Minutes from October 4, 2005
Meridian City Council
October 4, 2005
Page 10 of61
Bird: Yeah. Chief, would you state how an ALS is different than what we are doing
right now, what the paramedics can do for -- because we see letters to the editor saying
that we are not staying up with our safety and stuff.
~/~~
Anderson: Sure. I would be glad to. All of our personnel in the fire department now are
trained to what we call basic life support and they are all emergency medical
technicians. What that is, basically, it's about 150 hours of first-aid type of training and
we also do auto extraction and those types of things. So, in a city such as Meridian, the
fire departm~ntiStl1e1ij-sr-H"ne-of defense and we are normally the first responders and
nor!:!J9Hrarrive, in the case of an emergency, within about three or four minutes from
the time you dial 911. Our scope of practice under that EMT basic is very limited as far
as what we can do. With this additional skill set, instead of a 150-hour course, most of
the paramedics will have in the neighborhood of about 1,500 hours of training. They will
be able to do a number of advanced life-saving measures from starting IV's to
intubations, cardiac monitoring, administering drugs. So, it will be a significant
improvement to the level of service to our citizens and when somebody has a life
threatening emergency like that, seconds literally count. So, the higher level of training
that our folks can provide to the citizens is going to mean lives saved in the long run.
So, thanks for asking that.
Bird: Thank you.
Wardle: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Wardle.
Wardle: I would just like to thank the chief for his hard work and efforts on that front, as
well as Station Four, and say that you have far surpassed all of this city's expectations
for your six month money back guarantee and have done a great job.
De Weerd: I don't know, I was going to say he survived the first six months, but more I
survived his first six months.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Chief, could you give us just kind of a time line on the new station?
Anderson: The new station is proceeding along as scheduled. It did get bumped back
about 30 days. We were anticipating a middle of December opening and now we are
looking at a middle of January, just due to construction delays.
Rountree: Thank you.
c. Parks Department - Doug Strong
Meridian City Council
October 4, 2005
Page 11 of 61
1. Discussion of Land and Water Conservation Fund grant
for Splashpad at Meridian Settler's Park:
De Weerd: Thank you, Council. Thank you, chief. And congratulations. Those are
great announcements. Item 6-C, our Parks Department. This is another grant that the
city received and in reviewing the documentation, our director came to us with some
concerns. We had our city attorney do a review of the contract that is in front of you and
I will turn this over to Doug.
Strong: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. This grant, as grants go,
has been in progress for about a year now and we are working through a variety of
issues that you deal with, certainly, when you look for any kind of federal grant dollars
into a project. What we were looking for initially was funding for phase two development
of Adventure Island playground, which is a water splash pad portion of that playground.
Our initial cost estimates would be about 90,000 dollars to complete that project. It's a
50-50 match. So, that's what we went after and to make a long story short, we were
successful in that in going through the process -- and one of the few projects funded in
the state, which pleased us, but as we looked at some of the requirements of receiving
the dollars, we had reservations continue to grow for a 45,000 dollar grant for,
essentially, a million dollar playground and how it encumbers the city for the future. So,
we feel it's very important before any signing on the line for the Council, certainly, to
either say yeah or nay to this project before we commit in perpetuity, our requirements
under this grant. So, that's where we are at this point.
De Weerd: I guess, Mr. Nary, do you have anything to add to that?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean I think some of you are familiar
with land on conservation fund restrictions that go along with property and the language
that was concerning to us was the -- the original requirement was that this would -- this
grant would encumber the entire parcel, the entire 56 acres of ground, even though the
portion that's being developed under this grant is not the entire 56 acres. The contract
that's in front of you, that's -- the language is still there. Mr. Strong has negotiated a
different outcome, but it's still a significant portion of the park ground that's being
encumbered, basically all of the developed property. So, future uses as we have
experienced with Storey Park and these things never go away and 40 years later we still
address these concerns with Storey Park about use and conservation and the usability
of that property in the future and that is a requirement if you accept the grant, so __
De Weerd: Council, I guess we knew of the encumbrance and during the presentation it
was noted and also discussed that it would be limited to just the area of park lands that
this portion would be funding. So, Adventure Island and the splaSh pad, in particular.
