone -- the new pressure zone one
that we created. This project came from the need to be able to relieve the pressures in
the lowest part of the water system, as well as a place for flushing water. Anderson
Wood was the contractor on the project, with an original contract price of 96,000 dollars.
We had net changes of 5,000 dollars for a total of 101,000 dollars. And these changes
were due to the need to apply a seal coating for the vault so that if we had high ground
water we wanted to seal it and keep the water from going inside the vault. And there
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was also increased quantities of rock at the outlet where the pipe comes into the creek,
so --
Boyd: Thank you. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, once again, I will close out
the extension projects for 2013 with the Five Mile diversion. 8th Street park, which is a
dry line that we installed, we did this because we found out the Parks Department was
putting a restroom in there and we didn't want to tear up their stuff after they got it all
fixed up, so we, essentially -- we put a hundred lineal foot of 30 inch sewer line right out
in front of their new restroom and the sewer service for that restroom in -- let's see -- to
accommodate that restroom project that was built over the summer. This installation is
part of a larger project that we are replacing existing 24 inch trunk line that is in need of
rehabilitation. That whole replacement project timeline has not been yet determined.
The original project -- the original cost of this project was 40,000 dollars and, once
again, pit run was not needed, as the native trench material was adequate for back fill.
This resulted in a decrease to the contract price of 1,000 dollars. So, the final contract
was 39,000 dollars. American General Contractors was the general contract on this job.
Dolsby: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm Clint Dolsby, assistant city
engineer, here to represent the last, but not least projects, the wastewater treatment
plant projects.
De Weerd: Well, we are glad to see that you do do something.
Dolsby: Thank you. We completed three projects in fiscal year 2013 in the chemical
feed building. Sludge handling beds in the wastewater treatment return activated
sludge, that's for a conveyance reconfiguration project. And the overall cost of these
three projects is 2.6 million dollars.
Allison: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, David Allison, the project manager for
the chemical feed building. During the development of our master plan for the
wastewater plant we determined there was a need for bulk chemical storage at the
plant. Previously the containers for our chemicals were stored in multiple locations
through. With the addition of the chemical feed building we were able to store bulk
chemicals in one location and distribute them to various locations throughout the plant.
SPS Engineering was the design engineer. Irminger Construction was the contractor
for building project. The original contract was for 569,000 dollars. Net changes were
39,000 dollars. They were attributed to the addition of a domestic water line, as well as
relocation of a fire hydrant that were requested by the building department after the
project had been bid out. Total project cost was 608,000 dollars. The second project
we had here completed was the sludge handling bed improvements. After many years
of use the sludge handling beds were in need of repair. In addition to the placing --
removing and replacing the concrete, we also added a new conveyor to the project. Not
a new one, but replacing the existing one. The total contract price for this project was
233,000 dollars, 21,000 dollars in change orders came from removing additional asphalt
between the sludge handling beds, as well as adding steel facing to the -- to the wall of
the concrete beds. Total project cost was 254,000 dollars.
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Dolsby: The third project we completed in fiscal year 2013 was the wastewater
treatment plant RAS conveyance reconfiguration project. Now, I know some of you
have heard this before, but we have been contending with Microthrix, which is this little
bug that grows in the aeration basins at the wastewater treatment plant over the last
several years. It reeks havoc with the secondary treatment system and has reduced the
capacity of the wastewater treatment plant and makes it more difficult to do nutrient
removal at the plant. So, the main goal of this project was to address the growth of
Microthrix at the wastewater treatment plant, so we pulled the -- there is two different
streams that go into the aeration basin. Ones the primary affluent and the other one is
the return sludge, which after the primary affluent runs through the aeration basin it's
pumped back around as return activated sludge is what it's called. So, what we did --
what was happening previously that both these streams were being combined and,
then, pumped into the aeration basin -- kind of lifted in, which allowed oxygen to be
introduced into that environment, which kind of promoted the growth of Microthrix. So,
what we did with this project is we constructed a brand new basin in order to pull the
return activated sludge out of that flow stream, so that it flows -- so that it would not
decrease the potential for the growth of Microthrix in the aeration basin. It's been
working pretty well so far, too. We have had this online for, oh, since about the end of
the summer and we have had some good reports to date. The original contract for this
project was 1.583 million dollars. Net changes of 161,000 dollars. It's key to note that
142,000 of that 161 was additional work that we added to the project shortly after bid
time. We saw an opportunity to add some of the work that was going to be completed
with the fermentation project that's now ongoing at the wastewater plant, because this
project was working in the same area as that project, so we added some additional
piping work into this project that would have been in the fermentation project, which is
what accounted for the large changes on this project so -- total project cost of 1.74
million dollars.
De Weerd: And so that project will be reduced by that amount?
Dolsby: It was reduced by approximately that amount. It's currently under construction.
Bird: Probably a little more, because they are already on the job.
De Weerd: Thank you, Clint.
Stewart: So, I will come up and just summarize real quickly here. So, that was the 13
projects that were completed in 2013. The overall -- now, these were construction
projects. Again, I would remind you that there is a wide number of other types of
projects that are ongoing all the time, but our contract amount total for those 13 projects
was 4.62 million dollars. The actual cost was 4.85 million. Total difference was
230,000. Changes due to additional work or work that was added to the project is,
essentially, three percent and changes that are due to unanticipated conditions or
unforeseen conditions was, essentially, two percent. In the, you know, world of building
construction projects anything under ten percent total change orders is considered
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acceptable. Certainly under five percent is considered to be very good when you look
at an aggregate basis like this and I would also say Ithink -- I'm proud of these guys, I'm
proud of the work that they do and how they, essentially, watch out for the dollars that
they are entrusted with. I was looking at some information from a 2007 AASHTO report
that, basically, covers public works projects across the country and they indicated that
the average -- or 54 percent of public works contracts exceed the original budget
amount and 19 percent of public works projects exceed that budget amount by more
than ten percent. So, I think the percentages that we have here at the City of Meridian
when compared to the industry is pretty good. But there is always room for
improvement and we are constantly striving to achieve that. But I think the project
managers this year have done a good job of getting those projects built and trying to do
that in a fiscally responsible manner and I will stand for any questions.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Thank you, Warren. Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: Warren, I -- I do agree and I appreciate all your project managers. This is a good
deal. The unanticipated conditions is -- under the ground sometimes you can't see what
you're working at. It's not like looking at a building. But, anyway, I think you have done
a very good job this year. Our change orders are definitely down. There was some that
was 14, 15 percent, but we had a lot of them that didn't have any. So, I'm very -- but I
got -- on Well 10 I got a couple --Ithink some questions for Kyle, I think. You can do it
right there, Kyle. You don't have to get up. You got a mike. How thick are the screen
walls that we had down there? What kind of gauge metal is -- are those?
Radek: Madam Mayor, Council Member Bird, I don't know what the gauge is there.
They are probably --they are stainless steel wire wrap screens.
Bird: Okay.
Radek: .053 inch gap in them usually and I guess they are probably about a 16th of an
inch thick. But the stainless steel screen we use now are going to last for a long long
time.
Bird: Yeah. I can understand that retriever is a neat deal, but if those are such -- if
those old ones are light gauged I can see why it can't pick it up and bring it back up.
Radek: Yeah. The problem we have really had with that one is -- we had two
problems. One was that the -- the chemistry of the water over time -- over 35 years
made a kind of cement out of the sand filter pack and so it was really difficult, first of all,
to remove the sand and, then, it kind of cemented the screen in and the second thing is
the way the screen used to be built you would have a screened interval and, then, you
would have a blank and another screen internal and that blank was usually made out of
mild steel and that's what you saw get pulled out was that mild steel and -- and the
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junction of the mild steel and the stainless steel is really prone to rusting, so we don't do
that anymore. The entire screen assembly is all stainless steel now.
Bird: Okay. Another question. On your test wells out -- what -- what do you start at
depths or do you just go by when you start getting good water or something and how --
do you go like ten foot, 20 foot, or how do you -- or is it determined at each well site?
Radek: Councilman Bird, it's -- it is determined by well. We have -- we have been
doing it for a while. We have a pretty good idea of where we are going to hit different
levels of the aquifer, where we are going to change from the oxidized to the reduced
aquifer. But we let the -- the geophysics -- the study of what rocks are in there and,
then, what the -- the test, we let that determine where our targets are. Those are the --
and Iwill show you those over there if you want.
Bird: Yeah, I --
Radek: Have you seen those?
Bird: Yeah. I have seen that.