What Director Strong was able to do is to narrow that down from the 56 acres to 21,
which we think is still extremely unreasonable, when it only pertains to the minimally
one-acre or two acre playground site. So, Councilor Doug is in front of us tonight to
recommend or seek your comments and direction.
Meridian City Council
October 4, 2005
Page 12 of 61
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: And I'm the only one that was here with the 1968 purchase of the Storey park deal
and being involved with that very heavily. I'm not for getting a penny from them,
because they take control. You're limited to what you can do, as we all know. I think
Mr. Nary just stated that. I think we can find the $45,000 -- I don't think it's worth the
trouble that it will cause us down the road. Everybody knows what I feel about federal
grants. There is always string attached to it and it's usually in their benefit. So, I think
we can find the $45,000 somewhere else. That would be my opinion.
Rountree: I would agree.
De Weerd: Council, perhaps we can put this as an agenda item next week with a
recommendation from Director Strong as to how we can move forward and I believe that
we need to consider looking at our park impact fees to make up the difference of what is
not in our budget.
Strong: Madam Mayor and Members of the Council, just for my guidance this week, it
would be I think prudent for me to respond to the grant folks at state parks to let them
know where we are with this. They are expecting a signature on the form to come back
and, then, proceed with a contract. If we are not going to move ahead, they would be
able to make the money available to some other applicant next in line on the list. So, as
soon as we can accomplish this -- and I'll call state parks and let them know and send
appropriate correspondence to that effect.
De Weerd: And, Doug, I do have a message into the state director. He's been out of
town and he returns tomorrow morning. So, I will --
Strong: Director Minen?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Strong: Okay. Regarding this matter?
De Weerd: Yes.
Strong: Okay.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Meridian City Council
October 4, 2005
Page 13 of61
Rountree: Question for Doug. Didn't we include the completion of this particular activity
in the budget increase that was presented at budget time?
Strong: Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, we did, including a projected 45,000
dollars from Land and Water Fund.
Rountree: Okay.
Strong: So, we backed this portion -- this 45,000 out of the cost we thought it would
take to finish the playground.
Rountree: Thank you.
Item 7:
Items Moved from Consent Agenda:
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Item 7. We did not have any items moved from the
Consent Agenda.
Item 8:
Item 9:
Item 10:
Continued Public Hearing from September 13, 2005: AZ 05-015
Request for an Annexation and Zoning of 59.30 acres from RUT to R-8
zone for Crossfield Subdivision by Packard Estates Development, LLC
- 955 West Ustick Road:
Continued Public Hearing from September 13, 2005: PP 05-017
Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 246 building (244 residential
units, 1 daycare & 1 pool/locker facility / restroom) lots and 26 other lots
on 59.30 acres in a proposed R-8 zone for Crossfield Subdivision by
Packard Estates Development, LLC - 955 West Ustick Road:
Continued Public Hearing from September 13, 2005: CUP 05-022
Request for a Conditional Use Permit for a Planned Development for
single-family residential units with a request to allow for reduced setbacks,
reduced lot size, reduced frontages, reduced house sizes and block
lengths in excess of 1,000 feet in a proposed R-8 zone for Crossfield
Subdivision by Packard Estates Development, LLC - 955 West Ustick
Road:
De Weerd: So, I will move to Item 8 is a continued Public Hearing from September
13th, AZ 05-015. I will open this item. Also Item 9, PP 05-017, and as well as Item 10,
CUP 05-022, with staff comments.
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this is the Crossfield project. It's
located south of Ustick, west of Venable Lane. Venable Lane right now is on the north
side of Ustick, but it's in that location. The highlights of this development -- I've shown
this, because this is the easiest one to see at this level. It is a large project. It's 245