Radek: Now, you see those sand humps and that says, hey, you got sand or gravel
right here and you have a potentially productive aquifer right there, so you're going to
want to put that flow there. And everything is -- everything is a judgment call on what
you -- what you know about the area, what your well was like before, what test wells you
have done in the area before. We are still working on mapping out our aquifer, but we
do have -- because we have been doing test wells for a little while now we have an idea
of what we are going to hit when and I tell you those test wells are definitely paying
dividends for us.
Bird: And one last question. Kyle, on our new wells the last five years, what kind of
depth are we going to for, from minimum to maximum in this -- in our water aquifer?
Radek: The very newest wells that we just drilled are fairly shallow, 195 feet, 250 feet.
Unusual for us, because we are afraid of the shallow water contaminants, but we also
don't like the iron and manganese as you know. Most of our recent wells have been
into the deeper aquifer that accesses the reduced water that has the iron and
manganese, the sulfur smell. It's a safer bet and we -- as you know, we are moving
forward with treatment projects to deal with that. But I -- in general we probably go from
195 feet all the way down to -- I mean Well 28 was 700 and -- 750 maybe.
Bird: So, we have went down past 700 feet in some of our wells.
Radek: Correct. And our test wells have gone down past a thousand feet.
Bird: No kidding.
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Radek: Just to see what -- what's down there.
Bird: Thank you. Very good report, by the way, Warren.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Thank you. I had three things come to mind. One is I very much appreciate
this report and whether or not other departments do it, I'm glad that you do it, because
much of your work is either underground or out of site somehow and this really does
help us get a handle on -- on what you have been doing and what the progress is, so I
appreciate. Second is similar to something Councilman Bird said and that is because
these projects are often underground you don't know ahead of time if you're going to run
into some surprises and I would comment to the audience and some of the new Council
persons that -- as I recall we automatically build into the budget a ten percent cushion
should something be discovered, so even though there were change orders on this one,
I believe you're saying that overall we didn't go over the budget and I appreciate that as
well. Before I go onto the third one I will let you correct me or comment on that.
Stewart: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Zaremba, you are
correct. I mean we budget based on estimates and, then, we, you know, bid these
projects out and get an actual bid amount. The information that we presented you today
was a comparison of what the projects actually bid for versus what they came in at.
Oftentimes you are correct, we try and add some contingency estimates. So, the vast
majority of the time, even though there may have been some change orders to the
actual construction cost, they are still well within, essentially, the budgeted amount that
we requested in an enhancement from the year before.
De Weerd: And did you hear -- contingency, not cushion.
Bird: Yes. Contingency.
Zaremba: I used the wrong word. Sorry.
De Weerd: Oh, my gosh.
Zaremba: Yes. I used the wrong word. The third point is a typical Zaremba sideways
questions, I guess. When I'm in town I'm very proud and happy to drink Meridian tap
water and I think it's excellent and I'm proud of what our water is. I was just out of town
for some reason -- for business reasons and for convenience I bought some bottled
water, which I don't normally do when I'm at home and I happened to read the label on it
that said that the source was municipal water supply, which immediately got me
thinking, oh, what if somebody came here and started using our water and reselling it at
a great profit, maybe using millions of gallons of water a year and -- do we have any
protection against that or way to stop it or way to take a profit out of it? What would
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happen if some big water bottling plant came here and said, oh, Meridian is good, let's
bottle it and sell it.
De Weerd: We would just need a royalty; right? Mr. Nary?
Zaremba: And what happens to our water rights?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean certainly right now we don't have
any prohibition to that. In fact, I think that's a fairly common practice in a lot of cities that
they -- they might even call it municipal water on the label, but I do see that in other
cities as well and right now we don't have anything -- obviously, they would be paying
for the water, because they would be paying for it just like any other user, but we have
nothing else prohibiting that. They couldn't -- they couldn't necessarily use the city's
name as a trademark or as a selling point, we would have a prohibition about that, but,
otherwise, we don't have any other -- other issue with how people reuse the water that
they purchase from us.
Zaremba: Could they overburden our water rights I guess is one of my questions.
Stewart: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Zaremba, if anybody
were to come in -- one of the things that we would typically require anytime a new
application comes into the city, is it comes to the water department -- or it comes up to
the engineering department and we model whether -- what their anticipated demand is.
So, if there was abusiness -- a bottling business that came into the city, when they went
through development services they would be required to, essentially, let us know what
they felt like their anticipated demand for sewer and water services were and we would
model that against what we were able to provide. So, there -- there is some means
where we would be able to say where we either can or we cannot provide that or maybe
-- I don't know. We could say we don't choose to provide that. I'm not sure. I don't
think it would necessarily our water rights, it's still being utilized. I think it's also in -- it's
interesting to note that a lot of the bottled water that you go get in stores is municipal
water, but they do go through additional processing. Most of those bottling plants
actually take that water and they add minerals and other things to it that make it more --
have more flavor, taste, or whatever the case may be. It's also interesting to note that
there are several municipalities who actually have a subsidiary business where they
bottle the water and they market their own water. I mean it's bottled under a different
name, but I know that there is a few in Texas that actually -- the municipalities actually
produce the water and bottle it up and sell it under a different name, so --
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
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Cavener: Not so much a question, but just more a comment or suggestion. First off,
the report was great. I really enjoyed hearing from each of the project managers,
specifically related to the projects they worked on. The model that you have here in our
lobby I found very very informative and I would just encourage you to work with the
Mayor and see if maybe that could be displayed for a certain amount of time in the City
Hall lobby so the public can see that. I think that there would be a lot of value with that
as well.
Stewart: Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
De Weerd: Thank you, Warren. Where did you want to us to turn in these employee
presentation evaluations?
Stewart: You can bring them back to my office.
Bird: Kyle's idea.
Stewart: Thank you.
D. Fire Department Report: Compliance Engine Inspection
Reporting and Notification System
De Weerd: Thank you. And thank you all. Okay. Item 7-E was -- oh, we have already
done. We moved that -- actually 7-D was requested to be vacated and so we don't
need a motion.
Bird: No.
F. Community Development: Discuss Protocol for Requests to
Continue Public Hearing Items
De Weerd: So, we will move to Item 7-F. Hi, Justin.
Lucas: Hi. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Justin Lucas with the Community
Development Department. It's been a long meeting. Hopefully this will be a short topic,
but something that we want to bring before you related to how projects are continued
through the development process. This is something that's come -- it comes up
periodically and something that's come up recently on -- with the developers that
request a continuance of a project. The applicant. Sometimes we get requests for
other agencies, we could even get a request from the public to continue an item and
staff as we have looked at this and as we have looked at the different kind of feedback
we have gotten from the public -- some of the things we have heard from the public --
and this what kind of brought us to you -- is that, you know, they -- the public when they
-- when an item is requested to be continued is that a request is made to the City
Council. Staff may say, okay, we got the request, but we can't take any action on it, we
have to bring it before you, which means that there is no change in the noticing, all the
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noticing is going to be the same, the sign is going to be the same, none of those things
can be changed until you say you're okay with the request to continue the item and so
we might get a request two weeks before the item is scheduled to be heard, but staff
can just forward it onto the clerk, who forwards it on to you, and the decision to whether
to continue isn't actually made until that night. So, because of that sometimes we will
have public that comes to the meeting expecting the item to be discussed and it's not,
because the applicant's requesting continuance and more often than not the Council
chooses to grant that request. So, because of that, the time and effort the public takes
to attend the meeting -- I don't know if we can ever fix that, that's the process that we
kind of have to go through, but sometimes there may be a member of the public who
comes and they are unable to attend the meeting that it's going to be continued to or
maybe the -- there might be a perception that the applicant is using a continuance as a
way to kind of weed out the crowd or try to reduce the amount of people that will come,
because there is -- we have heard the public -- some of the members of the public --
whether it's true or not, I think it's a perception that if an item is continued multiple times
the odds of the public coming every single time and just coming back and waiting to
hear their piece might be lessened. So, because of that staff wanted to today briefly
maybe discuss some revisions to the protocol that we have as a city, ultimately you as
the Council and the Mayor who runs the meetings, on how we deal with these requests
to continue. I think over the last period of time -- as I say, we get these a lot, but for a
lot of many years now we haven't had as many development applications and recently --
probably about the last, you know, year we have seen more -- more development
applications, more controversial development applications, which kind of brought this
back to the -- to the forefront. So, I will pause there and I will briefly ask if you have any
questions about continuance or why we do it or how it happens. I think you see these a
lot and know all about it, so I don't want to belabor that point. So, that being said, staff
is going to kind of recommend a revision to your protocol. This is a staff
recommendation. You certainly as the Mayor and Council have the power to do
whatever you want and so staff just said at least we propose at least a starting point for
you to begin your discussions of how you want to move forward. One thing staff is
going to do is we are going to make sure that when a request for continuance is
received that there is a clear reason from the applicant or the agency or the member of
the public on why they think they need to be continued. A lot of work goes into setting
up a public hearing. Usually we know four to six weeks in advance, so we'd like to know
why you can't meet your hearing date and that's one thing that staff will do. Secondly,
during the discussion of the agenda, which happens at the beginning of every meeting I
think staff's idea -- and this is something that we are throwing out there for your
consideration, is that if there have been requests to continue an item, we think it would
be appropriate for -- during the discussion of the agenda to clearly state we have
received some requests to continue these items and this is something we typically have
done, but we think it also might be appropriate to move -- say we'd like to move those
items to the front of the agenda, because you do have to open them, you can't continue
them when you're just talking about the agenda, you actually have to address the item,
but sometimes what we have noticed is during the discussion of the agenda that is kind
of a consensus, okay, it's going to be continued, but that item might be the last item on
the agenda and the member of the public, if they didn't understand the protocol at the
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beginning they might sit there the whole meeting, it gets to the item and they said, oh,
continue it, I didn't even know what that meant and so they are sitting out there where if
you move it to the front and open them up immediately above -- in front of all the other
agenda items, it gives you the opportunity to confer about whether you think it should be
continued or not. It gives you the opportunity to ask staff is there any -- you know, what
was the applicant's reason, why is -- do we think it's a good reason. Just to have some
of those conversations about, you know, at least acknowledging what the issue is and
why we are continuing the item. I think it also gives you the opportunity to recognize the
effort that people have taken from the public to come to the meeting and to say that --
why not -- why not say we recognize that you might be here to speak to this item, you
know, it looks we are going to continue it, we hope you can come back. If you can't,
please, submit your comments in writing. They carry the same weight. And I think
that's just kind of acknowledging to the members of the public that we are not just
continuing this on a whim -- you know, there is a reason why, we thank you for coming,
please come back, we want you to be part of this process, but if you can't, please,
submit your comments in writing. And maybe on a rare occasion -- and I say rare,
because there is probably some reasons -- there is a lot of reasons why we wouldn't
want to do this, but at least it does give you the opportunity, if you so choose, to take
public testimony. You certainly can open up a public -- a public hearing item, take
public testimony with the applicant not present. Why you would want to do that I -- there
might be some reasons. I don't know why and I think from staff's perspective we want
to be careful doing that, because the applicant isn't here to rebut the several issues that
when they come they may speak of -- they may say something, the applicant is not here
to hear it, they have to, then, go to the record, but you certainly have that option, so you
can do that and I want to make that clear, that you can do that. Should you do that?
Ultimately it's up to you to decide how you want to deal with members of the public who
come and who may not be able to return. Just want to make sure I didn't miss anything
here. Now, some other scenarios that -- that happen -- most of the requests come from
applicants and there are time when we get requests from let's say ACHD -- this
happened just recently where ACHD requested that we wait on an item, because they
hadn't had a chance to act. Now, typically in those situations staff, when we receive
that communication, we want you to have all the information in front of you before you
make a decision and staff will likely side with you and say they are requesting this, we
think it's appropriate and we think you should continue it. But you don't have to do that.
You certainly can act on an item if you think it's appropriate to act, even if there is a
member of the public or another agency requesting continuance. And so I just want to
make those -- those things pretty clear. I probably kind of gave you a scatter shot of
how you want to handle it. I think in its simplest form the change in protocol is really just
to try to acknowledge that people are here, recognize them, say, hey, thanks for being
here and, then, when we discuss those continuing items make sure that we say why
they are being continued and invite the public to come back or submit comments in
writing. I think that's probably going to be 99 percent of what the change might be, but
this is all just a reminder that there are other avenues that you might want to take. One
of which is if it's continued several times you might say, hey, we think this whole project
should be renoticed, you know, and that's something you -- at your discretion you can
certainly do. That's within your authority. So, let's say a project is continued, they have
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requested to continue a couple times, you could say, well, let's hold off. You know
what, you asked for next week, we are going to give you next month and we think this
whole thing should be renoticed, because, you know, this has happened so many times.
Certainly you can do that. Staff will try to keep an eye on that and we will raise that for
you to say, hey, this is the third time, Council, based on your discretion you may want to
have this project renoticed. So, we will try to get involved a little bit better there and
provide those -- those options for you. So, that's what I had. I tried to be as brief as I
could, but I will certainly stand for any questions and if you have -- and that's just a
recommendation. You -- at the end you decide how you get to run your meetings and
we want to just provide some of those ideas for you to think about.
De Weerd: You know, Justin, as far as I'm concerned when someone asks to continue,
they should get up in front of Council and ask to continue and explain why they want the
continuance, then, it doesn't look like something that is a done deal and already posted
and all of that. So, you know, that's -- that's my personal opinion. Now, we have had a
couple of very rarely incidents that had prohibited the -- the applicant to be here,
because of travel plans and that's understandable, but I guess that's just my feeling.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I think that's an excellent summary of the public feeling of why we have
public hearings is to get the public to come and it's an excellent sensitivity to what they
run into if we do continue something and I appreciate all of those suggestions. I might
even add one more. I agree with the Mayor, it would be good if -- if -- even if it's not the
principal of the applicant, somebody from the applicant be here to ask the continuance.
But the other thing I might suggest is maybe the second time that they ask for a
continuance or after that I -- the fees that we charge on applications are based on the
amount of work that we expect the staff to put into it and all the preparation that goes
into the meeting and I might suggest that we think of -- maybe there is a pass on the
first request for continuance, but there is an additional fee for any continuances after
that. That might help cut them down as well. I don't know if we can do that. Mr. Nary is
looking at me.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Zaremba, you can only
charge an additional fee if there is an additional service the city is performing.
Zaremba: Well, prepare for continuances would be an additional service to me.
Nary: If you have -- as Justin stated, you know, there is a circumstance and exercised it
a few times of saying you want this renoticed and clearly, then, the fee is appropriate.
But just the mere act of continuance I'd have a hard time quantifying how we would
establish a fee for that, because there really isn't a tremendous amount of work, but we
could certainly discuss that and see whether there is some appropriate fee that could be
charged for that. But definitely on the noticing -- and, like I said, we have done that a
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few times where we felt it had been continued so often or it was such a significant
project that we didn't want the public to lose track of it and that certainly is something
that we have directed they have to pay for.
De Weerd: I don't know, Justin, I think with the addition of asking them to come and
request in person and that there is no guarantee, but -- and, then, suggesting to the
public if they can't come back to submit their comments in writing. It is -- it's -- when a
development application can change during that time for whatever reason, I think the
public record gets a little muddied if you have testimony prior to even knowing what the
project is and so I'd prefer not to have testimony until the project is presented, but, yes,
certainly with the caveat that they can submit comments in writing and we will make
every effort to -- you may even want to have asign-up sheet on the back saying give us
your name and a-mail address on continued items, that we can -- that we can make
sure to let you know if there is any issues to make sure that they know when the hearing
is. I don't know. Just a suggestion.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: A parallel item comes to mind as well and that is if they are continuing it
because they are making changes to the project, where in this does staff recommend
that the change is significant enough that it should go through the Planning and Zoning
Commission again and be remanded back to them. Is there any fixed, firm way to do
that?
Lucas: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Zaremba, we don't have a
fixed firm way to do it, but we do watch out for significant changes to a project, whether
that be -- some of the rules of thumb -- if the density is going up, they are adding lots,
certainly that's something we don't feel as staff comfortable bringing to you something
with a greater density than was viewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission. So,
that's one area where we are pretty cut and dry on. On some of the other things,
significant change to a roadway layout, that can be a big change. Significant change to
a proposed amenity package, that can be a big change. And so we do -- we do in those
instances -- what we would do is if they were proposing something like that staff would
-- if they are already through the Planning and Zoning Commission and they have the
opportunity to come before Council, staff would recommend that you remand it back to
the Planning and Zoning Commission, so -- and thank you so much for your feedback
on this specific issue. I'm going to walk away with the -- what staff is going to do based
on this feedback -- we are going to make sure that the applicants recognize that we are
going to -- that you're going to ask to speak to them or some other representative if they
can't do it they got to have someone here. And I think as Madam Mayor said, that will
help. It puts a little bit more emphasis on that process. If that is the case I think would
still recommend you do that, hopefully at the beginning of the agenda, so that the public
who is there is able to go home, because if the request is going to be granted it's nice
that they can hear it. I think when we have that and the applicant coming up, it's less
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likely that a member of the public will miss -- miss that if it's just done through the
discussion of the agenda. So, I think with those points, that minor modification, of
protocol, will really help and it helps us -- I just think it helps the perception of the city
and it helps to show the truth, which is that we want public testimony and that's why we
do these meetings. So, with that I will certainly stand for anymore questions.
De Weerd: Anything further? Okay. Thank you, Justin
Lucas: Thank you.
Item 8: Ordinances
A. Ordinance No. 14-1598: An Ordinance (RZ 13-015 -Solterra)
For The Re-Zone Of A Parcel Of Land Located In The
Southwest'/a Of The Southeast'/a Section 05, Township 3
North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, City Of Meridian, Ada
County Idaho; Establishing And Determining The Land Use
Zoning Classification Of L-O (Limited Office) Zoning District To
The C-G (General Retail And Service) (2.39 Acres), L-O
(Limited Office) (9.04 Acres) And R-15 (Medium High Density
Residential) (11.18 Acres) Zoning District
De Weerd: Okay. Under 8-A is Ordinance 14-1598. Madam Clerk, will you, please,
read this by title only.
Holman: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 14-1598, an
ordinance RZ 13-015, Solterra, for the rezone of a parcel of land located in the
southwest one quarter of the northeast one quarter Section 05, Township 3 North,
Range 1 East, Boise meridian, City of Meridian, Ada County, Idaho, establishing and
determining the land use zoning classification of L-O, Limited Office Zoning District, to
the C-G, General Retail and Service, 2.39 acres, L-O, Limited Office, 9.04 acres, and R-
15, Medium High Density Residential, 11.18 acres, zoning district in the Meridian City
Code, providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County
assessor, the Ada County recorder and the Idaho State Tax Commission as required by
law and providing for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the
reading rules and providing an effective date.
De Weerd: Thank you, you have heard this read by title only. Council, I don't see
anyone who would like to hear it read in its entirety. Do I have a motion?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Ordinance No. 14-1598 with suspension of rules.
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Milam: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Ordinance under 9-A -- 8-A.
Madam Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, absent; Zaremba, abstain; Barton, yea; Milam, yea;
Cavener, yea. call
Zaremba: Again, I abstain due to my absence during the public hearings.
De Weerd: Okay. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE ABSTAIN. ONE ABSENT.
Item 9: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Council, under Item 9, we do need to get some feedback from you on your
schedules. We would like to set a capital improvement plan workshop. It will be two
hours in length. If you can get Jaycee meeting dates you can't meet and give a time
preference -- we were thinking around the noon hour or sometime in the early evening.
So, Councilman Rountree and I --
Bird: What date?
De Weerd: Well, we don't have a date, but we would like to do it prior to March 4th,
which is the impact fee.
Bird: So, we have got to do it within the next two weeks.
De Weerd: Within the next couple of weeks, yes.
Bird: And what day do you prefer? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?
De Weerd: Well, I --
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, do you want to narrow it down to a day?
Bird: Yeah. That's what I --
Zaremba: Tuesday, maybe?
Holman: Madam Mayor? I e-mailed all of you probably about an hour ago asking if you
can just respond to me what works best, evening or noon, and any dates that do not
work, I will compile all of that, send it back out to the group and see if we can get it
scheduled, if that works best for everyone.
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February 11, 2014
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De Weerd: And we can put in -- we could suggest a couple of dates. That probably
helps narrow it.
Bird: I would like that.
De Weerd: Okay. Very good. Anything else under this -- this item?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: We had talked a few weeks ago about the addressing policy that planning was
going to bring back, a rewrite in light of some of the vague issues we had dealt with.
Nary: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I can possibly answer
that. We do have a working group -- Terri Ricks is the addressing tech. She is out for a
short period of time and so she does need to be part of that group, but we do have a
group already assembled of both my staff and the building department and the target
was a workshop and I just don't know right now if they will be ready for our March
workshop, but definitely that was the goal was to get on either your March or April
workshop.
Borton: As long as it's in the works.
Nary: Yes.
Item 10: Other Items
A. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c): (c) To
Conduct Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to
Acquire an Interest in Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a
Public Agency
De Weerd: It's in the works. Okay. Okay. If there isn't anything further, I do note that
there is an Executive Session, but we can postpone that until next week when
Councilman Rountree is here. So, with that said I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
Bird: So moved.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: Second? You don't want to adjourn? All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Meridian City Council Workshop
February 11, 2014
Page 65 of 65
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:10 P.M.
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